marked out the US' position from that of monarchical nations concerned with their European conception of legitimacy. ''It accords with our principles to acknowledge any government to be rightful...which is formed by the will of the nation, substantially declared. [ 16 ] These principles involved effective governance, discharge of national obligations, and general acceptance by the people. These requirements were comfortable for a nation that won its independence through revolution. Thomas Bailey in his writings calls this stand ''a corollary of the Declaration of Independence...adopted by President Washington and consistently followed by all his successors, with minor departures, until the time of Woodrow Wilson.'' [ 17 ] Bailey implies that the US has moved from the Jeffersonian criteria for recognition by the moralistic judgements exercised in the twentieth century with respect to such governments as those of the Soviet Union, Communist China and Cuba. [ 18 ] Malcolm Shaw brings in an interesting aspect of premature recognition of states. He says that there is often a difficult and unclear dividing line between the acceptable recognition of a new state, particularly one that is emerging as a result of secession, and intervention in the domestic affairs of another state by way of premature or precipitate recognition. [ 19 ] For each individual case, ''the state seeking to recognise will need to consider carefully the factual situation and the degree to which the criteria of statehood...have been fulfilled. It is therefore a process founded upon a perception of fact.'' [ 20 ]