FRANKLIN'S PLAN, 1775. 215 All charges of war and other general expenses incurred for the common welfare were to be defrayed out of a common treasury to be supplied by each colony in proportion to its number of male inhabitants between sixteen and sixty years of age; the first clear precedent in our history for the apportionment of revenue on the basis of persons. Each colony should levy a tax, as it judged best, for paying its proportion. The basis of taxation should also be the basis of representation, and there should be one delegate for every five thousand polls: the first provisions of the kind. To ascertain the population, a triennial census should be taken in each province: also the first provision of its kind. Half the members of Congress should constitute a quorum: a new precedent. Each delegate should have one vote and could vote by proxy. Thus in the legislative department, it will be observed, there were several innovations. The executive power, such as it was, should be vested by Congress in a council of twelve persons, appointed out of its own body; one-third for one year; one-third for two years, and one-third for three years: the precedent for the many retiring clauses to be found in our later constitutions. Two-thirds of the council could make a quorum, and, in the recess of Congress, it should manage the general continental business. There was nothing in this investment of executive power of great value as a precedent. Some limitation was placed on the colonies, as none could engage in war without the consent of Congress.1 The plan provided for amendments; Congress could propose them, and when approved by a majority of assemblies, they were to be equally binding with the articles: a clear precedent for the article on amendments in the national 1 Compare with the limitations on a State in the Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 10. 216 DICKINSON'S REPORT. Constitution.1 The plan proposed to admit into the Confederation every British colony in North America and the West Indies Islands, and also Ireland. Franklin's sketch is of greater interest to us because it became the basis for the plan which was reported to Congress on the twelfth of July, by the committee appointed to prepare Articles of Confederation.2 New Jersey was not represented, as it was not at this time in attendance. The committee's report was written by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania. That it was written before the Declaration of Independence is evident from its reference to colonies instead of States. Following quite closely the language of Franklin's sketch, it elaborated its articles. The independence and sovereignty, the religion and trade of each province were recognized, but at the same time limitations were put upon the colonies, for not one could send or receive embassies, or enter into confederation or alliances. There should be no discrimination by the Confederation against the trade or commerce of a colony; a provision introduced later with modification into the national Constitution and destined to be an element of great discord in relation to the rights of free persons of color.3 Each colony might lay imposts or duties on importation and exportation, provided it did not interfere with treaties entered into by the Confederation; the element of a provision in the national Constitution.1 A colony should not keep a standing army, except as might be required to garrison forts necessary for its selfdefense, but it was empowered to maintain a well-dis 1 Article V. 2 Elliot, Vol V, 110. (1776) 3 Constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1; Article XIV, Section 1. See my Constitutional History of the American People, 1776-1850, Vol. I, Chapter XII. 4 Article I, Section 8, Clause 1. DICKINSON'S REPORT. 217 ciplined militia; a precedent utilized by the Federal Convention.1 When troops were raised for the common defense, all the commissioned officers, in each colony, except the general officers, should be appointed by its legislatures; a provision which in a modified form was incorporated in the national Constitution.2 Public expenses should be paid from a common treasury to be supplied by the colonies in proportion to the number of their inhabitants. A census in which the white inhabitants should be distinguished from the black should be taken triennially and be transmitted to Congress. A tax for paying the quota of the general revenue by the several colonies was to be levied by the assemblies. Without the previous consent of the Confederation, no colony should engage in war, unless actually invaded by enemies, or unless the danger of invasion was so great as not to admit of delay; but no colony should grant letters of marque or reprisal until after a declaration of war by the Confederation, and then only against that power with which the Confederation was at war; a limitation on the authority of the States made more complete by the national Constitution.3 A clause, taken from Franklin's sketch, forbade the purchase of land from the Indians by the colonies or by private persons before the boundaries of the colonies were ascertained. All purchases outside of these boundaries were to be by contract between the Confederation, or its authorized representatives, and the tribes, and for the general benefit of the Confederation; a precedent in part for the practice of the United States government in dealing with the Indians, and especially since the act of United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 16. 2 Id. • Article I, Section 10, Clauses 1 and 3. 218 DICKINSON'S REPORT. Congress of 1830, relative to Indian affairs.1 When the boundaries of a colony were ascertained, the other colonies should guarantee its full and peaceful possession; a feeble provision that may well be contrasted with the guarantee on the subject in the Constitution.2 Congress should assemble in Philadelphia, or elsewhere, on the first Monday in November. Each colony should reserve the right to recall its delegates at any time within the year and to send new ones in their places, and each should support its own delegates. The vote was by colonies, each having one. The general powers vested in the Congress had precedents in earlier plans, and some of them in a modified form were repeated in the national Constitution.3 Thus the Confederation was given the exclusive right to determine peace or war; to decide on the legality of captures on the high seas and on the division of prizes; to grant letters of marque and reprisal; to appoint admiralty courts; to send and receive ambassadors; to make treaties and alliances; to settle disputes between colonies; to coin money and fix its value; to regulate Indian affairs; to limit the boundaries of those colonies whose charters it was claimed extended their territory to the South Sea; to give boundaries to new colonies and determine their forms of government; to dispose of all public lands for the general benefit; to establish a postal system; to appoint the general officers of the land and naval forces in the 1 This act establishing the Indian country or as commonly called the Indian territory; see Statutes at Large, Vol. IV, 411. See also the acts of May 31 and July 9, 1832, appointing a Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and the act of June 30, 1834, providing for the organization of the Department of Indian Affairs, Id., 735-738. The principle of this last act coincides closely with that expressed in the clause forbidding the purchase of Indian lands, in Dickinson's draft. 2 Article IV, Section 4, and Article III, Section 2, Clause 2. Article I, Section 8. DICKINSON'S REPORT. 219 service of the Confederation; to make rules for the regulation of these forces; to appoint a council of State and to suggest committees and civil officers as might be necessary to manage the affairs of the Confederation during the recess of the council; to appoint a president of Congress and a secretary, and to adjourn to any time within the year. The Confederation was further empowered to defend the United Colonies; to fix the amount of public revenue; to emit bills or to borrow money on the credit of the Confederation; to equip a navy; to agree upon the land forces requisite for public defense, and to assign the quota of revenue to each colony, which should be in proportion to the number of its white inhabitants. Congress should determine whether an additional force should be raised and should establish a uniform system of weights and measures. But the Confederation was to be subjected to limitations, for without the consent of nine colonies, expressed by their delegates in Congress, it could not interfere in the internal policy of a colony; or grant letters of marque or reprisal in time of peace; or engage in war; or enter into treaties or alliances; or coin money or regulate its value. It could not fix the revenue for the public defense, emit bills of credit or borrow money; make appropriations; build or purchase vessels of war or raise troops; or levy taxes, except in the management of the post-office; or appoint a commander-in-chief. Unless the delegates from seven States approved, no question on any other point, except for adjournment, could be determined. No person could be a delegate to Congress for more than three years in any term of six. During his membership, he could not hold any office under the Confederation: a provision re |