The revenues of the country were left by the Articles of Confederation wholly in the control of the separate States. It was provided, that all charges of war, and all other expenses for the common defence or general welfare, should be defrayed out of a common treasury; but this treasury was to be supplied, not by taxes, duties, or imposts, levied by or under the authority of Congress, but by taxes to be laid and levied by the legislatures of the several States, within such time as might be fixed by Congress. The amount to be furnished by each State was in proportion to the value of the land within its limits granted or surveyed, and the buildings and improvements thereon, to be estimated according to the mode prescribed by Congress. The sole means, therefore, which the Confederation gave to Congress of supplying the treasury of the United States, was to vote what sum was wanted, and to call upon the legislature of each State to pay in its proportion within a given time. The commerce of the country was left entirely within the control of the State legislatures; rendering it the commerce of thirteen different States, each of which could levy what duties it saw fit upon all exports and imports, provided they did not interfere with any treaties then proposed, or touch the property of the United States, or that of any other State. The United States had no power of taxation, direct or indirect. The Articles of Confederation were also entirely without any provision for enforcing the measures which they authorized Congress to adopt for the general welfare of the Union. It was declared in the instrument, that every State should abide by the determinations of Congress on all the questions over which the instrument gave that body control; that the Articles should be inviolably observed by every State; that the Union should be perpetual; and that no alterations should be made in any of the Articles, unless agreed to by Congress, and confirmed by the legislature of every State. But these declarations, however strong and emphatic in their terms, only made the Confederation in fact, as in name, a league or compact between sovereign States; for it gave the government of the Union no power to enforce its own measures or laws by process upon the persons of individuals, and consequently any party to the instrument could infringe any or all of its provisions, without any other consequence than a resort to arms by the general Confederacy, which would have been civil war. These, with some restrictions upon the power of the States in regard to the making of treaties, engaging in war, sending ambassadors, and some other topics, were the main provisions of the Articles of Confederation; and under the government thus constituted, the United States, on the second day of March, 1781, entered upon a new era of civil polity, and commenced a new existence, under somewhat happier auspices than they had known before.