read the series of papers known as "The Federalist," written
mainly by Hamilton and Madison, to commend the new plan to the various
States. It was adopted almost as a matter of necessity, that is, as the
only way out of the Slough of Despond in which the Confederation had
plunged the union of the States; but the objections to it which were
felt at the beginning were only removed by actual trial. Hamilton's two
colleagues, as delegates from New York, Yates and Lansing, withdrew in
disgust from the Convention, as soon as the Constitution was outlined,
and did not return. The notion that the Constitution was produced by the
craving of the American people for something of that sort to love and
revere, and that it was not bestowed on them until they had given ample
assurance that they would lavish affection on it, has no foundation
whatever in fact. The devotion of Americans to the Union is, indeed, as
clear a case of cause and effect as is to be found in political history.
They have learned to like the Constitution because the country has
prospered under it, and because it has given them all the benefits of
national life without interference with local liberties. If they had not
set up a central government until the centrifugal sentiment had
disappeared from the States, and the feeling of loyalty for a central
authority had fully shown itself, they would assuredly never have set it
up at all.

Moreover, it has to be borne in mind that the adoption of the
Constitution did not involve the surrender of any local franchises, by
which the people of the various States set great store. The States
preserved fully four-fifths of their autonomy, or in fact nearly all of
it which closely concerned the daily lives of individuals. Set aside the
post-office, and a citizen of the State of New York, not engaged in
foreign trade, might, down to the outbreak of the Civil War, have passed
a long and busy life without once coming in contact with a United States
official, and without being made aware in any of his doings, by any
restriction or regulation, that he was living under any government but
that of his own State. If he went abroad he had to apply for a United
States passport. If he quarrelled with a foreigner, or with the citizen
of another State, he might be sued in the Federal Court. If he imported
foreign goods he had to pay duties to the collector of a Federal
Custom-house. If he invented something, or wrote a book, he had to
apply