ABSTRACT
The governing body of the Union was to be a "Grand Council" composed of forty-eight members, apportioned among the colonies in a way to recognize, to some extent, their relative population and importance. Originally the United States, as organized under the Articles of Confederation, was itself of the usual type of federal government, being dependent even for its revenue upon State action. This system, however, soon proved inadequate, and particularly on its financial side. Now as it chanced, Pelatiah Webster of Philadelphia was a student of finance. Approaching the subject of the deficiencies of the Confederation from the angle afforded by his favorite studies, Webster was able to make an almost unparalleled contribution to the science of government. In other words, under Webster's scheme, as under the Articles of Confederation, the States still remained the essential units of the Federal Government, and the supremacy of the federal authority was to be secured by State coercion.
