6 Metaphors for confederation

The Confederation was in fact in no sense a national State, and was never intended to be so.

All the confederations which had been attempted before that time were simply leagues of states, and whatever central authority there was derived its authority from and had its relations with the states as separate bodies politic.

The Confederation was a compact between separate and independent States, the execution of whose articles in the powers which operated internally depended on the State governments.

The Confederation being a bond of union between independent States, it was necessary in granting the powers which were to be exercised over them to be very explicit and minute in defining the powers granted.

What Northern boy, what Massachusetts boy even, would not have replied, "The United States of America"? South Carolina, I am inclined to think, has long been a disunionist community, or nearly so, deceived by the idea that the Confederation is a bar rather than a help to her prosperity, and waiting only for a good chance to quit it.

This confederation was not a federal union, but simply a league for mutual defence against the Indians.

6 Metaphors for  confederation