Virginia:
Patrick Henry spoke eloquently at
great length against the Constitution
•“What right had they to say,
We, the people?”
•“I look upon that
paper as the most fatal plan that could possibly be conceived to enslave a free people.”
What right had
they to say, We, the people? My political curiosity, exclusive of my
anxious solicitude for the public welfare, leads me to ask, Who authorized
them to speak the language of, We, the people, instead of, We, the
states? States are the characteristics and the soul of a confederation.
If the states be not the agents of this compact, it must be one great,
consolidated, national government, of the people of all the states.
~ Patrick Henry’s Opening Speech: A Wrong
Step Now and the Republic Will Be Lost Forever; June 4, 1788
