In his reply to Mr. Henry, he explained the words “We, the people,” precisely as he had before explained them in the Federalist. He said: “The parties to it were the people, but not the people as composing one great society, but the people as composing thirteen sovereignties.” Again: “If it were a consolidated government,” said he, “the assent of a majority of the people would be sufficient to establish it. But it was to be binding on the people of a State only by their own separate consent.” This argument, founded on a well-known fact, was absolutely unanswerable.
