But waiving illustrations
of this sort, is it not manifest that most of the capital objections
urged against the new system lie with tenfold weight against the
existing Confederation? Is an indefinite power to raise money dangerous
in the hands of the federal government? The present Congress can make
requisitions to any amount they please, and the States are
constitutionally bound to furnish them; they can emit bills of credit as
long as they will pay for the paper; they can borrow, both abroad and at
home, as long as a shilling will be lent. Is an indefinite power to
raise troops dangerous? The Confederation gives to Congress that power
also; and they have already begun to make use of it. Is it improper and
unsafe to intermix the different powers of government in the same body
of men? Congress, a single body of men, are the sole depositary of all
the federal powers. Is it particularly dangerous to give the keys of the
treasury, and the command of the army, into the same hands? The
Confederation places them both in the hands of Congress. Is a bill of
rights essential to liberty? The Confederation has no bill of rights. Is
it an objection against the new Constitution, that it empowers the
Senate, with the concurrence of the Executive, to make treaties which
are to be the laws of the land? The existing Congress, without any such
control, can make treaties which they themselves have declared, and most
of the States have recognized, to be the supreme law of the land.
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