or
either by the colonies or by the English government. The former regarded
it as going too far in the direction of subordinating the separate
colonies to a central colonial authority, while for the latter it was
too democratic.[14]

The union of all the colonies under the Articles of Confederation was
finally brought about through the pressure of military necessity during
the Revolution. Nor is it surprising, in view of the history of the
American colonies, that they reluctantly yielded up any powers to a
central authority. We must bear in mind that the Revolution was in a
measure a democratic movement, and that democracy was then found only in
local government. The general governments of all countries were at that
time monarchical or aristocratic. Tyranny in the eighteenth century was
associated in the minds of the people with an undue extension or abuse
of the powers exercised by the undemocratic central government. It is
not surprising, then, that the Revolutionary federal constitution, the
Articles of Confederation, should have failed to provide a general
government sufficiently strong to satisfy the needs of the country after
the return of peace.

It must not be inferred, however, that the political changes which
immediately followed the outbreak of the Revolution were in the nature
of sweeping democratic reforms. Much that was thoroughly undemocratic
remained intact. The property qualifications for the suffrage were not
disturbed by the Revolutionary movement and were finally abolished only
after the lapse of nearly half a century. The cruel and barbarous system
of imprisonment for debt which the colonies had inherited from England,
and which often made the lot of the unfortunate debtor worse than that
of the chattel slave, continued in several of the states until long
after the Revolution. Marked as was the democratic tendency during the
first few years of our independence, it nevertheless left untouched much
that the progress of democracy has since abolished.

CHAPTER III

THE CONSTITUTION A REACTIONARY DOCUMENT

The sweeping changes made in our form of government after the
Declaration of Independence were clearly revolutionary in character. The
English system of checks and balances was discarded for the more
democratic one under which all the important powers of government were
vested in the legislature. This new scheme of government was not,
however, truly representative of the political thought