If I needed any justification2 for addresses, which I was graciously invited to deliver under the auspices3 of the University of London, an honour which I also gratefully acknowledge, it would lie in the fact that we are to consider one of the supremely4 great achievements of the English-speaking race. It is in that aspect that I shall treat my theme; for, as a philosophical5 or juristic discussion of the American Constitution, my addresses will be neither as "deep as a well, nor as wide as a church door."
My auditors7 will bear in mind that I must limit each address to the duration of an hour, and that I cannot go deeply or exhaustively into a subject that has challenged the admiring comment and profound consideration of the intellectual world for nearly a century and a half.
If England and America are to act together in the coming time—and the destinies of the world are, to a very large extent, in their keeping, then they must know each other better, and, to this end, they must take a greater interest in each other's history and political institutions. My principal purpose in these lectures is to deepen the interest of this great nation in one of the very greatest and far-reaching achievements of our common race.
Americans have never lacked interest in English history; for however broad the stream of our national life, how could we ignore its chief source?
But is there in England an equal interest in the history of America, whose origin and development constitute one of the most dramatic and significant dramas ever played upon the stage of this "wide and universal theatre of man"? It is true that Thackeray, in his Virginians, gave us in fiction the finest picture of our colonial life, and the late and deeply lamented8 Lord Bryce wrote one of the best commentaries upon our institutions in The American Commonwealth9. In more recent years two of the most moving portraits of our Hamilton and Lincoln are due to your Mr. Oliver and Lord Charnwood. We gratefully recognize this; and yet, how many educated Englishmen have studied that little known chapter of our history, which gave to the progress of mankind a contribution to political science which your Gladstone praised as the greatest "ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man"? If "peace hath her victories no less renown'd than war," this achievement may well justify10 your study and awaken11 your admiration12; for, as I have already said and cannot too strongly emphasize, it was the work of the English-speaking race, of men who, shortly before they entered upon this great work of constructive13 statecraft, were citizens of your Empire. The conditions of colonial development had profoundly stimulated14 in these English pioneers the sense and genius for constitutionalism.
In his speech on Conciliation15 with America of March 22, 1775, Edmund Burke showed his characteristically philosophic6 comprehension of this powerful constitutional conscience of the then American subjects of the Empire. After stating that in no other country in the world was law so generally studied, and referring to the fact that as many copies of Blackstone's Commentaries had been sold in America as in England, he added:
"This study renders men acute, inquisitive16, dexterous17, prompt in attack, ready in defence, full of resources. In other countries the people, more simple and of a less mercurial18 cast, judge of an ill principle in government only by an actual grievance19; here they anticipate the evil, and judge of the pressure of the grievance by the badness of the principle."
Moreover, these hardy20 pioneers were the privileged heirs of the great political traditions of England. While the Constitution of the United States was very much more than an adaptation of the British Constitution, yet its underlying21 spirit was that of the English speaking race and the Common Law. Behind the framers of the Constitution, as they entered upon their momentous22 task, were the mighty23 shades of Simon de Montfort, Coke, Sandys, Bacon, Eliot, Hampden, Lilburne, Milton, Shaftesbury and Locke. Could there be a better illustration of Sir Frederick Pollock's noble tribute to the genius of the common law:
"Remember that Our Lady, the Common Law, is not a task-mistress, but a bountiful sovereign, whose service is freedom. The destinies of the English-speaking world are bound up with her fortunes and migrations24 and its conquests are justified25 by her works"?
Another reason makes the consideration of the subject not only interesting but opportune26. "These are the times that try men's souls." It is a time of sifting27, when men of all nations in civilization in these critical days are again testing the value even of those political institutions which have the sanction of the past. Society is in a state of flux28. Everywhere the foundations of governmental structures seem to be settling—let us hope and pray upon a surer foundation—and when the seismic29 convulsion of the world war is taken into account, it is not surprising that this is so. While the storm is not yet past and the waves have not wholly subsided30, it is natural that everywhere thoughtful men as true mariners31 are taking their reckonings to know where they are and whether the frail32 bark of human institutions is still sufficiently33 seaworthy to keep afloat.
Moreover, the patent evidences of weakness in the international organization that we call civilization, the imperative34 need of ending the spirit of moral anarchy35, and the urgent necessity of rebuilding the shattered ruins of the social edifice36 on surer foundations by the integration37 of the nations, if possible, into some new form of world organization, gives peculiar interest in these terrible days to the manner in which the American people solved a similar problem more than a century ago.
Then, as now, a world war had ended. Then, as now, half the world was prostrated38 by the wounds of fratricidal strife39. As Washington said: "The whole world was in an uproar," and he added that the task "was to steer40 safely between Scylla and Charybdis." The problem, then as now, was not only to make "the world safe for democracy," but to make democracy, for which there is no alternative, safe for the world. The thirteen colonies in 1787, while small and relatively41 unimportant, were, however, a little world in themselves, and, relatively to their numbers and resources, this problem, which they confronted and solved, differed in degree but not in kind from that which now confronts civilization. Impoverished42 in resources, exhausted43 by the loss of the flower of their youth, demoralized by the reaction from feverish44 strife, the forces of disintegration45 had set in in the United States between 1783 and 1787. Law and order had almost perished and the provisional government had been reduced to impotence. A few wise and noble spirits, true Faithfuls and Great Hearts, led a despondent46 people out of the Slough47 of Despond till their feet were again on firm ground and their faces turned towards the Delectable48 Mountains of peace, justice, and liberty. Let it be emphasized that they did this, not by seeking more power, but by imposing49 restraints upon themselves. That spirit of self-restraint is the essence of the American Constitution.
So enduring was their achievement that to-day the Constitution of the United States is the oldest comprehensive written form of government now existing in the world. Few, if any, forms of government have better withstood the mad spirit of innovation, or more effectively proved their merit by the "arduous50 greatness of things done."
For this reason, as the nations of the world are now trying in a cosmic form and under similar conditions to do that which the founders51 of the American Republic in 1787 did in a microcosmic form, a short narration52 of that earlier achievement may not be unprofitable in this day and generation, when we are blindly groping towards some common basis for international co-ordination.
One of England's greatest Prime Ministers, William Pitt, shortly after the adoption53 of the Constitution, prophetically said that it would be the admiration of the future ages and the pattern for future constitution building. Time has verified his prediction, for constitution making has been, since the American Constitution was adopted, a continuous industry. The American Constitution has been the classic model for the federated State. Lieber estimated that three hundred and fifty constitutions were made in the first sixty years of the nineteenth century, and, in the constituent54 States of the American union, one hundred and three new Constitutions were promulgated55 in the first century of the United States.
"Have you a copy of the French Constitution?" was asked of a bookseller during the second French Empire, and the characteristically witty56 Gallic reply was: "We do not deal in periodical literature."
Constitutions, as governmental panaceas57, have come and gone; but it can be said of the American Constitution, paraphrasing58 the noble tribute of Dr. Johnson to the immortal59 fame of Shakespeare, that the stream of time, which has washed away the dissoluble fabric60 of many other paper constitutions has left almost untouched its adamantine strength. Excepting the first ten amendments61, which were virtually a part of the original charter, only nine others have been adopted in more than one hundred and thirty years.
A constitution, while primarily for the distribution of governmental powers, is, in its last analysis, a formal expression of adherence62 to that which in modern times has been called the higher law, and which in ancient times was called natural law. The jurisprudence of every nation has, with more or less clearness, recognized the existence of certain primal63 and fundamental laws which are superior to the laws, statutes64, or conventions of living generations. The original use of the term was to import the superiority of the Imperial edict to the laws of the Comitia. All nations have recognized this higher law to a greater or less extent. If we turn to the writings of the most intellectual race in ancient time and possibly in recorded history—the Greeks—we shall see the higher law vindicated65 with incomparable power in the moral philosophy of its three greatest dramatists, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. How was it better expressed than by Antigone when she was asked whether she had transgressed66 the laws of the state and replied:
"Yes, for that law was not from Zeus, nor did Justice, dweller67 with the gods below, establish it among men; nor deemed I that thy decree—mere mortal that thou art—could override68 those unwritten and unfailing mandates69, which are not of to-day or yesterday, but ever live and no one knows their birthtide."
Five centuries later the greatest of the Roman lawyers and orators71, Cicero, spoke72 in the same terms of a higher law, "which was never written and which we are never taught, which we never team by reading, but which was drawn73 by nature herself."
The Roman jurists gave it express recognition. They always recognized the distinction between jus civile, or the law of the State, and the jus naturale, or the law of Nature. They nobly conceived that human society was a single unit and that it was governed by a law that was both antecedent and paramount74 to the law of Rome. Thus, the idea of a higher law transcending75 the power of a living generation, and therefore eternal as justice itself—became lodged76 in our system of jurisprudence. Nor was the Common Law wanting in a recognition of a higher law that would curb77 the power of King or Parliament, for its earlier masters, including four Chief Justices (Coke, Hobart, Holt, and Popham), supported the doctrine78, as laid down by Coke, that the judiciary had the power to nullify a law if it were "against common right and reason."—(Bonham's Case, 8 Coke Reports, 114.)
This view as to the limitation of government and the denial of its omnipotence79 was powerfully accentuated80 in America by the very conditions of its colonization81. The good yeomen of England who journeyed to America went in the spirit of the noble and intrepid82 Kent, when, turning his back upon King Lear's temporary injustice83, he said that he would "shape his old course in a country new." Was it strange that the early colonists84, as they braved the hardships and perils85 of a dangerous voyage, only to be confronted in the wilderness86 by disease, famine and massacre87, should fall back for their own government upon these primal verities88 of human society, and claim not only their inherited rights as Englishmen, but also the peculiar privileges of pioneers in an unconquered wilderness?
This spirit of constitutionalism in America, which culminated90 in the Constitution of the United States, had its institutional origin in the spacious91 days of Queen Elizabeth. That wonderful age, which gave to the world not only Shakespeare, Spenser and Jonson, but also Drake, Frobisher and Raleigh, was the Anglo-Saxon reaction to the Renaissance92. The spirit of man had a new birth and was breaking away from the too rigid93 bonds of ancient custom and authority.
Among the notable, but little known, leaders of that time was Sir Edwin Sandys, the leading spirit of the London (or Virginia) company. He was a Liberal when to be such was an "extra hazardous94 risk." He was the son of a Liberal, for his father, a great prelate, had been sent to the Tower for preaching in defence of Lady Jane Grey. The son, Sir Edwin, was the foe95 of monopolies, and in the same Parliament that impeached96 the great genius of this Inn, Francis Bacon, Sandys advocated the then novel proposition that accused prisoners should have the right to be represented by counsel, to which the strange objection was made that it would subvert97 the administration of justice. As early as 1613, he had boldly declared in Parliament that even the King's authority rested upon the clear understanding that there were reciprocal conditions which neither ruler nor subject could violate with impunity98. He might not too fancifully be called the "Father of American Constitutionalism," for he caused a constitution—possibly the first time that that word was ever applied99 to a comprehensive scheme of government—to be drafted for the little colony of Virginia in 1609 and amplified100 in 1612. Speaking in this venerable Hall, whose very walls eloquently101 remind us of the mighty genius of Francis Bacon, it is interesting to recall that these two charters of government, which were the beginning of Constitutionalism in America and therefore the germ of the Constitution of the United States, were put in legal form for royal approval by Lord Bacon himself. Thus the immortal Treasurer102 of this Inn is directly linked with the development of Constitutional freedom in America.
Bacon became a member of the council for the Virginia Company in 1609.
His deep interest in it is attested103 in the dedication104 to him by William
Strachey in 1618 of the latter's Historie of Travaile into Virginia
Brittania.
In his speech in the House of Commons on January 30, 1621, Bacon saw a vision of the future and predicted the growth of America, when he said:
"This kingdom now first in His Majesty's Times hath gotten a lot or portion in the New World by the plantation106 of Virginia and the Summer Islands. And certainly it is with the kingdoms on earth as it is in the kingdom of heaven, sometimes a grain of mustard seed proves a great tree."
Truly the mustard seed of Virginia did become a great tree in the
American Commonwealth.
One of Bacon's nephews, also of the Inns of Court, Nathaniel Bacon, became the first Liberal leader in the Colonies, and led the first revolt against colonial misrule. He was probably of Gray's Inn, for it is difficult to imagine a Bacon studying in any Inn than the one to which the great Bacon had given so much loving care.
Due to these charters, on July 30, 1619, the little remnant of colonists whom disease and famine had left untouched were summoned to meet in the church at Jamestown to form the first parliamentary assembly in America, the first-born of the fruitful Mother of Parliaments. It was due to Sandys not only that the first permanent English settlement in the Western World was planted at Jamestown in 1607, but that a later group of "adventurers"—for such they called themselves—destined107 to be more famous, were driven by chance of wind and wave to land on the coast of Massachusetts. Thus was established, not only the beginning of England's colonial Empire—still one of the most beneficent forces in the world—but also the principle of local self-government, which, in the Western World, was destined to develop the American Commonwealth. The compact, signed in the cabin of the Mayflower, while not in strictness a constitution, like the Virginia Charter, was yet destined to be a landmark108 of history.
Sandys suffered for his convictions, for the party of reaction convinced King James that Virginia was a nest of sedition109, and the arbitrary ruler, in the reorganization of the London company, gave a pointed110 admonition by saying: "Choose the devil, if you will, but not Sir Edwin Sandys." In 1621 he was committed to the Tower and only released after the House of Commons had made a vigorous protest against his incarceration111. His successor as treasurer of the London company was Shakespeare's patron, the Earl of Southampton, and it is not a fanciful conjecture112 to assume that, when the news of the disaster which befell one of the fleets of the London Company on the Island of Bermuda reached England, it inspired Shakespeare to write his incomparable sea idyl, The Tempest. If so, this lovely drama was Shakespeare's unconscious apostrophe to America, for in Ariel—seeking to be free—can be symbolized113 her awakening114 spirit, while Prospero, with his thaumaturgic achievements, suggests a constructive genius, which in a little more than a century has made one of the least of the nations to-day one of the greatest.
Bacon, Sandys, Southampton and the Liberal leaders of the House of Commons had implanted in the ideas of the colonists the spirit of constitutionalism, which was destined to influence profoundly the whole development of the American colonies, and finally to culminate89 in the Constitution of the United States.
The later struggle in the Long Parliament, the fall of Charles I, and more especially the deposition115 of James II, the accession of William of Orange, and the substitution for the Stuart claim of divine right that of the supremacy116 of the people in Parliament, naturally had their reaction in the Western World in intensifying117 the spirit of constitutionalism in the growing American Commonwealth.
The colonial history was therefore increasingly marked by a spirit of individualism, a natural partiality for local rule, and a tenacious118 adherence to their special privileges, whether granted to Crown colonies, like New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey119, Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia, or proprietary120 governments, like Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, or charter governments, such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. In the three colonies last named formal corporate121 charters were granted by the Crown, which in themselves were constitutions in embryo122, and the colonists thus acquired written rights as to the government of their internal affairs, upon the maintenance of which they jealously insisted. Thus arose the spirit in America, which treated constitutional rights, not so much as special privileges granted by plenary Sovereignty, but as contractual obligations which could be enforced in the Courts against the Sovereign.
All this developed in the colonists a powerful sense of constitutional morality, and its pertinency123 to my present theme lies in the fact that when each of the thirteen colonies became, at the conclusion of the War of Independence, a separate and independent nation, they were more concerned, in establishing a central government, to limit its authority and to maintain local self-government than they were to give to the new-born nation the powers which it needed. They carried their constitutionalism to extremes, which nearly made a strong and efficient central government an impossibility.
Nothing was less desired by them than a unified124 government. It was destined to be wrung125 from their hard necessities. The Constitution was the reflex action of two opposing tendencies, the one the imperative need of an efficient central government, and the other the passionate126 attachment127 to local self-rule. Co-operation between the colonies had been a matter of long discussion and earnest debate, and primarily resulted from the necessity of defence against a common foe the French in Canada, and the Indians of the forest. In 1643 four of the New England colonies united in a league to defend themselves. In 1693 William Penn made the first suggestion for a union of all the colonies. In 1734 a council was held at Albany at the instance of the Crown to provide the means for the defence against France in Canada, and it was then that Franklin submitted the first concrete form for a union of the colonies into a permanent alliance. It was in advance of the times, for, conservative as it was, it was unfortunately opposed both by the Crown and the colonies themselves.
The time was not ripe for any such union, and the reason was apparent. The colonies differed very much in the character of their populations, in the nature of their economic interests, and in their political antecedents. They were not wholly of the English race. Many nations in Europe had already contributed to the population. For example, New York was partly Dutch, and in Pennsylvania there was a considerable element of the Swedes, Germans, and Swiss. Moreover, the colonists were as widely separated from each other, measured by the facilities of locomotion128, as are the most remote nations of the world to-day. Only a few men ever found occasion to leave their colony to journey to another, and most men never left, from birth to death, the community in which they lived. Outside of the few scattered129 communities in the different colonies there was an almost unbroken wilderness, with few wagon130 roads and in places only a bridle131 path. The only methods of communication were the letters and still fewer newspapers, which were carried by post riders often through an almost trackless wilderness.
Obviously, a working government could not easily be constituted between peoples of different religions, races, and economic interests, who, for the most part, never met each other face to face and with whom frequent communication was impossible.
The differences between the colonies and the mother-country with respect to internal taxation132 slowly developed into an issue of constitutionalism rather than of legislative133 policy. As in England, the immediate134 question affected135 the power of the Crown to give to the customs inspectors136 the power to make general searches and seizures137, to enforce the navigation laws. In 1761 James Otis, of Massachusetts, made a fateful speech before the colonial legislature, in which, asserting the illegality of the search warrants on the ground that they violated the constitutional rights of Englishmen to protection in their own homes, he asserted that Acts of Parliament which violated the sanctity of the home were void and that, more specifically, they violated the charter granted to Massachusetts. Asserting the doctrine which at that time was the doctrine of the English common law, as stated by Coke and three other Chief Justices, he said:
"To say the parliament is absolute and arbitrary is a contradiction. The Parliament cannot make two and two five. Omnipotency cannot do it…. Parliaments are in all cases to declare what is for the good of the whole; but it is not the declaration of parliament that makes it so: there must be in every instance a higher authority, viz., GOD. Should an Act of Parliament be against any of His natural laws, which are immutably138 true, their declaration would be contrary to eternal truth, equity139 and justice, and consequently void; and so it would be adjudged by the Parliament itself, when convinced of their mistake."
It is a curious fact that in the reaction from the tyranny of the Stuarts your country abandoned this principle of the common law by substituting for the omnipotence of the Crown the omnipotence of Parliament, while in my country the somewhat vague and unworkable principle of the common law, which gave the judiciary the power to invalidate an act of the legislature, when against natural reason and justice, was developed into the great principle, without which institutions in an heterogeneous140 and widely scattered democracy would be unworkable, namely that the powers of government are strictly141 defined, and that neither the executive, the legislative, nor the judicial142 departments of the government can go beyond the precise limits established by the fundamental law. Like the common law, the Constitution was thus the result of a slow evolution. Mr. Gladstone, in his oft-quoted remark, gave an erroneous impression when he said:
"As the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded from progressive history, so the American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off, at a given time by the brain and purpose of man."
This assumes that the Constitution sprang, like Minerva, armed cap-à-pie, from the brain of the American people, whereas it was as much the result of a slow, laborious143, and painful evolution as was the British Constitution. Probably Gladstone so understood the development of the American Constitution and recognized that its framing was only the culmination144 of an evolution of many years.
When the constitutional struggle between the colonies and the Parliament became acute, the necessity of a union for a common defence became imperative. As early as July, 1773, Franklin recommended the "convening145 of a General Congress" so that the colonies would act together. His suggestion was introduced in the Virginia House of Burgesses in May, 1774, and as a result there met in Philadelphia on September 5 of that year the first Continental146 Congress, styled by themselves: "The Delegates appointed by the Good People of these Colonies." Nothing was further from their purpose than to form a central government or to separate from England. This Congress only met as a conference of representatives of the colonies to defend what they conceived to be their constitutional rights.
Before the second Continental Congress met in the following year, the accidental clash at Lexington and Concord147 had taken place, and as the Congress again re-convened a momentous change had taken place, which was, in fact, the beginning of the American Commonwealth. The Congress became by force of circumstances a provisional government, and as such it might well have claimed plenary powers to meet an immediate exigency148. So indisposed were they to separate from England or to substitute for its rule that of a new government, that the Continental Congress, when it then involuntarily took over the government of America, failed to exercise any adequate power. It remained simply a conference without real power. Each colony had one vote and the rule of unanimity149 prevailed. Even its decisions were largely advisory150, for they amounted to little more than recommendations to the constituent States as to what measures should be taken. Each colony complied with the recommendation in its discretion151 and in its own way. Notwithstanding this fatal lack of authority, the Continental Congress, then actually engaged in civil war, created an army, and, through its committees, entered into negotiations152 with foreign nations. To support the former, it issued paper money, with the disastrous153 result that could be readily anticipated. While it had a presiding officer, it had no executive, and the new nation, which was hardly conscious of its own birth, had no judiciary.
Had this de facto government assumed the plenary powers which provisional governments must, under similar circumstances, necessarily assume, it would have been better for the cause of the colonists. For want of an efficient central government, the civil administration of the infant nation was marked by a weakness and incapacity that defeated Washington's plans and nearly broke his spirit. Washington's little army was the victim of the gross incapacity of an impotent government. The soldiers came and went, not as the general commanded, but as the various colonies permitted. The tragedy of Valley Forge, when the little army nearly starved to death, and literally154 the soldiers could be tracked over the snows by their bleeding, unshod feet, was not due to lack of clothing and provisions, but to the gross incapacity of a headless government that if it had had the wisdom to act lacked the authority. The situation was one of chaos155. The colonies recruited their own contingents156, paid such taxes as they pleased, which grew increasingly less, and the Congress had no coercive power to enforce its policies, either with reference to internal or external affairs. This situation was so clearly recognized that immediately after the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the draft of a constitution was proposed to give the central government more effective power; but, although the necessity was manifest and most urgent, the so-called Articles of Confederation, which were then drafted in 1776, were never finally adopted by the requisite157 number of States until March, 1781, when the war was nearly over. As the result proved, they marked only a very small advance over the existing de facto government, for the constituent States were still too jealous of each other and too hostile to the creation of a central government to form a truly effective government. The founders of the Republic could only learn from their errors, but it is their great merit that they had the ability to profit in the stern school of experience, of which Franklin has said that it is a "dear school, but fools will learn in no other."
The founders of the Republic were not fools, and while they did not, as Gladstone seems to intimate, have the inspired wisdom to develop a wonderful Constitution by sheer intuition unaided by experience, they did have the ability to make of their very errors the stepping-stones to a higher destiny.
By the Articles of Confederation, which, as stated, became effective in 1781, the conduct of foreign affairs was vested in the new government, which was also given the power to create admiralty courts, regulate coinage, maintain an army and navy, borrow money, and emit bills of credit, but the great limitation was that in all other respects the constituent States retained absolute power, especially with reference to commerce and taxation. All that the central government could do was to requisition the States to furnish food supplies, and the States were then left to impose the taxes and, if necessary, to enforce their payment in their own way, with the inevitable158 result that they vied with each other in the struggle to evade159 them. The Confederation had no direct power over the citizens of the several States. Moreover, the Congress could not levy160 any taxes, or indeed pass any measure unless nine out of the thirteen States agreed, and the Constitution could not be amended161 except by unanimous vote. While the Congress could select a presiding officer to serve for one year, yet he had no real executive authority. During the recess162 of the Congress, a committee of thirteen, consisting of one delegate from each State, had ad interim163 powers, but not greater than the Congress, which they represented.
Such a government would have been fatal to any people, and so it nearly proved to be to the infant nation. Two circumstances saved them from the consequences of such incapacity: one was the invaluable164 aid of France, and the other the personality of George Washington. Of this great leader, one of the noblest that ever "lived in the tide of time," it is only necessary to quote the fine tribute paid to him by the greatest of the Victorian novelists in his Virginians:
"What a constancy, what a magnanimity, what a surprising persistence165 against fortune!… Washington, the chief of a nation in arms, doing battle with distracted parties; calm in the midst of conspiracy166; serene167 against the open foe before him and the darker enemies at his back; Washington, inspiring order and spirit into troops hungry and in rags; stung by ingratitude168, but betraying no anger, and every ready to forgive; in defeat invincible169, magnanimous in conquest and never so sublime170 as on that day when he laid down his victorious171 sword and sought his noble retirement—here, indeed, is a character to admire and revere172; a life without a stain, a fame without a flaw."
A year after the Articles of Confederation had been adopted, the war came to an end by a preliminary treaty on November 30, 1782.
Now follows the least known chapter in American history. It was a period of travail105, of which the Constitution of the United States and the present American nation were born. The government slowly succumbed173 from its own weakness to its inevitable death. Only the shreds174 and patches of authority were left. Gradually the union fell apart. Of the Continental Congress only fifteen members, representing seven colonies, remained to transact175 the affairs of the new nation. The army, which previously176 to the termination of the war had dissolved by the hundreds, was now unpaid177 and in a stale of revolt. Measure after measure was proposed in Congress to raise money to pay the interest on the bonded178 indebtedness, which was in arrears179, and to provide funds for the most necessary expenses, but these failed, in Congress for the want of the necessary nine votes or, if enacted180, the States treated the requisitions with indifference181. The currency of the United States had fallen almost as low as the Austrian kronen, and men derisively182 plastered the walls of their houses with the worthless paper of the Continental Congress. Adequate authority no longer remained to carry out the terms of the treaties with England and France, and they were nullified by the failure of the infant nation to comply with its own obligations and the consequent refusal of the other contracting parties to comply with theirs. The government made a call upon the States to raise $8,000,000 for the most vital needs, but only $400,000 was actually received. Then Congress asked the States to vest in it the power to levy a tax of five per cent, on imports for a limited period, but, after waiting two years for the action of the States, less than nine concurred183. The States were then asked to pledge their own internal revenue for twenty-five years to meet the national indebtedness, but this could only be done by unanimous consent, and while twelve States concurred, Rhode Island refused and the measure was defeated. It was again the infinite folly184 of the liberum veto which, prior to the great partition, condemned185 Poland to chronic186 anarchy.
The impotence of the new government, which was still sitting in Philadelphia, can be measured by the fact that on June 9, 1783, word came that eighty soldiers were on their way to Philadelphia to demand relief. They stacked their arms in front of the State House, where the Congress was then sitting, and refused to disband, when requested by Col. Alexander Hamilton, as the representative of the Congress, to do so. When Congress appealed to the government of Pennsylvania for protection, it was advised that the Pennsylvania militia187 was likewise insubordinate. The Congress then hastily fled by night and became a fugitive188.
The impotence of the Confederation can be measured by the fact that in the last fourteen months of its existence its receipts were less than $400,000, while the interest on the foreign debt alone was over $2,400,000, and the interest on the internal debt was five-fold greater.
In the absence of any government and in the period of general prostration189 it was not unnatural190 that the spirit of Bolshevism grew with alarming rapidity. It even permeated191 the officers of the Army. In March, 1783, an anonymous192 communication was sent to Washington's officers to meet in secret conference to take some action, possibly to overthrow193 the government. A copy fell into Washington's hands and, while he forbade the assemblage of the officers under the anonymous call, he himself directed the officers to assemble. He unexpectedly appeared at the meeting and, being no speaker, he had reduced his appeal to writing. As he adjusted his spectacles to read it, he pathetically said: "I have not only grown gray but blind in your service." He then made a touching194 appeal to them not to increase by example the spreading spirit of revolt. The very sight of their old commander turned the hearts of the revolting element and the officers remained loyal to their noble leader.
Where the spirit of disaffection was thus found in high places it naturally prevailed more widely among the masses who had been driven to frenzy195 by their sufferings. This culminated in a revolt in Massachusetts under the leadership of an old soldier named Shays, and it spread with such rapidity that not only did one-fifth of the people join in attempting to overthrow the remnant of established authority in Massachusetts, but it rapidly spread to other States. The offices of government and the courthouses were seized, the collection of debts was forbidden, and private property was forcibly appropriated to meet the common needs.
Chaos had come again. It filled Washington's heart with disgust and despair. After surrendering his commission to the pitiful remnant of the government he had retired196 to Mount Vernon, and for a time declined to act further as the leader of his people. Thus, in October, 1785, he wrote James Warren, of Massachusetts:
"The war, as you have very justly observed, has terminated most advantageously for America, and a fair field is presented to our view; but I confess to you freely, my dear sir, that I do not think we possess wisdom or justice enough to cultivate it properly. Illiberality197, jealousy198, and local policy mix too much in all our public councils for good government of the union. In a word, the Confederation appears to me to be little more than a shadow without the substance, and Congress a nugatory199 body, their ordinances200 being little attended to…. By such policy as this the wheels of government are clogged201, and our brightest prospects202, and that high expectation which was entertained of us by the wondering world, are turned into astonishment203; and, from the high ground on which we stood, we are descending204 into the vale of confusion and darkness."
Again he wrote to George Mason:
"I have seen without despondency, even for a moment, the hours which America has styled its gloomy ones, but I have beheld205 no day since the commencement of hostilities206 that I thought our liberties in such imminent207 danger as at present. Indeed, we are verging208 so fast to destruction that I am feeling that sense to which I have been a stranger until within these three months."
Again in 1786 he writes:
"I think often of our situation, and view it with concern. From the high ground we stood upon, from the plain path which invited our footsteps, to be so fallen, so lost, is mortifying209; but everything of virtue210 has, in a degree, taken its departure from our land…. What, gracious God, is man that there should be such inconsistency, and perfidiousness211 in his conduct! It was but the other day that we were shedding our blood to obtain the Constitutions under which we now live, and now we are unsheathing our swords to overturn them. The thing is so unaccountable that I hardly know how to realize it or to persuade myself that I am not under an illusion of a dream."
It was, however, the darkest hour before the dawn, and again it was Washington who became his country's saviour212. In 1785, some commissioners213 from the States of Virginia and Maryland visited Mount Vernon to pay their respects to the well-loved commander. After conferring with him upon the chaos of the times, they decided214 to issue a call for a general conference of the representatives of the States to be held on September 11, 1786, at Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss how far the States themselves could agree on common regulations of commerce. At the appointed time the delegates assembled from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York and New Jersey, and finding themselves too few in number to achieve the great objective, the convention contented215 itself by issuing another call, drafted by Alexander Hamilton, then under thirty years of age, to all the States to send delegates to a convention to be held in Philadelphia on the second Monday in May, 1787, "to take into consideration the situation of the United States, to devise such further provisions as should appear to them necessary to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies216 of the union."
The dying Congress tardily217 approved of this suggestion, but finally, on
January 21, 1787, grudgingly218 adopted a resolution that—
"It is expedient219 that on the second Monday in May next a convention of delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several States, be held at Philadelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation and reporting to Congress and the several legislatures such alterations220 and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress and conformed to by the States, render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigency of the government and the preservation221 of the union."
It will be noted222 by the italicized portions of the resolution that this impotent body thus vainly attempted to cling to the shadow of its vanished authority by stating that the proposed constitutional convention should merely revise the worthless Articles of Confederation and that such amendments should not have validity until adopted by Congress as well as by the people of the several States. How this mandate70 was disregarded and how the convention was formed, and proceeded to create a new government with a new Constitution, and how it achieved its mighty work, will be the subject of the next lecture.
Anticipating the masterly ability with which a seemingly impotent and dying nation plucked from the nettle223 of danger the flower of safety, let me conclude this first address by quoting the words of de Tocqueville, in his remarkable224 work Democracy in America, where he says:
"The Federal Government, condemned to impotence by its Constitution and no longer sustained by the presence of common danger … was already on the verge225 of destruction when it officially proclaimed its inability to conduct the government and appealed to the constituent authority of the nation…. It is a novelty in the history of a society to see a calm and scrutinizing226 eye turned upon itself, when apprised227 by the legislature that the wheels of government are stopped; to see it carefully examine the extent of the field and patiently wait for two years until a remedy was discovered, which it voluntarily adopted, without having ever wrung a tear or a drop of blood from mankind."
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1
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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auspices
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| n.资助，赞助 | |
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supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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auditors
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| n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生 | |
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lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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commonwealth
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| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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constructive
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| adj.建设的，建设性的 | |
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stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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conciliation
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| n.调解，调停 | |
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inquisitive
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| adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的 | |
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dexterous
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| adj.灵敏的；灵巧的 | |
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mercurial
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| adj.善变的，活泼的 | |
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19
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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momentous
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| adj.重要的，重大的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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migrations
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| n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 ) | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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opportune
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| adj.合适的，适当的 | |
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sifting
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| n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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flux
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| n.流动；不断的改变 | |
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seismic
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| a.地震的，地震强度的 | |
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30
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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32
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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integration
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| n.一体化，联合，结合 | |
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38
prostrated
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| v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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impoverished
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| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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43
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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45
disintegration
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| n.分散，解体 | |
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46
despondent
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| adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的 | |
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47
slough
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| v.蜕皮，脱落，抛弃 | |
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48
delectable
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| adj.使人愉快的；美味的 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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50
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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51
founders
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| n.创始人( founder的名词复数 ) | |
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52
narration
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| n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体 | |
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53
adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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54
constituent
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| n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的 | |
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55
promulgated
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| v.宣扬（某事物）( promulgate的过去式和过去分词 )；传播；公布；颁布（法令、新法律等） | |
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56
witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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57
panaceas
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| n.治百病的药，万灵药( panacea的名词复数 ) | |
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58
paraphrasing
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| v.释义，意译( paraphrase的现在分词 ) | |
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59
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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60
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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61
amendments
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| （法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案 | |
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62
adherence
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| n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着 | |
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primal
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| adj.原始的；最重要的 | |
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statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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65
vindicated
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| v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护 | |
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66
transgressed
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| v.超越( transgress的过去式和过去分词 )；越过；违反；违背 | |
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dweller
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| n.居住者，住客 | |
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68
override
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| vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于 | |
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69
mandates
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| 托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式） | |
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70
mandate
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| n.托管地；命令，指示 | |
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orators
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| n.演说者，演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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72
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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73
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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transcending
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| 超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的现在分词 )； 优于或胜过… | |
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76
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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omnipotence
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| n.全能，万能，无限威力 | |
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accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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81
colonization
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| 殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖 | |
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intrepid
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| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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85
perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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verities
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| n.真实( verity的名词复数 )；事实；真理；真实的陈述 | |
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culminate
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| v.到绝顶，达于极点，达到高潮 | |
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culminated
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| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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renaissance
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| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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impeached
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| v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议 | |
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subvert
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| v.推翻；暗中破坏；搅乱 | |
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impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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amplified
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| 放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述 | |
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101
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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103
attested
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| adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓 | |
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104
dedication
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| n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞 | |
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travail
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| n.阵痛；努力 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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sedition
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| n.煽动叛乱 | |
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110
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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111
incarceration
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| n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭 | |
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112
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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113
symbolized
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| v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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114
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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115
deposition
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| n.免职，罢官；作证；沉淀；沉淀物 | |
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116
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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117
intensifying
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉 | |
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118
tenacious
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| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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119
jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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120
proprietary
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| n.所有权，所有的；独占的；业主 | |
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121
corporate
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| adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的 | |
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122
embryo
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| n.胚胎，萌芽的事物 | |
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123
pertinency
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| 有关性，相关性，针对性； 切合性 | |
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124
unified
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| (unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的 | |
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125
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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126
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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127
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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128
locomotion
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| n.运动，移动 | |
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129
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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130
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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131
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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132
taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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133
legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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134
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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135
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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136
inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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137
seizures
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| n.起获( seizure的名词复数 )；没收；充公；起获的赃物 | |
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138
immutably
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| adv.不变地，永恒地 | |
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139
equity
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| n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票 | |
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140
heterogeneous
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| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
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141
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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142
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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143
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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144
culmination
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| n.顶点；最高潮 | |
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145
convening
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| 召开( convene的现在分词 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合 | |
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146
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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147
concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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148
exigency
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| n.紧急；迫切需要 | |
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149
unanimity
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| n.全体一致，一致同意 | |
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150
advisory
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| adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询 | |
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151
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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152
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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153
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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154
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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155
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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156
contingents
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| （志趣相投、尤指来自同一地方的）一组与会者( contingent的名词复数 )； 代表团； （军队的）分遣队； 小分队 | |
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157
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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158
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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159
evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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160
levy
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| n.征收税或其他款项，征收额 | |
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161
Amended
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| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
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162
recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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163
interim
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| adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间 | |
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164
invaluable
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| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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165
persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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166
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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167
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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168
ingratitude
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| n.忘恩负义 | |
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169
invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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170
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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171
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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172
revere
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| vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏 | |
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173
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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174
shreds
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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175
transact
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| v.处理；做交易；谈判 | |
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176
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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177
unpaid
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| adj.未付款的，无报酬的 | |
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178
bonded
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| n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的 | |
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179
arrears
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| n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作 | |
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180
enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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181
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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182
derisively
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| adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地 | |
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183
concurred
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| 同意（concur的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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184
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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185
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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186
chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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187
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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188
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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189
prostration
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| n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳 | |
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190
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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191
permeated
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| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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192
anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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193
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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194
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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195
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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196
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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197
illiberality
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| n.吝啬，小气 | |
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198
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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199
nugatory
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| adj.琐碎的，无价值的 | |
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200
ordinances
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| n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 ) | |
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201
clogged
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| （使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞 | |
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202
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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203
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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204
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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205
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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206
hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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207
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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208
verging
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| 接近，逼近（verge的现在分词形式） | |
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209
mortifying
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| adj.抑制的，苦修的v.使受辱( mortify的现在分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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210
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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211
perfidiousness
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| n. 不忠 | |
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212
saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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213
commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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214
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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215
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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216
exigencies
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| n.急切需要 | |
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217
tardily
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| adv.缓慢 | |
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218
grudgingly
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219
expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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220
alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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221
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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222
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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223
nettle
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| n.荨麻；v.烦忧，激恼 | |
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224
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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225
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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226
scrutinizing
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 ) | |
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227
apprised
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| v.告知，通知( apprise的过去式和过去分词 )；评价 | |
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