WHEN the people of America reflect that they are now called upon to
decide a question, which, in its consequences, must prove one of the
most important that ever engaged their attention, the propriety of
their taking a very comprehensive, as well as a very serious, view
of it, will be evident.
Nothing is more certain than the indispensable necessity of
government, and it is equally undeniable, that whenever and however
it is instituted, the people must cede to it some of their natural
rights, in order to vest it with requisite powers. It is well worthy
of consideration therefore, whether it would conduce more to the
interest of the people of America that they should, to all general
purposes, be one nation, under one federal government, or that they
should divide themselves into separate confederacies, and give to
the head of each the same kind of powers which they are advised to
place in one national government.
It has until lately been a received and uncontradicted opinion, that
the prosperity of the people of America depended on their continuing
firmly united, and the wishes, prayers, and efforts of our best and
wisest citizens have been constantly directed to that object. But
politicians now appear, who insist that this opinion is erroneous,
and that instead of looking for safety and happiness in union, we
ought to seek it in a division of the States into distinct
confederacies or sovereignties.
However extraordinary this new doctrine may appear, it nevertheless
has its advocates; and certain characters who were much opposed to
it formerly, are at present of the number. Whatever may be the
arguments or inducements which have wrought this change in the
sentiments and declarations of these gentlemen, it certainly would
not be wise in the people at large to adopt these new political
tenets without being fully convinced that they are founded in truth
and sound policy.
It has often given me pleasure to observe, that independent America
was not composed of detached and distant territories, but that one
connected, fertile, wide-spreading country was the portion of our
western sons of liberty. Providence has in a particular manner
blessed it with a variety of soils and productions, and watered it
with innumerable streams, for the delight and accommodation of its
inhabitants. A succession of navigable waters forms a kind of chain
round its borders, as if to bind it together; while the most noble
rivers in the world, running at convenient distances, present them
with highways for the easy communication of friendly aids, and the
mutual transportation and exchange of their various commodities.
With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice, that Providence
has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united
people--a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the
same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same
principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs,
and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side
by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established
general liberty and independence.
This country and this people seem to have been made for each other,
and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an
inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united
to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a
number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties.
Similar sentiments have hitherto prevailed among all orders and
denominations of men among us. To all general purposes we have
uniformly been one people; each individual citizen everywhere
enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection. As a
nation we have made peace and war; as a nation we have vanquished
our common enemies; as a nation we have formed alliances, and made
treaties, and entered into various compacts and conventions with
foreign states.
A strong sense of the value and blessings of union induced the
people, at a very early period, to institute a federal government to
preserve and perpetuate it. They formed it almost as soon as they
had political existence; nay, at a time when their habitations were
in flames, when many of their citizens were bleeding, and when the
progress of hostility and desolation left little room for those calm
and mature inquiries and reflections which must ever precede the
formation of a wise and well-balanced government for a free people.
It is not to be wondered at, that a government instituted in times
so inauspicious, should on experiment be found greatly deficient and
inadequate to the purpose it was intended to answer.
This intelligent people perceived and regretted these defects. Still
continuing no less attached to union than enamored of liberty, they
observed the danger which immediately threatened the former and more
remotely the latter; and being persuaded that ample security for
both could only be found in a national government more wisely
framed, they, as with one voice, convened the late convention at
Philadelphia, to take that important subject under consideration.
This convention, composed of men who possessed the confidence of the
people, and many of whom had become highly distinguished by their
patriotism, virtue, and wisdom, in times which tried the minds and
hearts of men, undertook the arduous task.
In the mild season of peace, with minds unoccupied by other
subjects, they passed many months in cool, uninterrupted, and daily
consultation; and finally, without having been awed by power, or
influenced by any passions except love for their country, they
presented and recommended to the people the plan produced by their
joint and very unanimous councils.
Admit, for so is the fact, that this plan is only recommended, not
imposed, yet let it be remembered that it is neither recommended to
blind approbation, nor to blind reprobation; but to that sedate and
candid consideration which the magnitude and importance of the
subject demand, and which it certainly ought to receive.
But this (as was remarked in the foregoing number of this paper) is
more to be wished than expected,that it may be so considered and
examined. Experience on a former occasion teaches us not to be too
sanguine in such hopes. It is not yet forgotten that well-grounded
apprehensions of imminent danger induced the people of America to
form the memorable Congress of 1774.
That body recommended certain measures to their constituents, and
the event proved their wisdom; yet it is fresh in our memories how
soon the press began to team with pamphlets and weekly papers
against those very measures. Not only many of the officers of
government, who obeyed the dictates of personal interest, but
others, from a mistaken estimate of consequences, or the undue
influence of former attachments or whose ambition aimed at objects
which did not correspond with the public good, were indefatigable in
their efforts to persuade the people to reject the advice of that
patriotic Congress. Many, indeed, were deceived and deluded, but the
majority of the people reasoned and decided judiciously; and happy
they are in reflecting that they did so.
They considered that the Congress was composed of many wise and
experienced men. That, being convened from different parts of the
country, they brought with them and communicated to each other a
variety of useful information. That, in the course of the time they
passed together in inquiring into and discussing the true interests
of their country, they must have acquired very accurate knowledge on
that head. That they were individually interested in the public
liberty and prosperity, and therefore that it was not less their
inclination than their duty to recommend only such measures as,
after the most mature deliberation, they really thought prudent and
advisable.
These and similar considerations then induced the people to rely
greatly on the judgment and integrity of the Congress; and they took
their advice, notwithstanding the various arts and endeavors used to
deter them from it.
But if the people at large had reason to confide in the men of that
Congress, few of whom had been fully tried or generally known, still
greater reason have they now to respect the judgment and advice of
the convention, for it is well known that some of the most
distinguished members of that Congress, who have been since tried
and justly approved for patriotism and abilities, and who have grown
old in acquiring political information, were also members of this
convention, and carried into it their accumulated knowledge and
experience.
It is worthy of remark that not only the first, but every succeeding
Congress, as well as the late convention, have invariably joined
with the people in thinking that the prosperity of America depended
on its Union. To preserve and perpetuate it was the great object of
the people in forming that convention, and it is also the great
object of the plan which the convention has advised them to adopt.
With what propriety, therefore, or for what good purposes, are
attempts at this particular period made by some men to depreciate
the importance of the Union? Or why is it suggested that three of
four confederacies would be better than one? I am persuaded in my
own mind that the people have always thought right on this subject,
and that their universal and uniform attachment to the cause of the
Union rests on great and weighty reasons, which I shall endeavor to
develop and explain in some ensuing papers.
They who promote the idea of substituting a number of distinct
confederacies in the room of the plan of the convention, seem
clearly to foresee that the rejection of it would put the
continuance of the Union in the utmost jeopardy. That certainly
would be the case, and I sincerely wish that it may be as clearly
foreseen by every good citizen, that whenever the dissolution of the
Union arrives, America will have reason to exclaim, in the words of
the poet: "FAREWELL! A LONG FAREWELL TO ALL MY GREATNESS."
Signed "PUBLIUS"
|