answers: General Henry Knox
context: urgency to support the military was no longer a factor. No progress was made in Congress during the winter of 1783–84. General Henry Knox, who would later become the first Secretary of War under the Constitution, blamed the weaknesses of the Articles for the inability of the government to fund the army. The army had long been supportive of a strong union. Knox wrote: As Congress failed to act on the petitions, Knox wrote to Gouverneur Morris, four years before the Philadelphia Convention was convened, "As the present Constitution is so defective, why do not you great men call the </s> higher marks than before as a war leader and articulator of war aims in the Fourteen Points. Link had previously stated that Wilson would have taken the same unbending stand against ratification of the Versailles Treaty with Henry Cabot Lodge's reservations if he had enjoyed perfect health. In Link's revision, he stressed Wilson's deteriorating cardiovascular condition and massive stroke. His medical deterioration made it hard for Wilson to compromise with Lodge and caused, in part, Wilson's earlier actions at the Versailles Peace Conference and his dealings with the US Senate over the treaty. Link incorporated his new ideas in elaborate </s> would become effective after ratification by a mere nine states, without unanimity: The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same. The apparent tension between these two provisions was addressed at the time, and remains a topic of scholarly discussion. In 1788, James Madison remarked (in "Federalist No. 40") that the issue had become moot: "As this objection...has been in a manner waived by those who have criticised the powers of the convention, I dismiss it without further observation." Nevertheless, it is an interesting historical
question: who argued that the articles of confederation were too weak