I. edy this evil he did not look to congress itself, but CHAP. "indicated the necessity of their calling a continental convention, for the express purpose of ascertaining, 1781. defining, enlarging, and limiting the duties and powers of their constitution." This is the third time that the suggestion of a general constituent convention was brought before the country by the press of Philadelphia. 1 The grand committee of thirteen delayed their report till the twentieth of July, and then only expressed a wish to give congress power in time of war to lay an embargo at least for sixty days, and to appoint receivers of the money of the United States as soon as collected by state officers. By their advice the business was then referred to a committee of three." Day seemed to break, when, on the twentieth of July, Edmund Randolph, who had just brought from Virginia the news of its disposition to strengthen the general government, Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, and James M. Varnum of Rhode Island, three of the ablest lawyers in their states, were selected to "prepare an exposition of the confederation, to devise a plan for its complete execution, and to present supplemental articles." July 20. In support of the proceedings of congress, Hamilton, during July and August, published a series of Julypapers which he called "The Continentalist." "There is hardly a man,” said he, "who will not acknowledge 1 Observations on the Nature and Use of Paper Credit, etc., Philadelphia, 1781, 37. The preface of the pamphlet is dated 24 May, 1781. 2 Report of the grand committee. MS. Aug. I. CHAP. the confederation unequal to a vigorous prosecution of the war, or to the preservation of the union in 1781. peace. The federal government, too weak at first, will continually grow weaker." "Already some of Aug. 22. 1 the states have evaded or refused the demands of congress; the currency is depreciated; public credit is at the lowest ebb; our army deficient in numbers and unprovided with everything; the enemy making an alarming progress in the southern states; Cornwallis still formidable to Virginia.' As in explana tion of our embarrassments nothing can be alleged to the disaffection of the people, we must have recourse to impolicy and mismanagement in their rulers.' We ought therefore not only to strain every nerve to render the present campaign as decisive as possible, but we ought without delay to enlarge the powers of congress. Every plan of which this is not the foundation will be illusory. The separate exertions of the states will never suffice. Nothing but a wellproportioned exertion of the resources for the whole, under the direction of a common council with power sufficient to give efficacy to their resolutions, can preserve us from being a conquered people now, or can make us a happy one hereafter."" The committee of three, Randolph, Ellsworth, and Varnum, made their report on the twenty-second of August. They declined to prepare an exposition of the confederation, because such a comment would be voluminous if coextensive with the subject; and, in I. the enumeration of powers, omissions would become CHAP. an argument against their existence. With professional exactness they explained in twenty-one cases the 1781. "manner" in which "the confederation required execu tion." As to delinquent states, they advised, "That— as America became a confederate republic to crush the present and future foes of her independence; as of this republic a general council is a necessary organ; and as, without the extension of its power, war may receive a fatal inclination and peace be exposed to daily convulsions-it be resolved to recommend to the several states to authorize the United States in congress assembled to lay embargoes and prescribe rules for impressing property in time of war; to appoint collectors of taxes required by congress; to admit new states with the consent of any dismembered state; to establish a consular system without reference to the states individually; to distrain the property of a state delinquent in its assigned proportion of men and money; and to vary the rules of suf frage in congress so as to decide the most important questions by the agreement of two thirds of the United States." 1 It was further proposed to make a representation to the several states of the necessity for these supplemental powers, and of pursuing in their development one uniform plan. At the time when this report was made, the country was rousing its energies for a final campaign. New England with its militia assisted to man the lines near New York; the commander-in-chief with 1 ' Reports on increasing the powers of congress. MS. CHAP. his army had gone to meet Cornwallis in Virginia; I. and Greene was recovering the three southernmost 1781. states. Few persons in that moment of suspense cared to read the political essays of Hamilton, and he hastened to take part in the war under the command of Lafayette. The hurry of crowded hours left no opportunity for deliberation on the reform of the constitution. Moreover, the committee of three, while they recognised the duty of obedience on the part of the states to the requisitions of congress, knew no way to force men into the ranks of the army, or distrain the property of a state. There could be no coercion; for every state was a delinquent. Had it been otherwise, the coercion of a state by force of arms is civil war, and, from the weakness of the confederacy and the strength of organization of each separate state, would have been disunion. Yet it was necessary for the public mind to pass through this process of reasoning. The conviction that the confederacy could propose no remedy for its weakness but the impracticable one of the coercion of sovereign states compelled the search for a really efficient and more humane form of government. Meantime the report of Randolph, Ellsworth, and Varnum, which was the result of the deliberations of nearly eight months, fell to the ground. We shall not have to wait long for a word from Washington; and, when he next speaks, he will propose "A NEW CONSTITUTION." CHAPTER II. THE STRUGGLE FOR REVENUE. 1781, 1782. II. SCHUYLER had been led by his own experience CHAP. to perceive the necessity for the states to surren der some part of their sovereignty, and adopt 1781. another system of government." In the senate of Jan. New York, he moved to request the eastern states to join in an early convention, which should form a perpetual league of incorporation, subservient, however, to the common interest of all the states; invite others to accede to it; erect Vermont into a state; devise a fund for the redemption of the common debts; substitute a permanent and uniform system for temporary expedients; and invest the confederacy with powers of coercion.' "We stand ready on our part to confer adequate Feb. 5. powers on congress," was the message of both houses to that body in a letter of the fifth of February, 1 Philip Schuyler to Washington, 21 Jan., 1781. Letters to Washington, iii. 213. |