control America by force; for nothing is more certain
than that, if we had failed in establishing our independence, Great
Britain would also have failed in subjecting us to her schemes.
After the shedding of blood at Lexington, reconciliation was
impossible; nor is it certain that it could have been accomplished
after the massacre in King Street, in 1770. To be sure the proceedings
of the towns and the tone of all the memorials and petitions indicate
this; but there were unquestionably men who thought it better that the
connection should be dissolved at as early a period as possible. These
men were right, both as regards our condition and the prosperity of
England. Had we remained her subjects, like all colonies, we should
have been of no advantage pecuniarily, and most likely a source of
some expense. But with independence and the Constitution came
prosperity to us, in which, through trade and the increased demand for
her manufactures, England has largely participated.

Had she consented, in 1775, to the peaceful dismemberment of her
empire, the independence of America, under such circumstances, would
have increased her glory, spared her treasury, and saved her laborers
form the pressure of taxes under which they have been weighed down. It
may be, however, that the war was necessary to us. In ante-
Revolutionary times there was not a strong tendency to union--in many
parts of the country the opposite feeling existed. Even the
Constitution was framed with difficulty, and received with hesitation
and doubt. The Constitution is not so much the result as the cause
of our national character. The colonies had had different foundations.
Some were English, some were Dutch, some were Roundheads, some
Cavaliers, some were Catholics, some Protestants, some Baptists, some
Quakers, some Congregationalists; and, finally, some of the colonies
were free and some held slaves. It is apparent that there was not
that tendency to union which was necessary to the formation of the
Constitution. But the mutual dependence which the mutual necessities
of the war produced convinced many of the propriety of a common
government--a government which should be adequate to a time of peace
and to a condition of war--a government which should guard each State
from civil commotion and protect its citizens and commerce in every
part of the world. It is evident that the free surrender of
jurisdiction would have left the colonies to many years