Excerpt from The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States Within the borders of New York, and among her members, had originated the greater number of the measures which had led to the War of the Revolution and, inspired by her example, and encouraged by her success, - not unfrequently, also, directed by her popular leaders, - her twelve associates had learned, at an early date, to look to her as to a leader, in the assertion of their own political rights, as well as in the more decided opposition which, from time to time, they had made to the representatives and to the measures of the sovereign. In the protracted struggle for independence which had ensued, her inhabitants had suffered more from the enemy, and during a longer period, than those of any other State; and her territory - which had been held by the Sovereign of Great Britain from an early day, by right of conquest - was the last which had been abandoned by the royal forces, -nor, even then, had it been fully and formally surrendered, in the mode which had been prescribed by the military usage of that day. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.