could delegate or surrender to society to constitute the sum of
the rights of government are hers already, and those which are
not hers are those which cannot be delegated or surrendered, and
in the free and full enjoyment of which, it is the duty, the
chief end of government to protect each and every individual.

The convention not only is not a fact, but individuals have no
authority without society, to meet in convention, and enter into
the alleged compact, because they are not independent, sovereign
individuals. But pass over this: suppose the convention, suppose
the compact, it must still be conceded that it binds and can bind
only those who voluntarily and deliberately enter into it. This
is conceded by Mr. Jefferson and the American Congress of l776,
in the assertion that government derives its "just powers from
the consent of the governed." This consent, as the matter is one
of life and death, must be free, deliberate, formal, explicit,
not simply an assumed, implied, or constructive consent. It must
be given personally, and not by one for another without his
express authority.

It is usual to infer the consent or the acceptance of the terms
of the compact from the silence of the individual, and also from
his continued residence in the country and submission to its
government. But residence is no evidence of consent, because it
may be a matter of necessity. The individual may be unable to
emigrate, if he would; and by what right can individuals form an
agreement to which I must consent or else migrate to some strange
land?

Can my consent, under such circumstances, even if given, be any