Posted by Paul Andrew Mitchell, B.A., M.S. on September 20, 1998 at 14:13:07:
In Reply to: Re: Political rights of federal states are franchises, held as privileges posted by KatNip on September 19, 1998 at 03:05:44:
: History recollects that the federal compact,
: albeit commercial, was between the States...
: excepting the 14th amendment, please inform
: us how you became a party to that compact.
: Thanks!
: "No private person has a right to complain
: by suit in court on the ground of a breach
: of the United States constitution; for,
: though the constitution is a compact, he
: is not a party to it." Padelford v. City of
: Savannah, 14 Ga. 438, 520 (Ga. 1854).
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Many have forgotten that the Constitution ONLY
became law when it was ratified by a sufficient
number of Union states, which states already
existed under the Articles of Confederation.
As such, the source and flow of authority
delegated by their ratification votes are both
beyond question. The Preamble clearly admits
that a Union already existed, and the stated
purpose of the present U.S. Constitution
was to make that Union "more perfect."
This was, perhaps, an unfortunate choice
of words, because perfection cannot be
improved. However, I believe the Framers
were using "more perfect" in the very same
way that we might use "perfect" as a verb,
e.g. we are seeking herein further to perfect
this Union (or words to that effect).
Or, we might study advanced English grammar
in order to perfect our command of this
powerful, contemporary language (for example,
by learning that split infinitives are not
correct, and that "e.g." is a Latin
abbreviation for "exemplar gratiae",
meaning, "for the sake of example").
The point is not to get hung up on semantics,
but to recognize the obvious, namely, that
the United States of America, and the
United States, were both legal entities
which pre-existed the U.S. Constitution
that was formally ratified on June 21, 1788.
It was ratified under the sovereign authority
of the Union states which already existed
prior to that date.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell, B.A., M.S.
Counselor at Law, Federal Witness,
Private Attorney General, and Candidate
for the U.S. House of Representatives