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Chapter 4: War.
Robert E. Lee was now fifty-four years old, and the wheel of time had recorded thirty-two years of honorable service in the army of the United States.
During that time his country had grown in population and increased in wealth and territory far exceeding the expectations and hopes of her people.
His profession had absorbed his attention to such an extent that he had scarcely noticed a gathering war cloud destined to discharge death and destruction upon the
American Republic, as well as mark a most important epoch in his own life and career.
The Constitution adopted by the
Convention at
Philadelphia in 1787 was the result of a compromise of the opinions of its members.
The scope and extent of the powers to be conferred on a government to be created by the representatives of the States, the line marking those powers, and the rights reserved by the States, was a most difficult problem to solve.
On the one hand, if too little power were conferred on the legislative, executive, and judicial departments of the
Federal Government, its organization might at any moment be broken to pieces, because not strong enough to enforce its legal decrees.
On the other hand, should too much power be delegated, a strong central government might result, and the creators — the States-might be crushed out of existence by an instrument of their own creation.
The people would in that case be returned to a form of government they abhorred, and from whose tyrannical methods their forefathers had breasted the waves of the
Atlantic, and incurred all dangers in settling a newly discovered country.
The safety of the States was the safety of the people, and only limited and defined powers must be conferred
