The substance of Article VI has been quoted earlier, and the concluding Article VII is notable chiefly for the light it sheds upon the relationship of the States to one another within the Federal Union: “The ratification of the conventions of nine States,” it says, “shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution _between the States so ratifying the same_.” The language plainly justifies what sometimes is referred to disparagingly as “the compact theory,” as if a concept of the Constitution as a compact “between the States so ratifying the same” were no more than a gauzy illusion of Calhounian metaphysicians. The Constitution is in fact, as even Mr. Justice Douglas has described it, a “compact between sovereigns” (_New York_ v. _United States_, 362 U. S. 572). The United States of America, as a corporate being, came into existence with New Hampshire’s ratification as the ninth State on June 21, 1788. If Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island thereafter had failed to ratify (the vote was 89 to 79 in Virginia, 30 to 27 in New York, and 34 to 32 nearly two full years later in Rhode Island), they might be to this day sovereign and independent States, small nations, republics in their own regard. It was by their own voluntary actions that the States accepted the Constitution and agreed to be bound by it. As partners in a joint venture they entered into compact; and the Constitution was, and is, the written instrument by which their mutual understanding is set down, not to be altered without the consent of three-fourths of them. The ratifying conventions, especially those in the key States of Virginia and New York, provide abundant documentation of the prophetic vision with which the Founding Fathers sought to protect their infant Republic from the predictable excesses of “big government.” Our nation was created in an abiding sense of distrust; most of _The Federalist_ papers are devoted toward soothing and allaying the fears of those who apprehended that one day the central government would get out of hand. “Suspicion is a virtue,” cried Patrick Henry in the Virginia convention, “as long as its object is the preservation of the public good, and as long as it stays within proper bounds.... Guard with jealous attention the public liberty! Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel!... I shall be told I am continually afraid; but, Sir, I have strong cause of apprehension. In some parts of the plan before you, the great rights of freemen are endangered, in other parts absolutely taken away.... But we are told that we need not fear, because those in power, being our representatives, will not abuse the powers we put in their hands. I am not well versed in history, but I will submit to your recollection, whether liberty has been destroyed most often by the licentiousness of the people, or by the tyranny of rulers?”