Hmmm

“In all our deliberations. . . we kept steadily in our view . . . the consolidation of the Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence . . . The Constitution, which we now present, is the result of a spirit of amity, and of the neutral deference and concession which the peculiarity of our political action rendered indispensable.” James Madison, in his transmittal letter to the Continental Congress with the draft Constitution. Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall — Definer of a Nation, Owl Books Henry Hot and Company, LLC, 1996.