[Footnote 48: Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 221.]
"We have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation. Experience has taught us, that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their own good, without the intervention of a coercive power." [Footnote 49]
[Footnote 49: Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 187.]
"From the high ground we stood upon, to be so fallen, so lost, is really mortifying." [Footnote 50] "In regretting, which I have often done with the keenest sorrow, the death of our much lamented friend, General Greene, I have accompanied it of late with a query, whether he would not have preferred such an exit to the scenes which, it is more than probable, many of his compatriots may live to bemoan." [Footnote 51]
Nevertheless, the course of events, and the progress of general good sense, were also mingling hope with this patriotic sorrow,-- a hope full of anxiety and uneasiness, the only one which the imperfection of human things permits elevated minds to form, but which is sufficient to keep up their courage. Throughout the whole Confederation, the evil was felt and a glimpse was caught of the remedy. { 90} The jealousies of the States, local interests, ancient habits, democratic prejudices, were all strongly opposed to the sacrifices which were requisite in order to form a government in which the central power should be stronger and more prominent. Still, the spirit of order and union; the love of America as their country; regret at seeing it decline in the esteem of mankind; the disgust created by the petty, interminable, and profitless disturbances of anarchy; the obvious nature of its evils, the perception of its dangers; all the just opinions and noble sentiments which filled the mind of Washington, were gradually extending themselves, gathering additional strength, and preparing the way for a happier future. Four years had hardly elapsed since the peace, which had sanctioned the acquisition of independence, when a national Convention, brought together by a general spontaneous feeling, assembled at Philadelphia, for the purpose of reforming the federal government. Commencing its session the 14th day of May, 1787, it made choice of Washington for its president on the same day. { 91} From the 14th of May to the 17th of September, it was occupied in forming the Constitution, which has governed the United States of America for fifty years; deliberating with closed doors, and under influences the most intelligent and the most pure that ever presided over such a work. On the 30th of April, 1789, at the very moment when the Constituent Assembly was commencing its session at Paris, Washington, having been chosen by a unanimous vote, took an oath, as President of the Republic, to maintain and put in force the new-born Constitution, in the presence of the great functionaries and legislative bodies which had been created by it.