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avail themselves of all the advantages accruing from this suicidal policy, tending to the common ruin.

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§ 6. For want of some singleness of power,

a power to act with uniformity, and one to which all interests could be reconciled, -foreign commerce was sadly crippled, and nearly destroyed."

§ 7. The country was deeply in debt, without a dollar to pay, or the means even to draw a dollar into the public treasury; and what money there was in the country was rapidly making its way abroad.

§ 8. Great as these embarrassments were, the States, full of jealousy, were tenaciously opposed to making the necessary concessions to remedy the great and growing evil. All became impressed with the fear, that, unless a much stronger national government could be instituted, all that had been gained by the Revolutionary struggle would soon be lost.

§ 9. Many of the more prominent patriots and statesmen of the day had made the effort to obtain an enlargement of the powers of Congress, but without success. It became evident, that, whatever else might be done, the Confederacy, as such, must crumble into ruins.

CHAPTER XI.

ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION.

§ 1. To the State of Virginia belongs the immortal honor of taking the first step that led to the formation and adoption of our present Constitution; and to the illustrious James Madison, more than to any other man, must be awarded the distinction of making the first effective move in that direction.

§ 2. On the 21st of January, 1786, the legislature of Virginia passed the following resolution :

"Resolved, That Edmund Randolph, James Madison, jun., Walter Jones, St. George Tucker, and Meriweather Smith, Esqs., be appointed Commissioners, who, or any three of whom, shall meet such commissioners as may be appointed in the other States of the

peculiarities of that document which distinguish it from the present Constitution of the United States.

§ 1. The Confederation was declared to be a firm league of friendship between the several States.

§ 2. Delegates to Congress were to be appointed annually, in such manner as the Legislature of each State might direct.

§ 3. The power was reserved to the States to recall their delegates, or any of them, within the year, and to send others in their places for the remainder of the year.

§ 4. No State was allowed representation in Congress by less than two, nor more than seven, members.

§ 5. No person was eligible to a seat in Congress for more than three in any term of six years.

§ 6. Each State had to maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the States, and while acting as members of the Committee of the States.

§ 7. In determining questions in the Congress, each State had

but one vote.

§ 8. All charges of war and other expenses, incurred for the common defense and general welfare, were to be defrayed out of a common treasury.

§ 9. The treasury was to be supplied by the several States, in proportion to the value of all lands, and the improvements and buildings thereon, within each State, granted to or surveyed for any person, to be estimated according to the direction of Con

gress.

§ 10. Congress was to send and receive ambassadors.

§ 11. Congress was the tribunal of last resort, on appeal, in all disputes and differences, between two or more States, concerning boundary, jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever.

§ 12. Congress was the tribunal to decide all controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed under different grants of two or more States, under certain limitations.

§ 13. Congress was to commission all the officers of the United States.

§ 14. Congress had authority to appoint a committee, to sit

during the recess of that body, to be denominated " a Committee of the States," and to consist of one delegate from each State.

§ 15. Canada, acceding to the Confederation, and joining in the measures of the United States, was to be admitted into the Union. § 16. The Union was to be perpetual.

§ 17. No provision was made for any such officer as President. § 18. There was no national judiciary.

§ 19. Congress consisted of but one house.

CHAPTER IX.

DECLINE AND FALL OF THE CONFEDERATION.

§ 1. THE National Government, under the form and Articles of Confederation, soon demonstrated its own weakness, and, in a few years, resulted in a total failure. Six years of war experience without this bond of union, two years of like experience with it, and years of peace experience under it, convinced the statesmen of that day, and indeed the people generally, that the Confederacy was merely the "shadow of a government, without the substance."

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§ 2. The education of the leading minds and statesmen of that day was but a revolutionary education; and their efforts at the framework of a new government were mainly directed to such a system as might have answered the purpose under the revolutionary condition of things through which they were passing.

§ 3. But a few years of peace showed that the States, when no longer influenced by a fear inspired by a sense of weakness, would be slow to render obedience to a power of which they were jealous from the beginning, and which, paradoxical as it may seem, was contemptible for its very want of strength.

§ 4. In the language of a leading mind of that day, "By this political compact, the United States in Congress have exclusive power for the following purposes, without being able to execute one of them :

"1st. They may make and conclude treaties, but can only recom mend the observance of them.

2d. They may appoint ambassadors, but can not defray even the expenses of their tables.

3d. They may borrow money in their own name on the faith of the Union, but can not pay a doilar.

4th. They may coin money, but they can not purchase an ounce

of bullion.

5th. They may make war, and determine what number of troops re necessary, but can not raise a single soldier.

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6th. In short, they may declare every thing, but do nothing."

CHAPTER X.

LEADING DEFECTS OF THE CONFEDERATION.

THE following is a summary of the leading defects of the Articles of Confederation, as a Constitution for a nation made up of a large number of States, as given by an eminent jurist of a later day :

§ 1. There was an utter want of all coercive authority in the Continental Congress to carry into effect any of their constitutional

measures.

§ 2. There was no power in the Continental Congress to punish individuals for any breach of their enactments.

be wholly without penal sanction.

Their laws must

§ 3. They had no power to lay taxes, or to collect revenue for the public service. The power over taxes was expressly and exclusively reserved to the States.

§ 4. They had no power to regulate commerce, either with foreign nations, or among the several States. It was left, with respect to both, exclusively to the management of each particular State, thus being at the mercy of private interests or local prejudices.

$5. As might be expected, "the most opposite regulations existed in different States; and there was a constant resort to retaliatory legislation from their jealousies and rivalries in commerce, in agriculture, or in manufactures. Foreign nations did not fail to

avail themselves of all the advantages accruing from this suicidal policy, tending to the common ruin.

§ 6. "For want of some singleness of power, a power to act with uniformity, and one to which all interests could be reconciled, foreign commerce was sadly crippled, and nearly destroyed."

§ 7. The country was deeply in debt, without a dollar to pay, or the means even to draw a dollar into the public treasury; and what money there was in the country was rapidly making its way abroad.

§ 8. Great as these embarrassments were, the States, full of jealousy, were tenaciously opposed to making the necessary concessions to remedy the great and growing evil. All became impressed with the fear, that, unless a much stronger national government could be instituted, all that had been gained by the Revolutionary struggle would soon be lost.

§ 9. Many of the more prominent patriots and statesmen of the day had made the effort to obtain an enlargement of the powers of Congress, but without success. It became evident, that, whatever else might be done, the Confederacy, as such, must crumble into ruins.

CHAPTER XI.

ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION.

§ 1. To the State of Virginia belongs the immortal honor of taking the first step that led to the formation and adoption of our present Constitution; and to the illustrious James Madison, more than to any other man, must be awarded the distinction of making the first effective move in that direction.

§ 2. On the 21st of January, 1786, the legislature of Virginia passed the following resolution :

"Resolved, That Edmund Randolph, James Madison, jun., Walter Jones, St. George Tucker, and Meriweather Smith, Esqs., be appointed Commissioners, who, or any three of whom, shall meet such commissioners as may be appointed in the other States of the

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