Robert Lambart Harvey Quotes
Unity was the real key to the success of the United States. The constitution of 1787 was in many respects the imposition of a central national government upon the quarrelsome states... In a country so constituted, the weaknesses of one state were compensated for by the strengths of another.
Robert Lambart Harvey, British historian and Member of Parliament, Liberators, 2000
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Maryland was the last state to ratify the Articles of Confederation, not doing so until March 1, 1781.
At the time his Vice President, John C. Calhoun, was expounding a theory of “nullification” by which the states could supersede and nullify federal law in their states. When Jackson finished his toast, it was Calhoun’s turn (See {635896}.) His toast supported the States’ Rights position over the federal government. In those days Presidents and Vice President’s were often political enemies or of opposite parties. The President’s advisors thought that his toast might be misinterpreted. So when they gave the toast to the press as “The Federal Union: It must be preserved.” That was the form in which the press reported the President’s toast and for many years that was the version most quoted even though it was never delivered that way. However Jackson was responsible for both versions.
He persuaded many other rulers to join the Indian Union when India became Independent.
Bragg and other Southerner leaders had an unusual concept of equality. Ever since the original Constitution, Northerner’s votes counted for themselves only while a single Southerner’s vote counted for all his slaves as well. So the individual Southerner always had more political power than his Northern counterpart. However, this notion of equality reached it’s acme when it came to the new territories. The Southern argument was that Southerners could not equally prosper in the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska if they could not bring their slaves to work the land. The thought that Southerners were equally able to personally work the new lands or pay labor seems to never have occurred to them. If Northerners could prosper that way then Southerners should be equally able to do so also. However, many Southern whites simply could not conceive of a “gentleman” working in the fields. Therefore they would not be equally able to prosper in the new territories.
The North and the South had major differences on the issue of Spanish Florida and whether or not the U. S. should expand by force. Northerners were generally opposed while the South had an opposite view.
The Iroquois had a very successful confederacy of 6 tribes in a relatively democratic government with a written constitution. They dominated the Eastern part of North America for years. The were able to maintain a permanent unity with a unified and decentralized combination of government—much like the United States would become. At the time of this advice, each American colony was a government unto itself. The three Iroquois Indian delegates were Canassatego, Tachanoontia, and Gachradodow.
The United States had then only existed for about 30 years but was already a model.
Many wonder why Bolivar did not attempt to unify much of South America into a single federated state once they had thrown off the yoke of Spanish colonialism. This was his reason.
Each of the Dutch provinces and towns was relatively independent with no central or federal government that could organize or bring consistency to Holland. Each city and community had their own military with no common command, training, logistics, weapons or other common elements that the times began to require. The representatives from Rotterdam made this public declaration for a unified—federal—government.
See {640107} for another quotation creating this so called union. It made great sense to the King, but little to the Poles and Lithuanians who each saw themselves as a very different people and wanted little to so with the other.
Robert Lambart Harvey is a British Conservative Party politician, journalist and well known historian and author.
