the same force and obligation which all or any of the present articles now have? No alterations in the government should, I think, be made, nor if attempted will easily take place, unless deducible from the only source of just authority- the People.

John Jay, Correspondence and Public Papers (edited by Henry P. Johnston, New York, etc., [1891]), III, 226–229.

CHAPTER X-THE FEDERAL CONVENTION

60. Call of a Convention (1787)

BY THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES

Six states had already appointed delegates to the convention before Congress issued this call. The form of the resolution as adopted aimed, by ignoring the Annapolis Convention, to preserve the initiative of Congress, and, by referring to the suggestions of the states, to prevent suspicion that Congress was ambitious for greater power. - Bibliography: Channing and Hart, Guide, § 154.

[February 21.]

C

before

ONGRESS assembled - Present as
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut,

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland,
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia].

The report of a grand committee, consisting of Mr. Dane, Mr. Varnum, Mr. S. M. Mitchell, Mr. Smith, Mr. Cadwallader, Mr. Irvine, Mr. N. Mitchell, Mr. Forrest, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Blount, Mr. Bull and Mr. Few, to whom was referred a letter of 14th September, 1786, from J. Dickinson, written at the request of commissioners from the states of Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New-Jersey and New-York, assembled at the city of Annapolis, together with a copy of the report of the said commissioners, to the legislatures of the states by whom they were appointed, being an order of the day, was called up, and which is contained in the following resolution, viz.

"Congress having had under consideration the letter of John Dickinson, Esq. chairman of the commissioners, who assembled at Annapolis, during the last year; also the proceedings of the said commissioners, and intirely coinciding with them, as to the inefficiency of the federal government, and the necessity of devising such farther provisions as shall render the same adequate to the exigencies of the union, do strongly recommend to the different legislatures to send forward delegates, to meet the proposed convention, on the second Monday in May next, at the city of Philadelphia.["]

The delegates for the state of New-York, thereupon laid before Con

gress instructions which they had received from their constituents, and in pursuance of the said instructions, moved to postpone the farther consideration of the report, in order to take up the following proposition, viz.

at

on

"That it be recommended to the states composing the union, that a convention of representatives from the said states respectively, be held for the purpose of revising the articles of confederation and perpetual union between the United States of America, and reporting to the United States in Congress assembled, and to the states respectively, such alterations and amendments of the said articles of confederation, as the representatives met in such convention, shall judge proper and necessary to render them adequate to the preservation and support of the union.”

On the question to postpone for the purpose above-mentioned, the yeas and nays being required by the delegates for New-York.

So the question was lost.

A motion was then made by the delegates for Massachusetts, to postpone the farther consideration of the report, in order to take into consideration, a motion which they read in their place; this being agreed to, the motion of the delegates for Massachusetts was taken up, and being amended, was agreed to as follows:

Whereas there is provision in the articles of confederation and perpetual union, for making alterations therein, by the assent of a Congress of the United States, and of the legislatures of the several states; and whereas experience hath evinced, that there are defects in the present confederation, as a mean to remedy which, several of the states, and particularly the state of New-York, by express instructions to their delegates in Congress, have suggested a convention for the purposes expressed in the following resolution; and such convention appearing to be the most probable mean of establishing in these states a firm national government,

Resolved, That in the opinion of Congress, it is expedient, 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 alterations and provisions therein, as shall, when agreed to in Congress, and confirmed by the states, render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of government, and the preservation of the union.

Journals of Congress, November 6, 1786-November 5, 1787 ([Philadelphia], 1787), XII, 15-17.

61. Good Advice in Bad Verse (1787)

BY REVEREND TIMOTHY DWIGHT

Dwight was an advocate of an efficient federal government, holding closely to Hamilton's views (see No. 54 above). - For Dwight, see Tyler, Literary History of the Revolution, II, 173-174; Contemporaries, II, No. 164.

E then your counsels, as your subject, great,

BE

A world their sphere, and time's long reign their date.

Each party-view, each private good, disclaim,

Each petty maxim, each colonial aim;

Let all Columbia's weal your views expand,

A mighty system rule a mighty land;

Yourselves her genuine sons let Europe own,
Not the small agents of a paltry town.

Learn, cautious, what to alter, where to mend ;
See to what close projected measures tend.
From pressing wants the mind averting still,
Thinks good remotest from the present ill:
From feuds anarchial to oppression's throne,
Misguided nations hence for safety run;
And through the miseries of a thousand years,
Their fatal folly mourn in bloody tears.

Ten thousand follies thro' Columbia spread; Ten thousand wars her darling realms invade. The private interest of each jealous state; Of rule the impatience, and of law the hate. But ah! from narrow springs these evils flow, A few base wretches mingle general woe; Still the same mind her manly race pervades ; Still the same virtues haunt the hallow'd shades. But when the peals of war her centre shook, All private aims the anxious mind forsook. In danger's iron-bond her race was one, Each separate good, each little view unknown. Now rule, unsystem'd, drives the mind astray; Now private interest points the downward way: Hence civil discord pours her muddy stream, And fools and villains float upon the brim; O'er all, the sad spectator casts his eye, And wonders where the gems and minerals lie. But ne'er of freedom, glory, bliss, despond: Uplift your eyes those little clouds beyond; See there returning suns, with gladdening ray, Roll on fair spring to chase this wint'ry day.

'Tis yours to bid those days of Eden shine: First, then, and last, the federal bands entwine : To this your every aim and effort bend: Let all your efforts here commence and end.

O'er state concerns, let every state preside; Its private tax controul; its justice guide; Religion aid; the morals to secure ;