The second resolution was:

That the United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such States as claim to the South Sea; and to dispose of all land beyond the boundary so ascertained for the benefit of the United States.

Evidently this resolution expressed the view of the Federal-Imperialist party in Congress, who held to the theory of Dickinson that the Congress was the successor of the King in the Empire and, as such, had power over the dependencies, which they described as a power of 'disposition."

The third resolution was:

That the United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such States as claim to the Mississippi, or South Sea, and lay out the land beyond the boundary so ascertained into separate and independent States, from time to time, as the numbers and circumstances of the people thereof may require.

This resolution expressed the anti-Imperialist theory that the "States" were to "arise" in the Western region without the assistance or supervision of the Union, except that it should fix the boundaries of these "States," "from time to time, as the numbers and circumstances of the people thereof may require." This resolution, if it had been adopted, would have put the United Statesin the power of the communities of the Western region, with the single reservation that it might gerrymander the country, from time to time, so as to divide or isolate, and thus weaken, those communities which persisted in acting adversely to the general interests.

As will be seen, the final policy was a compromise resulting from a modification of the plan proposed in the

first resolution, and a combination of the theories expressed in the last two resolutions.

The Articles of Confederation were agreed upon by Congress on November 15, 1777, and on November 17, copies signed by the President of Congress were ordered sent to the Legislatures of the respective States for ratification. All reference to civilized dependencies of the Confederation was omitted, except so far as they were referred to in the Article relating to Canada and "other Colonies," which was retained as Article XI., and which read:

Canada acceding to this Confederation, and joining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of this Union; but no other Colony shall be admitted into the same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine States.

The Articles contained very elaborate provisions giving power to Congress to determine controversies between the States, but none giving it power to determine controversies between the Confederation and a State, and in order to prevent a proceeding for determining a dispute between States from being made a pretext by Congress for adjudicating the claims of territory as between the Confederation and a State, it was provided that “no State shall be deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States."

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The only provision relating to the administration of uncivilized dependencies was contained in the power of regulating the trade and managing all affairs with the Indians, not members of any of the States." In order to prevent Congress from determining territorial limits. as between the Confederation and the States under pretext of "regulating the trade and managing all affairs with the Indians," it was made a proviso to this power

that "the legislative right of any State within its own limits be not infringed or violated."

In spite of the fact that Congress "declined to discuss the question of the administration of the dependencies of the Union at the time the Articles of Confederation were debated, the work of the Committee of Thirteen on this subject was not lost. They had, in fact, planned the American Federal Empire, and their plans were finally adopted.

CHAPTER XX

THE AMERICAN EMPIRE DECLARED, 1778

F any proof is needed, other than Franklin's and Dickinson's drafts of Articles of Confederation, that

IF

it was the purpose of the United Colonies, from the moment when their independence became a matter of necessity, to form themselves into a Union of States which should be the Imperial State of an American Empire, all doubt on the subject is removed by the Treaties of Alliance and Commerce with France, signed February 6, 1778, and ratified by Congress on May 5, 1778. The Treaty of Alliance shows, beyond a doubt, that the American Union intended to reduce to its possession by conquest, and to hold permanently, all those parts of the American Continent external to the Union, which then belonged to Great Britain, and also the Island of Bermuda, as dependencies of the Union, or to incorporate these regions, as States, into the Union, according to its discretion-all conquests from Great Britain in the West Indies being set apart to France, to be held as its dependencies. The purpose of Congress in this respect was made clear so early as December 30, 1776, by its Instructions to the Commissioners at the Court of France, directing them to secure, if possible, a clause in the treaty they were endeavoring to negotiate, which should provide that in case Cape Breton, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia should be "reduced," "the Province of Nova Scotia, Island of Cape Breton, and the remaining part of Newfoundland" (one half) should be "annexed to the territory and government of the United States."

In the Treaty of Alliance it was provided:

Article V. If the United States should think fit to attempt the reduction of the British power remaining in the northern parts of America, or the Islands of Bermudas, those countries or islands, in case of success, shall be confederated with or dependent upon the said United States.

Article VI. The most Christian King renounces forever the Islands of Bermudas, as well as any part of the Continent of North America which, before the Treaty of Paris in 1763, or in virtue of that Treaty, were acknowledged to belong to the Crown of Great Britain, or to the United States, heretofore called British Colonies, or which are at this time, or have lately been, under the power of the King and Crown of Great Britain.

Article VII. If his most Christian Majesty shall think proper to attack any of the islands situated in the Gulf of Mexico, or near that Gulf, which are at present under the power of Great Britain, all the said isles, in case of success, shall appertain to the Crown of France.

Article XI. The two parties guarantee, mutually, from the present time and forever, against all other powers, to wit, the United States to his most Christian Majesty, the present possessions of the Crown of France in America, as well as those which it may acquire by the future treaty of peace; and his most Christian Majesty guarantees, on his part, to the United States, their liberty, sovereignty, and independence, absolute and unlimited, as well in matters of government as of commerce, and also their possessions, and the additions or conquests that their Confederation may obtain during the war, from any of the dominions now or heretofore possessed by Great Britain in North America, conformably to the fifth and sixth Articles above written.

In the Treaty of Commerce which accompanied the Treaty of Alliance and in the Instructions of Congress on which the Treaty of Commerce was based, the expression "subjects of the United States" was used-in the