from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
RATIFICATION OF TREATIES. The constitution of the United States, art. 2, s.
2, declares that the president shall have power, by and with the advice and
consent of the senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators
present concur. 2. So treaty is therefore of any validity to bind the nation
unless it has been ratified by two-thirds of the members present in the
senate at the time its expediency or propriety may have been discussed. Vide
Treaty.