Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-11-08
The American Constitution
BY Darlington Marshall Justice Supreme

The Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks has established a
reputation for its patriotic impulses
and its devotion to the highest pur-
poses of popular government. 1t is
most fitting that our Magazine devote
space to a discussion of our consti-
tuition, the historic events which led
UP to its adoption, and the wonder
full development of the nation under
the beneficient guidance of that basic
document.
The Declaration of independence
was not compact: it was not q
charter of government; it contained
no pledge of Union or of cooperation
between the colonies or Of the indi-
viduals of the Continental Congress
who adopted that instrument, except
in the last paragraph thereof, which
stated: And for the support of this
declaration, with a firm reliance on
the protection of Divine Providence,
we mutually pledge to each other
our lives, our fortunes, and our
sacred honor"
Separation from the Mother
Country was one thing, the organi-
zation of new government was
quite another thing, as later events
proved. The first effort at coopera-
ton, and therefore the first charter
of government, if such it might be
called, was the ARTICLES of Confed-
Grafton" The first signatures to
that document were subscribed more
than two years after the Declara-
ton of Independence, to wit, August
8, 177S, by the States of New Hamp-
shire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut and New York, and the
last signature was that of Maryland,
on March /, 1871.
Even after the Articles had gone
into effect, they were almost with
out value so far as binding union
was concerned, because there was
no central authority which could
compel action on the part of any of
the Colonies, and at most the Con-
tfnental Congress could make recon-
mendations which the Colonies might
or might not follow. There was no
authority to raise armies or to levy
taxes to maintain them. BY its terms
leach state retains it's sovereignty
freedom and independence" 1t was
styled, not a charter of government,
but a firm league of friendship"
1t was sufficient to hold the Colonies
together in the face of the enemy
but rapidly fell into decay upon the
successful outcome of the Revolu-
ton.
The greatest need of this present
time is an educated, enlightened citi-
zenship, which will study the prob
lens of statecraft and which will
give to the affairs of state the same
earnest thought and consideration
that 1t Is accustomed to give to it's
own private affairs: which will study
the Constitution, and realize that
laws, however safe and sane and
salutary, can have but little effect
unless they are backed up by an
alert an aroused, and a determined
public opinion.
During the war and in the face
of the common peril, the Colonies
were able to hold together reason
ably well, but with the successful
issue of the Revolutionary War, they
Immediately began to drift apart.
The same Influences which prevented
the organization of a federal govern
ment in 1916 initiated against such
a government after the war closed
1t was found that the people of the
Colonies had very little in common.
not identical, and the separate col
onial governments organized after
the Declaration of Independence
were wholly dissimilar. The people
had different racial instincts, differ
ent commercial interests, in some
measure spoke different languages,
lived under different economic con-
ditions. Upon the seaboard they
were interested in commerce and
manufacture. Inland they were in
tereSted only in agriculture and
mining. Even at that early date
questions of commerce and tariff
were causes of severe differences.
After the war this common bond
no longer prevailed. After the close
of the war the old differences were
renewed and gradually increased.
Congress had no power to levy taxes,
and the individual States refused to
comply with the acquisitions of the
Continental Congress for money.
Only year before the Constitutional
Convention, conditions had become
so serious that mob drove the
Continental Congress out of Phila-
delphia, and about the same time
Shay's Rebellion compelled the legis-
lature of Massachusetts to adjourn.
militia of Massachusetts and COM
PEELED the supreme court of that
State to adjourn and sign an agree
ment never again to reconvene.
Other mobs compelled all the trial
courts of that State to quit business.
Conditions similar in degree and
different only in kind prevailed
among all the States. Some of the
States were threatening to make
separate treaties with foreign ma
tions. The western portion of North
Carolina seeded, forming the State
of Franklin, which is now the State
of Tennessee.
Under the influence of Washing
ton, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison,
and others, the States were persuad-
ed to send delegates to a convention
at Philadelphia to frame a stronger
central government.
The effort to secure representation
of all the States was most difficult.
The sentiment in favor of a stronger
central government was by no means
unanimous. Many of the leading
men of that period who had been
enthusiastic for the Declaration of
Independence were equally deter
mined in their opposition to a federal
Constitution. Among this number
were Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams,
and Richard Henry Lee. Each of
these great patriots and multitude
of other thoughtful men of that
period desired that each State should
have it's own independent sovereign
ty, and realized that any central
government other than the league of
States, which had thereunto existed.
Efinlloffo or