"A Sachem of the Abenakee Nation, Rescuing an English Officer from the Indians." Woodcut, 1768.

The Constitution:   Counter Revolution or National Salvation? Issue 5:  National Integrity

. . .that Congress consider the union bound by the federal compact to protect every part of the nation, as well against the unjust and unprovoked attacks of the independent tribes of Indians within the United States, as against foreign powers. . .

The Committee Consisting of Mr. Kearney...to Whom was Referred
the Report of the Secretary at War, and Sundry Papers Relative to Indian Affairs
from Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789

Review the following primary source documents to find evidence regarding the issue of preserving national integrity and defending the expanding western lands.

• Were the Articles of Confederation adequate to address the growing needs of the United States?

The Committee Consisting of Mr. Kearney...to Whom was Referred the Report of the Secretary at War, and Sundry Papers Relative to Indian Affairs
". . . the clause in the confederation relative to managing all affairs with the Indians, &c. is differently construed by Congress and the two states within whose limits the said tribes and disputed lands are. The construction contended by those states, if right, appears to the committee, to leave the federal powers, in this case, a mere nullity . . ."

Letter from the War Office . . . Containing Intelligence of the Hostile Intentions of the Indians
"That the states . . . hereby are requested to use their utmost exertions to raise the quotas of troops, respectively assigned to them, with all possible expedition, and that the executives of the said states be, and hereby are requested in case any of their legislatures should not be in session, immediately to convene them for this purpose, as a delay may be attended with the most fatal consequences."

The Debates in the Convention of the State of New York, on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution
"Mr. Chairman, as the preamble of the plan under consideration comprises the great objects of the Union, it will be proper, at this place, to introduce such general observations as may with less propriety be noticed, when particular articles are under consideration, and which may serve, at the same time, to show the necessity of adopting some more efficacious plan of union, than that by which we are now bound."

Mr. Charles Pinckney's Speech . . . on the Question of a Treaty with Spain
"It is confessed our government is so feeble and inoperative, that unless a new portion of strength is infused, it must in all probability soon dissolve. Congress have it in contemplation to apply to the States on this subject. The concurrence of the whole will be necessary to effect it. Is it to be supposed, that if it is discovered a treaty is formed upon principles calculated to promote the interests of one part of the union at the expense of the other, that the part conceiving itself injured will ever consent to invent additional powers . . ."