an effect which is in no manner changed or modified by any other circumstance in their relation to one another.That fact,alone,is necessary to be inquired into;and until that fact is ascertained,the author's reasoning as to the effect of the Declaration of Independence,in making them "one people,"does not apply.He is obliged,therefore,to abandon the ground previously taken,to wit:that the colonies were one people before the Declaration of Independence.And having abandoned it,he places the colonies,as this question,upon the footing of any other separate and distinct nations;
and,as to these,it is quite evident that the conclusion which he has drawn,in the case of the colonies,could not be correct,unless it would be equally correct in the case of Spain,Naples and Holland,above supposed.
The mere fact,then,that the colonies united in the Declaration of Independence,did not necessarily make them one people.But it may be said that this fact ought,at least,to be received as proof that they considered themselves as one people already.The argument is fair,and freely let it go for what it is worth.The opinion of the Congress of 1775,whatever it may have been,and however strongly expressed,could not possibly change the historical facts.It depended upon those facts,alone,whether the colonies were one people or not.They might by their agreement,expressed through their agents in Congress,make themselves one people through all time to come;but their power,as to this matter,could not extend to the time past.Indeed,it is contended,not only by Judge Story,but by others,that the colonies did,by and in that act,agree,to become "one people"for the future.
They suppose that such agreement is implied,if not expressed,in the following passages:"We,therefore,the representatives of the United States of America,"
"do,in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies,solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are,and of right ought to be,free and independent States."Let us test the correctness of this opinion,by the history of the time,and by the rules of fair criticism.
The Congress of 1775,by which independence was declared,was appointed,as has been before shown,by the colonies in their separate and distinct capacity,each acting for itself,and not conjointly with any other.They were the representatives each of his own colony,and not of any other;
each had authority to act in the name of his own colony,and not in that of any other;each colony gave its own vote by its own representatives,and not by those of any other colony.Of course,it was as separate and distinct colonies that they deliberated on the Declaration of Independence.
When,therefore,they declare,in the adoption of that measure,that they act as "the representatives of the United States of America,"and "in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies,"they must of course be understood as speaking in the character in which they had all along acted;that is,as the representatives of separate and distinct colonies,and not as the joint representatives of any one people.A decisive proof of this is found in the fact that the colonies voted on the adoption of that measure in their separate character,each giving one vote by all its own representatives,who acted in strict obedience to specific instructions from their respective colonies,and the members signed the Declaration in that way.So,also,when they declared that "these united colonies are,and of right ought to be,free and independent States,"they meant only that their respective communities,which until then had been dependent colonies,should thereafter be independent States,and that the same union,which existed between them as colonies,should be continued between them as States.The measure under consideration looked only to their relation to the mother country,and not to their relation to one another;and the sole question before them was,whether they should continue in a state of dependence on the British Crown or not.Having determined that they would not,they from that moment ceased to be colonies,and became States;
united,precisely as before,for the common purpose of achieving their common liberty.The idea of forming a closer union,by the mere act of declaring themselves independent,could scarcely have occurred to any one of them.The necessity of such a measure must be apparent to all,and it had long before engaged their attention in a different form.Men,of their wisdom and forecast,meditating a measure so necessary to their common safety,would not have left it as a mere matter of inference from another measure in point of fact,it was already before them,in the form of a distinct proposition,and had been so ever since their first meeting in May,1775,10it is impossible to suppose,therefore,in common justice to the sagacity of Congress,that they meant anything more by the Declaration of Independence,than simply to sever the tie which had theretofore bound them to England,and to assert the rights of the separate and distinct colonies,as separate and independent States particularly as the language which they use is fairly susceptible of this construction.The instrument itself is entitled,"The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America";of States,separate and distinct bodies politic,and not of "one people"or nation,composed of all of them together;"united,"as independent States may be,by compact or agreement,and not amalgamated,as they would be,if they formed one nation or body politic.
