Speech #790096790

The Union existed before the Constitution. which was ordained and established among other things to form "a more perfect Union." Prior to that event. it is clear that the Union. declared by the articles of confederationto be "perpetual." was the sole possessor of external sovereignty and in the Union it remained without change save insofar as the Constitution in express terms qualified its exercise. The Framers Convention was called and exerted its powers upon the irrefutable postulate that though the States were several their people in respect of foreign affairs were one. Compare the Chinese Exclusion Case (130 U. S. 581. 604. 606). In that convention. the entire absence of State power to deal with those affairs was thus forcefully stated by Rufus King: . "The States were not sovereigns In the sense contended for by some.