AMERICAN HISTORY STUDIES. STEPS IN THE FORMATION OF THE Its N the first place it must be noticed that our constitution is a growth and not a creation of any one moment in our history. elements may be traced back to the days when our Teutonic ancestors were yet in the swamps and forests of Germany. On American soil several stages in its growth may be marked. In the New England confederacy, in the Albany plan of union of 1754, in the various plans proposed about 1774 and 1775, in the Articles of Confederation of 1781, we see successive movements, all essential parts of the ultimate result obtained in the convention of 1787. Along another line of development we may also trace the growth of the forces which became factors in this result. The charters granted by the crown to Virginia, to Massachusetts, to Rhode Island, to Connecticut, and to other colonies, the charters granted by the proprietors to Maryland, to Pennsylvania, etc., furnished many elements for the final structure. The principles of the common law, and the English constitution itself directly, were not without great influence. Anything like a complete study, therefore, of the genesis of our constitution would necessitate an elaborate collection of the material contained in the foregoing suggestions. Our aim will be rather to trace the causes which were the immediate occasion for the constitutional convention, and to note the more impor tant steps in the years which Mr. Fiske has so well called "The Critical Period." Also in studying the formation of the constitution it must ever be kept in mind that there were still in existence the two forces we have noticed at work in the colonial period, the one tending to union, and the other to localism. They operated at this time both as factors in determining whether there should be a new constitution at all, and also in influencing the nature of the union that should be formed. The question of the location of sovereignty was at issue. Did it rest in the state, or in the union? Should it be placed in the people as a whole, or should it be left in the hands of the local powers? The compromises in the constitution must be traced to their causes if we are to have a full understanding of the forces which were at work at the time. Sectionalism may be seen in many incidents occurring during these years, and especially in the debates in the constitutional and ratifying conventions. Slavery as a question of a distracting import crops out in many places. It was not yet at all an overshadowing issue, but it made itself felt. Class interests and class feelings are not absent. Creditor and debtor, city and country, coast region and interior, are all factors in determining the final form of the struggle and its result. In connection with the quotations from the documentary records, extracts have been made from the writings of a few of the great statesmen of the time. It was the intention to have presented the views of a greater number of the statesmen of that day, but the usual plea has to be made that it takes a great amount of time to go through hundreds of pages of matter to find out the quotable material, and the time was not at hand It is believed, however, that the extracts made are directly to the point, and will present the ideas of the day very sharply and vividly, Thomas Paine, in 1780, in "Public Good," an article arguing that the western territory should belong to the United States collectively, instead of to Virginia and other states individually, concludes with these remarkable words: I shall in this place take the opportunity of renewing a hint which I formerly threw out in the Pamphlet "Common Sense," and which the States will, sooner or later, see the convenience, if not the necessity, of adopting; which is, that of electing a continental convention, for the purpose of forming a continental constitution, describing and defining the powers and authority of Congress.-Paine's Writings (Conway), vol. II, p. 66. Washington's letters at least as early as 1780 show that he saw the necessity of a stronger bond of union among the states than the one which existed. Among other letters we find one to Hamilton, 4 March, 1783. The States cannot surely be so devoid of common sense, common honesty, and common policy, as to refuse their aid on a full, clear, and candid representation of facts from Congress. To me who know nothing of the business before Congress, nor of the arcana, it appears that such a measure would tend to promote the public weal; for it is clearly my opinion, unless Congress have powers competent to all general purposes, that the distresses we have encountered, the expense we have occurred, and the blood we have spilt, will avail us nothing.-Washington, Works, vol. VIII, p. 391. On March 31, 1783, he writes again to Hamilton in these words: My wish to see the union of these States established upon liberal and permanent principles, and inclination to contribute my mite in pointing out the defects of the present constitution, are equally great. . No man in the United States is or can be more deeply impressed with a necessity of a reform in our present confederation than myself. No man perhaps has felt the bad effects of it more sensibly; for to the defects thereof, and want of power in Congress, may justly be ascribed the prolongation of the war, ington, Works, vol. VIII, p. 410. To Lafayette he writes: .-Wash To avert these evils, to form a new constitution is a duty incumbent on every man In Washington's Circular Letter to the Governors, 8 June, 1783, he sets forth his hopes and his fears again in eloquent words: Such is our situation, and such are our prospects; but, notwithstanding happiness is ours, if we have a disposition to seize the occasion and make it our own; yet it appears to me there is an option still left to the United States of America, that . . it depends upon their conduct, whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable, as a nation. This is the time of their political probation; this is the moment when the eyes of the whole world are turned upon them; this is the moment to establish or ruin their national character forever; this is the favorable moment to give such a tone to our federal government as will enable it to answer the ends of its institution, or this may be the ill-fated moment for relaxing the powers of the Union, annihilating the cement of the confederation, and exposing us to become the sport of European politics, which may play one State against another For, according to the system of policy the States shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall; and by their confirmation or lapse it is yet to be decided whether the revolution must ultimately be considered a blessing or a curse: a blessing or a curse, not to the present age alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved, There are four things which are essential to the existence of the United States, as an independent power. First. An indissoluble union of the States under one federal head. Second. A sacred regard to public justice. |