last welded the colonies together and made a federal union possible. As
it was, the union was consummated only by degrees. By the Articles of
Confederation, agreed on by Congress in 1777 but not adopted by all the
States until 1781, the federal government acted only upon the several
state governments and not directly upon individuals; there was no
federal judiciary for the decision of constitutional questions arising
out of the relations between the states; and the Congress was not
provided with any efficient means of raising a revenue or of enforcing
its legislative decrees. Under such a government the difficulty of
insuring concerted action was so great that, but for the transcendent
personal qualities of Washington, the bungling mismanagement of the
British ministry, and the timely aid of the French fleet, the war of
independence would most likely have ended in failure. After the
independence of the colonies was acknowledged, the formation of a more
perfect union was seen to be the only method of securing peace and
making a nation which should be respected by foreign powers; and so in
1788, after much discussion, the present Constitution of the United
States was adopted,--a constitution which satisfied very few people at
the time, and which was from beginning to end a series of compromises,
yet which has proved in its working a masterpiece of political wisdom.

The first great compromise answered to the initial difficulty of
securing approximate equality of weight in the federal councils between
states of unequal size. The simple device by which this difficulty was
at last surmounted has proved effectual, although the inequalities
between the states have greatly increased. To-day the population of New
York is more than eighty times that of Nevada. In area the state of
Rhode Island is smaller than Montenegro, while the state of Texas is
larger than the Austrian empire with Bavaria and Würtemberg thrown in.
Yet New York and Nevada, Rhode Island and Texas, each send two senators