seven, and of the
Independence of the United States of America, the twelfth. In
witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names."

[Followed by the signatures of "George Washington, President, and deputy
from Virginia," and the other delegates who signed it.]

This attachment to the instrument--a mere attestation of its
authenticity, and of the fact that it had the unanimous consent _of all
the States_ then present by their deputies--not _of all the deputies_,
for some of them refused to sign it--has been strangely construed by
some commentators as if it were a part of the Constitution, and implied
that it was "done," in the sense of completion of the work.[34]

But the work was not _done_ when the Convention closed its labors and
adjourned. It was scarcely begun. There was no validity or binding force
whatever in what had been already "done." It was still to be submitted
to the States for approval or rejection. Even if a majority of eight out
of thirteen States had ratified it, the refusal of the ninth would have
rendered it null and void. Mr. Madison, who was one of the most
distinguished of its authors and signers, writing after it was completed
and signed, but before it was ratified, said: "It is time now to
recollect that the powers [of the Convention] were merely advisory and
recommendatory; that they were so meant by the States, and so understood
by the Convention; and that the latter have accordingly planned and
proposed a Constitution, which is to be of no more consequence than the
paper on which it is written, unless it be stamped with the approbation
of those to whom it is addressed."--("Federalist," No. XL.)

The mode and terms in which this approval was expressed will be
considered in the next chapter.

[Footnote 31: Constitution, Article V.]

[Footnote 32: See Elliott's "Debates," vol. v, p. 214. This reference is
taken from "The Republic of Republics," Part III, chapter vii, p. 217.
This learned, exhaustive, and admirable work, which contains a wealth of
historical and political learning, will be freely used, by kind consent
of the author, without the obligation of a repetition of special
acknowledgment in every case. A like liberty will be taken with the late
Dr. Bledsoe's masterly treatise on the right of secession, published in
1866, under the title, "Is Davis a Traitor? or, Was Secession a
Constitutional Right?"]

[Footnote 33: No. xliii.]

[Footnote 34: See "Republic of Repu