But, when the whole American people leave these “conventions” as the united citizens of America, although it will be wise and proper and necessary that American citizens shall hereafter assemble in “conventions” in their respective states for the making of new proposed grants of power to interfere with their freedom, it will no longer be necessary that a “Yes” from _every_ “convention” should be given to any future grant of _such_ power. When the whole American people assembled in those first conventions, a “Yes” from every “convention” _was_ necessary because that “Yes” meant the willingness of the Americans in that state to become citizens of America. But, once they all have become _its_ citizens, it is in that capacity--and not as citizens of each respective state--that the American government will interfere with their individual freedom. And it now dawns upon us, probably for the first time, how imperative it is that the new Constitution should contain an explicit command, prescribing how the vote of each “convention” should count and how many “convention” votes should be sufficient and necessary for any future proposed grant of power to interfere with the freedom of American citizens. This brings home to us the impressive and important meaning of the words “in three fourths thereof” after the word “conventions” in the Fifth Article. If they had not been written therein by the genius of the men at Philadelphia, the method of counting the vote of each “convention” and the number of “convention” votes CONSTITUTIONALLY requisite hereafter for a new grant of _national_ power would be a matter of infinite dispute. And so we recognize and pay our tribute, as we sit in one convention of the first American citizens, to the wonderful foresight of Madison and Hamilton and their colleagues at the Philadelphia Convention which has just completed its labors. That tribute is evoked by the words “three fourths thereof” after the word “conventions.”