1. There is nothing that I wrote which suggests that the "Civil War caused the Constitution of The United States of America to become "null and void." I did not mention the Civil War, and I did not claim that the Constitution, or any part of the Constitution, had become "null and void."

2. The assertions I made in post #11 are absolutely accurate. If there are any particulars which you want to dispute, you should do so, and I will explain them to you. It would seem that the reason you have not been specific is because you cannot back up what you are saying.

3. Although Charles Beard was mentioned elsewhere in this thread, he was not cited in post #11, for the very simple reason that nothing he wrote influenced what I wrote there. There are no "pointy headed modern liberals" or "Marxists" involved here. I have to assume that you are resorting to such ad hominem attacks because you don't have sufficient knowledge of the facts to disagree in substance.

4. The members of Congress (the House of Representatives) obviously represent "the people" of their Congressional districts. Members of the Senate represent their respective states.

5. You also say "it was written to be easily understood by common folk." I agree. The caveat is that, as Tug McGraw was so fond of pointing out, "Ya gotta wanna!" If you do not have a desire to understand, and you close your mind to valid information which contradicts your preconceptions, then you will never understand the Constitution.

6. Closing, I would like to point out that, when you carefully read the Tenth Amendment, you will see that NO POWERS WERE GIVEN TO "THE UNITED STATES" BY THE RESPECTIVE STATES. The Amendment says that the powers were "delegated to the United States by the Constitution." Since the Constitution was ratified by the people, and not by the states, the federal government derives its authority from the people, not the states. That is clear enough to be understood by "common folk."