St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-05-09
Gbe CALIFORNIAN.
WASHINGTON.


Soufh Church, April 80, 1850.
Popular enthusiasm throughout
the Republic greeted the Centennial
of 70 with much more spirit than
this one of SO Itcould hardly have
been otherwise. The Declaration 70
independence was a more daring act
than the inauguration of a govern
ment But of the two, this day COM
memOrates much the most impOr-
tant and triumphant fact. 1t was
easier, by fighting, to throw off a
foreign government than by mutual
agreement to fit on a home one 1t
took seven wears to shake off the old:
almost seven more to get on the new.
The Revolutionary war disposed of
monarchy, but a worse thing was
threatened in the shape of anarchy.
There was nothing whatever to hold
the states together. Any one might
strike out for itself as some did,
among them the so called State of
Franklin" in East Tennessee. There
was no central government. The
authority of Continental Congress
was not recognized; the states were
bankrupt and jealous of each other;
laws were practically worthless, and
a general condition of disorganiza-
ton threatened
As at the former crisis of war, so
at this one of union or disuniOn,
Washington was the commanding
figure. The idea that possessed him
was, not an alliance of states, not an
agreement or confederation, but an
organic union into a national repub
lie Familiar enough as this seems
to us, born and bred under it, it was
then pretty much Il novelty except to
a few long-headed patriots like
Washington, Hamilton, Franklin and
others. AS early as 1871 Washing
ton wrote while in camp, IF we do
not allow for a central, controlling
power in Congress we shall be only
1 8 distinct states pushing local in
terests till annihilated in a general
the states is friendly to the forming
of lasting union and the moment
should be improved if possible to
move in that direction"
On the 18th of March, 1888, (before
as yet the 4th of March had become
a historic day, i. e., six years before
there was a republic, or 4 president
to be inaugurated,) Washington
wrote the governor of Virginia, Il
am decided in my opinion that the
war now closing, the blood spilled
and distresses felt, will avail nothing
unless the bond that holds us as
states together be made firm and
lasting in a Union" In April of the
same year he wrote Lafayette, THE
honor, power and true interest of
this country must be measured by a
continental scale. We must have in
stead of narrow state politics a con-
stitutiOn that will give stability and
dignity to the union and powers to
the great council of the nation" In
like strain he wrote at different times
to McHenry, Jay, Madison, Lee,
Randolph, Knox and others Still
again oppressed with the urgency of
the case, finding that the destinies
of the country were suspended by a
thread" Washington in June, 1898,
wrote final appeal to the people
I'm this crisis, he said, ''silence i'll
me would be crime. [
must say with freedom and sincerity
that for the safety of the individual
states there should be somewhere
lodged central power to regulate
the concerns of the republic. What
ever tends to dissolve the union or
lessen the sovereign authority ought
to be considered hostile to American
liberty and independence, leading to
anarchy and confusion"
1t took four full years to wake the
people up to the Importance of this
matter. Not till MAY II, 1877,
could convention be gotten togeth-
er to deliberate upon it at Philadel-
phia Even then they had to wait
i days for the tardy delegates; so
doubtful was the interest Then
SO days more were used up in debate,
till in the failure to reach agreement,
Franklin on the 2Sth of June moved,
that every morning session of this
Almighty God for guidance, for said
he, with the venerable accent of his
81 years, IF a sparrow cannot fall
without Gods notice, how can an
empire rise without his aid ?" 1t re-
quired four months for this cOnven-
ton to do its business, but what it
did was of supreme Importance for
the future of the states, for it cOnSOL
idated them into a nation. 1t gave
to the people for their adoption the
first written constitution ever drawn
by a nation for its own rule 1t
struck out the stately preamble,
I'VE, the people of the United States
in order to form a more perfect union,
establish Justice, ensure domestic
tranquility, provide for common de-
Tense, promote the general welfare,
secure blessings of liberty to our
selves and our pOsterity, do ordain
and establish this constitution for
the United States of America" Il
regard that constitution" says Glad
stone, 1.-The most wonderful work
ever struck off at a given time by the
brain and purpose of man"
Washington, as chairman of the
convention, signed the constitution
Sept. II, 1877. Never in his life,
except perhaps on the field of some
great battle, was he so aroused" as
in his urgency to have this constitu-
ton adopted by all the states. thus
binding themselves into a republic
Said he, There is no alternative be-
tween the adoption of this cOnstitu-
ton and anarchy 1t is either the
constitution or disunion." Of his
part in securing its adoption Ban
croft says, The country was an in
strument with IS strings, and the
Gold