In all confederations preceding the American confederation of 1789, peoples who were allied in a common goal consented to obey the injunctions of a federal government; but they kept the right to ordain and to oversee for themselves the execution of the laws of the union. The American states that united in 1789 not only consented that the federal government dictate their laws, but also that it execute its laws by itself. In the two cases the right is the same; only the exercise of the right is different. But this sole difference produces immense results.
