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the object for which it was formed. At length, CHAP. II. the high importance which was attached to union 1783 triumphed over local interests; and on the 17th of September, that constitution which has been alike the theme of panegyric and invective, was presented to the American world.

government

United
States is sub-

respective

is ratified by eleven of

A resolution of the convention directed that A form of their work should be "laid before the United for the States in congress assembled, and declared the mitted to the opinion that it should afterwards be submitted to states, which a convention of delegates chosen in each state by the the people thereof, under the recommendation of its legislature, for their assent and ratification." It was also recommended, "that as soon as the conventions of nine states should have ratified the constitution," it should be carried into operation by the United States in congress assembled, in a mode which was prescribed. By the unanimous order of the convention, the instrument itself with its accompanying resolutions, was transmitted to congress in a letter subscribed by the president, in which the constitution was said to be, "the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession, which the peculiarity of their political situation rendered indispensable.

"That it will meet the full and entire approbation of every state," continued the letter," is not perhaps to be expected; but each will doubtless consider, that had her interests been alone consulted, the consequences might have been particularly disagreeable or injurious to others. That it is liable to as few exceptions as could reason. ably have been expected, we hope and believe;

CHAP. II. that it may promote the lasting welfare of that 1783 country so dear to us all, and secure her freedom and happiness, is our most ardent wish."

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1787.

Neither the intrinsic merits of the scheme of government which was thus offered to the Amer. ican people for their acceptance, nor the imposing weight of character by which it was supported, gave assurance to its advocates that it would be ultimately received. A comparison of the views and interests by which a powerful party was actuated, with particular provisions in the constitution which were especially designed to counter. act those views and interests, prepared them to expect a mass of zealous and active opposition, against which the powers of reason would be in vain directed, because the real motives in which it originated would not be avowed. There were also many individuals, possessing great influence and respectable talents, who, from judgment, or from particular causes, seemed desirous of retaining the sovereignty of the states unimpaired, and of reducing the union to an alliance between independent nations. To these descriptions of characters, joined by those who supposed that an opposi tion of interests existed between different parts of the continent, was added a numerous class of honest men, many of whom possessed no inconsiderable share of intelligence, who could identify them. selves perfectly with the state government, but who considered the government of the United States as in some respects foreign. The representation of their particular state not composing a majority of the national legislature, they could not consider that body as safely representing the people, and

1783

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1787.

were disposed to measure out power to it with the CHAP. 11. same sparing hand with which they would confer it on persons not chosen by themselves, not accountable to them for its exercise, nor having any common interest with them. That power might be abused, was to persons of this opinion, a conclusive argument against its being bestowed; and they seemed firmly persuaded that the cradle of the constitution would be the grave of republican liberty. The friends and the enemies of that instrument were stimulated to exertion by motives equally power"ful; and, during the interval between its publication and adoption, every faculty of the mind was strained to secure its reception or rejection. The press teemed with the productions of temperate reason, of genius, and of passion; and it was apparent that by each party, power, sovereignty, liberty, peace, and security; things most dear to the human heart, were believed to be staked on the question depending before the public. From that oblivion which is the common destiny of fugitive pieces, treating on subjects which agitate only for the moment, was rescued by its peculiar merit a series of essays which first appeared in the papers of New York. To expose the real circumstances of America, and the dangers which hung over the republic; to detect the numerous misrepresentations of the constitution; to refute the arguments of its opponents; and to confirm and increase its friends by a full and able development of its principles; three gentlemen,* distin

• Colonel Hamilton, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Jay.

CHAP. II. guished for their political experience, their talents, 1788. and their love of union, gave to the public a succession of numbers which, collected in two volumes under the title of the FEDERALIST, will be read and admired when the controversy in which that valuable treatise on government originated, shall be no longer remembered.

To decide the interesting question which agitated a continent, the best talents of the several states were assembled in their respective conventions. So balanced were parties in some of them, that even after the subject had been discussed for a considerable time, the fate of the constitution could scarcely be conjectured; and so small, in many instances, was the majority in its favour, as to afford strong ground for the opinion that had the influence of character been removed, the intrinsic merits of the instrument would not have secured its adoption. Indeed it is scarcely to be doubted that in some of the adopting states, a majority of the people were in the opposition. In all of them, the numerous amendments which were proposed, demonstrate the reluctance with which the new government was accepted; and that a dread of dismemberment, not an approbation of the particular system under consideration, had induced an acquiescence in it. The interesting nature of the question, the equality of the parties, the animation produced inevitably by ardent debate, had a necessary tendency to embitter the dispositions of the vanquished, and to fix more deeply, in many instances, their prejudices against a plan of government in opposition to which all their passions were enlisted.

At length, the conventions of eleven states* as- CHAP. II. sented to and ratified the constitution; and the 1788. preparatory measures were taken for bringing it into operation.

From the moment the public was possessed of this new arrangement of their political system, the attention of all was directed to general Washington as the first President of the United States. He alone was believed to fill so pre-eminent a station in the public opinion, that he might be placed at the head of the nation without exciting envy; and he alone possessed in so unlimited a degree the confidence of the people, that under

* North Carolina and Rhode Island did not at first accept the constitution, and New York was apparently dragged into it by a repugnance to being excluded from the confederacy. By the convention of that state a circular letter was addressed to the several states in the union inviting them to unite in calling a general convention to revise the constitution. The friends of the constitution seem to have been persuaded that this measure, if successful, would effectually destroy the edifice they had erected with so much labour, before an experience of its advantages could dissipate the prejudices which had been excited against it. "You will have seen," said one of its most effective advocates, "the circular letter from the convention of this state. It has a most pernicious tendency. If an early general convention cannot be parried, it is seriously to be feared that the system which has resisted so many direct attacks, may be at length successfully undermined by its enemies. It is now perhaps to be wished that Rhode Island may not accede until this new crisis of danger be over; some think it would be better if even New York had held out until the operation of the government could have dissipated the fears which artifice had created, and the attempts resulting from those fears and artifices."