Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/241

CHAPTER VII. THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. THE Congress of 1776, in issuing its famous proclamation, not only declared the colonies independent: it invited and authorised each of them to form a constitution. Happily for the colonies, that was a process which involved no revolutionary change. All that was needed was to place all the colonies, or, as we may now call them, States, on the same footing as Connecticut and Rhode Island by making the Governor and Council, who had hitherto been the nominees either of the Crown or the Proprietor, elective. The sovereignty of the Crown was an external force, standing above and outside the ordinary action of government. It could be removed without deranging the machine. The real weakness of the colonial cause lay in the lack of any coercive powers whereby Congress could enforce its wishes on the various State governments. The colonists, just emancipated from one form of central authority, shrank from placing themselves under another; and the attempt to formulate a really effective federal constitution called forth so much distrust and jealousy as to make it clear that the mere attempt would be fatal to union. A constitution was drawn up, investing Congress with military and diplomatic powers ; but no fixed conditions were imposed as to the number and proportion of repre- sentatives. The general charges incurred by Congress were to be met by a voluntary contribution from each State ; but no coercive machinery of any kind was provided whereby such a contribution could be exacted. An American statesman at a later day might well denounce the original Federal Constitution as "a rope of sand." The central government had to rely on the spontaneous loyalty of its subjects, a loyalty which waxed cold under the prolonged strain of war. Whenever its interests came into conflict with those of an individual State, the latter was sure to prevail. In engaging soldiers the State governments outbade Congress ; and the ablest men preferred serving their State legislatures to attending Congress. This danger was increased by an article in the Federal Constitution, which allowed any State to change its delegates as often as it pleased during the session of Congress C. M. H. VII. CH. VII. 14