370. Committee on Independence. As early as June 11th, 1776, the Continental Congress had determined on separation from the mother country (1 276). On that day a committee was appointed to draft a "Declaration of Independence." If the colonies separated, a form of national government would be necessary.

371. Articles of Confederation. Consequently on the same day another committee was appointed to prepare "Articles of Confederation and of Perpetual Union." This committee reported such articles soon after its appointment. These articles were from time to time considered by the Congress and variously modified, but for more than a year no agreement could be reached. Finally they were agreed to by Congress, November 15th, 1777. They were

to become binding only when ratified by all the States. Maryland withheld her approval till March 1st, 1781. Consequently they did not go into effect until nearly five years after the Declaration of Independence.

372. Revolutionary Government. These articles were the result of the first effort of the States to form a national government. Hitherto the government was merely a revolutionary body, consisting of a committee of the States, called the Continental Congress. This Congress was, in fact, a national government, but it had not taken. on a permanent type. The influence of the State governments was largely predominant. Small power was delegated to Congress, while sovereignty was claimed for every State.

The articles were

373. Weakness of the Articles of Confederation. equally inefficient in practice and erroneous in theory. They allowed the continuance of the Congress as a single body. The president of the Congress was elected once a year, by the members, from their own number. Each State could send not less than two nor more than seven delegates chosen yearly. Every State, large or small, had one equal vote in the Congress.

374. What Congress could and could not do. The Congress exercised legislative, executive, and judicial functions; there was no chief executive, and no national courts. It had certain powers relating to peace and war, intercourse with foreign nations, postoffices, coining money, and borrowing money; but the assent of nine States was requisite in all matters of importance, and no change of these articles could be made without the agreement thereto of the legislature of every State. Congress could impose no taxes, could not enforce its requisitions on the States, and when troops were needed, it could only ask each State to furnish its quota, and had no powers of compulsion. Indeed, Congress was characterized by little else than power to recommend measures, no one of which it could enforce. It could make treaties, but could not enforce them. It could appoint ambassadors, but could not pay them their salaries. It could borrow money, but had no means of paying it. It could coin money, but could not purchase an ounce of bullion. It could make war and determine how many troops were needed, but it could not raise a single soldier. In short, it could declare everything, and it could do nothing.

375. Paper Money. Both the United States and the several States issued large quantities of paper money during the war. This money was rudely printed and easily counterfeited. The larger the quantity issued, the less likely would the State be to redeem it; hence its value rapidly declined. In 1781, in Philadelphia, a pair of boots sold for $600, handkerchiefs at $100 apiece, calico at $85 a yard. At one time a barrel of flour cost $1,575, and John Adams paid $2,000 for a suit of clothes. A bill of goods, the amount of which was $3,144.50 in currency, was paid by £18 10s. in coin, which was equivalent to less than $100 of real value. Congress asked the States to stop issuing paper money. The States refused.

376. Efforts to amend the Articles. At last Congress asked the States to amend the articles; Rhode Island refused, and as the consent of every State was necessary for any change, the measure failed. Congress again asked for additional powers; New York refused, and the measure failed. Congress asked for power to regulate the trade of the country for twenty-five years for national purposes; New Hampshire and North Carolina refused. Congress repudiated the national debt, and the States repudiated the State debts. The country was bankrupt. Congress was absolutely helpless, and confessed her helplessness.

CHAPTER LII.

THE FEDERAL CONVENTION.

377. Need of Action. It was clearly evident that some decisive action must soon be taken; otherwise the government would assuredly go to pieces. Washington wrote to a member of Congress: "You talk, my good sir, of employing influence. Influence is not government. Let us have a government by which our lives, liberties, and properties will be secured, or let us know the worst at once."

378. The Convention of 1786. In January, 1786, Virginia appointed commissioners to meet with those from other States for the purpose of recommending some steps to help trade and commerce. Only five States sent delegates to this convention, which was held in September, at Annapolis, Maryland. A minority of the States only being represented, the convention did not venture to make recommendations, but prepared a report which was drawn up by Alexander Hamilton, proposing that a general convention should be called to devise such provisions as might render the "Constitution of the Federal government adequate to the exigencies of the Union." This report was sent to the States and to Congress.

379. Resolution of Congress. On the 21st of February, 1787, the Congress adopted the following resolution: —

"RESOLVED, That, in the opinion of Congress, it is expedient that, on the second Monday in May next, a convention of delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several States, be held at Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting to Congress and the several legislatures such alterations and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in

Congress and confirmed by the

States, render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union."

380. The Convention held.-In response to this recommendation all the States except Rhode Island appointed delegates to meet in convention at Philadel

Chair and Table used by Washington as President phia on the 14th of the following May. A quorum was not present until the 25th, when George Washington was unanimously elected President of the Convention. This has always been styled "The Federal Convention," and it was this body which framed the present Constitution of the United States.

381. Its Illustrious Members. It contained many of the foremost men in the country. There were fifty-five members in all, most of whom were illustrious for their character and public services. It was undoubtedly the most celebrated gathering of able men ever convened in America. The following description of this convention is given by Prof. Francis Newton Thorpe :

"Of the thirty-nine members of the convention who subscribed their names to the Constitution, Sherman, Read, Franklin, Wilson, and Robert Morris had signed the Declaration of Independence; Washington became the first and Madison the fourth President of the United States; Rutledge and Ellsworth became Chief-Justices; Gerry became Vice-President, and Hamilton the first Secretary of the Treasury; Johnson was a doctor of laws; Sherman a great lawyer and once a shoemaker; Livingston had been eleven times. governor of his State; Wilson, the ablest constitutional lawyer in the convention, famed in four universities, and professor in the

University of Pennsylvania; Gouverneur Morris, who on the last day of the session reduced the Constitution to the form with which we are acquainted; and Franklin, the learned, practical diplomat, an octogenarian, completing a life of splendid fame by the gift of his long political experience to his country at the most critical period of her history."

382. The Convention frames a New Constitution. — This convention sat with closed doors in Independence Hall, the very place where the Continental Congress had adopted the Declaration of Independence, for nearly four months, through the heat of the entire summer from May till September. A constitution was agreed upon, September 17th, 1787. This result of their labors, though

The Rising Sun.

On the carved

back of the chair in which Washington sat as President of the Convention throughout its deliberations was the representation of the sun upon the horizon, with its diverging rays shooting upward. When the Convention had finished its labors, and the members, one after another, were affixing their signatures to the Constitution, Benjamin Franklin, who stood rubbing the glasses of his spectacles with his handkerchief, remarked to one standing at his side, "I have often wondered whether that was a setting or a rising I think there is no longer any doubt but that the sun of America is rising."

sun.

not a perfect instrument, yet is remarkable for its scope, its breadth, its provision for emergencies, and its general adaptation to the times and the country for which it was designed.

CHAPTER LIII.

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

383. Adopted by the People. The new instrument framed by the Federal Convention was called the "Constitution of the United States of America." (Appendix C.) It was to go into effect between the States ratifying it when nine States or two-thirds of the whole number had agreed to it. It was assailed vigorously with all sorts of abuse. Conventions were called in the several States to ratify or reject it. State after State consented to its ratification. The last two States to accept the Constitution were North Carolina and Rhode Island; the former in 1789 and the latter in 1790.

384. Its Preamble. The preamble of the Constitution reads as follows: