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Compact of the Republic: The League of States and the Constitution Paperback – November 15, 2014
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In Compact of the Republic, David Benner aims to prove that the Constitution did not impose a nationalist, powerful central government, and was not ratified by "one people." Instead, the Constitution was a multi-party compact set up by the states, where the states were the masters of their own creation. The states built the federal government, and did not intend for their creation to rule over them.
Compact of the Republic promises to become the standard argument for the compact view of the union, and throws a wrench into the wheel of contemporary legal thought.
In Compact of the Republic, historian David Benner:
*Contends that representatives were made aware that power could be resumed by the states after acts of federal overreach and usurpation
*Explores the historical foundation behind the Bill of Rights, and traces the limitations on government to malevolent actions of kings
*Proves the Constitution acknowledges the states in the plural, as a collection of societies with varied interests
*Reveals that the "elastic clauses" were clearly explained and leave no room for modern reinterpretation
*Explains how the federal judiciary now overturns state laws that they have no discretion over, to the contrary of its original scope of power
*Describes how Thomas Jefferson and James Madison believed that unconstitutional federal laws had to be opposed, nullified, and obstructed by the states
*Illustrates that ratification was only secured by convincing opponents of the Constitution that the document would produce a weak general government with limited, enumerated powers
- Print length390 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
- Publication dateNovember 15, 2014
- Dimensions5.98 x 0.8 x 9.02 inches
- ISBN-101502491389
- ISBN-13978-1502491381
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Editorial Reviews
Review
-Brion McClanahan, author of The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution
"David is an insightful and well-read advocate of the Constitution."
-Nick Dranias, Constitutional Policy Director, Goldwater Institute
"With ample documentation and clear and engaging prose, David Benner's Compact of the Republic more than convincingly demonstrates how the Constitution did not establish an all-powerful centralized nation. Rather, the Constitution was an agreement - a compact - amongst the people of the thirteen states to enter a union for limited and enumerated purposes. While the idea of a union of states has been forgotten today, Benner's work is a major step in recovering this foundation of American constitutionalism."
-Aaron N. Coleman, PhD, University of the Cumberlands, author of The American Revolution, State Sovereignty, and the American Constitutional Settlement, 1765-1800
About the Author
Visit his website: davebenner.com
Product details
- Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1st edition (November 15, 2014)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 390 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1502491389
- ISBN-13 : 978-1502491381
- Item Weight : 1.15 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.98 x 0.8 x 9.02 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #7,889,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #248,189 in United States History (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

David Benner contributes content to the Tenth Amendment Center, Mises Institute, Abbeville Institute, and other publications. His areas of expertise include the American War for Independence, the United States Constitution and the ratification struggle, nullification, tariffs and central banking in the United States, the antebellum United States Supreme Court, and the American Civil War.
Visit his website: www.davebenner.com
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In 1776 thirteen of the British colonies in America sent delegates to a general congress, who there, for the colonies they represented, made the declaration “that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.” They submitted their indictment of the King to the judgment of mankind to justify their Declaration of Independence. After a heavy sacrifice of life and treasure, the Treaty of Paris was negotiated in 1783, by which Great Britain recognized the independence of the States separately, not as one body politic, but severally, each one being named in the act of recognition.
He who denies that in 1783 each State was a sovereign, free, and independent community must have much hardihood or little historical knowledge. And to be clear, the word State is used, it means the people of an organized community. The founders of the American Republic never conferred or intended to confer sovereignty upon either State or Federal governments.
Thus the matter stood when the Constitution to form a more perfect union was adopted, not, as has been most unjustifiably asserted, by the people of the United States in mass, but by the people of the States, each acting in its own convention and ratifying at different dates, the first being December 7, 1787, the last May 29, 1790. In view of facts so generally known, or (if not so) accessible to every reader of American history, it is surprising that some have contended that the Union was formed by the people of the United States as one body politic.
Though the States by a voluntary compact created a general government and delegated to it enumerated powers, reserving all else to themselves, it has been attempted to deduce from these limited grants a supremacy for the agent over the States, and, consequently, to deny to the States of the Union the sovereignty they possessed as States of the confederation. No one has attempted to show by what grant of the Constitution it can be claimed that the States have surrendered their sovereignty, and it seems absurd to assume that by implication the great object for which our fathers staked all save honor could have been lost. But they were too watchful to leave the question open for argument. Therefore, though the body of the instrument was thought by its framers to be sufficiently explicit in its limitation of the powers of the general government to those expressly delegated, yet, in an abundance of caution, almost contemporaneously with the ratification of the compact, two amendments were proposed and adopted in the following words:
“Article IX. The enumeration in the constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
“Article X. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” [See Jefferson Davis, “Doctrine of States’ Rights, 1890].
The right to resume their powers was implicit in the delegation, because after all, resumption (reassumption) is the corollative to delegation.
Our Founders created the perfect of checks and balances in our system in order to counter the ambitious aims of the federal government. The established a dual sovereignty system, which is our federalist structure, by which sovereign power is divided up among two sovereigns – the States and the common government. Federalist No. 45 explains the division most clearly (Madison), but in short, it is stated in the 10th Amendment (“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”) This most vital check has been severely eroded, thanks mostly to the Supreme Court, who, as Thomas Jefferson explained, have been “working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction until all shall be usurped from the States, and the government of all be consolidated into one.” Time and time again, we see the States attempt to frustrate the government in an act of protest, but it ends up merely being a minor temper tantrum rather than something the government takes seriously. In vain, the people have asked by what clause of the Constitution have the States surrendered their sovereignty and, by consequence, a State lost its right to decide on the meaning and intent of the Constitution… the document THEY wrote and THEY ratified.
The fact that most Americans fail to see what has happened, or even worse, to surrender to the notion that the states have surrendered their sovereignty, marks either an evasion of the issue or extreme ignorance of the history of our country. Again, no one of ordinary information and intelligence can deny that the States were sovereign, free, and independent when they entered into the compact of Union. And no one of ordinary information and intelligence can deny that the states created the government for common purposes and indeed were united on the principle that the government be constrained by the powers enumerated in the constitution that they wrote, debated on, and ultimately ratified. They were NOT united on the principle of unlimited submission to that government.
The key to embracing the notion that the States have the right, the power, and the duty to push back against the federal government, to point out its violations and usurpations of powers, and to come up with solutions to put the balance of government power back in proper perspective is the understanding that the Constitution is a compact (or contract, if you will). At one point in our history, no one doubted that understanding. As Jefferson Davis commented over and over again in his 1890 article “Doctrine of States’ Rights,” people are not only forgetting or ignoring their history, but there are plenty of documents and (primary) authority for people to access in order for people to become informed and to become the responsible citizens they need to be. Being informed is a moral imperative. After all, whether we like it or not, each American has inherited a duty to be a faithful guardian of the liberty he or she has been blessed to live under.
And that is why David Brenner’s book, COMPACT OF THE REPUBLIC, is an indispensable addition to anyone’s reading list. He compiles an incredible amount of primary authority to explain how and why the Constitution is a compact, and hence, why it must be treated as such. “The government continues to be treated as a superlative entity that holds supremacy over the states and localities. Despite this mischaracterization, the history behind the union’s genesis is still an important discovery…..” He explains that the contention presented in his book is one that explains that the States (as parties) drafted and then signed a compact (the Constitution) with its terms debated and ultimately mutually agreeable to all, to create a government (the creature, or the agent) of limited powers. “The creature cannot control the creators.”
Alexander Hamilton wrote the very same thing in Federalist No. 78, an essay explaining the limitations of the government in order to assure the naysayers in the state ratifying conventions that the states will always be more powerful: "Every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm, that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid."
COMPACT OF THE REPUBLIC is your one-stop shopping for a concise study of the Constitution, its conception, historical roots, intent, drafting, ratification, interpretation, and ultimately, its steady erosion. Understanding what the Constitution really is provides the key to reversing the consolidation of power in Washington. Benner did an outstanding job compiling information and bringing history to life. The book is a must-read.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 11, 2015
In 1776 thirteen of the British colonies in America sent delegates to a general congress, who there, for the colonies they represented, made the declaration “that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.” They submitted their indictment of the King to the judgment of mankind to justify their Declaration of Independence. After a heavy sacrifice of life and treasure, the Treaty of Paris was negotiated in 1783, by which Great Britain recognized the independence of the States separately, not as one body politic, but severally, each one being named in the act of recognition.
He who denies that in 1783 each State was a sovereign, free, and independent community must have much hardihood or little historical knowledge. And to be clear, the word State is used, it means the people of an organized community. The founders of the American Republic never conferred or intended to confer sovereignty upon either State or Federal governments.
Thus the matter stood when the Constitution to form a more perfect union was adopted, not, as has been most unjustifiably asserted, by the people of the United States in mass, but by the people of the States, each acting in its own convention and ratifying at different dates, the first being December 7, 1787, the last May 29, 1790. In view of facts so generally known, or (if not so) accessible to every reader of American history, it is surprising that some have contended that the Union was formed by the people of the United States as one body politic.
Though the States by a voluntary compact created a general government and delegated to it enumerated powers, reserving all else to themselves, it has been attempted to deduce from these limited grants a supremacy for the agent over the States, and, consequently, to deny to the States of the Union the sovereignty they possessed as States of the confederation. No one has attempted to show by what grant of the Constitution it can be claimed that the States have surrendered their sovereignty, and it seems absurd to assume that by implication the great object for which our fathers staked all save honor could have been lost. But they were too watchful to leave the question open for argument. Therefore, though the body of the instrument was thought by its framers to be sufficiently explicit in its limitation of the powers of the general government to those expressly delegated, yet, in an abundance of caution, almost contemporaneously with the ratification of the compact, two amendments were proposed and adopted in the following words:
“Article IX. The enumeration in the constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
“Article X. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” [See Jefferson Davis, “Doctrine of States’ Rights, 1890].
The right to resume their powers was implicit in the delegation, because after all, resumption (reassumption) is the corollative to delegation.
Our Founders created the perfect of checks and balances in our system in order to counter the ambitious aims of the federal government. The established a dual sovereignty system, which is our federalist structure, by which sovereign power is divided up among two sovereigns – the States and the common government. Federalist No. 45 explains the division most clearly (Madison), but in short, it is stated in the 10th Amendment (“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”) This most vital check has been severely eroded, thanks mostly to the Supreme Court, who, as Thomas Jefferson explained, have been “working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction until all shall be usurped from the States, and the government of all be consolidated into one.” Time and time again, we see the States attempt to frustrate the government in an act of protest, but it ends up merely being a minor temper tantrum rather than something the government takes seriously. In vain, the people have asked by what clause of the Constitution have the States surrendered their sovereignty and, by consequence, a State lost its right to decide on the meaning and intent of the Constitution… the document THEY wrote and THEY ratified.
The fact that most Americans fail to see what has happened, or even worse, to surrender to the notion that the states have surrendered their sovereignty, marks either an evasion of the issue or extreme ignorance of the history of our country. Again, no one of ordinary information and intelligence can deny that the States were sovereign, free, and independent when they entered into the compact of Union. And no one of ordinary information and intelligence can deny that the states created the government for common purposes and indeed were united on the principle that the government be constrained by the powers enumerated in the constitution that they wrote, debated on, and ultimately ratified. They were NOT united on the principle of unlimited submission to that government.
The key to embracing the notion that the States have the right, the power, and the duty to push back against the federal government, to point out its violations and usurpations of powers, and to come up with solutions to put the balance of government power back in proper perspective is the understanding that the Constitution is a compact (or contract, if you will). At one point in our history, no one doubted that understanding. As Jefferson Davis commented over and over again in his 1890 article “Doctrine of States’ Rights,” people are not only forgetting or ignoring their history, but there are plenty of documents and (primary) authority for people to access in order for people to become informed and to become the responsible citizens they need to be. Being informed is a moral imperative. After all, whether we like it or not, each American has inherited a duty to be a faithful guardian of the liberty he or she has been blessed to live under.
And that is why David Brenner’s book, COMPACT OF THE REPUBLIC, is an indispensable addition to anyone’s reading list. He compiles an incredible amount of primary authority to explain how and why the Constitution is a compact, and hence, why it must be treated as such. “The government continues to be treated as a superlative entity that holds supremacy over the states and localities. Despite this mischaracterization, the history behind the union’s genesis is still an important discovery…..” He explains that the contention presented in his book is one that explains that the States (as parties) drafted and then signed a compact (the Constitution) with its terms debated and ultimately mutually agreeable to all, to create a government (the creature, or the agent) of limited powers. “The creature cannot control the creators.”
Alexander Hamilton wrote the very same thing in Federalist No. 78, an essay explaining the limitations of the government in order to assure the naysayers in the state ratifying conventions that the states will always be more powerful: "Every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm, that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid."
COMPACT OF THE REPUBLIC is your one-stop shopping for a concise study of the Constitution, its conception, historical roots, intent, drafting, ratification, interpretation, and ultimately, its steady erosion. Understanding what the Constitution really is provides the key to reversing the consolidation of power in Washington. Benner did an outstanding job compiling information and bringing history to life. The book is a must-read.
"I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past." - Patrick Henry
This book is an important guide to State sovereignty and the correct view of the formation of our great nation. It explains in detail the Compact of States which created and ratified the Constitution and how they have the reserved power to cure all ills coming today from an overgrown and unconstitutional federal government. It details how we got off track by letting the our creature, the federal government, define its own limits and falsely declare itself a nationalist entity. This nationalist view has permeated every law school, institute of higher ignorance and legislative circles for decades and must be corrected by a factual analysis before it totally destroys our Constitutional Republic.
Get one for you and your state and federal legislators. Demand that they read it and understand it. It is the lamp of our true history that will guide us back to liberty once again.
Very well researched, with excellent notes and documentation as well as reprinting key documents including Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.
Anyone interested in the history of how the US Constitution came into existence, was authorized and how it was understood then should read this book. Very focused, well-written and just plain solid.
Highly, highly recommended.
What was missing is a write up on the Bill of Rights and including 14th Amendment.
David has written an essay called,
The 14th Amendment & The Incorporation doctrine.
This is an excellent summary of Raoul Berger's book,
Government by Judiciary. The Transformation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CE5KK68/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1#nav-subnav
Raoul Berger also wrote another great book on the 14th called,
The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806121866/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1







