In New York we find Hamilton, who seconded the suggestion of Madison’s Fifth Article at Philadelphia, almost immediately after he had stated that there would be no danger in permitting Congress to _propose_ amendments since “the final decision in the case will rest with the people.” As we recall, Hamilton said this when the tentative Fifth Article mentioned no one but the people, “conventions,” as the maker of future Articles, because he and Madison and their associates at Philadelphia, whose minds had so far been concentrated upon the _national_ First Article, had not yet grasped the fact, later stated by Hamilton to be his conviction, that all future changes would probably relate “to the organization of government and _not to the mass of its powers_.” We are, therefore, interested to find Hamilton, in New York, on Friday, December 14, 1787, pointing out that “It has not a little contributed to the infirmities of the existing _federal_ system that it never had a ratification by the PEOPLE. Resting on no better foundation than the consent of the several legislatures, it has been exposed to frequent and intricate questions concerning the validity of its powers.... The possibility of a question of this nature proves the necessity of laying the foundations of our _national_ government [the First Article grant of national powers] deeper than in the mere sanction of delegated authority [referring directly to the state legislatures which are mentioned in the Fifth Article]. The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis OF THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of _national_ power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority.” (_Fed._ No. 22.) The capitals are those of Hamilton himself. We rather feel that his stress upon the “PEOPLE” sharply contrasted with the state “legislatures,” as the only legitimate direct source of _national_ power, such as is granted in the First Article and the Eighteenth Amendment, will be somewhat of a shock to the “constitutional thinkers” of 1917 and 1920. Sitting in the conventions of old, we rather recognize the capitalized words, where Hamilton says that _national_ power in America “ought to rest on the solid basis of the CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE,” as a direct echo from the Statute of ’76, enacted only eleven years before those conventions. That Statute says that every just power of government must be derived directly from the governed.