The rupture with England came: each colony elected a governor, from among its own people, to succeed his royal predecessor, and became an independent Republic. To carry on the war, these thirteen States formed a provisional Union; and after their independence of England had been secured, and each State individually recognised by her as an independent power, the draft of the present Constitution was prepared, and submitted to the States for consideration.
In the whole of that period there was not a hint or a doubt of the right of any one State to refuse to enter the Union thus proposed; and some States did not enter it for two years after its adoption by the rest.
For the first quarter of a century, the Union was considered quite in the light of an experiment, the feelings of patriotism in the people clustering entirely around the original unit. So strong was the feeling of jealousy against the plan of Union, that, but for the immense influence of Washington, it is very doubtful whether all the States ever would have adopted it. The States delegated to the central government certain specified functions, retaining their political organization to administer upon local affairs.
Fourscore years had passed, and the issue between the Northern and Southern States culminated in secession. Whatever the merits of the controversy may have been, in point of fact those States had resumed their sovereignty. Was the fealty of a citizen due to his State, or to the creation of the State from which she had withdrawn? This was the question Maury was now called upon to decide for himself.
He had been opposed to the dissolution of the Union, feeling it to be, in the time and manner, an unwise step—remaining where he was would bring the rich harvest of fame and wealth, whose seeds he had so wisely sown—the new Confederacy could offer him no personal advantages; and yet,
