GALLOWAY'S PLAN, 1774. 213 lating its own internal affairs in all cases, conforming at least in this respect to the later Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. The president-general, appointed by the Crown, should be assisted by a grand council, chosen once in three years by the assemblies; essentially a repetition of the plan of government in Massachusetts, under its charter of 1692. The grand council was to be a colonial Congress and be apportioned among the provinces. Its meetings should be annual, and it could be convened in special session, by the president-general. The powers possessed by the general assemblies over their own. members and the choice of their own speakers should be exercised by the council and its procedure should be regulated by the rules of the House of Commons. The new element in the plan was the recognition of the presidentgeneral and the council as an inferior and distinct branch of the British legislature. The assent of this American Parliament and the British Parliament should be required for all general acts affecting the colonies, whether as separate provisions or as acts affecting relations with England. But in times of war, the assent of the Parliament of England should not be necessary to bills passed for granting aid to the Crown. Though this plan contained nothing that can be construed as a precedent for our later constitutions, it is of interest because it expressed, in parliamentary form, the wishes of the American Loyalists at the outbreak of the Revolution. The origin and growth of the sentiment of union has already been traced to the time when Galloway's plan was rejected. Franklin, on the twenty-first of July, 1775, recognizing the necessity of some form of continental cooperation, submitted a sketch of Articles of Confederation,1 and its later history gives its contents unusual interest. 1 See pages 204-206. 214 ties, * * FRANKLIN'S PLAN, 1775. * * Under the name of the United Colonies of America, a Confederacy should be established, the colonies severally "entering into a firm league of friendship with each other, binding on themselves and their posterity, for their common defense, for the security of their liberand their mutual welfare;" language used later in the preamble of the national Constitution. The Confederation, however, was not to be a union in the sense in which the word is now used, but a league of equal corporations, as each colony retained as much as it might think fit of its own laws, customs, rights and privileges. Its local government was left undisturbed under its own control. For the more convenient management of general interests, delegates should be annually elected in each colony to meet in a general congress. The session should be held in different colonies in perpetual rotation, though Annapolis was designated as the first place of meeting. The rotation of membership in Congress was in conformity with precedents in earlier plans, and was thought to be a means of preventing jealousies. The powers of Congress were specified. It could determine war or peace; send and receive ambassadors and enter into alliances, which at this time were understood to be a reconciliation with Great Britain; settle colonial disputes and plant new colonies and make such general ordinances as might be necessary to the general welfare and to which particular assemblies were not competent, such as relating to the general commerce, the currency, the establishment of the mail service and the regulation of the army. It could also appoint the general officers, civil and military, of the Confederacy, such as the secretary and the general treasurer.1 1 See as to a treasurer, the proposition made in the Federal Convention of 1787, post, p. 478. FRANKLIN'S PLAN, 1775. 215 All charges of war and other general expenses incurred for the common welfare were to be defrayed out of a common treasury to be supplied by each colony in proportion to its number of male inhabitants between sixteen and sixty years of age; the first clear precedent in our history for the apportionment of revenue on the basis of persons. Each colony should levy a tax, as it judged best, for paying its proportion. The basis of taxation should also be the basis of representation, and there should be one delegate for every five thousand polls: the first provisions of the kind. To ascertain the population, a triennial census should be taken in each province: also the first provision of its kind. Half the members of Congress should constitute a quorum: a new precedent. Each delegate should have one vote and could vote by proxy. Thus in the legislative department, it will be observed, there were several innovations. The executive power, such as it was, should be vested by Congress in a council of twelve persons, appointed out of its own body; one-third for one year; one-third for two years, and one-third for three years: the precedent for the many retiring clauses to be found in our later constitutions. Two-thirds of the council could make a quorum, and, in the recess of Congress, it should manage the general continental business. There was nothing in this investment of executive power of great value as a precedent. Some limitation was placed on the colonies, as none could engage in war without the consent of Congress.1 The plan provided for amendments; Congress could propose them, and when approved by a majority of assemblies, they were to be equally binding with the articles: a clear precedent for the article on amendments in the national 1 Compare with the limitations on a State in the Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 10. 1 216 DICKINSON'S REPORT. Constitution. The plan proposed to admit into the Confederation every British colony in North America and the West Indies Islands, and also Ireland. Franklin's sketch is of greater interest to us because it became the basis for the plan which was reported to Congress on the twelfth of July, by the committee appointed to prepare Articles of Confederation.2 New Jersey was not represented, as it was not at this time in attendance. The committee's report was written by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania. That it was written before the Declaration of Independence is evident from its reference to colonies instead of States. Following quite closely the language of Franklin's sketch, it elaborated its articles. The independence and sovereignty, the religion and trade of each province were recognized, but at the same time limitations were put upon the colonies, for not one could send or receive embassies, or enter into confederation or alliances. There should be no discrimination by the Confederation against the trade or commerce of a colony; a provision introduced later with modification into the national Constitution and destined to be an element of great discord in relation to the rights of free persons of color.3 Each colony might lay imposts or duties on importation and exportation, provided it did not interfere with treaties entered into by the Confederation; the element of a provision in the national Constitution.* A colony should not keep a standing army, except as might be required to garrison forts necessary for its selfdefense, but it was empowered to maintain a well-dis 1 Article V. 2 Elliot, Vol V, 110. (1776) 3 Constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1; Article XIV, Section 1. See my Constitutional History of the American People, 1776-1850, Vol. I, Chapter XII. 4 Article I, Section 8, Clause 1. DICKINSON'S REPORT. 217 ciplined militia; a precedent utilized by the Federal Convention.1 When troops were raised for the common defense, all the commissioned officers, in each colony, except the general officers, should be appointed by its legislatures; a provision which in a modified form was incorporated in the national Constitution.2 Public expenses should be paid from a common treasury to be supplied by the colonies in proportion to the number of their inhabitants. A census in which the white inhabitants should be distinguished from the black should be taken triennially and be transmitted to Congress. A tax for paying the quota of the general revenue by the several colonies was to be levied by the assemblies. Without the previous consent of the Confederation, no colony should engage in war, unless actually invaded by enemies, or unless the danger of invasion was so great as not to admit of delay; but no colony should grant letters of marque or reprisal until after a declaration of war by the Confederation, and then only against that power with which the Confederation was at war; a limitation on the authority of the States made more complete by the national Constitution.3 A clause, taken from Franklin's sketch, forbade the purchase of land from the Indians by the colonies or by private persons before the boundaries of the colonies were ascertained. All purchases outside of these boundaries were to be by contract between the Confederation, or its authorized representatives, and the tribes, and for the general benefit of the Confederation; a precedent in part for the practice of the United States government in dealing with the Indians, and especially since the act of 1 United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 16. 2 Id. • Article I, Section 10, Clauses 1 and 3. |