recommendation that they promptly authorize their delegates in Congress to ratify them. Some of the States at once complied, others hesitated. On March 1, 1781, the Maryland delegates ratified the Articles, being the last to do so. By this act the Confederation of the States was completed. Dr. Von Holst has said: "Until the adoption of the Articles of Confederation by all the States, Congress continued a revolutionary body, which was recognized by all the Colonies as de jure and de facto the National government, and which as such came into contact with foreign powers, and entered into engagements, the binding force of which on the whole people has never been called in question.” 1

1

1 Constitutional History of the United States, 1750-1833, p. 5.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CONFEDERATION, 1781-1789.

REFERENCES.

I. GENERAL.-Bancroft, Vol. IV., (The Formation of the American Constitution, in Five Books, I.); Story, Book II., Chaps. II.-IV.; Hildreth, Vol. III.; Winsor, Vol. VII., Chap. III.; Wilson, The State, XI.; Frothingham, Chap. XII.; Curtis, Books II., III.; Johnston, The United States, V., and Confederation, Articles of, (in Lalor); Cooley, Principles of Constitutional Law, Chap. I.; Journals of Congress, same as last chapter; Hart, Chap. V.; MacMaster, History of the People of the U. S., Vol. I., Chaps. I.-III.; Schouler, History of the U. S., Vol. I., Chap. I., First Section.

II. SPECIAL.-The best account of the financial phase of this period, which is in some respects the most important one of all, is that given by Sumner, The Financier and the Finances of the American Revolution.

147. Source of Its Powers.-The Articles of Confederation were framed by Congress and ratified by the State Legislatures. As neither Congress nor the Legislatures had been previously empowered to do anything of the kind, these acts were revolutionary acts, and, like the declaration of independence and the war, rested at last upon the approval and support of the people of the States. The Confederation was created by their agents, and existed with their approval and support.

148. Name and Nature of the New Government. -The new constitution was entitled, "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States." Article I. reads: "The style of this Confederacy shall be the United States of America." Article III.: “The said States [the thirteen are all enumerated in the preamble] hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding

themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever." Article II. reads: "Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled." But this by no means made the States full and absolute sovereigns; for the Articles proceeded to confirm the National Government in the high powers of sovereignty that it had exercised in 1775 and 1776, and had continued to exercise down to the day when they went into effect. Certain prohibitions utterly inconsistent with the idea that they were each sovereigns, either as societies or governments, were also laid upon the States. Still the Union was a confederation or Staatenbund, not a federal state or Bundesstaat.

149. The Confederate Congress.-The new government was a Congress that held annual sessions. Each State sent not less than two delegates, nor more than seven. The Legislatures elected delegates to serve one year, but could recall them at any time and send others in their places. No man could serve as a delegate more than three years out of every six. Each State paid its own delegates. Each State had one vote, which was determined by the majority of its delegates present when the vote was given. If the delegates were evenly divided, the State lost its vote. No question except to adjourn could be carried without a majority of all the States, and the most important questions, enumerated in Article IX., required the vote of nine States. Congress could also appoint a Committee of the States, consisting of one from each State, to exercise such of its own powers as Congress should commit to it, in the recess of that body, which, however, must not continue beyond six months. No man could serve as president of Congress more than one year in any three.

150. Powers of the Confederation.-These were all expressly delegated. The most important are these: The sole and exclusive power of determining on peace and war; sending and receiving ambassadors; entering into treaties and alliances; establishing rules governing captures on land and water; granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of peace; appointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies on the high seas; establishing courts of final appeal in all cases of captures; deciding, on appeal, disputes between the States concerning boundaries and jurisdiction; regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by Congress, or by the States; fixing the standards of weights and measures; regulating trade and managing all affairs with the Indians, not members of States; establishing and regulating postoffices from State to State; appointing all officers in the land forces, above regimental officers, and all naval officers in the National service, and commissioning both classes.

151. Commands to the States.-The States should send delegates to Congress and maintain them. They should contribute money to the National treasury and men to the National army, as Congress should apportion to them the one or the other according to the prescribed rules. No State, without the consent of Congress, should hold any diplomatic intercourse with foreign powers; or enter into any alliance with any other State without such consent; or lay any impost or duty interfering with the stipulations of any treaty entered into by Congress with a foreign power; or keep vessels of war or troops in time of peace except such as Congress should approve; or engage in war unless actually invaded; or issue letters of marque or reprisal except in case of a power against which Congress had already declared war. Every State should abide by the determinations of Congress on all delegated questions. The Articles of Confederation should be observed by every State, and the Union should be perpetual. But no alteration in the Articles should be made unless such

alteration should be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the Legislatures of every State.

152. The Continental and Confederate Governments. The powers delegated to the new Congress were much the same that the old one had exercised; while the prohibitions on the States, and the commands to them, had already been practically fixed by common consent. The customary Constitution that controlled the Continental Congress and the Articles of Confederation were developed at the same time, and were in substance the same thing. The only practical difference between the two governments was the lack of a written constitution in the first case, and its presence in the second. It is not surprising, therefore, that some writers should consider the Articles a mere incident, and so extend the Continental period to 1789. So we may well treat the two Congresses as one government.

153. Organization.-The government was extremely simple. It was a legislature consisting of one house, but it also exercised some executive and judicial powers. The President of Congress, sometimes called simply the President, while in no sense an executive head of the government, was still an officer of much dignity; he received a compensation from the National treasury, and gave his title to the present Chief Magistrate of the Republic.

154. Executive Departments.-Congress being suddenly called upon to carry on an extensive war, was compelled to create administrative machinery. There were, for a time, many Congressional committees charged with administrative duties. There were committees to purchase clothing for the army, to promote the manufacture of muskets and bayonets, to collect salt, to collect lead, etc., as well as committees to consider the state of trade, to draft resolutions and addresses, and to report a device for a National seal. But as it became apparent that efficient administration could not be secured by this means, there began to appear the outlines of executive departments.