1486. CONFEDERATION, State Coercion and.—
It has often been said that the
decisions of Congress are impotent because the
Confederation provides no compulsory power.
But when two or more nations enter into
compact, it is not usual for them to say what
shall be done to the party who infringes it.
Decency forbids this, and it is as unnecessary
as indecent, because the right of compulsion
naturally results to the party injured by the
breach. When any one State in the American
Union refuses obedience to the confederation
by which they have bound themselves,
the rest have a natural right to compel them
to obedience. Congress would probably exercise
long patience before they would recur
to force; but if the case ultimately required
it, they would use that recurrence. Should
this case ever arise, they will probably coerce
by a naval force, as being more easy, less
dangerous to liberty, and less likely to produce
much bloodshed.—
To M. de Meunier, Washington ed. ix, 291.
Ford ed., iv, 147.
(P.
1786)
See Coercion.
