the
respective States increased and that of Congress dwindled until it was
but a mere name and shadow.

The Articles of Confederation were agreed upon by Congress in 1777. They
defined the respective powers of Congress and were not to go into effect
until a majority of the States should agree to them. Within the
following two years all yielded their assent except Maryland, which did
so March 1, 1781.

DISPUTE OVER STATE BOUNDARIES.

The cause of this prolonged delay was the dispute over western
territory. Few persons suspect the extent of the wrangling over the
respective boundaries of the States. When the charters were granted by
England, the western boundaries of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland were defined, and
consequently they could not ask for an extension of them. New York
insisted that she had no western boundary. The remaining six States had
their western boundaries named as the Pacific Ocean, which was at a
distance that no one dreamed of at the time. They asserted that the
transfer of Louisiana to Spain fixed the Mississippi River as the limit
in that direction.

Among these claims none was so remarkable as that of Virginia. The most
that her sister States asked was that their northern and southern
boundaries should run parallel to the westward, but Virginia insisted
that her northern boundary extended northwest, which, if allowed, would
have given her all of the present States of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Her claim was crossed by those of
Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The States whose western boundaries had been settled were indignant over
the injustice of the claims of the others, for, since the whole thirteen
assisted in wresting the territory from Great Britain, they asserted
that all should share it. Some of the States sold lands in the west,
whose ownership was disputed by other States, and Maryland, as
intimated, refused her assent to the Articles of Confederation until
assured that these western claims would be abandoned.

HOW THE DISPUTE WAS SETTLED.

It was evident that the only way out of the confusion was by the
surrender of these claims, and New York set the example in 1780. In
response to the earnest request of Congress, Virginia did the same in
1784, Massachusetts in 1785, Connecticut in 1786, South Carolina in
1787, North Carolina in 1790, and Georgia in 1802. The result was that
the western bounda