Letters of Members of the Continental Congress, Vol. 6

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Excerpt from Letters of Members of the Continental Congress, Vol. 6: March 1, 1781, to December 31, 1782NO sooner had the Articles Of Confederation been ratified than those members Of Congress who had long recognized its defects at once renewed their efforts to make the instrument more efficient for its chief purposes. The want hitherto Of a proper line to be drawn between Congress and the states Mathews Of South Carolina wrote at this time to Governor Livingston Of New Jersey, has been the cause of numberless embarrass ments, for whilst the states were left ad libitum, some would do a great deal, some a little, others scarcely anything yet he anticipated the most happy consequences from the ratification Of the Articles. On the Sixth Of March, on a motion Of Varnum Of Rhode Island, seconded bv Root Of Connecticut, a committee was appointed to prepare a plan to invest Con gress with full and explicit powers for effectually carrying into execution in the several states all acts or resolutions passed agreeably to the Articles Of Confederation and Var'num, Duane, and Madison, three men su premely interested in the Object aimed at, were appointed for the purpose.A report by the committee, principally drawn by Madison and bearing the date March 12, was Offered in Congress March 16, but was not taken into consideration until May 2. If approved by Congress and ac quiesced in by the states, Varnum wrote March 16, the willing States will be greatly relieved The committee reported that, whilst the 13th article Of the Confederation contained an implied power in Congress to enforce every provision Of the Confederation against any state which should refuse or neglect to abide by the determinations Of Congress, never theless all exercise Of power should be explicitly and precisely warranted It was therefore proposed that the articles be so amended as to authorize Congress to employ the land or sea forces of the United States to compel any delinquent state to fulfill its federal engagements. John Mathews at the same time Offered the milder proposition that the states be requested to pass laws vesting in Congress, in time Of war, such powers as might be necessary for efficiently prosecuting the war.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.