The mode of amending the Constitution is in strict accordance with the
doctrine of State Rights. The amending power is not to be exercised
by the collective people of the United States acting as a majority. It
can only be exercised by three-fourths of the States acting as States
in their sovereign capacity. If three-fourths of the States desire to
amend the instrument then the one-fourth must submit to the will of
the three-fourths. There is no principle in the doctrine of State
Rights which is violated when the Constitution is amended by the
three-fourths, for all the states have agreed that the three-fourths
shall possess the power to do so and that the minority will consent
to be bound by action so taken. The principle that the minority must
submit to the majority is a principle which the States apply to the
government of their local communities and to the people of their
several commonwealths. And it is a principle which the States as
sovereigns have agreed shall be applied to themselves in their
relations to each other and to the Federal Government.
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