An equipoise between the two could never have been reached.
But fate had ordained otherwise. In a new land, the settlers naturally
gathered into little groups for mutual protection. Collecting about
some harbour or along some navigable waterway in the Northern colonies,
or assembling from the plantations at the centre of the parish in the
Southern colonies, the people instituted local government. Clusters
of these units under home rule formed larger divisions, and, in this
way, union came as an afterthought resulting from contiguity and
intercourse. The States as colonies existed long before the Union.
Individualism was born long before unity in America, and gained a
prestige which aggregation has required nearly a century to overcome.
The ease with which the various States formed their first constitutions
and the ease with which they corrected errors by substituting later
frames, is an additional proof of their early efficiency. No State had
as much difficulty as did the nation in reaching a workable basis. It
is true that the national Congress first suggested State governments
to the chaotic colonies, but they did not authorise them.
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