This Was Done On The 4th Of
July, 1776, And Was Signed By Delegates From The Thirteen Colonies,
Or States As They Then Called Themselves.
These delegates in this
document declare themselves to be the representatives of the United
States of America in general Congress assembled.
The opening and
close of this declaration have in them much that is grand and
striking; the greater part of it, however, is given up to
enumerating, in paragraph after paragraph, the sins committed by
George III. against the colonies. Poor George III.! There is no
one now to say a good word for him; but of all those who have spoken
ill of him, this declaration is the loudest in its censure.
In the following year, on the 15th of November, 1777, were drawn up
the Articles of Confederation between the States, by which it was
then intended that a sufficient bond and compact should be made for
their future joint existence and preservation. A reference to this
document will show how slight was the then intended bond of union
between the States. The second article declares that each State
retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence. The third
article avows that "the said States hereby severally enter into a
firm league of friendship with each other for their common defense,
the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general
welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force
offered to, or attacks made upon, them, or any of them, on account
of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretext whatever."
And the third article, "the better to secure and perpetuate mutual
friendship," declares that the free citizens of one State shall be
free citizens of another. From this it is, I think, manifest that
no idea of one united nation had at that time been received and
adopted by the citizens of the States. The articles then go on to
define the way in which Congress shall assemble and what shall be
its powers. This Congress was to exercise the authority of a
national government rather than perform the work of a national
parliament. It was intended to be executive rather than
legislative. It was to consist of delegates, the very number of
which within certain limits was to be left to the option of the
individual States, and to this Congress was to be confided certain
duties and privileges, which could not be performed or exercised
separately by the governments of the individual States. One special
article, the eleventh, enjoins that "Canada, acceding to the
Confederation, and joining in the measures of the United States,
shall be admitted into and entitled to all the advantages of this
Union; but no other colony shall be admitted into the same unless
such admission be agreed to by nine States." I mention this to show
how strong was the expectation at that time that Canada also would
revolt from England. Up to this day few Americans can understand
why Canada has declined to join her lot to them.
But the compact between the different States made by the Articles of
Confederation, and the mode of national procedure therein enjoined,
were found to be inefficient for the wants of a people who to be
great must be united in fact as well as in name. The theory of the
most democratic among the Americans of that day was in favor of
self-government carried to an extreme. Self-government was the
Utopia which they had determined to realize, and they were unwilling
to diminish the reality of the self-government of the individual
States by any centralization of power in one head, or in one
parliament, or in one set of ministers for the nation. For ten
years, from 1777 to 1787, the attempt was made; but then it was
found that a stronger bond of nationality was indispensable, if any
national greatness was to be regarded as desirable. Indeed, all
manner of failure had attended the mode of national action ordained
by the Articles of Confederation. I am not attempting to write a
history of the United States, and will not therefore trouble my
readers with historic details, which are not of value unless put
forward with historic weight. The fact of the failure is however
admitted, and the present written Constitution of the United States,
which is the splendid result of that failure, was "Done in
Convention by the unanimous consent of the States present."* Twelve
States were present - Rhode Island apparently having had no
representative on the occasion - on the 17th of September, 1787, and
in the twelfth year of the Independence of the United States.
* It must not, however, be supposed that by this "doing in
convention," the Constitution became an accepted fact. It simply
amounted to the adoption of a proposal of the Constitution. The
Constitution itself was formally adopted by the people in
conventions held in their separate State capitals. It was agreed to
by the people in 1788, and came into operation in 1789.
I call the result splendid, seeing that under this Constitution so
written a nation has existed for three-quarters of a century, and
has grown in numbers, power, and wealth till it has made itself the
political equal of the other greatest nations of the earth. And it
cannot be said that it has so grown in spite of the Constitution, or
by ignoring the Constitution. Hitherto the laws there laid down for
the national guidance have been found adequate for the great purpose
assigned to them, and have done all that which the framers of them
hoped that they might effect. We all know what has been the fate of
the constitutions which were written throughout the French
Revolution for the use of France. We all, here in England, have the
same ludicrous conception of Utopian theories of government framed
by philosophical individuals who imagine that they have learned from
books a perfect system of managing nations. To produce such
theories is especially the part of a Frenchman; to disbelieve in
them is especially the part of an Englishman.
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