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CHAPTER III.

REVOLUTIONARY POLITICS.

STATE GOVERNMENTS DURING THE REVOLUTION.

At the outbreak of the Revolution the colonies formed provisional governments or disobeyed existing authorities when in conflict with the wishes of the Americans. By the Declaration of Independence the colonies became states, and each established a government of its own, the fundamental law being a charter previously obtained from the crown or a constitution supplanting it. Some of the charters were very liberal, and satisfied the wishes of the people long after the Declaration of Independence; but the majority of the colonies discarded their charters and adopted constitutions. South Carolina adopted her first constitution in 1775, a year before the Declaration of Independence. New Hampshire, declaring herself free from Massachusetts, established a temporary government in 1776, under which she acted until 1784, when she adopted her first constitution. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina adopted their constitutions in 1776, in accordance with the recommendation of Congress. New York declared herself independent of England in May, 1776, and adopted a constitution the following year. Connecticut continued to act under her charter till 1818, at which date she adopted her first constitution. The charter of Rhode Island was not supplanted by a constitution till 1842.

Under these charters and constitutions each colony acted in an independent capacity till the adoption of the Articles of Confederation, when certain modifications were made.

At the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, each state being supreme within its limits, and having no superior to which it was accountable, had, save where there was restraint by the provisions of its constitution, as ample powers as any government of Europe. There was no power that could veto or annul the acts of a state. These attributes rendered every state essentially sovereign.

THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.

The independence of the colonies did not prevent them from acting in concert. Danger required unity of action, and a central authority was necessary for the common safety. This was effected through the Continental Congress, which was composed of delegates from all of the colonies, and "which acted upon measures intended to promote the interests and secure the common safety of the whole." This body began operations on the 10th of May, 1775, and managed the general affairs of the colonies as a voluntary assembly and with undefined powers till 1781.

Congress could recommend measures, but it had no power to compel the states or the people to act. This lack of delegated power was not at first a hinderance to successful action, for, under the pressure and influence of a common danger, both the states and Congress exerted themselves with energy and efficiency. But, as the novelty of hostilities wore away, voluntary activity began to falter, and, zeal subsiding, the recommendations of Congress were seen to be ineffectual for the purposes of the war.

Indeed the weakness of Congress was seen at the beginning of the war, and the wisest statesmen in Congress labored for a stronger form of government; but the exigencies of the times delayed action on such legislation, and the Continental Congress continued to act by common consent as the outward

representative of power till the adoption of the Articles of Confederation.

STATUS OF THE STATES AND THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.

There were two views on the status of the states and the Continental Congress; one may be called national, the other particularist. The national idea is that the Continental Congress was a revolutionary body, exercising sovereign power, and that "cach individual colony became a state only in so far as it belonged to the United States, and in so far as its population constituted a part of the people. The thirteen colonies, according to this view, did not, as thirteen separate and mutually independent commonwealths, enter into a compact to sever the bonds which connected them with their mother country, and at the same time to proclaim the act in a common manifesto to the world; but the 'one people' of the united colonies dissolved that political connection with the English nation, and proclaimed themselves resolved, henceforth, to constitute the one perfectly independent people of the United States."

"The Declaration of Independence did not create thirteen sovereign states, but the representatives of the people declared that the former English colonies, under the name which they had assumed of the United States of America, became, from the 4th day of July, 1776, a sovereign state and a member of the family of nations recognized by the law of nations; and further, that the people would support their representatives with their blood and treasure, in their endeavor to make this declaration a universally recognized fact." The justification of this act was sought in the right of revolution. This position was taken by Patrick Henry, of Virginia, in the Congress of 1774. In that body he thus expressed himself. “Government is dissolved. Where are your land-marks, your boundaries of colonies? The distinctions between Vir

ginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian; I am an American. Slaves are to be thrown out of the question, and if the freemen can be represented according to their numbers, I am satisfied. I go upon the supposition that government is at an end. All distinctions are thrown down; all America is thrown into one mass."

The particularist view is, that the Declaration of Independence created thirteen sovereign and independent states, which found it advisable to send delegates to a common congress that should have, by virtue of an agreement made, the oversight of certain matters of interest to the thirteen independent nations, and that the enactment of these delegates. could be enforced only to the extent that they met with the approval of the sovereign states which appointed them.

These two views had their advocates, but sedulous efforts were made to avoid any definite expression of the opinion that was to prevail. "Thus was begun that infinite series of compromises by which the American people have endeavored. to put to one side certain national difficulties, by devising and passing resolutions which might be construed at will in senses the most diametrically opposite."

The national view of the status of the states and Congress lost ground after its first presentation, and the position of the particularists was soon accepted as the true one, being that in accordance with which all the affairs of the states and Congress were conducted during the revolutionary period.

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.

On the 11th of June, 1776, Congress selected a committee to prepare a scheme of confederation. On the 12th of the following July the committee submitted to Congress the draft of the Articles of Confederation. On the 15th of November, 1777, the articles having been amended, were accepted

by Congress, and it was resolved to recommend them to the legislatures of the states for adoption. On the 1st of March, 1781, the legislatures of all the states had ratified the plan, and the new constitution was universally recognized as law. By these articles the states conferred upon the confederation certain specified powers, deemed essential to the protection of all. They pledged the faith of their constituents to abide by the actions of Congress on all questions arising within its jurisdiction. The Articles of Confederation constituted the first local government for all the colonies. "It revived hope, inspired confidence at home, commanded respect abroad, and led to a recognition of our government by other countries, and especially by France, which secured final success.”

The states retained all the power not delegated to the confederate government by the instrumentality of its creation, and were really sovereign and independent, for there was no superior power to direct or control them or annul any of their actions. The articles were so framed that the states were as free and independent as if no confederacy existed. Thus they continued till the adoption of the national constitution, when they surrendered many essential powers.

The changes effected by the Articles of Confederation were rather of a negative than positive nature. The essential prerogatives which belong to a nation in its relation with foreign powers was confided by law to confederate authorities, from whom in practice all power was withheld.

THE WHIG PARTY.

The whig party, after the Declaration of Independence, advocated absolute separation from England, and continued as it had been from the beginning of the war, a serried phalanx against the giant power of George III. There belonged to this party those Americans who favored the cause of the Revolution, among whom were a large proportion of the phy

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