The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789

by Joseph J. Ellis,
Tulsa World, June 8, 2015

In 1784, Benjamin Read, a member of Congress from South Carolina, lamented the absence of competence or coherence in the government under the Articles of the Confederation. “Let the blame fall where it ought,” Read wrote to George Washington, “on those Whose attachment to State Views, State Interests, & State prejudices is so great as to render them eternally opposed to every Measure that can be devised for the public good.”

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