tional interests; and the almost total dissolution of the bands by which society is held together. In this state of things was to be at last developed the fundamental idea on which the Constitution of the United States now rests, — the political union of the people of the United States, as distinguished from a union of the States of which they are citizens.

We have, therefore, now reached the first stage in the constitutional history of the country. What has thus far been stated comes to a single point, the earliest great illustration of the radical defects in a purely federative union. The next stage which succeeds presents the second illustration of this important truth.

CHAPTER V.

NOVEMBER, 1777-MARCH, 1781.

ADOPTION OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.-CESSIONS OF WESTERN TERRITORY.-FIRST POLITICAL UNION OF THE STATES.

WE have now to examine the period which intervened between the recommendation of the Confederation by Congress, in November, 1777, and its final adoption by all the States, in March, 1781;—a period of three years and a half. The causes which protracted the final assent of the States to the new government, and the mode in which the various objections were at length obviated, are among the most important topics in our constitutional history. But, before they are examined, the order of events by which the Confederation finally became obligatory upon all the States should here be stated.

The last clause of the Articles of Confederation directed that they should be submitted to the legislatures of all the States to be considered; and if approved of by them, they were advised to authorize their delegates to ratify the instrument in Congress; upon which ratification, it was to become binding and conclusive. On the 20th of June, 1778, a call was made in Congress for the report of the delega

tions on the action of their several States, and on the 26th of the same month a form of ratification was adopted for signature. On the 9th of July, the ratification was signed by the delegates of eight States; New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina. North Carolina ratified the Articles on the 21st of July; Georgia on the 24th; New Jersey on the 26th of November; Delaware on the 5th of May, 1779; Maryland on the 1st of March, 1781. On the 2d of March, 1781, Congress met under the Confederation.

Undoubtedly one of the causes which deferred the full adoption of the Confederation to so late a period after it was proposed, was the absence from Congress of many of the most important and able men, whose attention had hitherto been devoted to the affairs of the continent, but who began to be occupied with local affairs, soon after the extraordinary powers were conferred upon General Washington. In October, 1777, Hancock left the chair of Congress, for an absence of two months; and the votes on a resolution of thanks to him, for his services as presiding officer, show a great paucity of talent in Congress at that moment.1 Twenty-two members only were pres

1 Hancock retired on the 31st of October, for a short absence, after an unremitted service of two years and five months in the chair. A vote of thanks was

moved, as soon as he had concluded his address; but before the question was put, it was moved "to resolve as the opinion of Congress, that it is improper to thank

ent, and of these the only names much known to fame, at that time or since, were those of Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, the two Lees of Virginia, Hayward and Laurens of South Carolina, and Samuel Chase of Maryland. Franklin, Arthur Lee, and Silas Deane were then in France. Patrick Henry was Governor of Virginia. Mr. Jefferson was in the legislature of Virginia, having left Congress in September, in order, as he has himself recorded, to reform the legislation of the State, which, under the royal government, was, he says, full of vicious defects.1 Mr. Madison was also in the legislature of his native State, a young man of great promise, but unknown at that time as a continental statesman. He entered Congress in March, 1780.

In the year 1778, when the delegations were called upon for reports on the action of their several States upon the Confederation, and when the first objections to the Articles were to be encountered, Hancock had returned to Congress. Samuel Adams and Elbridge Gerry were among his colleagues from Massachusetts. Mr. John Adams was in Europe, as Commissioner of the United States to the Court of France. Dr. Franklin was still abroad. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, Mr. Laurens and Mr. Hayward of South Carolina, Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, and Oliver

any president for the discharge of the duties of that office"; and it is a curious fact, that on this motion the States were equally divided. The previous motion was then put,

and five States voted in the affirmative, three in the negative, and the delegation of one State was divided. Journals, III. 465-467 1 Writings of Jefferson, I. 29.

Wolcott of Connecticut, and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, were present. The rest of the members, with one brilliant exception, were not men of great distinction, influence, or capacity. That exception was Gouverneur Morris, who came into Congress in January of this year, with a somewhat remarkable youthful reputation, acquired in the public councils of New York.

When this Congress is compared with that of the year 1776, and it is remembered that the Declaration of Independence bears the names of John Adams and Robert Treat Paine of Massachusetts, Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey, Benjamin Rush and Dr. Franklin of Pennsylvania, Cæsar Rodney of Delaware, Samuel Chase of Maryland, George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Harrison of Virginia, William Hooper of North Carolina, and Edward Rutledge and Arthur Middleton of South Carolina, none of whom were now present, - we perceive at once a striking difference in the two bodies. This difference was not unobserved by those who were then deeply interested in watching the course of public affairs. More than once it filled Washington with dark forebodings; and in the early part of the year 1778, it had attracted the notice of Hamilton, whose vigilant comprehension surveyed the whole field of public affairs, and detected the causes of every danger that threatened the health of the body politic.2

1 Writings of Washington, V. 326, 327, 350.

2 "America once had a representation that would do honor to