Preamble
[Volume 2, Page 14]
Document 16
A Native of Virginia, Observations upon the Proposed Plan of Federal Government
1788
Monroe Writings 1:356
The introduction, like a preamble to a law, is the Key of the Constitution. Whenever federal power is exercised, contrary to the spirit breathed by this introduction, it will be unconstitutionally exercised, and ought to be resisted by the people.
The Founders' Constitution
Volume 2, Preamble, Document 16
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/preambles16.html
The University of Chicago Press
The Writings of James Monroe. Edited by Stanislaus Murray Hamilton. 7 vols. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1898--1903.
© 1987 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2000
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/