Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-05-27

ssLooking backward" over our
political history, we find in its for
native stage, crowded into the COM
pass of less than twelve years, some
of the most important transactions
ever recorded in the annals of time.
The Fourth of July Declaration of
1776, followed by the Articles of
Confederation a little later on, the
war for independence in the mean
time spreading death and destruc-
tion for nearly eight years, followed
by the United States Constitutional
Convention ending its work on the
18th of September, 1887, make up
the prolific eleven and fraction
years, which brought into existence
and development the greatest nation
of all time.
Under the Articles of Confedera-
ton the several States, haviag been
Colonies of Great Britain, were inde-
pendent of each other, except in
their united cooperation against the
former in her mad attempt to subdue
them. They co-operated also in
devising ways and means to carry
on the war for independence. When
that was achieved it was soon ap-
parent to all the wise statesmen of
the day that Confederation of Thir-
teen Independent States lacked the
cohesive elements to make a com
pact and reliable general whole.
Hence the preamble to the Constitu-
tion of 1887 contains this significant
sentence: eve, the people of the
United States, in order to form
MORE PERFECT UNION, establish JUS
tice, insure domestic tranquility, pro-
vide for the common defense, pro-
mote the general welfare, and secure
the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain, and
establish this Constitution of the
United States of America" The
intention of the trainers of the Con
stitution was evidently not only to
establish more perfect union than
the Articles of the Confederation had
given, but a permanent one. Gen.
Washington, who presided over the
deliberations of the Constitutional
Convention, in submitting its pro-
ceedings to the Continental Con.
gress, says that, "In all our deliber-
ations on this subject (the Union)
we kept steadily in view that which
appears to US the greatest interest of
every American, the consolidation of
our Union, in which is involved our
prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps
our national existence" This is lust
as strong as the language of Daniel
Webster in his reply to Robert Y.
Hayne in the United States Senate
on January Goth, 1880: "The Con-
stitution and the Union now and
forever, one and inseparable." The
aim of the trainers of the Constitu-
tion, which was finally adopted, was
to make the general government
strong without making the State
governments weak. They meant
that both should be sovereign in
their appropriate sphere. Adams
and Jefferson were both in Europe
when the Constitution was framed
and reported for adoption. The for
mer was in London, and the latter in
Paris, both negotiating in behalf of
their country in its then unsettled
and depressed condition. But there
were other master minds with the
wisdom needed for the intricate work
of framing a constitution. James
Madison and Edmund Randolph of
Virginia, John Rutledge and 9. @.
Pinckney of South Carolina, Benja-
min Franklin and James Wilson of
Pennsylvania, Luther Martin of
Maryland, William Patterson of
New Jersey, Alexander Hamilton
and Robert Yates of New York,
Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and
Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts,
were among the most prominent, if
not the most prominent, members of
the convention. One of the brainiest
men in the whole body was Alexan-
der Hamilton. He advocated a.
strong general government that was
calculated to take away all sover-
eighty from the States. An old
work in the library of the writer,
called "The Secret Proceedings and
Debates Of the Convention of 1887"
reports on pages 243. .246 a syllabus
of his plan of government "The
Chief Executive to be appointed to
serve during good behavior; Sena-
tors, Congressman and Supreme
Judges to be appointed by electors
and to serve during good behavior
the Governors of the States to be