Huntington. Admit there is danger from Virginia, does it follow that Congress has a right to limit her bounds? The consequence is, not to enter into confederation....
Stone [Maryland] ... Is it meant that Virginia shall sell these lands for their own emolument? All the Colonies have defended these lands against the King of Britain, and at the expense of all. Does Virginia intend to establish quit rents?...
Jefferson. I protest against the right of Congress to decide upon the right of Virginia. Virginia has released all claims to the land settled by Maryland, &c.
[This clause, as to limiting the western claims, was stricken out in committee. The subsequent history of the struggle is well known, terminating in the acts of cession of claims to the western territory. For details, cf. American History and Government, §§ 179-180.
Jefferson's Notes on this same debate (Journals of Congress, VI, 1104,—from a MS. of Jefferson's) contain the following additional item: "John Adams advocated voting in proportion to numbers. He said that we stand here as representatives of the people; that in some States the people are many, in others they are few ... that the individuality of the colonies is a mere sound. ... It has been said we are independent individuals making a bargain together: the question is not what we are now, but what we ought to be when our bargain shall be made. The Confederacy IS TO MAKE US ONE individual only; it is to form us, like separate parcels of metal, into one common mass. ..."[142]]
147. Articles of Confederation.
November 15, 1777
March 2, 1781
Text from Revised Statutes of 1878. For history, cf. American History and Government, §§ 179, 186-188 ff. The editor has used black-faced type to indicate a few passages especially important for study.