3. What difficult questions arise in the study of federal government? 4. Describe the New England Confederation. 5. What step toward union was taken in 1754? 6. What was the object of the Stamp Act Congress? 7. Describe the first Continental Congress. 8. What were some of the things done by the second Continental Congress? 9. Describe the Confederation of 1781. What were the most important powers of the Confederation? 10. Point out the defects of the Confederation. 11. Give an account of the decline and fall of the Confederation. SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1. What is the derivation of the word federal? 2. Name the great federal governments of the earth. 3. Make out a list of powers that should be granted to a federal government. 4. Give an account of the federal government in Ancient Greece. 5. Name some of the great alliances of the past. What great alliances exist at present? 6. What does the individual State lose by entering into a federal union? What does it gain? 7. Give an account of the services of Benjamin Franklin in the cause of American Union. 8. Prepare a five-minute paper on "The Dark Days of the Confederation." Consult Fisk's "Critical Period of American History." 9. Indicate the growth of federalism in America by reproducing the accompanying diagram. VII THE DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS Efforts to Strengthen the Confederation. Thoughtful men viewed the approaching downfall of the Confederation with alarm. They saw that if the union of the States were dissolved, and each State should assume complete and undisputed sovereignty, the fruits of independence would be most bitter. With thirteen nations instead of one, the country would be the easy prey of foreign invaders, sectional interests would jostle each other and bring State into conflict with State, commerce between the States would be shackled, and all the social, moral, and intellectual advantages which flow from union would be lost. Before it was too late men like Washington and Hamilton and Franklin came forward with measures designed to strengthen the union. In 1785 commissioners from Maryland and Virginia met at Washington's home at Mount Vernon to adjust some matters of interstate navigation. At this meeting Washington suggested that the two States ought to enter into an agreement as to the regulation of interstate commerce in all particulars. The discussion following this suggestion showed that if there was to be any useful regulation of commerce between the States all the States must join. Accordingly all the States were invited to appoint commissioners to discuss the matter. In response to this invitation five of the thirteen States met at Annapolis in 1786. This representation was considered too small and the meeting adjourned without attempting anything. Be 1 fore adjourning, however, it recommended that a convention of all the States be held at Philadelphia in May, 1787, "to take into consideration the situation of the United States, to devise such further provisions as shall appear necessary to render the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the times." Congress, seeing the drift of affairs, adopted the idea of holding a general convention, and resolved that it was expedient that in May, 1787, one be held at Philadelphia "for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation." The Constitutional Convention of 1787. All the States responded to the call, excepting Rhode Island. The men sent to the Convention were the ablest and wisest in America. They represented conflicting interests, and differed widely among themselves in their views of government, but they were capable of placing the public good above selfish considerations. They had not proceeded far with their work before they saw that a mere revision of the Articles of Confederation would not bring relief to the country. If union was to be anything more than a name there must be a central government clothed with substantial power. Instead of continuing the Confederation, which was avowedly a mere "league of friendship" in which the exercise of power depended upon the States, the men of the Convention bravely decided to frame a Constitution for a real federal government, one which should have its three departments conducted by its own officials, and which should be independent of the State in the exercise of its powers. The proposed government was to reach the individual, make laws for him, take money out of his pocket for taxes, and judge and punish him if he violated its laws. The framework of the new government was agreed to after a most serious and thorough discussion, and was sub 1 The Confederation was frequently called a federal government. In 1787 men had not yet learned to distinguish clearly between a federal and a confederated government. mitted in September, 1787, to the people of the States as a "Constitution for the United States of America." If ratified by nine States (129) the new Constitution was to go into operation. Its adoption was opposed fiercely by those who did not believe in a strong central government, but its friends were stronger than its enemies, and by July, 1788, it had been ratified by eleven States, North Carolina and Rhode Island withholding their consent. In 1789 the new government was organized in New York with Washington as President. The Constitution of 1787 is a distinct political creation. True, the framers drew upon the political experiences of the past, and true, they received hints from existing State governments, but we must remember that the task that lay before them was the building of a federal government, and in planning for a federal structure they were thrown on their own resources, for they had no adequate model from which to copy. The federal temple which they reared was an original political creation. To refuse to admit this because they availed themselves of the political experiences of the past would be almost as unreasonable as it would be to refuse to call St. Peter's a creation because in planning for it Angelo availed himself of the architectural experience of the past. When we consider the magnitude and the difficulties of the task which lay before the statesmen of the Convention of 1787 thirteen jealous, proud, and independent States to be brought under one strong federal power, warring interests of sections to be reconciled, a lawless and chaotic condition of affairs in the Union to be safely tided over, a turbulent and distrustful public opinion to be faced, problems connected with the government of unorganized communities in the west and southwest to be solved - when we consider the nature of this task, and contemplate the success which followed their efforts, we can understand Gladstone when he says that "their work was the most wonderful ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." |