We propose to show that by the adoption of the Constitution the people of the States formed themselves into a nation. First: The Constitution declares its perpetuity, and the powers given by it to the government established are those of an indissoluble nation with supreme authority over every one, not of a confederacy of nations. Second: The members of the convention that made the Constitution intended to make a national government; and that they considered that they had done so is conclusively shown by the contemporary reports of their debates and proceedings. The members of the conventions of the people of the several States that adopted the Constitution without exception also considered and spoke of the government as national. Third: That the government exercised its supreme national power repeatedly and uniformly over the States and over all the citizens of every State, from the time of its inception to the civil war. Historically we were a nation. Fourth: That the general belief that the Virginia resolutions questioned this supremacy and nationality is wholly unfounded. There is no question of the universal opinion after the termination of the war of the Revolution that the provisions under which the States were associated, made on the 15th of November, 1777, had failed essentially in giving to the Confederate Congress government the necessary powers to carry it on.[13] The Confederacy was made by delegates from the Legislatures of the State governments of the different States; the powers of the Confederacy were given to a Congress which consisted of one body or House, and in that Congress each State had one vote, that of Delaware, with a diminutive territory and about one sixteenth of the population, equalling that of Virginia. The Constitution which contains and defines the powers given to the United States Government was made by delegates appointed by the different State Legislatures of the Confederacy, all being represented except Rhode Island. Its members were the most prominent and distinguished men of the country. After the most careful, thorough, and patient examination and discussion, extending through four months, they formed the instrument giving the powers of the new government. They sent it to the existing Congress of the Confederacy, with the request that it might be submitted to a convention of delegates chosen in each State by the people thereof, under the recommendation of its Legislature, for their consideration and assent if approved of. [13] The condition of affairs then is well stated in Fiske’s _Critical Period of American History_. The Continental Congress unanimously forwarded the proposed Constitution to the Legislatures of the several States, who each submitted it to a convention of the people called for the purpose of deciding whether they would adopt it.