"Join, or Die," Woodcut, in The Pennsylvania Gazette, May 9, 1754.

The Constitution:   Counter Revolution or National Salvation? Issue 4:  State versus National Power

. . . the main pillars of the Constitution; which we have shown to be inconsistent with the liberty and happiness of the people, as its establishment will annihilate the state governments, and produce one consolidated government that will eventually and speedily issue in the supremacy of despotism.

The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention, of the State of Pennsylvania, to their Constituents, December 12, 1787,
from Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789

Review the following primary source documents to find evidence regarding the powers of the states versus the power of the national government and the issues of state representation in Congress.

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

Letter from the Hon. Robert Yates . . . to the Governor of New York
"It is with the sincerest concern we observe that, in the prosecution of the important objects of our mission, we have been reduced to the disagreeable alternative of either exceeding the powers delegated to us, and giving assent to measures which we conceive destructive to the political happiness of the citizens of the United States . . ."

The Committee Consisting of Mr. Kearney, . . . 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 . . ."

By the United States in Congress Assembled . . . to Devise Means for Procuring a Full Representation
". . . the committee cannot find on examining the journals, notwithstanding the repeated earnest recommendations for that purpose, that all the states have been represented at the same time: it appears that frequently there have not been more than nine states, and too generally not more than a competent representation for the lesser objects of the confederation . . ."

The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention, of the State of Pennsylvania, to their Constituents
"We Dissent, First, Because it is the opinion of the most celebrated writers on government, and confirmed by uniform experience, that very extensive territory cannot be governed on the principles of freedom, otherwise than by a confederation of republics, possessing all the powers of internal government; but united in the management of their general, and foreign concerns."