Altered Quote by Wilfrid Laurier

“The great and radical vice in the construction of the existing Confederation is in the principle of LEGISLATION for STATES or GOVERNMENTS, in their…

— Alexander Hamilton

Our articles of confederation ought to be revised and measures immediately taken to invigorate the Continental Union. Depend upon it: there lies the danger…

— Marquis de Lafayette

I fear a permanent Confederation will never be settled; tho the most material articles are I think got thro', so as to give great…

— William Whipple

Confederation is only yet in the gristle, and it will require five years more before it hardens into bone.

— John A. Macdonald

The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the…

— James K. Polk

“In examining the division of powers, as established by the Federal Constitution, remarking on the one hand the portion of sovereignty which has been…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The error is in the assumption that the General Government is a party to the constitutional compact. The States ... formed the compact, acting…

— John C. Calhoun

The Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States.

— Salmon P. Chase

“Owing its ratification to the law of a State, it has been contended that the same authority might repeal the law by which it…

— Alexander Hamilton

The States then being the parties to the constitutional compact, and in their sovereign capacity, it follows of necessity, that there can be no…

— James Madison

The father of confederation is deadlock.

— Goldwin Smith

“But whoever seriously considers the immense extent of territory comprehended within the limits of the United States, together with the variety of its climates,…

— George Clinton