"If I did believe, with the honorable gentleman, that all power not expressly retained was given up by the people, I would detest this government. But I never thought so, nor do I now. If, in the ratification, we put words to this purpose, "and that all authority not given is retained by the people, and may be resumed when perverted to their oppression; and that no right can be cancelled, abridged, or restrained, by the Congress, or any officer of the United States,"--I say, if we do this, I conceive that, as this style of ratification would manifest the principles on which Virginia adopted it, we should be at liberty to consider as a violation of the Constitution every exercise of a power not expressly delegated therein. I see no objection to this. It is demonstrably clear to me that rights not given are retained..." Gov. Edmund Randolph, Virginia Convention June 21st, 1788. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The observations made by a gentleman lately up, on that subject, correspond precisely with my opinion. That resolution declares that the powers granted by the proposed Constitution are the gift of the people, and may be resumed by them when perverted to their oppression, and every power not granted thereby remains with the people, and at their will." Mr. James Madison, June 24th, 1788 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I, and many another worthier and better son, ... will rather abandoned the ashes than the principles of our fathers, and will say, with the old Roman, 'where liberty is, there is my country.' ..The true colors of your country are the spirit and the principles of your fathers; live under them in freedom, or perish with them in honor." "But there is an inspiration in their 'lives sublime,' which teaches us another yet a higher sentiment - ... 'Whenever this Union and your liberties cannot exist together, throw the Union to the winds, and clasp the liberty of your country to your heart.'" James Philemon Holcombe, Albemarle County Delegate to Virginia's Constitutional Convention, March 20th, 1861. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Our present condition, achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history of nations, illustrates the American idea that governments rest upon the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish governments whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established." Jefferson Davis First Inaugural Address.