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"What wild confusion hence must ensue,
Though common danger now cements you;
So some wrecked vessel, all in shatters,
Is held up by surrounding waters,
But stranded when the pressure ceases
Falls by its rottenness to pieces,
And fall it must, if war be ended,

For you'll ne'er have sense enough to mend it."

But McFingal proved to be a false prophet. These insurrections took place in 1786-7, and the State governments had sufficient strength to overcome all opposition, and restore peace and good order. It is true that the insurrections in the State governments created distressing fears that they could not be sustained, without the aid of a National Government, which brought the States to agree in establishing such a government; and it is also true that the several states could never have been in a prosperous condition, so long as they continued sovereign and independent states, even if they could have lived in peace. But it is not true that State governments would have failed by reason of the weakness of a government founded on the sovereignty of the people, for they were sustained under all the adverse circumstances above named, and which could never again occur in all their force. The governments were new and the principles on which they rested were not

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fully understood, nor had their authority become venerable by time, nor had the people acquired a habit of submission to their authority, or a knowledge of their strength. Add to this, the distressed condition of the people, rendered more intolerable by their disappointed expectations, and who can fail to perceive and acknowledge the peculiar strength of a government founded on the sovereignty of the people. If there be at any time a dissatisfaction among the people with the administration, their efforts will be directed not against the authority of the government, but to a change in the public functionaries, and if they succeed, they are satisfied with a change of measures-if they fail, they find a majority of the people against them, and an attempt to obtain redress by force would be hopeless. Accordingly, we find that, since the insurrections of 1786-7, there has been no insurrection against the State government, except in Rhode Island; but that state did not belong to the family of American states-her government was of European origin, and the people never had an opportunity to institute a government for themselves, for a great portion of them were deprived of all their political rights. An insurrection in that state was therefore natural,

and in the outset justifiable. In all the other states, the people have become so habitually submissive to the government, that they feel little legal restraint, and would scarcely be sensible that they live under any government, were they not occasionally called on to vote and pay moderate

taxes.

There was one insurrection against the National government, while in its infancy, and before its strength was ascertained, which was soon suppressed. If there be in future any opposition to that government, it will be by those states who consider themselves sovereign and independent, as they were under the confederation. If there shall ever be a majority of the states maddened into this strange delusion, the remarks of McFingal in the following lines will be as applicable to the Congress under the constitution, as they were to the old Congress :

"Nor can you boast; this present hour,
The shadow or the form of power;
For what's your Congress, or its end?
A power to advise and recommend,
To call forth troops, adjust your quotas,
And yet no soul is bound to notice."

Both the state and national governments are founded on the sovereignty of the people. The

whole people of the United States, have vested in the national government the sole power of regulating all our national concerns, leaving with the several states the regulation of their domestic concerns, and we may then say that it has been proved, by an experience of more than half a century, that a civil government, founded on the sovereignty of the people, is a stronger government, and is better calculated to secure the peace and promote the happiness of the people, than any other civil government which has been established, either by compact, by custom, or by force. But it must be observed, that the people who established and supported this government were a highly civilized, intelligent and Christian people, and it must be particularly noticed, that a vast majority of them were possessed of property, and had an interest in its protection.

But although the experiment does not prove it, have we not reason to hope that a free government may be established and supported by a people far less favored in these respects, than the people of the United States? Our example has made a deep impression on the people of Europe, and they are struggling to obtain their freedom. And can we believe that it will be so ordered by Providence,

that this struggle will only drench Europe in blood, and leave the people in slavery? May we not rather believe that the blessings of free government will not be confined to North America, and Western Africa, but that civilization and free government will accompany the Christian religion in its extension over the whole earth.

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