WHAT PRECEDED THEM.
The Revolutionary Period.—The nation was born July 4, 1776. From that time until the adoption of the articles of confederation in 1781 the people of the United States carried on their governmental affairs by means of a congress "clothed with undefined powers for the general good."
This congress had, speaking "in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies," issued the declaration of independence; it had entered into an alliance with France; and it had prosecuted the war almost to a successful issue, before it had received any definite warrant for its acts. Its acts were justified by necessity, and had their authority in the "common consent" of a majority of the people. During nearly all of the revolutionary war, the people of the colonies were largely "held together by their fears."