If construed in the sense they were intended, and carried out, inculcate that the constitution of the united states is founded on compact—that this compact derives its obligation from the agreement, entered into by the people of each of the states, in their political capacity, with the people of the other states—that the constitution which is the offspring of this compact, has its sanction in the ratification of the people of the several states, acting in the capacity of separate communities—that the majority of the people of the united states, in the aggregate, have no power to alter the constitution of the general government, but that change, or amendment can only be proposed in the mode pointed out in the constitution, and can never become obligatory unless ratified by the people of three fourths of the states through their respective legislatures or state conventions. that in the case of a violation of the constitution of the united states, and the usurpation of powers not granted by it on the part of the functionaries of the general government, the state governments have the right to interpose and arrest the evil, upon the principles which were set forth in the virginia resolutions of 1798, against the alien and sedition laws — and finally, that in