Government and Administration of the United States Part 2

Accordingly, in 1777, there was drawn up a scheme of union embraced in a paper termed "The Articles of Confederation." These articles, though adopted as early as 1777, did not go into effect until 1781, the provision being that they should not be considered as in force until ratified by _all_ the colonies, and several refused to ratify until all state claims to western territory were relinquished in favor of the National Government.

_#Elements Tending to Separation and Those Tending to Union.#_--We must remember that this was a union of thirteen previously separate colonies.

The facts which had tended to keep them apart had been the difficulty of travel and communication between the colonies, the lack of commercial intercourse, but more than all, their local jealousies. The small States feared the larger; commercial jealousies were very keen. In 1756 Georgia and South Carolina actually came to blows over a dispute as to the navigation of the Savannah river. Other disputes about boundaries were frequent. Colonies with good harbors and seaports desired to keep the benefits of them exclusively to themselves. At that time, too, the people of the thirteen colonies were far more widely separated in their forms of government, their industrial habits and social customs than they now are. On the other hand, the old facts which tended to urge on a common union between them were common race, language, and nationality, many similar political inst.i.tutions, and, most of all, common interests and a common peril.

_#The Purposes of the Confederation.#_--The purposes of this Confederation are best stated by giving Article III of the Articles:

"The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other for their common defense and security of their liberties and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to a.s.sist 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."

_#Scheme of Government under the Articles of Confederation.#_--The Articles of Confederation established a framework of government for the confederated colonies, which government was to control those matters that experience had shown could be executed only by united action. As a scheme of government it was no better than a makeshift. It was an effort to form a federal power without diminishing the powers of the States--an effort "to pare off slices of state government without diminishing the loaf." That such a union could be perpetual, as the scheme professed, was impossible.

Under these Articles of Confederation the sole functions of the federal authority, legislative, executive, and judicial, were vested in a Continental Congress, consisting of a single house of delegates, who voted by States, and were appointed annually in such a manner as the respective States directed. Each State was ent.i.tled to not less than two nor more than seven delegates, a majority of whom decided the vote of the State in question. The executive functions were largely performed by a Committee of States, which was empowered to sit during recesses. For all important measures the vote of every State was required. The vote of all thirteen was required for an amendment.

_#Defects of the Articles of Confederation.#_--In this scheme of union there were many fatal defects. The princ.i.p.al of these defects were--

1. The want of some compulsory means of enforcing obedience to the acts of Congress. The articles provided neither an executive power nor a national judiciary worth mentioning. As one writer has said: "Congress could declare everything, but do nothing." A single colony could with impunity disregard any decree of the Congress.

2. The large vote required to pa.s.s all important measures.

3. The absence of the right to regulate foreign commerce, and make duties uniform, and to collect those duties. This defect, as we shall find, was one of the most vital, and more than any thing else decreed the failure of the practical working of the Confederation, and showed the necessity of a better and stronger National government.

4. The virtual impossibility of amendment. Since a unanimous vote was required, the selfish interest of one State could, and did, stand in the way of an amendment beneficial and necessary to the other twelve.

5. There was no power to enforce treaties. Foreign countries recognized this, and therefore refused to enter into any treaties with us.

Washington said: "We are one nation to-day, and thirteen to-morrow. Who will treat with us on such terms."

England refused to carry out the conditions of the treaty of 1783, and continued to keep troops on our Western borders.

6. The central authority had insufficient power to control disputes arising between the States.

7. The lack of a Federal judiciary.

8. Lack of power to collect taxes, or to raise revenue to defray even the ordinary expenses of government. This was the most striking and important defect of them all. The whole power given to Congress under this head was the power "to ascertain the sum necessary to be raised for the service of the United States, and apportion the rate or proportion on each State." The collection of such taxes was left to the States themselves, and if they refused (as they frequently did) the Federal Government had no power to compel them.

Our present better government was "wrung from the grinding necessities of a reluctant people."

_#Adoption of the Const.i.tution.#_--Actual hostilities ceased in 1781. In 1783 peace with England was declared, and the independence of the colonies was achieved. The war left the American people with an empty treasury, and a country drained of its wealth and impoverished by the exhaustive struggle. It left us with a large national debt, both to our own citizens and friends abroad, and most of all, left us with an army of unpaid patriotic soldiers. And no sooner had foreign danger been removed than domestic troubles arose which filled all with gloomy forebodings for the future. With the loss of that cohesive principle which common danger supplied them, the colonies now began to fall apart.

Even during the progress of the war the weakness of the Union had shown itself. Washington unhesitatingly declared that it was the lack of sufficient central authority that caused the prolongation of the war.

One instance will show how weak was the Federal authority. During the summer of 1783, when Congress was at Philadelphia, some eighty deserters from the army so threatened Congress as to force a removal of our Federal capital from that place to Princeton. The Continental finances were in a deplorable condition. Congress could not even collect sufficient taxes for the payment of the interest on the public debt. The States could, and often did, refuse to pay their proportion of taxes imposed upon them by Congress. Congress made a last attempt, in 1785, to raise a revenue by a tax on imported goods, but this measure failed, New York refusing to ratify. Congress, indeed, did not collect one-fourth of her demands. Commerce was going to ruin. England refused to allow our country the rich trade with the West Indies. To these troubles were added the mutual jealousies and selfishness of the States. Each of them tried to attract commerce to itself, and pa.s.sed laws hurtful to the other States.

The people in Ma.s.sachusetts were in insurrection. The French minister wrote to his country: "There is now no general government in America--no head, no Congress, no administrative departments."

For all these evils the limited and imperfect powers conferred upon the Federal Government by the articles of Confederation afforded no adequate remedy. Even the Const.i.tutional Congress was now in danger of breaking up. States, to save expense, neglected to send delegates, and repeated appeals had to be made to get representation from nine States so as to pa.s.s important measures. A better union was seen by all thoughtful citizens to be necessary, but very difficult to obtain, owing to inter-state differences. The idea of having a convention separate from the Congress, whose work should be the framing of a stronger government, gradually gained ground.

The Const.i.tutional Convention was obtained in a roundabout way, and only after repeated failures. The first attempt to obtain an a.s.sembly of representatives was made at Annapolis, Maryland. Only five States sent representatives, and the convention accordingly adjourned to Philadelphia, where in May, 1778, delegates from all the States, except Rhode Island, finally a.s.sembled.

CHAPTER VI.

Adoption of the Const.i.tution.

_#The Const.i.tutional Convention.#_--Fifty-five delegates were present.

With scarcely an exception they were all clearheaded, able, and moderate men. Virginia sent Washington, Madison, Edmund Randolph; Pennsylvania sent Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, and James Wilson; New York sent Alexander Hamilton; New Jersey, Patterson; and South Carolina, the two Pinckneys. Washington was chosen President of the Convention. Two rules were adopted: 1st, proceedings were to be secret, and 2d, one vote was to be given to each State, thus making it of no importance whether a State had a large or small delegation.

Though the delegates had thus a.s.sembled to form a better and new union, they differed widely in their views as to what changes were necessary, and as to what powers should be given to the Federal Government, and what retained by the States. Some desired merely a change of the existing Articles of Confederation, more power being granted, however, to the Federal Government; while others wished for an entirely new Const.i.tution.

The convention at once divided into two parties. The one representing the small States, such as New Jersey and Delaware; and the other, the larger States, such as Virginia, New York and Ma.s.sachusetts. The plan brought forward by the party of the large States was that presented to the convention by Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, and generally known as the National or Large State Plan. This plan proposed a congress of two houses, having power to legislate on all National matters, and to compel obedience on the part of the States. Representation in both houses was to be based on population, thus giving to the larger, and more populous, States the control of both branches of the legislature; and, also, since by this scheme the president, executive officers, and judges were to be appointed by Congress, control of the whole administration of the new government.

On behalf of the small States, Patterson, of New Jersey, introduced what is called the New Jersey plan. By this plan the old Federal Congress was to be continued with its single house of legislature, and equal State vote.

The great point upon which the two plans differed, was as to how representation in the legislature should be apportioned among the States; whether it should be according to population, and with two houses, or whether there should be but one house, in which each State should have an equal vote. The question was settled by a compromise. It was agreed that there should be a legislature of two houses, a Senate or upper and less numerous branch; and the House of Representatives, the popular and more numerous lower branch. In the Senate each State was to have an equal representation, thus putting the large and small States on an equal footing. On the other hand, in the House of Representatives representation was to be according to population, thus favoring the larger States.

Another point upon which the convention differed was concerning the slave trade; whether it should, or should not, be allowed to continue.

This question was also compromised, it being agreed to permit its continuance for twenty years (until 1808), after which all importation of slaves might be prohibited.

Yet another point in dispute was whether the slaves should, or should not, be counted in estimating the population of the States, in order to determine the number of representatives to which each State should be ent.i.tled. This likewise was compromised. It was agreed that five slaves should be counted equivalent to three white men.

These three main points being settled by compromises, other parts of the government, such as a single chief executive, a Federal judiciary, and the decision as to what powers should be given to the President, what to the Senate, and what to the House, were more easily arranged, and the convention adjourned September 17, 1787, having been in session a little over four months. Thus was prepared the Const.i.tution under which we are now living--an achievement declared by Guizot to be the greatest work of its kind, and by Gladstone to be the greatest work ever struck out at one time by the hand of man.

The Const.i.tution having been agreed to in convention, it was now submitted to the vote of each of the colonies for acceptance. It was decided in this convention that it should be considered as ratified, and should go into effect as soon as accepted by nine of the thirteen States.

The adoption or rejection of the Const.i.tution now became a question which claimed the entire attention of the States, and it is during this contest that we find the origin of the first political parties in the United States. Those favoring the adoption of the Const.i.tution were called "Federalists" and those opposing it "Anti-Federalists."

_#Arguments For and Against Adoption.#_--The Federalist party was composed of those men who were desirous of a strong central government, and for this reason favored the Const.i.tution. This party was especially strong in New England, largely because New England, being the commercial part of the colonies, had had the lamentable weakness of the old confederation brought home to them the more forcibly by the disorganization and loss of commerce which the Continental Congress had been unable to regulate.

The Anti-Federalists were those who wished the State governments to be kept strong, and that there should be a comparatively weak central government.

The argument used by the Federalists for the adoption of the Const.i.tution was, that only by correcting all those defects of the Confederation which have been pointed out, could order and prosperity be restored to the country. They said that the Const.i.tution, being a series of compromises, could not please everyone in all respects, but that it was the best that could be obtained under the circ.u.mstances. Their arguments appeared in a remarkable collection of eighty-five essays, called the "Federalist," written by Alexander Hamilton in company with John Jay and James Madison. In these were explained all the points of the Const.i.tution, and to this day they remain the best exposition of the Const.i.tution ever written.

The objections raised by the Anti-Federalists were many. In the first place, it was of course objected that it gave to the central government too much power; that state government and State liberty would be crushed out. The State was then as dear to the citizen as is the National Government to us to-day. Patriotism was then devotion to the State. The colonists had suffered so much from control over their state governments by an outside strong government, that they were fearful of again putting themselves under a strong national government though of their own making. In warning terms it was declared it would be a government founded upon the destruction of the governments of the several States.

They said, "Congress may monopolize every source of revenue, and thus indirectly demolish the State governments, for without funds they cannot exist." These elements of State love and jealousy of the Federal power are of the utmost importance in studying our history. We see them running through all our life as the main causes of division between political parties. (See later chapter on "Introduction to History of Political Parties.")

Another objection was, that the Const.i.tution contained no definite "bill of rights" recognizing and guaranteeing fundamental personal liberties, such as freedom of speech, liberty of the press, a.s.surance against unjust arrest, the right to bear arms, and trial by jury in civil cases, etc. This cla.s.s of objections was satisfied by the adoption of the first ten const.i.tutional amendments. It was also claimed by those opposed to the ratification, that inasmuch as the Const.i.tution placed no limit to the number of terms which a President might serve, one man might become so powerful as to obtain a life-tenure of office, and thus the government would degenerate into a monarchy. To show how exaggerated were the fears during this critical period of our history, we have the report that it was actually claimed and believed by many at that time that the Federalists had the secret intention of inviting over to our country some European prince who should rule as king. Patrick Henry cried, "We shall have a king; the army will salute him monarch." Though not fixed by the Const.i.tution, it has been since the time of Washington the invariable rule that no man shall be elected for more than two terms. The friends of President Grant attempted to have him nominated for a third time, but so strong was this prejudice that, popular as he was at that time, the plan failed.

For nine months the struggle was wagered fiercely in the States, but the Federalists prevailed. In June, 1788, the ninth State ratified, and adoption was a.s.sured. Congress fixed the first Wednesday in January for the election of presidential electors, the first Wednesday in February for the meeting of the electors and election of the President, and the first Wednesday in March, 1789, for the inauguration of the President and the beginning of the new government. This last date fell upon the 4th of March, which date has from that time served as the day for the inauguration of our presidents. Owing to a delay in the a.s.sembling of the new Congress, Washington was not inaugurated, nor our present government inst.i.tuted, until April 30, 1789.

Thus was founded our present government, which has stood the test of a century. When adopted there were thirteen States; now there are forty-four. The inhabited area was then the narrow strip between the Atlantic Ocean and the Allegheny Mountains, with a population of scarcely 3,000,000. Now the United States stretches 3,000 miles from ocean to ocean, and contains a population of over sixty millions.

CHAPTER VII.

Presidential Succession.

The provisions of the Const.i.tution regarding the Presidential succession, in case of the death or resignation of both President and Vice-President, are: "In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same devolve on the Vice-President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly until the disability be removed or a President shall be elected." (Article II, section 6.)

In pursuance of the power thus granted to it in the last half of this section, Congress in 1792 pa.s.sed an act declaring that in case of the death, resignation, etc., of both the President and Vice-President, the succession should be first to the President of the Senate and then to the Speaker of the House.