and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article, and that no
state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the
senate.--

On what grounds can the opposers to the new plan found their assertions
that Congress will have it in their power to make what laws they please,
and what alterations they think proper in the constitution, after the
people have adopted it? The constitution expressly says, that any
alterations in the constitution must be ratified by three-fourths of the
states. The 5th article also provides, that the states may propose any
alterations which they see fit, and that Congress shall take measures for
having them carried into effect.

If this article does not clearly demonstrate that all power is in the
hands of the people, then the language by which we convey our ideas, is
shockingly inadequate to its intended purposes, and as little to be
understood by us, as Hebrew to the most illiterate.

The 6th section provides, that this constitution, and the laws which shall
be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be
made, in pursuance thereof, under the authority of the United States,
shall be the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every state shall
be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the
contrary notwithstanding.

This is the article, my countrymen, which knaves and blockheads have so
often dressed up in false colours, and requested your attention to the
construction of it. Adopt not a constitution, say they, which stipulates
that the laws of Congress shall be the supreme law of the land--or, in
other words, they request of you not to obey laws of your own making. This
is the article which they say is so arbitrary and tyrannical, that unless
you have a bill of rights to secure you, you are ruined forever.

But in the name of common sense I would ask, of what use would be a bill
of rights, in the present case?... It can only be to resort to when it is
supposed that Congress have infringed the unalienable rights of the
people: but would it not be much easier to resort to the federal
constitution, to see if therein power is given to Congress to make the law
in question? If such power is not given, the law is in fact a nullity, and
the people will not be bound thereby. For let it be remembered, that such
laws, and such only, as are founded on this constitution, are to be the
supreme law of the land;--and it