The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-04-15

any. 1ut VENEER OF royalty Sool ulStP-
peared, and a confederacy for indie
pendence was seen to be essential.
/ Only free people can act in the or
ganization of a government, so the
Declaration of Independence preceded
the Articles of Confederation. John
Adams, however, referring to the
strong alta chment to the mother coun-
try says that many, when they saw
independence approaching, started
back
On June II, 1T76, committees of Con-
Gress were appointed to prepare
Declaration of Independence and also
Articles of Confederation. An agree
ment as TO grievances was not dlfncult,
and in less than month the Declare
ton of Independence was prepared,
adopted and signed. 1t was lot until
j November Is, 1T77, that Congress APP
proved the report of the committee on
Articles of Confederation.
The articles were sent to the States
with this appeal: Let them be eX-
amined with liberality becoming
brethren and fellow citizens, surround
ed by the same imminent dangers, con-
tending for the same illustrlohs prize,
and deeply interested in being forever
bound and connected together by ties
the most intimate and indissoluble.
And finally let them be adjusted with
the temper and magnarimity of the
wise and patriotic legislators, who,
while they are concerned for he pros
perity of their own more immediate
circle. are capable of rising superior 10
local attachments, when they are in
compatible with the safety, happiness
and glory of the general confeder ICY. y
Many objections We're offered by the
States, and many amendments were
proposed, but before January l, IT'S,
eleven states had signed. Delaware
.uic- T',l, 4 nd
I March l, 1871, only about eighteen
months before the preliminary treaty
I of peace.
( Union for defense is instructive; per-
manent union to promote the uses OF
peace requires the highest intelligence,
and more.
The affections of the colonists had
! been conferred in local control. The
source of their most priced blessings,
they believed it their defense against
tyranny. Their experience of an outside
( government had been sad. 1t had been
oppressive and often brutal, and had
/ become the object of their watchful
/ jealousy. Mr. Bancroft says: 'They
now applied that jealousy to one an
other, forgetting that the general power
would be in their own hands" Virginia
tolled her bells for Massachusetts sor-
rows, and they were scheduled as COM
mon SORROWS; but when the articles of
a permanent union came to be settled,
/ jealousy and selfshness again arose.
/ The Dean of Gloucester, referring to the
proposition of permanent union Of the
colonies, said it was lone of the idlest
and most visionary notions" ever con-
4 ceived.
Previous to the adoption of the arti-
/ cles of confederation the revolutionary
! government exercised perhaps even
larger powers than those provided for
in the articles. Its powers were re-
strained only by the will of those who
instituted it, Had it not been for the
necessity of presenting to the outside
world an organized national govern
ment, the adoption Of the articles might
have been further postponed. The con-
/ fidence of foreign friends who had ad-
vanced large loans upon the pledge of
a national credit was being shaken by
/ the long delay, and their demand that a
I plan of government should be sub
scribed and published became imper-
Iious
/ Although under the articles it was
called "a perpetual union" it was, in
/ fact, little more than an emergency gov
eminent. External rather than internal
forces regulated its efficiency. Its prac-
( teal force ceased with the disappear
lance of a common enemy. "A govern
/ ment by supplication," as Randolph
/ characterized it, was inadequate for ma
tional purposes. Hamilton called it a
! ''senseless and futile confederation"
Every power, jurisdiction and right
mot expressly delegated to Congress was
retained by each state. Jealous strict
/ ness was the rule of Interpretation.
Although such of the states as had
already framed constitutions had
| adopted the threefold division of the
powers of government, under the apti-
/ cles all powers granted were lodged in
! the Congress. Each state had its exec
utve and judiciary. The articles pro-
vided for no separate executive. adopted
! the exceptional form of single branch
of the legislature and gave to the Union
the most limited judicial powers.
a single executive seemed impossible.
A president from any state would I'M
duly magnify it's Importance. There
must be absolute equality between the
states. One from each state consti-
tuted the Committee of the states that
sat in the recess of Congress, as well
as other special committees. The Sc
verest limitations were put upon the in
| dependent action of members of Con-
gress. Administrative functions were
| first exercised by Congress, but later
boards were instituted.
Five persons not members of Congress
were appointed as a board Of war, and
a committee of claims, one from each
state, developed into a crude treasury
department. Except as to treaties al
ready proposed by Congress to the
courts Of France and SPAIN" the states
were not restrained in the matter Of
commercial regulations except in that
all duties imposed should be equal as
between foreigners and citizens of the
confederacy
for nearly all important legislation: and
over all was the destructive though IN
expressed limitation, that no act of
Congress could be executed in any state
until the state Legislature had added
its sanction. To be effective, a govern
ment must act directly upon a body
of citizens. Although under article -
each state was bound by the detern1ina-
, tons of Congress on all questions eX-
pressly submitted to Congress, there
were frequent instances where states
refused to be bound in such cases. The
Legislature of Virginia, in 1779, declared
that it was greatly alarmed at the
assumption of power lately exercised by
Congress" Admitting the right of
! Congress to recommend measures,
they would Judge of their utility and ex-
pediency, and either approve or reject
There has been good deal of modern
talk about the power to "coerce a
state;' but the thought is not only in
accurate but obsolete. No commission
under state seal, no resolve of
state legislature can stand between the
national authority and the citizens who
resists it.
No power was given to Congress to
regulate commerce. AS a source of
revenue this power was essential to
the Union; but it was more than
revenue question; it was the sine qua
non of an enduring Union There
could be no Union with thirteen tariff
Il al Trl,u 4