192 JAMES MADISON 



war upon Great Britain in the West Indies and 

 Florida, to say nothing of Gibraltar, it is doubtful 

 if she could have done much more for the United 

 States, even if we had offered her the whole Missis- 

 sippi Valley. The offer of a permanent and invaluable 

 right in exchange for a temporary and questionable 

 advantage seemed to Mr. Madison very unwise ; 

 but as it was then generally held that in such matters 

 representatives must be bound by the wishes of their 

 constituents, he yielded, though under protest. But 

 hardly had the fresh instructions been despatched to 

 Mr. Jay when the overthrow of Cornwallis again turned 

 the scale, and Spain was informed that, as concerned 

 the Mississippi question, Congress was immovable. 

 The foresight and sound judgment shown by Mr. Madi- 

 son in this discussion added much to his reputation. 



His next prominent action related to the impost 

 law proposed in 1783. This was, in some respects, 

 the most important question of the day. The chief 

 source of the weakness of the United States during 

 the Revolutionary War had been the impossibility of 

 raising money by means of federal taxation. As long 

 as money could be raised only through requisitions 

 upon the state governments, and the different states 

 could not be brought to agree upon any method of 

 enforcing the requisitions, the state governments 

 were sure to prove delinquent. Finding it impossible 

 to obtain money for carrying on the war, Congress 

 had resorted to the issue of large quantities of incon- 

 vertible paper, with the natural results. There had 

 been a rapid inflation of values, followed by sudden 

 bankruptcy and the prostration of national credit. In 

 1783 it had become difficult to obtain foreign loans, 



