ART. XIII. Every state shall abide by the determinations of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. And the articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every state, and the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to by a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the Legislatures of every state.

And whereas it hath pleased the great Governor of the world to incline the hearts of the Legislatures, we respectfully represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said articles of confederation and perpetual union: KNOW YE, that we, the undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that purpose, do by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the said articles of confederation and perpetual union, and all and singular the matters and things therein contained and we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions, which by the said confederation are submitted to them; and that the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the states we respectively represent, and that the union shall be perpetual.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands in Congress. Done at Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, the ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, and in the third year of the independence of America.

On the part and behalf of the state of New Hampshire. JOSIAH BARTLETT, JOHN WENTWORTH, jr., August 8, 1788. On the part and behalf of the state of Massachusetts Bay. JOHN HANCOCK,

SAMUEL ADAMS,

ELBRIDGE GERRY,

FRANCIS DANA,
JAMES LOVELL,

SAMUEL HOlten.

On the part and behalf of the state of Rhode Island and Provi

dence Plantations.

WILLIAM ELLERY,

JOHN COLLINS,

HENRY MARCHANT.

On the part and behalf of the state of Connecticut.

ROGER SHERMAN,

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON,

OLIVER WOLCOTT,

TITUS HOSMER,

ANDREW ADAMS.

On the part and behalf of the state of New York.

JAS. DUANE,

FRA. LEWIS,

WM. DUER,
GOUV. MORris.

On the part and behalf of the state of New Jersey. JOHN WITHERSPOON, Nov. 26, 1778, NATH. SCUDDER, do.

On the part and behalf of the state of Pennsylvania,

ROBT. MORRIS,

DANIEL ROBERDEAU,

WILLIAM CLINGAN,

Jos. REED, 22d July, 1778. ́

JONA. BAYARD SMITH,

THOS. M'KEAN, Feb. 13, 1779,

On the part and behalf of the state of Delaware.

JOHN DICKINSON, May 5th, 1779,

NICHOLAS VAN DYKE.

On the part and behalf of the state of Maryland.

JOHN HANSON, March 1, 1781,

DANIEL CARROLL, do.

On the part and behalf of the state of Virginia.

RICHARD HENRY LEE,

JOHN BANISTER,

THOMAS ADAMS,

JNO. HARVIE,

FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE.

On the part and behalf of the state of North Carolina. JOHN PENN, July 21st, 1778,

CORNS. HARNETT,

JNO. WILLIAMS.

On the part and behalf of the state of South Carolina.

HENRY LAURENS,

WILLIAM HENRy Drayton,

RICHARD HUTSON,

THOMAS HEYWOOD, jr.

On the part and behalf of the state of Georgia.

JNO. MATHEWS,

JNO. WALTON, 24th July, 1778,

EDWD. TELFAIR,

EDW. LANGWORTH.

The Legislatures of the different states, jealous of their authority, for a long time zealously opposed the adoption of these articles, but finally, yet very reluctantly, yielded to the imperious necessity which demanded their assent. Delaware did not accede to them until 1799, and Maryland, after an explicit rejection of them, at length yielded her assent in March, 1781, showing a spirit of willingness to share the fate of her sister colonies, be it what it might.

While danger pressed them on every side, the states were somewhat united by this flimsy and precarious tie. Even then the demands of Congress received but a partial obedience, and as the war drew to a close its weakness became more and more apparent. Imbecility and impracticability formed its prominent characteristics, and incompetency to attain the end for which it was constituted, was manifested in its operation at an early period of its existence And, indeed, for the high and noble purposes of its formation alone was it entitled to respect or worthy of notice. The administration of government, under all such confederacies, has ever been marked with weakness and degenerated into anarchy, or increased to a most galling and unbounded despotism. If we cast a glance to the history of the Greek republics-the Amphictyonic, the Lycian, and Achæan leagues, the truth of this statement glares upon its pages. If we turn to the records of more modern times, and examine the annals of the Helvetic, the Hanseatic, the Germanic, and Dutch republics, we are admonished of the frailty, the insufficiency, and instability of such confederacies. The fate of Zuric, in her dispute with the cantons of Glaris and Schweitz,

admonishes us of their utter inadequacy, and the bloodshed of her six years' furious and murderous war warns us to beware of them. Our confederacy, upon the whole, was a little superior to these, and indeed, in some respects, inferior. For scarcely was it adopted by the commissioners and sanctioned by the states, before they became dissatisfied, and insubordinate, dissenting from the federal decrees and threatening withdrawal from the compact. The imperious voice of immediate convenience, of local interests, of jarring and discordant passions, seemed to animate them to division and strife, and they must eventually have been driven to revolt, or Congress to usurpation of power, and the whole country thereby exposed to the dreadful calamity of civil war.

In the second article of confederation may be seen the jealousy which subsisted between the states, and the mistrust with which they regarded the compact. In it is contained the very germ of insubordination and disunion. Considering that the government was to operate on the states in their collective capacity, this stripped it of all energy, and rendered nugatory and unavailing its every grant of power. Each state retained "its sovereignty, freedom, and independence;" thereby so disproportioning the power of the states to that of the government, that it was impossible for Congress to enforce the execution of its decrees, without the usurpation of power and resort to arms. So, we see, the tendency of such governments is to their own abrogation, either by allowing their decrees to be spurned and disregarded, or by intestine war brought on by enforcing them with arms. But, thank God, our con

federation was dissolved by the first cause; for ere the last was resorted to, the day of reformation came. The critical situation of affairs imperiously demanded a more perfect union; our best interests required a more perfect establishment of justice, and a better insurance of domestic tranquillity; our safety from the encroachments of foreign power, as well as domestic tyrannythe impending danger which still threatened the country, its general insecurity and defenceless state, required more ample provisions for the common defence; and our general welfare called loudly for the organization and adoption of a better constitution. These motives and the performance of those sacred duties which men owe to succeeding generations, induced our patriotic forefathers to fulfil these requirements, and thus to secure to themselves and transmit to posterity, as their richest legacy, the blessings of liberty. So early as the summer of 1780, before the articles of confederation had been unanimously adopted, Col. Hamilton, in a letter addressed to Mr. Duane, (then a member of Congress from New York,) portrayed with a masterly hand the defects of the confederacy, and urgently recommended its reformation. The first legislative measures for this purpose were the resolutions of the Senate of New York, passed the 20th of July, 1782. They advised "that the present system of these states exposes the cause to a precarious issue; that the radical source of most of the embarrassments is the want of sufficient power in Congress to effectuate that ready and perfect co-operation of the different states, on which their immediate safety and future happiness depend; that experience had demonstrated