Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/243

§ 215. Prom the moment of the declaration of independence, if not for most purposes al an antecedent period, (he united colonics must be considered as being a nation de facto, having a general government over it created, and acting by the general consent of the people of all the colonics. The powers of that government were not, and indeed could not he well defined. But still its exclusive sovereignty, in many cases, was firmly established; and its controlling power over the states was in most, if not in all national measures, universally admitted.^[1] The articles of confederation, of which we shall have occasion to speak more hereafter, were not prepared or adopted by congress until November, 1777;^[2] they were not signed or ratified by any of the states until July, 1778; and they were not ratified, so as to become obligatory upon all the states, until March, 1781. In the intermediate time, congress continued to exercise the powers of a general government, whose acts

---

his views coincide with those stated in the text. The whole of that Appendix is worthy of the perusal of every constitutional lawyer, even though he might differ from some of the conclusions of the learned author. He will there find much reasoning from documentary evidence of a public nature, which has not hitherto been presented in a condensed or accurate shape. Some interesting views of this subject are also presented in President Monroe's Message on Internal Improvements, on the 4th of May, 1822, appended to his Message respecting the Cumberland Road. See, especially, pages 8 and 9. When Mr. Chief Justice Marshall, in Ogden v. Gibbons, (9 Wheat R. 187,) admits, that the states, before the formation of the constitution, were sovereign and independent, and were connected with each other only by a league, it is manifest, that he uses the word "sovereign" in a very restricted sense. Under the confederation there were many limitations upon the powers of the states.

1. See Penhallow v. Doane, 3 Dall. R. 54: Ware v. Hylton, 3 Dall. 199, per Chase J. See the Circular Letter of Congress, 13th Sept. 1779; 5 Jour. Cong. 341, 348, 349.
2. Jour. of Cong. 1777, p. 502.