But if the Union,
as has been shown, be essential to the security of the people of America
against foreign danger; if it be essential to their security against
contentions and wars among the different States; if it be essential to
guard them against those violent and oppressive factions which embitter
the blessings of liberty, and against those military establishments
which must gradually poison its very fountain; if, in a word, the Union
be essential to the happiness of the people of America, is it not
preposterous, to urge as an objection to a government, without which the
objects of the Union cannot be attained, that such a government may
derogate from the importance of the governments of the individual
States? Was, then, the American Revolution effected, was the American
Confederacy formed, was the precious blood of thousands spilt, and the
hard-earned substance of millions lavished, not that the people of
America should enjoy peace, liberty, and safety, but that the government
of the individual States, that particular municipal establishments,
might enjoy a certain extent of power, and be arrayed with certain
dignities and attributes of sovereignty? We have heard of the impious
doctrine in the Old World, that the people were made for kings, not
kings for the people.
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