of the Union. The time is now come for me to
examine separately the supremacy with which the Union has been invested,
and to cast a rapid glance over the Federal Constitution.

Chapter Summary

Origin of the first Union--Its weakness--Congress appeals to the
constituent authority--Interval of two years between this appeal and the
promulgation of the new Constitution.

History Of The Federal Constitution

The thirteen colonies which simultaneously threw off the yoke of
England towards the end of the last century professed, as I have already
observed, the same religion, the same language, the same customs, and
almost the same laws; they were struggling against a common enemy; and
these reasons were sufficiently strong to unite them one to another, and
to consolidate them into one nation. But as each of them had enjoyed a
separate existence and a government within its own control, the peculiar
interests and customs which resulted from this system were opposed to
a compact and intimate union which would have absorbed the individual
importance of each in the general importance of all. Hence arose two
opposite tendencies, the one prompting the Anglo-Americans to unite,
the other to divide their strength. As long as the war with the
mother-country lasted the principle of union was kept alive by
necessity; and although the laws which constituted it were defective,
the common tie subsisted in spite of their imperfections. *a But no
sooner was peace concluded than the faults of the legislation became
manifest, and the State seemed to be suddenly dissolved. Each colony
became an independent republic, and assumed an absolute sovereignty. The
federal government, condemned to impotence by its constitution, and
no longer sustained by the presence of a common danger, witnessed the
outrages offered to its flag by the great nations of Europe, whilst it
was scarcely able to maintain its ground against the Indian tribes, and
to pay the interest of the debt which had been contracted during the
war of independence. It was already on the verge of destruction, when
it officially proclaimed its inability to conduct the government, and
appealed to the constituent authority of the nation. *b If America ever
approached (for however brief a time) that lofty pinnacle of glory
to which the fancy of its inhabitants is wont to point, it was at the
solemn moment at which the power of the nation abdicated, as it were,
the empire of the land. All ag