The union, it was said, had been compared to a rope of sand; but gentlemen were cautioned not to push things to the opposite extreme.

The attempt to strengthen it might be unsuccessful, and the cord might be strained until it should break.
The constitutional authority of the federal government to assume the debts of the states was questioned.

Its powers, it was said, were specified, and this was not among them.
The policy of the measure, as it affected merely the government of the union, was controverted, and its justice was arraigned.
On the ground of policy it was objected, that the assumption would impose on the United States a burden, the weight of which was unascertained, and which would require an extension of taxation beyond the limits which prudence would prescribe.

An attempt to raise the impost would be dangerous; and the excise added to it would not produce funds adequate to the object.

A tax on real estate must be resorted to, objections to which had been made in every part of the union.