In the Shadow of Our Founders: Part Two
the states that declared their independence from Great Britain imagined for a moment that they were declaring their independence from each other." In an online article for The Claremont Institute, Jaffa reminds his readers that Benjamin Franklin emphasized the need for the colonies to "hang together" or that they would otherwise "hang separately." Jaffa contends that the states "had no chance of independence except by union" and therefore he argues that "they never thought that they were sovereign except by means of union." In the article (which is actually a response to a critic of Abraham Lincoln), Jaffa's strongest piece of evidence is the language of the New Hampshire assembly, when it instructed its delegate to join New Hampshire to the other "colonies" in forming a "free and independent state." There is other language similar to New Hampshire's in proclamations, resolutions, and instructions passed throughout the thirteen colonies around the time of the Declaration of Independence.
Jaffa and the other critics of Jefferson Davis make a salient point that the colonies (or states, as of the Declaration) recognized their mutual reliance on each other as key to waging a successful war. For this reason, they chose to enter into an official Union at the same time they declared independence from British tyranny. What implications, then, did that Union, as established at the birth of our country, have for the independence and sovereignty of the states?
The Founders themselves recognized this was a chaotic transitional period for all the states. For this reason, the Congress developed and approved the first constitution for the newly created United States of America, the Articles of Confederation.
Officially named the "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union," the document first refers to the new nation as a "Confederacy" and certifies the name "United States of America." Immediately thereafter, Section II of the Articles declares: "Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled."
Clearly, by use of the term "each," the Articles establish the "sovereignty, freedom, and independence" of the individual, thirteen states. Clear evidence for Davis's position. Yet in Section XIII, the same document, confirming its full title, bluntly states that the "Union shall be perpetual."
Despite this clear language, what is the balance? Can a state be fully sovereign and free, and yet be required to remain part of
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