The Rights of the Union in a State of Dissolution

In a state of disunion these combinations might exist and might operate with success. It would be in the power of the maritime nations, availing themselves of our universal impotence, to prescribe the conditions of our political existence. An active commerce, an extensive navigation, and a flourishing marine would then be the offspring of moral and physical necessity. And poverty and disgrace would over spread a country which, with wisdom, might make herself the admiration and envy of the world.