individual sovereignty of the several States were never thought of by the enlightened band of patriots who framed this Declaration. The several States are not even mentioned by name in any part of it, as if it was intended to impress this maxim on America, that our freedom and independence arose from our UNION, and that without it, we could neither be free nor independent. Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each State is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distress."

These eloquent remarks were followed by an exposition of a part of the system, which, it is seen, had been elsewhere the source of much clamor,-the power conferred upon Congress to regulate the elections of its members. He closed with a vindication of the electoral process of choosing the President-with a defence of the powers of Congress, particularly respecting commerce and the currency; of the omission to provide for trials by Jury in civil cases; and with a forcible reply to the allegation, that the proposed Government was a violation of the Confederation. The honorable gentlemen say:Compacts should be binding, and that the Confederation was a compact. It was so; but it was a compact that had been repeatedly broken by every State in the Union; and all the writers on the laws of nations agree, that when the parties to a Treaty violate it, it is no longer binding. This was the case with the old Confederation. It was virtually dissolved; and it became necessary to form a new Constitution to render us secure at home, respectable abroad, and to give us that station among the nations of the world, to which, as a free and independent people, we are justly entitled."

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The CONVENTION of the State assembled at Charles

ton on the appointed day, and, having elected General Thomas Pinckney, the elder brother of Charles Cotesworth, its President, proceeded to discuss the Constitu-tion, by paragraphs. After a debate of nine days, in which the plan of Government was investigated at length, the deep interest that South Carolina had in its establishment shown, and after the rejection of a proposition to adjourn, until October, to await the action of Virginia, a vote was taken, showing one hundred and forty-nine members in favor, and seventy-three hostile to the system. The Constitution was then ratified unconditionally; but amendments were recommended to be engrafted on it in the mode it prescribed. Late in the month of May, this result was celebrated in Charleston, by a numerous procession, in which the Ship "Federalist," the emblem of the commerce of the United States, told of the hopes and future power of this great Republic.

CHAPTER LII.

AS FAR as any distinction can be observed between the motives of action in the different sections of the Union, it would appear, that the great anxiety of the Northern States was, that the proposed Government should conform in its structure, to their own popular institutions.

The active genius of their people felt the necessity of conferring powers adequate to the exigencies of the whole Republic; and they were chiefly desirous, by balances in the Constitution, and by limitations in the tenure of office, to check the abuse of those powers.

The Southern States, were more solicitous, lest the new system should interfere with their peculiar condition, and render their wealth tributary to the superior energy and enterprise of those engaged in Navigation. The former cared most for the direction of their strength,* the latter for the protection of their weakness. But, though thus modified by their respective situations, the prevailing sentiment throughout the Confederacy was a vigilant jealousy of their liberties.

* It is related, that at the close of the war, Washington said to General Lincoln, "We know what we Virginians have been fighting for, with our fine farms and climate; but can you tell, what it is, you, New Englanders, have fought for, with your cold and barren lands ?" "Yes," Lincoln replied, "for the liberty of using our heads and our hands."

In those members of the League, whose action on the Constitution has thus far been related, the great mass of talent and of influence had been exerted in its favor. The attention is now called to States of primary importance to the Federal system, where the conflict was more obstinate, the result not less doubtful; the interests and motives more complicated-Virginia, and New York.

It has been previously mentioned, in a letter of General Washington, that, in the counties of Virginia adjacent to his residence, the Constitution "had been embraced with enthusiastic warmth."

Berkeley expressed her gratitude to the delegates in the Federal Convention who had signed it. The clergy of the different denominations were requested to return. thanks for the unity of its proceedings, and pledges were given to support it.

In Fredericksburgh, and Petersburgh, both commercial towns, their delegates in the Legislature, then in session, were instructed to vote for a State Convention.

Such influence as Washington felt he could with propriety exert, amid the general expectation, that he was destined to the Presidency, was used by him. Patrick Henry had declined an appointment to the Convention, "to reserve himself," it was said, "for another sphere, where its result would receive its destiny from his omnipotence." Immediately after his return to Mount Vernon, Washington inclosed a copy of the Constitution to Henry, stating his sincere belief, that it was the best that could be obtained at that time; and, as a Constitutional door was opened for future amendments, that the adoption of it was desirable. "From a variety of concurring accounts," he observed, "it appears to me, that the political concerns of this country are, in a manner, suspended by * Madison to Washington.

a thread; and that the Convention has been looked up to by the reflecting part of the community, with a solicitude, which is hardly to be conceived; and, if nothing had been agreed upon by that body, anarchy would have ensued, the seeds being deeply sown in every soil." Henry confessed, that he could not accord with the plan.

The Legislature, then sitting at Richmond, took into consideration the call of a State Convention, on the twenty-fifth of October, eighty-seven. A resolution having this object, in pursuance of the recommendation of Congress, was presented by Francis Corbin. It was opposed by Henry, on the ground, that it implied a mere power of acceptance or rejection. He moved an amendment, which gave the power of proposing alterations. In this, Mason concurred, exclaiming "I would have lost this hand before it should have marked my name to the new Government." Marshall, a now great and venerated person, replied "That he would give to future conventions the fullest latitude in their deliberations; the privilege of considering fully and freely the nature of the Government in which we were to live. But, he would not give the impression, that they disapproved the new Government; and, therefore, he moved a substitute, which passed, that a Convention be called, and "the new Constitution be laid before them for their free and ample discussion."

An election was ordered in March, of a Convention to assemble on the second of June. "The new Constitution," Washington wrote to Hamilton, "has, as the public prints will have informed you, been handed to the people of this State by an unanimous vote of the Assembly, but it is not to be inferred from hence, that its opponents are silenced. On the contrary, there are many, and some powerful ones-some of whom, it is said, by over-shooting