By the Articles, the vote in Congress was taken by States. By the
Constitution, a majority controls in all but extraordinary business, and
the vote is always taken by members. The Congress is no longer the
assembled States; it is the assembled representatives of the people--of
the nation. It is no longer charged with the management of the mutual
relations of parties to an alliance, but with the making of laws which
shall be the supreme law of the land throughout its entire extent. By
the Articles, prohibitions to the States are made conditional on the
consent of Congress--but by the Constitution, the more important acts of
sovereignty--forming treaties, issuing bills of credit, regulating the
circulating medium--are unconditionally forbidden to the States. The
Congress now controls foreign commerce, raises the revenue, levies
taxes, and cares for the welfare of the nation. By the Articles, new
members of the Confederation were to be admitted by the consent of
nine--about two-thirds of the States. By the Constitution, the
applicants are regarded rather as an organized body of men, seeking to
identify themselves with the American people. To such the national
Congress extends the privilege of citizenship, and from such demands
conformity to our method of national life.
But while these are instances of the radical difference existing between
the methods of treating the same subjects in the Articles of
Confederation and in the Constitution, there are elements in the
Constitution, peculiar to itself, which make the relations and duties of
the States under them utterly irreconcilable.
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