Another and a severer trial awaited them. They were not only to be taught once more that a mere federative union was a rope of sand, but they were also to be taught, that a government instituted upon this principle for the purposes of a war, in which the separate members of the confederacy had a common interest, would not answer the exigencies of a country like this, in time of peace. They were to learn, by a trying experience, that the vast concerns of peace are far more complex than the concerns of war; that there were important functions of government to be discharged upon this continent, which only national power and national authority can accomplish, and that those functions are essential, not only to the prosperity and happiness of this nation, but to the continued existence of republican liberty within the States themselves. They were to learn this through a state of things verging upon anarchy; amidst the decay of public virtue; the conflict of sectional interests; and the almost total dissolution of the bands by which society is held together. In this state of things was to be at last developed the fundamental idea on which the Constitution of the United States now rests,--the political union of the _people_ of the United States, as distinguished from a union of the _States_ of which they are citizens. We have, therefore, now reached the first stage in the constitutional history of the country. What has thus far been stated comes to a single point, the earliest great illustration of the radical defects in a purely federative union. The next stage which succeeds presents the second illustration of this important truth. FOOTNOTES: [103] Washington's Writings, III. 403. [104] Writings of Washington, IV. 72. [105] Writings of Washington, IV. 100. [106] Letter to the President of Congress, Washington's Writings, IV. 110. September 24, 1776. [107] Journals, II. 357. [108] 500 acres to a colonel; 450 to a lieutenant-colonel; 400 to a major; 300 to a captain; 200 to a lieutenant; and 150 to an ensign. [109] Journals, II. 357. Subsequently, by a resolve passed November 12 (1776), the option was given to enlist for the war or for three years, taking away the land bounty from those who enlisted for the latter period only. Ibid. 454. [110] Ibid. [111] Journals, II. 403. October 8, 1776. [112] Writings of Washington, IV. 173. [113] Ibid. 183, 184. [114] Writings of Washington, IV. 184. [115] Writings, IV. 190. [116] Ibid. 197. [117] Ibid. 202. [118] Ibid. 206. [119] Ibid. 211. [120] Ibid. 225. [121] Writings, IV. 232.