George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 10

During the summer, congress sought to improve the methods of administration. It was proposed to substitute for executive committees a single head of each of the most important departments; and, against the opinion of Samuel Adams and without aid from Massachusetts, the system was adopted. Robert Morris was placed in charge of the finances of the confederation; the conduct of foreign affairs was intrusted to Robert Livingston of New York.

Outside of congress, Hamilton persevered in recommending an efficient government. His views were so identical with those of Robert Morris, that it is sometimes hard to say in whose mind they first sprung up. Many who agreed with them in wishing a stronger union might think they laid too much stress on the institution of a national bank; and their opinion that a national debt, if not excessive, would be a national blessing, a powerful cement to union, and a spur to industry, did not rise out of the best traditions of the country, and was carried, at least by the elder of the two, to a most perilous extreme.

Meantime the conduct of the war continued to languish for the want of a central government. In the states from which the most was hoped, Hancock of Massachusetts was vain and neglectful of business. The president of Pennsylvania was more ready to recount what the state had done than what it meant to do; so that the army was not wholly free from the danger of being disbanded for want of subsistence. Of the armed vessels of the United States,