We have thus come to know with certainty that the minds of the Americans at Philadelphia, during those strenuous four months, were concentrated mainly upon a proposal to grant some _national_ power to interfere with the human freedom of all Americans. In other words, we have _their_ knowledge that their proposed First Article, by reason of its grants of _such_ power, would constitute a new nation and government of men, if those grants were validly made by those competent to make _such_ grants. Under which circumstances, we realize that it became necessary for them to make a great legal decision, in the construction of basic American law, and, _before_ making that decision, which was compelled to be the result of judgment and not of will, accurately to ascertain one important legal fact. Indeed, their decision was to be the actual conclusion reached in the effort to ascertain that legal fact. This was the single question to which they must find the right answer: “Under our basic American law, can legislatures ever give to government any power to interfere with the human freedom of men, or must every government in America obtain its only valid powers _of that kind_ by direct grant from its own citizens?” It is easy for us to state that they should have known that the answer to that question was expressly and authoritatively given in the Statute of ’76. It was there plainly enacted that every just power of any government must be derived from the direct grant of those to be governed by its exercise. Yet our own leaders for the last five years have not even asked the question, much less known the right answer. At Philadelphia, in 1787, they _did_ know it. They had no doubt whatever about it. We shall see that quickly in our brief review of the record they made at Philadelphia in ascertaining and deciding, as a legal necessity, to whom their First Article and its enumerated grants of _national_ power must be sent and, when we boast of how quickly we knew the answer, we should admit that we did not know it until _after_ we had lived again with them through their experience of the preceding ten or twelve years which had educated them, as it has just educated us, to that knowledge. Furthermore, many of us average Americans will be unable to explain, until later herein, why, during the last five years, our own leaders have not known the right answer. The Statute of ’76 has not been wholly unknown to them. The record of the Philadelphia Convention and the ratifying conventions has not been entirely a closed book to them. The important and authentic statements of Webster and other leaders of past generations have been read by many of them. If they did not understand and know the correct answer, as we now realize they have _not_ known, let us not withhold from the Americans at Philadelphia our just tribute of gratitude that they _did_ accurately know, when it was amazingly important to us that they should know.