UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



59SO 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



this stand. Maryland held out until 1781, when 

 Congress declared that the ceded land should 

 be divided into states which should have all 

 the rights of the original states. All the other 

 states having already ratified the Articles, 

 Maryland's ratification finally put them into 

 effect. 



Soon after the Articles of Confederation were 

 first submitted to the states there was a belief 

 in many quarters that a stronger central gov- 

 ernment was necessary, but it took years of 

 bitter experience to make this need clear to 

 everybody. The worst flaw in the government 

 before the adoption of the Constitution was 

 that the central government was powerless to 

 raise money by taxation. In the years 1783- 

 1786 Congress made requisitions on the states 

 for about $10,000,000, but less than one-fourth 

 of this amount was received. Important legis- 

 lation in Congress was almost impossible under 

 the Confederation, because the votes of t nine 

 .states were needed to pass a law. There was no 

 executive head of the government, Congress 

 was rapidly becoming a mere name, and the 

 separate states were losing all sense of responsi- 

 bility toward each other. 



Independence had been won by arms, but it 

 now seemed that unity could not be won by 

 any means. Congress asked for power to con- 

 trol commerce, but the states refused to give it. 

 The decisions of various state courts differed on 

 similar issues, and Congress had no way of 

 reconciling them. One power Congress had, and 

 which it exercised, was control of the territory 

 ceded by the various states to the central gov- 

 ernment. The famous Ordinance of 1787 is 

 undoubtedly the most creditable monument of 

 what John Fiske has called the "critical period 

 of American history." 



The machinery of Federal government had 

 practically broken down several years before 

 the Constitution was adopted. The national 

 government, as Washington said, was but "the 

 shadow without the substance." The ablest 

 men, who might have built up a strong govern- 

 ment if there had been any foundation, pre- 

 ferred to give their time to state and local 

 affairs. To amend the Articles was practically 

 impossible, as the unanimous consent of the 

 states was needed. But underneath this shad- 

 owy structure of Confederation was the fact 

 that union and independence were comple- 

 mentary, and that the thirteen colonies, in 

 some senses at least, had become a nation. 

 When this fact was reflected in the general 

 sentiment a change was inevitable. 



Adoption of the Constitution. The change 

 came in a roundabout way. In 1785 Maryland 

 and Virginia appointed delegates to arrange for 

 the regulation of navigation on the Potomac- 

 River and in Chesapeake Bay. At the sugges- 

 tion of the delegates, the Virginia assembly 

 proposed a convention, in which all the states 

 should be represented, to draw up commercial 

 regulations for the United States. The conven- 

 tion met at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1786, but 

 only five states were represented. At Alexan- 

 der Hamilton's suggestion this Annapolis Con- 

 vention adjourned after issuing an appeal to all 

 the states to send delegates to a constitutional 

 convention to be held in Philadelphia in the 

 following year. Congress seconded the call for 

 the convention, and on May 25, 1787, delegates 

 from all the states except Rhode Island met in 

 Philadelphia. 



An abler body of men has probably never 

 met in the United States. George Washington 

 was elected president of the convention. 

 Among the delegates were James Madison, Ed- 

 mund Randolph, Benjamin Franklin, Gouver- 

 neur Morris, Robert Morris, James Wilson, 

 Rufus King, Elbridge Gerry, Roger Sherman, 

 Oliver Ellsworth, Alexander Hamilton and 

 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. 



The sessions of the Convention soon showed 

 that there was a sharp decision among the 

 delegates on two fundamental questions the 

 basis of representation in Congress and the ex- 

 tent to which the states should surrender their 

 sovereign rights to the national government. 

 As to representation, two plans were first pro- 

 posed: the "Virginia plan," advocated by the 

 large states, provided that in both houses repre- 

 sentation should be by population; the "New 

 Jersey Plan," advocated by the small states, 

 provided for equal representation in both 

 branches. The plan finally adopted was a com- 

 promise, equal representation in the Senate, 

 and representation by population in the House 

 of Representatives. As to the powers of the 

 national government, one party wished a strong, 

 centralized system; the other, a decentralized 

 system, in which the states should remain su- 

 preme. Here again compromise was necessary, 

 all powers not granted to the new government 

 being reserved to the states. 



Thus, in all essentials a compromise, the 

 Constitution of the United States completely 

 satisfied but few people. The' differences which 

 had existed among the delegates now appeared 

 among the states, when the Constitution was 

 submitted for their approval. Especially in 



