5 



istics of our people even, great and fundamental as they arc, 

 instead of causing antagonism and conflict, with wisdom on the 

 part of tlie different communities contribute to the highest 

 interest and advancement of all. Under a just system of 

 reciprocity and co-operation, the variety of our productions 

 inures to tlie benefit of the people of every section, and the 

 differences in the characteristics of the people of the different 

 parts tend to create a general catholicity of feeling, and to 

 incite a noble spirit of emulation between the different com- 

 munities, in their intellectual, social and moral advancement. 



These truths our fathers comprehended. In devising a 

 system of government for these different communities, they 

 aimed at combining their several powers. They knew that a 

 rope is stronger made from braids than from single threads. 

 They did not attempt to destroy the autonomy of communities, 

 but to provide a system for their co-operation for the general 

 good. They did not attempt to interfere with the wonderful 

 order of nature. They proposed the grand experiment of 

 organizing communities, as individuals, into societies. They 

 established a states-system for the whole country, based upon 

 the internal freedom of the several parts. They left to each 

 large community entire control in all matters which affected its 

 people alone, and they conferred upon the general government 

 which they established, exclusive authority and power to regu- 

 late the intercourse of the several communities with each 

 other, and of the wdiole w^ith foreign nations. 



Tlie states-system which had so long existed in Europe de- 

 pended solely upon precedents, to which each age and nation 

 might give its own interpretations. Our fathers made an 

 advanced step. They organized a Constitutional states-isystem, 

 in which the rights and duties of all were carefully described 

 and limited. 



Under this system, and in, accordance with its spirit, all 

 business intercourse between the different sections has been 

 unrestricted. An unconditional free trade policy between the 

 different States has been maintained from the beginning, so 

 that interchange of products could always be made, subject 

 only to the cost of transportation . 



