referred to a committee of five, on which were John Witherspoon and James Madison, the master and his pupil. In the same days Pennsylvania instructed its delegates in congress that imposts on trade were absolutely necessary; and, in order to prevent any state from taking advantage of a neighbor, congress should recommend to the several states in union a system of imposts. Before the end of 1780 the legislative council and general assembly of New Jersey, while they insisted "that the rights of every state in the unior should be strictly maintained," declared that "congress represent the federal republic." ‡ Thus early was that name applied to the United States. Both branches of the legislature of New York, which at that time was "as well disposed a state as any in the union," # approved the proceedings of the convention as promoting the interest of the continent. |

With the year 1781, when the ministry of Great Britain believed themselves in possession of the three southernmost states and were cheering Cornwallis to complete his glory by the conquest of Virginia; when congress was confessedly without the means to recover the city of New York; when a large contingent from France was at Newport, serious efforts for the creation of a federal republic began, and never ceased until it was established. The people of New York, from motives of the highest patriotism, had already ceded its claims to western lands. The territory north-west of the Ohio, which Virginia had conquered, was on the second of January surrendered to the United States of America. For this renunciation one state and one state only had made delay. On the twentyninth, congress received the news so long anxiously waited for, that Maryland by a resolution of both branches of her legislature had acceded to the confederation, seven members only in the house voting in the negative. Duane, who had been taught by Washington that "greater powers to congress were indispensably necessary to the well-being and good government of public affairs," * instantly addressed him: "Let us devote this day to joy and congratulation, since by the accomplishment of our federal union we are become a nation. In a political view it is of more real importance than a victory over all our enemies. We shall not fail of taking advantage of the favorable temper of the states and recommending for ratification such additional articles as will give vigor and authority to government." ↑ The enthusiasm of the moment could not hide the truth, that without amendments the new system would struggle vainly for life. Washington answered: "Our affairs will not put on a different aspect unless congress is vested with, or will assume, greater powers than they exert at present." ‡

To John Sullivan of New Hampshire, another member of congress, Washington wrote: "I never expect to see a happy termination of the war, nor great national concerns well conducted in peace, till there is something more than a recommendatory power in congress. The last words, therefore, of my letter and the first wish of my heart concur in favor of it." #

The legislature of Maryland swiftly transformed its resolution into an act. The delegates having full authority, in the presence of congress, on the first day of March, subscribed the articles of confederation, and its complete, formal, and final ratification by all the United States was announced to the public; to the executives of the several states; to the American ministers in Europe, and through them to the courts at which they resided; to the minister plenipotentiary of France in America; to the commander-in-chief, and through him to the army. Clinton communicated "the important event" to the legislature of New York, adding: "This great national compact establishes our union." A But the completion of the confederation was the instant revelation of its insufficiency, and the summons to the people of America to form a better constitution.

Washington rejoiced that Virginia had relinquished her claim to the land south of the great lakes and north-west of the Ohio, which, he said, "for fertility of soil, pleasantness of climate, and other natural advantages, is equal to any known tract of country of the same extent in the universe." * He was pleased that Maryland had acceded to the confederation; but he saw no ground to rest satisfied.

On taking command of the army in Massachusetts in 1775, he at once discriminated between the proper functions of individual colonies and "that power and weight which ought of right to belong only to the whole;" † and he applied to Richard Henry Lee, then in congress, for aid in establishing the distinction. In the following years he steadily counselled the formation of one continental army. As a faithful laborer in the cause, as a man injuring his private estate without the smallest personal advantage, as one who wished the prosperity of America most devoutly, he in the last days of 1778 had pleaded with the statesmen of Virginia for that which to him was more than life. He called on Benjamin Harrison, then speaker of the house of delegates, on Mason, Wythe, Jefferson, Nicholas, Pendleton, and Nelson, "not to be satisfied with places in their own state while the common interests of America were mouldering and sinking into irretrievable ruin, but to attend to the momentous concerns of an empire." ‡ the great national interest is fixed upon a solid basis," so he wrote, in March 1779, to George Mason, "I lament the fatal policy of the states of employing their ablest men at home. How useless to put in fine order the smallest parts of a clock unless the great spring which is to set the whole in motion is well attended to! Let this voice call forth you, Jefferson, and others to save their country." # But now, with deeper emotion, he turns to his own state as he had done in the gloomy winter of 1778. He has no consolation but in the hope of a good federal government. His growing desire has the character of the forces of nature, which from the opening year increase in power till the earth is renewed.

A constant, close observer of what was done by Virginia, he held in mind that on the twenty-fourth day of December 1779, on occasion of some unwise proceedings of congress, she had resolved "that the legislature of this commonwealth are greatly alarmed at the assumption of power lately exercised by congress. While the right of recommending measures to each state by congress is admitted, we contend for that of judging of their utility and expediency, and of course either to approve or reject. Making any state answerable for not agreeing to any of its recommendations would establish a dangerous precedent against the authority of the legislature and the sovereignty of the separate státes." *

This interposition of the Virginia legislature so haunted Washington's mind that he felt himself more particularly impelled to address with freedom men of whose abilities and judgments he wished to avail himself. He thoroughly understood the obstinacy and strength of opinion which he must encounter and overcome. His native state, reaching to the Mississippi and dividing the South from the North, held, from its geographical place, its numbers, and the influence of its statesmen, a power of obstructing union such as belonged to no other state. He must persuade it to renounce some share of its individual sovereignty and forego "the liberty to reject or alter any act of congress which in a full representation of states has been solemnly debated and decided on," + or there is no hope of consolidating the union. His position was one of extreme delicacy; for he was at the head of the army which could alone be employed to enforce the requisitions of congress. He therefore selected, as the Virginians to whom he could safely address himself, the three great civilians whom that commonwealth had appointed to codify its laws and adapt them to the new state of society consequent on independence, Jefferson, its governor, Pendleton, the president of its court of appeals, and Wythe, its spotless chancellor. ‡

"The alliance of the states," he said, "is now complete. If the powers granted to the respective body of the states are inadequate, the defects should be considered and remedied. Danger may spring from delay; good will result from a timely application of a remedy. The present temper of the states is friendly to the establishment of a lasting union; the moment should be improved; if suffered to pass away it may never return, and, after gloriously and successfully contending against the usurpations of Britain, we may fall a prey to our own follies and disputes." He argued for the power of compelling the states to comply with the requisitions for men and money agreeably to their respective quotas; adding: "It would give me concern should it be thought of me that I am desirous of enlarging the powers of congress unnecessarily; I declare to God, my only aim is the general good." And he promised to make his views known to others besides the three.

His stepson, John Parke Custis, who was just entering into public life, he thus instructed: "The fear of giving sufficient powers to congress is futile. Under its present constitution, each assembly will be annihilated, and we must once more return to the government of Great Britain, and be made to kiss the rod preparing for our correction. A nominal head, which at present is but another name for congress, will no longer do. That honorable body, after hearing the interests and views of the several states fairly discussed and explained by their respective representatives, must dictate, and not merely recommend." *

To another Virginian, Joseph Jones of King George county, whom he regarded with sincere affection and perfect trust, he wrote: "Without a controlling power in congress it will be impossible to carry on the war; and we shall speedily be