In the execution of the second division of his plan,very little was required of Judge Story,either as a historian or a commentator.Accordingly,he has alluded but slightly to the condition of the colonies during the existence of the revolutionary government,and has sketched with great rapidity,yet sufficiently in detail,the rise,decline and fall of the Confederation.
Even here,however,he has fallen into some errors,and has ventured to express decisive and important opinions,without due warrant.The desire to make "the people of the United States"one consolidated nation is so strong and predominant,that it breaks forth,often uncalled for,in every part of his work.He tells us that the first Congress of the Revolution was "a general or a national government";that it "was organized under the auspices and with the consent of the people,acting directly in their primary sovereign capacity,"and without the intervention of the functionaries to whom the ordinary powers of government were delegated in the colonies.
He acknowledges that the powers of this Congress were but ill-defined;
that many of them were exercised by mere usurpation,and were acquiesced in by the people,only from the confidence reposed in the wisdom and patriotism of its members,and because there was no proper opportunity,during the presence of the war,to raise nice questions of the powers of government.
And yet he infers,from the exercise of powers thus ill-defined,and,in great part,usurped,that "from the moment of the Declaration of Independence,if not for most purposes at an antecedent period,the united colonies must be considered as being a nation de facto,"&c.
A very slight attention to the history of the times will place this subject in its true light.The colonies complained of oppressions from the mother country,and were anxious to devise some means by which their grievances might be redressed.These grievances were common to all of them;
for England made no discrimination between them in the general course of her colonial policy.Their rights,as British subjects,had never been well defined;and some of the most important of these rights,as asserted by themselves,had been denied by the British Crown.As early as 1765a majority of the colonies had met together in congress,or convention,in New York,for the purpose of deliberating on these grave matters of common concern and they then made a formal declaration of what they considered their rights,as colonists and British subjects.This measure,however,led to no redress of their grievances.On the contrary,the subsequent measures of the British Government gave new and just causes of complaint;
so that,in 1774,it was deemed necessary that the colonies should again meet together,in order to consult upon their general condition,and provide for the safety of their common rights.Hence the Congress which met at Carpenters'Hall,in Philadelphia,on the 5th of September,1774.It consisted of delegates from New Hampshire,Massachusetts Bay,Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,Connecticut from the city and county of New York,and other counties in the province of New York,New Jersey,Pennsylvania,New Castle,Kent,and Sussex in Delaware,Maryland,Virginia,and South Carolina.North Carolina was not represented until the 14th September,and Georgia not at all.It is also apparent that New York was not represented as a colony,but only through certain portions of her people;4in like manner,Lyman Hall was admitted to his seat,in the succeeding Congress,as a delegate from the parish of St.John's,in Georgia,although he declined to vote on any question requiring a majority of the colonies to carry it,because he was not the representative of a colony.This Congress passed a variety of important resolutions,between September,1774,and the 22nd October,in the same year;during all which time Georgia was not represented at all;for even the parish of St.John's did not appoint a representative till May,1775.In point of fact,the Congress was a deliberative and advisory body,and nothing more;and,for this reason,it was not deemed important,or,at least,not indispensable,that all the colonies should be represented,since the resolutions of Congress had no obligatory force whatever.It was appointed for the sole purpose of taking into consideration the general condition of the colonies,and of devising and recommending proper measures for the security of their rights and interests.For these objects no precise powers and instructions were necessary,and beyond them none were given.
Neither does it appear that any precise time was assigned for the duration of Congress.The duty with which it was charged was extremely simple;and it was taken for granted that it would dissolve itself as soon as the duty should be performed.5
