Anti-National Phases of the State Government [pp. 85-102]

ANT~-NA TIONAL PHASES OF STA TE GOVERNMENT. 93
jurious with every step of our progress. At the foundation of
the government the people of the several States were really separated in policy and interests; the States had just emerged from
the condition of colonies, and were but partially amalgamated.
The colonies had led each a separate existence, somewhat aloof
from one another and holding toward each other an attitude of
jealousy and suspicion. New York and Connecticut had been
traditionally at open feud; the existence of Rhode Island had
been a kind of standing protest against what was there deemed
the illiberal policy and bigotry of Massachusetts; New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, and Maryland had had little in common in their
origin or in their colonial history, and the Southern colonies
were at variance with the Northern in their political governments and in the prevailing sentiments of their people. Facilities for intercourse between the colonies were mneagre, and instances of social commingling or of business connection between
their inhabitants were of comparatively rare occurrence. The
common desire for independence from the British crown, and
the sympathies and mutual interests developed by their union
in the Revolutionary struggle, constituted the bond that drewr
the colonies together into national unity. When independence
was finally achieved the new States retained much of the colonial exclusiveness, and shrank from anything more than a very
qualified merger of themselves in a national government. The
articles of confederation served rather to foster the jealousy of
the States than to knit them together in closer union. And
when the Constitution was framed, consolidating the States
more firmly, and depriving them of some of the elements of sovereignty, it was not received with universal enthusiasm; it was
only after years of reluctance and under the pressure of obvious
policy that the Constitution was finally accepted by all the
States.
These sharp lines of demarcation between the States have
by the progress of time become nearly obliterated in the interests and temper of the people, while legally they remain as at
first. It admits of no doubt whatever that the population of
the United States is vastly more homogeneous and more truly
national in spirit than it was in its beginnings. This is probably
true even of the Southern States, for the past few years give