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

[179] government. The former were excellent; the

Chap. VII.} 1778.

latter was inchoate and incompetent. The former were time-honored and sanctified by the memories and attachments of generations; the latter had no associations with the past, no traditions, no fibres of inherited affection pervading the country. The states had power which they exercised to raise taxes to pledge and keep faith, to establish order, to administer justice through able and upright and learned courts, to protect liberty and property and all that is dear in social life; the chief acts of congress were only recommendations and promises. The states were everywhere represented by civil officers in their employ; congress had no magistrates, no courts, no executive agents of its own. The tendency of the general government was towards utter helplessness; so that not from intention, but from the natural course of political development, the spirit and the habit of separatism grew with every year. In July, 1776, the United States declared themselves to have called a ‘people’ into being; at the end of 1778, congress knew no ‘people of the United States,’ but only ‘inhabitants.’ The name of ‘the United States’ began to give place to that of ‘the confederated States,’ even before the phrase could pretend to historic validity. The attempt to form regiments directly by the United States completely failed; and each state maintained its separate line. There were thirteen distinct sovereignties and thirteen armies, with scarcely a symbol of national unity except in the highest offices.

From the height of his position, Washington was the first keenly to feel and clearly to declare, that