The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-18


 build up one market and ruin another until the commercial pressure applied would gradually detaoh one section of the union and then another and lead them back to their old alegilance.
 As if to make the road easier for Eng land in this game the IS states pro- ceeded to engage in a domestic tariff war. The states with seaports preyed upon their landlocked neighbors. New Jersey was preyed upon by Pennsylvania and New York, North Carolina was sweated by South Carolina and Virginia Rhode Island put up the bars against Connecticut. And with it all, the north distrusted the south and the south the | north.
 Next there came a plague of paper | money. So much of this stuff was issued by the various states that 1t soon fell to 2 cents in the dollar and was so de- based that even the counterfeiters gave up the work of putting out spurious bills
 Work for the Constitution
 In 17S5 there was a meeting at Wash | earnest men, who saw the only salvation for the country through the establish ment of a strong central government. As a result of that gathering a call was issued for a convention at Annapolis the following year. Only five states appoint | ed commissioners who attended. Four | appointed commissioners who did not at tend and four states disregarded the call. | Hamilton ruled the convention. Ostensibly this convention was to consider the trade and commerce of the United States and | the question of the threatened closing of the Mississippi by Spain, but in the skillful hands of Hamilton 1t was worked around to a recommendation to the states to appoint delegates to "a conven- ton at Philadelphia to devise means to make the constitution of the United States adequate to the needs of the union
 Twelve of the IS states responded Rhode Island stayed out. That conven- tion was heartrending. It opened May IA, 17S7, and the final draft of the con- stitution was not signed until September r, and then by only 30 of the delegates It was not such constitution as Ham ilton hoped for. His plan had been re- jected. He wanted something akin to a limited or elective monarchy. He wanted President elected for life sena- tors elected for life, centralization of power in the government and lessen ing, if not wiping out, of state rights He wanted one nation, not group of 13 sovereign states.
 Nothing stands out more nobly in the career of Alexander Hamilton than his conduct after the constitution was framed at Philadelphia He looked upon the in- strument as a thing of little value, but it was the best he could get after all the work he and Washington had done to awaken the people to the need of na- tional policy. But the constitution had to be adopted by nine states before it could be put in force. To get the people to accept 1t was the next task. Nowhere was the struggle harder than in New York. Governor Clinton and all his great following were against 1t. To explain the constitution and it's needs Hamilton started the Federalist, one of the most remarkable of political papers the coun- try has known. Of the s5 essays printed in the paper more than 50 were by Ham, nton Of the rest Madison wrote the most. Jay wrote few. They were the greatest force that worked on mems constitution. They are as striking in their logic, in their appeal and in their literary beauty as any political papers in his tory.
 But all the power of the Federalist could not sway Clinton and his follow CTS. When the New York convention met in Poughkeepsie in June. 17SS, Hamilton wrote that "two-thirds of the convention and four-seventh of the people are against us." He was beaten on the first day by vote of 46 to 19 but he returned to the struggle. Day after day he argued. Day after day he explained every point. met every argument. He drew tears and he won applause but every day it was the same-46 to 19. For six weeks he labored. Other states were voting. He fought for delay, hoping and expecting that ratification by other states would help to turn the scales in New York At last he triumphed. At last the 46 began to favor. On July 25 Hamil- ton had a majority of 3 and New York had adopted the constitution. The most masterfui man in America had triumphed in one of the most remarkable struggles in the history of the state.
 Master of the Cabinet
 Washington when he was elected Presi- dent committed grave blunder. In his effort to allay sectional or party strife he selected his cabinet from rival camps Jefferson he made secretary of state and Hamilton secretary of the treasury. Knox and Randolph were the other members It was as easy to get Jefferson and Ham, ilton to agree as 1t is to make oil and water mix. The same, too. was true of Knox and Randolph.
 Hamilton had three main ideas to work out One was to bring order out of the l financial demoralixation into which the government had been plunged. Another was to promote manufacturs and com } 'merce. The third was to establish for