History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States Volume I Part 3

[29] Journals, I. 112.

[30] Form of enlistment, Journals, I. 118.

[31] Ibid.

[32] See note at end of the chapter.

[33] Secret Journals of Congress, I. 18; Pitkin's History of the United States, I. 334, 335.

[34] Journals, I. 122.

[35] June 16-July 4, 1775. Journals, I. 112-133.

[36] Journals, I. 125, June 23, 1775. Ibid., I. 185, July 29, 1775.

[37] Ibid.

[38] Journals, I. 186, July 29, 1775. Michael Hillegas and George Clymer, Esquires, were elected Treasurers.

[39] Journals, I. 177, 178, July 26, 1775. Dr. Franklin was elected Postmaster-General for one year, and until another should be appointed by a future Congress.

[40] Journals, I. 106.

[41] Journals, I. 170.

[42] Journals, I. 285.

[43] Journals, I. 161, 162.

[44] Journals, II. 112, 141, 163, 201, 255, 302, 304.

[45] Journals, I. 213; II. 5.

[46] June 9, 1775.

[47] November 3, 1775.

[48] December 4, 1775.

[49] Journals, I. 115.

[50] Journals, I. 231, 235, 279.

[51] Annual Register.

[52] May 10, 1776. Journals, II. 166, 174.

CHAPTER III.

1776-1777.

CONTINUANCE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT.--DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.--PREPARATIONS FOR A NEW GOVERNMENT.--FORMATION OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.

On the 7th of June, 1776, after the Congress had in fact a.s.sumed and exercised sovereign powers with the a.s.sent of the people of America, a resolution was moved by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, and seconded by John Adams of Ma.s.sachusetts, "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally suppressed."[53] This resolution was referred to a committee of the whole, and was debated until the 10th, when it was adopted in committee. On the same day, a committee, consisting of five members,[54]

was instructed to prepare a declaration "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown; and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved." The resolution introduced by Mr. Lee on the 7th was postponed until the 1st of July, to give time for greater unanimity among the members, and to enable the people of the colonies to instruct and influence their delegates.

The postponement was immediately followed by proceedings in the colonies, in most of which the delegates in Congress were either instructed or authorized to vote for the resolution of Independence; and on the 2d of July that resolution received the a.s.sent in Congress of all the colonies, excepting Pennsylvania and Delaware. The Declaration of Independence was reported by the committee, who had been instructed to prepare it, on the 28th of June, and on the 4th of July it received the vote of every colony, and was published to the world.[55]

This celebrated instrument, regarded as a legislative proceeding, was the solemn enactment, by the representatives of all the colonies, of a complete dissolution of their allegiance to the British crown. It severed the political connection between the people of this country and the people of England, and at once erected the different colonies into free and independent states. The body by which this step was taken const.i.tuted the actual government of the nation, at the time, and its members had been directly invested with competent legislative power to take it, and had also been specially instructed to do so. The consequences flowing from its adoption were, that the local allegiance of the inhabitants of each colony became transferred and due to the colony itself, or, as it was expressed by the Congress, became due to the laws of the colony, from which they derived protection;[56] that the people of the country became thenceforth the rightful sovereign of the country; that they became united in a national corporate capacity, as one people; that they could thereafter enter into treaties and contract alliances with foreign nations, could levy war and conclude peace, and do all other acts pertaining to the exercise of a national sovereignty; and finally, that, in their national corporate capacity, they became known and designated as the United States of America. This Declaration was the first national state paper in which these words were used as the style and t.i.tle of the nation. In the enacting part of the instrument, the Congress styled themselves "the representatives of the United States of America in general Congress a.s.sembled"; and from that period, the previously "United Colonies" have been known as a political community, both within their own borders and by the other nations of the world, by the t.i.tle which they then a.s.sumed.[57]

On the same day on which the committee for preparing the Declaration of Independence was appointed, another committee, consisting of one member from each colony, was directed "to prepare and digest the form of a confederation to be entered into between these colonies." This committee reported a draft of Articles of Confederation, on the 12th of July, which were debated in Congress on several occasions between that day and the 20th of August of the same year, at which time a new draft was reported, and ordered to be printed. The subject was not again resumed, until the 8th of April, 1777; but, between that date and the 15th of the following November, sundry amendments were discussed and adopted, and the whole of the articles, as amended, were printed for the use of the Congress and the State Legislatures. On the 17th of November, a circular letter was reported and adopted, to be addressed to the Legislatures of the thirteen States, recommending to them "to invest the delegates of the State with competent powers, ultimately, in the name and behalf of the State, to subscribe Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union of the United States, and to attend Congress for that purpose on or before the 10th day of March next."[58]

A year and five months had thus elapsed, between the agitation of the subject of a new form of national government, and the adoption and recommendation of a form, by the Congress, for the consideration of the States.[59] During this interval, the affairs of the country were administered by the Revolutionary Congress, which had been inst.i.tuted, originally, for the purpose of obtaining redress peaceably from the British ministry, but which afterwards became _de facto_ the government of the country, for all the purposes of revolution and independence. In order to appreciate the objects of the Confederation, the obstacles which it had to encounter, and the mode in which those obstacles were finally overcome, it is necessary here to take a brief survey of the national affairs during the period beginning with the commencement of the war and the Declaration of Independence, and extending to the date of the submission of the Articles of Confederation to the State Legislatures. From no point of view can so much instruction be derived, as from the position in which Was.h.i.+ngton stood, during this period. By following the fortunes and appreciating the exertions of him who had been charged with the great military duty of achieving the liberties of the country, and especially by observing his relations with the government that had undertaken the war, we can best understand the fitness of that government for the great task to which it had been called.

The continental government, which commissioned and sent General Was.h.i.+ngton to take the command of the army which it had adopted, consisted solely of a body of delegates, chosen to represent the people of the several colonies or states, for certain purposes of national defence, safety, redress, and revolution. When the war had actually commenced, and the United Colonies were engaged in waging it, the Congress possessed, theoretically and rightfully, large political powers, of a vague revolutionary nature; but practically, they had little direct civil power, either legislative or executive. They were obliged to rely almost wholly on the legislatures, provincial congresses and committees, or other local bodies of the several colonies or states, to carry out their plans. When Was.h.i.+ngton arrived at Cambridge and found the army then encamped around Boston in a state requiring it to be entirely remodelled, he came as the general of a government which could do little more for him than recommend him to the Provincial Congress, to the Committee of Safety, and to the prominent citizens of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay. The people of the United States, at the present day, surrounded by the apparatus of national power, can form some idea of Was.h.i.+ngton's position, and of that of the government which he served, from the fact that, when he left Philadelphia to take the command of the army, he requested the Ma.s.sachusetts delegates to recommend to him bodies of men and respectable individuals, to whom he might apply, to get done, through voluntary cooperation, what was absolutely essential to the existence of that army.[60] In truth, the whole of his residence in Ma.s.sachusetts during the summer of 1775, and the winter of 1775-6, until he saw the British fleet go down the harbor of Boston, was filled with complicated difficulties, which sprang from the nature of the revolutionary government and the defects in its civil machinery, far more than from any and all other causes. These difficulties required the exertion of great intellectual and physical energy, the application of consummate prudence and forecast, and the patience and fort.i.tude which in him were so happily combined with power. They would have broken down many of the greatest generals whom the world has seen; but it is our good fortune to be able to look back upon his efforts to encounter them as among the more prominent and striking manifestations of the strength of Was.h.i.+ngton's mind and character, and as among the most valuable proofs of what we owe to him.

On the one side of him was the body of delegates, sitting at Philadelphia, by whom he had been commissioned, who const.i.tuted the government of America, and from whom every direction, order, or requisition, concerning national affairs, necessarily proceeded. On the other side were the Provincial Congresses, and other public bodies of the New England colonies, on whom he and the Congress were obliged to rely for the execution of their plans. He was compelled to become the director of this complicated machinery. There were committees of the Congress, charged with the different branches of the public service; but General Was.h.i.+ngton was obliged to attend personally to every detail, and to suggest, to urge, and to entreat action upon all the subjects that concerned the army and the campaign. His letters, addressed to the President of Congress, were read in that body, and votes or resolutions were pa.s.sed to give effect to his requests or recommendations. But this was not enough. Having obtained the proper order or requisition, he was next obliged to see that it was executed by the local bodies or magistrates, with whom he not infrequently was forced to discuss the whole subject anew. He met with great readiness of attention, and every disposition to make things personally convenient and agreeable to him; but he found, as he has recorded, a vital and inherent principle of delay, incompatible with military service, in the necessity he was under to transact business through such numerous and different channels.[61]

His applications to the Governor of Connecticut for hunting-s.h.i.+rts for the army;[62] to the Governor of Rhode Island for powder;[63] to the Ma.s.sachusetts Provincial Congress to apprehend deserters and to furnish supplies;[64] and to the New York Provincial Congress to prevent their citizens from trading with the enemy in Boston,[65]--together with the earnest appeals which he was obliged to make on these and many other subjects, which should never have been permitted to embarra.s.s him,--show how feeble were the powers and how defective was the machinery of the government which he served.

But there are two or three topics which it will be necessary to examine more particularly, in order fully to understand the character and working of the revolutionary government. The first of these is the formation of the army.

In order to carry on a war of any duration, it is the settled result of all experience, that the soldier should be bound to serve for a period long enough to insure discipline and skill, and should be under the influence of motives which look to substantial pecuniary rewards, as well as those founded on patriotism. According to Was.h.i.+ngton's experience, this is as true of officers as it is of common soldiers; and undoubtedly no army can be formed, and kept long enough in the field to be relied upon for the accomplishment of great purposes, if these maxims are neglected in its organization.

Unfortunately, the Revolutionary Congress, at the very commencement of the war, committed the serious error of enlisting soldiers for short periods. When Was.h.i.+ngton arrived at Cambridge, the army which the Congress had just adopted as the continental establishment consisted of certain regiments, raised on the spur of the moment by the provinces of Ma.s.sachusetts, New Hamps.h.i.+re, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; acting under their respective officers; regulated by their own militia laws; and, with the exception of those from Ma.s.sachusetts, under no legal obligation to obey the general then in command. The terms of service of most of these men would expire in the autumn; and as they had enlisted under their local governments for a special object, and had not been in service long enough to have merged their habits of thinking and feeling, as New England citizens, in the character of soldiers, they denied the power of their own governments or of the Congress to transfer them into another service, or to retain them after their enlistments had expired.[66] The army was therefore to be entirely remodelled; or, to speak more correctly, an army was to be formed, by making enlistments under the Articles of War which had been adopted by the Congress, and by organizing new regiments and brigades under officers holding continental commissions. But the greatest difficulties had to be encountered in this undertaking. The continental Articles of War required a longer term of service than any of these troops had originally engaged for, and the rules and regulations were far more stringent than the discipline to which they had hitherto been subjected. There was, moreover, great reluctance, on the part of both officers and men, to serve in regiments consisting of the inhabitants of different colonies. A Connecticut captain would not serve under a Ma.s.sachusetts colonel; a Ma.s.sachusetts colonel was unwilling to command Rhode Island men; and the men were equally indisposed to serve under officers from another colony, or under any officers, in fact, but those of their own choosing.[67]

In this state of things, a committee, consisting of Dr. Franklin, Mr.

Lynch, and Colonel Harrison, was sent by the Congress to confer with General Was.h.i.+ngton and with the local governments of the New England colonies, on the most effectual method of continuing, supporting, and regulating a continental army.[68] This committee arrived at Cambridge on the 18th of October, and sat until the 24th.[69] They rendered very important services to the commander-in-chief, in the organization of the army; but in forming this first military establishment of the Union, the strange error was committed by the Congress, of enlisting the men for the term of one year only, if not sooner discharged;--a capital mistake, the consequences of which were severely felt throughout the whole war.

There is no reason to suppose that General Was.h.i.+ngton concurred in the expediency of such short enlistments, then or at any other time; but he was obliged to yield to the pressure of the causes to which the mistake is fairly to be attributed. In fact, we find him, in a short time after the new system had been put into operation, pointing it out as a fatal error, in a letter to the President of Congress.[70] The error may have been owing to the character of the government, to the opinions and prejudices prevailing in Congress, and to the delusive idea, which still lingered in the minds of many of the members, that, although the sword had been drawn, the scabbard was not wholly thrown aside, and that they should be able to coerce the British ministry into a redress of grievances, which might be followed by a restoration of the relations between the colonies and the mother country, upon a const.i.tutional basis. No such idea was entertained by Was.h.i.+ngton, from the beginning.

He entertained no thought of accommodation, after the measures adopted in consequence of the battle of Bunker's Hill.

But at the time of which we are treating, the issue had not been made, as Was.h.i.+ngton would have made it; and, when we consider the state of things before the Declaration of Independence was adopted, and look attentively at the objects for which the Congress had been a.s.sembled, and at the nature of their powers, we may perceive how they came to make the mistake of not organizing a military establishment on a more permanent footing.

The delegates to the first Congress were, as we have seen, sent with instructions, which were substantially the same in all the colonies.

These instructions, in some instances, looked to "a redress of grievances," and in others, to "the recovery and establishment of the just rights and liberties of the colonies"; and the delegates were directed "to deliberate upon wise and proper measures, to be by them recommended to all the colonies," for the attainment of these objects.

But with this was coupled the declared object of a "restoration of union and harmony" upon "const.i.tutional principles." We have seen how far this body proceeded towards a revolution. The second, or Revolutionary Congress, was composed of delegates who were originally a.s.sembled under similar instructions; but the conflict of arms that had already taken place, between the times of their respective appointments and the date of their meeting, had materially changed the posture of affairs. Powers of a revolutionary nature had been cast upon them, by the force of circ.u.mstances; and when they finally resolved to take the field, the character of those powers, as understood and acted upon by themselves, is ill.u.s.trated by the commission which they issued to their General-in-chief, which embraced in its scope the whole vast object of "the defence of American liberty, and the repelling every hostile invasion thereof," by force of arms, and "by the rules and discipline of war, as herewith given."

It is obvious, therefore, that, at the time when the first continental army was to be formed, the powers of the national government were very broad, although vague and uncertain. There seems to have been no reason, upon principle, why they should not have adopted decrees, to be executed by their own immediate agents, and by their own direct force. But a practical difficulty embarra.s.sed and almost annulled this theoretical and rightful power. The government of the Congress rested on no definite, legislative faculty. When they came to a resolution, or vote, it const.i.tuted only a voluntary compact, to which the people of each colony pledged themselves, by their delegates, as to a treaty, but which depended for its observance entirely on the patriotism and good faith of the colony itself. No means existed of compelling obedience from a delinquent colony, and the government was not one which could operate directly upon individuals, unless it a.s.sumed the full exercise of powers derived from the revolutionary objects at which it aimed. These powers were not a.s.sumed and exercised to their full extent, for reasons peculiar to the situation of the country, and to the character, habits, and feelings of the people.

The people of the colonies had indeed sent their delegates to a Congress, to consult and determine upon the measures necessary to be adopted, in order to a.s.sert and maintain their rights. But they had never been accustomed to any machinery of government, or legislation, other than that existing in their own separate jurisdictions. They had imparted to the Congress no proper legislative authority, and no civil powers, except those of a revolutionary character. This revolutionary government was therefore entirely without civil executive officers, fundamental laws, or control over individuals; and the union of the colonies, so far as a union had taken place, was one from which any colony could withdraw at any time, without violating any legal obligation.

In addition to this, the popular feeling on the subject of the grievances existing, and of the measures that ought to be taken for redress, was quite different in the different colonies, before the Declaration of Independence was adopted. The leading patriotic or Whig colonies made common cause with each other, with great spirit and energy, and the more lukewarm followed, but with unequal steps.[71]

Virginia had, upon the whole, less to complain of than Ma.s.sachusetts; but she adopted the whole quarrel of her Northern sister, with the firmness of her Was.h.i.+ngton and the ardor of her Henry. New York, on the other hand, for a considerable period, and down to the month of January, 1775, stood nearly divided between the Whigs and the Tories, and did not choose its delegates to the second Congress until the 20th of April,--twenty days only before that body a.s.sembled.[72]