History of the United States Constitution. George Ticknor Curtis

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СКАЧАТЬ In his view, the only possible way of making the States contribute to the general treasury in an equal proportion to their means, was by general taxes imposed under continental authority; and it is a striking proof of the comprehensive sagacity with which he looked forward, that, while he admitted that this mode would, for a time, produce material inequalities, he foresaw that balancing of interests which would arise in a continental legislation, and would relieve the hardships of one tax in a particular State by the lighter pressure of another bearing with proportional weight in some other part of the Confederacy.194

      Accordingly, after an attempt to postpone the consideration of a mode of carrying out the Confederation, he made an effort to have its principle changed, by substituting specific taxes on land and houses, to be collected and appropriated, as well as the duties, under the authority of the United States, by officers to be nominated by Congress, and approved by the State in which they were to exercise their functions, but accountable to and removable by Congress.195 These ideas, however, as he himself saw, were not agreeable to the spirit of the times, and his plan was rejected. After many fruitless projects had been suggested and discussed, for making the valuation required by the Confederation,—some of them proposing that it should be done by commissioners appointed by the United States, and some by commissioners appointed by the States,—it was determined to propose no other change in the principle of making requisitions on the States, than to substitute population in the place of land, as the rule of proportion.196

      Equally extensive and important were his views on the subject of a peace establishment, for which he saw the necessity of providing, as the time approached when the Confederation would necessarily be tested as a government for the purposes of peace. To adapt a constitution, whose principal powers were originally designed to be exercised in a state of war, to a state of peace, for which it possessed but few powers, and those not clearly defined, was a problem in the science of government of a novel character. It might prove to be an impossible task; for on applying the constitutional provisions to the real wants and necessities of the country, it might turn out that the Confederation was in some respects destitute of the capacity to provide for them; and in undertaking to carry out its actual and sufficient powers, which had never hitherto been exercised, opposition might spring up, from State jealousy and local policy, which, in the real weakness of the federal government, would be as effectual a barrier as the want of constitutional authority. Still the effort was to be made; and Hamilton approached the subject with all the sagacity and statesmanship for which he was so distinguished.

      He saw that the Confederation contained provisions which looked to the continuance of the Union after the war had terminated, and that these provisions required practical application, through a machinery which had never been even framed. The Articles of Confederation vested in Congress the exclusive management of foreign relations; but the department of foreign affairs had never been properly organized. They also gave to Congress the exclusive regulation of trade and intercourse with the Indian nations; but no department of Indian affairs had been established with properly defined powers and duties. Nothing had been done to carry out the provision for fixing the standard of weights and measures throughout the United States, or to regulate the alloy and value of coin. Above all, the great question of means, military and naval, for the external and internal defence of the country during peace, for the preservation of tranquillity, the protection of commerce, the fulfilment of treaty stipulations, and the maintenance of the authority of the United States, had not been so much as touched. To regulate these important subjects was the design of a committee, at the head of which Hamilton was placed; and his earliest attention was directed to the most serious and difficult of them,—the provision for a peace establishment of military and naval forces.197

      The question whether the United States could constitutionally maintain an army and navy, in time of peace, was, under the Articles of Confederation, not free from difficulty; but it became of imminent practical importance, under the treaty of peace. That treaty provided for an immediate withdrawal of the British forces from all posts and fortifications within the United States; and it became at once an important question, whether these posts and fortifications—especially those within certain districts, the jurisdiction and property of which had not been constitutionally ascertained—should be garrisoned by troops of the United States, or of the States within which they were situated. There was also territory appertaining to the United States, not within the original claim of the United States. The whole of the Western frontier required defence. The navigation of the Mississippi and the lakes, and the rights of the fisheries and of foreign commerce, all belonging to the United States, and depending on the laws of nations and treaty stipulations, demanded the joint protection of the Union, and could not with propriety be left to the separate establishments of the States.

      But the Articles of Confederation contained no express provision for the establishment and maintenance of any military and naval forces during peace. They empowered the United States, generally, (and without mention of peace or war,) to build and equip a navy, and to agree upon the number of land forces to be raised, and to call upon the States to furnish their quotas. But they also declared that no vessels of war should be kept up by any State in time of peace, except such number only as should be deemed necessary by Congress for the defence of such State or its trade; and that no body of forces should be kept up by any State in time of peace, except such number only as Congress should deem requisite to garrison the posts necessary for the defence of such State. This provision might be construed to imply, that, in time of peace, the general defence was to be provided for by the forces of each State, and, in time of war, by those of the Union. But it was the opinion of Hamilton, that the restrictions on the powers of the States, with regard to maintaining forces during peace, could not with propriety be said to contain any directions to the United States, or to contravene the positive power vested in the latter to raise both sea and land forces, without mention of peace or war. He strengthened this view by the capital inconvenience of the contrary construction, and by the manifest necessities of the country, which could only be provided for by the power of the Union. If the United States could have neither army nor navy, until war had been declared, they would be obliged to begin to create both at the very moment when both were needed in actual hostilities; and, if the States were to be intrusted with the defence of the country in time of peace, that defence would be left to thirteen different armies and navies, under the direction of as many different governments.198

      He contemplated, therefore, the formation of a peace establishment, to consist of certain corps of infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineers, and dragoons;199 a general survey, preparatory to the adoption of a general system of land fortifications; the establishment of arsenals and magazines, and the erection of founderies and manufactories of arms. He advised the establishment of ports and maritime fortifications, and the formation and construction of a navy; and his report embraced also a plan for classing and disciplining the militia.200

      In all this design, Hamilton pursued the purpose, which he had long entertained, of strengthening and consolidating the Union, and guarding against its dissolution, by providing the means necessary for its defence. Federal, rather than State provision for the defence of every part of the Confederacy, in peace as well as in war, seemed to him essential. He thought, that the general government should have exclusively the power of the sword, and that each State should have no forces but its militia.201 But his great plans were arrested, partly in consequence of the doubts entertained on the point of constitutional power, and partly by reason of the great falling off of the attendance of members in Congress. At the very time when this important subject was under consideration, Congress were driven from Philadelphia, by the mutiny of a handful of men, whom they could not curb at the moment without the aid of the local authorities, and that aid was not promptly and efficiently given.202

      Convinced, at length, that no temporary expedients would meet the wants of the country, and that a radical reform of its constitution could alone preserve the Union from dissolution, Hamilton surveyed the Confederation in all its parts, and determined to lay before the country its deep defects, with a view to the establishment of a government with proper departments and adequate powers. In this examination, he applied to the Confederation the approved maxims of free government, which had been made familiar in the formation of the State constitutions, СКАЧАТЬ