Lack of

union in Europe

W

CHAPTER XXXV

AFTER LIBERTY-UNION

E can perhaps better understand the problem which our forefathers faced if we think of the conditions in Europe during the past century and especially during recent years. In Europe there are six Great Powers, so called: Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Russia. Each of these except Great Britain has maintained a vast standing army; Great Britain being an island has depended upon a navy which it maintains at a strength of the combined strength of any other two Powers. Along the frontiers of these Powers on the Continent are military posts, and all travelers crossing the frontiers must be examined to see that they carry no articles on which custom duty is levied. Trade between the different countries is subject to duties at the frontiers. Some of the lesser Powers, such as Switzerland, Holland, and Scandanavia, maintain armies large in proportion to the size of their countries and are in more or less constant fear of their more powerful neighbors. In southeastern Europe the Balkan States have been engaged in more or less continuous intrigue and quarreling. Sometimes for a brief period an alliance has been formed among them only to be dissolved in a fresh quarrel. The great world war has grown out of this condition of things.

This all shows the result of separation, suspicion, and fear.

This state of things in Europe is so utterly different from conditions in the United States that it is hard to realize that we might have had similar conditions in this country if our fathers had not planned for union as well as for liberty. To be sure, the early settlers were nearly all of British stock and nearly all spoke the English language, whereas the people of Europe belong to several races and speak in many tongues. Nevertheless, the original colonies were very different groups of people and as time went on developed different interests. The most striking cause of different interests was of course the development of cotton raising in the South, of manufacturing in New England, and of the grain and cattle growing of the Middle West and Northwest. But even in the early days the Puritans, the Dutch, the Virginia planters, the Pennsylvania Quakers, the Germans, and commercial classes often clashed. During the War for Independence the colonies were so little united that they failed to give Washington adequate support. If Great Britain had been in a position to take advantage of the lack of union she apparently would have had an easy victory.

a union

It was, in the first place, the need of combining to The conresist oppressive measures of the British king that federation impressed the importance of union upon the leaders of too weak that day. They saw, in the language of Franklin, that if they did not hang together they would all hang separately. But after the war was over and independence had been achieved the need for union seemed less urgent. For a period of six years there was no real national government. The states formed what was called a confederation. There was no president

Group de

sirous of stronger union

There

of the United States and there were no courts.
was no authority which had power to compel any one
of the separate states to do anything which it did not
wish to do. Representatives of the different states
came together something as representatives of inde-
pendent nations in Europe might come together. They
thought so highly of independence, they were so sus-
picious from long experience of the power of govern-
ment, that they were not at first willing to give up any
of their independence for the sake of a stronger union.
For somewhat different reasons the nations of Europe
have never been able to come together and form a
United States of Europe. The territory of Europe is
only a little larger than that of the United States;
but the separate peoples each cherish their own inde-
pendence and rights so strongly, they are so afraid
that in a union they might be tyrannized over by the
others, that they have preferred to endure the frightful
conditions under which they have lived rather than to
form any kind of a union.

We have stated above that there were different interests in the different colonies-the states, as the colonies were called after they separated from Great Britain. During the period following the War for Independence some of the various interests that were active were the following:

Commercial classes, merchants, and traders, wanted a firmer government which should protect their shipping. They also wanted freer trade between the states. Pirates on the Barbary Coast in the Mediterranean attacked and plundered our ships; there was no national navy and no one state was therefore strong enough to protect its merchants. The states set up barriers which hindered trade. New York required

boats from Connecticut and New Jersey to pay entrance fees and duties as if they had come from a foreign country. In return for this, Connecticut business men signed an agreement not to send any goods whatever into New York for a period of twelve months.

Another group which wanted a firmer government was that of the property owners. The war left both the government and the people poor. Many were in debt, taxes were high and it was difficult to find money with which to pay them. Some who were in debt claimed that since all had joined together to help gain independence, all should share equally in the property of the country and that debt should be abolished. Naturally this alarmed property owners.

A third group that supported the demand for a stronger union was made up of statesmen like Washington and Franklin. They were moved not by a selfish interest but by a far-sighted view of the necessities of the whole people. Alexander Hamilton mentioned these three groups in summing up the interests favorable to the new constitution.

He named "the very great weight of influence of the persons who framed it, particularly in the universal popularity of General Washington-the good-will of the commercial interest throughout the states which will give all its efforts to the establishment of a government capable of regulating, protecting, and expanding the commerce of the Union-the good-will of most men of property in the several states who wish a government of the Union able to protect them against domestic violence and the depredations which the democratic spirit is apt to make on property... a strong belief in the people at large of the insufficiency of the present confederation to preserve the existence of the Union."

Interests

On the other hand, there were two interests opposed opposed to to a stronger union. In the first place, the extreme

stronger union

lovers of independence wished to maintain separate | states and were very reluctant to give up any of the powers of the state to a central government. At that time there were, to be sure, only thirteen states and they occupied a very small territory as compared with the present area of the United States; but there were no railroads, no telegraphs, there was little travel, mails were not frequent, and it took longer to go from Boston to Virginia than it takes now to go from Boston to San Francisco. Consequently people in the different parts of the country did not understand each other and had less basis for getting together than they have today.

The second group, whose members were dubious as to the advantage of a strong central government, if not actively opposed, was made up of the poorer classes, especially the farmers who formed the mass of the people. Alexander Hamilton was one of the foremost in the demand for a stronger union and wrote articles for a paper called The Federalist. He described the different interests not only of this country, but of all communities as follows:

"All communities," said Hamilton, "divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and well-born, the other the mass of the people. The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true in fact. The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct permanent share in the government. They will check the unsteadiness of the second, and as they cannot receive any advantage by the change, they therefore will ever maintain good government."