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+Project Gutenberg's The Critical Period of American History, by John Fiske
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Critical Period of American History
+
+Author: John Fiske
+
+Release Date: December 7, 2008 [EBook #27430]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRITICAL PERIOD AMERICAN HISTORY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Greg Bergquist
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully
+preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+
+
+
+  THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF
+
+  AMERICAN HISTORY
+
+  1783-1789
+
+  BY
+
+  JOHN FISKE
+
+  "I am uneasy and apprehensive, more so than during the war."
+  JAY TO WASHINGTON, _June_ 27, 1786.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  BOSTON AND NEW YORK
+  HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
+  The Riverside Press, Cambridge
+
+
+
+
+  Copyright, 1888,
+
+  BY JOHN FISKE.
+
+  _All rights reserved._
+
+  _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ Electrotyped and Printed
+  by H.O. Houghton & Co.
+
+
+
+
+  To
+
+  MY DEAR CLASSMATES,
+
+  FRANCIS LEE HIGGINSON
+
+  AND
+
+  CHARLES CABOT JACKSON,
+
+  _I DEDICATE THIS BOOK._
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+This book contains the substance of the course of lectures given in the
+Old South Meeting-House in Boston in December, 1884, at the Washington
+University in St. Louis in May, 1885, and in the theatre of the
+University Club in New York in March, 1886. In its present shape it may
+serve as a sketch of the political history of the United States from the
+end of the Revolutionary War to the adoption of the Federal
+Constitution. It makes no pretensions to completeness, either as a
+summary of the events of that period or as a discussion of the political
+questions involved in them. I have aimed especially at grouping facts in
+such a way as to bring out and emphasize their causal sequence, and it
+is accordingly hoped that the book may prove useful to the student of
+American history.
+
+My title was suggested by the fact of Thomas Paine's stopping the
+publication of the "Crisis," on hearing the news of the treaty of 1783,
+with the remark, "The times that tried men's souls are over." Commenting
+upon this, on page 55 of the present work, I observed that so far from
+the crisis being over in 1783, the next five years were to be the most
+critical time of all. I had not then seen Mr. Trescot's "Diplomatic
+History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams," on page 9 of
+which he uses almost the same words: "It must not be supposed that the
+treaty of peace secured the national life. Indeed, it would be more
+correct to say that the most critical period of the country's history
+embraced the time between 1783 and the adoption of the Constitution in
+1788."
+
+That period was preëminently the turning-point in the development of
+political society in the western hemisphere. Though small in their mere
+dimensions, the events here summarized were in a remarkable degree
+germinal events, fraught with more tremendous alternatives of future
+welfare or misery for mankind than it is easy for the imagination to
+grasp. As we now stand upon the threshold of that mighty future, in the
+light of which all events of the past are clearly destined to seem
+dwindled in dimensions and significant only in the ratio of their
+potency as causes; as we discern how large a part of that future must be
+the outcome of the creative work, for good or ill, of men of English
+speech; we are put into the proper mood for estimating the significance
+of the causes which determined a century ago that the continent of North
+America should be dominated by a single powerful and pacific federal
+nation instead of being parcelled out among forty or fifty small
+communities, wasting their strength and lowering their moral tone by
+perpetual warfare, like the states of ancient Greece, or by perpetual
+preparation for warfare, like the nations of modern Europe. In my book
+entitled "American Political Ideas, viewed from the Standpoint of
+Universal History," I have tried to indicate the pacific influence
+likely to be exerted upon the world by the creation and maintenance of
+such a political structure as our Federal Union. The present narrative
+may serve as a commentary upon what I had in mind on page 133 of that
+book, in speaking of the work of our Federal Convention as "the finest
+specimen of constructive statesmanship that the world has ever seen." On
+such a point it is pleasant to find one's self in accord with a
+statesman so wise and noble as Mr. Gladstone, whose opinion is here
+quoted on page 223.
+
+To some persons it may seem as if the years 1861-65 were of more
+cardinal importance than the years 1783-89. Our civil war was indeed an
+event of prodigious magnitude, as measured by any standard that history
+affords; and there can be little doubt as to its decisiveness. The
+measure of that decisiveness is to be found in the completeness of the
+reconciliation that has already, despite the feeble wails of
+unscrupulous place-hunters and unteachable bigots, cemented the Federal
+Union so powerfully that all likelihood of its disruption may be said to
+have disappeared forever. When we consider this wonderful harmony which
+so soon has followed the deadly struggle, we may well believe it to be
+the index of such a stride toward the ultimate pacification of mankind
+as was never made before. But it was the work done in the years 1783-89
+that created a federal nation capable of enduring the storm and stress
+of the years 1861-65. It was in the earlier crisis that the pliant twig
+was bent; and as it was bent, so has it grown; until it has become
+indeed a goodly and a sturdy tree.
+
+CAMBRIDGE, October 10, 1888.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ RESULTS OF YORKTOWN.                                                  PAGE
+
+
+ Fall of Lord North's ministry                                            1
+
+ Sympathy between British Whigs and the revolutionary
+ party in America                                                         2
+
+ It weakened the Whig party in England                                    3
+
+ Character of Lord Shelburne                                              4
+
+ Political instability of the Rockingham ministry                      5, 6
+
+ Obstacles in the way of a treaty of peace                             7, 8
+
+ Oswald talks with Franklin                                            9-11
+
+ Grenville has an interview with Vergennes                               12
+
+ Effects of Rodney's victory                                             13
+
+ Misunderstanding between Fox and Shelburne                              14
+
+ Fall of the Rockingham ministry                                         15
+
+ Shelburne becomes prime minister                                        16
+
+ Defeat of the Spaniards and French at Gibraltar                         17
+
+ French policy opposed to American interests                             18
+
+ The valley of the Mississippi; Aranda's prophecy                        19
+
+ The Newfoundland fisheries                                              20
+
+ Jay detects the schemes of Vergennes                                    21
+
+ And sends Dr Vaughan to visit Shelburne                                 22
+
+ John Adams arrives in Paris and joins with Jay in insisting
+ upon a separate negotiation with England                            23, 24
+
+ The separate American treaty, as agreed upon:
+
+   1.   Boundaries                                                       25
+
+   2.   Fisheries; commercial intercourse                                26
+
+   3.   Private debts                                                    27
+
+   4.   Compensation of loyalists                                     28-32
+
+ Secret article relating to the Yazoo boundary                           33
+
+ Vergennes does not like the way in which it has been done               33
+
+ On the part of the Americans it was a great diplomatic
+   victory      34
+
+ Which the commissioners won by disregarding the instructions
+ of Congress and acting on their own responsibility                      35
+
+ The Spanish treaty                                                      36
+
+ The French treaty                                                       37
+
+ Coalition of Fox with North                                          38-42
+
+ They attack the American treaty in Parliament                           43
+
+ And compel Shelburne to resign                                          44
+
+ Which leaves England without a government, while for
+   several weeks the king is too angry to appoint ministers              44
+
+ Until at length he succumbs to the coalition, which presently
+   adopts and ratifies the American treaty                               45
+
+ The coalition ministry is wrecked upon Fox's India Bill                 46
+
+ Constitutional crisis ends in the overwhelming victory of
+ Pitt in the elections of May, 1784                                      47
+
+ And this, although apparently a triumph for the king, was
+ really a death-blow to his system of personal government            48, 49
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS.
+
+ Cessation of hostilities in America                                     50
+
+ Departure of the British troops                                         51
+
+ Washington resigns his command                                          52
+
+ And goes home to Mount Vernon                                           53
+
+ His "legacy" to the American people                                     54
+
+ The next five years were the most critical years in American
+ history                                                                 55
+
+ Absence of a sentiment of union, and consequent danger of
+ anarchy                                                             56, 57
+
+ European statesmen, whether hostile or friendly, had little
+ faith in the stability of the Union                                     58
+
+ False historic analogies                                                59
+
+ Influence of railroad and telegraph upon the perpetuity of
+ the Union                                                               60
+
+ Difficulty of travelling a hundred years ago                            61
+
+ Local jealousies and antipathies, an inheritance from primeval
+ savagery                                                            62, 63
+
+ Conservative character of the American Revolution                       64
+
+ State governments remodelled; assemblies continued from
+ colonial times                                                          65
+
+ Origin of the senates in the governor's council of assistants           66
+
+ Governors viewed with suspicion                                         67
+
+ Analogies with British institutions                                     68
+
+ The judiciary                                                           69
+
+ Restrictions upon suffrage                                              70
+
+ Abolition of primogeniture, entails, and manorial privileges            71
+
+ Steps toward the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade            72-75
+
+ Progress toward religious freedom                                   76, 77
+
+ Church and state in Virginia                                        78, 79
+
+ Persecution of dissenters                                               80
+
+ Madison and the Religions Freedom Act                                   81
+
+ Temporary overthrow of the church                                       82
+
+ Difficulties in regard to ordination; the case of Mason Weems           83
+
+ Ordination of Samuel Seabury by non-jurors at Aberdeen                  84
+
+ Francis Asbury and the Methodists                                       85
+
+ Presbyterians and Congregationalists                                    86
+
+ Roman Catholics                                                         87
+
+ Except in the instance of slavery, all the changes described
+   in this chapter were favourable to the union of the states            88
+
+ But while the state governments, in all these changes, are
+   seen working smoothly, we have next to observe, by
+   contrast, the clumsiness and inefficiency of the federal government   89
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP.
+
+ The several states have never enjoyed complete sovereignty              90
+
+ But in the very act of severing their connection with Great
+   Britain, they entered into some sort of union                         91
+
+ Anomalous character of the Continental Congress                         92
+
+ The articles of confederation; they sought to establish a
+   "league of friendship" between the states                          93-97
+
+ But failed to create a federal government endowed with real
+   sovereignty                                                       98-100
+
+ Military weakness of the government                                101-103
+
+ Extreme difficulty of obtaining a revenue                         104, 105
+
+ Congress, being unable to pay the army, was afraid of it               106
+
+ Supposed scheme for making Washington king                             107
+
+ Greene's experience in South Carolina                                  108
+
+ Gates's staff officers and the Newburgh address                        109
+
+ The danger averted by Washington                                  110, 111
+
+ Congress driven from Philadelphia by mutinous soldiers                 112
+
+ The Commutation Act denounced in New England                           113
+
+ Order of the Cincinnati                                            114-117
+
+ Reasons for the dread which it inspired                                118
+
+ Congress finds itself unable to carry out the provisions of
+   the treaty with Great Britain                                        119
+
+ Persecution of the loyalists                                      120, 121
+
+ It was especially severe in New York                                   122
+
+ Trespass Act of 1784 directed against the loyalists                    123
+
+ Character and early career of Alexander Hamilton                   124-126
+
+ The case of Rutgers _v._ Waddington                               127, 128
+
+ Wholesale emigration of Tories                                    129, 130
+
+ Congress unable to enforce payment of debts to British creditors       131
+
+ England retaliates by refusing to surrender the fortresses
+   on the northwestern frontier                                    132, 133
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY.
+
+ The barbarous superstitions of the Middle Ages concerning
+   trade were still rife in the eighteenth century                      134
+
+ The old theory of the uses of a colony                                 135
+
+ Pitt's unsuccessful attempt to secure free trade between
+   Great Britain and the United States                                  136
+
+ Ship-building in New England                                           137
+
+ British navigation acts and orders in council directed against
+   American commerce                                                    138
+
+ John Adams tried in vain to negotiate a commercial treaty
+   with Great Britain                                              139, 140
+
+ And could see no escape from the difficulties except in systematic
+   reprisal                                                             141
+
+ But any such reprisal was impracticable, for the several
+   states imposed conflicting duties                                    142
+
+ Attempts to give Congress the power of regulating commerce
+   were unsuccessful                                               143, 144
+
+ And the several states began to make commercial war upon one another   145
+
+ Attempts of New York to oppress New Jersey and Connecticut             146
+
+ Retaliatory measures of the two latter states                          147
+
+ The quarrel between Connecticut and Pennsylvania over the
+   possession of the valley of Wyoming                              148-150
+
+ The quarrel between New York and New Hampshire over
+   the possession of the Green Mountains                            151-153
+
+ Failure of American diplomacy because European states
+   could not tell whether they were dealing with one nation
+   or with thirteen                                                154, 155
+
+ Failure of American credit; John Adams begging in Holland         156, 157
+
+ The Barbary pirates                                                    158
+
+ American citizens kidnapped and sold into slavery                      159
+
+ Lord Sheffield's outrageous pamphlet                                   160
+
+ Tripoli's demand for blackmail                                         161
+
+ Congress unable to protect American citizens                           162
+
+ Financial distress after the Revolutionary War                    163, 164
+
+ State of the coinage                                                   165
+
+ Cost of the war in money                                               166
+
+ Robert Morris and his immense services                                 167
+
+ The craze for paper money                                              168
+
+ Agitation in the southern and middle states                        169-171
+
+ Distress in New England                                                172
+
+ Imprisonment for debt                                                  173
+
+ Rag-money victorious in Rhode Island; the "Know Ye" measures       174-176
+
+ Rag-money defeated in Massachusetts; the Shays insurrection        177-181
+
+ The insurrection suppressed by state troops                            182
+
+ Conduct of the neighbouring states                                     183
+
+ The rebels pardoned                                                    184
+
+ Timidity of Congress                                              185, 186
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY.
+
+ Creation of a national domain beyond the Alleghanies              187, 188
+
+ Conflicting claims to the western territory                            189
+
+ Claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut                           189, 190
+
+ Claims of New York                                                     190
+
+ Virginia's claims                                                      191
+
+ Maryland's novel and beneficent suggestion                             192
+
+ The several states yield their claims in favour of the United
+   States                                                          193, 194
+
+ Magnanimity of Virginia                                                195
+
+ Jefferson proposes a scheme of government for the northwestern
+   territory                                                            196
+
+ Names of the proposed ten states                                       197
+
+ Jefferson wishes to prohibit slavery in the national domain            198
+
+ North Carolina's cession of western lands                              199
+
+ John Sevier and the state of Franklin                             200, 201
+
+ The northwestern territory                                             202
+
+ Origin of the Ohio company                                             203
+
+ The Ordinance of 1787                                              204-206
+
+ Theory of folkland upon which the ordinance was based                  207
+
+ Spain, hearing of the secret article in the treaty of 1783,
+   loses her temper and threatens to shut up the Mississippi
+   River                                                           208, 209
+
+ Gardoqui and Jay                                                       210
+
+ Threats of secession in Kentucky and New England                       211
+
+ Washington's views on the political importance of canals
+   between east and west                                                212
+
+ His far-sighted genius and self-devotion                               213
+
+ Maryland confers with Virginia regarding the navigation of
+   the Potomac                                                          214
+
+ The Madison-Tyler motion in the Virginia legislature                   215
+
+ Convention at Annapolis, Sept 11, 1786                                 216
+
+ Hamilton's address calling for a convention at Philadelphia            217
+
+ The impost amendment defeated by the action of New
+   York; last ounce upon the camel's back                           218-220
+
+ Sudden changes in popular sentiment                                    221
+
+ The Federal Convention meets at Philadelphia, May, 1787                222
+
+ Mr. Gladstone's opinion of the work of the convention                  223
+
+ The men who were assembled there                                  224, 225
+
+ Character of James Madison                                        226, 227
+
+ The other leading members                                              228
+
+ Washington chosen president of the convention                          229
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ THE FEDERAL CONVENTION.
+
+ Why the proceedings of the convention were kept secret for
+   so many years                                                        230
+
+ Difficulty of the problem to be solved                                 231
+
+ Symptoms of cowardice repressed by Washington's impassioned
+   speech                                                               232
+
+ The root of all the difficulties; the edicts of the federal
+   government had operated only upon states, not upon
+   individuals, and therefore could not be enforced without
+   danger of war                                                    233-233
+
+ The Virginia plan, of which Madison was the chief author,
+   offered a radical cure                                               236
+
+ And was felt to be revolutionary in its character                  237-239
+
+ Fundamental features of the Virginia plan                         240, 241
+
+ How it was at first received                                           242
+
+ The House of Representatives must be directly elected by
+   the people                                                           243
+
+ Question as to the representation of states brings out the
+   antagonism between large and small states                            244
+
+ William Paterson presents the New Jersey plan; not a
+   radical cure, but a feeble palliative                                245
+
+ Straggle between the Virginia and New Jersey plans                 246-249
+
+ The Connecticut compromise, according to which the national
+   principle is to prevail in the House of Representatives,
+   and the federal principle in the Senate,
+   meets at first with fierce opposition                           250, 251
+
+ But is at length adopted                                               252
+
+ And proves a decisive victory for Madison and his methods              253
+
+ A few irreconcilable members go home in dudgeon                        254
+
+ But the small states, having been propitiated, are suddenly
+   converted to Federalism, and make the victory complete               255
+
+ Vague dread of the future west                                         255
+
+ The struggle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery parties
+   began in the convention, and was quieted by two compromises          256
+
+ Should representation be proportioned to wealth or to population?      257
+
+ Were slaves to be reckoned as persons or as chattels?                  258
+
+ Attitude of the Virginia statesmen                                     259
+
+ It was absolutely necessary to satisfy South Carolina                  260
+
+ The three fifths compromise, suggested by Madison, was a
+   genuine English solution, if ever there was one                      261
+
+ There was neither rhyme nor reason in it, but for all that,
+   it was the best solution attainable at the time                      262
+
+ The next compromise was between New England and South
+   Carolina as to the foreign slave-trade and the power of
+   the federal government over commerce                                 263
+
+ George Mason calls the slave-trade an "infernal traffic"               264
+
+ And the compromise offends and alarms Virginia                         265
+
+ Belief in the moribund condition of slavery                            266
+
+ The foundations of the Constitution were laid in compromise            267
+
+ Powers granted to the federal government                               268
+
+ Use of federal troops in suppressing insurrections                     269
+
+ Various federal powers                                                 270
+
+ Provision for a federal city under federal jurisdiction                271
+
+ The Federal Congress might compel the attendance of members            272
+
+ Powers denied to the several states                                    272
+
+ Should the federal government he allowed to make its
+   promissory notes a legal tender in payment of debts?
+   powerful speech of Gouverneur Morris                                 273
+
+ Emphatic and unmistakable condemnation of paper money
+   by all the leading delegates                                         274
+
+ The convention refused to grant to the federal government
+   the power of issuing inconvertible paper, but did not
+   think an express prohibition necessary                               275
+
+ If they could have foreseen some recent judgments of the
+   supreme court, they would doubtless have made the
+   prohibition explicit and absolute                                    276
+
+ Debates as to the federal executive                                    277
+
+ Sherman's suggestion as to the true relation of the executive
+   to the legislature                                                   278
+
+ There was to be a single chief magistrate, but how should
+   he be chosen?                                                        279
+
+ Objections to an election by Congress                                  280
+
+ Ellsworth and King suggest the device of an electoral college,
+   which is at first rejected                                           281
+
+ But afterwards adopted                                                 282
+
+ Provisions for an election by Congress in the case of a failure
+   of choice by the electoral college                                   283
+
+ Provisions for counting the electoral votes                            284
+
+ It was not intended to leave anything to be decided by the
+   president of the Senate                                              285
+
+ The convention foresaw imaginary dangers, but not the real
+   ones                                                                 286
+
+ Hamilton's opinion of the electoral scheme                             287
+
+ How it has actually worked                                             288
+
+ In this part of its work the convention tried to copy from
+   the British Constitution                                             289
+
+ In which they supposed the legislative and executive departments
+   to be distinct and separate                                          290
+
+ Here they were misled by Montesquieu and Blackstone                    291
+
+ What our government would be if it were really like that
+   of Great Britain                                                 292-294
+
+ In the British government the executive department is not
+   separated from the legislative                                       295
+
+ Circumstances which obscured the true aspect of the case a
+   century ago                                                      296-298
+
+ The American cabinet is analogous, not to the British cabinet,
+   but to the privy council                                             299
+
+ The federal judiciary, and its remarkable character                300-301
+
+ Provisions for amending the Constitution                               302
+
+ The document is signed by all but three of the delegates               303
+
+ And the convention breaks up                                           304
+
+ With a pleasant remark from Franklin                                   305
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ CROWNING THE WORK.
+
+ Franklin lays the Constitution before the legislature of
+   Pennsylvania                                                         306
+
+ It is submitted to Congress, which refers it to the legislatures
+   of the thirteen states, to be ratified or rejected by
+   the people in conventions                                            307
+
+ First American parties, Federalists and Antifederalists           308, 309
+
+ The contest in Pennsylvania                                            310
+
+ How to make a quorum                                                   311
+
+ A war of pamphlets and newspaper squibs                           312, 313
+
+ Ending in the ratification of the Constitution by Delaware,
+   Pennsylvania, and New Jersey                                         314
+
+ Rejoicings and mutterings                                              315
+
+ Georgia and Connecticut ratify                                         316
+
+ The outlook in Massachusetts                                      317, 318
+
+ The Massachusetts convention meets                                     319
+
+ And overhauls the Constitution clause by clause                        320
+
+ On the subject of an army Mr. Nason waxes eloquent                     321
+
+ The clergymen oppose a religious test                                  322
+
+ And Rev. Samuel West argues on the assumption that all
+   men are not totally depraved                                         323
+
+ Feeling of distrust in the mountain districts                          324
+
+ Timely speech of a Berkshire farmer                               325, 326
+
+ Attitude of Samuel Adams                                          326, 327
+
+ Meeting of mechanics at the Green Dragon                               327
+
+ Charges of bribery                                                     328
+
+ Washington's fruitful suggestion                                       329
+
+ Massachusetts ratifies, but proposes amendments                        330
+
+ The Long Lane has a turning and becomes Federal Street                 331
+
+ New Hampshire hesitates, but Maryland ratifies, and all
+   eyes are turned upon South Carolina                                  332
+
+ Objections of Rawlins Lowndes answered by Cotesworth
+   Pinckney                                                             333
+
+ South Carolina ratifies the Constitution                               334
+
+ Important effect upon Virginia, where thoughts of a southern
+   confederacy had been entertained                                335, 336
+
+ Madison and Marshall prevail in the Virginia convention,
+   and it ratifies the Constitution                                     337
+
+ New Hampshire had ratified four days before                            338
+
+ Rejoicings at Philadelphia; riots at Providence and Albany             339
+
+ The struggle in New York                                               340
+
+ Origin of the "Federalist"                                         341-343
+
+ Hamilton wins the victory, and New York ratifies                       344
+
+ All serious anxiety is now at an end; the laggard states,
+   North Carolina and Rhode Island                                      345
+
+ First presidential election, January 7, 1789; Washington is
+   unanimously chosen                                                   346
+
+ Why Samuel Adams was not selected for vice-president                   347
+
+ Selection of John Adams                                                348
+
+ Washington's journey to New York, April 16-23                          349
+
+ His inauguration                                                       350
+
+
+
+
+THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+RESULTS OF YORKTOWN.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Sympathy between British Whigs and the revolutionary party in
+America.]
+
+The 20th of March, 1782, the day which witnessed the fall of Lord
+North's ministry, was a day of good omen for men of English race on both
+sides of the Atlantic. Within two years from this time, the treaty which
+established the independence of the United States was successfully
+negotiated at Paris; and at the same time, as part of the series of
+events which resulted in the treaty, there went on in England a rapid
+dissolution and reorganization of parties, which ended in the
+overwhelming defeat of the king's attempt to make the forms of the
+constitution subservient to his selfish purposes, and established the
+liberty of the people upon a broader and sounder basis than it had ever
+occupied before. Great indignation was expressed at the time, and has
+sometimes been echoed by British historians, over the conduct of those
+Whigs who never lost an opportunity of expressing their approval of the
+American revolt. The Duke of Richmond, at the beginning of the contest,
+expressed a hope that the Americans might succeed, because they were in
+the right. Charles Fox spoke of General Howe's first victory as "the
+terrible news from Long Island." Wraxall says that the celebrated buff
+and blue colours of the Whig party were adopted by Fox in imitation of
+the Continental uniform; but his unsupported statement is open to
+question. It is certain, however, that in the House of Commons the Whigs
+habitually alluded to Washington's army as "our army," and to the
+American cause as "the cause of liberty;" and Burke, with characteristic
+vehemence, declared that he would rather be a prisoner in the Tower with
+Mr. Laurens than enjoy the blessings of freedom in company with the men
+who were seeking to enslave America. Still more, the Whigs did all in
+their power to discourage enlistments, and in various ways so thwarted
+and vexed the government that the success of the Americans was by many
+people ascribed to their assistance. A few days before Lord North's
+resignation, George Onslow, in an able defence of the prime minister,
+exclaimed, "Why have we failed so miserably in this war against America,
+if not from the support and countenance given to rebellion in this very
+House?"
+
+[Sidenote: It weakened the Whigs in England.]
+
+[Sidenote: Character of Lord Shelburne.]
+
+Now the violence of party leaders like Burke and Fox owed much of its
+strength, no doubt, to mere rancorousness of party spirit. But, after
+making due allowance for this, we must admit that it was essentially
+based upon the intensity of their conviction that the cause of English
+liberty was inseparably bound up with the defeat of the king's attempt
+upon the liberties of America. Looking beyond the quarrels of the
+moment, they preferred to have freedom guaranteed, even at the cost of
+temporary defeat and partial loss of empire. Time has shown that they
+were right in this, but the majority of the people could hardly be
+expected to comprehend their attitude. It seemed to many that the great
+Whig leaders were forgetting their true character as English statesmen,
+and there is no doubt that for many years this was the chief source of
+the weakness of the Whig party. Sir Gilbert Elliot said, with truth,
+that if the Whigs had not thus to a considerable extent arrayed the
+national feeling against themselves, Lord North's ministry would have
+fallen some years sooner than it did. The king thoroughly understood the
+advantage which accrued to him from this state of things; and with that
+short-sighted shrewdness of the mere political wire-puller, in which few
+modern politicians have excelled him, he had from the outset preferred
+to fight his battle on constitutional questions in America rather than
+in England, in order that the national feeling of Englishmen might be
+arrayed on his side. He was at length thoroughly beaten on his own
+ground, and as the fatal day approached he raved and stormed as he had
+not stormed since the spring of 1778, when he had been asked to entrust
+the government to Lord Chatham. Like the child who refuses to play when
+he sees the game going against him, George threatened to abdicate the
+throne and go over to Hanover, leaving his son to get along with the
+Whig statesmen. But presently he took heart again, and began to resort
+to the same kind of political management which had served him so well in
+the earlier years of his reign. Among the Whig statesmen, the Marquis of
+Buckingham had the largest political following. He represented the old
+Whig aristocracy, his section of the party had been first to urge the
+recognition of American independence, and his principal followers were
+Fox and Burke. For all these reasons he was especially obnoxious to the
+king. On the other hand, the Earl of Shelburne was, in a certain sense,
+the political heir of Lord Chatham, and represented principles far more
+liberal than those of the Old Whigs. Shelburne was one of the most
+enlightened statesmen of his time. He was an earnest advocate of
+parliamentary reform and of free trade. He had paid especial attention
+to political economy, and looked with disgust upon the whole barbaric
+system of discriminative duties and commercial monopolies which had been
+so largely instrumental in bringing about the American Revolution. But
+being in these respects in advance of his age, Lord Shelburne had but
+few followers. Moreover, although a man of undoubted integrity, quite
+exempt from sordid or selfish ambition, there was a cynical harshness
+about him which made him generally disliked and distrusted. He was so
+suspicious of other men that other men were suspicious of him; so that,
+in spite of many admirable qualities, he was extremely ill adapted for
+the work of a party manager.
+
+It was doubtless for these reasons that the king, when it became clear
+that a new government must be formed, made up his mind that Lord
+Shelburne would be the safest man to conduct it. In his hands the Whig
+power would not be likely to grow too strong, and dissensions would be
+sure to arise, from which the king might hope to profit. The first place
+in the treasury was accordingly offered to Shelburne; and when he
+refused it, and the king found himself forced to appeal to Lord
+Rockingham, the manner in which the bitter pill was taken was quite
+characteristic of George III. He refused to meet Rockingham in person,
+but sent all his communications to him through Shelburne, who, thus
+conspicuously singled out as the object of royal preference, was certain
+to incur the distrust of his fellow ministers.
+
+[Sidenote: Political instability of the Rockingham ministry.]
+
+The structure of the new cabinet was unstable enough, however, to have
+satisfied even such an enemy as the king. Beside Rockingham himself,
+Lord John Cavendish, Charles Fox, Lord Keppel, and the Duke of Richmond
+were all Old Whigs. To offset these five there were five New Whigs, the
+Duke of Grafton, Lords Shelburne, Camden, and Ashburton, and General
+Conway; while the eleventh member was none other than the Tory
+chancellor, Lord Thurlow, who was kept over from Lord North's ministry.
+Burke was made paymaster of the forces, but had no seat in the cabinet.
+In this curiously constructed cabinet, the prime minister, Lord
+Rockingham, counted for little. Though a good party leader, he was below
+mediocrity as a statesman, and his health was failing, so that he could
+not attend to business. The master spirits were the two secretaries of
+state, Fox and Shelburne, and they wrangled perpetually, while Thurlow
+carried the news of all their quarrels to the king, and in cabinet
+meetings usually voted with Shelburne. The ministry had not lasted five
+weeks when Fox began to predict its downfall. On the great question of
+parliamentary reform, which was brought up in May by the young William
+Pitt, the government was hopelessly divided. Shelburne's party was in
+favour of reform, and this time Fox was found upon the same side, as
+well as the Duke of Richmond, who went so far as to advocate universal
+suffrage. On the other hand, the Whig aristocracy, led by Rockingham,
+were as bitterly opposed as the king himself to any change in the method
+of electing parliaments; and, incredible as it may seem, even such a man
+as Burke maintained that the old system, rotten boroughs and all, was a
+sacred part of the British Constitution, which none could handle rudely
+without endangering the country! But in this moment of reaction against
+the evil influences which had brought about the loss of the American
+colonies, there was a strong feeling in favour of reform, and Pitt's
+motion was only lost by a minority of twenty in a total vote of three
+hundred. Half a century was to elapse before the reformers were again to
+come so near to victory.
+
+But Lord Rockingham's weak and short-lived ministry was nevertheless
+remarkable for the amount of good work it did in spite of the king's
+dogged opposition. It contained great administrative talent, which made
+itself felt in the most adverse circumstances. To add to the
+difficulty, the ministry came into office at the critical moment of a
+great agitation in Ireland. In less than three months, not only was the
+trouble successfully removed, but the important bills for disfranchising
+revenue officers and excluding contractors from the House of Commons
+were carried, and a tremendous blow was thus struck at the corrupt
+influence of the crown upon elections. Burke's great scheme of
+economical reform was also put into operation, cutting down the pension
+list and diminishing the secret service fund, and thus destroying many
+sources of corruption. At no time, perhaps, since the expulsion of the
+Stuarts, had so much been done toward purifying English political life
+as during the spring of 1782. But during the progress of these important
+measures, the jealousies and bickerings in the cabinet became more and
+more painfully apparent, and as the question of peace with America came
+into the foreground, these difficulties hastened to a crisis.
+
+[Sidenote: Obstacles in the way of a treaty of peace.]
+
+From the policy which George III. pursued with regard to Lord Shelburne
+at this time, one would suppose that in his secret heart the king
+wished, by foul means since all others had failed, to defeat the
+negotiations for peace and to prolong the war. Seldom has there been a
+more oddly complicated situation. Peace was to be made with America,
+France, Spain, and Holland. Of these powers, America and France were
+leagued together by one treaty of alliance, and France and Spain by
+another, and these treaties in some respects conflicted with one another
+in the duties which they entailed upon the combatants. Spain, though at
+war with England for purposes of her own, was bitterly hostile to the
+United States; and France, thus leagued with two allies which pulled in
+opposite directions, felt bound to satisfy both, while pursuing her own
+ends against England. To deal with such a chaotic state of things, an
+orderly and harmonious government in England should have seemed
+indispensably necessary. Yet on the part of England the negotiation of a
+treaty of peace was to be the work of two secretaries of state who were
+both politically and personally hostile to each other. Fox, as secretary
+of state for foreign affairs, had to superintend the negotiations with
+France, Spain, and Holland. Shelburne was secretary of state for home
+and colonial affairs; and as the United States were still officially
+regarded as colonies, the American negotiations belonged to his
+department. With such a complication of conflicting interests, George
+III. might well hope that no treaty could be made.
+
+[Sidenote: Oswald talks with Franklin.]
+
+The views of Fox and Shelburne as to the best method of conceding
+American independence were very different. Fox understood that France
+was really in need of peace, and he believed that she would not make
+further demands upon England if American independence should once be
+recognized. Accordingly, Fox would have made this concession at once as
+a preliminary to the negotiation. On the other hand, Shelburne felt sure
+that France would insist upon further concessions, and he thought it
+best to hold in reserve the recognition of independence as a
+consideration to be bargained for. Informal negotiations began between
+Shelburne and Franklin, who for many years had been warm friends. In
+view of the impending change of government, Franklin had in March sent a
+letter to Shelburne, expressing a hope that peace might soon be
+restored. When the letter reached London the new ministry had already
+been formed, and Shelburne, with the consent of the cabinet, answered it
+by sending over to Paris an agent, to talk with Franklin informally, and
+ascertain the terms upon which the Americans would make peace. The
+person chosen for this purpose was Richard Oswald, a Scotch merchant,
+who owned large estates in America,--a man of very frank disposition and
+liberal views, and a friend of Adam Smith. In April, Oswald had several
+conversations with Franklin. In one of these conversations Franklin
+suggested that, in order to make a durable peace, it was desirable to
+remove all occasion for future quarrel; that the line of frontier
+between New York and Canada was inhabited by a lawless set of men, who
+in time of peace would be likely to breed trouble between their
+respective governments; and that therefore it would be well for England
+to cede Canada to the United States. A similar reasoning would apply to
+Nova Scotia. By ceding these countries to the United States it would be
+possible, from the sale of unappropriated lands, to indemnify the
+Americans for all losses of private property during the war, and also to
+make reparation to the Tories, whose estates had been confiscated. By
+pursuing such a policy, England, which had made war on America
+unjustly, and had wantonly done it great injuries, would achieve not
+merely peace, but reconciliation, with America; and reconciliation, said
+Franklin, is "a sweet word." No doubt this was a bold tone for Franklin
+to take, and perhaps it was rather cool in him to ask for Canada and
+Nova Scotia; but he knew that almost every member of the Whig ministry
+had publicly expressed the opinion that the war against America was an
+unjust and wanton war; and being, moreover, a shrewd hand at a bargain,
+he began by setting his terms high. Oswald doubtless looked at the
+matter very much from Franklin's point of view, for on the suggestion of
+the cession of Canada he expressed neither surprise nor reluctance.
+Franklin had written on a sheet of paper the main points of his
+conversation, and, at Oswald's request, he allowed him to take the paper
+to London to show to Lord Shelburne, first writing upon it a note
+expressly declaring its informal character. Franklin also sent a letter
+to Shelburne, describing Oswald as a gentleman with whom he found it
+very pleasant to deal. On Oswald's arrival in London, Shelburne did not
+show the notes of the conversation to any of his colleagues, except Lord
+Ashburton. He kept the paper over one night, and then returned it to
+Franklin without any formal answer. But the letter he showed to the
+cabinet, and on the 23d of April it was decided to send Oswald back to
+Paris, to represent to Franklin that, on being restored to the same
+situation in which she was left by the treaty of 1763, Great Britain
+would be willing to recognize the independence of the United States.
+Fox was authorized to make a similar representation to the French
+government, and the person whom he sent to Paris for this purpose was
+Thomas Grenville, son of the author of the Stamp Act.
+
+As all British subjects were prohibited from entering into negotiations
+with the revolted colonies, it was impossible for Oswald to take any
+decisive step until an enabling act should be carried through
+Parliament. But while waiting for this he might still talk informally
+with Franklin. Fox thought that Oswald's presence in Paris indicated a
+desire on Shelburne's part to interfere with the negotiations with the
+French government; and indeed, the king, out of his hatred of Fox and
+his inborn love of intrigue, suggested to Shelburne that Oswald "might
+be a useful check on that part of the negotiation which was in other
+hands." But Shelburne paid no heed to this crooked advice, and there is
+nothing to show that he had the least desire to intrigue against Fox. If
+he had, he would certainly have selected some other agent than Oswald,
+who was the most straightforward of men, and scarcely close-mouthed
+enough for a diplomatist. He told Oswald to impress it upon Franklin
+that if America was to be independent at all she must be independent of
+the whole world, and must not enter into any secret arrangement with
+France which might limit her entire freedom of action in the future. To
+the private memorandum which desired the cession of Canada for three
+reasons, his answers were as follows: "1. _By way of
+reparation._--Answer. No reparation can be heard of. 2. _To prevent
+future wars._--Answer. It is to be hoped that some more friendly method
+will be found. 3. _As a fund of indemnification to loyalists._--Answer.
+No independence to be acknowledged without their being taken care of."
+Besides, added Shelburne, the Americans would be expected to make some
+compensation for the surrender of Charleston, Savannah, and the city of
+New York, still held by British troops. From this it appears that
+Shelburne, as well as Franklin, knew how to begin by asking more than he
+was likely to get.
+
+[Sidenote: Grenville has an interview with Vergennes.]
+
+While Oswald submitted these answers to Franklin, Grenville had his
+interview with Vergennes, and told him that, if England recognized the
+independence of the United States, she should expect France to restore
+the islands of the West Indies which she had taken from England. Why
+not, since the independence of the United States was the sole avowed
+object for which France had gone to war? Now this was on the 8th of May,
+and the news of the destruction of the French fleet in the West Indies,
+nearly four weeks ago, had not yet reached Europe. Flushed with the
+victories of Grasse, and exulting in the prowess of the most formidable
+naval force that France had ever sent out, Vergennes not only expected
+to keep the islands which he had got, but was waiting eagerly for the
+news that he had acquired Jamaica into the bargain. In this mood he
+returned a haughty answer to Grenville. He reminded him that nations
+often went to war for a specified object, and yet seized twice as much
+if favoured by fortune; and, recurring to the instance which rankled
+most deeply in the memories of Frenchmen, he cited the events of the
+last war. In 1756 England went to war with France over the disputed
+right to some lands on the Ohio River and the Maine frontier. After
+seven years of fighting she not only kept these lands, but all of
+Canada, Louisiana, and Florida, and ousted the French from India into
+the bargain. No, said Vergennes, he would not rest content with the
+independence of America. He would not even regard such an offer as a
+concession to France in any way, or as a price in return for which
+France was to make a treaty favourable to England. As regards the
+recognition of independence, England must treat directly with America.
+
+[Sidenote: Effects of Rodney's victory.]
+
+[Sidenote: Fall of the Rockingham ministry, July 1, 1782.]
+
+Grenville was disappointed and chagrined by this answer, and the
+ministry made up their minds that there would be no use in trying to get
+an honourable peace with France for the present. Accordingly, it seemed
+better to take Vergennes at his word, though not in the sense in which
+he meant it, and, by granting all that the Americans could reasonably
+desire, to detach them from the French alliance as soon as possible. On
+the 18th of May there came the news of the stupendous victory of Rodney
+over Grasse, and all England rang with jubilee. Again it had been shown
+that "Britannia rules the wave;" and it seemed that, if America could be
+separately pacified, the House of Bourbon might be successfully defied.
+Accordingly, on the 23d, five days after the news of victory, the
+ministry decided "to propose the independence of America in the first
+instance, instead of making it the condition of a general treaty." Upon
+this Fox rather hastily maintained that the United States were put at
+once into the position of an independent and foreign power, so that the
+business of negotiating with them passed from Shelburne's department
+into his own. Shelburne, on the other hand, argued that, as the
+recognition of independence could not take effect until a treaty of
+peace should be concluded, the negotiation with America still belonged
+to him, as secretary for the colonies. Following Fox's instructions,
+Grenville now claimed the right of negotiating with Franklin as well as
+with Vergennes; but as his written credentials only authorized him to
+treat with France, the French minister suspected foul play, and turned a
+cold shoulder to Grenville. For the same reason, Grenville found
+Franklin very reserved and indisposed to talk on the subject of the
+treaty. While Grenville was thus rebuffed and irritated he had a talk
+with Oswald, in the course of which he got from that simple and
+high-minded gentleman the story of the private paper relating to the
+cession of Canada, which Franklin had permitted Lord Shelburne to see.
+Grenville immediately took offence; he made up his mind that something
+underhanded was going on, and that this was the reason for the coldness
+of Franklin and Vergennes; and he wrote an indignant letter about it to
+Fox. From the wording of this letter, Fox got the impression that
+Franklin's proposal was much more serious than it really was. It
+naturally puzzled him and made him angry, for the attitude of America
+implied in the request for a cession of Canada was far different from
+the attitude presumed by the theory that the mere offer of independence
+would be enough to detach her from her alliance with France. The plan of
+the ministry seemed imperilled. Fox showed Grenville's letter to
+Rockingham, Richmond, and Cavendish; and they all inferred that
+Shelburne was playing a secret part, for purposes of his own. This was
+doubtless unjust to Shelburne. Perhaps his keeping the matter to himself
+was simply one more illustration of his want of confidence in Fox; or,
+perhaps he did not think it worth while to stir up the cabinet over a
+question which seemed too preposterous ever to come to anything. Fox,
+however, cried out against Shelburne's alleged duplicity, and made up
+his mind at all events to get the American negotiations transferred to
+his own department. To this end he moved in the cabinet, on the last day
+of June, that the independence of the United States should be
+unconditionally acknowledged, so that England might treat as with a
+foreign power. The motion was lost, and Fox announced that he should
+resign his office. His resignation would probably of itself have broken
+up the ministry, but, by a curious coincidence, on the next day Lord
+Rockingham died; and so the first British government begotten of
+Washington's victory at Yorktown came prematurely to an end.
+
+[Sidenote: Shelburne prime minister.]
+
+The Old Whigs now found some difficulty in choosing a leader. Burke was
+the greatest statesman in the party, but he had not the qualities of a
+party leader, and his connections were not sufficiently aristocratic.
+Fox was distrusted by many people for his gross vices, and because of
+his waywardness in politics. In the dissipated gambler, who cast in his
+lot first with one party and then with the other, and who had shamefully
+used his matchless eloquence in defending some of the worst abuses of
+the time, there seemed as yet but little promise of the great reformer
+of later years, the Charles Fox who came to be loved and idolized by all
+enlightened Englishmen. Next to Fox, the ablest leader in the party was
+the Duke of Richmond, but his advanced views on parliamentary reform put
+him out of sympathy with the majority of the party. In this
+embarrassment, the choice fell upon the Duke of Portland, a man of great
+wealth and small talent, concerning whom Horace Walpole observed, "It is
+very entertaining that two or three great families should persuade
+themselves that they have a hereditary and exclusive right of giving us
+a head without a tongue!" The choice was a weak one, and played directly
+into the hands of the king. When urged to make the Duke of Portland his
+prime minister, the king replied that he had already offered that
+position to Lord Shelburne. Hereupon Fox and Cavendish resigned, but
+Richmond remained in office, thus virtually breaking his connection with
+the Old Whigs. Lord Keppel also remained. Many members of the party
+followed Richmond and went over to Shelburne. William Pitt, now
+twenty-three years old, succeeded Cavendish as chancellor of the
+exchequer; Thomas Townshend became secretary of state for home and
+colonies, and Lord Grantham became foreign secretary. The closing days
+of Parliament were marked by altercations which showed how wide the
+breach had grown between the two sections of the Whig party. Fox and
+Burke believed that Shelburne was not only playing a false part, but was
+really as subservient to the king as Lord North had been. In a speech
+ridiculous for its furious invective, Burke compared the new prime
+minister with Borgia and Catiline. And so Parliament was adjourned on
+the 11th of July, and did not meet again until December.
+
+[Sidenote: French policy opposed to American interests.]
+
+The task of making a treaty of peace was simplified both by this change
+of ministry and by the total defeat of the Spaniards and French at
+Gibraltar in September. Six months before, England had seemed worsted in
+every quarter. Now England, though defeated in America, was victorious
+as regarded France and Spain. The avowed object for which France had
+entered into alliance with the Americans was to secure the independence
+of the United States, and this point was now substantially gained. The
+chief object for which Spain had entered into alliance with France was
+to drive the English from Gibraltar, and this point was now decidedly
+lost. France had bound herself not to desist from the war until Spain
+should recover Gibraltar; but now there was little hope of accomplishing
+this, except by some fortunate bargain in the treaty, and Vergennes
+tried to persuade England to cede the great stronghold in exchange for
+West Florida, which Spain had lately conquered, or for Oran or
+Guadaloupe. Failing in this, he adopted a plan for satisfying Spain at
+the expense of the United States; and he did this the more willingly as
+he had no love for the Americans, and did not wish to see them become
+too powerful. France had strictly kept her pledges; she had given us
+valuable and timely aid in gaining our independence; and the sympathies
+of the French people were entirely with the American cause. But the
+object of the French government had been simply to humiliate England,
+and this end was sufficiently accomplished by depriving her of her
+thirteen colonies.
+
+[Sidenote: The valley of the Mississippi; Aranda's prophecy.]
+
+The immense territory extending from the Alleghany Mountains to the
+Mississippi River, and from the border of "West Florida to the Great
+Lakes, had passed from the hands of France into those of England at the
+peace of 1763; and by the Quebec Act of 1774 England had declared the
+southern boundary of Canada to be the Ohio River. At present the whole
+territory, from Lake Superior down to the southern boundary of what is
+now Kentucky, belonged to the state of Virginia, whose backwoodsmen had
+conquered it from England in 1779. In December, 1780, Virginia had
+provisionally ceded the portion north of the Ohio to the United States,
+but the cession was not yet completed. The region which is now Tennessee
+belonged to North Carolina, which had begun to make settlements there as
+long ago as 1758. The trackless forests included between Tennessee and
+West Florida were still in the hands of wild tribes of Cherokees and
+Choctaws, Chickasaws and Creeks. Several thousand pioneers from North
+Carolina and Virginia had already settled beyond the mountains, and the
+white population was rapidly increasing. This territory the French
+government was very unwilling to leave in American hands. The
+possibility of enormous expansion which it would afford to the new
+nation was distinctly foreseen by sagacious men. Count Aranda, the
+representative of Spain in these negotiations, wrote a letter to his
+king just after the treaty was concluded, in which he uttered this
+notable prophecy: "This federal republic is born a pygmy. A day will
+come when it will be a giant, even a colossus, formidable in these
+countries. Liberty of conscience, the facility for establishing a new
+population on immense lands, as well as the advantages of the new
+government, will draw thither farmers and artisans from all the nations.
+In a few years we shall watch with grief the tyrannical existence of
+this same colossus." The letter went on to predict that the Americans
+would presently get possession of Florida and attack Mexico. Similar
+arguments were doubtless used by Aranda in his interviews with
+Vergennes, and France, as well as Spain, sought to prevent the growth of
+the dreaded colossus. To this end Vergennes maintained that the
+Americans ought to recognize the Quebec Act, and give up to England all
+the territory north of the Ohio River. The region south of this limit
+should, he thought, be made an Indian territory, and placed under the
+protection of Spain and the United States. A line was to be drawn from
+the mouth of the Cumberland River, following that stream about as far
+as the site of Nashville, thence running southward to the Tennessee,
+thence curving eastward nearly to the Alleghanies, and descending
+through what is now eastern Alabama to the Florida line. The territory
+to the east of this irregular line was to be under the protection of the
+United States; the territory to the west of it was to be under the
+protection of Spain. In this division, the settlers beyond the mountains
+would retain their connection with the United States, which would not
+touch the Mississippi River at any point. Vergennes held that this was
+all the Americans could reasonably demand, and he agreed with Aranda
+that they had as yet gained no foothold upon the eastern bank of the
+great river, unmindful of the fact that at that very moment the
+fortresses at Cahokia and Kaskaskia were occupied by American garrisons.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF NORTH AMERICA,
+
+Showing the Boundaries of the UNITED STATES, CANADA, and the SPANISH
+POSSESSIONS, according to the proposals of the Court of France in
+1782.]
+
+[Sidenote: The Newfoundland fisheries.]
+
+Upon another important point the views of the French government were
+directly opposed to American interests. The right to catch fish on the
+banks of Newfoundland had been shared by treaty between France and
+England; and the New England fishermen, as subjects of the king of Great
+Britain, had participated in this privilege. The matter was of very
+great importance, not only to New England, but to the United States in
+general. Not only were the fisheries a source of lucrative trade to the
+New England people, but they were the training-school of a splendid race
+of seamen, the nursery of naval heroes whose exploits were by and by to
+astonish the world. To deprive the Americans of their share in these
+fisheries was to strike a serious blow at the strength and resources of
+the new nation. The British government was not inclined to grant the
+privilege, and on this point Vergennes took sides with England, in order
+to establish a claim upon her for concessions advantageous to France in
+some other quarter. With these views, Vergennes secretly aimed at
+delaying the negotiations; for as long as hostilities were kept up, he
+might hope to extort from his American allies a recognition of the
+Spanish claims and a renouncement of the fisheries, simply by
+threatening to send them no further assistance in men or money. In order
+to retard the proceedings, he refused to take any steps whatever until
+the independence of the United States should first be irrevocably
+acknowledged by Great Britain, without reference to the final settlement
+of the rest of the treaty. In this Vergennes was supported by Franklin,
+as well as by Jay, who had lately arrived in Paris to take part in the
+negotiations. But the reasons of the American commissioners were very
+different from those of Vergennes. They feared that, if they began to
+treat before independence was acknowledged, they would be unfairly dealt
+with by France and Spain, and unable to gain from England the
+concessions upon which they were determined.
+
+[Sidenote: Jay detects the schemes of Vergennes.]
+
+Jay soon began to suspect the designs of the French minister. He found
+that he was sending M. de Rayneval as a secret emissary to Lord
+Shelburne under an assumed name; he ascertained that the right of the
+United States to the Mississippi valley was to be denied; and he got
+hold of a dispatch from Marbois, the French secretary of legation at
+Philadelphia, to Vergennes, opposing the American claim to the
+Newfoundland fisheries. As soon as Jay learned these facts, he sent his
+friend Dr. Benjamin Vaughan to Lord Shelburne to put him on his guard,
+and while reminding him that it was greatly for the interest of England
+to dissolve the alliance between America and France, he declared himself
+ready to begin the negotiations without waiting for the recognition of
+independence, provided that Oswald's commission should speak of the
+thirteen United States of America, instead of calling them colonies and
+naming them separately. This decisive step was taken by Jay on his own
+responsibility, and without the knowledge of Franklin, who had been
+averse to anything like a separate negotiation with England. It served
+to set the ball rolling at once. After meeting the messengers from Jay
+and Vergennes, Lord Shelburne at once perceived the antagonism that had
+arisen between the allies, and promptly took advantage of it. A new
+commission was made out for Oswald, in which the British government
+first described our country as the United States; and early in October
+negotiations were begun and proceeded rapidly. On the part of England,
+the affair was conducted by Oswald, assisted by Strachey and
+Fitzherbert, who had succeeded Grenville. In the course of the month
+John Adams arrived in Paris, and a few weeks later Henry Laurens, who
+had been exchanged for Lord Cornwallis and released from the Tower, was
+added to the company. Adams had a holy horror of Frenchmen in general,
+and of Count Vergennes in particular. He shared that common but mistaken
+view of Frenchmen which regards them as shallow, frivolous, and
+insincere; and he was indignant at the position taken by Vergennes on
+the question of the fisheries. In this, John Adams felt as all New
+Englanders felt, and he realized the importance of the question from a
+national point of view, as became the man who in later years was to earn
+lasting renown as one of the chief founders of the American navy. His
+behaviour on reaching Paris was characteristic. It is said that he left
+Count Vergennes to learn of his arrival through the newspapers. It was
+certainly some time before he called upon him, and he took occasion,
+besides, to express his opinions about republics and monarchies in terms
+which courtly Frenchmen thought very rude.
+
+[Sidenote: Franklin overruled by Jay and Adams.]
+
+The arrival of Adams fully decided the matter as to a separate
+negotiation with England. He agreed with Jay that Vergennes should be
+kept as far as possible in the dark until everything was cut and dried,
+and Franklin was reluctantly obliged to yield. The treaty of alliance
+between France and the United States had expressly stipulated that
+neither power should ever make peace without the consent of the other,
+and in view of this Franklin was loth to do anything which might seem
+like abandoning the ally whose timely interposition had alone enabled
+Washington to achieve the crowning triumph of Yorktown. In justice to
+Vergennes, it should be borne in mind that he had kept strict faith
+with us in regard to every point that had been expressly stipulated; and
+Franklin, who felt that he understood Frenchmen better than his
+colleagues, was naturally unwilling to seem behindhand in this respect.
+At the same time, in regard to matters not expressly stipulated,
+Vergennes was clearly playing a sharp game against us; and it is
+undeniable that, without departing technically from the obligations of
+the alliance, Jay and Adams--two men as honourable as ever lived--played
+a very sharp defensive game against him. The traditional French subtlety
+was no match for Yankee shrewdness. The treaty with England was not
+concluded until the consent of France had been obtained, and thus the
+express stipulation was respected; but a thorough and detailed agreement
+was reached as to what the purport of the treaty should be, while our
+not too friendly ally was kept in the dark. The annals of modern
+diplomacy have afforded few stranger spectacles. With the indispensable
+aid of France we had just got the better of England in fight, and now we
+proceeded amicably to divide territory and commercial privileges with
+the enemy, and to make arrangements in which the ally was virtually
+ignored. It ceases to be a paradox, however, when we remember that with
+the change of government in England some essential conditions of the
+case were changed. The England against which we had fought was the
+hostile England of Lord North; the England with which we were now
+dealing was the friendly England of Shelburne and Pitt. For the moment,
+the English race, on both sides of the Atlantic, was united in its main
+purpose and divided only by questions of detail, while the rival
+colonizing power, which sought to work in a direction contrary to the
+general interests of English-speaking people, was in great measure
+disregarded.
+
+[Sidenote: The separate American treaty, as agreed upon: 1. Boundaries;]
+
+As soon as the problem was thus virtually reduced to a negotiation
+between the American commissioners and Lord Shelburne's ministry, the
+air was cleared in a moment. The principal questions had already been
+discussed between Franklin and Oswald. Independence being first
+acknowledged, the question of boundaries came up for settlement. England
+had little interest in regaining the territory between the Alleghanies
+and the Mississippi, the forts in which were already held by American
+soldiers, and she relinquished all claim upon it. The Mississippi River
+thus became the dividing line between the United States and the Spanish
+possessions, and its navigation was made free alike to British and
+American ships. Franklin's suggestion of a cession of Canada and Nova
+Scotia was abandoned without discussion. It was agreed that the boundary
+line should start at the mouth of the river St. Croix, and, running to a
+point near Lake Madawaska in the highlands separating the Atlantic
+watershed from that of the St. Lawrence, should follow these highlands
+to the head of the Connecticut River, and then descend the middle of the
+river to the forty-fifth parallel, thence running westward and through
+the centre of the water communications of the Great Lakes to the Lake of
+the Woods, thence to the source of the Mississippi, which was supposed
+to be west of this lake. This line was marked in red ink by Oswald on
+one of Mitchell's maps of North America, to serve as a memorandum
+establishing the precise meaning of the words used in the description.
+It ought to have been accurately fixed in its details by surveys made
+upon the spot; but no commissioners were appointed for this purpose. The
+language relating to the northeastern portion of the boundary contained
+some inaccuracies which were revealed by later surveys, and the map used
+by Oswald was lost. Hence a further question arose between Great Britain
+and the United States, which was finally settled by the Ashburton treaty
+in 1842.
+
+[Sidenote: 2. Fisheries; commercial intercourse;]
+
+The Americans retained the right of catching fish on the banks of
+Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but lost the right of
+drying their fish on the Newfoundland coast. On the other hand, no
+permission was given to British subjects to fish on the coasts of the
+United States. As regarded commercial intercourse, Jay sought to
+establish complete reciprocal freedom between the two countries, and a
+clause was proposed to the effect that "all British merchants and
+merchant ships, on the one hand, shall enjoy in the United States, and
+in all places belonging to them, the same protection and commercial
+privileges, and be liable only to the same charges and duties as their
+own merchants and merchant ships; and, on the other hand, the merchants
+and merchant ships of the United States shall enjoy in all places
+belonging to his Britannic Majesty the same protection and commercial
+privileges, and be liable only to the same charges and duties as British
+merchants and merchant ships, saving always to the chartered trading
+companies of Great Britain such exclusive use and trade, and the
+respective ports and establishments, as neither the other subjects of
+Great Britain nor any the most favoured nation participate in."
+Unfortunately for both countries, this liberal provision was rejected on
+the ground that the ministry had no authority to interfere with the
+Navigation Act.
+
+[Sidenote: 3. Private debts;]
+
+Only two questions were now left to be disposed of,--the question of
+paying private debts, and that of compensating the American loyalists
+for the loss of property and general rough treatment which they had
+suffered. There were many old debts outstanding from American to British
+merchants. These had been for the most part incurred before 1775, and
+while many honest debtors, impoverished during the war, felt unable to
+pay, there were doubtless many others who were ready to take advantage
+of circumstances and refuse the payment which they were perfectly able
+to make. It was scarcely creditable to us that any such question should
+have arisen. Franklin, indeed, argued that these debts were more than
+fully offset by damages done to private property by British soldiers:
+as, for example, in the wanton raids on the coasts of Connecticut and
+Virginia in 1779, or in Prevost's buccaneering march against Charleston.
+To cite these atrocities, however, as a reason for the non-payment of
+debts legitimately owed to innocent merchants in London and Glasgow was
+to argue as if two wrongs could make a right. The strong sense of John
+Adams struck at once to the root of the matter. He declared "he had no
+notion of cheating anybody. The questions of paying debts and
+compensating Tories were two." This terse statement carried the day, and
+it was finally decided that all private debts on either side, whether
+incurred before or after 1775, remained still binding, and must be
+discharged at their full value in sterling money.
+
+[Sidenote: 4. Compensation of loyalists.]
+
+The last question of all was the one most difficult to settle. There
+were many loyalists in the United States who had sacrificed everything
+in the support of the British cause, and it was unquestionably the duty
+of the British government to make every possible effort to insure them
+against further injury, and, if practicable, to make good their losses
+already incurred. From Virginia and the New England states, where they
+were few in number, they had mostly fled, and their estates had been
+confiscated. In New York and South Carolina, where they remained in
+great numbers, they were still waging a desultory war with the patriots,
+which far exceeded in cruelty and bitterness the struggle between the
+regular armies. In many cases they had, at the solicitation of the
+British government, joined the invading army, and been organized into
+companies and regiments. The regular troops defeated at King's Mountain,
+and those whom Arnold took with him to Virginia, were nearly all
+American loyalists. Lord Shelburne felt that it would be wrong to
+abandon these unfortunate men to the vengeance of their fellow
+countrymen, and he insisted that the treaty should contain an amnesty
+clause providing for the restoration of the Tories to their civil
+rights, with compensation for their confiscated property. However
+disagreeable such a course might seem to the victorious Americans, there
+were many precedents for it in European history. It had indeed come to
+be customary at the close of civil wars, and the effect of such a policy
+had invariably been good. Cromwell, in his hour of triumph, inflicted no
+disabilities upon his political enemies; and when Charles II. was
+restored to the throne the healing effect of the amnesty act then passed
+was so great that historians sometimes ask what in the world had become
+of that Puritan party which a moment before had seemed supreme in the
+land. At the close of the war of the Spanish Succession, the rebellious
+people of Catalonia were indemnified for their losses, at the request of
+England, and with a similar good effect. In view of such European
+precedents, Vergennes agreed with Shelburne as to the propriety of
+securing compensation and further immunity for the Tories in America.
+John Adams insinuated that the French minister took this course because
+he foresaw that the presence of the Tories in the United States would
+keep the people perpetually divided into a French party and an English
+party; but such a suspicion was quite uncalled for. There is no reason
+to suppose that in this instance Vergennes had anything at heart but the
+interests of humanity and justice.
+
+On the other hand, the Americans brought forward very strong reasons why
+the Tories should not be indemnified by Congress. First, as Franklin
+urged, many of them had, by their misrepresentations to the British
+government, helped to stir up the disputes which led to the war; and as
+they had made their bed, so they must lie in it. Secondly, such of them
+as had been concerned in burning and plundering defenceless villages,
+and wielding the tomahawk in concert with bloodthirsty Indians, deserved
+no compassion. It was rather for them to make compensation for the
+misery they had wrought. Thirdly, the confiscated Tory property had
+passed into the hands of purchasers who had bought it in good faith and
+could not now be dispossessed, and in many cases it had been distributed
+here and there and lost sight of. An estimate of the gross amount might
+be made, and a corresponding sum appropriated for indemnification. But,
+fourthly, the country was so impoverished by the war that its own
+soldiers, the brave men whose heroic exertions had won the independence
+of the United States, were at this moment in sore distress for the want
+of the pay which Congress could not give them, but to which its honour
+was sacredly pledged. The American government was clearly bound to pay
+its just debts to the friends who had suffered so much in its behalf
+before it should proceed to entertain a chimerical scheme for satisfying
+its enemies. For, fifthly, any such scheme was in the present instance
+clearly chimerical. The acts under which Tory property had been
+confiscated were acts of state legislatures, and Congress had no
+jurisdiction over such a matter. If restitution was to be made, it must
+be made by the separate states. The question could not for a moment be
+entertained by the general government or its agents.
+
+Upon these points the American commissioners were united and inexorable.
+Various suggestions were offered in vain by the British. Their troops
+still held the city of New York, and it was doubtful whether the
+Americans could hope to capture it in another campaign. It was urged
+that England might fairly claim in exchange for New York a round sum of
+money wherewith the Tories might be indemnified. It was further urged
+that certain unappropriated lands in the Mississippi valley might be
+sold for the same purpose. But the Americans would not hear of buying
+one of their own cities, whose independence was already acknowledged by
+the first article of the treaty which recognized the independence of the
+United States and as for the western lands, they were wanted as a means
+of paying our own war debts and providing for our veteran soldiers.
+Several times Shelburne sent word to Paris that he would break off the
+negotiation unless the loyalist claims were in some way recognized. But
+the Americans were obdurate. They had one advantage, and knew it.
+Parliament was soon to meet, and it was doubtful whether Lord Shelburne
+could command a sufficient majority to remain long in office. He was,
+accordingly, very anxious to complete the treaty of peace, or at least
+to detach America from the French alliance, as soon as possible. The
+American commissioners were also eager to conclude the treaty. They had
+secured very favourable terms, and were loth to run any risk of
+spoiling what had been done. Accordingly, they made a proposal in the
+form of a compromise, which nevertheless settled the point in their
+favour. The matter, they said, was beyond the jurisdiction of Congress,
+but they agreed that Congress should _recommend_ to the several states
+to desist from further proceedings against the Tories, and to reconsider
+their laws on this subject; it should further recommend that persons
+with claims upon confiscated lands might be authorized to use legal
+means of recovering them, and to this end might be allowed to pass to
+and fro without personal risk for the term of one year. The British
+commissioners accepted this compromise, unsatisfactory as it was,
+because it was really impossible to obtain anything better without
+throwing the whole negotiation overboard. The constitutional difficulty
+was a real one indeed. As Adams told Oswald, if the point were further
+insisted upon, Congress would be obliged to refer it to the several
+states, and no one could tell how long it might be before any decisive
+result could be reached in this way. Meanwhile, the state of war would
+continue, and it would be cheaper for England to indemnify the loyalists
+herself than to pay the war bills for a single month. Franklin added
+that, if the loyalists were to be indemnified, it would be necessary
+also to reckon up the damage they had done in burning houses and
+kidnapping slaves, and then strike a balance between the two accounts;
+and he gravely suggested that a special commission might be appointed
+for this purpose. At the prospect of endless discussion which this
+suggestion involved, the British commissioners gave way and accepted the
+American terms, although they were frankly told that too much must not
+be expected from the recommendation of Congress. The articles were
+signed on the 30th of November, six days before the meeting of
+Parliament. Hostilities in America were to cease at once, and upon the
+completion of the treaty the British fleets and armies were to be
+immediately withdrawn from every place which they held within the limits
+of the United States. A supplementary and secret article provided that
+if England, on making peace with Spain, should recover Wept Florida, the
+northern boundary of that province should be a line running due east
+from the mouth of the Yazoo River to the Chattahoochee.
+
+[Sidenote: Vergennes does not like the way in which it has been done.]
+
+Thus by skilful diplomacy the Americans had gained all that could
+reasonably be asked, while the work of making a general peace was
+greatly simplified. It was declared in the preamble that the articles
+here signed were provisional, and that the treaty was not to take effect
+until terms of peace should be agreed on between England and France.
+Without delay, Franklin laid the whole matter, except the secret
+article, before Vergennes, who forthwith accused the Americans of
+ingratitude and bad faith. Franklin's reply, that at the worst they
+could only be charged with want of diplomatic courtesy, has sometimes
+been condemned as insincere, but on inadequate grounds. He had consented
+with reluctance to the separate negotiation, because he did not wish to
+give France any possible ground for complaint, whether real or
+ostensible. There does not seem, however, to have been sufficient
+justification for so grave a charge as was made by Vergennes. If the
+French negotiations had failed until after the overthrow of the
+Shelburne ministry; if Fox, on coming into power, had taken advantage of
+the American treaty to continue the war against France; and if under
+such circumstances the Americans had abandoned their ally, then
+undoubtedly they would have become guilty of ingratitude and treachery.
+There is no reason for supposing that they would ever have done so, had
+the circumstances arisen. Their preamble made it impossible for them
+honourably to abandon France until a full peace should be made, and more
+than this France could not reasonably demand. The Americans had kept to
+the strict letter of their contract, as Vergennes had kept to the strict
+letter of his, and beyond this they meted out exactly the same measure
+of frankness which they received. To say that our debt of gratitude to
+France was such as to require us to acquiesce in her scheme for
+enriching our enemy Spain at our expense is simply childish. Franklin
+was undoubtedly right. The commissioners may have been guilty of a
+breach of diplomatic courtesy, but nothing more. Vergennes might be
+sarcastic about it for the moment, but the cordial relations between
+France and America remained undisturbed.
+
+[Sidenote: A great diplomatic victory.]
+
+On the part of the Americans the treaty of Paris was one of the most
+brilliant triumphs in the whole history of modern diplomacy. Had the
+affair been managed by men of ordinary ability, some of the greatest
+results of the Revolutionary War would probably have been lost; the new
+republic would have been cooped up between the Atlantic Ocean and the
+Alleghany Mountains; our westward expansion would have been impossible
+without further warfare in which European powers would have been
+involved; and the formation of our Federal Union would doubtless have
+been effectively hindered, if not, indeed, altogether prevented. To the
+grand triumph the varied talents of Franklin, Adams, and Jay alike
+contributed. To the latter is due the credit of detecting and baffling
+the sinister designs of France; but without the tact of Franklin this
+probably could not have been accomplished without offending France in
+such wise as to spoil everything. It is, however, to the rare
+discernment and boldness of Jay, admirably seconded by the sturdy Adams,
+that the chief praise is due. The turning-point of the whole affair was
+the visit of Dr. Vaughan to Lord Shelburne. The foundation of success
+was the separate negotiation with England, and here there had stood in
+the way a more formidable obstacle than the mere reluctance of Franklin.
+The chevalier Luzerne and his secretary Marbois had been busy with
+Congress, and that body had sent well-meant but silly and pusillanimous
+instructions to its commissioners at Paris to be guided in all things by
+the wishes of the French court. To disregard such instructions required
+all the lofty courage for which Jay and Adams were noted, and for the
+moment it brought upon them something like a rebuke from Congress,
+conveyed in a letter from Robert Livingston. As Adams said, in his
+vehement way, "Congress surrendered their own sovereignty into the hands
+of a French minister. Blush! blush! ye guilty records! blush and perish!
+It is glory to have broken such infamous orders." True enough; the
+commissioners knew that in diplomacy, as in warfare, to the agent at a
+distance from his principal some discretionary power must be allowed.
+They assumed great responsibility, and won a victory of incalculable
+grandeur.
+
+[Sidenote: The Spanish treaty.]
+
+The course of the Americans produced no effect upon the terms obtained
+by France, but it seriously modified the case with Spain. Unable to
+obtain Gibraltar by arms, that power hoped to get it by diplomacy; and
+with the support of France she seemed disposed to make the cession of
+the great fortress an ultimatum, without which the war must go on.
+Shelburne, on his part, was willing to exchange Gibraltar for an island
+in the West Indies; but it was difficult to get the cabinet to agree on
+the matter, and the scheme was violently opposed by the people, for the
+heroic defence of the stronghold had invested it with a halo of romance
+and endeared it to every one. Nevertheless, so persistent was Spain, and
+so great the desire for peace on the part of the ministry, that they had
+resolved to exchange Gibraltar for Guadaloupe, when the news arrived of
+the treaty with America. The ministers now took a bold stand, and
+refused to hear another word about giving up Gibraltar. Spain scolded,
+and threatened a renewal of hostilities, but France was unwilling to
+give further assistance, and the matter was settled by England's
+surrendering East Florida, and allowing the Spaniards to keep West
+Florida and Minorca, which were already in their hands.
+
+[Sidenote: The French treaty.]
+
+By the treaty with France, the West India islands of Grenada, St.
+Vincent, St. Christopher, Dominica, Nevis, and Montserrat were restored
+to England, which in turn restored St. Lucia and ceded Tobago to France.
+The French were allowed to fortify Dunkirk, and received some slight
+concessions in India and Africa; they retained their share in the
+Newfoundland fisheries, and recovered the little neighbouring islands of
+St. Pierre and Miquelon. For the fourteen hundred million francs which
+France had expended in the war, she had the satisfaction of detaching
+the American colonies from England, thus inflicting a blow which it was
+confidently hoped would prove fatal to the maritime power of her ancient
+rival; but beyond this short-lived satisfaction, the fallaciousness of
+which events were soon to show, she obtained very little. On the 20th of
+January, 1783, the preliminaries of peace were signed between England,
+on the one hand, and France and Spain, on the other. A truce was at the
+same time concluded with Holland, which was soon followed by a peace, in
+which most of the conquests on either side were restored.
+
+[Sidenote: Coalition of Fox with North.]
+
+A second English ministry was now about to be wrecked on the rock of
+this group of treaties. Lord Shelburne's government had at no time been
+a strong one. He had made many enemies by his liberal and reforming
+measures, and he had alienated most of his colleagues by his reserved
+demeanour and seeming want of confidence in them. In December several
+of the ministers resigned. The strength of parties in the House of
+Commons was thus quaintly reckoned by Gibbon: "Minister 140; Reynard 90;
+Boreas 120; the rest unknown or uncertain." But "Reynard" and "Boreas"
+were now about to join forces in one of the strangest coalitions ever
+known in the history of politics. No statesman ever attacked another
+more ferociously than Fox had attacked North during the past ten years.
+He had showered abuse upon him; accused him of "treachery and
+falsehood," of "public perfidy," and "breach of a solemn specific
+promise;" and had even gone so far as to declare to his face a hope that
+he would be called upon to expiate his abominable crimes upon the
+scaffold. Within a twelvemonth he had thus spoken of Lord North and his
+colleagues: "From the moment when I shall make any terms with one of
+them, I will rest satisfied to be called the most infamous of mankind. I
+would not for an instant think of a coalition with men who, in every
+public and private transaction as ministers, have shown themselves void
+of every principle of honour and honesty. In the hands of such men I
+would not trust my honour even for a moment." Still more recently, when
+at a loss for words strong enough to express his belief in the
+wickedness of Shelburne, he declared that he had no better opinion of
+that man than to deem him capable of forming an alliance with North. We
+may judge, then, of the general amazement when, in the middle of
+February, it turned out that Fox had himself done this very thing. An
+"ill-omened marriage," William Pitt called it in the House of Commons.
+"If this ill-omened marriage is not already solemnized, I know a just
+and lawful impediment, and in the name of the public safety I here
+forbid the banns." Throughout the country the indignation was great.
+Many people had blamed Fox for not following up his charges by actually
+bringing articles of impeachment against Lord North. That the two
+enemies should thus suddenly become leagued in friendship seemed utterly
+monstrous. It injured Fox extremely in the opinion of the country, and
+it injured North still more, for it seemed like a betrayal of the king
+on his part, and his forgiveness of so many insults looked
+mean-spirited. It does not appear, however, that there was really any
+strong personal animosity between North and Fox. They were both men of
+very amiable character, and almost incapable of cherishing resentment.
+The language of parliamentary orators was habitually violent, and the
+huge quantities of wine which gentlemen in those days used to drink may
+have helped to make it extravagant. The excessive vehemence of political
+invective often deprived it of half its effect. One day, after Fox had
+exhausted his vocabulary of abuse upon Lord George Germaine, Lord North
+said to him, "You were in very high feather to-day, Charles, and I am
+glad you did not fall upon me." On another occasion, it is said that
+while Fox was thundering against North's unexampled turpitude, the
+object of his furious tirade cosily dropped off to sleep. Gibbon, who
+was the friend of both statesmen, expressly declares that they bore
+each other no ill will. But while thus alike indisposed to harbour
+bitter thoughts, there was one man for whom both Fox and North felt an
+abiding distrust and dislike; and that man was Lord Shelburne, the prime
+minister.
+
+As a political pupil of Burke, Fox shared that statesman's distrust of
+the whole school of Lord Chatham, to which Shelburne belonged. In many
+respects these statesmen were far more advanced than Burke, but they did
+not sufficiently realize the importance of checking the crown by means
+of a united and powerful ministry. Fox thoroughly understood that much
+of the mischief of the past twenty years, including the loss of America,
+had come from the system of weak and divided ministries, which gave the
+king such great opportunity for wreaking his evil will. He had himself
+been a member of such a ministry, which had fallen seven months ago.
+When the king singled out Shelburne for his confidence, Fox naturally
+concluded that Shelburne was to be made to play the royal game, as North
+had been made to play it for so many years. This was very unjust to
+Shelburne, but there is no doubt that Fox was perfectly honest in his
+belief. It seemed to him that the present state of things must be
+brought to an end, at whatever cost. A ministry strong enough to curb
+the king could be formed only by a coalescence of two out of the three
+existing parties. A coalescence of Old and New Whigs had been tried last
+spring, and failed. It only remained now to try the effect of a
+coalescence of Old Whigs and Tories.
+
+Such was doubtless the chief motive of Fox in this extraordinary move.
+The conduct of North seems harder to explain, but it was probably due to
+a reaction of feeling on his part. He had done violence to his own
+convictions out of weak compassion for George III., and had carried on
+the American war for four years after he had been thoroughly convinced
+that peace ought to be made. Remorse for this is said to have haunted
+him to the end of his life. When in his old age he became blind, he bore
+this misfortune with his customary lightness of heart; and one day,
+meeting the veteran Barré, who had also lost his eyesight, he exclaimed,
+with his unfailing wit, "Well, colonel, in spite of all our differences,
+I suppose there are no two men in England who would be gladder to _see_
+each other than you and I." But while Lord North could jest about his
+blindness, the memory of his ill-judged subservience to the king was
+something that he could not laugh away, and among his nearest friends he
+was sometimes heard to reproach himself bitterly. When, therefore, in
+1783, he told Fox that he fully agreed with him in thinking that the
+royal power ought to be curbed, he was doubtless speaking the truth. No
+man had a better right to such an opinion than he had gained through
+sore experience. In his own ministry, as he said to Fox, he took the
+system as he found it, and had not vigour and resolution enough to put
+an end to it; but he was now quite convinced that in such a country as
+England, while the king should be treated with all outward show of
+respect, he ought on no account to be allowed to exercise any real
+power.
+
+Now this was in 1783 the paramount political question in England, just
+as much as the question of secession was paramount in the United States
+in 1861. Other questions could be postponed; the question of curbing the
+king could not. Upon this all-important point North had come to agree
+with Fox; and as the principal motive of their coalition may be thus
+explained, the historian is not called upon to lay too much stress upon
+the lower motives assigned in profusion by their political enemies. This
+explanation, however, does not quite cover the case. The mass of the
+Tories would never follow North in an avowed attempt to curb the king,
+but they agreed with the followers of Fox, though not with Fox himself,
+in holy horror of parliamentary reform, and were alarmed by a recent
+declaration of Shelburne that the suffrage must be extended so as to
+admit a hundred new county members. Thus while the two leaders were
+urged to coalescence by one motive, their followers were largely swayed
+by another, and this added much to the mystery and general
+unintelligibleness of the movement. In taking this step Fox made the
+mistake which was characteristic of the Old Whig party. He gave too
+little heed to the great public outside the walls of the House of
+Commons. The coalition, once made, was very strong in Parliament, but it
+mystified and scandalized the people, and this popular disapproval by
+and by made it easy for the king to overthrow it.
+
+[Sidenote: Fall of Shelburne's ministry.]
+
+It was agreed to choose the treaty as the occasion for the combined
+attack upon the Shelburne ministry. North, as the minister who had
+conducted the unsuccessful war, was bound to oppose the treaty, in any
+case. It would not do for him to admit that better terms could not have
+been made. The treaty was also very unpopular with Fox's party, and with
+the nation at large. It was thought that too much territory had been
+conceded to the Americans, and fault was found with the article on the
+fisheries. But the point which excited most indignation was the virtual
+abandonment of the loyalists, for here the honour of England was felt to
+be at stake. On this ground the treaty was emphatically condemned by
+Burke, Sheridan, and Wilberforce, no less than by North. It was ably
+defended in the Commons by Pitt, and in the Lords by Shelburne himself,
+who argued that he had but the alternative of accepting the terms as
+they stood, or continuing the war; and since it had come to this, he
+said, without spilling a drop of blood, or incurring one fifth of the
+expense of a year's campaign, the comfort and happiness of the American
+loyalists could be easily secured. By this he meant that, should America
+fail to make good their losses, it was far better for England to
+indemnify them herself than to prolong indefinitely a bloody and ruinous
+struggle. As we shall hereafter see, this liberal and enlightened policy
+was the one which England really pursued, so far as practicable, and her
+honour was completely saved. That Shelburne and Pitt were quite right
+there can now be little doubt. But argument was of no avail against the
+resistless power of the coalition. On the 17th of February Lord John
+Cavendish moved an amendment to the ministerial address on the treaty,
+refusing to approve it. On the 21st he moved a further amendment
+condemning the treaty. Both motions were carried, and on the 24th Lord
+Shelburne resigned. He did not dissolve Parliament and appeal to the
+country, partly because he was aware of his personal unpopularity, and
+partly because, in spite of the general disgust at the coalition, there
+was little doubt that on the particular question of the treaty the
+public opinion agreed with the majority in Parliament, and not with the
+ministry. For this reason, Pitt, though personally popular, saw that it
+was no time for him to take the first place in the government, and when
+the king proceeded to offer it to him he declined.
+
+[Sidenote: The king's wrath.]
+
+[Sidenote: The treaty is adopted, after all, by the coalition ministry,
+which presently falls.]
+
+For more than five weeks, while the treasury was nearly empty, and the
+question of peace or war still hung in the balance, England was without
+a regular government, while the angry king went hunting for some one who
+would consent to be his prime minister. He was determined not to submit
+to the coalition. He was naturally enraged at Lord North for turning
+against him. Meeting one day North's father, Lord Guilford, he went up
+to him, tragically wringing his hands, and exclaimed in accents of woe,
+"Did I ever think, my Lord Guilford, that your son would thus have
+betrayed me into the hands of Mr. Fox?" He appealed in vain to Lord
+Gower, and then to Lord Temple, to form a ministry. Lord Gower suggested
+that perhaps Thomas Pitt, cousin of William, might be willing to serve.
+"I desired him," said the king, "to apply to Mr. Thomas Pitt, or Mr.
+Thomas anybody." It was of no use. By the 2d of April Parliament had
+become furious at the delay, and George was obliged to yield. The Duke
+of Portland was brought in as nominal prime minister, with Fox as
+foreign secretary, North as secretary for home and colonies, Cavendish
+as chancellor of the exchequer, and Keppel as first lord of the
+admiralty. The only Tory in the cabinet, excepting North, was Lord
+Stormont, who became president of the council. The commissioners,
+Fitzherbert and Oswald, were recalled from Paris, and the Duke of
+Manchester and David Hartley, son of the great philosopher, were
+appointed in their stead. Negotiations continued through the spring and
+summer. Attempts were made to change some of the articles, especially
+the obnoxious article concerning the loyalists, but all to no purpose.
+Hartley's attempt to negotiate a mutually advantageous commercial treaty
+with America also came to nothing. The definitive treaty which was
+finally signed on the 3d of September, 1783, was an exact transcript of
+the treaty which Shelburne had made, and for making which the present
+ministers had succeeded in turning him out of office. No more emphatic
+justification of Shelburne's conduct of this business could possibly
+have been obtained.
+
+The coalition ministry did not long survive the final signing of the
+treaty. The events of the next few months are curiously instructive as
+showing the quiet and stealthy way in which a political revolution may
+be consummated in a thoroughly conservative and constitutional country.
+Early in the winter session of Parliament Fox brought in his famous bill
+for organizing the government of the great empire which Clive and
+Hastings had built up in India. Popular indignation at the ministry had
+been strengthened by its adopting the same treaty of peace for the
+making of which it had assaulted Shelburne; and now, on the passage of
+the India Bill by the House of Commons, there was a great outcry. Many
+provisions of the bill were exceedingly unpopular, and its chief object
+was alleged to be the concentration of the immense patronage of India
+into the hands of the old Whig families. With the popular feeling thus
+warmly enlisted against the ministry, George III. was now emboldened to
+make war on it by violent means; and, accordingly, when the bill came up
+in the House of Lords, he caused it to be announced, by Lord Temple,
+that any peer who should vote in its favour would be regarded as an
+enemy by the king. Four days later the House of Commons, by a vote of
+153 to 80, resolved that "to report any opinion, or pretended opinion,
+of his majesty upon any bill or other proceeding depending in either
+house of Parliament, with a view to influence the votes of the members,
+is a high crime and misdemeanour, derogatory to the honour of the crown,
+a breach of the fundamental privileges of Parliament, and subversive of
+the constitution of this country." A more explicit or emphatic defiance
+to the king would have been hard to frame. Two days afterward the Lords
+rejected the India Bill, and on the next day, the 18th of December,
+George turned the ministers out of office.
+
+[Sidenote: Constitutional crisis, ending in the overwhelming victory of
+Pitt, May, 1784.]
+
+In this grave constitutional crisis the king invited William Pitt to
+form a government, and this young statesman, who had consistently
+opposed the coalition, now saw that his hour was come. He was more than
+any one else the favourite of the people. Fox's political reputation was
+eclipsed, and North's was destroyed, by their unseemly alliance. People
+were sick of the whole state of things which had accompanied the
+American war. Pitt, who had only come into Parliament in 1780, was free
+from these unpleasant associations. The unblemished purity of his life,
+his incorruptible integrity, his rare disinterestedness, and his
+transcendent ability in debate were known to every one. As the worthy
+son of Lord Chatham, whose name was associated with the most glorious
+moment of English history, he was peculiarly dear to the people. His
+position, however, on taking supreme office at the instance of a king
+who had just committed an outrageous breach of the constitution, was
+extremely critical, and only the most consummate skill could have won
+from the chaos such a victory as he was about to win. When he became
+first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, in December,
+1783, he had barely completed his twenty-fifth year. All his colleagues
+in the new cabinet were peers, so that he had to fight single-handed in
+the Commons against the united talents of Burke and Sheridan, Fox and
+North; and there was a heavy majority against him, besides. In view of
+this adverse majority, it was Pitt's constitutional duty to dissolve
+Parliament and appeal to the country. But Fox, unwilling to imperil his
+great majority by a new election, now made the fatal mistake of opposing
+a dissolution; thus showing his distrust of the people and his dread of
+their verdict. With consummate tact, Pitt allowed the debates to go on
+till March, and then, when the popular feeling in his favour had grown
+into wild enthusiasm, he dissolved Parliament. In the general election
+which followed, 160 members of the coalition lost their seats, and Pitt
+obtained the greatest majority that has ever been given to an English
+minister.
+
+[Sidenote: Overthrow of George III.'s system of personal government.]
+
+Thus was completed the political revolution in England which was set on
+foot by the American victory at Yorktown. Its full significance was only
+gradually realized. For the moment it might seem that it was the king
+who had triumphed. He had shattered the alliance which had been formed
+for the purpose of curbing him, and the result of the election had
+virtually condoned his breach of the constitution. This apparent
+victory, however, had been won only by a direct appeal to the people,
+and all its advantages accrued to the people, and not to George III. His
+ingenious system of weak and divided ministries, with himself for
+balance-wheel, was destroyed. For the next seventeen years the real
+ruler of England was not George III., but William Pitt, who, with his
+great popular following, wielded such a power as no English sovereign
+had possessed since the days of Elizabeth. The political atmosphere was
+cleared of intrigue; and Fox, in the legitimate attitude of leader of
+the new opposition, entered upon the glorious part of his career. There
+was now set in motion that great work of reform which, hindered for a
+while by the reaction against the French revolutionists, won its
+decisive victory in 1832. Down to the very moment at which American and
+British history begin to flow in distinct and separate channels, it is
+interesting to observe how closely they are implicated with each other.
+The victory of the Americans not only set on foot the British revolution
+here described, but it figured most prominently in each of the political
+changes that we have witnessed, down to the very eve of the overthrow of
+the coalition. The system which George III. had sought to fasten upon
+America, in order that he might fasten it upon England, was shaken off
+and shattered by the good people of both countries at almost the same
+moment of time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Departure of the British troops, Nov. 25, 1783.]
+
+[Sidenote: Washington resigns his command, Dec. 23.]
+
+"The times that tried men's souls are over," said Thomas Paine in the
+last number of the "Crisis," which he published after hearing that the
+negotiations for a treaty of peace had been concluded. The preliminary
+articles had been signed at Paris on the 20th of January, 1783. The news
+arrived in America on the 23d of March, in a letter to the president of
+Congress from Lafayette, who had returned to France soon after the
+victory at Yorktown. A few days later Sir Guy Carleton received his
+orders from the ministry to proclaim a cessation of hostilities by land
+and sea. A similar proclamation made by Congress was formally
+communicated to the army by Washington on the 19th of April, the eighth
+anniversary of the first bloodshed on Lexington green. Since Wayne had
+driven the British from Georgia, early in the preceding year, there had
+been no military operations between the regular armies. Guerrilla
+warfare between Whig and Tory had been kept up in parts of South
+Carolina and on the frontier of New York, where Thayendanegea was still
+alert and defiant; while beyond the mountains the tomahawk and
+scalping-knife had been busy, and Washington's old friend and comrade,
+Colonel Crawford, had been scorched to death by the firebrands of the
+red demons; but the armies had sat still, awaiting the peace which every
+one felt sure must speedily come. After Cornwallis's surrender,
+Washington marched his army back to the Hudson, and established his
+headquarters at Newburgh. Rochambeau followed somewhat later, and in
+September joined the Americans on the Hudson; but in December the French
+army marched to Boston, and there embarked for France. After the formal
+cessation of hostilities on the 19th of April, 1783, Washington granted
+furloughs to most of his soldiers; and these weather-beaten veterans
+trudged homeward in all directions, in little groups of four or five,
+depending largely for their subsistence on the hospitality of the
+farm-houses along the road. Arrived at home, their muskets were hung
+over the chimney-piece as trophies for grandchildren to be proud of, the
+stories of their exploits and their sufferings became household legends,
+and they turned the furrows and drove the cattle to pasture just as in
+the "old colony times." Their furloughs were equivalent to a full
+discharge, for on the 3d of September the definitive treaty was signed,
+and the country was at peace. On the 3d of November the army was
+formally disbanded, and on the 25th of that month Sir Guy Carleton's
+army embarked from New York. Small British garrisons still remained in
+the frontier posts of Ogdensburg, Oswego, Niagara, Erie, Sandusky,
+Detroit, and Mackinaw, but by the terms of the treaty these places were
+to be promptly surrendered to the United States. On the 4th of December
+a barge waited at the South Ferry in New York to carry General
+Washington across the river to Paulus Hook. He was going to Annapolis,
+where Congress was in session, in order to resign his command. At
+Fraunces's Tavern, near the ferry, he took leave of the officers who so
+long had shared his labours. One after another they embraced their
+beloved commander, while there were few dry eyes in the company. They
+followed him to the ferry, and watched the departing boat with hearts
+too full for words, and then in solemn silence returned up the street.
+At Philadelphia he handed to the comptroller of the treasury a neatly
+written manuscript, containing an accurate statement of his expenses in
+the public service since the day when he took command of the army. The
+sums which Washington had thus spent out of his private fortune amounted
+to $64,315. For his personal services he declined to take any pay. At
+noon of the 23d, in the presence of Congress and of a throng of ladies
+and gentlemen at Annapolis, the great general gave up his command, and
+requested as an "indulgence" to be allowed to retire into private life.
+General Mifflin, who during the winter of Valley Forge had conspired
+with Gates to undermine the confidence of the people in Washington, was
+now president of Congress, and it was for him to make the reply. "You
+retire," said Mifflin, "from the theatre of action with the blessings of
+your fellow-citizens, but the glory of your virtues will not terminate
+with your military command; it will continue to animate remotest ages."
+The next morning Washington hurried away to spend Christmas at his
+pleasant home at Mount Vernon, which, save for a few hours in the autumn
+of 1781, he had not set eyes on for more than eight years. His estate
+had suffered from his long absence, and his highest ambition was to
+devote himself to its simple interests. To his friends he offered
+unpretentious hospitality. "My manner of living is plain," he said, "and
+I do not mean to be put out of it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton
+are always ready, and such as will be content to partake of them are
+always welcome. Those who expect more will be disappointed." To
+Lafayette he wrote that he was now about to solace himself with those
+tranquil enjoyments of which the anxious soldier and the weary statesman
+know but little. "I have not only retired from all public employments,
+but I am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary
+walk and tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction.
+Envious of none, I am determined to be pleased with all; and this, my
+dear friend, being the order of my march, I will move gently down the
+stream of life until I sleep with my fathers."
+
+[Sidenote: His "legacy" to the American people, June 8, 1783.]
+
+In these hopes Washington was to be disappointed. "All the world is
+touched by his republican virtues," wrote Luzerne to Vergennes, "but it
+will be useless for him to try to hide himself and live the life of a
+private man: he will always be the first citizen of the United States."
+It indeed required no prophet to foretell that the American people could
+not long dispense with the services of this greatest of citizens.
+Washington had already put himself most explicitly on record as the
+leader of the men who were urging the people of the United States toward
+the formation of a more perfect union. The great lesson of the war had
+not been lost on him. Bitter experience of the evils attendant upon the
+weak government of the Continental Congress had impressed upon his mind
+the urgent necessity of an immediate and thorough reform. On the 8th of
+June, in view of the approaching disbandment of the army, he had
+addressed to the governors and presidents of the several states a
+circular letter, which he wished to have regarded as his legacy to the
+American people. In this letter he insisted upon four things as
+essential to the very existence of the United States as an independent
+power. First, there must be an indissoluble union of all the states
+under a single federal government, which must possess the power of
+enforcing its decrees; for without such authority it would be a
+government only in name. Secondly, the debts incurred by Congress for
+the purpose of carrying on the war and securing independence must be
+paid to the uttermost farthing. Thirdly, the militia system must be
+organized throughout the thirteen states on uniform principles.
+Fourthly, the people must be willing to sacrifice, if need be, some of
+their local interests to the common weal; they must discard their local
+prejudices, and regard one another as fellow-citizens of a common
+country, with interests in the deepest and truest sense identical.
+
+[Sidenote: Absence of a sentiment of union, and consequent danger of
+anarchy.]
+
+The unparalleled grandeur of Washington's character, his heroic
+services, and his utter disinterestedness had given him such a hold upon
+the people as scarcely any other statesman known to history, save
+perhaps William the Silent, has ever possessed. The noble and sensible
+words of his circular letter were treasured up in the minds of all the
+best people in the country, and when the time for reforming the weak and
+disorderly government had come it was again to Washington that men
+looked as their leader and guide. But that time had not yet come. Only
+through the discipline of perplexity and tribulation could the people be
+brought to realize the indispensable necessity of that indissoluble
+union of which Washington had spoken. Thomas Paine was sadly mistaken
+when, in the moment of exultation over the peace, he declared that the
+trying time was ended. The most trying time of all was just beginning.
+It is not too much to say that the period of five years following the
+peace of 1783 was the most critical moment in all the history of the
+American people. The dangers from which we were saved in 1788 were even
+greater than the dangers from which we were saved in 1865. In the War of
+Secession the love of union had come to be so strong that thousands of
+men gave up their lives for it as cheerfully and triumphantly as the
+martyrs of older times, who sang their hymns of praise even while their
+flesh was withering in the relentless flames. In 1783 the love of union,
+as a sentiment for which men would fight, had scarcely come into
+existence among the people of these states. The souls of the men of
+that day had not been thrilled by the immortal eloquence of Webster, nor
+had they gained the historic experience which gave to Webster's words
+their meaning and their charm. They had not gained control of all the
+fairest part of the continent, with domains stretching more than three
+thousand miles from ocean to ocean, and so situated in geographical
+configuration and commercial relations as to make the very idea of
+disunion absurd, save for men in whose minds fanaticism for the moment
+usurped the place of sound judgment. The men of 1783 dwelt in a long,
+straggling series of republics, fringing the Atlantic coast, bordered on
+the north and south and west by two European powers whose hostility they
+had some reason to dread. But nine years had elapsed since, in the first
+Continental Congress, they had begun to act consistently and
+independently in common, under the severe pressure of a common fear and
+an immediate necessity of action. Even under such circumstances the war
+had languished and come nigh to failure simply through the difficulty of
+insuring concerted action. Had there been such a government that the
+whole power of the thirteen states could have been swiftly and
+vigorously wielded as a unit, the British, fighting at such disadvantage
+as they did, might have been driven to their ships in less than a year.
+The length of the war and its worst hardships had been chiefly due to
+want of organization. Congress had steadily declined in power and in
+respectability; it was much weaker at the end of the war than at the
+beginning; and there was reason to fear that as soon as the common
+pressure was removed the need for concerted action would quite cease to
+be felt, and the scarcely formed Union would break into pieces. There
+was the greater reason for such a fear in that, while no strong
+sentiment had as yet grown up in favour of union, there was an intensely
+powerful sentiment in favour of local self-government. This feeling was
+scarcely less strong as between states like Connecticut and Rhode
+Island, or Maryland and Virginia, than it was between Athens and Megara,
+Argos and Sparta, in the great days of Grecian history. A most wholesome
+feeling it was, and one which needed not so much to be curbed as to be
+guided in the right direction. It was a feeling which was shared by some
+of the foremost Revolutionary leaders, such as Samuel Adams and Richard
+Henry Lee. But unless the most profound and delicate statesmanship
+should be forthcoming, to take this sentiment under its guidance, there
+was much reason to fear that the release from the common adhesion to
+Great Britain would end in setting up thirteen little republics, ripe
+for endless squabbling, like the republics of ancient Greece and
+mediæval Italy, and ready to become the prey of England and Spain, even
+as Greece became the prey of Macedonia.
+
+[Sidenote: False historic analogies.]
+
+As such a lamentable result was dreaded by Washington, so by statesmen
+in Europe it was generally expected, and by our enemies it was eagerly
+hoped for. Josiah Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, was a far-sighted man in
+many things; but he said, "As to the future grandeur of America, and
+its being a rising empire under one head, whether republican or
+monarchical, it is one of the idlest and most visionary notions that
+ever was conceived even by writers of romance. The mutual antipathies
+and clashing interests of the Americans, their difference of
+governments, habitudes, and manners, indicate that they will have no
+centre of union and no common interest. They never can be united into
+one compact empire under any species of government whatever; a disunited
+people till the end of time, suspicious and distrustful of each other,
+they will be divided and subdivided into little commonwealths or
+principalities, according to natural boundaries, by great bays of the
+sea, and by vast rivers, lakes, and ridges of mountains." Such were the
+views of a liberal-minded philosopher who bore us no ill-will. George
+III. said officially that he hoped the Americans would not suffer from
+the evils which in history had always followed the throwing off of
+monarchical government: which meant, of course, that he hoped they
+_would_ suffer from such evils. He believed we should get into such a
+snarl that the several states, one after another, would repent and beg
+on their knees to be taken back into the British empire. Frederick of
+Prussia, though friendly to the Americans, argued that the mere extent
+of country from Maine to Georgia would suffice either to break up the
+Union, or to make a monarchy necessary. No republic, he said, had ever
+long existed on so great a scale. The Roman republic had been
+transformed into a despotism mainly by the excessive enlargement of its
+area. It was only little states, like Venice, Switzerland, and Holland,
+that could maintain a republican government. Such arguments were common
+enough a century ago, but they overlooked three essential differences
+between the Roman republic and the United States. The Roman republic in
+Cæsar's time comprised peoples differing widely in blood, in speech, and
+in degree of civilization; it was perpetually threatened on all its
+frontiers by powerful enemies; and representative assemblies were
+unknown to it. The only free government of which the Roman knew anything
+was that of the primary assembly or town meeting. On the other hand, the
+people of the United States were all English in speech, and mainly
+English in blood. The differences in degree of civilization between such
+states as Massachusetts and North Carolina were considerable, but in
+comparison with such differences as those between Attika and Lusitania
+they might well be called slight. The attacks of savages on the frontier
+were cruel and annoying, but never since the time of King Philip had
+they seemed to threaten the existence of the white man. A very small
+military establishment was quite enough to deal with the Indians. And to
+crown all, the American people were thoroughly familiar with the
+principle of representation, having practised it on a grand scale for
+four centuries in England, and for more than a century in America. The
+governments of the thirteen states were all similar, and the political
+ideas of one were perfectly intelligible to all the others. It was
+essentially fallacious, therefore, to liken the case of the United
+States to that of ancient Rome.
+
+[Sidenote: Influence of railroad and telegraph upon perpetuity of the
+American Union.]
+
+But there was another feature of the case which was quite hidden from
+the men of 1783. Just before the assembling of the first Continental
+Congress James Watt had completed his steam-engine; in the summer of
+1787, while the Federal Convention was sitting at Philadelphia, John
+Fitch launched his first steamboat on the Delaware River; and
+Stephenson's invention of the locomotive was to follow in less than half
+a century. Even with all other conditions favourable, it is doubtful if
+the American Union could have been preserved to the present time without
+the railroad. But for the military aid of railroads our government would
+hardly have succeeded in putting down the rebellion of the southern
+states. In the debates on the Oregon Bill in the United States Senate in
+1843, the idea that we could ever have an interest in so remote a
+country as Oregon was loudly ridiculed by some of the members. It would
+take ten months--said George McDuffie, the very able senator from South
+Carolina--for representatives to get from that territory to the District
+of Columbia and back again. Yet since the building of railroads to the
+Pacific coast, we can go from Boston to the capital of Oregon in much
+less time than it took John Hancock to make the journey from Boston to
+Philadelphia. Railroads and telegraphs have made our vast country, both
+for political and for social purposes, more snug and compact than little
+Switzerland was in the Middle Ages or New England a century ago.
+
+[Sidenote: Difficulty of travelling a hundred years ago.]
+
+At the time of our Revolution the difficulties of travelling formed an
+important social obstacle to the union of the states. In our time the
+persons who pass in a single day between New York and Boston by six or
+seven distinct lines of railroad and steamboat are numbered by
+thousands. In 1783 two stage-coaches were enough for all the travellers,
+and nearly all the freight besides, that went between these two cities,
+except such large freight as went by sea around Cape Cod. The journey
+began at three o'clock in the morning. Horses were changed every twenty
+miles, and if the roads were in good condition some forty miles would be
+made by ten o'clock in the evening. In bad weather, when the passengers
+had to get down and lift the clumsy wheels out of deep ruts, the
+progress was much slower. The loss of life from accidents, in proportion
+to the number of travellers, was much greater than it has ever been on
+the railway. Broad rivers like the Connecticut and Housatonic had no
+bridges. To drive across them in winter, when they were solidly frozen
+over, was easy; and in pleasant summer weather to cross in a row-boat
+was not a dangerous undertaking. But squalls at some seasons and
+floating ice at others were things to be feared. More than one instance
+is recorded where boats were crushed and passengers drowned, or saved
+only by scrambling upon ice-floes. After a week or ten days of
+discomfort and danger the jolted and jaded traveller reached New York.
+Such was a journey in the most highly civilized part of the United
+States. The case was still worse in the South, and it was not so very
+much better in England and France. In one respect the traveller in the
+United States fared better than the traveller in Europe: the danger from
+highwaymen was but slight.
+
+[Sidenote: Local jealousies and antipathies, an inheritance from
+primeval savagery.]
+
+Such being the difficulty of travelling, people never made long journeys
+save for very important reasons. Except in the case of the soldiers,
+most people lived and died without ever having seen any state but their
+own. And as the mails were irregular and uncertain, and the rates of
+postage very high, people heard from one another but seldom. Commercial
+dealings between the different states were inconsiderable. The
+occupation of the people was chiefly agriculture. Cities were few and
+small, and each little district for the most part supported itself.
+Under such circumstances the different parts of the country knew very
+little about each other, and local prejudices were intense. It was not
+simply free Massachusetts and slave-holding South Carolina, or English
+Connecticut and Dutch New York, that misunderstood and ridiculed each
+the other; but even between such neighbouring states as Connecticut and
+Massachusetts, both of them thoroughly English and Puritan, and in all
+their social conditions almost exactly alike, it used often to be said
+that there was no love lost. These unspeakably stupid and contemptible
+local antipathies are inherited by civilized men from that far-off time
+when the clan system prevailed over the face of the earth, and the hand
+of every clan was raised against its neighbours. They are pale and
+evanescent survivals from the universal primitive warfare, and the
+sooner they die out from human society the better for every one. They
+should be stigmatized and frowned down upon every fit occasion, just as
+we frown upon swearing as a symbol of anger and contention. But the only
+thing which can finally destroy them is the widespread and unrestrained
+intercourse of different groups of people in peaceful social and
+commercial relations. The rapidity with which this process is now going
+on is the most encouraging of all the symptoms of our modern
+civilization. But a century ago the progress made in this direction had
+been relatively small, and it was a very critical moment for the
+American people.
+
+[Sidenote: Conservative character of the Revolution.]
+
+The thirteen states, as already observed, had worked in concert for only
+nine years, during which their coöperation had been feeble and halting.
+But the several state governments had been in operation since the first
+settlement of the country, and were regarded with intense loyalty by the
+people of the states. Under the royal governors the local political life
+of each state had been vigorous and often stormy, as befitted
+communities of the sturdy descendants of English freemen. The
+legislative assembly of each state had stoutly defended its liberties
+against the encroachments of the governor. In the eyes of the people it
+was the only power on earth competent to lay taxes upon them, it was as
+supreme in its own sphere as the British Parliament itself, and in
+behalf of this rooted conviction the people had gone to war and won
+their independence from England. During the war the people of all the
+states, except Connecticut and Rhode Island, had carefully remodelled
+their governments, and in the performance of this work had withdrawn
+many of their ablest statesmen from the Continental Congress; but except
+for the expulsion of the royal and proprietary governors, the work had
+in no instance been revolutionary in its character. It was not so much
+that the American people gained an increase of freedom by their
+separation from England, as that they kept the freedom they had always
+enjoyed, that freedom which was the inalienable birthright of
+Englishmen, but which George III. had foolishly sought to impair. The
+American Revolution was therefore in no respect destructive. It was the
+most conservative revolution known to history, thoroughly English in
+conception from beginning to end. It had no likeness whatever to the
+terrible popular convulsion which soon after took place in France. The
+mischievous doctrines of Rousseau had found few readers and fewer
+admirers among the Americans. The principles upon which their revolution
+was conducted were those of Sidney, Harrington, and Locke. In
+remodelling the state governments, as in planning the union of the
+states, the precedents followed and the principles applied were almost
+purely English. We must now pass in review the principal changes wrought
+in the several states, and we shall then be ready to consider the
+general structure of the Confederation, and to describe the remarkable
+series of events which led to the adoption of our Federal Constitution.
+
+[Sidenote: State governments remodelled; assemblies continued from
+colonial times.]
+
+It will be remembered that at the time of the Declaration of
+Independence there were three kinds of government in the colonies.
+Connecticut and Rhode Island had always been true republics, with
+governors and legislative assemblies elected by the people.
+Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland presented the appearance of limited
+hereditary monarchies. Their assemblies were chosen by the people, but
+the lords proprietary appointed their governors, or in some instances
+acted as governors themselves. In Maryland the office of lord
+proprietary was hereditary in the Calvert family; in Delaware and
+Pennsylvania, which, though distinct commonwealths with separate
+legislatures, had the same executive head, it was hereditary in the Penn
+family. The other eight colonies were viceroyalties, with governors
+appointed by the king, while in all alike the people elected the
+legislatures. Accordingly in Connecticut and Rhode Island no change was
+made necessary by the Revolution, beyond the mere omission of the king's
+name from legal documents; and their charters, which dated from the
+middle of the seventeenth century, continued to do duty as state
+constitutions till far into the nineteenth. During the Revolutionary War
+all the other states framed new constitutions, but in most essential
+respects they took the old colonial charters for their model. The
+popular legislative body remained unchanged even in its name. In North
+Carolina its supreme dignity was vindicated in its title of the House of
+Commons; in Virginia it was called the House of Burgesses; in most of
+the states the House of Representatives. The members were chosen each
+year, except in South Carolina, where they served for two years. In the
+New England states they represented the townships, in other states the
+counties. In all the states except Pennsylvania a property qualification
+was required of them.
+
+[Sidenote: Origin of the senates.]
+
+In addition to this House of Representatives all the legislatures except
+those of Pennsylvania and Georgia contained a second or upper house
+known as the Senate. The origin of the senate is to be found in the
+governor's council of colonial times, just as the House of Lords is
+descended from the Witenagemot or council of great barons summoned by
+the Old-English kings. The Americans had been used to having the acts of
+their popular assemblies reviewed by a council, and so they retained
+this revisory body as an upper house. A higher property qualification
+was required than for membership of the lower house, and, except in New
+Hampshire, Massachusetts, and South Carolina, the term of service was
+longer. In Maryland senators sat for five years, in Virginia and New
+York for four years, elsewhere for two years. In some states they were
+chosen by the people, in others by the lower house. In Maryland they
+were chosen by a college of electors, thus affording a precedent for the
+method of electing the chief magistrate of the union under the Federal
+Constitution.
+
+[Sidenote: Governors viewed with suspicion.]
+
+Governors were unpopular in those days. There was too much flavour of
+royalty and high prerogative about them. Except in the two republics of
+Rhode Island and Connecticut, American political history during the
+eighteenth century was chiefly the record of interminable squabbles
+between governors and legislatures, down to the moment when the detested
+agents of royalty were clapped into jail, or took refuge behind the
+bulwarks of a British seventy-four. Accordingly the new constitutions
+were very chary of the powers to be exercised by the governor. In
+Pennsylvania and Delaware, in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the
+governor was at first replaced by an executive council, and the
+president of this council was first magistrate and titular ruler of the
+state. His dignity was imposing enough, but his authority was merely
+that of a chairman. The other states had governors chosen by the
+legislatures, except in New York where the governor was elected by the
+people. No one was eligible to the office of governor who did not
+possess a specified amount of property. In most of the states the
+governor could not be reëlected, he had no veto upon the acts of the
+legislature, nor any power of appointing officers. In 1780, in a new
+constitution drawn up by James Bowdoin and the two Adamses,
+Massachusetts led the way in the construction of a more efficient
+executive department. The president was replaced by a governor elected
+annually by the people, and endowed with the power of appointment and a
+suspensory veto. The first governor elected under this constitution was
+John Hancock. In 1783 New Hampshire adopted a similar constitution. In
+1790 Pennsylvania added an upper house to its legislature, and vested
+the executive power in a governor elected by the people for a term of
+three years, and twice reëligible. He was intrusted with the power of
+appointment to offices, with a suspensory veto, and with the royal
+prerogative of reprieving or pardoning criminals. In 1792 similar
+changes were made in Delaware. In 1789 Georgia added the upper house to
+its legislature, and about the same time in several states the
+governor's powers were enlarged.
+
+Thus the various state governments were repetitions on a small scale of
+what was then supposed to be the triplex government of England, with its
+King, Lords, and Commons. The governor answered to the king with his
+dignity curtailed by election for a short period, and by narrowly
+limited prerogatives. The senate answered to the House of Lords, except
+in being a representative and not a hereditary body. It was supposed to
+represent more especially that part of the community which was possessed
+of most wealth and consideration; and in several states the senators
+were apportioned with some reference to the amount of taxes paid by
+different parts of the state. The senate of New York, in direct
+imitation of the House of Lords, was made a supreme court of errors. On
+the other hand, the assembly answered to the House of Commons, save that
+its power was really limited by the senate as the power of the House of
+Commons is not really limited by the House of Lords. But this
+peculiarity of the British Constitution was not well understood a
+century ago; and the misunderstanding, as we shall hereafter see,
+exerted a very serious influence upon the form of our federal
+government, as well as upon the constitutions of the several states.
+
+[Sidenote: The judiciary.]
+
+In all the thirteen states the common law of England remained in force,
+as it does to this day save where modified by statute. British and
+colonial statutes made prior to the Revolution continued also in force
+unless expressly repealed. The system of civil and criminal courts, the
+remedies in common law and equity, the forms of writs, the functions of
+justices of the peace, the courts of probate, all remained substantially
+unchanged. In Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, the judges held
+office for a term of seven years; in all the other states they held
+office for life or during good behaviour. In all the states save Georgia
+they were appointed either by the governor or by the legislature. It was
+Georgia that in 1812 first set the pernicious example of electing judges
+for short terms by the people,[1]--a practice which is responsible for
+much of the degradation that the courts have suffered in many of our
+states, and which will have to be abandoned before a proper
+administration of justice can ever be secured.
+
+[Sidenote: The limited suffrage.]
+
+In bestowing the suffrage, the new constitutions were as conservative as
+in all other respects. The general state of opinion in America at that
+time, with regard to universal suffrage, was far more advanced than the
+general state of opinion in England, but it was less advanced than the
+opinions of such statesmen as Pitt and Shelburne and the Duke of
+Richmond. There was a truly English irregularity in the provisions which
+were made on this subject. In New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
+and South Carolina, all resident freemen who paid taxes could vote. In
+North Carolina all such persons could vote for members of the lower
+house, but in order to vote for senators a freehold of fifty acres was
+required. In Virginia none could vote save those who possessed such a
+freehold of fifty acres. To vote for governor or for senators in New
+York, one must possess a freehold of $250, clear of mortgage, and to
+vote for assemblymen one must either have a freehold of $50, or pay a
+yearly rent of $10. The pettiness of these sums was in keeping with the
+time when two daily coaches sufficed for the traffic between our two
+greatest commercial cities. In Rhode Island an unincumbered freehold
+worth $134 was required; but in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania the eldest
+sons of qualified freemen could vote without payment of taxes. In all
+the other states the possession of a small amount of property, either
+real or personal, varying from $33 to $200, was the necessary
+qualification for voting. Thus slowly and irregularly did the states
+drift toward universal suffrage; but although the impediments in the way
+of voting were more serious than they seem to us in these days when the
+community is more prosperous and money less scarce, they were still not
+very great, and in the opinion of conservative people they barely
+sufficed to exclude from the suffrage such shiftless persons as had no
+visible interest in keeping down the taxes.
+
+[Sidenote: Abolition of primogeniture, entails, and manorial
+privileges.]
+
+At the time of the Revolution the succession to property was regulated
+in New York and the southern states by the English rule of
+primogeniture. The eldest son took all. In New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
+Delaware, and the four New England states, the eldest son took a double
+share. It was Georgia that led the way in decreeing the equal
+distribution of intestate property, both real and personal; and between
+1784 and 1796 the example was followed by all the other states. At the
+same time entails were either definitely abolished, or the obstacles to
+cutting them off were removed. In New York the manorial privileges of
+the great patroons were swept away. In Maryland the old manorial system
+had long been dying a natural death through the encroachments of the
+patriarchal system of slavery. The ownership of all ungranted lands
+within the limits of the thirteen states passed from the crown not to
+the Confederacy, but to the several state governments. In Pennsylvania
+and Maryland such ungranted lands had belonged to the lords proprietary.
+They were now forfeited to the state. The Penn family was indemnified by
+Pennsylvania to the amount of half a million dollars; but Maryland made
+no compensation to the Calverts, inasmuch as their claim was presented
+by an illegitimate descendant of the last Lord Baltimore.
+
+[Sidenote: Steps toward the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade.]
+
+The success of the American Revolution made it possible for the
+different states to take measures for the gradual abolition of slavery
+and the immediate abolition of the foreign slave-trade. On this great
+question the state of public opinion in America was more advanced than
+in England. So great a thinker as Edmund Burke, who devoted much
+thought to the subject, came to the conclusion that slavery was an
+incurable evil, and that there was not the slightest hope that the trade
+in slaves could be stopped. The most that he thought could be done by
+judicious legislation was to mitigate the horrors which the poor negroes
+endured on board ship, or to prevent wives from being sold away from
+their husbands or children from their parents. Such was the outlook to
+one of the greatest political philosophers of modern times just
+eighty-two years before the immortal proclamation of President Lincoln!
+But how vast was the distance between Burke and Bossuet, who had
+declared about eighty years earlier that "to condemn slavery was to
+condemn the Holy Ghost!" It was equally vast between Burke and his
+contemporary Thurlow, who in 1799 poured out the vials of his wrath upon
+"the altogether miserable and contemptible" proposal to abolish the
+slave-trade. George III. agreed with his chancellor, and resisted the
+movement for abolition with all the obstinacy of which his hard and
+narrow nature was capable. In 1769 the Virginia legislature had enacted
+that the further importation of negroes, to be sold into slavery, should
+be prohibited. But George III. commanded the governor to veto this act,
+and it was vetoed. In Jefferson's first-draft of the Declaration of
+Independence, this action of the king was made the occasion of a fierce
+denunciation of slavery, but in deference to the prejudices of South
+Carolina and Georgia the clause was struck out by Congress. When George
+III. and his vetoes had been eliminated from the case, it became
+possible for the states to legislate freely on the subject. In 1776
+negro slaves were held in all the thirteen states, but in all except
+South Carolina and Georgia there was a strong sentiment in favour of
+emancipation. In North Carolina, which contained a large Quaker
+population, and in which estates were small and were often cultivated by
+free labour, the pro-slavery feeling was never so strong as in the
+southernmost states. In Virginia all the foremost statesmen--Washington,
+Jefferson, Lee, Randolph, Henry, Madison, and Mason--were opposed to the
+continuance of slavery; and their opinions were shared by many of the
+largest planters. For tobacco-culture slavery did not seem so
+indispensable as for the raising of rice and indigo; and in Virginia the
+negroes, half-civilized by kindly treatment, were not regarded with
+horror by their masters, like the ill-treated and ferocious blacks of
+South Carolina and Georgia. After 1808 the policy and the sentiments of
+Virginia underwent a marked change. The invention of the cotton-gin,
+taken in connection with the sudden and prodigious development of
+manufactures in England, greatly stimulated the growth of cotton in the
+ever-enlarging area of the Gulf states, and created an immense demand
+for slave-labour, just at the time when the importation of negroes from
+Africa came to an end. The breeding of slaves, to be sold to the
+planters of the Gulf states, then became such a profitable occupation in
+Virginia as entirely to change the popular feeling about slavery. But
+until 1808 Virginia sympathized with the anti-slavery sentiment which
+was growing up in the northern states; and the same was true of
+Maryland. Emancipation was, however, much more easy to accomplish in the
+north, because the number of slaves was small, and economic
+circumstances distinctly favoured free labour. In the work of gradual
+emancipation the little state of Delaware led the way. In its new
+constitution of 1776 the further introduction of slaves was prohibited,
+all restraints upon emancipation having already been removed. In the
+assembly of Virginia in 1778 a bill prohibiting the further introduction
+of slaves was moved and carried by Thomas Jefferson, and the same
+measure was passed in Maryland in 1783, while both these states removed
+all restraints upon emancipation. North Carolina was not ready to go
+quite so far, but in 1786 she sought to discourage the slave-trade by
+putting a duty of £5 per head on all negroes thereafter imported. New
+Jersey followed the example of Maryland and Virginia. Pennsylvania went
+farther. In 1780 its assembly enacted that no more slaves should be
+brought in, and that all children of slaves born after that date should
+be free. The same provisions were made by New Hampshire in its new
+constitution of 1783, and by the assemblies of Connecticut and Rhode
+Island in 1784. New York went farther still, and in 1785 enacted that
+all children of slaves thereafter born should not only be free, but
+should be admitted to vote on the same conditions as other freemen. In
+1788 Virginia, which contained many free negroes, enacted that any
+person convicted of kidnapping or selling into slavery any free person
+should suffer death on the gallows. Summing up all these facts, we see
+that within two years after the independence of the United States had
+been acknowledged by England, while the two southernmost states had done
+nothing to check the growth of slavery, North Carolina had discouraged
+the importation of slaves; Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey
+had stopped such importation and removed all restraint upon
+emancipation; and all the remaining states, except Massachusetts, had
+made gradual emancipation compulsory. Massachusetts had gone still
+farther. Before the Revolution the anti-slavery feeling had been
+stronger there than in any other state, and cases brought into court for
+the purpose of testing the legality of slavery had been decided in
+favour of those who were opposed to the continuance of that barbarous
+institution. In 1777 an American cruiser brought into the port of Salem
+a captured British ship with slaves on board, and these slaves were
+advertised for sale, but on complaint being made before the legislature
+they were set free. The new constitution of 1780 contained a declaration
+of rights which asserted that all men are born free and have an equal
+and inalienable right to defend their lives and liberties, to acquire
+property, and to seek and obtain safety and happiness. The supreme court
+presently decided that this clause worked the abolition of slavery, and
+accordingly Massachusetts was the first of American states, within the
+limits of the Union, to become in the full sense of the words a free
+commonwealth. Of the negro inhabitants, not more than six thousand in
+number, a large proportion had already for a long time enjoyed freedom;
+and all were now admitted to the suffrage on the same terms as other
+citizens.
+
+[Sidenote: Progress toward freedom in religion.]
+
+By the revolutionary legislation of the states some progress was also
+effected in the direction of a more complete religious freedom.
+Pennsylvania and Delaware were the only states in which all Christian
+sects stood socially and politically on an equal footing. In Rhode
+Island all Protestants enjoyed equal privileges, but Catholics were
+debarred from voting. In Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut,
+the old Puritan Congregationalism was the established religion. The
+Congregational church was supported by taxes, and the minister, once
+chosen, kept his place for life or during good behaviour. He could not
+be got rid of unless formally investigated and dismissed by an
+ecclesiastical council. Laws against blasphemy, which were virtually
+laws against heresy, were in force in these three states. In
+Massachusetts, Catholic priests were liable to imprisonment for life.
+Any one who should dare to speculate too freely about the nature of
+Christ, or the philosophy of the plan of salvation, or to express a
+doubt as to the plenary inspiration of every word between the two covers
+of the Bible, was subject to fine and imprisonment. The tithing-man
+still arrested Sabbath-breakers and shut them up in the town-cage in the
+market-place; he stopped all unnecessary riding or driving on Sunday,
+and haled people off to the meeting-house whether they would or not.
+Such restraints upon liberty were still endured by people who had dared
+and suffered so much for liberty's sake. The men of Boston strove hard
+to secure the repeal of these barbarous laws and the disestablishment of
+the Congregational church; but they were outvoted by the delegates from
+the rural towns. The most that could be accomplished was the provision
+that dissenters might escape the church-rate by supporting a church of
+their own. The nineteenth century was to arrive before church and state
+were finally separated in Massachusetts. The new constitution of New
+Hampshire was similarly illiberal, and in Connecticut no change was
+made. Rhode Island nobly distinguished herself by contrast when in 1784
+she extended the franchise to Catholics.
+
+In the six states just mentioned the British government had been
+hindered by charter, and by the overwhelming opposition of the people,
+from seriously trying to establish the Episcopal church. The sure fate
+of any such mad experiment had been well illustrated in the time of
+Andros. In the other seven states there were no such insuperable
+obstacles. The Church of England was maintained with languid
+acquiescence in New York. By the Quakers and Presbyterians of New Jersey
+and North Carolina, as well as in half-Catholic, half-Puritan Maryland,
+its supremacy was unwillingly endured; in the turbulent frontier
+commonwealth of Georgia it was accepted with easy contempt. Only in
+South Carolina and Virginia had the Church of England ever possessed any
+real hold upon the people. The Episcopal clergy of South Carolina, men
+of learning and high character, elected by their own congregations
+instead of being appointed to their livings by a patron, were thoroughly
+independent, and in the late war their powerful influence had been
+mainly exerted in behalf of the patriot cause. Hence, while they
+retained their influence after the close of the war, there was no
+difficulty in disestablishing the church. It felt itself able to stand
+without government support. As soon as the political separation from
+England was effected, the Episcopal church was accordingly separated
+from the state, not only in South Carolina, but in all the states in
+which it had hitherto been upheld by the authority of the British
+government; and in the constitutions of New Jersey, Georgia, and the two
+Carolinas, no less than in those of Delaware and Pennsylvania, it was
+explicitly provided that no man should be obliged to pay any church rate
+or attend any religious service save according to his own free and
+unhampered will.
+
+[Sidenote: Church and state in Virginia.]
+
+The case of Virginia was peculiar. At first the Church of England had
+taken deep root there because of the considerable immigration of members
+of the Cavalier party after the downfall of Charles I. Most of the great
+statesmen of Virginia in the Revolution--such as Washington, Madison,
+Mason, Jefferson, Pendleton, Henry, the Lees, and the Randolphs--were
+descendants of Cavaliers and members of the Church of England. But for a
+long time the Episcopal clergy had been falling into discredit. Many of
+them were appointed by the British government and ordained by the
+Bishop of London, and they were affected by the irreligious
+listlessness and low moral tone of the English church in the eighteenth
+century. The Virginia legislature thought it necessary to pass special
+laws prohibiting these clergymen from drunkenness and riotous living. It
+was said that they spent more time in hunting foxes and betting on
+race-horses than in conducting religious services or visiting the sick;
+and according to Bishop Meade, many dissolute parsons, discarded from
+the church in England as unworthy, were yet thought fit to be presented
+with livings in Virginia. To this general character of the clergy there
+were many exceptions. There were many excellent clergymen, especially
+among the native Virginians, whose appointment depended to some extent
+upon the repute in which they were held by their neighbours. But on the
+whole the system was such as to illustrate all the worst vices of a
+church supported by the temporal power. The Revolution achieved the
+discomfiture of a clergy already thus deservedly discredited. The
+parsons mostly embraced the cause of the crown, but failed to carry
+their congregations with them, and thus they found themselves arrayed in
+hopeless antagonism to popular sentiment in a state which contained
+perhaps fewer Tories in proportion to its population than any other of
+the thirteen.
+
+[Sidenote: Madison and the Religious Freedom Act, 1785.]
+
+At the same time the Episcopal church itself had gradually come to be a
+minority in the commonwealth. For more than half a century Scotch and
+Welsh Presbyterians, German Lutherans, English Quakers, and Baptists,
+had been working their way southward from Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
+and had settled in the fertile country west of the Blue Ridge. Daniel
+Morgan, who had won the most brilliant battle of the Revolution, was one
+of these men, and sturdiness was a chief characteristic of most of them.
+So long as these frontier settlers served as a much-needed bulwark
+against the Indians, the church saw fit to ignore them and let them
+build meeting-houses and carry on religious services as they pleased.
+But when the peril of Indian attack had been thrust westward into the
+Ohio valley, and these dissenting communities had waxed strong and
+prosperous, the ecclesiastical party in the state undertook to lay taxes
+on them for the support of the Church of England, and to compel them to
+receive Episcopal clergymen to preach for them, to bless them in
+marriage, and to bury their dead. The immediate consequence was a revolt
+which not only overthrew the established church in Virginia, but nearly
+effected its ruin. The troubles began in 1768, when the Baptists had
+made their way into the centre of the state, and three of their
+preachers were arrested by the sheriff of Spottsylvania. As the
+indictment was read against these men for "preaching the gospel contrary
+to law," a deep and solemn voice interrupted the proceedings. Patrick
+Henry had come on horseback many a mile over roughest roads to listen to
+the trial, and this phrase, which savoured of the religious despotisms
+of old, was quite too much for him. "May it please your worships," he
+exclaimed, "what did I hear read? Did I hear an expression that these
+men, whom your worships are about to try for misdemeanour, are charged
+with preaching the gospel of the Son of God!" The shamefast silence and
+confusion which ensued was of ill omen for the success of an undertaking
+so unwelcome to the growing liberalism of the time. The zeal of the
+persecuted Baptists was presently reinforced by the learning and the
+dialectic skill of the Presbyterian ministers. Unlike the Puritans of
+New England, the Presbyterians were in favour of the total separation of
+church from state. It was one of their cardinal principles that the
+civil magistrate had no right to interfere in any way with matters of
+religion. By taking this broad ground they secured the powerful aid of
+Thomas Jefferson, and afterwards of Madison and Mason. The controversy
+went on through all the years of the Revolutionary War, while all
+Virginia, from the sea to the mountains, rang with fulminations and
+arguments. In 1776 Jefferson and Mason succeeded in carrying a bill
+which released all dissenters from parish rates and legalized all forms
+of worship. At last in 1785 Madison won the crowning victory in the
+Religious Freedom Act, by which the Church of England was disestablished
+and all parish rates abolished, and still more, all religious tests were
+done away with. In this last respect Virginia came to the front among
+all the American states, as Massachusetts had come to the front in the
+abolition of negro slavery. Nearly all the states still imposed
+religious tests upon civil office-holders, from simply declaring a
+general belief in the infallibleness of the Bible to accepting the
+doctrine of the Trinity. The Virginia statute, which declared that
+"opinion in matters of religion shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or
+affect civil capacities," was translated into French and Italian, and
+was widely read and commented on in Europe.
+
+It is the historian's unpleasant duty to add that the victory thus
+happily won was ungenerously followed up. Theological and political
+odium combined to overwhelm the Episcopal church in Virginia. The
+persecuted became persecutors. It was contended that the property of the
+church, having been largely created by unjustifiable taxation, ought to
+be forfeited. In 1802 its parsonages and glebe lands were sold, its
+parishes wiped out, and its clergy left without a calling. "A reckless
+sensualist," said Dr. Hawks, "administered the morning dram to his
+guests from the silver cup" used in the communion service. But in all
+this there is a manifest historic lesson. That it should have been
+possible thus to deal with the Episcopal church in Virginia shows
+forcibly the moribund condition into which it had been brought through
+dependence upon the extraneous aid of a political sovereignty from which
+the people of Virginia were severing their allegiance. The lesson is
+most vividly enhanced by the contrast with the church of South Carolina
+which, rooted in its own soil, was quite able to stand alone when
+government aid was withdrawn. In Virginia the church in which George
+Washington was reared had so nearly vanished by the year 1830 that Chief
+Justice Marshall said it was folly to dream of reviving so dead a
+thing. Nevertheless, under the noble ministration of its great bishop,
+William Meade, the Episcopal church in Virginia, no longer relying upon
+state aid, but trusting in the divine persuasive power of spiritual
+truth, was even then entering upon a new life and beginning to exercise
+a most wholesome influence.
+
+[Sidenote: Mason Weems and Samuel Seabury.]
+
+[Sidenote: November 14, 1784.]
+
+The separation of the English church in America from the English crown
+was the occasion of a curious difficulty with regard to the ordination
+of bishops. Until after the Revolution there were no bishops of that
+church in America, and between 1783 and 1785 it was not clear how
+candidates for holy orders could receive the necessary consecration. In
+1784 a young divinity student from Maryland, named Mason Weems, who had
+been studying for some time in England, applied to the Bishop of London
+for admission to holy orders, but was rudely refused. Weems then had
+recourse to Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, author of the famous reply to
+Gibbon. Watson treated him kindly and advised him to get a letter of
+recommendation from the governor of Maryland, but after this had been
+obtained he referred him to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who said that
+nothing could be done without the consent of Parliament. As the law
+stood, no one could be admitted into the ranks of the English clergy
+without taking the oath of allegiance and acknowledging the king of
+England as the head of the church. Weems then wrote to John Adams at the
+Hague, and to Franklin at Paris, to see if there were any Protestant
+bishops on the Continent from whom he could obtain consecration. A
+rather amusing diplomatic correspondence ensued, and finally the king of
+Denmark, after taking theological advice, kindly offered the services of
+a Danish bishop, who was to perform the ceremony in Latin. Weems does
+not seem to have availed himself of this permission, probably because
+the question soon reached a more satisfactory solution.[2] About the
+same time the Episcopal church in Connecticut sent one of its ministers,
+Samuel Seabury of New London, to England, to be ordained as bishop. The
+oaths of allegiance and supremacy stood as much in the way of the
+learned and famous minister as in that of the young and obscure student.
+Seabury accordingly appealed to the non-juring Jacobite bishops of the
+Episcopal church of Scotland, and at length was duly ordained at
+Aberdeen as bishop of the diocese of Connecticut. While Seabury was in
+England, the churches in the various states chose delegates to a
+general convention, which framed a constitution for the "Protestant
+Episcopal Church of the United States of America." Advowsons were
+abolished, some parts of the liturgy were dropped, and the tenure of
+ministers, even of bishops, was to be during good behaviour. At the same
+time a friendly letter was sent to the bishops of England, urging them
+to secure, if possible, an act of Parliament whereby American clergymen
+might be ordained without taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy.
+Such an act was obtained without much difficulty, and three American
+bishops were accordingly consecrated in due form. The peculiar
+ordination of Seabury was also recognized as valid by the general
+convention, and thus the Episcopal church in America was fairly started
+on its independent career.
+
+[Sidenote: Francis Asbury and the Methodists.]
+
+This foundation of a separate episcopacy west of the Atlantic was
+accompanied by the further separation of the Methodists as a distinct
+religious society. Although John Wesley regarded the notion of an
+apostolical succession as superstitious, he had made no attempt to
+separate his followers from the national church. He translated the
+titles of "bishop" and "priest" from Greek into Latin and English,
+calling them "superintendent" and "elder," but he did not deny the
+king's headship. Meanwhile during the long period of his preaching there
+had begun to grow up a Methodist church in America. George Whitefield
+had come over and preached in Georgia in 1737, and in Massachusetts in
+1744, where he encountered much opposition on the part of the Puritan
+clergy. But the first Methodist church in America was founded in the
+city of New York in 1766. In 1772 Wesley sent over Francis Asbury, a man
+of shrewd sense and deep religious feeling, to act as his assistant and
+representative in this country. At that time there were not more than a
+thousand Methodists, with six preachers, and all these were in the
+middle and southern colonies; but within five years, largely owing to
+the zeal and eloquence of Asbury, these numbers had increased sevenfold.
+At the end of the war, seeing the American Methodists cut loose from the
+English establishment, Wesley in his own house at Bristol, with the aid
+of two presbyters, proceeded to ordain ministers enough to make a
+presbytery, and thereupon set apart Thomas Coke to be "superintendent"
+or bishop for America. On the same day of November, 1784, on which
+Seabury was consecrated by the non-jurors at Aberdeen, Coke began
+preaching and baptizing in Maryland, in rude chapels built of logs or
+under the shade of forest trees. On Christmas Eve a conference assembled
+at Baltimore, at which Asbury was chosen bishop by some sixty ministers
+present, and ordained by Coke, and the constitution of the Methodist
+church in America was organized. Among the poor white people of the
+southern states, and among the negroes, the new church rapidly obtained
+great sway; and at a somewhat later date it began to assume considerable
+proportions in the north.
+
+[Sidenote: Presbyterians; Roman Catholics.]
+
+Four years after this the Presbyterians, who were most numerous in the
+middle states, organized their government in a general assembly, which
+was also attended by Congregationalist delegates from New England in the
+capacity of simple advisers. The theological difference between these
+two sects was so slight that an alliance grew up between them, and in
+Connecticut some fifty years later their names were often inaccurately
+used as if synonymous. Such a difference seemed to vanish when
+confronted with the newer differences that began to spring up soon after
+the close of the Revolution. The revolt against the doctrine of eternal
+punishment was already beginning in New England, and among the learned
+and thoughtful clergy of Massachusetts the seeds of Unitarianism were
+germinating. The gloomy intolerance of an older time was beginning to
+yield to more enlightened views. In 1789 the first Roman Catholic church
+in New England was dedicated in Boston. So great had been the prejudice
+against this sect that in 1784 there were only 600 Catholics in all New
+England. In the four southernmost states, on the other hand, there were
+2,500; in New York and New Jersey there were 1,700; in Delaware and
+Pennsylvania there were 7,700; in Maryland there were 20,000; while
+among the French settlements along the eastern bank of the Mississippi
+there were supposed to be nearly 12,000. In 1786 John Carroll, a cousin
+of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, was selected by the Pope as his
+apostolic vicar, and was afterward successively made bishop of Baltimore
+and archbishop of the United States. By 1789 all obstacles to the
+Catholic worship had been done away with in all the states.
+
+[Sidenote: Except in the instance of slavery, all these changes were
+favourable to union.]
+
+In this brief survey of the principal changes wrought in the several
+states by the separation from England, one cannot fail to be struck with
+their conservative character. Things proceeded just as they had done
+from time immemorial with the English race. Forms of government were
+modified just far enough to adapt them to the new situation and no
+farther. The abolition of entails, of primogeniture, and of such few
+manorial privileges as existed, were useful reforms of far less sweeping
+character than similar changes would have been in England; and they were
+accordingly effected with ease. Even the abolition of slavery in the
+northern states, where negroes were few in number and chiefly employed
+in domestic service, wrought nothing in the remotest degree resembling a
+social revolution. But nowhere was this constitutionally cautious and
+precedent-loving mode of proceeding more thoroughly exemplified than in
+the measures just related, whereby the Episcopal and Methodist churches
+were separated from the English establishment and placed upon an
+independent footing in the new world. From another point of view it may
+be observed that all these changes, except in the instance of slavery,
+tended to assimilate the states to one another in their political and
+social condition. So far as they went, these changes were favourable to
+union, and this was perhaps especially true in the case of the
+ecclesiastical bodies, which brought citizens of different states into
+coöperation in pursuit of specific ends in common.
+
+At the same time this survey most forcibly reminds us how completely
+the legislation which immediately affected the daily domestic life of
+the citizen was the legislation of the single state in which he lived.
+In the various reforms just passed in review the United States
+government took no part, and could not from the nature of the case. Even
+to-day our national government has no power over such matters, and it is
+to be hoped it never will have. But at the present day our national
+government performs many important functions of common concern, which a
+century ago were scarcely performed at all. The organization of the
+single state was old in principle and well understood by everybody. It
+therefore worked easily, and such changes as those above described were
+brought about with little friction. On the other hand, the principles
+upon which the various relations of the states to each other were to be
+adjusted were not well understood. There was wide disagreement upon the
+subject, and the attempt to compromise between opposing views was not at
+first successful. Hence, in the management of affairs which concerned
+the United States as a nation, we shall not find the central machinery
+working smoothly or quietly. We are about to traverse a period of
+uncertainty and confusion, in which it required all the political
+sagacity and all the good temper of the people to save the half-built
+ship of state from going to pieces on the rocks of civil contention.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP.
+
+
+[Sidenote: The several states have never enjoyed complete sovereignty.]
+
+That some kind of union existed between the states was doubted by no
+one. Ever since the assembling of the first Continental Congress in 1774
+the thirteen commonwealths had acted in concert, and sometimes most
+generously, as when Maryland and South Carolina had joined in the
+Declaration of Independence without any crying grievances of their own,
+from a feeling that the cause of one should be the cause of all. It has
+sometimes been said that the Union was in its origin a league of
+sovereign states, each of which surrendered a specific portion of its
+sovereignty to the federal government for the sake of the common
+welfare. Grave political arguments have been based upon this alleged
+fact, but such an account of the matter is not historically true. There
+never was a time when Massachusetts or Virginia was an absolutely
+sovereign state like Holland or France. Sovereign over their own
+internal affairs they are to-day as they were at the time of the
+Revolution, but there was never a time when they presented themselves
+before other nations as sovereign, or were recognized as such. Under the
+government of England before the Revolution the thirteen commonwealths
+were independent of one another, and were held together, juxtaposed
+rather than united, only through their allegiance to the British crown.
+Had that allegiance been maintained there is no telling how long they
+might have gone on thus disunited; and this, it seems, should be one of
+our chief reasons for rejoicing that the political connection with
+England was dissolved when it was. A permanent redress of grievances,
+and even virtual independence such as Canada now enjoys, we might
+perhaps have gained had we listened to Lord North's proposals after the
+surrender of Burgoyne; but the formation of the Federal Union would
+certainly have been long postponed, and when we realize the grandeur of
+the work which we are now doing in the world through the simple fact of
+such a union, we cannot fail to see that such an issue would have been
+extremely unfortunate. However this may be, it is clear that until the
+connection with England was severed the thirteen commonwealths were not
+united, nor were they sovereign. It is also clear that in the very act
+of severing their connection with England these commonwealths entered
+into some sort of union which was incompatible with their absolute
+sovereignty taken severally. It was not the people of New Hampshire,
+Massachusetts, and so on through the list, that declared their
+independence of Great Britain, but it was the representatives of the
+United States in Congress assembled, and speaking as a single body in
+the name of the whole. Three weeks before this declaration was adopted,
+Congress appointed a committee to draw up the "articles of
+confederation and perpetual union," by which the sovereignty of the
+several states was expressly limited and curtailed in many important
+particulars. This committee had finished its work by the 12th of July,
+but the articles were not adopted by Congress until the autumn of 1777,
+and they were not finally put into operation until the spring of 1781.
+During this inchoate period of union the action of the United States was
+that of a confederation in which some portion of the several
+sovereignties was understood to be surrendered to the whole. It was the
+business of the articles to define the precise nature and extent of this
+surrendered sovereignty which no state by itself ever exercised. In the
+mean time this sovereignty, undefined in nature and extent, was
+exercised, as well as circumstances permitted, by the Continental
+Congress.
+
+[Sidenote: The Continental Congress; its extraordinary character.]
+
+A most remarkable body was this Continental Congress. For the
+vicissitudes through which it passed, there is perhaps no other
+revolutionary body, save the Long Parliament, which can be compared with
+it. For its origin we must look back to the committees of correspondence
+devised by Jonathan Mayhew, Samuel Adams, and Dabney Carr. First
+assembled in 1774 to meet an emergency which was generally believed to
+be only temporary, it continued to sit for nearly seven years before its
+powers were ever clearly defined; and during those seven years it
+exercised some of the highest functions of sovereignty which are
+possible to any governing body. It declared the independence of the
+United States; it contracted an offensive and defensive alliance with
+France; it raised and organized a Continental army; it borrowed large
+sums of money, and pledged what the lenders understood to be the
+national credit for their repayment; it issued an inconvertible paper
+currency, granted letters of marque, and built a navy. All this it did
+in the exercise of what in later times would have been called "implied
+war powers," and its authority rested upon the general acquiescence in
+the purposes for which it acted and in the measures which it adopted.
+Under such circumstances its functions were very inefficiently
+performed. But the articles of confederation, which in 1781 defined its
+powers, served at the same time to limit them; so that for the remaining
+eight years of its existence the Continental Congress grew weaker and
+weaker, until it was swept away to make room for a more efficient
+government.
+
+[Sidenote: The articles of confederation.]
+
+John Dickinson is supposed to have been the principal author of the
+articles of confederation; but as the work of the committee was done in
+secret and has never been reported, the point cannot be determined. In
+November, 1777, Congress sent the articles to the several state
+legislatures, with a circular letter recommending them as containing the
+only plan of union at all likely to be adopted. In the course of the
+next fifteen months the articles were ratified by all the states except
+Maryland, which refused to sign until the states laying claim to the
+northwestern lands, and especially Virginia, should surrender their
+claims to the confederation. We shall by and by see, when we come to
+explain this point in detail, that from this action of Maryland there
+flowed beneficent consequences that were little dreamed of. It was first
+in the great chain of events which led directly to the formation of the
+Federal Union. Having carried her point, Maryland ratified the articles
+on the first day of March, 1781; and thus in the last and most brilliant
+period of the war, while Greene was leading Cornwallis on his fatal
+chase across North Carolina, the confederation proposed at the time of
+the Declaration of Independence was finally consummated.
+
+According to the language of the articles, the states entered into a
+firm league of friendship with each other; and in order to secure and
+perpetuate such friendship, the freemen of each state were entitled to
+all the privileges and immunities of freemen in all the other states.
+Mutual extradition of criminals was established, and in each state full
+faith and credit was to be given to the records, acts, and judicial
+proceedings of every other state. This universal intercitizenship was
+what gave reality to the nascent and feeble Union. In all the common
+business relations of life, the man of New Hampshire could deal with the
+man of Georgia on an equal footing before the law. But this was almost
+the only effectively cohesive provision in the whole instrument.
+Throughout the remainder of the articles its language was largely
+devoted to reconciling the theory that the states were severally
+sovereign with the visible fact that they were already merged to some
+extent in a larger political body. The sovereignty of this larger body
+was vested in the Congress of delegates appointed yearly by the states.
+No state was to be represented by less than two or more than seven
+members; no one could be a delegate for more than three years out of
+every six; and no delegate could hold any salaried office under the
+United States. As in colonial times the states had, to preserve their
+self-government, insisted upon paying their governors and judges,
+instead of allowing them to be paid out of the royal treasury, so now
+the delegates in Congress were paid by their own states. In determining
+questions in Congress, each state had one vote, without regard to
+population; but a bare majority was not enough to carry any important
+measure. Not only for such extraordinary matters as wars and treaties,
+but even for the regular and ordinary business of raising money to carry
+on the government, not a single step could be taken without the consent
+of at least nine of the thirteen states; and this provision well-nigh
+sufficed of itself to block the wheels of federal legislation. The
+Congress assembled each year on the first Monday of November, and could
+not adjourn for a longer period than six months. During its recess the
+continuity of government was preserved by an executive committee,
+consisting of one delegate from each state, and known as the "committee
+of the states." Saving such matters of warfare or treaty as the public
+interest might require to be kept secret, all the proceedings of
+Congress were entered in a journal, to be published monthly; and the
+yeas and nays must be entered should any delegate request it. The
+executive departments of war, finance, and so forth were intrusted at
+first to committees, until experience soon showed the necessity of
+single heads. There was a president of Congress, who, as representing
+the dignity of the United States, was, in a certain sense, the foremost
+person in the country, but he had no more power than any other delegate.
+Of the fourteen presidents between 1774 and 1789, perhaps only Randolph,
+Hancock, and Laurens are popularly remembered in that capacity; Jay, St.
+Clair, Mifflin, and Lee are remembered for other things; Hanson,
+Griffin, and Boudinot are scarcely remembered at all, save by the
+student of American history.
+
+Between the Congress thus constituted and the several state governments
+the attributes of sovereignty were shared in such a way as to produce a
+minimum of result with a maximum of effort. The states were prohibited
+from keeping up any naval or military force, except militia, or from
+entering into any treaty or alliance, either with a foreign power or
+between themselves, without the consent of Congress. No state could
+engage in war except by way of defence against a sudden Indian attack.
+Congress had the sole right of determining on peace and war, of sending
+and receiving ambassadors, of making treaties, of adjudicating all
+disputes between the states, of managing Indian affairs, and of
+regulating the value of coin and fixing the standard of weights and
+measures. Congress took control of the post-office on condition that no
+more revenue should be raised from postage than should suffice to
+discharge the expenses of the service. Congress controlled the army,
+but was provided with no means of raising soldiers save through
+requisitions upon the states, and it could only appoint officers above
+the rank of colonel; the organization of regiments was left entirely in
+the hands of the states. The traditional and wholesome dread of a
+standing army was great, but there was no such deep-seated jealousy of a
+navy, and Congress was accordingly allowed not only to appoint all naval
+officers, but also to establish courts of admiralty.
+
+[Sidenote: The articles failed to create a federal government endowed
+with real sovereignty.]
+
+Several essential attributes of sovereignty were thus withheld from the
+states; and by assuming all debts contracted by Congress prior to the
+adoption of the articles, and solemnly pledging the public faith for
+their payment, it was implicitly declared that the sovereignty here
+accorded to Congress was substantially the same as that which it had
+asserted and exercised ever since the severing of the connection with
+England. The articles simply defined the relations of the states to the
+Confederation as they had already shaped themselves. Indeed, the
+articles, though not finally ratified till 1781, had been known to
+Congress and to the people ever since 1776 as their expected
+constitution, and political action had been shaped in general accordance
+with the theory on which they had been drawn up. They show that
+political action was at no time based on the view of the states as
+absolutely sovereign, but they also show that the share of sovereignty
+accorded to Congress was very inadequate even to the purposes of an
+effective confederation. The position in which they left Congress was
+hardly more than that of the deliberative head of a league. For the
+most fundamental of all the attributes of sovereignty--the power of
+taxation--was not given to Congress. It could neither raise taxes
+through an excise nor through custom-house duties; it could only make
+requisitions upon the thirteen members of the confederacy in proportion
+to the assessed value of their real estate, and it was not provided with
+any means of enforcing these requisitions. On this point the articles
+contained nothing beyond the vague promise of the states to obey. The
+power of levying taxes was thus retained entirely by the states. They
+not only imposed direct taxes, as they do to-day, but they laid duties
+on exports and imports, each according to its own narrow view of its
+local interests. The only restriction upon this was that such
+state-imposed duties must not interfere with the stipulations of any
+foreign treaties such as Congress might make in pursuance of treaties
+already proposed to the courts of France and Spain. Besides all this,
+the states shared with Congress the powers of coining money, of emitting
+bills of credit, and of making their promissory notes a legal tender for
+debts.
+
+Such was the constitution under which the United States had begun to
+drift toward anarchy even before the close of the Revolutionary War, but
+which could only be amended by the unanimous consent of all the thirteen
+states. The historian cannot but regard this difficulty of amendment as
+a fortunate circumstance; for in the troubles which presently arose it
+led the distressed people to seek some other method of relief, and thus
+prepared the way for the Convention of 1787, which destroyed the whole
+vicious scheme, and gave us a form of government under which we have
+just completed a century unparalleled for peace and prosperity. Besides
+this extreme difficulty of amendment, the fatal defects of the
+Confederation were three in number. The first defect was the two thirds
+vote necessary for any important legislation in Congress; under this
+rule any five of the states--as, for example, the four southernmost
+states with Maryland, or the four New England states with New
+Jersey--could defeat the most sorely needed measures. The second defect
+was the impossibility of presenting a united front to foreign countries
+in respect to commerce. The third and greatest defect was the lack of
+any means, on the part of Congress, of enforcing obedience. Not only was
+there no federal executive or judiciary worthy of the name, but the
+central government operated only upon states, and not upon individuals.
+Congress could call for troops and for money in strict conformity with
+the articles; but should any state prove delinquent in furnishing its
+quota, there were no constitutional means of compelling it to obey the
+call. This defect was seen and deplored at the outset by such men as
+Washington and Madison, but the only remedy which at first occurred to
+them was one more likely to kill than to cure. Only six weeks after the
+ratification of the articles, Madison proposed an amendment "to give to
+the United States full authority to employ their force, as well by sea
+as by land, to compel any delinquent state to fulfil its federal
+engagements." Washington approved of this measure, hoping, as he said,
+that "a knowledge that this power was lodged in Congress might be the
+means to prevent its ever being exercised, and the more readily induce
+obedience. Indeed," added Washington, "if Congress were unquestionably
+possessed of the power, nothing should induce the display of it but
+obstinate disobedience and the urgency of the general welfare." Madison
+argued that in the very nature of the Confederation such a right of
+coercion was necessarily implied, though not expressed in the articles,
+and much might have been said in behalf of this opinion. The
+Confederation explicitly declared itself to be perpetual, yet how could
+it perpetuate itself for a dozen years without the right to coerce its
+refractory members? Practically, however, the remedy was one which could
+never have been applied without breaking the Confederation into
+fragments. To use the army or navy in coercing a state meant nothing
+less than civil war. The local yeomanry would have turned out against
+the Continental army with as high a spirit as that with which they
+swarmed about the British enemy at Lexington or King's Mountain. A
+government which could not collect the taxes for its yearly budget
+without firing upon citizens or blockading two or three harbours would
+have been the absurdest political anomaly imaginable. No such idea could
+have entered the mind of a statesman save from the hope that if one
+state should prove refractory, all the others would immediately frown
+upon it and uphold Congress in overawing it. In such case the knowledge
+that Congress had the power would doubtless have been enough to make its
+exercise unnecessary. But in fact this hope was disappointed, for the
+delinquency of each state simply set an example of disobedience for all
+the others to follow; and the amendment, had it been carried, would
+merely have armed Congress with a threat which everybody would have
+laughed at. So manifestly hopeless was the case to Pelatiah Webster that
+as early as May, 1781, he published an able pamphlet, urging the
+necessity for a federal convention for overhauling the whole scheme of
+government from beginning to end.
+
+[Sidenote: Military weakness of the government.]
+
+The military weakness due to this imperfect governmental organization
+may be illustrated by comparing the number of regular troops which
+Congress was able to keep in the field during the Revolutionary War with
+the number maintained by the United States government during the War of
+Secession. A rough estimate, obtained from averages, will suffice to
+show the broad contrast. In 1863, the middle year of the War of
+Secession, the total population of the loyal states was about
+23,491,600, of whom about one fifth, or 4,698,320, were adult males of
+military age. Supposing one adult male out of every five to have been
+under arms at one time, the number would have been 939,664. Now the
+total number of troops enlisted in the northern army during the four
+years of the war, reduced to a uniform standard, was 2,320,272, or an
+average of 580,068 under arms in any single year. In point of fact,
+this average was reached before the middle of the war, and the numbers
+went on increasing, until at the end there were more than a million men
+under arms,--at least one out of every five adult males in the northern
+states. On the other hand, in 1779, the middle year of the Revolutionary
+War, the white population of the United States was about 2,175,000, of
+whom 435,000 were adult males of military age. Supposing one out of
+every five of these to have been under arms at once, the number would
+have been 87,000. Now in the spring of 1777, when the Continental
+Congress was at the highest point of authority which it ever reached,
+when France was willing to lend it money freely, when its paper currency
+was not yet discredited and it could make liberal offers of bounties, a
+demand was made upon the states for 80,000 men, or nearly one fifth of
+the adult male population, to serve for three years or during the war.
+Only 34,820 were obtained. The total number of men in the field in that
+most critical year, including the swarms of militia who came to the
+rescue at Ridgefield and Bennington and Oriskany, and the Pennsylvania
+militia who turned out while their state was invaded, was 68,720. In
+1781, when the credit of Congress was greatly impaired, although
+military activity again rose to a maximum and it was necessary for the
+people to strain every nerve, the total number of men in the field,
+militia and all, was only 29,340, of whom only 13,292 were Continentals;
+and it was left for the genius of Washington and Greene, working with
+desperate energy and most pitiful resources, to save the country. A
+more impressive contrast to the readiness with which the demands of the
+government were met in the War of Secession can hardly be imagined. Had
+the country put forth its strength in 1781 as it did in 1864, an army of
+90,000 men might have overwhelmed Clinton at the north and Cornwallis at
+the south, without asking any favours of the French fleet. Had it put
+forth its full strength in 1777, four years of active warfare might have
+been spared. Mr. Lecky explains this difference by his favourite
+hypothesis that the American Revolution was the work of a few
+ultra-radical leaders, with whom the people were not generally in
+sympathy; and he thinks we could not expect to see great heroism or
+self-sacrifice manifested by a people who went to war over what he calls
+a "money dispute."[3] But there is no reason for supposing that the
+loyalists represented the general sentiment of the country in the
+Revolutionary War any more than the peace party represented the general
+sentiment of the northern states in the War of Secession. There is no
+reason for supposing that the people were less at heart in 1781 in
+fighting for the priceless treasure of self-government than they were in
+1864 when they fought for the maintenance of the pacific principles
+underlying our Federal Union. The differences in the organization of the
+government, and in its power of operating directly upon the people, are
+quite enough to explain the difference between the languid conduct of
+the earlier war and the energetic conduct of the later.
+
+[Sidenote: Extreme difficulty of obtaining a revenue.]
+
+Impossible as Congress found it to fill the quotas of the army, the task
+of raising a revenue by requisitions upon the states was even more
+discouraging. Every state had its own war-debt, and several were
+applicants for foreign loans not easy to obtain, so that none could
+without the greatest difficulty raise a surplus to hand over to
+Congress. The Continental rag-money had ceased to circulate by the end
+of 1780, and our foreign credit was nearly ruined. The French government
+began to complain of the heavy demands which the Americans made upon its
+exchequer, and Vergennes, in sending over a new loan in the fall of
+1782, warned Franklin that no more must be expected. To save American
+credit from destruction, it was at least necessary that the interest on
+the public debt should be paid. For this purpose Congress in 1781 asked
+permission to levy a five per cent. duty on imports. The modest request
+was the signal for a year of angry discussion. Again and again it was
+asked, If taxes could thus be levied by any power outside the state, why
+had we ever opposed the Stamp Act or the tea duties? The question was
+indeed a serious one, and as an instance of reasoning from analogy
+seemed plausible enough. After more than a year Massachusetts consented,
+by a bare majority of two in the House and one in the Senate, reserving
+to herself the right of appointing the collectors. The bill was then
+vetoed by Governor Hancock, though one day too late, and so it was
+saved. But Rhode Island flatly refused her consent, and so did Virginia,
+though Madison earnestly pleaded the cause of the public credit. For
+the current expenses of the government in that same year $9,000,000 were
+needed. It was calculated that $4,000,000 might be raised by a loan, and
+the other $5,000,000 were demanded of the states. At the end of the year
+$422,000 had been collected, not a cent of which came from Georgia, the
+Carolinas, or Delaware. Rhode Island, which paid $38,000, did the best
+of all according to its resources. Of the Continental taxes assessed in
+1783, only one-fifth part had been paid by the middle of 1785. And the
+worst of it was that no one could point to a remedy for this state of
+things, or assign any probable end to it.
+
+[Sidenote: Dread of the army.]
+
+[Sidenote: Supposed scheme for making Washington king.]
+
+Under such circumstances the public credit sank at home as well as
+abroad. Foreign creditors--even France, who had been nothing if not
+generous with her loans--might be made to wait; but there were creditors
+at home who, should they prove ugly, could not be so easily put off. The
+disbandment of the army in the summer of 1783, before the British troops
+had evacuated New York, was hastened by the impossibility of paying the
+soldiers and the dread of what they might do under such provocation.
+Though peace had been officially announced, Hamilton and Livingston
+urged that, for the sake of appearances if for no other reason, the army
+should be kept together so long as the British remained in New York, if
+not until they should have surrendered the western frontier posts. But
+Congress could not pay the army, and was afraid of it,--and not without
+some reason. Discouraged at the length of time which had passed since
+they had received any money, the soldiers had begun to fear lest, now
+that their services were no longer needed, their honest claims would be
+set aside. Among the officers, too, there was grave discontent. In the
+spring of 1778, after the dreadful winter at Valley Forge, several
+officers had thrown up their commissions, and others threatened to do
+likewise. To avert the danger, Washington had urged Congress to promise
+half-pay for life to such officers as should serve to the end of the
+war. It was only with great difficulty that he succeeded in obtaining a
+promise of half-pay for seven years, and even this raised an outcry
+throughout the country, which seemed to dread its natural defenders only
+less than its enemies. In the fall of 1780, however, in the general
+depression which followed upon the disasters at Charleston and Camden,
+the collapse of the paper money, and the discovery of Arnold's treason,
+there was serious danger that the army would fall to pieces. At this
+critical moment Washington had earnestly appealed to Congress, and
+against the strenuous opposition of Samuel Adams had at length extorted
+the promise of half-pay for life. In the spring of 1782, seeing the
+utter inability of Congress to discharge its pecuniary obligations, many
+officers began to doubt whether the promise would ever be kept. It had
+been made before the articles of confederation, which required the
+assent of nine states to any such measure, had been finally ratified. It
+was well known that nine states had never been found to favour the
+measure, and it was now feared that it might be repealed or repudiated,
+so loud was the popular clamour against it. All this comes of
+republican government, said some of the officers; too many cooks spoil
+the broth; a dozen heads are as bad as no head; you do not know whose
+promises to trust; a monarchy, with a good king whom all men can trust,
+would extricate us from these difficulties. In this mood, Colonel Louis
+Nicola, of the Pennsylvania line, a foreigner by birth, addressed a long
+and well-argued letter to Washington, setting forth the troubles of the
+time, and urging him to come forward as a saviour of society, and accept
+the crown at the hands of his faithful soldiers. Nicola was an aged man,
+of excellent character, and in making this suggestion he seemed to be
+acting as spokesman of a certain clique or party among the
+officers,--how numerous is not known. Washington instantly replied that
+Nicola could not have found a person to whom such a scheme could be more
+odious, and he was at a loss to conceive what he had ever done to have
+it supposed that he could for one moment listen to a suggestion so
+fraught with mischief to his country. Lest the affair, becoming known,
+should enhance the popular distrust of the army, Washington said nothing
+about it. But as the year went by, and the outcry against half-pay
+continued, and Congress showed symptoms of a willingness to compromise
+the matter, the discontent of the army increased. Officers and soldiers
+brooded alike over their wrongs. "The army," said General Macdougall,
+"is verging to that state which, we are told, will make a wise man mad."
+The peril of the situation was increased by the well-meant but
+injudicious whisperings of other public creditors, who believed that if
+the army would only take a firm stand and insist upon a grant of
+permanent funds to Congress for liquidating all public debts, the states
+could probably be prevailed upon to make such a grant. Robert Morris,
+the able secretary of finance, held this opinion, and did not believe
+that the states could be brought to terms in any other way. His namesake
+and assistant, Gouverneur Morris, held similar views, and gave
+expression to them in February, 1783, in a letter to General Greene, who
+was still commanding in South Carolina. When Greene received the letter,
+he urged upon the legislature of that state, in most guarded and
+moderate language, the paramount need of granting a revenue to Congress,
+and hinted that the army would not be satisfied with anything less. The
+assembly straightway flew into a rage. "No dictation by a Cromwell!"
+shouted the members. South Carolina had consented to the five per cent.
+impost, but now she revoked it, to show her independence, and Greene's
+eyes were opened at once to the danger of the slightest appearance of
+military intervention in civil affairs.
+
+[Sidenote: The dangerous Newburgh address, March 11, 1783.]
+
+At the same time a violent outbreak in the army at Newburgh was barely
+prevented by the unfailing tact of Washington. A rumour went about the
+camp that it was generally expected the army would not disband until the
+question of pay should be settled, and that the public creditors looked
+to them to make some such demonstration as would overawe the delinquent
+states. General Gates had lately emerged from the retirement in which
+he had been fain to hide himself after Camden, and had rejoined the army
+where there was now such a field for intrigue. An odious aroma of
+impotent malice clings about his memory on this last occasion on which
+the historian needs to notice him. He plotted in secret with officers of
+the staff and others. One of his staff, Major Armstrong, wrote an
+anonymous appeal to the troops, and another, Colonel Barber, caused it
+to be circulated about the camp. It named the next day for a meeting to
+consider grievances. Its language was inflammatory. "My friends!" it
+said, "after seven long years your suffering courage has conducted the
+United States of America through a doubtful and bloody war; and peace
+returns to bless--whom? A country willing to redress your wrongs,
+cherish your worth, and reward your services? Or is it rather a country
+that tramples upon your rights, disdains your cries, and insults your
+distresses? ... If such be your treatment while the swords you wear are
+necessary for the defence of America, what have you to expect when those
+very swords, the instruments and companions of your glory, shall be
+taken from your sides, and no mark of military distinction left but your
+wants, infirmities, and scars? If you have sense enough to discover and
+spirit to oppose tyranny, whatever garb it may assume, awake to your
+situation. If the present moment be lost, your threats hereafter will be
+as empty as your entreaties now. Appeal from the justice to the fears of
+government, and suspect the man who would advise to longer
+forbearance."
+
+Better English has seldom been wasted in a worse cause. Washington, the
+man who was aimed at in the last sentence, got hold of the paper next
+day, just in time, as he said, "to arrest the feet that stood wavering
+on a precipice." The memory of the revolt of the Pennsylvania line,
+which had so alarmed the people in 1781, was still fresh in men's minds;
+and here was an invitation to more wholesale mutiny, which could hardly
+fail to end in bloodshed, and might precipitate the perplexed and
+embarrassed country into civil war. Washington issued a general order,
+recognizing the existence of the manifesto, but overruling it so far as
+to appoint the meeting for a later day, with the senior major-general,
+who happened to be Gates, to preside. This order, which neither
+discipline nor courtesy could disregard, in a measure tied Gates's
+hands, while it gave Washington time to ascertain the extent of the
+disaffection. On the appointed day he suddenly came into the meeting,
+and amid profoundest silence broke forth in a most eloquent and touching
+speech. Sympathizing keenly with the sufferings of his hearers, and
+fully admitting their claims, he appealed to their better feelings, and
+reminded them of the terrible difficulties under which Congress
+laboured, and of the folly of putting themselves in the wrong. He still
+counselled forbearance as the greatest of victories, and with consummate
+skill he characterized the anonymous appeal as undoubtedly the work of
+some crafty emissary of the British, eager to disgrace the army which
+they had not been able to vanquish. All were hushed by that majestic
+presence and those solemn tones. The knowledge that he had refused all
+pay, while enduring more than any other man in the room, gave added
+weight to every word. In proof of the good faith of Congress he began
+reading a letter from one of the members, when, finding his sight dim,
+he paused and took from his pocket the new pair of spectacles which the
+astronomer David Rittenhouse had just sent him. He had never worn
+spectacles in public, and as he put them on he said, in his simple
+manner and with his pleasant smile, "I have grown gray in your service,
+and now find myself growing blind." While all hearts were softened he
+went on reading the letter, and then withdrew, leaving the meeting to
+its deliberations. There was a sudden and mighty revulsion of feeling. A
+motion was reported declaring "unshaken confidence in the justice of
+Congress;" and it was added that "the officers of the American army view
+with abhorrence and reject with disdain the infamous proposals contained
+in a late anonymous address to them." The crestfallen Gates, as
+chairman, had nothing to do but put the question and report it carried
+unanimously; for if any still remained obdurate they no longer dared to
+show it. Washington immediately set forth the urgency of the case in an
+earnest letter to Congress, and one week later the matter was settled by
+an act commuting half-pay for life into a gross sum equal to five years'
+full pay, to be discharged at once by certificates bearing interest at
+six per cent. Such poor paper was all that Congress had to pay with,
+but it was all ultimately redeemed; and while the commutation was
+advantageous to the government, it was at the same time greatly for the
+interest of the officers, while they were looking out for new means of
+livelihood, to have their claims adjusted at once, and to receive
+something which could do duty as a respectable sum of money.
+
+[Sidenote: Congress driven from Philadelphia by mutinous soldiers, June
+21, 1783.]
+
+Nothing, however, could prevent the story of the Newburgh affair from
+being published all over the country, and it greatly added to the
+distrust with which the army was regarded on general principles. What
+might have happened was forcibly suggested by a miserable occurrence in
+June, about two months after the disbanding of the army had begun. Some
+eighty soldiers of the Pennsylvania line, mutinous from discomfort and
+want of pay, broke from their camp at Lancaster and marched down to
+Philadelphia, led by a sergeant or two. They drew up in line before the
+state house, where Congress was assembled, and after passing the grog
+began throwing stones and pointing their muskets at the windows. They
+demanded pay, and threatened, if it were not forthcoming, to seize the
+members of Congress and hold them as hostages, or else to break into the
+bank where the federal deposits were kept. The executive council of
+Pennsylvania sat in the same building, and so the federal government
+appealed to the state government for protection. The appeal was
+fruitless. President Dickinson had a few state militia at his disposal,
+but did not dare to summon them, for fear they should side with the
+rioters. The city government was equally listless, and the townsfolk
+went their ways as if it were none of their business; and so Congress
+fled across the river and on to Princeton, where the college afforded it
+shelter. Thus in a city of thirty-two thousand inhabitants, the largest
+city in the country, the government of the United States, the body which
+had just completed a treaty browbeating England and France, was
+ignominiously turned out-of-doors by a handful of drunken mutineers. The
+affair was laughed at by many, but sensible men keenly felt the
+disgrace, and asked what would be thought in Europe of a government
+which could not even command the services of the police. The army became
+more unpopular than ever, and during the summer and fall many
+town-meetings were held in New England, condemning the Commutation Act.
+Are we not poor enough already, cried the farmers, that we must be taxed
+to support in idle luxury a riotous rabble of soldiery, or create an
+aristocracy of men with gold lace and epaulets, who will presently plot
+against our liberties? The Massachusetts legislature protested; the
+people of Connecticut meditated resistance. A convention was held at
+Middletown in December, at which two thirds of the towns in the state
+were represented, and the best method of overruling Congress was
+discussed. Much high-flown eloquence was wasted, but the convention
+broke up without deciding upon any course of action. The matter had
+become so serious that wise men changed their minds, and disapproved of
+proceedings calculated to throw Congress into contempt. Samuel Adams,
+who had almost violently opposed the grant of half-pay and had been
+dissatisfied with the Commutation Act, now came completely over to the
+other side. Whatever might be thought of the policy of the measures, he
+said, Congress had an undoubted right to adopt them. The army had been
+necessary for the defence of our liberties, and the public faith had
+been pledged to the payment of the soldiers. States were as much bound
+as individuals to fulfil their engagements, and did not the sacred
+Scriptures say of an honest man that, though he sweareth to his own
+hurt, he changeth not? Such plain truths prevailed in the Boston
+town-meeting, which voted that "the commutation is wisely blended with
+the national debt." The agitation in New England presently came to an
+end, and in this matter the course of Congress was upheld.
+
+[Sidenote: Order of the Cincinnati.]
+
+In order fully to understand this extravagant distrust of the army, we
+have to take into account another incident of the summer of 1783, which
+gave rise to a discussion that sent its reverberation all over the
+civilized world. Men of the present generation who in childhood rummaged
+in their grandmothers' cosy garrets cannot fail to have come across
+scores of musty and worm-eaten pamphlets, their yellow pages crowded
+with italics and exclamation points, inveighing in passionate language
+against the wicked and dangerous society of the Cincinnati. Just before
+the army was disbanded, the officers, at the suggestion of General Knox,
+formed themselves into a secret society, for the purpose of keeping up
+their friendly intercourse and cherishing the heroic memories of the
+struggle in which they had taken part. With the fondness for classical
+analogies which characterized that time, they likened themselves to
+Cincinnatus, who was taken from the plough to lead an army, and returned
+to his quiet farm so soon as his warlike duties were over. They were
+modern Cincinnati. A constitution and by-laws were established for the
+order, and Washington was unanimously chosen to be its president. Its
+branches in the several states were to hold meetings each Fourth of
+July, and there was to be a general meeting of the whole society every
+year in the month of May. French officers who had taken part in the war
+were admitted to membership, and the order was to be perpetuated by
+descent through the eldest male representatives of the families of the
+members. It was further provided that a limited membership should from
+time to time be granted, as a distinguished honour, to able and worthy
+citizens, without regard to the memories of the war. A golden American
+eagle attached to a blue ribbon edged with white was the sacred badge of
+the order; and to this emblem especial favour was shown at the French
+court, where the insignia of foreign states were generally, it is said,
+regarded with jealousy. No political purpose was to be subserved by this
+order of the Cincinnati, save in so far as the members pledged to one
+another their determination to promote and cherish the union between the
+states. In its main intent the society was to be a kind of masonic
+brotherhood, charged with the duty of aiding the widows and the orphan
+children of its members in time of need. Innocent as all this was,
+however, the news of the establishment of such a society was greeted
+with a howl of indignation all over the country. It was thought that its
+founders were inspired by a deep-laid political scheme for centralizing
+the government and setting up a hereditary aristocracy. The press teemed
+with invective and ridicule, and the feeling thus expressed by the
+penny-a-liners was shared by able men accustomed to weigh their words.
+Franklin dealt with it in a spirit of banter, and John Adams in a spirit
+of abhorrence; while Samuel Adams pointed out the dangers inherent in
+the principle of hereditary transmission of honours, and in the
+admission of foreigners into a secret association possessed of political
+influence in America. What! cried the men of Massachusetts. Have we
+thrown overboard the effete institutions of Europe, only to have them
+straightway introduced among us again, after this plausible and
+surreptitious fashion? At Cambridge it was thought that the general
+sentiment of the university was in favour of suppressing the order by
+act of legislature. One of the members, who was a candidate for senator
+in the spring of 1784, found it necessary to resign in order to save his
+chances for election. Rhode Island proposed to disfranchise such of her
+citizens as belonged to the order, albeit her most eminent citizen,
+Nathanael Greene, was one of them. Ædanus Burke, a judge of the Supreme
+Court of South Carolina, wrote a violent pamphlet against the society of
+the Cincinnati under the pseudonym of Cassius, the slayer of tyrants;
+and this diatribe, translated and amplified by Mirabeau, awakened dull
+echoes among readers of Rousseau and haters of privilege in all parts of
+Europe. A swarm of brochures in rejoinder and rebutter issued from the
+press, and the nineteenth century had come in before the controversy was
+quite forgotten.
+
+It is easy for us now to smile at this outcry against the Cincinnati as
+much ado about nothing, seeing as we do that in the absence of
+territorial jurisdiction or especial political privileges an order of
+nobility cannot be created by the mere inheritance of empty titles or
+badges. For example, since the great revolution which swept away the
+landlordship and fiscal exemptions of the French nobility, a marquisate
+or a dukedom in France is of scarcely more political importance than a
+doctorate of laws in a New England university. Men were nevertheless not
+to be blamed in 1783 for their hostility toward that ghost of the
+hereditary principle which the Cincinnati sought to introduce. In a free
+industrial society like that of America it had no proper place or
+meaning; and the attempt to set up such a form might well have been
+cited in illustration of the partial reversion toward militancy which
+eight years of warfare had effected. The absurdity of the situation was
+quickly realized by Washington, and he prevailed upon the society, in
+its first annual meeting of May, 1784, to abandon the principle of
+hereditary membership. The agitation was thus allayed, and in the
+presence of graver questions the much-dreaded brotherhood gradually
+ceased to occupy popular attention.
+
+The opposition to the Cincinnati is not fully explained unless we
+consider it in connection with Nicola's letter, the Newburgh address,
+and the flight of Congress to Princeton. The members of the Cincinnati
+were pledged to do whatever they could to promote the union between the
+states; the object of the Newburgh address was to enlist the army in
+behalf of the public creditors, and in some vaguely-imagined fashion to
+force a stronger government upon the country; the letter of Nicola shows
+that at least some of the officers had harboured the notion of a
+monarchy; and the weakness of Congress had been revealed in the most
+startling manner by its flight before a squad of mutineers. It is one of
+the lessons of history that, in the virtual absence of a central
+government for which a need is felt, the want is apt to be supplied by
+the strongest organization in the country, whatever that may happen to
+be. It was in this way that the French army, a few years later, got
+control of the government of France and made its general emperor. In
+1783, if the impotence of Congress were to be as explicitly acknowledged
+as it was implicitly felt, the only national organization left in the
+country was the army, and when this was disbanded it seemed nevertheless
+to prolong its life under a new and dangerous form in the secret
+brotherhood of the Cincinnati. The cession of western lands to the
+confederacy was, moreover, completed at about this time, and one of the
+uses to which the new territory was to be put was the payment of claims
+due to the soldiers. It was distinctly feared, as is shown in a letter
+from Samuel Adams to Elbridge Gerry, that the members of the Cincinnati
+would acquire large tracts of western land under this arrangement, and,
+importing peasants from Germany, would grant farms to them on terms of
+military service and fealty, thus introducing into America the feudal
+system. In order to forestall any such movement, it was provided by
+Congress that in any new states formed out of the western territory no
+person holding a hereditary title should be admitted to citizenship.
+
+[Sidenote: Congress finds itself unable to carry out the provisions of
+the treaty.]
+
+[Sidenote: Persecution of Tories.]
+
+From the weakness of Congress as illustrated in its inability to raise
+money to pay the public debt and meet the current expenses of
+government, and from the popular dread of military usurpation which went
+along with the uneasy consciousness of that weakness, we have now to
+turn to another group of affairs in which the same point is still
+further illustrated and emphasized. We have seen how the commissioners
+of the United States in Paris had succeeded in making a treaty of peace
+with Great Britain on extremely favourable terms. So unpopular was the
+treaty in England, on account of the great concessions made to the
+Americans, that, as we have seen, the fall of Lord Shelburne's ministry
+was occasioned thereby. As an offset to these liberal concessions, of
+which the most considerable was the acknowledgment of the American claim
+to the northwestern territory, our confederate government was pledged to
+do all in its power to effect certain concessions which were demanded by
+England. That the American loyalists, whose property had been
+confiscated by various state governments, should be indemnified for
+their losses was a claim which, whatever Americans might think of it,
+England felt bound in honour to urge. That private debts, due from
+American to British creditors, should be faithfully discharged was the
+plainest dictate of common honesty. Congress, as we have seen, was bound
+by the treaty to recommend to the several states to desist from the
+persecution of Tories, and to give them an opportunity of recovering
+their estates; and it had been further agreed that all private debts
+should be discharged at their full value in sterling money. It now
+turned out that Congress was powerless to carry out the provisions of
+the treaty upon either of these points. The recommendations concerning
+the Tories were greeted with a storm of popular indignation. Since the
+beginning of the war these unfortunate persons had been treated with
+severity both by the legislatures and by the people. Many had been
+banished; others had fled the country, and against these refugees
+various harsh laws had been enacted. Their estates had been confiscated,
+and their return prohibited under penalty of imprisonment or death. Many
+others, who had remained in the country, were objects of suspicion and
+dislike in states where they had not, as in New York and the Carolinas,
+openly aided the enemy or taken part in Indian atrocities. Now, on the
+conclusion of peace, in utter disregard of Congress, fresh measures of
+vengeance were taken against these "fawning spaniels," as they were
+called, these "tools and minions of Britain." An article in the
+"Massachusetts Chronicle" expressed the common feeling: "As Hannibal
+swore never to be at peace with the Romans, so let every Whig swear, by
+his abhorrence of slavery, by liberty and religion, by the shades of
+departed friends who have fallen in battle, by the ghosts of those of
+our brethren who have been destroyed on board of prison-ships and in
+loathsome dungeons, never to be at peace with those fiends the refugees,
+whose thefts, murders, and treasons have filled the cup of woe." Tons of
+pamphlets, issued under the customary Latin pseudonyms, were filled with
+this truculent bombast; and like sentiments were thundered from the
+pulpit by men who had quite forgotten for the moment their duty of
+preaching reconciliation and forgiveness of injuries. Why should not
+these wretches, it was sarcastically asked, be driven at once from the
+country? Of course they could not desire to live under a free government
+which they had been at such pains to destroy. Let them go forthwith to
+his majesty's dominions, and live under the government they preferred.
+It would never do to let them stay here, to plot treason at their
+leisure; in a few years they would get control of all the states, and
+either hand them over to Great Britain again, or set up a Tory despotism
+on American soil. Such was the rubbish that passed current as argument
+with the majority of the people. A small party of moderate Whigs saw its
+absurdity, and urged that the Tories had much better remain at home,
+where they had lost all political influence, than go and found
+unfriendly colonies to the northward. The moderate Whigs were in favour
+of heeding the recommendation of Congress, and acting in accordance
+with the spirit of the treaty; and these humane and sensible views were
+shared by Gadsden and Marion in South Carolina, by Theodore Sedgwick in
+Massachusetts, and by Greene, Hamilton, and Jay. But any man who held
+such opinions, no matter how conspicuous his services had been, ran the
+risk of being accused of Tory sympathies. "Time-serving Whigs" and
+"trimmers" were the strangely inappropriate epithets hurled at men who,
+had they been in the slightest degree time-servers, would have shrunk
+from the thankless task of upholding good sense and humanity in the
+teeth of popular prejudice.
+
+[Sidenote: The Trespass Act of New York, 1784.]
+
+In none of the states did the loyalists receive severer treatment than
+in New York, and for obvious reasons. Throughout the war the frontier
+had been the scene of atrocities such as no other state, save perhaps
+South Carolina, had witnessed. Cherry Valley and Minisink were names of
+horror not easily forgotten, and the fate of Lieutenant Boyd and
+countless other victims called loudly for vengeance. The sins of the
+Butlers and their bloodthirsty followers were visited in robbery and
+insult upon unoffending men, who were like them in nothing but in being
+labelled with the epithet "Tory." During the seven years that the city
+of New York had been occupied by the British army, many of these
+loyalists had found shelter there. The Whig citizens, on the other hand,
+had been driven off the island, to shift as best they might in New
+Jersey, while their comfortable homes were seized and assigned by
+military orders to these very Tories. For seven years the refugee Whigs
+from across the Hudson had looked upon New York with feelings like those
+with which the mediæval exile from Florence or Pisa was wont to regard
+his native city. They saw in it the home of enemies who had robbed them,
+the prison-house of gallant friends penned up to die of wanton ill-usage
+in foul ships' holds in the harbour. When at last the king's troops left
+the city, it was felt that a great day of reckoning had arrived. In
+September, 1783, two months before the evacuation, more than twelve
+thousand men, women, and children embarked for the Bahamas or for Nova
+Scotia, rather than stay and face the troubles that were coming. Many of
+these were refined and cultivated persons, and not all had been actively
+hostile to the American cause; many had simply accepted British
+protection. Against those who remained in the city the returning Whigs
+now proceeded with great severity. The violent party was dominant in the
+legislature, and George Clinton, the governor, put himself conspicuously
+at its head. A bill was passed disfranchising all such persons as had
+voluntarily stayed in neighbourhoods occupied by the British troops;
+their offence was called misprision of treason. But the council vetoed
+this bill as too wholesale in its operation, for it would have left some
+districts without voters enough to hold an election. An "iron-clad oath"
+was adopted instead, and no one was allowed to vote unless he could
+swear that he had never in anywise abetted the enemy. It was voted that
+no Tory who had left the state should be permitted to return; and a bill
+was passed known as the Trespass Act, whereby all persons who had quit
+their homes by reason of the enemy's presence might recover damages in
+an action of trespass against such persons as had since taken possession
+of the premises. Defendants in such cases were expressly barred from
+pleading a military order in justification of their possession. As there
+was scarcely a building on the island of New York that had not thus
+changed hands during the British occupation, it was easy to foresee what
+confusion must ensue. Everybody whose house had once been, for ever so
+few days, in the hands of a Tory now rushed into court with his action
+of trespass. Damages were rated at most exorbitant figures, and it
+became clear that the misdeeds of the enemy were about to be made the
+excuse for a carnival of spoliation, when all at once the test case of
+Rutgers _v._ Waddington brought upon the scene a sturdy defender of
+order, an advocate who was soon to become one of the foremost personages
+in American history.
+
+[Sidenote: Alexander Hamilton.]
+
+Of all the young men of that day, save perhaps William Pitt, the most
+precocious was Alexander Hamilton. He had already given promise of a
+great career before the breaking out of the war. He was born on the
+island of Nevis, in the West Indies, in 1757. His father belonged to
+that famous Scottish clan from which have come one of the most learned
+metaphysicians and one of the most original mathematicians of modern
+times. His mother was a French lady, of Huguenot descent, and
+biographers have been fond of tracing in his character the various
+qualities of his parents. To the shrewdness and persistence, the
+administrative ability, and the taste for abstract reasoning which we
+are wont to find associated in the highest type of Scottish mind he
+joined a truly French vivacity and grace. His earnestness, sincerity,
+and moral courage were characteristic alike of Puritan and of Huguenot.
+In the course of his short life he exhibited a remarkable
+many-sidedness. So great was his genius for organization that in many
+essential respects the American government is moving to-day along the
+lines which he was the first to mark out. As an economist he shared to
+some extent in the shortcomings of the age which preceded Adam Smith,
+but in the special department of finance he has been equalled by no
+other American statesman save Albert Gallatin. He was a splendid orator
+and brilliant writer, an excellent lawyer, and a clear-headed and
+industrious student of political history. He was also eminent as a
+political leader, although he lacked faith in democratic government, and
+a generous impatience of temperament sometimes led him to prefer short
+and arbitrary by-paths toward desirable ends, which can never be
+securely reached save along the broad but steep and arduous road of
+popular conviction. But with all Hamilton's splendid qualities, nothing
+about him is so remarkable as the early age at which these were
+developed. At the age of fifteen a brilliant newspaper article brought
+him into such repute in the little island of Nevis that he was sent to
+New York to avail himself of the best advantages afforded by the King's
+College, now known as Columbia. He had at first no definite intention
+of becoming an American citizen, but the thrilling events of the time
+appealed strongly to the earnest heart and powerful intelligence of this
+wonderful boy. At a gathering of the people of New York in July, 1774,
+his generous blood warmed, till a resistless impulse brought him on his
+feet to speak to the assembled multitude. It was no company of
+half-drunken idlers that thronged about him, but an assemblage of grave
+and responsible citizens, who looked with some astonishment upon this
+boy of seventeen years, short and slight in stature, yet erect and
+Cæsar-like in bearing, with firm set mouth and great, dark, earnest
+eyes. His eloquent speech, full of sense and without a syllable of
+bombast, held his hearers entranced, and from that day Alexander
+Hamilton was a marked man. He began publishing anonymous pamphlets,
+which at first were attributed by some to Jay, and by others to
+Livingston. When their authorship was discovered, the loyalist party
+tried in vain to buy off the formidable youth. He kept up the
+pamphlet-war, in the course of which he wofully defeated Dr. Cooper, the
+Tory president of the college; but shortly afterward he defended the
+doctor's house against an angry mob, until that unpopular gentleman had
+succeeded in making his escape to a British ship. Hamilton served in the
+army throughout the war, for the most part as aid and secretary to
+Washington; but in 1781 he was a colonel in the line, and stormed a
+redoubt at Yorktown with distinguished skill and bravery. He married a
+daughter of Philip Schuyler, began the practice of law, and in 1782, at
+the age of twenty-five, was chosen a delegate to Congress.
+
+[Sidenote: The case of Rutgers _v._ Waddington.]
+
+In 1784, when the Trespass Act threw New York into confusion, Hamilton
+had come to be regarded as one of the most powerful advocates in the
+country. In the test case which now came before the courts he played a
+part of consummate boldness and heroism. Elizabeth Rutgers was a widow,
+who had fled from New York after its capture by General Howe. Her
+confiscated estate had passed into the hands of Joshua Waddington, a
+rich Tory merchant, and she now brought suit under the Trespass Act for
+its recovery. It was a case in which popular sympathy was naturally and
+strongly enlisted in behalf of the poor widow. That she should have been
+turned out of house and home was one of the many gross instances of
+wickedness wrought by the war. On the other hand, the disturbance
+wrought by the enforcement of the Trespass Act was already creating
+fresh wrongs much faster than it was righting old ones; and it is for
+such reasons as this that both in the common law and in the law of
+nations the principle has been firmly established that "the fruits of
+immovables belong to the captor as long as he remains in actual
+possession of them." The Trespass Act contravened this principle, and it
+also contravened the treaty. It moreover placed the state of New York in
+an attitude of defiance toward Congress, which had made the treaty and
+expressly urged upon the states to suspend the legislation against the
+Tories. On large grounds of public policy, therefore, the Trespass Act
+deserved to be set aside by the courts, and when Hamilton was asked to
+serve as counsel for the defendant he accepted the odious task without
+hesitation. There can be no better proof of his forensic ability than
+his winning a verdict, in such a case as this, from a hostile court that
+was largely influenced by the popular excitement. The decision nullified
+the Trespass Act, and forthwith mass meetings of the people and an extra
+session of the legislature condemned this action of the court. Hamilton
+was roundly abused, and his conduct was attributed to unworthy motives.
+But he faced the people as boldly as he had faced the court, and
+published a letter, under the signature of Phocion, setting forth in the
+clearest light the injustice and impolicy of extreme measures against
+the Tories. The popular wrath and disgust at Hamilton's course found
+expression in a letter from one Isaac Ledyard, a hot-headed pot-house
+politician, who signed himself Mentor. A war of pamphlets ensued between
+Mentor and Phocion. It was genius pitted against dulness, reason against
+passion; and reason wielded by genius won the day. The more intelligent
+and respectable citizens reluctantly admitted that Hamilton's arguments
+were unanswerable. A club of boon companions, to which Ledyard belonged,
+made the same admission by the peculiar manner in which it proposed to
+silence him. It was gravely proposed that the members of the club should
+pledge themselves one after another to challenge Hamilton to mortal
+combat, until some one of them should have the good fortune to kill him!
+The scheme met with general favour, but was defeated by the exertions
+of Ledyard himself, whose zeal was not ardent enough to condone
+treachery and murder. The incident well illustrates the intense
+bitterness of political passion at the time, as Hamilton's conduct shows
+him in the light of a most courageous and powerful defender of the
+central government. For nothing was more significant in the verdict
+which he had obtained than its implicit assertion of the rights of the
+United States as against the legislature of a single state.
+
+[Sidenote: Emigration of Tories.]
+
+In spite of the efforts of such men as Hamilton, life was made very
+uncomfortable for the Tories. In some states they were subjected to mob
+violence. Instances of tarring and feathering were not uncommon. The
+legislature of South Carolina was honourably distinguished for the good
+faith with which it endeavoured to enforce the recommendation of
+Congress; but the people, unable to forget the smoking ruins of
+plundered homes, were less lenient. Notices were posted ordering
+prominent loyalists to leave the country; the newspapers teemed with
+savage warnings; and finally, of those who tarried beyond a certain
+time, many were shot or hanged to trees. This extremity of bitterness,
+however, did not long continue. The instances of physical violence were
+mostly confined to the first two or three years after the close of the
+war. In most of the states the confiscating acts were after a while
+repealed, and many of the loyalists were restored to their estates. But
+the emigration which took place between 1783 and 1785 was very large. It
+has been estimated that 100,000 persons, or nearly three per cent. of
+the total white population, quit the country. Those from the southern
+states went mostly to the Bahamas and Florida; while those from the
+north laid the foundation of new British states in New Brunswick and
+Upper Canada. Many of these refugees appealed to the British government
+for indemnification for their losses, and their claims received prompt
+attention. A parliamentary commission was appointed to inquire into the
+matter, and by the year 1790 some $16,000,000 had been distributed among
+about 4,000 sufferers, while many others received grants of crown-lands,
+or half-pay as military officers, or special annuities, or appointments
+in the civil service. On the whole, the compensation which the refugees
+received from Parliament seems to have been much more ample than that
+which the ragged soldiers of our Revolutionary army ever received from
+Congress.
+
+[Sidenote: Congress is unable to enforce payment of debts to British
+creditors. England retaliates by refusing to surrender the western
+posts.]
+
+While the political passions resulting in this forced emigration of
+loyalists were such as naturally arise in the course of a civil war, the
+historian cannot but regret that the United States should have been
+deprived of the services of so many excellent citizens. In nearly all
+such cases of wholesale popular vengeance, it is the wrong individuals
+who suffer. We could well afford to dispense with the border-ruffians
+who abetted the Indians in their carnival of burning and scalping, but
+the refugees of 1784 were for the most part peaceful and unoffending
+families, above the average in education and refinement. The vicarious
+suffering inflicted upon them set nothing right, but simply increased
+the mass of wrong, while to the general interests of the country the
+loss of such people was in every way damaging. The immediate political
+detriment wrought at the time, though it is that which here most nearly
+concerns us, was perhaps the least important. Since Congress was
+manifestly unable to carry out the treaty, an excuse was furnished to
+England for declining to fulfil some of its provisions. In regard to the
+loyalists, indeed, the treaty had recognized that Congress possessed but
+an advisory power; but in the other provision concerning the payment of
+private debts, which in the popular mind was very much mixed up with the
+question of justice to the loyalists, the faith of the United States was
+distinctly pledged. On this point also Congress was powerless to enforce
+the treaty. Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia,
+and South Carolina had all enacted laws obstructing the collection of
+British debts; and in flat defiance of the treaty these statutes
+remained in force until after the downfall of the Confederation. The
+states were aware that such conduct needed an excuse, and one was soon
+forthcoming. Many negroes had left the country with the British fleet:
+some doubtless had sought their freedom; others, perhaps, had been
+kidnapped as booty, and sold to planters in the West Indies. The number
+of these black men carried away by the fleet had been magnified tenfold
+by popular rumour. Complaints had been made to Sir Guy Carleton, but he
+had replied that any negro who came within his lines was presumably a
+freeman, and he could not lend his aid in remanding such persons to
+slavery. Jay, as one of the treaty commissioners, gave it as his opinion
+that Carleton was quite right in this, but he thought that where a loss
+of slaves could be proved, Great Britain was bound to make pecuniary
+compensation to the owners. The matter was wrangled over for several
+years, in the state legislatures, in town and county meetings, at
+dinner-tables, and in bar-rooms, with the general result that, until
+such compensation should be made, the statutes hindering the collection
+of debts would not be repealed. In retaliation for this, Great Britain
+refused to withdraw her garrisons from the western fortresses, which the
+treaty had surrendered to the United States. This measure was very
+keenly felt by the people. As an assertion of superior strength, it was
+peculiarly galling to our weak and divided confederacy, and it also
+wrought us direct practical injury. It encouraged the Indian tribes in
+their depredations on the frontier, and it deprived American merchants
+of an immensely lucrative trade in furs. In the spring of 1787 there
+were advertised for sale in London more than 360,000 skins, worth
+$1,200,000 at the lowest estimate; and had the posts been surrendered
+according to the treaty, all this would have passed through the hands of
+American merchants. The London fur-traders were naturally loth to lose
+their control over this business, and in the language of modern politics
+they brought "pressure" to bear on the government to retain the
+fortresses as long as possible. The American refusal to pay British
+creditors furnished an excellent excuse, while the weakness of Congress
+made any kind of reprisal impossible; and it was not until Washington's
+second term as president, after our national credit had been restored
+and the strength of our new government made manifest, that England
+surrendered this chain of strongholds, commanding the woods and waters
+of our northwestern frontier.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Barbarous superstitions about trade.]
+
+At the close of the eighteenth century the barbarous superstitions of
+the Middle Ages concerning trade between nations still flourished with
+scarcely diminished vitality. The epoch-making work of Adam Smith had
+been published in the same year in which the United States declared
+their independence. The one was the great scientific event, as the other
+was the great political event of the age; but of neither the one nor the
+other were the scope and purport fathomed at the time. Among the
+foremost statesmen, those who, like Shelburne and Gallatin, understood
+the principles of the "Wealth of Nations" were few indeed. The simple
+principle that when two parties trade both must be gainers, or one would
+soon stop trading, was generally lost sight of; and most commercial
+legislation proceeded upon the theory that in trade, as in gambling or
+betting, what the one party gains the other must lose. Hence towns,
+districts, and nations surrounded themselves with walls of legislative
+restrictions intended to keep out the monster Trade, or to admit him
+only on strictest proof that he could do no harm. On this barbarous
+theory, the use of a colony consisted in its being a customer which you
+could compel to trade with yourself, while you could prevent it from
+trading with anybody else; and having secured this point, you could
+cunningly arrange things by legislation so as to throw all the loss upon
+this enforced customer, and keep all the gain to yourself. In the
+seventeenth and eighteenth centuries all the commercial legislation of
+the great colonizing states was based upon this theory of the use of a
+colony. For effectiveness, it shared to some extent the characteristic
+features of legislation for making water run up hill. It retarded
+commercial development all over the world, fostered monopolies, made the
+rich richer and the poor poorer, hindered the interchange of ideas and
+the refinement of manners, and sacrificed millions of human lives in
+misdirected warfare; but what it was intended to do it did not do. The
+sturdy race of smugglers--those despised pioneers of a higher
+civilization--thrived in defiance of kings and parliaments; and as it
+was impossible to carry out such legislation thoroughly without stopping
+trade altogether, colonies and mother countries contrived to increase
+their wealth in spite of it. The colonies, however, understood the
+animus of the theory in so far as it was directed against them, and the
+revolutionary sentiment in America had gained much of its strength from
+the protest against this one-sided justice. In one of its most important
+aspects, the Revolution was a deadly blow aimed at the old system of
+trade restrictions. It was to a certain extent a step in realization of
+the noble doctrines of Adam Smith. But where the scientific thinker
+grasped the whole principle involved in the matter, the practical
+statesmen saw only the special application which seemed to concern them
+for the moment. They all understood that the Revolution had set them
+free to trade with other countries than England, but very few of them
+understood that, whatever countries trade together, the one cannot hope
+to benefit by impoverishing the other.
+
+This point is much better understood in England to-day than in the
+United States; but a century ago there was little to choose between the
+two countries in ignorance of political economy. England had gained
+great wealth and power through trade with her rapidly growing American
+colonies. One of her chief fears, in the event of American independence,
+had been the possible loss of that trade. English merchants feared that
+American commerce, when no longer confined to its old paths by
+legislation, would somehow find its way to France and Holland and Spain
+and other countries, until nothing would be left for England. The
+Revolution worked no such change, however. The principal trade of the
+United States was with England, as before, because England could best
+supply the goods that Americans wanted; and it is such considerations,
+and not acts of Parliament, that determine trade in its natural and
+proper channels. In 1783 Pitt introduced into Parliament a bill which
+would have secured mutual unconditional free trade between the two
+countries; and this was what such men as Franklin, Jefferson, and
+Madison desired. Could this bill have passed, the hard feelings
+occasioned by the war would soon have died out, the commercial progress
+of both countries would have been promoted, and the stupid measures
+which led to a second war within thirty years might have been prevented.
+But the wisdom of Pitt found less favour in Parliament than the dense
+stupidity of Lord Sheffield, who thought that to admit Americans to the
+carrying trade would undermine the naval power of Great Britain. Pitt's
+measure was defeated, and the regulation of commerce with America was
+left to the king in council. Orders were forthwith passed as if upon the
+theory that America poor would be a better customer than America rich.
+
+[Sidenote: Ship-building in New England.]
+
+[Sidenote: British navigation acts and orders in council directed
+against American commerce.]
+
+The carrying trade to the West Indies had been one of the most important
+branches of American industry. The men of New England were famous for
+seamanship, and better and cheaper ships could be built in the seaports
+of Massachusetts than anywhere in Great Britain. An oak vessel could be
+built at Gloucester or Salem for twenty-four dollars per ton; a ship of
+live-oak or American cedar cost not more than thirty-eight dollars per
+ton. On the other hand, fir vessels built on the Baltic cost thirty-five
+dollars per ton, and nowhere in England, France, or Holland could a ship
+be made of oak for less than fifty dollars per ton. Often the cost was
+as high as sixty dollars. It was not strange, therefore, that before the
+war more than one third of the tonnage afloat under the British flag was
+launched from American dock-yards. The war had violently deprived
+England of this enormous advantage, and now she sought to make the
+privation perpetual, in the delusive hope of confining British trade to
+British keels, and in the belief that it was the height of wisdom to
+impoverish the nation which she regarded as her best customer. In July,
+1783, an order in council proclaimed that henceforth all trade between
+the United States and the British West Indies must be carried on in
+British-built ships, owned and navigated by British subjects. A serious
+blow was thus dealt not only at American shipping, but also at the
+interchange of commodities between the states and the islands, which was
+greatly hampered by this restriction. During the whole of the eighteenth
+century the West India sugar trade with the North American colonies and
+with Great Britain had been of immense value to all parties, and all had
+been seriously damaged by the curtailment of it due to the war. Now that
+the artificial state of things created by the war was to be perpetuated
+by legislation, the prospect of repairing the loss seemed indefinitely
+postponed. Moreover, even in trading directly with Great Britain,
+American ships were only allowed to bring in articles produced in the
+particular states of which their owners were citizens,--an enactment
+which seemed to add insult to injury, inasmuch as it directed especial
+attention to the want of union among the thirteen states. Great
+indignation was aroused in America, and reprisals were talked of, but
+efforts were first made to obtain a commercial treaty.
+
+[Sidenote: John Adams tries in vain to negotiate a commercial treaty.]
+
+In 1785 Franklin returned from France, and Jefferson was sent as
+minister in his stead, while John Adams became the first representative
+of the United States at the British court. Adams was at first very
+courteously received by George III., and presently set to work to
+convince Lord Carmarthen, the foreign secretary, of the desirableness of
+unrestricted intercourse between the two countries. But popular opinion
+in England was obstinately set against him. But for the Navigation Act
+and the orders in council, it was said, all ships would by and by come
+to be built in America, and every time a frigate was wanted for the navy
+the Lords of Admiralty would have to send over to Boston or Philadelphia
+and order one. Rather than do such a thing as this, it was thought that
+the British navy should content itself with vessels of inferior
+workmanship and higher cost, built in British dock-yards. Thirty years
+after, England gathered an unexpected fruit of this narrow policy, when,
+to her intense bewilderment, she saw frigate after frigate outsailed and
+defeated in single combat with American antagonists. Owing to her
+exclusive measures, the rapid improvement in American shipbuilding had
+gone on quite beyond her ken, until she was thus rudely awakened to it.
+With similar short-sighted jealousy, it was argued that the American
+share in the whale-fishery and in the Newfoundland fishery should be
+curtailed as much as possible. Spermaceti oil was much needed in
+England: complaints were rife of robbery and murder in the dimly lighted
+streets of London and other great cities. But it was thought that if
+American ships could carry oil to England and salt fish to Jamaica, the
+supply of seamen for the British navy would be diminished; and
+accordingly such privileges must not be granted the Americans unless
+valuable privileges could be granted in return. But the government of
+the United States could grant no privileges because it could impose no
+restrictions. British manufactured goods were needed in America, and
+Congress, which could levy no duties, had no power to keep them out.
+British merchants and manufacturers, it was argued, already enjoyed all
+needful privileges in American ports, and accordingly they asked no
+favours and granted none.
+
+Such were the arguments to which Adams was obliged to listen. The
+popular feeling was so strong that Pitt could not have stemmed it if he
+would. It was in vain that Adams threatened reprisals, and urged that
+the British measures would defeat their own purpose. "The end of the
+Navigation Act," said he, "as expressed in its own preamble, is to
+confine the commerce of the colonies to the mother country; but now we
+are become independent states, instead of confining our trade to Great
+Britain, it will drive it to other countries:" and he suggested that the
+Americans might make a navigation act in their turn, admitting to
+American ports none but American-built ships, owned and commanded by
+Americans. But under the articles of confederation such a threat was
+idle, and the British government knew it to be so. Thirteen separate
+state governments could never be made to adopt any such measure in
+concert. The weakness of Congress had been fatally revealed in its
+inability to protect the loyalists or to enforce the payment of debts,
+and in its failure to raise a revenue for meeting its current expenses.
+A government thus slighted at home was naturally despised abroad.
+England neglected to send a minister to Philadelphia, and while Adams
+was treated politely, his arguments were unheeded. Whether in this
+behaviour Pitt's government was influenced or not by political as well
+as economical reasons, it was certain that a political purpose was
+entertained by the king and approved by many people. There was an
+intention of humiliating the Americans, and it was commonly said that
+under a sufficient weight of commercial distress the states would break
+up their feeble union, and come straggling back, one after another, to
+their old allegiance. The fiery spirit of Adams could ill brook this
+contemptuous treatment of the nation which he represented. Though he
+favoured very liberal commercial relations with the whole world, he
+could see no escape from the present difficulties save in systematic
+retaliation. "I should be sorry," he said, "to adopt a monopoly, but,
+driven to the necessity of it, I would not do things by halves.... If
+monopolies and exclusions are the only arms of defence against
+monopolies and exclusions, I would venture upon them without fear of
+offending Dean Tucker or the ghost of Dr. Quesnay." That is to say,
+certain commercial privileges must be withheld from Great Britain, in
+order to be offered to her in return for reciprocal privileges. It was a
+miserable policy to be forced to adopt, for such restrictions upon trade
+inevitably cut both ways. Like the non-importation agreement of 1768
+and the embargo of 1808, such a policy was open to the objections
+familiarly urged against biting off one's own nose. It was injuring
+one's self in the hope of injuring somebody else. It was perpetuating in
+time of peace the obstacles to commerce generated by a state of war. In
+a certain sense, it was keeping up warfare by commercial instead of
+military methods, and there was danger that it might lead to a renewal
+of armed conflict. Nevertheless, the conduct of the British government
+seemed to Adams to leave no other course open. But such "means of
+preserving ourselves," he said, "can never be secured until Congress
+shall be made supreme in foreign commerce."
+
+[Sidenote: Reprisal impossible; the states impose conflicting duties.]
+
+It was obvious enough that the separate action of the states upon such a
+question was only adding to the general uncertainty and confusion. In
+1785 New York laid a double duty on all goods whatever imported in
+British ships. In the same year Pennsylvania passed the first of the
+long series of American tariff acts, designed to tax the whole community
+for the alleged benefit of a few greedy manufacturers. Massachusetts
+sought to establish committees of correspondence for the purpose of
+entering into a new non-importation agreement, and its legislature
+resolved that "the present powers of the Congress of the United States,
+as contained in the articles of confederation, are not fully adequate to
+the great purposes they were originally designed to effect." The
+Massachusetts delegates in Congress--Gerry, Holton, and King--were
+instructed to recommend a general convention of the states for the
+purpose of revising and amending the articles of confederation; but the
+delegates refused to comply with their instructions, and set forth their
+reasons in a paper which was approved by Samuel Adams, and caused the
+legislature to reconsider its action. It was feared that a call for a
+convention might seem too much like an open expression of a want of
+confidence in Congress, and might thereby weaken it still further
+without accomplishing any good result. For the present, as a temporary
+expedient, Massachusetts took counsel with New Hampshire, and the two
+states passed navigation acts, prohibiting British ships from carrying
+goods out of their harbours, and imposing a fourfold duty upon all such
+goods as they should bring in. A discriminating tonnage duty was also
+laid upon all foreign vessels. Rhode Island soon after adopted similar
+measures. In Congress a scheme for a uniform navigation act, to be
+concurred in and passed by all the thirteen states, was suggested by one
+of the Maryland delegates; but it was opposed by Richard Henry Lee and
+most of the delegates from the far south. The southern states, having no
+ships or seamen of their own, feared that the exclusion of British
+competition might enable northern ship-owners to charge exorbitant rates
+for carrying their rice and tobacco, thus subjecting them to a ruinous
+monopoly; but the gallant Moultrie, then governor of South Carolina,
+taking a broader view of the case, wrote to Bowdoin, governor of
+Massachusetts, asserting the paramount need of harmonious and united
+action. In the Virginia assembly, a hot-headed member, named Thurston,
+declared himself in doubt "whether it would not be better to encourage
+the British rather than the eastern marine;" but the remark was greeted
+with hisses and groans, and the speaker was speedily put down. Amid such
+mutual jealousies and misgivings, during the year 1785 acts were passed
+by ten states granting to Congress the power of regulating commerce for
+the ensuing thirteen years. The three states which refrained from acting
+were Georgia, South Carolina, and Delaware. The acts of the other ten
+were, as might have been expected, a jumble of incongruities. North
+Carolina granted all the power that was asked, but stipulated that when
+all the states should have done likewise their acts should be summed up
+in a new article of confederation. Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and
+Maryland had fixed the date at which the grant was to take effect, while
+Rhode Island provided that it should not expire until after the lapse of
+twenty-five years. The grant by New Hampshire allowed the power to be
+used only in one specified way,--by restricting the duties imposable by
+the several states. The grants of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey,
+and Virginia were not to take effect until all the others should go into
+operation. The only thing which Congress could do with these acts was to
+refer them back to the several legislatures, with a polite request to
+try to reduce them to something like uniformity.
+
+[Sidenote: Commercial war between different states.]
+
+Meanwhile, the different states, with their different tariff and tonnage
+acts, began to make commercial war upon one another. No sooner had the
+other three New England states virtually closed their ports to British
+shipping than Connecticut threw hers wide open, an act which she
+followed up by laying duties upon imports from Massachusetts.
+Pennsylvania discriminated against Delaware, and New Jersey, pillaged at
+once by both her greater neighbours, was compared to a cask tapped at
+both ends. The conduct of New York became especially selfish and
+blameworthy. That rapid growth which was so soon to carry the city and
+the state to a position of primacy in the Union had already begun. After
+the departure of the British the revival of business went on with leaps
+and bounds. The feeling of local patriotism waxed strong, and in no one
+was it more completely manifested than in George Clinton, the
+Revolutionary general, whom the people elected governor for nine
+successive terms. From a humble origin, by dint of shrewdness and
+untiring push, Clinton had come to be for the moment the most powerful
+man in the state of New York. He had come to look upon the state almost
+as if it were his own private manor, and his life was devoted to
+furthering its interests as he understood them. It was his first article
+of faith that New York must be the greatest state in the Union. But his
+conceptions of statesmanship were extremely narrow. In his mind, the
+welfare of New York meant the pulling down and thrusting aside of all
+her neighbours and rivals. He was the vigorous and steadfast advocate of
+every illiberal and exclusive measure, and the most uncompromising
+enemy to a closer union of the states. His great popular strength and
+the commercial importance of the community in which he held sway made
+him at this time the most dangerous man in America. The political
+victories presently to be won by Hamilton, Schuyler, and Livingston,
+without which our grand and pacific federal union could not have been
+brought into being, were victories won by most desperate fighting
+against the dogged opposition of Clinton. Under his guidance, the
+history of New York, during the five years following the peace of 1783,
+was a shameful story of greedy monopoly and sectional hate. Of all the
+thirteen states, none behaved worse except Rhode Island.
+
+A single instance, which occurred early in 1787, may serve as an
+illustration. The city of New York, with its population of 30,000 souls,
+had long been supplied with firewood from Connecticut, and with butter
+and cheese, chickens and garden vegetables, from the thrifty farms of
+New Jersey. This trade, it was observed, carried thousands of dollars
+out of the city and into the pockets of detested Yankees and despised
+Jerseymen. It was ruinous to domestic industry, said the men of New
+York. It must be stopped by those effective remedies of the Sangrado
+school of economic doctors, a navigation act and a protective tariff.
+Acts were accordingly passed, obliging every Yankee sloop which came
+down through Hell Gate, and every Jersey market boat which was rowed
+across from Paulus Hook to Cortlandt Street, to pay entrance fees and
+obtain clearances at the custom-house, just as was done by ships from
+London or Hamburg; and not a cart-load of Connecticut firewood could be
+delivered at the back-door of a country-house in Beekman Street until it
+should have paid a heavy duty. Great and just was the wrath of the
+farmers and lumbermen. The New Jersey legislature made up its mind to
+retaliate. The city of New York had lately bought a small patch of
+ground on Sandy Hook, and had built a light-house there. This
+light-house was the one weak spot in the heel of Achilles where a
+hostile arrow could strike, and New Jersey gave vent to her indignation
+by laying a tax of $1,800 a year on it. Connecticut was equally prompt.
+At a great meeting of business men, held at New London, it was
+unanimously agreed to suspend all commercial intercourse with New York.
+Every merchant signed an agreement, under penalty of $250 for the first
+offence, not to send any goods whatever into the hated state for a
+period of twelve months. By such retaliatory measures, it was hoped that
+New York might be compelled to rescind her odious enactment. But such
+meetings and such resolves bore an ominous likeness to the meetings and
+resolves which in the years before 1775 had heralded a state of war; and
+but for the good work done by the federal convention another five years
+would scarcely have elapsed before shots would have been fired and seeds
+of perennial hatred sown on the shores that look toward Manhattan
+Island.
+
+[Sidenote: Disputes about territory; disasters in the valley of Wyoming,
+1784.]
+
+To these commercial disputes there were added disputes about territory.
+The chronic quarrel between Connecticut and Pennsylvania over the valley
+of Wyoming was decided in the autumn of 1782 by a special federal
+court, appointed in accordance with the articles of confederation. The
+prize was adjudged to Pennsylvania, and the government of Connecticut
+submitted as gracefully as possible. But new troubles were in store for
+the inhabitants of that beautiful region. The traces of the massacre of
+1778 had disappeared, the houses had been rebuilt, new settlers had come
+in, and the pretty villages had taken on their old look of contentment
+and thrift, when in the spring of 1784 there came an accumulation of
+disasters. During a very cold winter great quantities of snow had
+fallen, and lay piled in huge masses on the mountain sides, until in
+March a sudden thaw set in. The Susquehanna rose, and overflowed the
+valley, and great blocks of ice drifted here and there, carrying death
+and destruction with them. Houses, barns, and fences were swept away,
+the cattle were drowned, the fruit trees broken down, the stores of food
+destroyed, and over the whole valley there lay a stratum of gravel and
+pebbles. The people were starving with cold and hunger, and President
+Dickinson urged the legislature to send prompt relief to the sufferers.
+But the hearts of the members were as flint, and their talk was
+incredibly wicked. Not a penny would they give to help the accursed
+Yankees. It served them right. If they had stayed in Connecticut, where
+they belonged, they would have kept out of harm's way. And with a
+blasphemy thinly veiled in phrases of pious unction, the desolation of
+the valley was said to have been contrived by the Deity with the
+express object of punishing these trespassers. But the cruelty of the
+Pennsylvania legislature was not confined to words. A scheme was devised
+for driving out the settlers and partitioning their lands among a
+company of speculators. A force of militia was sent to Wyoming,
+commanded by a truculent creature named Patterson. The ostensible
+purpose was to assist in restoring order in the valley, but the
+behaviour of the soldiers was such as would have disgraced a horde of
+barbarians. They stole what they could find, dealt out blows to the men
+and insults to the women, until their violence was met with violence in
+return. Then Patterson sent a letter to President Dickinson, accusing
+the farmers of sedition, and hinting that extreme measures were
+necessary. Having thus, as he thought, prepared the way, he attacked the
+settlement, turned some five hundred people out-of-doors, and burned
+their houses to the ground. The wretched victims, many of them tender
+women, or infirm old men, or little children, were driven into the
+wilderness at the point of the bayonet, and told to find their way to
+Connecticut without further delay. Heartrending scenes ensued. Many died
+of exhaustion, or furnished food for wolves. But this was more than the
+Pennsylvania legislature had intended. Patterson's zeal had carried him
+too far. He was recalled, and the sheriff of Northumberland County was
+sent, with a posse of men, to protect the settlers. Patterson disobeyed,
+however, and withdrawing his men to a fortified lair in the mountains,
+kept up a guerilla warfare. All the Connecticut men in the neighbouring
+country flew to arms. Men were killed on both sides, and presently
+Patterson was besieged. A regiment of soldiers was then sent from
+Philadelphia, under Colonel Armstrong, who had formerly been on Gates's
+staff, the author of the incendiary Newburgh address. On arriving in the
+valley, Armstrong held a parley with the Connecticut men, and persuaded
+them to lay down their arms; assuring them on his honour that they
+should meet with no ill treatment, and that their enemy, Patterson,
+should be disarmed also. Having thus fallen into this soldier's
+clutches, they were forthwith treated as prisoners. Seventy-six of them
+were handcuffed and sent under guard, some to Easton and some to
+Northumberland, where they were thrown into jail.
+
+Great was the indignation in New England when these deeds were heard of.
+The matter had become very serious. A war between Connecticut and
+Pennsylvania might easily grow out of it. But the danger was averted
+through a very singular feature in the Pennsylvania constitution. In
+order to hold its legislature in check, Pennsylvania had a council of
+censors, which was assembled once in seven years in order to inquire
+whether the state had been properly governed during the interval. Soon
+after the troubles in Wyoming the regular meeting of the censors was
+held, and the conduct of Armstrong and Patterson was unreservedly
+condemned. A hot controversy ensued between the legislature and the
+censors, and as the people set great store by the latter peculiar
+institution, public sympathy was gradually awakened for the sufferers.
+The wickedness of the affair began to dawn upon people's minds, and
+they were ashamed of what had been done. Patterson and Armstrong were
+frowned down, the legislature disavowed their acts, and it was ordered
+that full reparation should be made to the persecuted settlers of
+Wyoming.[4]
+
+[Sidenote: Troubles in the Green Mountains, 1777-84.]
+
+In the Green Mountains and on the upper waters of the Connecticut there
+had been trouble for many years. In the course of the Revolutionary War,
+the fierce dispute between New York and New Hampshire for the possession
+of the Green Mountains came in from time to time to influence most
+curiously the course of events. It was closely connected with the
+intrigues against General Schuyler, and thus more remotely with the
+Conway cabal and the treason of Arnold. About the time of Burgoyne's
+invasion the association of Green Mountain Boys endeavoured to cut the
+Gordian knot by declaring Vermont an independent state, and applying to
+the Continental Congress for admission into the Union. The New York
+delegates in Congress succeeded in defeating this scheme, but the
+Vermont people went on and framed their constitution. Thomas Chittenden,
+a man of rough manners but very considerable ability, a farmer and
+innkeeper, like Israel Putnam, was chosen governor, and held that
+position for many years. New Hampshire thus far had not actively opposed
+these measures, but fresh grounds of quarrel were soon at hand. Several
+towns on the east bank of the Connecticut River wished to escape from
+the jurisdiction of New Hampshire. They preferred to belong to Vermont,
+because it was not within the Union, and accordingly not liable to
+requisitions of taxes from the Continental Congress. It was conveniently
+remembered that by the original grant, in the reign of Charles II., New
+Hampshire extended only sixty miles from the coast. Vermont was at first
+inclined to assent, but finding the scheme unpopular in Congress, and
+not wishing to offend that body, she changed her mind. The towns on both
+banks of the river then tried to organize themselves into a middle
+state,--a sort of Lotharingia on the banks of this New World Rhine,--to
+be called New Connecticut. By this time New Hampshire was aroused, and
+she called attention to the fact that she still believed herself
+entitled to dominion over the whole of Vermont. Massachusetts now began
+to suspect that the upshot of the matter would be the partition of the
+whole disputed territory between New Hampshire and New York, and,
+ransacking her ancient grants and charters, she decided to set up a
+claim on her own part to the southernmost towns in Vermont. Thus goaded
+on all sides, Vermont adopted an aggressive policy. She not only annexed
+the towns east of the Connecticut River, but also asserted sovereignty
+over the towns in New York as far as the Hudson. New York sent troops to
+the threatened frontier, New Hampshire prepared to do likewise, and for
+a moment war seemed inevitable. But here, as in so many other instances,
+Washington appeared as peace-maker, and prevailed upon Governor
+Chittenden to use his influence in getting the dangerous claims
+withdrawn. After the spring of 1784 the outlook was less stormy in the
+Green Mountains. The conflicting claims were allowed to lie dormant, but
+the possibilities of mischief remained, and the Vermont question was not
+finally settled until after the adoption of the Federal Constitution.
+Meanwhile, on the debatable frontier between Vermont and New York the
+embers of hatred smouldered. Barns and houses were set on fire, and
+belated wayfarers were found mysteriously murdered in the depths of the
+forest.
+
+[Sidenote: One nation or thirteen?]
+
+Incidents like these of Wyoming and Vermont seem trivial, perhaps, when
+contrasted with the lurid tales of border warfare in older times between
+half-civilized peoples of mediæval Europe, as we read them in the pages
+of Froissart and Sir Walter Scott. But their historic lesson is none the
+less clear. Though they lift the curtain but a little way, they show us
+a glimpse of the untold dangers and horrors from which the adoption of
+our Federal Constitution has so thoroughly freed us that we can only
+with some effort realize how narrowly we have escaped them. It is fit
+that they should be borne in mind, that we may duly appreciate the
+significance of the reign of law and order which has been established on
+this continent during the greater part of a century. When reported in
+Europe, such incidents were held to confirm the opinion that the
+American confederacy was going to pieces. With quarrels about trade and
+quarrels about boundaries, we seemed to be treading the old-fashioned
+paths of anarchy, even as they had been trodden in other ages and other
+parts of the world. It was natural that people in Europe should think
+so, because there was no historic precedent to help them in forming a
+different opinion. No one could possibly foresee that within five years
+a number of gentlemen at Philadelphia, containing among themselves a
+greater amount of political sagacity than had ever before been brought
+together within the walls of a single room, would amicably discuss the
+situation and agree upon a new system of government whereby the dangers
+might be once for all averted. Still less could any one foresee that
+these gentlemen would not only agree upon a scheme among themselves, but
+would actually succeed, without serious civil dissension, in making the
+people of thirteen states adopt, defend, and cherish it. History
+afforded no example of such a gigantic act of constructive
+statesmanship. It was, moreover, a strange and apparently fortuitous
+combination of circumstances that were now preparing the way for it and
+making its accomplishment possible. No one could forecast the future.
+When our ministers and agents in Europe raised the question as to making
+commercial treaties, they were disdainfully asked whether European
+powers were expected to deal with thirteen governments or with one. If
+it was answered that the United States constituted a single government
+so far as their relations with foreign powers were concerned, then we
+were forthwith twitted with our failure to keep our engagements with
+England with regard to the loyalists and the collection of private
+debts. Yes, we see, said the European diplomats; the United States are
+one nation to-day and thirteen to-morrow, according as may seem to
+subserve their selfish interests. Jefferson, at Paris, was told again
+and again that it was useless for the French government to enter into
+any agreement with the United States, as there was no certainty that it
+would be fulfilled on our part; and the same things were said all over
+Europe. Toward the close of the war most of the European nations had
+seemed ready to enter into commercial arrangements with the United
+States, but all save Holland speedily lost interest in the subject. John
+Adams had succeeded in making a treaty with Holland in 1782. Frederick
+the Great treated us more civilly than other sovereigns. One of the last
+acts of his life was to conclude a treaty for ten years with the United
+States; asserting the principle that free ships make free goods, taking
+arms and military stores out of the class of contraband, agreeing to
+refrain from privateering even in case of war between the two countries,
+and in other respects showing a liberal and enlightened spirit.
+
+[Sidenote: Failure of American credit; John Adams begging in Holland,
+1784.]
+
+This treaty was concluded in 1786. It scarcely touched the subject of
+international trade in time of peace, but it was valuable as regarded
+the matters it covered, and in the midst of the general failure of
+American diplomacy in Europe it fell pleasantly upon our ears. Our
+diplomacy had failed because our weakness had been proclaimed to the
+world. We were bullied by England, insulted by France and Spain, and
+looked askance at in Holland. The humiliating position in which our
+ministers were placed by the beggarly poverty of Congress was something
+almost beyond credence. It was by no means unusual for the
+superintendent of finance, when hard pushed for money, to draw upon our
+foreign ministers, and then sell the drafts for cash. This was not only
+not unusual; it was an established custom. It was done again and again,
+when there was not the smallest ground for supposing that the minister
+upon whom the draft was made would have any funds wherewith to meet it.
+He must go and beg the money. That was part of his duty as envoy,--to
+solicit loans without security for a government that could not raise
+enough money by taxation to defray its current expenses. It was
+sickening work. Just before John Adams had been appointed minister to
+England, and while he was visiting in London, he suddenly learned that
+drafts upon him had been presented to his bankers in Amsterdam to the
+amount of more than a million florins. Less than half a million florins
+were on hand to meet these demands, and unless something were done at
+once the greater part of this paper would go back to America protested.
+Adams lost not a moment in starting for Holland. In these modern days of
+precision in travel, when we can translate space into time, the distance
+between London and Amsterdam is eleven hours. It was accomplished by
+Adams, after innumerable delays and vexations and no little danger, in
+fifty-four days. The bankers had contrived, by ingenious excuses, to
+keep the drafts from going to protest until the minister's arrival, but
+the gazettes were full of the troubles of Congress and the bickerings
+of the states, and everybody was suspicious. Adams applied in vain to
+the regency of Amsterdam. The promise of the American government was not
+regarded as valid security for a sum equivalent to about three hundred
+thousand dollars. The members of the regency were polite, but
+inexorable. They could not make a loan on such terms; it was
+unbusinesslike and contrary to precedent. Finding them immovable, Adams
+was forced to apply to professional usurers and Jew brokers, from whom,
+after three weeks of perplexity and humiliation, he obtained a loan at
+exorbitant interest, and succeeded in meeting the drafts. It was only
+too plain, as he mournfully confessed, that American credit was dead.
+Such were the trials of our American ministers in Europe in the dark
+days of the League of Friendship. It was not a solitary, but a typical,
+instance. John Jay's experience at the unfriendly court of Spain was
+perhaps even more trying.
+
+[Sidenote: The Barbary pirates.]
+
+European governments might treat us with cold disdain, and European
+bankers might pronounce our securities worthless, but there was one
+quarter of the world from which even worse measure was meted out to us.
+Of all the barbarous communities with which the civilized world has had
+to deal in modern times, perhaps none have made so much trouble as the
+Mussulman states on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. After the
+breaking up of the great Moorish kingdoms of the Middle Ages, this
+region had fallen under the nominal control of the Turkish sultans as
+lords paramount of the orthodox Mohammedan world. Its miserable
+populations became the prey of banditti. Swarms of half-savage
+chieftains settled down upon the land like locusts, and out of such a
+pandemonium of robbery and murder as has scarcely been equalled in
+historic times the pirate states of Morocco and Algiers, Tunis and
+Tripoli, gradually emerged. Of these communities history has not one
+good word to say. In these fair lands, once illustrious for the genius
+and virtues of a Hannibal and the profound philosophy of St. Augustine,
+there grew up some of the most terrible despotisms ever known to the
+world. The things done daily by the robber sovereigns were such as to
+make a civilized imagination recoil with horror. One of these cheerful
+creatures, who reigned in the middle of the eighteenth century, and was
+called Muley Abdallah, especially prided himself on his peculiar skill
+in mounting a horse. Resting his left hand upon the horse's neck, as he
+sprang into the saddle he simultaneously swung the sharp scimiter in his
+right hand so deftly as to cut off the head of the groom who held the
+bridle. From his behaviour in these sportive moods one may judge what he
+was capable of on serious occasions. He was a fair sample of the Barbary
+monarchs. The foreign policy of these wretches was summed up in piracy
+and blackmail. Their corsairs swept the Mediterranean and ventured far
+out upon the ocean, capturing merchant vessels, and murdering or
+enslaving their crews. Of the rich booty, a fixed proportion was paid
+over to the robber sovereign, and the rest was divided among the gang.
+So lucrative was this business that it attracted hardy ruffians from
+all parts of Europe, and the misery they inflicted upon mankind during
+four centuries was beyond calculation. One of their favourite practices
+was the kidnapping of eminent or wealthy persons, in the hope of
+extorting ransom. Cervantes and Vincent de Paul were among the
+celebrated men who thus tasted the horrors of Moorish slavery; but it
+was a calamity that might fall to the lot of any man, or woman, and it
+was but rarely that the victims ever regained their freedom.
+
+[Sidenote: American citizens kidnapped.]
+
+Against these pirates the governments of Europe contended in vain. Swift
+cruisers frequently captured their ships, and from the days of Joan of
+Arc down to the days of Napoleon their skeletons swung from long rows of
+gibbets on all the coasts of Europe, as a terror and a warning. But
+their losses were easily repaired, and sometimes they cruised in fleets
+of seventy or eighty sail, defying the navies of England and France. It
+was not until after England, in Nelson's time, had acquired supremacy in
+the Mediterranean that this dreadful scourge was destroyed. Americans,
+however, have just ground for pride in recollecting that their
+government was foremost in chastising these pirates in their own
+harbours. The exploits of our little navy in the Mediterranean at the
+beginning of the present century form an interesting episode in American
+history, but in the weak days of the Confederation our commerce was
+plundered with impunity, and American citizens were seized and sold into
+slavery in the markets of Algiers and Tripoli. One reason for the long
+survival of this villainy was the low state of humanity among European
+nations. An Englishman's sympathy was but feebly aroused by the plunder
+of Frenchmen, and the bigoted Spaniard looked on with approval so long
+as it was Protestants that were kidnapped and bastinadoed. In 1783 Lord
+Sheffield published a pamphlet on the commerce of the United States, in
+which he shamelessly declared that the Barbary pirates were really
+useful to the great maritime powers, because they tended to keep the
+weaker nations out of their share in the carrying trade. This, he
+thought, was a valuable offset to the Empress Catherine's device of the
+armed neutrality, whereby small nations were protected; and on this
+wicked theory, as Franklin tells us, London merchants had been heard to
+say that "if there were no Algiers, it would be worth England's while to
+build one." It was largely because of such feelings that the great
+states of Europe so long persisted in the craven policy of paying
+blackmail to the robbers, instead of joining in a crusade and destroying
+them.
+
+[Sidenote: Tripoli demands blackmail, Feb. 1786.]
+
+In 1786 Congress felt it necessary to take measures for protecting the
+lives and liberties of American citizens. The person who called himself
+"Emperor" of Morocco at that time was different from most of his kind.
+He had a taste for reading, and had thus caught a glimmering of the
+enlightened liberalism which French philosophers were preaching. He
+wished to be thought a benevolent despot, and with Morocco, accordingly,
+Congress succeeded in making a treaty. But nothing could be done with
+the other pirate states without paying blackmail. Few scenes in our
+history are more amusing, or more irritating, than the interview of John
+Adams with an envoy from Tripoli in London. The oily-tongued barbarian,
+with his soft voice and his bland smile, asseverating that his only
+interest in life was to do good and make other people happy, stands out
+in fine contrast with the blunt, straightforward, and truthful New
+Englander; and their conversation reminds one of the old story of
+Coeur-de-Lion with his curtal-axe and Saladin with the blade that cut
+the silken cushion. Adams felt sure that the fellow was either saint or
+devil, but could not quite tell which. The envoy's love for mankind was
+so great that he could not bear the thought of hostility between the
+Americans and the Barbary States, and he suggested that everything might
+be happily arranged for a million dollars or so. Adams thought it better
+to fight than to pay tribute. It would be cheaper in the end, as well as
+more manly. At the same time, it was better economy to pay a million
+dollars at once than waste many times that sum in war risks and loss of
+trade. But Congress could do neither one thing nor the other. It was too
+poor to build a navy, and too poor to buy off the pirates; and so for
+several years to come American ships were burned and American sailors
+enslaved with utter impunity. With the memory of such wrongs deeply
+graven in his heart, it was natural that John Adams, on becoming
+president of the United States, should bend his energies toward founding
+a strong American navy.
+
+[Sidenote: Congress unable to protect American citizens.]
+
+A government touches the lowest point of ignominy when it confesses its
+inability to protect the lives and property of its citizens. A
+government which has come to this has failed in discharging the primary
+function of government, and forthwith ceases to have any reason for
+existing. In March, 1786, Grayson wrote to Madison that several members
+of Congress thought seriously of recommending a general convention for
+remodelling the government. "I have not made up my mind," says Grayson,
+"whether it would not be better to bear the ills we have than fly to
+those we know not of. I am, however, in no doubt about the weakness of
+the federal government. If it remains much longer in its present state
+of imbecility, we shall be one of the most contemptible nations on the
+face of the earth." "It is clear to me as A, B, C," said Washington,
+"that an extension of federal powers would make us one of the most
+happy, wealthy, respectable, and powerful nations that ever inhabited
+the terrestrial globe. Without them we shall soon be everything which is
+the direct reverse. I predict the worst consequences from a
+half-starved, limping government, always moving upon crutches and
+tottering at every step."
+
+[Sidenote: Financial distress precipitates the political crisis.]
+
+There is no telling how long the wretched state of things which followed
+the Revolution might have continued, had not the crisis been
+precipitated by the wild attempts of the several states to remedy the
+distress of the people by legislation. That financial distress was
+widespread and deep-seated was not to be denied. At the beginning of the
+war the amount of accumulated capital in the country had been very
+small. The great majority of the people did little more than get from
+the annual yield of their farms or plantations enough to meet the
+current expenses of the year. Outside of agriculture the chief resources
+were the carrying trade, the exchange of commodities with England and
+the West Indies, and the cod and whale fisheries; and in these
+occupations many people had grown rich. The war had destroyed all these
+sources of revenue. Imports and exports had alike been stopped, so that
+there was a distressing scarcity of some of the commonest household
+articles. The enemy's navy had kept us from the fisheries. Before the
+war, the dock-yards of Nantucket were ringing with the busy sound of
+adze and hammer, rope-walks covered the island, and two hundred keels
+sailed yearly in quest of spermaceti. At the return of peace, the docks
+were silent and grass grew in the streets. The carrying trade and the
+fisheries began soon to revive, but it was some years before the old
+prosperity was restored. The war had also wrought serious damage to
+agriculture, and in some parts of the country the direct destruction of
+property by the enemy's troops had been very great. To all these causes
+of poverty there was added the hopeless confusion due to an
+inconvertible paper currency. The worst feature of this financial device
+is that it not only impoverishes people, but bemuddles their brains by
+creating a false and fleeting show of prosperity. By violently
+disturbing apparent values, it always brings on an era of wild
+speculation and extravagance in living, followed by sudden collapse and
+protracted suffering. In such crises the poorest people, those who earn
+their bread by the sweat of their brows and have no margin of
+accumulated capital, always suffer the most. Above all men, it is the
+labouring man who needs sound money and steady values. We have seen all
+these points amply illustrated since the War of Secession. After the War
+of Independence, when the margin of accumulated capital was so much
+smaller, the misery was much greater. While the paper money lasted there
+was marked extravagance in living, and complaints were loud against the
+speculators, especially those who operated in bread-stuffs. Washington
+said he would like to hang them all on a gallows higher than that of
+Haman; but they were, after all, but the inevitable products of this
+abnormal state of things, and the more guilty criminals were the
+demagogues who went about preaching the doctrine that the poor man needs
+cheap money. After the collapse of this continental currency in 1780, it
+seemed as if there were no money in the country, and at the peace the
+renewal of trade with England seemed at first to make matters worse. The
+brisk importation of sorely needed manufactured goods, which then began,
+would naturally have been paid for in the south by indigo, rice, and
+tobacco, in the middle states by exports of wheat and furs, and in New
+England by the profits of the fisheries, the shipping, and the West
+India trade. But in the southern and middle states the necessary revival
+of agriculture could not be effected in a moment, and British
+legislation against American shipping and the West India trade fell with
+crippling force upon New England. Consequently, we had little else but
+specie with which to pay for imports, and the country was soon drained
+of what little specie there was. In the absence of a circulating medium
+there was a reversion to the practice of barter, and the revival of
+business was thus further impeded. Whiskey in North Carolina, tobacco in
+Virginia, did duty as measures of value; and Isaiah Thomas, editor of
+the Worcester "Spy," announced that he would receive subscriptions for
+his paper in salt pork.
+
+[Sidenote: State of the coinage.]
+
+It is worth while, in this connection, to observe what this specie was,
+the scarcity of which created so much embarrassment. Until 1785 no
+national coinage was established, and none was issued until 1793.
+English, French, Spanish, and German coins, of various and uncertain
+value, passed from hand to hand. Beside the ninepences and
+fourpence-ha'-pennies, there were bits and half-bits, pistareens,
+picayunes, and fips. Of gold pieces there were the johannes, or joe, the
+doubloon, the moidore, and pistole, with English and French guineas,
+carolins, ducats, and chequins. Of coppers there were English pence and
+halfpence and French sous; and pennies were issued at local mints in
+Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The
+English shilling had everywhere degenerated in value, but differently in
+different localities; and among silver pieces the Spanish dollar, from
+Louisiana and Cuba, had begun to supersede it as a measure of value. In
+New England the shilling had sunk from nearly one fourth to one sixth of
+a dollar; in New York to one eighth; in North Carolina to one tenth. It
+was partly for this reason that in devising a national coinage the more
+uniform dollar was adopted as the unit. At the same time the decimal
+system of division was adopted instead of the cumbrous English system,
+and the result was our present admirably simple currency, which we owe
+to Gouverneur Morris, aided as to some points by Thomas Jefferson.
+During the period of the Confederation, the chaotic state of the
+currency was a serious obstacle to trade, and it afforded endless
+opportunities for fraud and extortion. Clipping and counterfeiting were
+carried to such lengths that every moderately cautious person, in taking
+payment in hard cash, felt it necessary to keep a small pair of scales
+beside him and carefully weigh each coin, after narrowly scrutinizing
+its stamp and deciphering its legend.
+
+[Sidenote: Cost of the war; Robert Morris and his immense services.]
+
+In view of all these complicated impediments to business on the morrow
+of a long and costly war, it was not strange that the whole country was
+in some measure pauperized. The cost of the war, estimated in cash, had
+been about $170,000,000--a huge sum if we consider the circumstances of
+the country at that time. To meet this crushing indebtedness Mr.
+Hildreth reckons the total amount raised by the states, whether by means
+of repudiated paper or of taxes, down to 1784, as not more than
+$30,000,000. No wonder if the issue of such a struggle seemed quite
+hopeless. In many parts of the country, by the year 1786, the payment of
+taxes had come to be regarded as an amiable eccentricity. At one
+moment, early in 1782, there was not a single dollar in the treasury.
+That the government had in any way been able to finish the war, after
+the downfall of its paper money, was due to the gigantic efforts of one
+great man,--Robert Morris, of Pennsylvania. This statesman was born in
+England, but he had come to Philadelphia in his boyhood, and had amassed
+an enormous fortune, which he devoted without stint to the service of
+his adopted country. Though opposed to the Declaration of Independence
+as rash and premature, he had, nevertheless, signed his name to that
+document, and scarcely any one had contributed more to the success of
+the war. It was he who supplied the money which enabled Washington to
+complete the great campaign of Trenton and Princeton. In 1781 he was
+made superintendent of finance, and by dint of every imaginable device
+of hard-pressed ingenuity he contrived to support the brilliant work
+which began at the Cowpens and ended at Yorktown. He established the
+Bank of North America as an instrument by which government loans might
+be negotiated. Sometimes his methods were such as doctors call heroic,
+as when he made sudden drafts upon our ministers in Europe after the
+manner already described. In every dire emergency he was Washington's
+chief reliance, and in his devotion to the common weal he drew upon his
+private resources until he became poor; and in later years--for shame be
+it said--an ungrateful nation allowed one of its noblest and most
+disinterested champions to languish in a debtor's prison. It was of ill
+omen for the fortunes of the weak and disorderly Confederation that in
+1784, after three years of herculean struggle with impossibilities, this
+stout heart and sagacious head could no longer weather the storm. The
+task of creating wealth out of nothing had become too arduous and too
+thankless to be endured. Robert Morris resigned his place, and it was
+taken by a congressional committee of finance, under whose management
+the disorders only hurried to a crisis.
+
+[Sidenote: The craze for paper-money, 1786.]
+
+By 1786, under the universal depression and want of confidence, all
+trade had well-nigh stopped, and political quackery, with its cheap and
+dirty remedies, had full control of the field. In the very face of
+miseries so plainly traceable to the deadly paper currency, it may seem
+strange that people should now have begun to clamour for a renewal of
+the experiment which had worked so much evil. Yet so it was. As starving
+men are said to dream of dainty banquets, so now a craze for fictitious
+wealth in the shape of paper money ran like an epidemic through the
+country. There was a Barmecide feast of economic vagaries; only now it
+was the several states that sought to apply the remedy, each in its own
+way. And when we have threaded the maze of this rash legislation, we
+shall the better understand that clause in our federal constitution
+which forbids the making of laws impairing the obligation of contracts.
+The events of 1786 impressed upon men's minds more forcibly than ever
+the wretched and disorderly condition of the country, and went far
+toward calling into existence the needful popular sentiment in favour of
+an overruling central government.
+
+[Sidenote: Agitation in southern and middle states.]
+
+The disorders assumed very different forms in the different states, and
+brought out a great diversity of opinion as to the causes of the
+distress and the efficacy of the proposed remedies. Only two states out
+of the thirteen--Connecticut and Delaware--escaped the infection, but,
+on the other hand, it was only in seven states that the paper money
+party prevailed in the legislatures. North Carolina issued a large
+amount of paper, and, in order to get it into circulation as quickly as
+possible, the state government proceeded to buy tobacco with it, paying
+double the specie value of the tobacco. As a natural consequence, the
+paper dollar instantly fell to seventy cents, and went on declining. In
+South Carolina an issue was tried somewhat more cautiously, but the
+planters soon refused to take the paper at its face value. Coercive
+measures were then attempted. Planters and merchants were urged to sign
+a pledge not to discriminate between paper and gold, and if any one
+dared refuse the fanatics forthwith attempted to make it hot for him. A
+kind of "Kuklux" society was organized at Charleston, known as the "Hint
+Club." Its purpose was to hint to such people that they had better look
+out. If they did not mend their ways, it was unnecessary to inform them
+more explicitly what they might expect. Houses were combustible then as
+now, and the use of firearms was well understood. In Georgia the
+legislature itself attempted coercion. Paper money was made a legal
+tender in spite of strong opposition, and a law was passed prohibiting
+any planter or merchant from exporting any produce without taking
+affidavit that he had never refused to receive this scrip at its full
+face value. But somehow people found that the more it was sought to keep
+up the paper by dint of threats and forcing acts, the faster its value
+fell. Virginia had issued bills of credit during the campaign of 1781,
+but it was enacted at the same time that they should not be a legal
+tender after the next January. The influence of Washington, Madison, and
+Mason was effectively brought to bear in favour of sound currency, and
+the people of Virginia were but slightly affected by the craze of 1786.
+In the autumn of that year a proposition from two counties for an issue
+of paper was defeated in the legislature by a vote of eighty-five to
+seventeen, and no more was heard of the matter. In Maryland, after a
+very obstinate fight, a rag money bill was carried in the house of
+representatives, but the senate threw it out; and the measure was thus
+postponed until the discussion over the federal constitution superseded
+it in popular interest. Pennsylvania had warily begun in May, 1785, to
+issue a million dollars in bills of credit, which were not made a legal
+tender for the payment of private debts. They were mainly loaned to
+farmers on mortgage, and were received by the state as an equivalent for
+specie in the payment of taxes. By August, 1786, even this carefully
+guarded paper had fallen some twelve cents below par,--not a bad showing
+for such a year as that. New York moved somewhat less cautiously. A
+million dollars were issued in bills of credit receivable for the
+custom-house duties, which were then paid into the state treasury; and
+these bills were made a legal tender for all money received in lawsuits.
+At the same time the New Jersey legislature passed a bill for issuing
+half a million paper dollars, to be a legal tender in all business
+transactions. The bill was vetoed by the governor in council. The aged
+Governor Livingston was greatly respected by the people; and so the mob
+at Elizabethtown, which had duly planted a stake and dragged his effigy
+up to it, refrained from inflicting the last indignities upon the image,
+and burned that of one of the members of the council instead. At the
+next session the governor yielded, and the rag money was issued. But an
+unforeseen difficulty arose. Most of the dealings of New Jersey people
+were in the cities of New York and Philadelphia, and in both cities the
+merchants refused their paper, so that it speedily became worthless.
+
+The business of exchange was thus fast getting into hopeless confusion.
+It has been said of Bradshaw's Railway Guide, the indispensable
+companion of the traveller in England, that no man can study it for an
+hour without qualifying himself for an insane asylum. But Bradshaw is
+pellucid clearness compared with the American tables of exchange in
+1786, with their medley of dollars and shillings, moidores and
+pistareens. The addition of half a dozen different kinds of paper
+created such a labyrinth as no human intellect could explore. No wonder
+that men were counted wise who preferred to take whiskey and pork
+instead. Nobody who had a yard of cloth to sell could tell how much it
+was worth. But even worse than all this was the swift and certain
+renewal of bankruptcy which so many states were preparing for
+themselves.
+
+[Sidenote: Distress in New England.]
+
+Nowhere did the warning come so quickly or so sharply as in New England.
+Connecticut, indeed, as already observed, came off scot-free. She had
+issued a little paper money soon after the battle of Lexington, but had
+stopped it about the time of the surrender of Burgoyne. In 1780 she had
+wisely and summarily adjusted all relations between debtor and creditor,
+and the crisis of 1786 found her people poor enough, no doubt, but able
+to wait for better times and indisposed to adopt violent remedies. It
+was far otherwise in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. These were
+preëminently the maritime states of the Union, and upon them the blows
+aimed by England at American commerce had fallen most severely. It was
+these two maritime states that suffered most from the cutting down of
+the carrying trade and the restriction of intercourse with the West
+Indies. These things worked injury to shipbuilding, to the exports of
+lumber and oil and salted fish, even to the manufacture of Medford rum.
+Nowhere had the normal machinery of business been thrown out of gear so
+extensively as in these two states, and in Rhode Island there was the
+added disturbance due to a prolonged occupation by the enemy's troops.
+Nowhere, perhaps, was there a larger proportion of the population in
+debt, and in these preëminently commercial communities private debts
+were a heavier burden and involved more personal suffering than in the
+somewhat patriarchal system of life in Virginia or South Carolina. In
+the time of which we are now treating, imprisonment for debt was common.
+High-minded but unfortunate men were carried to jail, and herded with
+thieves and ruffians in loathsome dungeons, for the crime of owing a
+hundred dollars which they could not promptly pay. Under such
+circumstances, a commercial disturbance, involving widespread debt,
+entailed an amount of personal suffering and humiliation of which, in
+these kinder days, we can form no adequate conception. It tended to make
+the debtor an outlaw, ready to entertain schemes for the subversion of
+society. In the crisis of 1786, the agitation in Rhode Island and
+Massachusetts reached white heat, and things were done which alarmed the
+whole country. But the course of events was different in the two states.
+In Rhode Island the agitators obtained control of the government, and
+the result was a paroxysm of tyranny. In Massachusetts the agitators
+failed to secure control of the government, and the result was a
+paroxysm of rebellion.
+
+[Sidenote: Rag money victorious in Rhode Island; the "Know Ye"
+measures.]
+
+The debates over paper money in the Rhode Island legislature began in
+1785, but the advocates of a sound currency were victorious. These men
+were roundly abused in the newspapers, and in the next spring election
+most of them lost their seats. The legislature of 1786 showed an
+overwhelming majority in favor of paper money. The farmers from the
+inland towns were unanimous in supporting the measure. They could not
+see the difference between the state making a dollar out of paper and a
+dollar out of silver. The idea that the value did not lie in the
+government stamp they dismissed as an idle crotchet, a wire-drawn
+theory, worthy only of "literary fellows." What they could see was the
+glaring fact that they had no money, hard or soft; and they wanted
+something that would satisfy their creditors and buy new gowns for their
+wives, whose raiment was unquestionably the worse for wear. On the other
+hand, the merchants from seaports like Providence, Newport, and Bristol
+understood the difference between real money and the promissory notes of
+a bankrupt government, but they were in a hopeless minority. Half a
+million dollars were issued in scrip, to be loaned to the farmers on a
+mortgage of their real estate. No one could obtain the scrip without
+giving a mortgage for twice the amount, and it was thought that this
+security would make it as good as gold. But the depreciation began
+instantly. When the worthy farmers went to the store for dry goods or
+sugar, and found the prices rising with dreadful rapidity, they were at
+first astonished, and then enraged. The trouble, as they truly said, was
+with the wicked merchants, who would not take the paper dollars at their
+face value. These men were thus thwarting the government, and must be
+punished. An act was accordingly hurried through the legislature,
+commanding every one to take paper as an equivalent for gold, under
+penalty of five hundred dollars fine and loss of the right of suffrage.
+The merchants in the cities thereupon shut up their shops. During the
+summer of 1786 all business was at a standstill in Newport and
+Providence, except in the bar-rooms. There and about the market-places
+men spent their time angrily discussing politics, and scarcely a day
+passed without street-fights, which at times grew into riots. In the
+country, too, no less than in the cities, the goddess of discord
+reigned. The farmers determined to starve the city people into
+submission, and they entered into an agreement not to send any produce
+into the cities until the merchants should open their shops and begin
+selling their goods for paper at its face value. Not wishing to lose
+their pigs and butter and grain, they tried to dispose of them in Boston
+and New York, and in the coast towns of Connecticut. But in all these
+places their proceedings had awakened such lively disgust that placards
+were posted in the taverns warning purchasers against farm produce from
+Rhode Island. Disappointed in these quarters, the farmers threw away
+their milk, used their corn for fuel, and let their apples rot on the
+ground, rather than supply the detested merchants. Food grew scarce in
+Providence and Newport, and in the latter city a mob of sailors
+attempted unsuccessfully to storm the provision stores. The farmers were
+threatened with armed violence. Town-meetings were held all over the
+state, to discuss the situation, and how long they might have talked to
+no purpose none can say, when all at once the matter was brought into
+court. A cabinet-maker in Newport named Trevett went into a meat-market
+kept by one John Weeden, and selecting a joint of meat, offered paper in
+payment. Weeden refused to take the paper except at a heavy discount.
+Trevett went to bed supperless, and next morning informed against the
+obstinate butcher for disobedience to the forcing act. Should the court
+find him guilty, it would be a good speculation for Trevett, for half of
+the five hundred dollars fine was to go to the informer. Hard-money men
+feared lest the court might prove subservient to the legislature, since
+that body possessed the power of removing the five judges. The case was
+tried in September amid furious excitement. Huge crowds gathered about
+the court-house and far down the street, screaming and cheering like a
+crowd on the night of a presidential election. The judges were
+clear-headed men, not to be browbeaten. They declared the forcing act
+unconstitutional, and dismissed the complaint. Popular wrath then turned
+upon them. A special session of the legislature was convened, four of
+the judges were removed, and a new forcing-act was prepared. This act
+provided that no man could vote at elections or hold any office without
+taking a test oath promising to receive paper money at par. But this was
+going too far. Many soft-money men were not wild enough to support such
+a measure; among the farmers there were some who had grown tired of
+seeing their produce spoiled on their hands; and many of the richest
+merchants had announced their intention of moving out of the state. The
+new forcing act accordingly failed to pass, and presently the old one
+was repealed. The paper dollar had been issued in May; in November it
+passed for sixteen cents.
+
+These outrageous proceedings awakened disgust and alarm among sensible
+people in all the other states, and Rhode Island was everywhere reviled
+and made fun of. One clause of the forcing act had provided that if a
+debtor should offer paper to his creditor and the creditor should refuse
+to take it at par, the debtor might carry his rag money to court and
+deposit it with the judge; and the judge must thereupon issue a
+certificate discharging the debt. The form of certificate began with the
+words "Know Ye," and forthwith the unhappy little state was nicknamed
+Rogues' Island, the home of Know Ye men and Know Ye measures.
+
+[Sidenote: Rag money defeated in Massachusetts; the Shays insurrection,
+Aug. 1786-Feb. 1787.]
+
+While the scorn of the people was thus poured out upon Rhode Island,
+much sympathy was felt for the government of Massachusetts, which was
+called upon thus early to put down armed rebellion. The pressure of debt
+was keenly felt in the rural districts of Massachusetts. It is estimated
+that the private debts in the state amounted to some $7,000,000, and the
+state's arrears to the federal government amounted to some $7,000,000
+more. Adding to these sums the arrears of bounties due to the soldiers,
+and the annual cost of the state, county, and town governments, there
+was reached an aggregate equivalent to a tax of more than $50 on every
+man, woman, and child in this population of 379,000 souls. Upon every
+head of a family the average burden was some $200 at a time when most
+farmers would have thought such a sum yearly a princely income. In those
+days of scarcity most of them did not set eyes on so much as $50 in the
+course of a year, and happy was he who had tucked away two or three
+golden guineas or moidores in an old stocking, and sewed up the treasure
+in his straw mattress or hidden it behind the bricks of the
+chimney-piece. Under such circumstances the payment of debts and taxes
+was out of the question; and as the same state of things made creditors
+clamorous and ugly, the courts were crowded with lawsuits. The lawyers
+usually contrived to get their money by exacting retainers in advance,
+and the practice of champerty was common, whereby the lawyer did his
+work in consideration of a percentage on the sum which was at last
+forcibly collected. Homesteads were sold for the payment of foreclosed
+mortgages, cattle were seized in distrainer, and the farmer himself was
+sent to jail. The smouldering fires of wrath thus kindled found
+expression in curses aimed at lawyers, judges, and merchants. The wicked
+merchants bought foreign goods and drained the state of specie to pay
+for them, while they drank Madeira wine and dressed their wives in fine
+velvets and laces. So said the farmers; and city ladies, far kinder than
+these railers deemed them, formed clubs, of which the members pledged
+themselves to wear homespun,--a poor palliative for the deep-seated ills
+of the time. In such mood were many of the villagers when in the summer
+of 1786 they were overtaken by the craze for paper money. At the meeting
+of the legislature in May, a petition came in from Bristol County,
+praying for an issue of paper. The petitioners admitted that such money
+was sure to deteriorate in value, and they doubted the wisdom of trying
+to keep it up by forcing acts. Instead of this they would have the rate
+of its deterioration regulated by law, so that a dollar might be worth
+ninety cents to-day, and presently seventy cents, and by and by fifty
+cents, and so on till it should go down to zero and be thrown overboard.
+People would thus know what to expect, and it would be all right. The
+delicious _naïveté_ of this argument did not prevail with the
+legislature of Massachusetts, and soft money was frowned down by a vote
+of ninety-nine to nineteen. Then a bill was brought in seeking to
+reëstablish in legislation the ancient practice of barter, and make
+horses and cows legal tender for debts; and this bill was crushed by
+eighty-nine votes against thirty-five. At the same time this legislature
+passed a bill to strengthen the federal government by a grant of
+supplementary funds to Congress, and thus laid a further burden of taxes
+upon the people.
+
+There was an outburst of popular wrath. A convention at Hatfield in
+August decided that the court of common pleas ought to be abolished,
+that no funds should be granted to Congress, and that paper money should
+be issued at once. Another convention at Lenox denounced such incendiary
+measures, approved of supporting the federal government, and declared
+that no good could come from the issue of paper money. But meanwhile the
+angry farmers had resorted to violence. The legislature, they said, had
+its sittings in Boston, under the influence of wicked lawyers and
+merchants, and thus could not be expected to do the will of the people.
+A cry went up that henceforth the law-makers must sit in some small
+inland town, where jealous eyes might watch their proceedings. Meanwhile
+the lawyers must be dealt with; and at Northampton, Worcester, Great
+Barrington, and Concord the courts were broken up by armed mobs. At
+Concord one Job Shattuck brought several hundred armed men into the town
+and surrounded the court-house, while in a fierce harangue he declared
+that the time had come for wiping out all debts. "Yes," squeaked a nasal
+voice from the crowd,--"yes, Job, we know all about them two farms you
+can't never pay for!" But this repartee did not save the judges, who
+thought it best to flee from the town. At first the legislature deemed
+it wise to take a lenient view of these proceedings, and it even went so
+far as to promise to hold its next session out of Boston. But the
+agitation had reached a point where it could not be stayed. In September
+the supreme court was to sit at Springfield, and Governor Bowdoin sent a
+force of 600 militia under General Shepard to protect it. They were
+confronted by some 600 insurgents, under the leadership of Daniel Shays.
+This man had been a captain in the Continental army, and in his force
+were many of the penniless veterans whom Gates would fain have incited
+to rebellion at Newburgh. Shays seems to have done what he could to
+restrain his men from violence, but he was a poor creature, wanting
+alike in courage and good faith. On the other hand the militia were
+lacking in spirit. After a disorderly parley, with much cursing and
+swearing, they beat a retreat, and the court was prevented from sitting.
+Fresh riots followed at Worcester and Concord. A regiment of cavalry,
+sent out by the governor, scoured Middlesex County, and, after a short
+fight in the woods near Groton, captured Job Shattuck and dispersed his
+men. But this only exasperated the insurgents. They assembled in
+Worcester to the number of 1,200 or more, where they lived for two
+months at free quarters, while Shays organized and drilled them.
+
+[Sidenote: The insurrection suppressed by state troops.]
+
+Meanwhile the habeas corpus act was suspended for eight months, and
+Governor Bowdoin called out an army of 4,400 men, who were placed under
+command of General Lincoln. As the state treasury was nearly empty, some
+wealthy gentlemen in Boston subscribed the money needed for equipping
+these troops, and about the middle of January, 1787, they were collected
+at Worcester. The rebels had behaved shamefully, burning barns and
+seizing all the plunder they could lay hands on. As their numbers
+increased they found their military stores inadequate, and accordingly
+they marched upon Springfield, with the intent to capture the federal
+arsenal there, and provide themselves with muskets and cannon. General
+Shepard held Springfield with 1,200 men, and on the 25th of January
+Shays attacked him with a force of somewhat more than 2,000, hoping to
+crush him and seize the arsenal before Lincoln could come to the rescue.
+But his plan of attack was faulty, and as soon as his men began falling
+under Shepard's fire a panic seized them, and they retreated in disorder
+to Ludlow, and then to Amherst, setting fire to houses and robbing the
+inhabitants. On the approach of Lincoln's army, three days later, Shays
+retreated to Pelham, and planted his forces on two steep hills protected
+at the bottom by huge snowdrifts. Lincoln advanced to Hadley and sought
+to open negotiations with the rebels. They were reminded that a contest
+with the state government was hopeless, and that they had already
+incurred the penalty of death; but if they would now lay down their arms
+and go home, a free pardon could be obtained for them. Shays seemed
+willing to yield, and Saturday, the 3d of February, was appointed for a
+conference between some of the leading rebels and some of the officers.
+But this was only a stratagem. During the conference Shays decamped and
+marched his men through Prescott and North Dana to Petersham. Toward
+nightfall the trick was discovered, and Lincoln set his whole force in
+motion over the mountain ridges of Shutesbury and New Salem. The day had
+been mild, but during the night the thermometer dropped below zero and
+an icy, cutting snow began to fall. There was great suffering during the
+last ten miles, and indeed the whole march of thirty miles in thirteen
+hours over steep and snow-covered roads was a worthy exploit for these
+veterans of the Revolution. Shays and his men had not looked for such a
+display of energy, and as they were getting their breakfast on Sunday
+morning at Petersham they were taken by surprise. A few minutes sufficed
+to scatter them in flight. A hundred and fifty, including Shays himself,
+were taken prisoners. The rest fled in all directions, most of them to
+Athol and Northfield, whence they made their way into Vermont. General
+Lincoln then marched his troops into the mountains of Berkshire, where
+disturbances still continued. On the 26th of February one Captain
+Hamlin, with several hundred insurgents, plundered the town of
+Stockbridge and carried off the leading citizens as hostages. He was
+pursued as far as Sheffield, defeated there in a sharp skirmish, with a
+loss of some thirty in killed and wounded, and his troops scattered.
+This put an end to the insurrection in Massachusetts.
+
+[Sidenote: Conduct of neighbouring states.]
+
+During the autumn similar disturbances had occurred in the states to the
+northward. At Exeter in New Hampshire and at Windsor and Rutland in
+Vermont the courts had been broken up by armed mobs, and at Rutland
+there had been bloodshed. When the Shays rebellion was put down,
+Governor Bowdoin requested the neighbouring states to lend their aid in
+bringing the insurgents to justice, and all complied with the request
+except Vermont and Rhode Island. The legislature of Rhode Island
+sympathized with the rebels, and refused to allow the governor to issue
+a warrant for their arrest. On the other hand, the governor of Vermont
+issued a proclamation out of courtesy toward Massachusetts, but he
+caused it to be understood that this was but an empty form, as the state
+of Vermont could not afford to discourage immigration! A feeling of
+compassion for the insurgents was widely spread in Massachusetts. In
+March the leaders were tried, and fourteen were convicted of treason and
+sentenced to death; but Governor Bowdoin, whose term was about to
+expire, granted a reprieve for a few weeks. At the annual election in
+April the candidates for the governorship were Bowdoin and Hancock, and
+it was generally believed that the latter would be more likely than the
+former to pardon the convicted men. So strong was this feeling that,
+although much gratitude was felt toward Bowdoin, to whose energetic
+measures the prompt suppression of the rebellion was due, Hancock
+obtained a large majority. When the question of a pardon came up for
+discussion, Samuel Adams, who was then president of the senate, was
+strongly opposed to it, and one of his arguments was very
+characteristic. "In monarchies," he said, "the crime of treason and
+rebellion may admit of being pardoned or lightly punished; but the man
+who dares to rebel against the laws of a republic ought to suffer
+death." This was Adams's sensitive point. He wanted the whole world to
+realize that the rule of a republic is a rule of law and order, and that
+liberty does not mean license. But in spite of this view, for which
+there was much to be said, the clemency of the American temperament
+prevailed, and Governor Hancock pardoned all the prisoners.
+
+Nothing in the history of these disturbances is more instructive than
+the light incidentally thrown upon the relations between Congress and
+the state government. Just before the news of the rout at Petersham,
+Samuel Adams had proposed in the senate that the governor should be
+requested to write to Congress and inform that body of what was going on
+in Massachusetts, stating that "although the legislature are firmly
+persuaded that ... in all probability they will be able speedily and
+effectively to suppress the rebellion, yet, if any unforeseen event
+should take place which may frustrate the measures of government, they
+rely upon such support from the United States as is expressly and
+solemnly stipulated by the articles of confederation." A resolution to
+this effect was carried in the senate, but defeated in the house through
+the influence of western county members in sympathy with the insurgents;
+and incredible as it may seem, the argument was freely used that it was
+incompatible with the dignity of Massachusetts to allow United States
+troops to set foot upon her soil. When we reflect that the arsenal at
+Springfield, where the most considerable disturbance occurred, was
+itself federal property, the climax of absurdity might seem to have been
+reached.
+
+[Sidenote: Congress afraid to interfere.]
+
+It was left for Congress itself, however, to cap that climax. The
+progress of the insurrection in the autumn in Vermont, New Hampshire,
+and Massachusetts, as well as the troubles in Rhode Island, had alarmed
+the whole country. It was feared that the insurgents in these states
+might join forces, and in some way kindle a flame that would run through
+the land. Accordingly Congress in October called upon the states for a
+continental force, but did not dare to declare openly what it was to be
+used for. It was thought necessary to say that the troops were wanted
+for an expedition against the northwestern Indians! National humiliation
+could go no further than such a confession, on the part of our central
+government, that it dared not use force in defence of those very
+articles of confederation to which it owed its existence. Things had
+come to such a pass that people of all shades of opinion were beginning
+to agree upon one thing,--that something must be done, and done quickly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Creation of a national domain beyond the Alleghanies.]
+
+While the events we have heretofore contemplated seemed to prophesy the
+speedy dissolution and downfall of the half-formed American Union, a
+series of causes, obscure enough at first, but emerging gradually into
+distinctness and then into prominence, were preparing the way for the
+foundation of a national sovereignty. The growth of this sovereignty
+proceeded stealthily along such ancient lines of precedent as to take
+ready hold of people's minds, although few, if any, understood the full
+purport of what they were doing. Ever since the days when our English
+forefathers dwelt in village communities in the forests of northern
+Germany, the idea of a common land or folkland--a territory belonging to
+the whole community, and upon which new communities might be organized
+by a process analogous to what physiologists call
+cell-multiplication--had been perfectly familiar to everybody. Townships
+budded from village or parish folkland in Maryland and Massachusetts in
+the seventeenth century, just as they had done in England before the
+time of Alfred. The critical period of the Revolution witnessed the
+repetition of this process on a gigantic scale. It witnessed the
+creation of a national territory beyond the Alleghanies,--an enormous
+folkland in which all the thirteen old states had a common interest, and
+upon which new and derivative communities were already beginning to
+organize themselves. Questions about public lands are often regarded as
+the driest of historical deadwood. Discussions about them in newspapers
+and magazines belong to the class of articles which the general reader
+usually skips. Yet there is a great deal of the philosophy of history
+wrapped up in this subject, and it now comes to confront us at a most
+interesting moment; for without studying this creation of a national
+domain between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, we cannot understand
+how our Federal Union came to be formed.
+
+[Sidenote: Conflicting claims to the western territory.]
+
+When England began to contend with France and Spain for the possession
+of North America, she made royal grants of land upon this continent, in
+royal ignorance of its extent and configuration. But until the Seven
+Years' War the eastward and westward partitioning of these grants was of
+little practical consequence; for English dominion was bounded by the
+Alleghanies, and everything beyond was in the hands of the French. In
+that most momentous war the genius of the elder Pitt won the region east
+of the Mississippi for men of English race, while the vast territory of
+Louisiana, beyond, passed under the control of Spain. During the
+Revolutionary War, in a series of romantic expeditions, the state of
+Virginia took military possession of a great part of the wilderness east
+of the Mississippi, founding towns in the Ohio and Cumberland valleys,
+and occupying with garrisons of her state militia the posts at Cahokia,
+Kaskaskia, and Vincennes. We have seen how, through the skill of our
+commissioners at Paris, this noble country was secured for the Americans
+in the treaty of 1783, in spite of the reluctance of France and the
+hostility of Spain. Throughout the Revolutionary War the Americans
+claimed the territory as part of the United States; but when once it
+passed from under the control of Great Britain, into whose hands did it
+go? To whom did it belong? To this question there were various and
+conflicting answers. North Carolina, indeed, had already taken
+possession of what was afterward called Tennessee, and at the beginning
+of the war Virginia had annexed Kentucky. As to these points there could
+be little or no dispute. But with the territory north of the Ohio River
+it was very different. Four states laid claim either to the whole or to
+parts of this territory, and these claims were not simply conflicting,
+but irreconcilable.
+
+[Sidenote: Claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut.]
+
+The charters of Massachusetts and Connecticut were framed at a time when
+people had not got over the notion that this part of the continent was
+not much wider than Mexico, and accordingly these colonies had received
+the royal permission to extend from sea to sea. The existence of a
+foreign colony of Dutchmen in the neighbourhood was a trifle about which
+these documents did not trouble themselves; but when Charles II.
+conquered this colony and bestowed it upon his brother, the province of
+New York became a stubborn fact, which could not be disregarded.
+Massachusetts and Connecticut peaceably settled their boundary line with
+New York, and laid no claims to land within the limits of that state;
+but they still continued to claim what lay beyond it, as far as the
+Mississippi River, where the Spanish dominion now began. The regions
+claimed by Massachusetts have since become the southern halves of the
+states of Michigan and Wisconsin. The region claimed by Connecticut was
+a narrow strip running over the northern portions of Pennsylvania, Ohio,
+Indiana, and Illinois; and we have seen how much trouble was occasioned
+in Pennsylvania by this circumstance.
+
+[Sidenote: Claims of New York.]
+
+But New York laughed to scorn these claims of Connecticut. In the
+seventeenth century all the Algonquin tribes between Lake Erie and the
+Cumberland Mountains had become tributary to the Iroquois; and during
+the hundred years' struggle between France and England for the supremacy
+of this continent the Iroquois had put themselves under the protection
+of England, which thenceforth always treated them as an appurtenance to
+New York. For a hundred years before the Revolution, said New York, she
+had borne the expense of protecting the Iroquois against the French, and
+by various treaties she had become lawful suzerain over the Six Nations
+and their lands and the lands of their Algonquin vassals. On such
+grounds New York claimed pretty much everything north of the Ohio and
+east of the Miami.
+
+[Sidenote: Virginia's claims.]
+
+But according to Virginia, it made little difference what Massachusetts
+and Connecticut and New York thought about the matter, for every acre
+of land, from the Ohio River up to Lake Superior, belonged to her. Was
+not she the lordly "Old Dominion," out of which every one of the states
+had been carved? Even Cape Cod and Cape Ann were said to be in "North
+Virginia," until, in 1614, Captain John Smith invented the name "New
+England." It was a fair presumption that any uncarved territory belonged
+to Virginia; and it was further held that the original charter of 1609
+used language which implicitly covered the northwestern territory,
+though, as Thomas Paine showed, in a pamphlet entitled "Public Good,"
+this was very doubtful. But besides all this, it was Virginia that had
+actually conquered the disputed territory, and held every military post
+in it except those which the British had not surrendered; and who could
+doubt that possession was nine points in the law?
+
+[Sidenote: Maryland's novel and beneficent suggestion, Oct. 15, 1777.]
+
+Of these conflicting claims, those of New York and Virginia were the
+most grasping and the most formidable, because they concerned a region
+into which immigration was beginning rapidly to pour. They were regarded
+with strong disfavour by the small states, Rhode Island, New Jersey,
+Delaware, and Maryland, which were so situated that they never could
+expand in any direction. They looked forward with dread to a future in
+which New York and Virginia might wax powerful enough to tyrannize over
+their smaller neighbours. But of these protesting states it was only
+Maryland that fairly rose to the occasion, and suggested an idea which
+seemed startling at first, but from which mighty and unforeseen
+consequences were soon to follow.[5] It was on the 15th of October,
+1777, just two days before Burgoyne's surrender, that this path-breaking
+idea first found expression in Congress. The articles of confederation
+were then just about to be presented to the several states to be
+ratified, and the question arose as to how the conflicting western
+claims should be settled. A motion was then made that "the United States
+in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power
+to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such states as claim to the
+Mississippi, ... and lay out the land beyond the boundary so ascertained
+into separate and independent states, from time to time, as the numbers
+and circumstances of the people may require." To carry out such a
+motion, it would be necessary for the four claimant states to surrender
+their claims into the hands of the United States, and thus create a
+domain which should be owned by the confederacy in common. So bold a
+step towards centralization found no favour at the time. No other state
+but Maryland voted for it.
+
+[Sidenote: The several states yield their claims in favour of the United
+States, 1780-85.]
+
+But Maryland's course was well considered: she pursued it resolutely,
+and was rewarded with complete success. By February, 1779, all the other
+states had ratified the articles of confederation. In the following May,
+Maryland declared that she would not ratify the articles until she
+should receive some definite assurance that the northwestern territory
+should become the common property of the United States, "subject to be
+parcelled out by Congress into free, convenient, and independent
+governments." The question, thus boldly brought into the foreground, was
+earnestly discussed in Congress and in the state legislatures, until in
+February, 1780, partly through the influence of General Schuyler, New
+York decided to cede all her claims to the western lands. This act of
+New York set things in motion, so that in September Congress recommended
+to all states having western claims to cede them to the United States.
+In October, Congress, still pursuing the Maryland idea, went farther,
+and declared that all such lands as might be ceded should be sold in
+lots to immigrants and the money used for federal purposes, and that in
+due season distinct states should be formed there, to be admitted into
+the Union, with the same rights of sovereignty as the original thirteen
+states. As an inducement to Virginia, it was further provided that any
+state which had incurred expense during the war in defending its western
+possessions should receive compensation. To this general invitation
+Connecticut immediately responded by offering to cede everything to
+which she laid claim, except 3,250,000 acres on the southern shore of
+Lake Erie, which she wished to reserve for educational purposes.
+Washington disapproved of this reservation, but it was accepted by
+Congress, though the business was not completed until 1786. This part
+of the state of Ohio is still commonly spoken of as the "Connecticut
+Reserve." Half a million acres were given to citizens of Connecticut
+whose property had been destroyed in the British raids upon her coast
+towns, and the rest were sold, in 1795, for $1,200,000, in aid of
+schools and colleges.
+
+In January, 1781, Virginia offered to surrender all the territory
+northwest of the Ohio, provided that Congress would guarantee her in the
+possession of Kentucky. This gave rise to a discussion which lasted
+nearly three years, until Virginia withdrew her proviso and made the
+cession absolute. It was accepted by Congress on the 1st of March, 1784,
+and on the 19th of April, in the following year,--the tenth anniversary
+of Lexington,--Massachusetts surrendered her claims; and the whole
+northwestern territory--the area of the great states of Michigan,
+Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio (excepting the Connecticut
+Reserve)--thus became the common property of the half-formed nation.
+Maryland, however, did not wait for this. As soon as New York and
+Virginia had become thoroughly committed to the movement, she ratified
+the articles of confederation, which thus went into operation on the 1st
+of March, 1781.
+
+[Sidenote: Magnanimity of Virginia.]
+
+This acquisition of a common territory speedily led to results not at
+all contemplated in the theory of union upon which the articles of
+confederation were based. It led to "the exercise of national
+sovereignty in the sense of eminent domain," as shown in the ordinances
+of 1784 and 1787, and prepared men's minds for the work of the Federal
+Convention. Great credit is due to Maryland for her resolute course in
+setting in motion this train of events. It aroused fierce indignation at
+the time, as to many people it looked unfriendly to the Union. Some
+hot-heads were even heard to say that if Maryland should persist any
+longer in her refusal to join the confederation, she ought to be
+summarily divided up between the neighbouring states, and her name
+erased from the map. But the brave little state had earned a better fate
+than that of Poland. When we have come to trace out the results of her
+action, we shall see that just as it was Massachusetts that took the
+decisive step in bringing on the Revolutionary War when she threw the
+tea into Boston harbour, so it was Maryland that, by leading the way
+toward the creation of a national domain, laid the corner-stone of our
+Federal Union. Equal credit must be given to Virginia for her
+magnanimity in making the desired surrender. It was New York, indeed,
+that set the praiseworthy example; but New York, after all, surrendered
+only a shadowy claim, whereas Virginia gave up a magnificent and
+princely territory of which she was actually in possession. She might
+have held back and made endless trouble, just as, at the beginning of
+the Revolution, she might have refused to make common cause with
+Massachusetts; but in both instances her leading statesmen showed a
+far-sighted wisdom and a breadth of patriotism for which no words of
+praise can be too strong. In the later instance, as in the earlier,
+Thomas Jefferson played an important part. He, who in after years, as
+president of the United States, was destined, by the purchase of
+Louisiana, to carry our western frontier beyond the Rocky Mountains,
+had, in 1779, done more than any one else to support the romantic
+campaign in which General Clark had taken possession of the country
+between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. He had much to do with the
+generous policy which gave up the greater part of that country for a
+national domain, and on the very day on which the act of cession was
+completed he presented to Congress a remarkable plan for the government
+of the new territory, which was only partially successful because it
+attempted too much, but the results of which were in many ways notable.
+
+[Sidenote: Jefferson proposes a scheme of government for the
+northwestern territory, 1784.]
+
+In this plan, known as the Ordinance of 1784, Jefferson proposed to
+divide the northwestern territory into ten states, or just twice as many
+as have actually grown out of it. In each of these states the settlers
+might establish a local government, under the authority of Congress; and
+when in any one of them the population should come to equal that of the
+least populous of the original states, it might be admitted into the
+Union by the consent of nine states in Congress. The new states were to
+have universal suffrage; they must have republican forms of government;
+they must pay their shares of the federal debt; they must forever remain
+a part of the United States; and after the year 1800 negro slavery must
+be prohibited within their limits. The names of these ten states have
+afforded much amusement to Jefferson's biographers. In those days the
+schoolmaster was abroad in the land after a peculiar fashion. Just as we
+are now in the full tide of that Gothic revival which goes back for its
+beginnings to Sir Walter Scott; as we admire mediæval things, and try to
+build our houses after old English models, and prefer words of what
+people call "Saxon" origin, and name our children Roland and Herbert, or
+Edith and Winifred, so our great-grandfathers lived in a time of
+classical revival. They were always looking for precedents in Greek and
+Roman history; they were just beginning to try to make their wooden
+houses look like temples, with Doric columns; they preferred words of
+Latin origin; they signed their pamphlets "Brutus" and "Lycurgus," and
+in sober earnest baptized their children as Cæsar, or Marcellus, or
+Darius. The map of the United States was just about to bloom forth with
+towns named Ithaca and Syracuse, Corinth and Sparta; and on the Ohio
+River, opposite the mouth of Licking Creek, a city had lately been
+founded, the name of which was truly portentous. "Losantiville" was this
+wonderful compound, in which the initial _L_ stood for "Licking," while
+_os_ signified "mouth," _anti_ "opposite," and _ville_ "town;" and the
+whole read backwards as "Town-opposite-mouth-of-Licking." In 1790
+General St. Clair, then governor of the northwest territory, changed
+this name to Cincinnati, in honor of the military order to which he
+belonged. With such examples in mind, we may see that the names of the
+proposed ten states, from which the failure of Jefferson's ordinance has
+delivered us, illustrated the prevalent taste of the time rather than
+any idiosyncrasy of the man. The proposed names were Sylvania,
+Michigania, Chersonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Illinoia, Saratoga,
+Washington, Polypotamia, and Pelisipia.
+
+[Sidenote: He wishes to prohibit slavery in the national domain.]
+
+It was not the nomenclature that stood in the way of Jefferson's scheme,
+but the wholesale way in which he tried to deal with the slavery
+question. He wished to hem in the probable extension of slavery by an
+impassable barrier, and accordingly he not only provided that it should
+be extinguished in the northwestern territory after the year 1800, but
+at the same time his anti-slavery ardour led him to try to extend the
+national dominion southward. He did his best to persuade the legislature
+of Virginia to crown its work by giving up Kentucky to the United
+States, and he urged that North Carolina and Georgia should also cede
+their western territories. As for South Carolina, she was shut in
+between the two neighbouring states in such wise that her western claims
+were vague and barren. Jefferson would thus have drawn a north-and-south
+line from Lake Erie down to the Spanish border of the Floridas, and west
+of this line he would have had all negro slavery end with the eighteenth
+century. The policy of restricting slavery, so as to let it die a
+natural death within a narrowly confined area,--the policy to sustain
+which Mr. Lincoln was elected president in 1860,--was thus first
+definitely outlined by Jefferson in 1784. It was the policy of
+forbidding slavery in the national territory. Had this policy succeeded
+then, it would have been an ounce of prevention worth many a pound of
+cure. But it failed because of its largeness, because it had too many
+elements to deal with. For the moment, the proposal to exclude slavery
+from the northwestern territory was defeated, because of the two thirds
+vote required in Congress for any important measure. It got only seven
+states in its favour, where it needed nine. This defeat, however, was
+retrieved three years later, when the famous Ordinance of 1787
+prohibited slavery forever from the national territory north of the Ohio
+River. But Jefferson's scheme had not only to deal with the national
+domain as it was, but also to extend that domain southward to Florida;
+and in this it failed. Virginia could not be persuaded to give up
+Kentucky until too late. When Kentucky came into the Union, after the
+adoption of the Federal Constitution, she came as a sovereign state,
+with all her domestic institutions in her own hands. With the western
+districts of North Carolina the case was somewhat different, and the
+story of this region throws a curious light upon the affairs of that
+disorderly time.
+
+[Sidenote: John Sevier, and the state of Franklin, 1784-87.]
+
+In surrendering her western territory, North Carolina showed
+praiseworthy generosity. But the frontier settlers were too numerous to
+be handed about from one dominion to another, without saying something
+about it themselves; and their action complicated the matter, until it
+was too late for Jefferson's scheme to operate upon them. In June, 1784,
+North Carolina ceded the region since known as Tennessee, and allowed
+Congress two years in which to accept the grant. Meanwhile, her own
+authority was to remain supreme there. But the settlers grumbled and
+protested. Some of them were sturdy pioneers of the finest type, but
+along with these there was a lawless population of "white trash,"
+ancestors of the peculiar race of men we find to-day in rural districts
+of Missouri and Arkansas. They were the refuse of North Carolina,
+gradually pushed westward by the advance of an orderly civilization.
+Crime was rife in the settlements, and, in the absence of courts, a
+rough-and-ready justice was administered by vigilance committees. The
+Cherokees, moreover, were troublesome neighbours, and people lived in
+dread of their tomahawks. Petitions had again and again gone up to the
+legislature, urging the establishment of courts and a militia, but had
+passed unheeded, and now it seemed that the state had withdrawn her
+protection entirely. The settlers did not wish to have their country
+made a national domain. If their own state could not protect them, it
+was quite clear to them that Congress could not. What was Congress, any
+way, but a roomful of men whom nobody heeded? So these backwoodsmen held
+a convention in a log-cabin at Jonesborough, and seceded from North
+Carolina. They declared that the three counties between the Bald
+Mountains and the Holston River constituted an independent state, to
+which they gave the name of Franklin; and they went on to frame a
+constitution and elect a legislature with two chambers. For governor
+they chose John Sevier, one of the heroes of King's Mountain, a man of
+Huguenot ancestry, and such dauntless nature that he was generally known
+as the "lion of the border." Having done all this, the seceders, in
+spite of their small respect for Congress, sent a delegate to that
+body, requesting that the new state of Franklin might be admitted into
+the Union. Before this business had been completed, North Carolina
+repealed her act of cession, and warned the backwoodsmen to return to
+their allegiance. This at once split the new state into two factions:
+one party wished to keep on as they had now started, the other wished
+for reunion with North Carolina. In 1786 the one party in each county
+elected members to represent them in the North Carolina legislature,
+while the other party elected members of the legislature of Franklin.
+Everywhere two sets of officers claimed authority, civil dudgeon grew
+very high, and pistols were freely used. The agitation extended into the
+neighbouring counties of Virginia, where some discontented people wished
+to secede and join the state of Franklin. For the next two years there
+was something very like civil war, until the North Carolina party grew
+so strong that Sevier fled, and the state of Franklin ceased to exist.
+Sevier was arrested on a warrant for high treason, but he effected an
+escape, and after men's passions had cooled down his great services and
+strong character brought him again to the front. He sat in the senate of
+North Carolina, and in 1796, when Tennessee became a state in the Union,
+Sevier was her first governor.
+
+These troubles show how impracticable was the attempt to create a
+national domain in any part of the country which contained a
+considerable population. The instinct of self-government was too strong
+to allow it. Any such population would have refused to submit to
+ordinances of Congress. To obey the parent state or to set up for one's
+self,--these were the only alternatives which ordinary men at that time
+could understand. Experience had not yet ripened their minds for
+comprehending a temporary condition of semi-independence, such as exists
+to-day under our territorial governments. The behaviour of these
+Tennessee backwoodsmen was just what might have been expected. The land
+on which they were living was not common land: it had been appropriated;
+it belonged to them, and it was for them to make laws for it. Such is
+the lesson of the short-lived state of Franklin. It was because she
+perceived that similar feelings were at work in Kentucky that Virginia
+did not venture to loosen her grasp upon that state until it was fully
+organized and ready for admission into the Union. It was in no such
+partly settled country that Congress could do such a thing as carve out
+boundaries and prohibit slavery by an act of national sovereignty. There
+remained the magnificent territory north of the Ohio,--an empire in
+itself, as large as the German Empire, with the Netherlands thrown
+in,--in which the collective wisdom of the American people, as
+represented in Congress, might autocratically shape the future; for it
+was still a wilderness, watched by frontier garrisons, and save for the
+Indians and the trappers and a few sleepy old French towns on the
+eastern bank of the Mississippi, there were no signs of human life in
+all its vast solitude. Here, where there was nobody to grumble or
+secede, Congress, in 1787, proceeded to carry out the work which
+Jefferson had outlined three years before.
+
+[Sidenote: Origin of the Ohio company.]
+
+It is interesting to trace the immediate origin of the famous Ordinance
+of 1787. At the close of the war General Rufus Putnam, from the mountain
+village of Rutland in Massachusetts, sent to Congress an outline of a
+plan for colonizing the region between Lake Erie and the Ohio with
+veterans of the army, who were well fitted to protect the border against
+Indian attacks. The land was to be laid out in townships six miles
+square, "with large reservations for the ministry and schools;" and by
+selling it to the soldiers at a merely nominal price, the penniless
+Congress might obtain an income, and at the same time recognize their
+services in the only substantial way that seemed practicable. Washington
+strongly favoured the scheme, but, in order to carry it out, it was
+necessary to wait until the cession of the territory by the various
+claimant states should be completed. After this had been done, a series
+of treaties were made with the Six Nations, as overlords, and their
+vassal tribes, the Wyandots, Chippewas, Ottawas, Delawares, and
+Shawnees, whereby all Indian claims to the lands in question were
+forever renounced. The matter was then formally taken up by Holden
+Parsons of Connecticut, and Rufus Putnam, Manasseh Cutler, Winthrop
+Sargent, and others, of Massachusetts, and a joint-stock company was
+formed for the purchase of lands on the Ohio River. A large number of
+settlers--old soldiers of excellent character, whom the war had
+impoverished--were ready to go and take possession at once; and in its
+petition the Ohio company asked for nothing better than that its
+settlers should be "under the immediate government of Congress in such
+mode and for such time as Congress shall judge proper." Such a proposal,
+affording a means at once of replenishing the treasury and satisfying
+the soldiers, could not but be accepted; and thus were laid the
+foundations of a state destined within a century to equal in population
+and far surpass in wealth the whole Union as it was at that time. It
+became necessary at once to lay down certain general principles of
+government applicable to the northwestern territory; and the result was
+the Ordinance of 1787, which was chiefly the work of Edward Carrington
+and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, and Nathan Dane of Massachusetts, in
+committee, following the outlines of a draft which is supposed to have
+been made by Manasseh Cutler. Jefferson was no longer on the ground,
+having gone on his mission to Paris, but some of the principles of his
+proposed Ordinance of 1784 were adopted.
+
+[Sidenote: The Ordinance of 1787.]
+
+It was provided that the northwestern territory should ultimately be
+carved into states, not exceeding five in number, and any one of these
+might be admitted into the Union as soon as its population should reach
+60,000. In the mean time, the whole territory was to be governed by
+officers appointed by Congress, and required to take an oath of
+allegiance to the United States. Under this government there was to be
+unqualified freedom of religious worship, and no religious tests should
+be required of any public official. Intestate property should descend in
+equal shares to children of both sexes. Public schools were to be
+established. Suffrage was not yet made universal, as a freehold in
+fifty acres was required. No law was ever to be made which should impair
+the obligation of contracts, and it was thoroughly agreed that this
+provision especially covered and prohibited the issue of paper money.
+The future states to be formed from this territory must make their laws
+conform to these fundamental principles, and under no circumstances
+could any one of them ever be separated from the Union. In such wise,
+the theory of peaceful secession was condemned in advance, so far as it
+was possible for the federal government to do so. Jefferson's principle,
+that slavery should not be permitted in the national domain, was also
+adopted so far as the northwest was concerned; and it is interesting to
+observe the names of the states which were present in Congress when this
+clause was added to the ordinance. They were Georgia, the two Carolinas,
+Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts; and the
+vote was unanimous. No one was more active in bringing about this result
+than William Grayson of Virginia, who was earnestly supported by Lee.
+The action of Virginia and North Carolina at that time need not surprise
+us. But the movements in favour of emancipation in these two states, and
+the emancipation actually effected or going on at the north, had already
+made Georgia and South Carolina extremely sensitive about slavery; and
+their action on this occasion can be explained only by supposing that
+they were willing to yield a point in this remote territory, in order by
+and by to be able to insist upon an equivalent in the case of the
+territory lying west of Georgia. Nor would they have yielded at all had
+not a fugitive slave law been enacted, providing that slaves escaping
+beyond the Ohio should be arrested and returned to their owners. These
+arrangements having been made, General St. Clair was appointed governor
+of the territory; surveys were made; land was put up for sale at sixty
+cents per acre, payable in certificates of the public debt; and settlers
+rapidly came in. The westward exodus from New England and Pennsylvania
+now began, and only fourteen years elapsed before Ohio, the first of the
+five states, was admitted into the Union.
+
+[Sidenote: Theory of folkland upon which the ordinance was based.]
+
+"I doubt," says Daniel Webster, "whether one single law of any
+law-giver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct,
+marked, and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787." Nothing could
+have been more emphatically an exercise of national sovereignty; yet, as
+Madison said, while warmly commending the act, Congress did it "without
+the least colour of constitutional authority." The ordinance was never
+submitted to the states for ratification. The articles of confederation
+had never contemplated an occasion for such a peculiar assertion of
+sovereignty. "A great and independent fund of revenue," said Madison,
+"is passing into the hands of a single body of men, who can raise troops
+to an indefinite number, and appropriate money to their support for an
+indefinite period of time.... Yet no blame has been whispered, no alarm
+has been sounded," even by men most zealous for state rights and most
+suspicious of Congress. Within a few months this argument was to be
+cited with telling effect against those who hesitated to accept the
+Federal Constitution because of the great powers which it conferred upon
+the general government. Unless you give a government specific powers,
+commensurate with its objects, it is liable on occasions of public
+necessity to exercise powers which have not been granted. Avoid the
+dreadful dilemma between dissolution and usurpation, urged Madison, by
+clothing the government with powers that are ample but clearly defined.
+In a certain sense, the action of Congress in 1787 was a usurpation of
+authority to meet an emergency which no one had foreseen, as in the
+cases of Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana and Lincoln's emancipation of
+the slaves. Each of these instances marked, in one way or another, a
+brilliant epoch in American history, and in each case the public
+interest was so unmistakable that the people consented and applauded.
+The theory upon which the Ordinance of 1787 was based was one which
+nobody could fail to understand, though perhaps no one would then have
+known just how to put it into words. It was simply the thirteen states,
+through their delegates in Congress, dealing with the unoccupied
+national domain as if it were the common land or folkland of a
+stupendous township.
+
+[Sidenote: Spain, hearing of the secret article in the treaty of 1783,
+loses her temper and threatens to shut up the Mississippi River.]
+
+The vast importance of the lands between the Alleghanies and the
+Mississippi was becoming more apparent every year, as the westward
+movement of population went on. But at this time their value was much
+more clearly seen by the southern than by the northern states. In the
+north the westward emigration was only just beginning to pass the
+Alleghanies; in the south, as we have seen, it had gone beyond them
+several years ago. The southern states, accordingly, took a much sounder
+view than the northern states of the importance to the Union of the free
+navigation of the Mississippi River. The difference was forcibly
+illustrated in the dispute with Spain, which came to a crisis in the
+summer of 1786. It will be remembered that by the treaties which closed
+the Revolutionary War the provinces of East and West Florida were ceded
+by England to Spain. West Florida was the region lying between the
+Appalachicola and the Mississippi rivers, including the southernmost
+portions of the present states of Alabama and Mississippi. By the treaty
+between Great Britain and the United States, the northern boundary of
+this province was described by the thirty-first parallel of latitude;
+but Spain denied the right of these powers to place the boundary so low.
+Her troops still held Natchez, and she maintained that the boundary must
+be placed a hundred miles farther north, starting from the Mississippi
+at the mouth of the Yazoo River, near the present site of Vicksburg. Now
+the treaty between Great Britain and the United States contained a
+secret article, wherein it was provided that if England could contrive
+to keep West Florida, instead of surrendering it to Spain, then the
+boundary should start at the Yazoo. This showed that both England and
+the United States were willing to yield the one to the other a strip of
+territory which both agreed in withholding from Spain. Presently the
+Spanish court got hold of the secret article, and there was great
+indignation. Here was England giving to the Americans a piece of land
+which she knew, and the Americans knew, was recently a part of West
+Florida, and therefore belonged to Spain! Castilian grandees went to bed
+and dreamed of invincible armadas. Congress was promptly informed that,
+until this affair should be set right, the Americans need not expect the
+Spanish government to make any treaty of commerce with them; and
+furthermore, let no American sloop or barge dare to show itself on the
+Mississippi below the Yazoo, under penalty of confiscation. When these
+threats were heard in America, there was great excitement everywhere,
+but it assumed opposite phases in the north and in the south. The
+merchants of New York and Boston cared little more about the Mississippi
+River than about Timbuctoo, but they were extremely anxious to see a
+commercial treaty concluded with Spain. On the other hand, the
+backwoodsmen of Kentucky and the state of Franklin cared nothing for the
+trade on the ocean, but they would not sit still while their corn and
+their pork were confiscated on the way to New Orleans. The people of
+Virginia sympathized with the backwoodsmen, but her great statesmen
+realized the importance of both interests and the danger of a conflict
+between them.
+
+[Sidenote: Gardoqui and Jay.]
+
+[Sidenote: Threats of secession in Kentucky and in New England, 1786.]
+
+The Spanish envoy, Gardoqui, arrived in the summer of 1784, and had many
+interviews with Jay, who was then secretary for foreign affairs.
+Gardoqui set forth that his royal master was graciously pleased to deal
+leniently with the Americans, and would confer one favour upon them, but
+could not confer two. He was ready to enter into a treaty of commerce
+with us, but not until we should have renounced all claim to the
+navigation of the Mississippi River below the Yazoo. Here the Spaniard
+was inexorable. A year of weary argument passed by, and he had not
+budged an inch. At last, in despair, Jay advised Congress, for the sake
+of the commercial treaty, to consent to the closing of the Mississippi,
+but only for twenty-five years. As the rumour of this went abroad among
+the settlements south of the Ohio, there was an outburst of wrath, to
+which an incident that now occurred gave added virulence. A North
+Carolinian trader, named Amis, sailed down the Mississippi with a cargo
+of pots and kettles and barrels of flour. At Natchez his boat and his
+goods were seized by the Spanish officers, and he was left to make his
+way home afoot through several hundred miles of wilderness. The story of
+his wrongs flew from one log-cabin to another, until it reached the
+distant northwestern territory. In the neighbourhood of Vincennes there
+were Spanish traders, and one of them kept a shop in the town. The shop
+was sacked by a band of American soldiers, and an attempt was made to
+incite the Indians to attack the Spaniards. Indignation meetings were
+held in Kentucky. The people threatened to send a force of militia down
+the river and capture Natchez and New Orleans; and a more dangerous
+threat was made. Should the northeastern states desert them and adopt
+Jay's suggestion, they vowed they would secede, and throw themselves
+upon Great Britain for protection. On the other hand, there was great
+agitation in the seaboard towns of Massachusetts. They were disgusted
+with the backwoodsmen for making such a fuss about nothing, and with the
+people of the southern states for aiding and abetting them; and during
+this turbulent summer of 1786, many persons were heard to declare that,
+in case Jay's suggestion should not be adopted, it would be high time
+for the New England states to secede from the Union, and form a
+confederation by themselves. The situation was dangerous in the extreme.
+Had the question been forced to an issue, the southern states would
+never have seen their western territories go and offer themselves to
+Great Britain. Sooner than that, they would have broken away from the
+northern states. But New Jersey and Pennsylvania now came over to the
+southern side, and Rhode Island, moving in her eccentric orbit,
+presently joined them; and thus the treaty was postponed for the
+present, and the danger averted.
+
+[Sidenote: Washington's views on the importance of canals between east
+and west.]
+
+[Sidenote: His far-sighted genius and self-devotion.]
+
+This lamentable dispute was watched by Washington with feelings of
+gravest concern. From an early age he had indulged in prophetic dreams
+of the grandeur of the coming civilization in America, and had looked to
+the country beyond the mountains as the field in which the next
+generation was to find room for expansion. Few had been more efficient
+than he in aiding the great scheme of Pitt for overthrowing the French
+power in America, and he understood better than most men of his time how
+much that scheme implied. In his early journeys in the wilderness he had
+given especial attention to the possibilities of water connection
+between the east and west, and he had bought for himself and surveyed
+many extensive tracts of land beyond the mountains. The subject was a
+favourite one with him, and he looked at it from both a commercial and a
+political point of view. What we most needed, he said in 1770, were easy
+transit lines between east and west, as "the channel of conveyance of
+the extensive and valuable trade of a rising empire." Just before
+resigning his commission in 1783 Washington had explored the route
+through the Mohawk Valley, afterward taken first by the Erie Canal, and
+then by the New York Central Railroad, and had prophesied its commercial
+importance in the present century. Soon after reaching his home at Mount
+Vernon, he turned his attention to the improvement of intercourse with
+the west through the valley of the Potomac. The east and west, he said,
+must be cemented together by interests in common; otherwise they will
+break asunder. Without commercial intercourse they will cease to
+understand each other, and will thus be ripe for disagreement. It is
+easy for mental habits, as well as merchandise, to glide down stream,
+and the connections of the settlers beyond the mountains all centre in
+New Orleans, which is in the hands of a foreign and hostile power. No
+one can tell what complications may arise from this, argued Washington;
+"let us bind these people to us by a chain that can never be broken;"
+and with characteristic energy he set to work at once to establish that
+line of communication that has since grown into the Chesapeake and Ohio
+Canal, and into the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. During the three years
+preceding the meeting of the Federal Convention he was largely occupied
+with this work. In 1785 he became president of a company for extending
+the navigation of the Potomac and James rivers, and the legislature of
+Virginia passed an act vesting him with one hundred and fifty shares in
+the stock of the company, in order to testify their "sense of his
+unexampled merits." But Washington refused the testimonial, and declined
+to take any pay for his services, because he wished to arouse the people
+to the political importance of the undertaking, and felt that his words
+would have more weight if he were known to have no selfish interest in
+it. His sole purpose, as he repeatedly said, was to strengthen the
+spirit of union by cementing the eastern and western regions together.
+At this time he could ill afford to give his services without pay, for
+his long absence in war-time had sadly impaired his estate. But such was
+Washington.
+
+[Sidenote: Maryland confers with Virginia regarding the navigation of
+the Potomac, 1785.]
+
+In order to carry out the enterprise of extending the navigation of the
+Potomac, it became necessary for the two states Virginia and Maryland to
+act in concert; and early in 1785 a joint commission of the two states
+met for consultation at Washington's house at Mount Vernon. A compact
+insuring harmonious coöperation was prepared by the commissioners; and
+then, as Washington's scheme involved the connection of the head waters
+of the Potomac with those of the Ohio, it was found necessary to invite
+Pennsylvania to become a party to the compact. Then Washington took the
+occasion to suggest that Maryland and Virginia, while they were about
+it, should agree upon a uniform system of duties and other commercial
+regulations, and upon a uniform currency; and these suggestions were
+sent, together with the compact, to the legislatures of the two states.
+Great things were destined to come from these modest beginnings. Just as
+in the Yorktown campaign, there had come into existence a multifarious
+assemblage of events, apparently unconnected with one another, and all
+that was needed was the impulse given by Washington's far-sighted genius
+to set them all at work, surging, swelling, and hurrying straight
+forward to a decisive result.
+
+[Sidenote: Madison's motion; a step in advance, 1785.]
+
+Late in 1785, when the Virginia legislature had wrangled itself into
+imbecility over the question of clothing Congress with power over trade,
+Madison hit upon an expedient. He prepared a motion to the effect that
+commissioners from all the states should hold a meeting, and discuss the
+best method of securing a uniform treatment of commercial questions; but
+as he was most conspicuous among the advocates of a more perfect union,
+he was careful not to present the motion himself. Keeping in the
+background, he persuaded another member--John Tyler, father of the
+president of that name, a fierce zealot for state rights--to make the
+motion. The plan, however, was "so little acceptable that it was not
+then persisted in," and the motion was laid on the table. But Madison
+knew what was coming from Maryland, and bided his time. After some weeks
+it was announced that Maryland had adopted the compact made at Mount
+Vernon concerning jurisdiction over the Potomac. Virginia instantly
+replied by adopting it also. Then it was suggested, in the report from
+Maryland, that Delaware, as well as Pennsylvania, ought to be consulted,
+since the scheme should rightly include a canal between the Delaware
+River and the Chesapeake Bay. And why not also consult with these states
+about a uniform system of duties? If two states can agree upon these
+matters, why not four? And still further, said the Maryland
+message,--dropping the weightiest part of the proposal into a
+subordinate clause, just as women are said to put the quintessence of
+their letters into the postscript,--might it not be well enough, if we
+are going to have such a conference, to invite commissioners from all
+the thirteen states to attend it? An informal discussion can hurt
+nobody. The conference of itself can settle nothing; and if four states
+can take part in it, why not thirteen? Here was the golden opportunity.
+The Madison-Tyler motion was taken up from the table and carried.
+Commissioners from all the states were invited to meet on the first
+Monday of September, 1786, at Annapolis,--a safe place, far removed from
+the influence of that dread tyrant, the Congress, and from wicked
+centres of trade, such as New York and Boston. It was the governor of
+Virginia who sent the invitations. It may not amount to much, wrote
+Madison to Monroe, but "the expedient is better than nothing; and, as
+the recommendation of additional powers to Congress is within the
+purview of the commission, it may possibly lead to better consequences
+than at first occur."
+
+[Sidenote: Convention at Annapolis, Sept. 11, 1786.]
+
+[Sidenote: Hamilton's address; a further step in advance.]
+
+The seed dropped by Washington had fallen on fruitful soil. At first it
+was to be just a little meeting of two or three states to talk about the
+Potomac River and some projected canals, and already it had come to be a
+meeting of all the states to discuss some uniform system of legislation
+on the subject of trade. This looked like progress, yet when the
+convention was gathered at Annapolis, on the 11th of September, the
+outlook was most discouraging. Commissioners were there from Virginia,
+Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Massachusetts and New
+Hampshire, Rhode Island and North Carolina, had duly appointed
+commissioners, but they were not there. It is curious to observe that
+Maryland, which had been so earnest in the matter, had nevertheless now
+neglected to appoint commissioners; and no action had been taken by
+Georgia, South Carolina, or Connecticut. With only five states
+represented, the commissioners did not think it worth while to go on
+with their work. But before adjourning they adopted an address, written
+by Alexander Hamilton, and sent it to all the states. All the
+commissioners present had been empowered to consider how far a uniform
+commercial system might be essential to the permanent harmony of the
+states. But New Jersey had taken a step in advance, and instructed her
+delegates "to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial
+regulations _and other important matters_ might be necessary to the
+common interest and permanent harmony of the several states." _And other
+important matters_,--thus again was the weightiest part of the business
+relegated to a subordinate clause. So gingerly was the great
+question--so dreaded, yet so inevitable--approached! This reference to
+"other matters" was pronounced by the commissioners to be a vast
+improvement on the original plan; and Hamilton's address now urged that
+commissioners be appointed by all the states, to meet in convention at
+Philadelphia on the second Monday of the following May, "to devise such
+further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the
+constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the
+Union, and to report to Congress such an act as, when agreed to by them,
+and confirmed by the legislatures of every state, would effectually
+provide for the same." The report of the commissioners was brought
+before Congress in October, in the hope that Congress would earnestly
+recommend to the several states the course of action therein suggested.
+But Nathan Dane and Rufus King of Massachusetts, intent upon
+technicalities, succeeded in preventing this. According to King, a
+convention was an irregular body, which had no right to propose changes
+in the organic law of the land, and the state legislatures could not
+properly confirm the acts of such a body, or take notice of them.
+Congress was the only source from which such proposals could properly
+emanate. These arguments were pleasing to the self-love of Congress, and
+it refused to sanction the plan of the Annapolis commissioners.
+
+[Sidenote: New York defeats the impost amendment.]
+
+In an ordinary season this would perhaps have ended the matter, but the
+winter of 1786-87 was not an ordinary season. All the troubles above
+described seemed to culminate just at this moment. The paper-money craze
+in so many of the states, the shameful deeds of Rhode Island, the riots
+in Vermont and New Hampshire, the Shays rebellion in Massachusetts, the
+dispute with Spain, and the consequent imminent danger of separation
+between north and south had all come together; and the feeling of
+thoughtful men and women throughout the country was one of real
+consternation. The last ounce was now to be put upon the camel's back in
+the failure of the impost amendment. In 1783, when the cessions of
+western lands were creating a national domain, a promising plan had been
+devised for relieving the country of its load of debt, and furnishing
+Congress with money for its current expenses. All the money coming from
+sales of the western folkland was to be applied to reducing and wiping
+out the principal of the public debt. Then the interest of this debt
+must be provided for; and to that end Congress had recommended an
+impost, or system of custom-house duties, upon liquors, sugars, teas,
+coffees, cocoa, molasses, and pepper. This impost was to be kept up for
+twenty-five years only, and the collectors were to be appointed by the
+several states, each for its own ports. Then for the current expenses of
+the government, supplementary funds were needed; and these were to be
+assessed upon the several states, each of which might raise its quota as
+it saw fit. Such was the original plan; but it soon turned out that the
+only available source of revenue was the national domain, which had thus
+been nothing less than the principal thread which had held the Union
+together. As for the impost, it had never been possible to get a
+sufficient number of states to agree upon it, and of the quotas for
+current expenses, as we have seen, very little had found its way to the
+federal treasury. Under these difficulties, it had been proposed that an
+amendment to the articles of confederation should endow Congress with
+the power of levying customs-duties and appointing the collectors; and
+by the summer of 1786, after endless wrangling, twelve states had
+consented to the amendment. But, in order that an amendment should be
+adopted, unanimous consent was necessary. The one delinquent state,
+which thus blocked the wheels of the confederacy, was New York. She had
+her little system of duties all nicely arranged for what seemed to be
+her own interests, and she would not surrender this system to Congress.
+Upon the neighbouring states her tariff system bore hard, and especially
+upon New Jersey. In 1786 this little state flatly refused to pay her
+quota until New York should stop discriminating against her trade.
+Nothing which occurred in that troubled year caused more alarm than
+this, for it could not be denied that such a declaration seemed little
+less than an act of secession on the part of New Jersey. The arguments
+of a congressional committee at last prevailed upon the state to rescind
+her declaration. At the same time there came the final struggle in New
+York over the impost amendment, against which Governor Clinton had
+firmly set his face. There was a fierce fight, in which Hamilton's most
+strenuous efforts succeeded in carrying the amendment in part, but not
+until it had been clogged with a condition that made it useless.
+Congress, it was declared, might have the revenue, but New York must
+appoint the collectors; she was not going to have federal officials
+rummaging about her docks. The legislature well knew that to grant the
+amendment in such wise was not to grant it at all, but simply to reopen
+the whole question. Such was the result. Congress expostulated in vain.
+On the 15th of February, 1787, the matter was reconsidered in the New
+York legislature, and the impost amendment was defeated.
+
+[Sidenote: Sudden changes in popular sentiment.]
+
+Thus, only three months before the Federal Convention was to meet, if
+indeed it was ever to meet, Congress was decisively informed that it
+would not be allowed to take any effectual measures for raising a
+revenue. There now seemed nothing left for Congress to do but adopt the
+recommendation of the Annapolis commissioners, and give its sanction to
+the proposed convention. Madison, however, had not waited for this, but
+had prevailed upon the Virginia legislature to go on and appoint its
+delegates to the convention. The events of the year had worked a change
+in the popular sentiment in Virginia; people were more afraid of
+anarchy, and not quite so much afraid of centralization; and now, under
+Madison's lead, Virginia played her trump card and chose George
+Washington as one of her delegates. As soon as this was known, there was
+an outburst of joy throughout the land. All at once the people began
+everywhere to feel an interest in the proposed convention, and presently
+Massachusetts changed her attitude. Up to this time Massachusetts had
+been as obstinate in her assertion of local independence, and as
+unwilling to strengthen the hands of Congress, as any of the thirteen
+states, except New York and Rhode Island. But the Shays rebellion had
+served as a useful object-lesson. Part of the distress in Massachusetts
+could be traced to the inability of Congress to pay debts which it owed
+to her citizens. It was felt that the time had come when the question of
+a national revenue must be seriously considered. Every week saw fresh
+converts to the party which called for a stronger government. Then came
+the news that Virginia had chosen delegates, and that Washington was one
+of them; then that New Jersey had followed the example; then that
+Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Delaware, had chosen delegates. It was
+time for Massachusetts to act, and Rufus King now brought the matter up
+in Congress. His scruples as to the legality of the proceeding had not
+changed, and accordingly he moved that Congress should of itself propose
+a convention at Philadelphia, identical with the one which the Annapolis
+commissioners had already recommended. The motion was carried, and in
+this way Congress formally approved and adopted what was going on.
+Massachusetts immediately chose delegates, and was followed by New York.
+In April, Georgia and South Carolina followed suit. Connecticut and
+Maryland came on in May, and New Hampshire, somewhat tardily, in June.
+Of the thirteen states, Rhode Island alone refused to take any part in
+the proceedings.
+
+[Sidenote: The Federal Convention meets at Philadelphia, May 14-25,
+1787.]
+
+The convention held its meetings in that plain brick building in
+Philadelphia already immortalized as the place from which the
+Declaration of Independence was published to the world. The work which
+these men were undertaking was to determine whether that Declaration had
+been for the blessing or the injury of America and of mankind. That they
+had succeeded in assembling here at all was somewhat remarkable, when we
+think of the curious medley of incidents that led to it. At no time in
+this distressed period would a frank and abrupt proposal for a
+convention to remodel the government have found favour. Such proposals,
+indeed, had been made, beginning with that of Pelatiah Webster in 1781,
+and they had all failed to break through the crust of a truly English
+conservatism and dread of centralized power. Now, through what some
+might have called a strange chapter of accidents, before the element of
+causal sequence in it all had become so manifest as it is to us to-day,
+this remarkable group of men had been brought together in a single room,
+while even yet but few of them realized how thoroughly and exhaustively
+reconstructive their work was to be. To most of them it was not clear
+whether they were going merely to patch up the articles of
+confederation, or to strike out into a new and very different path.
+There were a few who entertained far-reaching purposes; the rest were
+intelligent critics rather than constructive thinkers; the result was
+surprising to all. It is worth our while to pause for a moment, and
+observe the character and composition of one of the most memorable
+assemblies the world has ever seen. Mr. Gladstone says that just "as the
+British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded
+from progressive history, so the American Constitution is the most
+wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose
+of man."[6] Let us now see who the men were who did this wonderful
+work,--this Iliad, or Parthenon, or Fifth Symphony, of statesmanship. We
+shall not find that they were all great geniuses. Such is never the case
+in such an assembly. There are not enough great geniuses to go around;
+and if there were, it is questionable if the result would be
+satisfactory. In such discussions the points which impress the more
+ordinary and less far-sighted members are sure to have great value;
+especially when we bear in mind that the object of such an assembly is
+not merely to elaborate a plan, but to get the great mass of people,
+including the brick-layers and hod-carriers, to understand it well
+enough to vote for it. An ideally perfect assembly of law-makers will
+therefore contain two or three men of original constructive genius, two
+or three leading spirits eminent for shrewdness and tact, a dozen or
+more excellent critics representing various conflicting interests, and a
+rank and file of thoroughly respectable, commonplace men, unfitted for
+shining in the work of the meeting, but admirably competent to proclaim
+its results and get their friends and neighbours to adopt them. And in
+such an assembly, even if it be such as we call ideally perfect, we must
+allow something for the presence of a few hot-headed and irreconcilable
+members,--men of inflexible mind, who cannot adapt themselves to
+circumstances, and will refuse to play when they see the game going
+against them.
+
+[Sidenote: The men who were assembled.]
+
+All these points are well illustrated in the assemblage of men that
+framed our Federal Constitution. In its composition, this group of men
+left nothing to be desired. In its strength and in its weakness, it was
+an ideally perfect assembly. There were fifty-five men, all of them
+respectable for family and for personal qualities,--men who had been
+well educated, and had done something whereby to earn recognition in
+these troubled times. Twenty-nine were university men, graduates of
+Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, William and Mary, Oxford, Glasgow,
+and Edinburgh. Twenty-six were not university men, and among these were
+Washington and Franklin. Of the illustrious citizens who, for their
+public services, would naturally have been here, John Adams and Thomas
+Jefferson were in Europe; Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry
+Lee disapproved of the convention, and remained at home; and the
+greatest man of Rhode Island, Nathanael Greene, who--one likes to
+think--might have succeeded in bringing his state into the convention,
+had lately died of a sun-stroke, at the early age of forty-four.
+
+[Sidenote: James Madison.]
+
+Of the two most famous men present little need be said. The names of
+Washington and Franklin stood for supreme intelligence and consummate
+tact. Franklin had returned to this country two years before, and was
+now president of Pennsylvania. He was eighty-one years of age, the
+oldest man in the convention, as Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey, aged
+twenty-six, was the youngest. The two most profound and original
+thinkers in the company were but little older than Dayton. Alexander
+Hamilton was thirty, James Madison thirty-six. Among political writers,
+these two men must be ranked in the same order with Aristotle,
+Montesquieu, and Locke; and the "Federalist," their joint production, is
+the greatest treatise on government that has ever been written. John
+Jay, who contributed a few pages to this immortal volume, had not been
+sent to the convention, because New York did not wish to have it
+succeed. Along with Hamilton, New York sent two commonplace men, Robert
+Yates and John Lansing, who were extreme and obstinate Antifederalists;
+and the action of Hamilton, who was thus prevented from carrying the
+vote of his own state for any measure which he might propose, was in
+this way sadly embarrassed. For another reason, Hamilton failed to
+exert as much influence in the convention as one would have expected
+from his profound thought and his brilliant eloquence. Scarcely any of
+these men entertained what we should now call extreme democratic views.
+Scarcely any, perhaps, had that intense faith in the ultimate good sense
+of the people which was the most powerful characteristic of Jefferson.
+But Hamilton went to the other extreme, and expressed his distrust of
+popular government too plainly. His views were too aristocratic and his
+preference for centralization was too pronounced to carry conviction to
+his hearers. The leading part in the convention fell, therefore, to
+James Madison, a young man somewhat less brilliant than Hamilton, but
+superior to him in sobriety and balance of powers. Madison used to be
+called the "Father of the Constitution," and it is true that the
+government under which we live is more his work than that of any other
+one man. From early youth his life had been devoted to the study of
+history and the practice of statesmanship. He was a graduate of
+Princeton College, an earnest student, familiar with all the best
+literature of political science from Aristotle down to his own time, and
+he had given especial attention to the history of federal government in
+ancient Greece, and in Switzerland and Holland. At the age of
+twenty-five he had taken part in the Virginia convention which
+instructed the delegates from that state in Congress to bring forward
+the Declaration of Independence. During the last part of the war he was
+an active and influential member of Congress, where no one equalled or
+approached him for knowledge of English history and constitutional law.
+In 1784 he had returned to the Virginia legislature, and been foremost
+in securing the passage of the great act which gave complete religious
+freedom to the people of that state. No man understood better than he
+the causes of the alarming weakness of the federal government, and of
+the commercial disturbances and popular discontent of the time; nor had
+any one worked more zealously or more adroitly in bringing about the
+meeting of this convention. As he stood here now, a leader in the
+debate, there was nothing grand or imposing in his appearance. He was
+small of stature and slight in frame, like Hamilton, but he had none of
+Hamilton's personal magnetism. His manner was shy and prim, and blushes
+came often to his cheeks. At the same time, he had that rare dignity of
+unconscious simplicity which characterizes the earnest and disinterested
+scholar. He was exceedingly sweet-tempered, generous, and kind, but very
+hard to move from a path which, after long reflection, he had decided to
+be the right one. He looked at politics judicially, and was so little of
+a party man that on several occasions he was accused (quite wrongfully,
+as I hope hereafter to prove) of gross inconsistency. The position of
+leadership, which he won so early and kept so long, he held by sheer
+force of giant intelligence, sleepless industry, and an integrity which
+no man ever doubted. But he was above all things a man of peace. When in
+after years, as president of the United States, he was called upon to
+manage a great war, he was out of place, and his reputation for supreme
+ability was temporarily lowered. Here in the Federal Convention we are
+introduced to him at the noblest and most useful moment of his life.
+
+[Sidenote: Other leading members.]
+
+Of the fifty-five men here assembled, Washington, Franklin, Hamilton,
+and Madison were of the first order of ability. Many others in the room
+were gentlemen of more than ordinary talent and culture. There was John
+Dickinson, who had moved from Pennsylvania into Delaware, and now came
+to defend the equal rights of the smaller states. There was James Wilson
+of Pennsylvania, born and educated in Scotland, one of the most learned
+jurists this country has ever seen. Beside him sat the financier, Robert
+Morris, and his namesake Gouverneur Morris of Morrisania, near the city
+of New York, the originator of our decimal currency, and one of the
+far-sighted projectors of the Erie Canal. Then there was John Rutledge
+of South Carolina, who ever since the Stamp Act Congress had been the
+mainstay of his state; and with him were the two able and gallant
+Pinckneys. Caleb Strong, afterward ten times governor of Massachusetts,
+was a typical Puritan, hard-headed and supremely sensible; his
+colleague, Rufus King, already distinguished for his opposition to negro
+slavery, was a man of brilliant attainments. And there were George
+Wythe, the chancellor of Virginia, and Daniel Carroll of Maryland, who
+had played a prominent part in the events which led to the creation of a
+national domain. Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, afterward chief
+justice of the United States, was one of the ablest lawyers of his
+time; with him were Roger Sherman and William Johnson, the latter a
+Fellow of the Royal Society, and afterward president of Columbia
+College. The New Jersey delegation, consisting of William Livingston,
+David Brearley, William Paterson, and Jonathan Dayton, was a very strong
+one; and as to New Hampshire, it is enough to mention the name of John
+Langdon. Besides all these there were some twenty of less mark, men who
+said little, but listened and voted. And then there were the
+irreconcilables, Yates and Lansing, the two Antifederalists from New
+York; and four men of much greater ability, who took an important part
+in the proceedings, but could not be induced to accept the result. These
+four were Luther Martin of Maryland; George Mason and Edmund Randolph of
+Virginia; and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts.
+
+When these men had assembled in Independence Hall, they chose George
+Washington president of the convention. The doors were locked, and an
+injunction of strict secrecy was put upon every one. The results of
+their work were known in the following September, when the draft of the
+Federal Constitution was published. But just what was said and done in
+this secret conclave was not revealed until fifty years had passed, and
+the aged James Madison, the last survivor of those who sat there, had
+been gathered to his fathers. He kept a journal of the proceedings,
+which was published after his death, and upon the interesting story told
+in that journal we have now to enter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE FEDERAL CONVENTION.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Difficult problem before the convention.]
+
+[Sidenote: Washington's solemn appeal.]
+
+The Federal Convention did wisely in withholding its debates from the
+knowledge of the people. It was felt that discussion would be more
+untrammelled, and that its result ought to go before the country as the
+collective and unanimous voice of the convention. There was likely to be
+wrangling enough among themselves; but should their scheme be unfolded,
+bit by bit, before its parts could be viewed in their mutual relations,
+popular excitement would become intense, there might be riots, and an
+end would be put to that attitude of mental repose so necessary for the
+constructive work that was to be done. It was thought best that the
+scheme should be put forth as a completed whole, and that for several
+years, even, until the new system of government should have had a fair
+trial, the traces of the individual theories and preferences concerned
+in its formation should not be revealed. For it was generally assumed
+that a system of government new in some important respects would be
+proposed by the convention, and while the people awaited the result the
+wildest speculations and rumours were current. A few hoped, and many
+feared, that some scheme of monarchy would be established. Such
+surmises found their way across the ocean, and hopes were expressed in
+England that, should a king be chosen, it might be a younger son of
+George III. It was even hinted, with alarm, that, through gratitude to
+our recent allies, we might be persuaded to offer the crown to some
+member of the royal family of France. No such thoughts were entertained,
+however, by any person present in the convention. Some of the delegates
+came with the design of simply amending the articles of confederation by
+taking away from the states the power of regulating commerce, and
+intrusting this power to Congress. Others felt that if the work were not
+done thoroughly now another chance might never be offered; and these men
+thought it necessary to abolish the confederation, and establish a
+federal republic, in which the general government should act directly
+upon the people. The difficult problem was how to frame a plan of this
+sort which people could be made to understand and adopt. At the very
+outset some of the delegates began to exhibit symptoms of that peculiar
+kind of moral cowardice which is wont to afflict free governments, and
+of which American history furnishes so many instructive examples. It was
+suggested that palliatives and half measures would be far more likely to
+find favour with the people than any thorough-going reform, when
+Washington suddenly interposed with a brief but immortal speech, which
+ought to be blazoned in letters of gold, and posted on the wall of every
+American assembly that shall meet to nominate a candidate, or declare a
+policy, or pass a law, so long as the weakness of human nature shall
+endure. Rising from his president's chair, his tall figure drawn up to
+its full height, he exclaimed in tones unwontedly solemn with suppressed
+emotion, "It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted.
+Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If, to please the
+people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward
+defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the
+honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God."
+
+This outburst of noble eloquence carried conviction to every one, and
+henceforth we do not hear that any attempt was avowedly made to avoid
+the issues as they came up. It was a most wholesome tonic. It braced up
+the convention to high resolves, and impressed upon all the delegates
+that they were in a situation where faltering or trifling was both
+wicked and dangerous. From that moment the mood in which they worked
+caught something from the glorious spirit of Washington. There was need
+of such high purpose, for two plans were presently laid before the
+meeting, which, for a moment, brought out one of the chief elements of
+antagonism existing between the states, and which at first seemed
+irreconcilable. It was the happy compromise which united and harmonised
+these two plans that smoothed the further work of the convention, and
+made it possible for a stable and powerful government to be constructed.
+
+[Sidenote: The root of all the difficulties.]
+
+The first of these plans was known as the Virginia plan. It was agreed
+upon in a committee of the delegates of that state, and was brought
+forward by Edmund Randolph, governor of Virginia, in the name of the
+state, but its chief author was Madison. It struck instantly at the root
+of the difficulties under which the country had been staggering ever
+since the Declaration of Independence. The federal government had
+possessed no means of enforcing obedience to its laws. Its edicts were
+without a sanction; and this was because they operated upon states, and
+not upon individuals. When an individual defies the law, you can lock
+him up in jail, or levy an execution upon his property. The immense
+force of the community is arrayed against him, and he is as helpless as
+a straw on the billows of the ocean. He cannot raise a militia to
+protect himself. But when the law is defied by a state, it is quite
+otherwise. You cannot put a state into jail, nor seize its goods; you
+can only make war on it, and if you try that expedient you find that the
+state is not helpless. Its local pride and prejudices are aroused
+against you, and its militia will turn out in full force to uphold the
+infraction of law. Against this obstinate and exasperated military force
+what superior force can you bring? Under some rare combination of
+circumstances you might get the military force of several of the other
+states; but ordinarily, when what you are trying to do is simply to
+enforce every-day laws, and when you simply represent a distrusted
+general government in conflict with a local government, you cannot do
+this. The other states will sympathize with the delinquent state; they
+will feel that the very same condition of things which leads you to
+attack that state to-day will lead you to attack some other state
+to-morrow. Hence you cannot get any military help, and you are
+powerless.
+
+Such was the case with the Continental Congress. A novel and distrusted
+institution, it was called upon to enforce its laws upon
+long-established communities, full of sturdy independence and obstinate
+local prejudices. It was able to act, though with clumsy slowness, as
+long as there was an enemy in the field who was even more dreaded. But
+as soon as this enemy had been beaten out of sight it could not act at
+all. This had been because it did not represent the American people, but
+only the American states. The vital force which moved it was not the
+resistless force of a whole people, but only a shadowy semblance of
+force, derived from a theoretical consent of thirteen corporate bodies,
+which in their corporate capacity could never be compelled to agree
+about anything under the sun; and unless compelled they would not agree.
+Four years of disturbance in every part of the country, in the course of
+which troops had been called out in several states, and civil war had
+been narrowly averted at least half a dozen times, had proved this
+beyond all cavil. With almost any other people than the Americans civil
+war would have come already. With all the vast future interests that
+were involved in these quarrels looming up before their keen, sagacious
+minds, it was a wonder that they had been kept from coming to blows.
+Such self-restraint had been greatly to their credit. It was the blessed
+fruit of more than a century of government by free discussion, while yet
+these states were colonies, peopled by the very cream of English
+freemen who had fought the decisive battle of civil and religious
+freedom for mankind in that long crisis when the Invincible Armada was
+overwhelmed and the Long Parliament won its triumphs. Such
+self-restraint had this people shown in days of trial, under a vicious
+government adopted in a time of hurry and sore distress. But late events
+had gone far to show that it could not endure.
+
+The words of Randolph's opening speech are worth quoting in this
+connection. "The confederation," he said, "was made in the infancy of
+the science of constitutions, when the inefficiency of requisitions was
+unknown; when no commercial discord had arisen among states; when no
+rebellion like that in Massachusetts had broken out; when foreign debts
+were not urgent; when the havoc of paper money had not been foreseen;
+when treaties had not been violated; and when nothing better could have
+been conceded by states jealous of their sovereignty. But it offered no
+security against foreign invasion, for Congress could neither prevent
+nor conduct a war, nor punish infractions of treaties or of the law of
+nations, nor control particular states from provoking war. The federal
+government has no constitutional power to check a quarrel between
+separate states; nor to suppress a rebellion in any one of them; nor to
+establish a productive impost; nor to counteract the commercial
+regulations of other nations; nor to defend itself against the
+encroachments of the states. From the manner in which it has been
+ratified in many of the states, it cannot be claimed to be paramount to
+the state constitutions; so that there is a prospect of anarchy from the
+inherent laxity of the government. As the remedy, the government to be
+established must have for its basis the republican principle."
+
+[Sidenote: The Virginia plan; a radical cure.]
+
+Having thus tersely stated the whole problem, Randolph went on to
+present the Virginia plan. To make the federal government operate
+directly upon individuals, one provision was absolutely necessary. It
+did not solve the whole problem, but it was an indispensable beginning.
+This was the proposal that there should be a national legislature, in
+which the American _people_ instead of the American states should be
+represented. For the purposes of federal legislation, there must be an
+assembly elected directly by the people, and with its members
+apportioned according to population. There must be such an assembly as
+our present House of Representatives, standing in the same immediate
+relation to the people of the whole country as was sustained by the
+assembly of each separate state to the people of that state. Without
+such direct representation of the whole people in the Federal Congress,
+it would be impossible to achieve one secure step toward the radical
+reform of the weaknesses and vices of the confederation. It was the only
+way in which the vexed question of one nation or thirteen could be made
+to yield a satisfactory answer. At the same time it could not be denied
+that such a proposal was revolutionary in character. It paved the way
+for a national consolidation which might go further than any one could
+foresee, and much further than was desirable. The moribund Congress of
+the Confederation, with its delegates chosen by the state assemblies,
+and casting its vote simply by states, had utterly failed to serve as a
+national legislature. There was a good deal of truth in what John Adams
+once said of it, that it was more a diplomatic than a legislative body.
+It was, indeed, because of this consciously felt diplomatic character
+that it was called a Congress, and not a Parliament. In its lack of
+coercive power it resembled the international congresses of Europe
+rather than the supreme legislature of any country. To substitute
+abruptly for such a body a truly national legislature, based not upon
+states but upon population, was quietly to inaugurate a revolution of no
+less magnitude than that which had lately severed us from Great Britain.
+So bold a step, while all-essential in order to complete that
+revolution, and make its victorious issue fortunate instead of
+disastrous to the American people, was sufficiently revolutionary to
+awaken the fears of many members of the Federal Convention. To the
+familiar state governments which had so long possessed their love and
+allegiance, it was super-adding a new and untried government, which it
+was feared would swallow up the states and everywhere extinguish local
+independence. Nor can it be said that such fears were unreasonable. Our
+federal government has indeed shown a strong tendency to encroach upon
+the province of the state governments, especially since our late Civil
+War. Too much centralization is our danger to-day, as the weakness of
+the federal tie was our danger a century ago. The rule of the
+Federalist party was needed in 1789 as the rule of the Republican party
+was needed in 1861, to put a curb upon the centrifugal tendencies. But
+after Federalism had fairly done its great work, at the beginning of the
+nineteenth century, it was well that the administration of our national
+affairs should pass into the hands of the party to which Thomas
+Jefferson and Samuel Adams belonged, and which Madison, in his calm
+statesmanlike wisdom, had come to join. And now that, in our own day,
+the disruptive forces have been even more thoroughly and effectually
+overcome, it is time for the principles of that party to be reasserted
+with fresh emphasis. If the day should ever arrive (which God forbid!)
+when the people of the different parts of our country shall allow their
+local affairs to be administered by prefects sent from Washington, and
+when the self-government of the states shall have been so far lost as
+that of the departments of France, or even so far as that of the
+counties of England,--on that day the progressive political career of
+the American people will have come to an end, and the hopes that have
+been built upon it for the future happiness and prosperity of mankind
+will be wrecked forever.
+
+I do not think that the historian writing at the present day need fear
+any such direful calamity, for the past century has shown most
+instructively how, in such a society as ours, the sense of political
+dangers slowly makes its way through the whole mass of the people, until
+movements at length are made to avert them, and the pendulum swings in
+the opposite direction. The history of political parties in the United
+States is especially rich in lessons of this sort. Compared with the
+statesmen of the Federal Convention, we are at a great advantage in
+studying this question of national consolidation; and we have no excuse
+for failing to comprehend the attitude of the men who dreaded the
+creation of a national legislature as the entering wedge which would by
+and by rend asunder the structure of our liberties. The great mind of
+Madison was one of the first to entertain distinctly the noble
+conception of two kinds of government operating at one and the same time
+upon the same individuals, harmonious with each other, but each supreme
+in its own sphere. Such is the fundamental conception of our partly
+federal, partly national, government, which appears throughout the
+Virginia plan as well as in the Constitution which grew out of it. It
+was a political conception of a higher order than had ever before been
+entertained; it took a great deal of discussion to make it clear to the
+minds of the delegates generally; and the struggle over this initial
+measure of a national legislature was so bitter as to come near breaking
+up the convention.
+
+In its original shape the Virginia plan went much further toward
+national consolidation than the Constitution as adopted. The reaction
+against the evils of the loose-jointed confederation, which Randolph so
+ably summed up, was extreme. According to the Virginia plan, the
+national legislature was to be composed of two houses, like the
+legislatures of the several states. The members of the lower house
+should be chosen directly by the people; members of the upper house, or
+Senate, should be elected by the lower house out of persons nominated by
+the state legislatures. In both the lower and the upper branches of this
+national legislature the votes were to be the votes of individuals, and
+no longer the votes of states, as in the Continental Congress. Under the
+articles of confederation each state had an equal vote, and two thirds
+were required for every important measure. Under the proposed
+Constitution each state was to have a number of representatives
+proportionate either to its wealth or to the number of its free
+inhabitants, and a bare majority of votes was to suffice to pass all
+measures in the ordinary course of business; and these rules were to
+apply both to the lower house and to the Senate. To adopt such a plan
+would overthrow the equality of the states altogether. It would give
+Virginia, the greatest state, sixteen representatives, where Georgia,
+the smallest state, had but one; and besides, as the votes were no
+longer to be taken by states, individual members could combine in any
+way they pleased, quite irrespective of state lines. It was not strange
+that to many delegates in the convention such a beginning should have
+seemed revolutionary. This impression was deepened when it was further
+proposed not only to clothe this national legislature with original
+powers of legislation in all cases to which the several states are
+incompetent, but also to allow it to set aside at discretion such state
+laws as it might deem unconstitutional. It is interesting to find
+Madison, whose Federalism afterward came to be so moderate, now
+appearing as the earnest defender of this extreme provision, so
+incompatible with state rights. But in Madison's mind at this moment, in
+the actual presence of the anarchy of the confederation, the only
+alternative which seemed to present itself was that of armed coercion.
+"A negative on state laws," he said, "is the mildest expedient that can
+be devised for enforcing a national decree. Should no such precaution be
+engrafted, the only remedy would be coercion. The negative would render
+the use of force unnecessary. This prerogative of the general government
+is the great pervading principle that must control the centrifugal
+tendency of the states, which, without it, will continually fly out of
+their proper orbits, and destroy the order and harmony of the political
+system." But these views were not destined to find favour with the
+convention, which finally left the matter to be much more satisfactorily
+adjusted through the medium of the federal judiciary.
+
+Such were the fundamental provisions of the Virginia plan with regard to
+the national legislature. To carry out the laws, it was proposed that
+there should be a national executive, to be chosen by the national
+legislature for a short term, and ineligible a second time. Whether the
+executive power should be invested in a single person or in several was
+not specified. As will be seen hereafter, this was regarded as an
+extremely delicate point, with which it was thought best not to
+embarrass the Virginia plan at the outset. Passing lightly over this, it
+was urged that, in order to complete the action of the government upon
+individuals, there must be a national judiciary to determine cases
+arising under the Constitution, cases in admiralty, and cases in which
+different states or their citizens appear as parties. The judges were to
+be chosen by the national legislature, to hold office during good
+behaviour.
+
+[Sidenote: First reception of the Virginia plan.]
+
+Such, in its main outlines, was the plan which Randolph laid before the
+convention, in the name of the Virginia delegation. An audacious scheme!
+exclaimed some of the delegates; it was enough to take your breath away.
+If they were going to begin like this, they might as well go home, for
+all discussion would be time wasted. They were not sent there to set on
+foot a revolution, but to amend and strengthen the articles of
+confederation. But this audacious plan simply abolished the
+Confederation in order to substitute for it a consolidated national
+government. Foremost in urging this objection were Yates and Lansing of
+New York, with Luther Martin of Maryland. Dickinson said it was pushing
+things altogether too far, and his colleague, George Read, hinted that
+the delegation from Delaware might feel obliged to withdraw from the
+convention if the election of representatives according to population
+should be adopted. By the tact of Madison and Gouverneur Morris this
+question was postponed for a few days. After some animated discussion,
+the issues became so narrowed and defined that they could be taken up
+one by one. It was first decided that the national legislature should
+consist of two branches. Then came a warm discussion as to whether the
+members of the lower house should be elected directly by the people.
+Curiously enough, in a country where the principle of popular election
+had long since taken such deep root, where the assemblies of the several
+states had been chosen by the people from the very beginning, there was
+some doubt as to whether the same principle could safely be applied to
+the national House of Representatives. Gerry, with his head full of the
+Shays rebellion and the "Know Ye" measures of the neighbouring state,
+thought the people could not be trusted. "The people do not want
+virtue," said he, "but are the dupes of pretended patriots." Roger
+Sherman took a similar view, and was supported by Martin, Rutledge, and
+both the Pinckneys; but the sounder opinion prevailed. On this point
+Hamilton was at one with Mason, Wilson, and Dickinson. The proposed
+assembly, said Mason, was to be, so to speak, our House of Commons, and
+ought to know and sympathize with every part of the community. It ought
+to have at heart the rights and interests of every class of the people,
+and in no other way could this end be so completely attained as by
+popular election. "Yes," added Wilson, "without the confidence of the
+people no government, least of all a republican government, can long
+subsist.... The election of the first branch by the people is not the
+corner-stone only, but the foundation of the fabric." "It is essential
+to the democratic rights of the community," said Hamilton, "that the
+first branch be directly elected by the people." Madison argued
+powerfully on the same side, and the question was finally decided in
+favour of popular election.
+
+[Sidenote: Antagonism between large states and small states.]
+
+[Sidenote: The New Jersey plan; a feeble palliative.]
+
+It was now the 4th of June, when the great question came up which nearly
+wrecked the convention before it was settled, after a whole month of
+stormy debate. This was the question as to how the states should be
+represented in the new Congress. On the Virginia plan, the smaller
+states would be virtually swamped. Unless they could have equal votes,
+without regard to wealth or population, they would be at the mercy of
+the great states. In the division which ensued, the four most populous
+states--Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and North
+Carolina--favoured the Virginia plan; and they succeeded in carrying
+South Carolina with them. Georgia, too, which, though weak at that
+moment, possessed considerable room for expansion, voted upon the same
+side. On the other hand, the states of Connecticut, New Jersey,
+Delaware, and Maryland--which were not only small in area, but were cut
+off from further expansion by their geographical situation--were not
+inclined to give up their equal vote in either branch of the national
+legislature. At this stage of the proceedings the delegation from New
+Hampshire had not yet arrived upon the scene. On several occasions the
+majority of the Maryland delegation went with the larger states, but
+Luther Martin, always opposed to the Virginia plan, usually succeeded in
+dividing the vote of the delegation. Of the New York members, Yates and
+Lansing, here as always, thwarted Hamilton by voting with the smaller
+states. Their policy throughout was one of obstruction. The members from
+Connecticut were disposed to be conciliatory; but New Jersey was
+obstinate and implacable. She knew what it was to be tyrannized over by
+powerful neighbours. The wrongs she had suffered from New York and
+Pennsylvania rankled in the minds of her delegates. Accordingly, in the
+name of the smaller states, William Paterson laid before the convention
+the so-called "New Jersey plan" for the amendment of the articles of
+confederation. This scheme admitted a federal legislature, consisting of
+a single house, an executive in the form of a council to be chosen by
+Congress, and likewise a federal judiciary, with powers less extensive
+than those contemplated by the Virginia plan. It gave to Congress the
+power to regulate foreign and domestic commerce, to levy duties on
+imports, and even to raise internal revenue by means of a Stamp Act. But
+with all this apparent liberality on the surface, the New Jersey plan
+was vicious at bottom. It did not really give Congress the power to act
+immediately upon individuals. The federal legislature which it proposed
+was to represent states, and not individuals, and the states were to
+vote equally, without regard to wealth or population. If things were to
+be left in this shape, there was no security that the powers granted to
+Congress could ever be really exercised. Nay, it was almost certain that
+they could not be put into operation. It was easy enough on paper to
+give Congress the permission to levy duties and regulate commerce, but
+such a permission would amount to nothing unless Congress were armed
+with the power of enforcing its decrees upon individuals. And it could
+in no wise acquire such power unless as the creature of the people, and
+not of the states. The New Jersey plan, therefore, furnished no real
+remedy for the evils which afflicted the country. It was vigorously
+opposed by Hamilton, Madison, Wilson, and King. Hamilton, indeed, took
+this occasion to offer a plan of his own, which, in addition to
+Madison's scheme of a purely national legislature, contained the
+features of a tenure for life or good behaviour, for the executive and
+the members of the upper house. But to most of the delegates this scheme
+seemed too little removed from a monarchy, and Hamilton's brilliant
+speech in its favour, while applauded by many, was supported by none.
+The weighty arguments of Wilson, King, and Madison prevailed, and the
+New Jersey plan lost its original shape when it was decided that
+Congress should consist of two houses. The principle of equal state
+representation, however, remained as a stumbling-block. Paterson,
+supported by his able colleague Brearley, as well as by Martin and the
+two irreconcilables from New York, stoutly maintained that to depart
+from this principle would be to exceed the powers of the convention,
+which assuredly was not intended to remodel the government from
+beginning to end. But Randolph answered, "When the salvation of the
+republic is at stake, it would be treason to our trust not to propose
+what we find necessary;" and Hamilton pithily reminded the delegates
+that as they were there only for the purpose of recommending a scheme
+which would have to be submitted to the states for acceptance, they
+need not be deterred by any false scruples from using their wits to the
+best possible advantage. The debate on the merits of the question was an
+angry one. According to the Virginia plan, said Brearly, the three
+states of Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania will carry
+everything before them. "It was known to him, from facts within New
+Jersey, that where large and small counties were united into a district
+for electing representatives for the district, the large counties always
+carried their point, and consequently the large states would do so....
+Was it fair, on the other hand, that Georgia should have an equal vote
+with Virginia? He would not say it was. What remedy, then? One only:
+that a map of the United States be spread out, that all the existing
+boundaries be erased, and that a new partition of the whole be made into
+thirteen equal parts." "Yes," said Paterson, "a confederacy supposes
+sovereignty in the members composing it, and sovereignty supposes
+equality. If we are to be considered as a nation, all state distinctions
+must be abolished, the whole must be thrown into hotchpot, and when an
+equal division is made then there may be fairly an equality of
+representation." This argument was repeated with a triumphant air, as
+seeming to reduce the Virginia plan to absurdity. Paterson went on to
+say that "there was no more reason that a great individual state,
+contributing much, should have more votes than a small one, contributing
+little, than that a rich individual citizen should have more votes than
+an indigent one. If the ratable property of A was to that of B as forty
+to one, ought A, for that reason, to have forty times as many votes as
+B?... Give the large states an influence in proportion to their
+magnitude, and what will be the consequence? Their ambition will be
+proportionally increased, and the small states will have everything to
+fear. It was once proposed by Galloway [in the first Continental
+Congress] that America should be represented in the British Parliament,
+and then be bound by its laws. America could not have been entitled to
+more than one third of the representatives which would fall to the share
+of Great Britain: would American rights and interests have been safe
+under an authority thus constituted?" Then, warming with the subject, he
+exclaimed, If the great states wish to unite on such a plan, "let them
+unite if they please, but let them remember that they have no authority
+to compel the others to unite.... Shall I submit the welfare of New
+Jersey with five votes in a council where Virginia has sixteen?... I
+will never consent to the proposed plan. I will not only oppose it here,
+but on my return home will do everything in my power to defeat it there.
+Neither my state nor myself will ever submit to tyranny."
+
+Paterson was ably answered by James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, who pointed
+out the absurdity of giving 180,000 men in one part of the country as
+much weight in the national legislature as 750,000 in another part. It
+is unjust, he said. "The gentleman from New Jersey is candid. He
+declares his opinions boldly. I commend him for it. I will be equally
+candid.... I never will confederate on his principles." The convention
+grew nervous and excited over this seemingly irreconcilable antagonism.
+The discussion was kept up with much learning and acuteness by Madison,
+Ellsworth, and Martin, and history was ransacked for testimony from the
+Amphiktyonic Council to Old Sarum, and back again to the Lykian League.
+Madison, rightly reading the future, declared that if once the proposed
+union should be formed, the real danger would come not from the rivalry
+between large and small states, but from the antagonistic interests of
+the slave-holding and non-slaveholding states. Hamilton pointed out that
+in the state of New York five counties had a majority of the
+representatives, and yet the citizens of the other counties were in no
+danger of tyranny, as the laws have an equal operation upon all. Rufus
+King called attention to the fact that the rights of Scotland were
+secure from encroachments, although her representation in Parliament was
+necessarily smaller than that of England. But New Jersey and Delaware,
+mindful of recent grievances, were not to be argued down or soothed.
+Gunning Bedford of Delaware was especially violent. "Pretences to
+support ambition," said he, "are never wanting. The cry is, Where is the
+danger? and it is insisted that although the powers of the general
+government will be increased, yet it will be for the good of the whole;
+and although the three great states form nearly a majority of the people
+of America, they never will injure the lesser states. _Gentlemen, I do
+not trust you._ If you possess the power, the abuse of it could not be
+checked; and what then would prevent you from exercising it to our
+destruction?... Sooner than be ruined, _there are foreign powers who
+will take us by the hand_. I say this not to threaten or intimidate, but
+that we should reflect seriously before we act." This language called
+forth a rebuke from Rufus King. "I am concerned," said he, "for what
+fell from the gentleman from Delaware,--_take a foreign power by the
+hand!_ I am sorry he mentioned it, and I hope he is able to excuse it to
+himself on the score of passion."
+
+[Sidenote: The Connecticut compromise.]
+
+The situation had become dangerous. "The convention," said Martin, "was
+on the verge of dissolution, scarce held together by the strength of a
+hair." When things were looking darkest, Oliver Ellsworth and Roger
+Sherman suggested a compromise. "Yes," said Franklin, "when a joiner
+wishes to fit two boards, he sometimes pares off a bit from both." The
+famous Connecticut compromise led the way to the arrangement which was
+ultimately adopted, according to which the national principle was to
+prevail in the House of Representatives, and the federal principle in
+the Senate. But at first the compromise met with little favour. Neither
+party was willing to give way. "No compromise for us," said Luther
+Martin. "You must give each state an equal suffrage, or our business is
+at an end." "Then we are come to a full stop," said Roger Sherman. "I
+suppose it was never meant that we should break up without doing
+something." When the question as to allowing equality of suffrage to the
+states in the Federal Senate was put to vote, the result was a tie.
+Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland--five
+states--voted in the affirmative; Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
+North Carolina, and South Carolina--five states--voted in the negative;
+the vote of Georgia was divided and lost. It was Abraham Baldwin, a
+native of Connecticut and lately a tutor in Yale College, a recent
+emigrant to Georgia, who thus divided the vote of that state, and
+prevented a decision which would in all probability have broken up the
+convention. His state was the last to vote, and the house was hushed in
+anxious expectation, when this brave and wise young man yielded his
+private conviction to what he saw to be the paramount necessity of
+keeping the convention together. All honour to his memory!
+
+The moral effect of the tie vote was in favour of the Connecticut
+compromise; for no one could doubt that the little states, New Hampshire
+and Rhode Island, had they been represented in the division, would have
+voted upon that side. The matter was referred to a committee as
+impartially constituted as possible, with Elbridge Gerry as chairman;
+and On the 5th of July, after a recess of three days, the committee
+reported in favour of the compromise. Fresh objections on the part of
+the large states were now offered by Wilson and Gouverneur Morris, and
+gloom again overhung the convention. Gerry said that, while he did not
+fully approve of the compromise, he had nevertheless supported it,
+because he felt sure that if nothing were done war and confusion must
+ensue, the old confederation being already virtually at an end. George
+Mason observed that "it could not be more inconvenient for any
+gentleman to remain absent from his private affairs than it was for him;
+but he would bury his bones in that city rather than expose his country
+to the consequences of a dissolution of the convention." Mason's
+subsequent behaviour was hardly in keeping with the promise of this
+brave speech, and in Gerry we shall observe like inconsistency. At
+present a timely speech from Madison soothed the troubled waters; but it
+was only after eleven days of somewhat more tranquil debate that the
+compromise was adopted on the 16th of July. Even then it was but
+narrowly secured. The ayes were Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware,
+Maryland, and North Carolina,--five states; the noes were Pennsylvania,
+Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia,--four states; Gerry and Strong
+against King and Gorham divided the vote of Massachusetts, which was
+thus lost. New York, for reasons presently to be stated, was absent. It
+is accordingly to Elbridge Gerry and Caleb Strong that posterity are
+indebted for here preventing a tie, and thus bringing the vexed question
+to a happy issue.
+
+According to the compromise secured with so much difficulty, it was
+arranged that in the lower house population was to be represented, and
+in the upper house the states, each of which, without regard to size,
+was forever to be entitled to two senators. In the lower house there was
+to be one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants, but at
+Washington's suggestion the number was changed to 30,000, so as to
+increase the house, which then seemed likely to be too small in numbers.
+Some one suggested that with the growth of population that rate would
+make an unwieldy house within a hundred and fifty years from that time,
+whereat Gorham of Massachusetts laughed to scorn the idea that any
+system of government they could devise in that room could possibly last
+a hundred and fifty years. The difficulty has been surmounted by
+enlarging from time to time the basis of representation. It now seemed
+inadvisable that the senators should be chosen by the lower house out of
+persons nominated by the state legislatures; and it was accordingly
+decided that they should be not merely nominated, but elected, by the
+state legislatures. Thus the Senate was made quite independent of the
+lower house. At the same time, the senators were to vote as individuals,
+and thus the old practice of voting by states, except in certain
+peculiar emergencies, was finally done away with.
+
+[Sidenote: It was a decisive victory for Madison's scheme.]
+
+[Sidenote: Irreconcilables go home.]
+
+It is seldom, if ever, that a political compromise leaves things evenly
+balanced. Almost every such arrangement, when once set working, weighs
+down the scales decidedly to the one side or the other. The Connecticut
+compromise was really a decisive victory for Madison and his party,
+although it modified the Virginia plan so considerably. They could well
+afford to defer to the fears and prejudices of the smaller states in the
+structure of the Senate, for by securing a lower house, which
+represented the American people, and not the American states, they won
+the whole battle in so far as the question of radically reforming the
+government was concerned. As soon as the foundation was thus laid for a
+government which should act directly upon individuals, it obviously
+became necessary to abandon the articles of confederation, and work out
+a new constitution in all its details. The plan, as now reported,
+omitted the obnoxious adjective "national," and spoke of the _federal_
+legislature and _federal_ courts. But to the men who were still blindly
+wedded to the old confederation this soothing change of phraseology did
+not conceal their defeat. On the very day that the compromise was
+favourably reported by the committee, Yates and Lansing quit the
+convention in disgust, and went home to New York. After the departure of
+these uncongenial colleagues, Hamilton might have acted with power, had
+he not known too well that the sentiment of his state did not support
+him. As a mere individual he could do but little, and accordingly he
+went home for a while to attend to pressing business, returning just in
+time to take part in the closing scenes. His share in the work of
+framing the Federal Constitution was very small. About the time that
+Hamilton returned, Luther Martin, whose wrath had waxed hotter every
+day, as he saw power after power extended to the federal government, at
+length gave way and went back to Maryland, vowing that he would have
+nothing more to do with such high-handed proceedings.
+
+While the Connecticut compromise thus scattered a few scintillations of
+discontent, and relieved the convention of some of its most discordant
+elements, its general effect was wonderfully harmonizing. The men who
+had opposed the Virginia plan only through their dread of the larger
+states were now more than conciliated. The concession of equal
+representation in the Senate turned out to have been a master stroke of
+diplomacy. As soon as the little states were assured of an equal share
+in the control of one of the two central legislative bodies, they
+suddenly forgot their scruples about thoroughly overhauling the
+government, and none were readier than they to intrust extensive powers
+to the new Congress. Paterson of New Jersey, the fiercest opponent of
+the Virginia plan, became from that time forth to the end of his life
+the most devoted of Federalists.
+
+[Sidenote: Other antagonisms; vague dread of the future west.]
+
+[Sidenote: Antagonism between slave states and free states.]
+
+That first step which proverbially gives the most trouble had now been
+fairly taken. But other compromises were needed before the work of
+construction could properly be carried out. As the antagonism between
+great and small states disappeared from the scene, other antagonisms
+appeared. It is worth noting that just for a moment there was revealed a
+glimmering of jealousy and dread on the part of the eastern states
+toward those of which the foundations were laid in the northwestern
+territory. Many people in New England feared that their children would
+be drawn westward in such numbers as to create immense states beyond the
+Ohio; and thus it was foreseen that the relative political weight of New
+England in the future would be diminished. To a certain extent this
+prediction has been justified by events, but Roger Sherman rightly
+maintained that it afforded no just grounds for dread. King and Gerry
+introduced a most illiberal and mischievous motion, that the total
+number of representatives from new states must never be allowed to
+exceed the total number from the original thirteen. Such an arrangement,
+which would surely have been enough to create that antagonism between
+east and west which it sought to forestall and avoid, was supported by
+Massachusetts and Connecticut, with Delaware and Maryland; but it was
+defeated by the combination of New Jersey with the four states south of
+Maryland. The ground was thus cleared for a very different kind of
+sectional antagonism,--that which, as Madison truly said, would prove
+the most deep-seated and enduring of all,--the antagonism between north
+and south. The first great struggle between the pro-slavery and
+anti-slavery parties began in the Federal Convention, and it resulted in
+the first two of the long series of compromises by which the
+irrepressible conflict was postponed until the north had waxed strong
+enough to confront the dreaded spectre of secession, and, summoning all
+its energies in one stupendous effort, exorcise it forever. From this
+moment down to 1865 we shall continually be made to realize how the
+American people had entered into the shadow of the coming Civil War
+before they had fairly emerged from that of the Revolution; and as we
+pass from scene to scene of the solemn story, we shall learn how to be
+forever grateful for the sudden and final clearing of the air wrought by
+that frightful storm which men not yet old can still so well remember.
+
+The first compromise related to the distribution of representatives
+between north and south. Was representation in the lower house of
+Congress to be proportioned to wealth, or to population; and if the
+latter, were all the inhabitants, or only all the free inhabitants, to
+be counted? It was soon agreed that wealth was difficult to reckon and
+population easy to count; and to an extent sufficient for all ordinary
+purposes, population might serve as an index of wealth. A state with
+500,000 inhabitants would be in most cases richer than one with 400,000.
+In those days, when cities were few and small, this was approximately
+true. In our day it is not at all true. A state with large commercial
+and manufacturing cities is sure to be much richer than a state in which
+the population is chiefly rural. The population of Massachusetts is
+somewhat smaller than that of Indiana; but her aggregate wealth is more
+than double that of Indiana. Disparities like this, which do not trouble
+us to-day, would have troubled the Federal Convention. We no longer
+think it desirable to give political representation to wealth, or to
+anything but persons. We have become thoroughly democratic, but our
+great-grandfathers had not. To them it seemed quite essential that
+wealth should be represented as well as persons; but they got over the
+main difficulty easily, because under the economic conditions of that
+time population could serve roughly as an index to wealth, and it was
+much easier to count noses than to assess the value of farms and stock.
+
+[Sidenote: Were slaves to be reckoned as persons or as chattels?]
+
+But now there was in all the southern states, and in most of the
+northern, a peculiar species of collective existence, which might be
+described either as wealth or as population. As human beings the slaves
+might be described as population, but in the eye of the law they were
+chattels. In the northern states slavery was rapidly disappearing, and
+the property in negroes was so small as to be hardly worth considering;
+while south of Mason and Dixon's line this peculiar kind of property was
+the chief wealth of the states. But clearly, in apportioning
+representation, in sharing political power in the federal assembly, the
+same rule should have been applied impartially to all the states. At
+this point, Pierce Butler and Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina
+insisted that slaves were part of the population, and as such must be
+counted in ascertaining the basis of representation. A fierce and
+complicated dispute ensued. The South Carolina proposal suggested a
+uniform rule, but it was one that would scarcely alter the political
+weight of the north, while it would vastly increase the weight of the
+south; and it would increase it most in just the quarter where slavery
+was most deeply rooted. The power of South Carolina, as a member of the
+Union, would be doubled by such a measure. Hence the northern delegates
+maintained that slaves, as chattels, ought no more to be reckoned as
+part of the population than houses or ships. "Has a man in Virginia,"
+exclaimed Paterson, "a number of votes in proportion to the number of
+his slaves? And if negroes are not represented in the states to which
+they belong, why should they be represented in the general
+government?... If a meeting of the people were to take place in a slave
+state, would the slaves vote? They would not. Why then should they be
+represented in a federal government?" "I can never agree," said
+Gouverneur Morris, "to give such encouragement to the slave-trade as
+would be given by allowing the southern states a representation for
+their negroes.... I would sooner submit myself to a tax for paying for
+all the negroes in the United States than saddle posterity with such a
+constitution."
+
+[Sidenote: The three fifths compromise; a genuine English solution, if
+ever there was one.]
+
+The attitude taken by Virginia was that of peace-maker. On the one hand,
+such men as Washington, Madison, and Mason, who were earnestly hoping to
+see their own state soon freed from the curse of slavery, could not fail
+to perceive that if Virginia were to gain an increase of political
+weight from the existence of that institution, the difficulty of getting
+the state legislature to abolish it would be enhanced. But on the other
+hand, they saw that South Carolina was inexorable, and that her refusal
+to adopt the Constitution for this reason would certainly carry Georgia
+with her, and probably North Carolina, also. Even had South Carolina
+alone been involved, it was not simply a question of forming a Union
+which should either include her or leave her out in the cold. The case
+was much more complicated than that. It was really doubtful if, without
+the cordial assistance of South Carolina, a Union could be formed at
+all. A Federal Constitution had not only to be framed, but it had to be
+presented to the thirteen states for adoption. It was by no means clear
+that enough states would ratify it to enable the experiment of the new
+government to go into operation. New York and Rhode Island were known to
+be bitterly opposed to it; Massachusetts could not be counted on as
+sure; to add South Carolina to this list would be to endanger
+everything. The event justified this caution. We shall hereafter see
+that it was absolutely necessary to satisfy South Carolina, and that but
+for her ratification, coming just at the moment when it did, the work of
+the Federal Convention would probably have been done in vain. It was a
+clear perception of the wonderful complication of interests involved in
+the final appeal to the people that induced the Virginia statesmen to
+take the lead in a compromise. Four years before, in 1783, when Congress
+was endeavouring to apportion the quotas of revenue to be required of
+the several states, a similar dispute had arisen. If taxation were to be
+distributed according to population, it made a great difference whether
+slaves were to be counted as population or not. If slaves were to be
+counted, the southern states would have to pay more than their equitable
+share into the federal treasury; if slaves were not to be counted, it
+was argued at the north that they would be paying less than their
+equitable share. Consequently, at that time the north had been inclined
+to maintain that the slaves were population, while the south had
+preferred to regard them as chattels. Thus we see that in politics, as
+well as in algebra, it makes all the difference in the world whether you
+start with _plus_ or with _minus_. On that occasion Madison had offered
+a successful compromise, in which a slave figured as three fifths of a
+freeman; and Rutledge of South Carolina, who was now present in the
+convention, had supported the measure. Madison now proposed the same
+method of getting over the difficulty about representation, and his
+compromise was adopted. It was agreed that in counting population,
+whether for direct taxation or for representation in the lower house of
+Congress, five slaves should be reckoned as three individuals.
+
+[Sidenote: In other words, it was the best solution attainable under the
+circumstances.]
+
+All this was thoroughly illogical, of course; it left the question
+whether slaves are population or chattels for theorizers to wrangle
+over, and for future events to decide. It was easy for James Wilson to
+show that there was neither rhyme nor reason in it: but he subscribed to
+it, nevertheless, just as the northern abolitionists, Rufus King and
+Gouverneur Morris, joined with Washington and Madison, and with the
+pro-slavery Pinckneys, in subscribing to it, because they all believed
+that without such a compromise the Constitution would not be adopted;
+and in this there can be little doubt that they were right. The evil
+consequences were unquestionably very serious indeed. Henceforth, so
+long as slavery lasted, the vote of a southerner counted for more than
+the vote of a northerner; and just where negroes were most numerous the
+power of their masters became greatest. In South Carolina there soon
+came to be more blacks than whites, and the application of the rule
+therefore went far toward doubling the vote of South Carolina in the
+House of Representatives and in the electoral college. Every five
+slaveholders down there were equal in political weight to not less than
+eight farmers or merchants in the north; and thus this troublesome state
+acquired a power of working mischief out of all proportion to her real
+size. At a later date the operation of the rule in Mississippi was
+similar; and in general it was just the most backward and barbarous
+parts of the Union that were thus favoured at the expense of the most
+civilized parts. Admitting all this, however, it remains undeniable that
+the Constitution saved us from anarchy; and there can be little doubt
+that slavery and every other remnant of barbarism in American society
+would have thriven far more lustily under a state of chronic anarchy
+than was possible under the Constitution. Four years of concentrated
+warfare, animated by an intense and lofty moral purpose, could not hurt
+the character or mar the fortunes of the people, like a century of
+aimless and miscellaneous squabbling over a host of petty local
+interests. The War of Secession was a terrible ordeal to pass through;
+but when one tries to picture what might have happened in this fair land
+without the work of the Federal Convention, the imagination stands
+aghast.
+
+[Sidenote: Compromise between New England and South Carolina as to the
+foreign slave-trade.]
+
+The second great compromise between northern and southern interests
+related to the abolition of the foreign slave-trade and the power of the
+federal government over commerce. All the states except South Carolina
+and Georgia wished to stop the importation of slaves; but the physical
+conditions of rice and indigo culture exhausted the negroes so fast
+that these two states felt that their industries would be dried up at
+the very source if the importation of fresh negroes were to be stopped.
+Cotesworth Pinckney accordingly declared that South Carolina would
+consider a vote to abolish the slave-trade as simply a polite way of
+telling her that she was not wanted in the Union. On the other hand, the
+three New England states present in the convention had made up their
+minds that it would not do to allow the several states any longer to
+regulate commerce each according to its own whim. It was of vital
+importance that this power should be taken from the states and lodged in
+Congress; otherwise, the Union would soon be rent in pieces by
+commercial disputes. The policy of New York had thoroughly impressed
+this lesson upon all the neighbouring states. But none of the southern
+states were in favour of granting this power unreservedly to Congress.
+If a navigation act could be passed by a simple majority in Congress, it
+was feared that the New Englanders would get all the carrying trade into
+their own hands, and then charge ruinous freights for carrying rice,
+indigo, and tobacco to the north and to Europe. On this point,
+accordingly, the southern delegates acted as a unit in insisting that
+Congress should not be empowered to pass navigation acts, except by a
+two thirds vote of both houses. This would have tied the hands of the
+federal government most unfortunately; and the New Englanders,
+enlightened by their own interests, saw it to be so. Here were the
+materials ready for a compromise, or, as the stout abolitionist,
+Gouverneur Morris, truly called it, a "bargain" between New England and
+the far south. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut consented
+to the prolonging of the foreign slave-trade for twenty years, or until
+1808; and in return South Carolina and Georgia consented to the clause
+empowering Congress to pass navigation acts and otherwise regulate
+commerce by a simple majority of votes. At the same time, as a
+concession to rice and indigo, the New Englanders agreed that Congress
+should be forever prohibited from taxing exports; and thus one remnant
+of mediæval political economy was neatly swept away.
+
+[Sidenote: This last compromise seems to make the adhesion of Virginia
+doubtful.]
+
+This compromise was carried against the sturdy opposition of Virginia.
+The language of George Mason of Virginia is worth quoting, for it was
+such as Theodore Parker might have used. He called the slave-trade "this
+infernal traffic." "Slavery," said he, "discourages arts and
+manufactures. The poor despise labour when performed by slaves. They
+prevent the immigration of whites, who really strengthen and enrich a
+country. They produce the most pernicious effect on manners. Every
+master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of
+Heaven on a country. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the
+next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and
+effects, Providence punishes national sins by national calamities." But
+these prophetic words were powerless against the combination of New
+England with the far south. One thing was now made certain,--that the
+vast influence of Rutledge and the Pinckneys would be thrown
+unreservedly in behalf of the new Constitution. "I will confess," said
+Cotesworth Pinckney, "that I had prejudices against the eastern states
+before I came here, but I have found them as liberal and candid as any
+men whatever." But this compromise, which finally secured South Carolina
+and Georgia, made Virginia for the moment doubtful; for Mason and
+Randolph were so disgusted at the absolute power over commerce conceded
+to Congress that, when the Constitution was finished and engrossed on
+paper, they refused to sign it.
+
+It is difficult to read this or any other episode in our history whereby
+negro slavery was extended and fostered without burning indignation. But
+this is not the proper mood for the historian, whose aim is to interpret
+men's actions by the circumstances of their time, in order to judge
+their motives correctly. In 1787 slavery was the cloud like unto a man's
+hand which portended a deluge, but those who could truly read the signs
+were few. From north to south, slavery had been slowly dying out for
+nearly fifty years. It had become extinct in Massachusetts, it was
+nearly so in all the other northern states, and it had just been forever
+prohibited in the national domain. In Maryland and Virginia there was a
+strong and growing party in favour of abolition. The movement had even
+gathered strength in North Carolina. Only the rice-swamps of the far
+south remained wedded to their idols. It was quite generally believed
+that slavery was destined speedily to expire, to give place to a better
+system of labour, without any great danger or disturbance; and this
+opinion was distinctly set forth by many delegates in the convention.[7]
+Even Charles Pinckney went so far as to express a hope that South
+Carolina, if not too much meddled with, would by and by voluntarily rank
+herself among the emancipating states; but his older cousin declared
+himself bound in candour to acknowledge that there was very little
+likelihood indeed of so desirable an event. Not even these South
+Carolinians ventured to defend slavery on principle. This belief in the
+moribund condition of slavery prevented the convention from realizing
+the actual effect of the concessions which were made. Scarcely any
+cotton was grown at that time, and none was sent to England. The
+industrial revolution about to be wrought by the inventions of Arkwright
+and Hargreaves, Cartwright and Watt and Whitney, could not be foreseen.
+Nor could it be foreseen that presently, when there should thus arise a
+great demand for slaves from Virginia as a breeding-ground, the
+abolitionist party in that state would disappear, leaving her to join
+in the odious struggle for introducing slavery into the national domain.
+Though these things were so soon to happen, the wisest man in 1787 could
+not foresee them. The convention hoped that twenty years would see not
+only the end of the foreign slave-trade, but the restriction and
+diminution of slavery itself. It was in such a mood that they completed
+the compromise by recommending a tariff of ten dollars a head upon all
+negroes imported, while at the same time a clause was added for insuring
+the recovery of fugitive slaves, quite similar to the clause in the
+ordinance for the government of the northwestern territory.
+
+[Sidenote: The foundations of the Constitution were thus laid in
+compromise.]
+
+It was the three great compromises here described that laid the
+foundations of our Federal Constitution. The first compromise, by
+conceding equal representation to the states in the Senate, enlisted the
+small states in favour of the new scheme, and by establishing a national
+system of representation in the lower house, prepared the way for a
+government that could endure. This was Madison's great victory, secured
+by the aid of Sherman and Ellsworth, without which nothing could have
+been effected. The second compromise, at the cost of giving
+disproportionate weight to the slave states, gained their support for
+the more perfect union that was about to be formed. The third
+compromise, at the cost of postponing for twenty years the abolition of
+the foreign slave-trade, secured absolute free-trade between the states,
+with the surrender of all control over commerce into the hands of the
+federal government. After these steps had been taken, the most difficult
+and dangerous part of the road had been travelled; the remainder, though
+extremely important, was accomplished far more easily. It was mainly the
+task of building on the foundations already laid.
+
+[Sidenote: Powers granted to the federal government.]
+
+In the grants to the federal government of powers hitherto reserved to
+the several states, the diversity of opinion among the members of the
+convention was but slight compared to the profound antagonism which had
+been allayed by the three initial compromises. It was admitted, as a
+matter of course, that the federal government alone could coin money,
+fix the standard of weights and measures, establish post-offices and
+post-roads, and grant patents and copyrights. To it alone was naturally
+intrusted the whole business of war and of international relations. It
+could define and punish felonies committed on the high seas; it could
+maintain a navy and issue letters of marque and reprisal; it could
+support an army and provide for calling forth the militia to execute the
+laws of the Union, to suppress insurrections, and to repel invasions.
+But in relation to this question of the army and the militia there was
+some characteristic discussion. It was at first proposed that Congress
+should have the power "to subdue a rebellion in any state on the
+application of its legislature." The Shays rebellion was then fresh in
+the memory of all the delegates, and their arguments simply reflected
+the impression which that unpleasant affair had left upon them. Charles
+Pinckney, Gouverneur Morris, and John Langdon wished to have the power
+given to Congress unconditionally, without waiting for an application
+from the legislature. But Gerry, who had been on the ground, spoke
+sturdily against such a needless infraction of state rights. He was
+utterly opposed, he said, to "letting loose the myrmidons of the United
+States on a state without its own consent. The states will be the best
+judges in such cases. More blood would have been spilt in Massachusetts
+in the late insurrection if the general authority had intermeddled."
+Ellsworth suggested that Congress should use its discretion only in
+cases where the legislature of the state could not meet; but Randolph
+forcibly replied that if Congress is to judge whether a state
+legislature can or cannot meet, the difficulty is in no wise surmounted.
+Gerry's view at last prevailed, and in accordance therewith it was
+decided that the federal power should guarantee to every state a
+republican form of government, and should protect each of them against
+invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (if
+the legislature could not be convened), it should protect them against
+domestic violence. This arrangement did not fully provide against such
+an emergency as that of rival and hostile executives in the same state,
+as under the so-called "carpet-bag" governments which followed after the
+War of Secession, but it was doubtless as sound a provision as any
+general constitution could make.
+
+The federal government was further empowered to borrow money on the
+credit of the United States; and it was declared that all debts
+contracted and engagements entered into before the adoption of this
+constitution should be as valid against the United States under this
+constitution as under the confederation. There was to be no repudiation
+or readjustment of debts on the ground of inability to pay. Congress was
+further empowered to establish a uniform rule of naturalization and a
+uniform law of bankruptcy. But it was prohibited from passing bills of
+attainder or _ex post facto_ laws, or suspending the writ of _habeas
+corpus_, except under the stress of rebellion or invasion. It was
+provided that all duties, imposts, or excises should be uniform
+throughout the United States. The federal government could not give
+preference to one state over another in its commercial regulations. It
+could not tax exports. It could not draw money from the treasury save by
+due process of appropriation, and all bills relating to the raising of
+revenue must originate in the lower house, which directly represented
+the people. Congress was empowered to admit new states into the Union,
+but it was not allowed to interfere with the territorial areas of states
+already existing without the express consent of the local legislatures.
+To insure the independence of the federal government, it was provided
+that senators and representatives should be paid out of the federal
+treasury, and not by their respective states, as had been the case under
+the confederation. Except for such offences as treason, felony, or
+breach of the peace, they should be "privileged from arrest during their
+attendance, at the session of their respective houses, and in going to
+or returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either
+house" they were not to be "questioned in any other place." It was
+further provided that a territory not exceeding ten miles square should
+be ceded to the United States, and set apart as the site of a federal
+city, in which the general government should ever after hold its
+meetings, erect its buildings, and exercise exclusive jurisdiction.
+During the past four years the Continental Congress had skipped about
+from Philadelphia to Princeton, to Annapolis, to Trenton, to New York,
+until it had become a laughing-stock, and the newspapers were full of
+squibs about it. Verily, said one facetious editor, the Lord shall make
+this government like unto a wheel, and keep it rolling back and forth
+betwixt Dan and Beersheba, and grant it no rest this side of Jordan.
+This inconvenience was now to be remedied. Congress was hereafter to
+have a federal police force at its disposal, and was never more to be
+reduced to the humiliation of a fruitless appeal to the protecting arm
+of a state government, as at Philadelphia in the summer of 1783.
+Furthermore, the Continental Congress had of late years commanded so
+little respect, and had offered so few temptations to able men in quest
+of political distinction, that its meetings were often attended by no
+more than eight or ten members. It was actually on the point of dying a
+natural death through sheer lack of public interest in it. To prevent
+any possible continuance of such a disgraceful state of things, it was
+agreed that the Federal Congress should be "authorized to compel the
+attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties
+as each house may provide." Had the political life of the country
+continued to go on as under the confederation, it is very doubtful
+whether such a provision as this would have remedied the evil. But the
+new Federal Congress, drawing its life directly from the people, was
+destined to afford far greater opportunities for a political career than
+were afforded by the feeble body of delegates which preceded it; and a
+penal clause, compelling members to attend its meetings, was hardly
+needed under the new circumstances which arose.
+
+[Sidenote: Powers denied to the states.]
+
+[Sidenote: Emphatic condemnation of paper money.]
+
+While the powers of the federal government were thus carefully defined,
+at the same time several powers were expressly denied to the states. No
+state was allowed, without explicit authority from Congress, to lay any
+tonnage or custom-house duties, "keep troops or ships of war in time of
+peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state or with a
+foreign power, or engage in war unless actually invaded, or in such
+imminent danger as will not admit of delays." The following clause
+provided against a recurrence of some of the worst evils which had been
+felt under the "league of friendship:" "No state shall enter into any
+treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and
+reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and
+silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder,
+_ex post facto_ law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or
+grant any title of nobility." Henceforth there was to be no repetition
+of such disgraceful scenes as had lately been witnessed in Rhode
+Island. So far as the state legislatures were concerned, paper money was
+to be ruled out forever. But how was it with the federal government? By
+the articles of confederation the United States were allowed to issue
+bills of credit, and make them a tender in payment of debts. In the
+Federal Convention the committee of detail suggested that this
+permission might remain under the new constitution; but the suggestion
+was almost unanimously condemned. All the ablest men in the convention
+spoke emphatically against it. Gouverneur Morris urged that the federal
+government, no less than the state governments, should be expressly
+prohibited from issuing bills of credit, or in any wise making its
+promissory notes a legal tender. He went over the history of the past
+ten years; he called attention to the obstinacy with which the wretched
+device had been resorted to again and again, after its evils had been
+thrust before everybody's eyes; and he proved himself a true prophet
+when he said that if the United States should ever again have a great
+war to conduct, people would have forgotten all about these things, and
+would call for fresh issues of inconvertible paper, with similar
+disastrous results. Now was the time to stop it once for all. "Yes,"
+echoed Roger Sherman, "this is the favourable crisis for crushing paper
+money." "This is the time," said his colleague, Ellsworth, "to shut and
+bar the door against paper money, which can in no case be necessary.
+Give the government credit, and other resources will offer. The power
+may do harm, never good." There was no way, he added, in which powerful
+friends could so soon be gained for the new constitution as by
+withholding this power from the government. James Wilson took the same
+view. "It will have the most salutary influence on the credit of the
+United States," said he, "to remove the possibility of paper money."
+"Rather than grant the power to Congress," said John Langdon, "I would
+reject the whole plan." "The words which grant this power," said George
+Read of Delaware, "if not struck out, will be as alarming as the mark of
+the Beast, in the Apocalypse." On none of the subjects that came up for
+discussion during that summer was the convention more nearly unanimous
+than in its condemnation of paper money. The only delegate who ventured
+to speak in its favour was Mercer of Maryland. What Hamilton would have
+said, if he had been present that day, we may judge from his vigorous
+words published some time before. The power to emit an inconvertible
+paper as a sign of value ought never hereafter to be used; for in its
+very nature, said he, it is "pregnant with abuses, and liable to be made
+the engine of imposition and fraud, holding out temptations equally
+pernicious to the integrity of government and to the morals of the
+people." Paterson called it "sanctifying iniquity by law." The same
+views were entertained by Washington and Madison. There were a few
+delegates, however, who thought it unsafe to fetter Congress absolutely.
+To use Luther Martin's expression, they did not set themselves up to be
+"wise beyond every event." George Mason said he "had a mortal hatred to
+paper money, yet, as he could not foresee all emergencies, he was
+unwilling to tie the hands of the legislature. The late war," he
+thought, "could not have been carried on had such a prohibition
+existed." Randolph spoke to the same effect. It was finally decided, by
+the vote of nine states against New Jersey and Maryland, that the power
+to issue inconvertible paper should not be granted to the federal
+government. An express prohibition, such as had been adopted for the
+separate states, was thought unnecessary. It was supposed that it was
+enough to withhold the power, since the federal government would not
+venture to exercise it unless expressly permitted in the Constitution.
+"Thus," says Madison, in his narrative of the proceedings, "the pretext
+for a paper currency, and particularly for making the bills a tender,
+either for public or private debts, was cut off." Nothing could be more
+clearly expressed than this. As Mr. Justice Field observes, in his able
+dissenting opinion in the recent case of Juilliard _vs._ Greenman, "if
+there be anything in the history of the Constitution which can be
+established with moral certainty, it is that the framers of that
+instrument intended to prohibit the issue of legal-tender notes both by
+the general government and by the states, and thus prevent interference
+with the contracts of private parties." Such has been the opinion of our
+ablest constitutional jurists, Marshall, Webster, Story, Curtis, and
+Nelson. There can be little doubt that, according to all sound
+principles of interpretation, the Legal Tender Act of 1862 was passed in
+flagrant violation of the Constitution. Could Ellsworth and Morris,
+Langdon and Madison, have foreseen the possibility of such extraordinary
+judgments as have lately emanated from the Supreme Court of the United
+States, they would doubtless have insisted upon the express prohibition,
+instead of leaving it to posterity to root out the plague, as it will
+apparently some time have to do, by the cumbrous process of an amendment
+to the Constitution.
+
+The work of the convention, as thus far considered, related to the
+legislative department of the new government. While these discussions
+were going on, much attention had been paid, from time to time, to the
+characteristics of the proposed federal executive. The debates on this
+question, though long kept up, were far less acrimonious than the
+debates on representation and the power of Congress over trade, because
+here there was no obvious clashing of local interests. But for this very
+reason the convention had no longer so clear a chart to steer by. On the
+question of the slave-trade, the Pinckneys knew accurately just what
+South Carolina wanted, how much it would do to claim, and how far it
+would be necessary to yield. As to the regulation of commerce by a bare
+majority of votes in Congress, King and Sherman on the one hand, Mason
+and Randolph on the other, were able to pursue a thoroughly definite
+course of action in behalf of what were supposed to be the special
+interests of New England or of Virginia. Consequently, the debates kept
+close to the point; the controversy was keen, and sometimes, as we have
+seen, angry.
+
+[Sidenote: Debates as to the federal executive.]
+
+It was very different with the question as to the federal executive.
+Upon this point the discussions were guided rather by general
+speculations as to what would be most likely to work well, and
+accordingly they wandered far and wide. Some of the delegates seemed to
+think we should sooner or later come to adopt a hereditary monarchy, and
+that the chief thing to be done was to postpone the event as long as
+possible. Many wild ideas were broached: such, for example, as a
+triple-headed executive, to represent the eastern, middle, and southern
+states, somewhat as associated Roman emperors at times administered
+affairs in the different portions of an undivided empire. The Virginia
+plan had not stated whether its proposed executive was to be single or
+plural, because the Virginia delegates could not agree. Madison wished
+it to be single, to insure greater efficiency, but to Randolph and Mason
+a tyranny seemed to lurk in such an arrangement. When James Wilson and
+Charles Pinckney suggested that the executive power should be intrusted
+into the hands of one man, a profound silence fell upon the convention.
+No one spoke for several minutes, until Washington, from the chair,
+asked if he should put the question. Franklin then got up, and said it
+was an interesting subject, and he should like to hear what the members
+had to say; and so the ball was set rolling. Rutledge said there was no
+need of their being so shy. A man might frankly express his opinions,
+and afterwards change them if he saw good reason for so doing. For his
+part, he was in favour of vesting the executive power in a single
+person, to secure efficiency of administration and concentration of
+responsibility; but he would not give him the power to declare war and
+make peace. Sherman then made the far-reaching suggestion, that the
+executive magistracy was really "nothing more than an institution for
+carrying the will of the legislature into effect; that the person or
+persons ought to be appointed by and accountable to the legislature
+only, which was the depository of the supreme will of the society. As
+they were the best judges of the business which ought to be done by the
+executive department, ... he wished the number might not be fixed, but
+that the legislature should be at liberty to appoint one or more, as
+experience might dictate." It would greatly have astonished the
+convention had they been told that this suggestion of Sherman's was a
+move in the very same line of development which the British government
+had been following for more than half a century; yet such, as we shall
+presently see, was the case. Had this point been understood then as we
+understand it now, the proceedings of the convention could not have
+failed to be profoundly affected by it. As it was, the suggestion did
+not receive due attention, and the stream of discussion was turned into
+a very different channel. Wilson argued powerfully in favour of a single
+chief magistrate, and this view finally prevailed.
+
+[Sidenote: There should be a president, but how should he be elected.]
+
+After it had been decided that there should be one man set in so high a
+position, there was endless discussion as to whether he should be
+elected by the people or by Congress, and whether he should serve for
+one, or two, or three, or four, or ten, or fifteen years. "Better call
+it twenty," said Rufus King, sarcastically; "it is the average reign of
+princes." Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris would have had him chosen for
+life, subject to removal for misbehaviour; but the preference for a
+short term of service was soon manifest. As to the method of election,
+opinions oscillated back and forth for several weeks. Wilson said "he
+was almost unwilling to declare the mode which he wished to take place,
+being apprehensive that it might appear chimerical. He would say,
+however, at least, that in theory he was for an election by the people.
+Experience, particularly in New York and Massachusetts, showed that an
+election of the first magistrate by the people at large was both a
+convenient and a successful mode. The objects of choice in such cases
+must be persons whose merits have general notoriety." Mason, Rutledge,
+and Strong agreed with Sherman that the executive should be chosen by
+the legislature; but Washington, Madison, Gerry, and Gouverneur Morris
+strongly disapproved of this. Morris argued that an election by the
+national legislature would be the work of intrigue and corruption, like
+the election of the king of Poland by a diet of nobles; but Mason
+declared, on the other hand, that "to refer the choice of a proper
+character for a chief magistrate to the people would be as unnatural as
+to refer a trial of colours to a blind man." A decision was first
+reached against an election by Congress, because it was thought that if
+the chief magistrate should prove himself thoroughly competent he ought
+to be reëligible; but if reëligible he would be exposed to the
+temptation of truckling to the most powerful party or cabal in Congress,
+in order to secure his reëlection. It did not occur to any one to
+suggest that under ordinary circumstances the executive ought to follow
+the policy of the most powerful party in Congress, and that he might at
+the same time preserve all needful independence by being clothed with
+the power of dissolving Congress and making an appeal to the people in a
+new election. It is interesting to consider what might have come of such
+a suggestion, following upon the heels of that made by Roger Sherman. As
+we shall presently see, it would have immeasurably simplified the
+machinery of our government, besides making the executive what it ought
+to be, the arm of the legislature, instead of a separate and coördinate
+power. Upon this point the minds of nearly all the members were so far
+under the sway of an incorrect theory that such an idea occurred to none
+of them. It was decided that the chief magistrate ought to be
+reëligible, and therefore should not be elected by Congress.
+
+[Sidenote: Suggestion of an electoral college.]
+
+An immediate choice by the people, however, did not meet with general
+favour. To obviate the difficulty, Ellsworth and King suggested the
+device of an electoral college, in which the electors should be chosen
+by the state legislatures, and should hold a meeting at the federal city
+for the sole purpose of deciding upon a chief magistrate. It was then
+objected that it would be difficult to find competent men who would be
+willing to undertake a long journey simply for such a purpose. The
+objection was felt to be a very grave one, and so the convention
+returned to the plan of an election by Congress, and again confronted
+the difficulty of the chief magistrate's intriguing to secure his
+reëlection. Wilson thought to do away with this difficulty by
+introducing the element of blind chance, as in some of the states of
+ancient Greece, and choosing the executive by a board of electors taken
+from Congress by lot; but the suggestion found little support. Dickinson
+thought it would be well if the people of each state were to choose its
+best citizen,--in modern parlance, its "favourite son;" then out of
+these thirteen names a chief magistrate might be chosen, either by
+Congress or by a special board of electors. At length, on the 26th of
+July, at the motion of Mason, the convention resolved that there should
+be a national executive, to consist of a single person, to be chosen by
+the national legislature for the term of seven years, and to be
+ineligible for a second term. He was to be styled President of the
+United States of America.
+
+This decision remained until the very end of August, when the whole
+question was reopened by a motion of Rutledge that the two houses of
+Congress, in electing the president, should proceed by "joint ballot."
+The object of this motion was to prevent either house from exerting a
+negative on the choice of the other. It was carried in spite of the
+opposition of some of the smaller states, which might hope to exercise a
+greater relative influence upon the choice of presidents, if the Senate
+were to vote separately. At this point the fears of Gouverneur Morris,
+that an election by Congress would result in boundless intrigue, were
+revived; and in a powerful speech he persuaded the convention to return
+to the device of the electoral college, which might be made equal in
+number and similar in composition to the two houses of Congress sitting
+together. It need not be required of the electors, after all, that they
+should make a long journey to the seat of the federal government. They
+might meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two
+persons, one of whom must be an inhabitant of a different state. By this
+provision it was hoped to diminish the chances for extreme sectional
+partiality. A list of these votes might be sent under seal to the
+presiding officer of the Senate, to be counted. Should no candidate turn
+out to have a majority of the votes, the Senate might choose a president
+from the five highest candidates on the list. The candidate having the
+next highest number of votes might be declared vice-president, and
+preserve the visible continuity of the government in case of the death
+of the president during his term of office. By these changes the method
+of electing the president, as finally decided upon, was nearly
+completed. But Mason, Randolph, Gerry, King, and Wilson were not
+satisfied with the provision that the Senate might choose the president
+in case of a failure of choice on the part of the electoral college:
+they preferred to give this power to the House of Representatives. It
+was thought that the Senate would be likely to prove an aristocratic
+body, somewhat removed from the people in its sympathies, and there was
+a dread of intrusting to it too many important functions. Mason thought
+that the sway of an aristocracy would be worse than an absolute
+monarchy; and if the Senate might every now and then elect the
+president, there would be a risk that the dignity of his office might
+degenerate, until he should become a mere creature of the Senate. On the
+other hand, the small states, in order to have an equal voice with the
+large ones, in such an emergency as the failure of choice by the
+electoral college, wished to keep the eventual choice in the hands of
+the Senate. Among the delegates from the small states, only Langdon and
+Dickinson at first supported the change, and only New Hampshire voted
+for it. At length Sherman proposed a compromise, which was carried. It
+was agreed that the eventual choice should be given to the House of
+Representatives, and not to the Senate, but that in exercising this
+function the vote in the House of Representatives should be taken by
+states. Thus the humours of the delegates from the small states, and of
+those who dreaded the accumulation of powers into the hands of an
+oligarchy, were alike gratified. This arrangement was finally adopted by
+the votes of ten states against Delaware.
+
+But in spite of all the minute and anxious care that was taken in
+guarding this point, the contingency of an election being thus thrown
+into the hands of the national legislature was not regarded as likely
+often to occur. In point of fact, it has hitherto happened only twice in
+the century, in the elections of 1800 and of 1824. It was recognized
+that the work would ordinarily be done through the machinery of the
+electoral college, and that thus the fear of intrigue between the
+president and Congress, as it had originally been felt by the
+convention, might be set aside. To make assurance doubly sure, it was
+provided that "no person shall be appointed an elector who is a member
+of the legislature of the United States, or who holds any office of
+profit or trust under the United States." It then appeared that the
+arguments which had been alleged against the eligibility of the
+president for a second term had lost their force; and he was accordingly
+made reëligible, while his term of service was reduced from seven years
+to four.
+
+[Sidenote: How to count the votes.]
+
+The scheme had thus arrived substantially at its present shape, except
+that the counting of the electoral vote still remained in the hands of
+the Senate. On the 6th of September this provision was altered, and it
+was decided that "the president of the Senate shall, in the presence of
+the Senate and the House of Representatives, open all the certificates,
+and the votes shall then be counted." The object of this provision was
+to take the office of counting away from the Senate alone, and give it
+to Congress as a whole; and while doing so, to guard against the failure
+of an election through the disagreement of the two houses. The method of
+counting was not prescribed, for it was thought that it might safely be
+left to joint rules established by the two houses of Congress
+themselves, after analogies supplied by the experience of the several
+state legislatures. The case of double returns, sent in by rival
+governments in the same state, was not contemplated by the convention;
+and thus the door was left open for a danger considerably greater than
+many of those over which the delegates were agitated. It may safely be
+said, however, that not even the wildest license of interpretation can
+find any support for the ridiculous doctrine suggested by some persons
+blinded by political passion in 1877, that the business of counting the
+votes and deciding upon the validity of returns belongs to the president
+of the Senate. No such idea was for a moment entertained by the
+convention. Any such idea is completely negatived by their action of the
+6th of September. The express purpose of the final arrangement made on
+that day was to admit the House of Representatives to active
+participation in the office of determining who should have been elected
+president. It was expressly declared that this work was too important to
+be left to the Senate alone. What, then, would the convention have said
+to the preposterous notion that this work might safely be left to the
+presiding officer of the Senate? The convention were keenly alive to any
+imaginable grant of authority that might enable the Senate to grow into
+an oligarchy. What would they have said to the proposal to create a
+monocrat _ad hoc_, an official permanently endowed by virtue of his
+office with the function of king-maker?
+
+[Sidenote: The convention foresaw imaginary dangers, but not the real
+ones.]
+
+In this connection it is worth our while to observe that in no respect
+has the actual working of the Constitution departed so far from the
+intentions of its framers as in the case of their provisions concerning
+the executive. Against a host of possible dangers they guarded most
+elaborately, but the dangers and inconveniences against which we have
+actually had to contend they did not foresee. It will be observed that
+Wilson's proposal for a direct election of the president by the people
+found little favour in the convention. The schemes that were seriously
+considered oscillated back and forth between an election by the national
+legislature and an election by a special college of electors. The
+electors might be chosen by a popular vote, or by the state
+legislatures, or in any such wise as each state might see fit to
+determine for itself. In point of fact, electors were chosen by the
+legislature in New Jersey till 1816; in Connecticut till 1820; in New
+York, Delaware, and Vermont, and with one exception in Georgia, till
+1824; in South Carolina till 1868. Massachusetts adopted various plans,
+and did not finally settle down to an election by the people until 1828.
+Now there were several reasons why the Federal Convention was afraid to
+trust the choice of the president directly to the people. One was that
+very old objection, the fear of the machinations of demagogues, since
+people were supposed to be so easily fooled. As already observed, the
+democratic sentiment in the convention was such as we should now call
+weak. Another reason shows vividly how wide the world seemed in those
+days of slow coaches and mail-bags carried on horseback. It was feared
+that people would not have sufficient data wherewith to judge of the
+merits of public men in states remote from their own. The electors, as
+eminent men exceptionally well informed, and screened from the sophisms
+of demagogues, might hold little conventions and select the best
+possible candidates, using in every case their own unfettered judgment.
+
+In this connection the words of Hamilton are worth quoting. In the
+sixty-eighth number of the "Federalist" he says: "The mode of
+appointment of the chief magistrate of the United States is almost the
+only part of the system which has escaped without severe censure, or
+which has received the slightest mark of approbation from its opponents.
+The most plausible of these who has appeared in print has even deigned
+to admit that the election of the president is well guarded.... It was
+desirable that the sense of the people should operate in the choice of
+the person to whom so important a trust was to be confided.... It was
+equally desirable that the immediate election should be made by men
+capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting
+under circumstances favourable to deliberation and to a judicious
+combination of all the reasons and inducements that were proper to
+govern their choice. A small number of persons, selected by their
+fellow-citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess
+the information and discernment requisite to so complicated an
+investigation.... It was also peculiarly desirable to afford as little
+opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder. This evil was not least
+to be dreaded in the election of a magistrate who was to have so
+important an agency in the administration of the government."
+
+[Sidenote: Actual working of the electoral scheme.]
+
+Such was the theory as set forth by a thinker endowed with rare ability
+to follow out in imagination the results of any course of political
+action. It is needless to say that the actual working of the scheme has
+been very different from what was expected. In our very first great
+struggle of parties, in 1800, the electors divided upon party lines,
+with little heed to the "complicated investigation" for which they were
+supposed to be chosen. Quite naturally, for the work of electing a
+candidate presupposes a state of mind very different from that of serene
+deliberation. In 1800 the electors acted simply as automata recording
+the victory of their party, and so it has been ever since. In our own
+time presidents and vice-presidents are nominated, not without elaborate
+intrigue, by special conventions quite unknown to the Constitution; the
+people cast their votes for the two or three pairs of candidates thus
+presented, and the electoral college simply registers the results. The
+system is thus fully exposed to all the dangers which our forefathers
+dreaded from the frequent election of a chief magistrate by the people.
+Owing to the great good-sense and good-nature of the American people,
+the system does not work so badly as might be expected. It has, indeed,
+worked immeasurably better than any one would have ventured to predict.
+It is nevertheless open to grave objections. It compels a change of
+administration at stated astronomical periods, whether any change of
+policy is called for or not; it stirs up the whole country every fourth
+year with a furious excitement that is often largely factitious; and
+twice within the century, in 1801 and again in 1877, it has brought us
+to the verge of the most foolish and hopeless species of civil war, in
+view of that thoroughly monarchical kind of accident, a disputed
+succession.[8]
+
+[Sidenote: The convention supposed itself to be copying from the British
+Constitution.]
+
+The most curious and instructive point concerning the peculiar executive
+devised for the United States by the Federal Convention is the fact that
+the delegates proceeded upon a thoroughly false theory of what they were
+doing. As already observed, in this part of its discussions the
+convention had not the clearly outlined chart of local interests to
+steer by. It indulged in general speculations and looked about for
+precedents; and there was one precedent which American statesmen then
+always had before their eyes, whether they were distinctly aware of it
+or not. In creating an executive department, the members of the
+convention were really trying to copy the only constitution of which
+they had any direct experience, and which most of them agreed in
+thinking the most efficient working constitution in existence,--as
+indeed it was. They were trying to copy the British Constitution,
+modifying it to suit their republican ideas: but curiously enough, what
+they copied in creating the office of president was not the real English
+executive or prime minister, but the fictitious English executive, the
+sovereign. And this was associated in their minds with another profound
+misconception, which influenced all this part of their work. They
+thought that to keep the legislative and executive offices distinct and
+separate was the very palladium of liberty; and they all took it for
+granted, without a moment's question, that the British Constitution did
+this thing. England, they thought, is governed by King, Lords, and
+Commons, and the supreme power is nicely divided between the three, so
+that neither one can get the whole of it, and that is the safeguard of
+English liberty. So they arranged President, Senate, and Representatives
+to correspond, and sedulously sought to divide supreme power between the
+three, so that they might operate as checks upon each other. If either
+one should ever succeed in acquiring the whole sovereignty, then they
+thought there would be an end of American liberty.
+
+[Sidenote: Influence of Montesquieu and Blackstone.]
+
+Now in the earlier part of the work of the Federal Convention, in
+dealing with the legislative department, the delegates were on firm
+ground, because they were dealing with things of which they knew
+something by experience; but in all this careful separation of the
+executive power from the legislative they went wide of the mark, because
+they were following a theory which did not truly describe things as they
+really existed. And that was because the English Constitution was, and
+still is, covered up with a thick husk of legal fictions which long ago
+ceased to have any vitality. Blackstone, the great authority of the
+eighteenth century, set forth this theory of the division of power
+between King, Lords, and Commons with clearness and force, and nobody
+then understood English history minutely or thoroughly enough to see its
+fallaciousness. Montesquieu also, the ablest and most elegant political
+writer of the age, with whose works most of the statesmen in the Federal
+Convention were familiar, gave a similar description of the English
+Constitution, and generalized from it as the ideal constitution for a
+free people. But Montesquieu and Blackstone, in their treatment of this
+point, had their eyes upon the legal fictions, and were blind to the
+real machinery which was working under them. They gave elegant
+expression to what the late Mr. Bagehot called the "literary theory" of
+the English Constitution. But the real thing differed essentially from
+the "literary theory" even in their day. In our own time the divergence
+has become so conspicuous that it would not now be possible for
+well-informed writers to make the mistake of Montesquieu and Blackstone.
+In our time it has come to be perfectly obvious that so far from the
+English Constitution separating the executive power from the
+legislative, this is precisely what it does not do. In Great Britain the
+supreme power is all lodged in a single body, the House of Commons. The
+sovereign has come to be purely a legal fiction, and the House of Lords
+maintains itself only by submitting to the Commons. The House of Commons
+is absolutely supreme, and, as we shall presently see, it really both
+appoints and dismisses the executive. The English executive, or chief
+magistrate, is ordinarily the first lord of the treasury, and is
+commonly styled the prime minister. He is chairman of the most
+important committee of the House of Commons, and his cabinet consists of
+the chairmen of other committees.
+
+[Sidenote: What our government would be if it were really like that of
+Great Britain.]
+
+To make this perfectly clear, let us see what our machinery of
+government would be, if it were really like the English. The presence or
+absence of the crowned head makes no essential difference; it is only a
+kind of ornamental cupola. Suppose for a moment the presidency
+abolished, or reduced to the political nullity of the crown in England;
+and postpone for a moment the consideration of the Senate. Suppose that
+in our House of Representatives the committee of ways and means had two
+chairmen,--an upper chairman who looks after all sorts of business, and
+a lower chairman who attends especially to the finances. This upper
+chairman, we will say, corresponds to the first lord of the treasury,
+while the lower one corresponds to the chancellor of the exchequer.
+Sometimes, when the upper chairman is a great financier, and capable of
+enormous labour, he will fill both places at once, as Mr. Gladstone was
+lately first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. The
+chairmen of the other committees on foreign, military, and naval affairs
+will answer to the English secretaries of state for foreign affairs and
+for war, the first lord of the admiralty, and so on. This group of
+chairmen, headed by the upper chairman of the ways and means, will then
+answer to the English cabinet, with its prime minister. To complete the
+parallel, let us suppose that, after a new House of Representatives is
+elected, it chooses this prime minister, and he appoints the other
+chairmen who are to make up his cabinet. Suppose, too, that he initiates
+all legislation, and executes all laws, and stays in office three weeks
+or thirty years, or as long as he can get a majority of the house to
+vote for his measures. If he loses his majority, he can either resign or
+dissolve the house, and order a new election, thus appealing directly to
+the people. If the new house gives him a majority, he stays in office;
+if it shows a majority against him, he steps down into the house, and
+becomes, perhaps, the leader of the opposition.
+
+Now if this were the form of our government, it would correspond in all
+essential features to that of England. The likeness is liable to be
+obscured by the fact that in England it is the queen who is supposed to
+appoint the prime minister; but that is simply a part of the antiquated
+"literary theory" of the English Constitution. In reality the queen only
+acts as mistress of the ceremonies. Whatever she may wish, the prime
+minister must be the man who can command the best working majority in
+the house. This is not only tested by the first vote that is taken, but
+it is almost invariably known beforehand so well that if the queen
+offers the place to the wrong man he refuses to take it. Should he be so
+foolish as to take it, he is sure to be overthrown at the first test
+vote, and then the right man comes in. Thus in 1880 the queen's manifest
+preference for Lord Granville or Lord Hartington made no sort of
+difference. Mr. Gladstone was as much chosen by the House of Commons as
+if the members had sat in their seats and balloted for him. If the crown
+were to be abolished to-morrow, and the house were henceforth, on the
+resignation of a prime minister, to elect a new one to serve as long as
+he could command a majority, it would not be doing essentially otherwise
+than it does now. The house then dismisses its minister when it rejects
+one of his important measures. But while thus appointed and dismissed by
+the house, he is in no wise its slave; for by the power of dissolution
+he has the right to appeal to the country, and let the general election
+decide the issue. The obvious advantages of this system are that it
+makes anything like a deadlock between the legislature and the executive
+impossible; and it insures a concentration of responsibility. The prime
+minister's bills cannot be disregarded, like the president's messages;
+and thus, too, the house is kept in hand, and cannot degenerate into a
+debating club.[9]
+
+[Sidenote: In the British government, the executive department is not
+separated from the legislative.]
+
+A system so delicate and subtle, yet so strong and efficient, as this
+could no more have been invented by the wisest of statesmen than a
+chemist could make albumen by taking its elements and mixing them
+together. In its practical working it is a much simpler system than
+ours, and still its principal features are not such as would be likely
+to occur to men who had not had some actual experience of them. It is
+the peculiar outgrowth of English history. As we can now see, its chief
+characteristic is its not separating the executive power from the
+legislative. As a member of Parliament, the prime minister introduces
+the legislation which he is himself expected to carry into effect. Nor
+does the English system even keep the judiciary entirely separate, for
+the lord chancellor not only presides over the House of Lords, but sits
+in the cabinet as the prime minister's legal adviser. It is somewhat as
+if the chief justice of the United States were _ex officio_ president of
+the Senate and attorney-general; though here the resemblance is somewhat
+superficial. Our Senate, although it does not represent landed
+aristocracy or the church, but the federal character of our government,
+has still a superficial resemblance to the House of Lords. It passes on
+all bills that come up from the lower house, and can originate bills on
+most matters, but not for raising revenue. Its function as a high court
+of impeachment, with the chief justice for its presiding officer, was
+directly copied from the House of Lords. But here the resemblance ends.
+The House of Lords has no such veto upon the House of Commons as our
+Senate has upon the House of Representatives. Between our upper and
+lower houses a serious deadlock is possible; but the House of Lords can
+only reject a bill until it sees that the House of Commons is determined
+to have it carried. It can only enter a protest. If it is obstinate and
+tries to do more, the House of Commons, through its prime minister, can
+create enough new peers to change the vote,--a power so formidable in
+its effects upon the social position of the peerage that it does not
+need to be used. The knowledge that it exists is enough to bring the
+House of Lords to terms.
+
+[Sidenote: Circumstances which obscured the true aspect of the case a
+century ago.]
+
+These features of the English Constitution are so prominent since the
+reform of Parliament in 1832 as to be generally recognized. They have
+been gradually becoming its essential features ever since the Revolution
+of 1688. Before that time the crown had really been the executive, and
+there had really been a separation between the executive and legislative
+branches of the government, which on several occasions, and notably in
+the middle of the seventeenth century, had led to armed strife. What the
+Revolution of 1688 really decided was that henceforth in England the
+executive was to be the mighty arm of the legislature, and not a
+separate and rival power. It ended whatever of reality there was in the
+old system of King, Lords, and Commons, and by the time of Sir Robert
+Walpole the system of cabinet government had become fairly established;
+but men still continued to use the phrases and formulas bequeathed from
+former ages, so that the meaning of the changes going on under their
+very eyes was obscured. There was also a great historical incident,
+after Walpole's time, which served further to obscure the meaning of
+these changes, especially to Americans. From 1760 to 1784, by means of
+the rotten borough system of elections and the peculiar attitude of
+political parties, the king contrived to make his will felt in the
+House of Commons to such an extent that it became possible to speak of
+the personal government of George III. The work of the Revolution of
+1688 was not really completed till the election of 1784 which made Pitt
+the ruler of England, and its fruits cannot be said to have been fully
+secured till 1832. Now as our Revolutionary War was brought on by the
+attempts of George III. to establish his personal government, and as it
+was actually he rather than Lord North who ruled England during that
+war, it was not strange that Americans, even of the highest education,
+should have failed to discover the transformation which the past century
+had wrought in the framework of the English government. Nay, more,
+during this century the king had seemed even more of a real institution
+to the Americans than to the British. He had seemed to them the only
+link which bound the different parts of the empire together. Throughout
+the struggles which culminated in the War of Independence, it had been
+the favourite American theory that while the colonial assemblies and the
+British Parliament were sovereign each in its own sphere, all alike owed
+allegiance to the king as visible head of the empire. To people who had
+been in the habit of setting forth and defending such a theory, it was
+impossible that the crown should seem so much a legal fiction as it had
+really come to be in England. It is very instructive to note that while
+the members of the Federal Convention thoroughly understood the
+antiquated theory of the English Constitution as set forth by
+Blackstone, they drew very few illustrations from the modern working of
+Parliament, with which they had not had sufficient opportunities of
+becoming familiar. In particular they seemed quite unconscious of the
+vast significance of a dissolution of Parliament, although a dissolution
+had occurred only three years before under such circumstances as to work
+a revolution in British politics without a breath of disturbance. The
+only sort of dissolution with which they were familiar was that in which
+Dunmore or Bernard used to send the colonial assemblies home about their
+business whenever they grew too refractory. Had the significance of a
+dissolution, in the British sense, been understood by the convention,
+the pregnant suggestion of Roger Sherman, above mentioned, could not
+have failed to give a different turn to the whole series of debates on
+the executive branch of the government. Had our Constitution been framed
+a few years later, this point would have had a better chance of being
+understood. As it was, in trying to modify the English system so as to
+adapt it to our own uses, it was the archaic monarchical feature, and
+not the modern ministerial feature, upon which we seized. The president,
+in our system, irremovable by the national legislature, does not answer
+to the modern prime minister, but to the old-fashioned king, with powers
+for mischief curtailed by election for short terms.
+
+[Sidenote: The American cabinet is analogous not to the British cabinet,
+but to the privy council.]
+
+The close parallelism between the office of president and that of king
+in the minds of the framers of the Constitution was instructively shown
+in the debates on the advisableness of restraining the president's
+action by a privy council. Gerry and Sherman urged that there was need
+of such a council, in order to keep watch over the president. It was
+suggested that the privy council should consist of "the president of the
+Senate, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the chief justice
+of the supreme court, and the principal officer in each of five
+departments as they shall from time to time be established; their duty
+shall be to advise him in matters which he shall lay before them, but
+their advice shall not conclude him, or affect his responsibility." The
+plan for such a council found favour with Franklin, Madison, Wilson,
+Dickinson, and Mason, but did not satisfy the convention. When it was
+voted down Mason used strong language. "In rejecting a council to the
+president," said he, "we are about to try an experiment on which the
+most despotic government has never ventured; the Grand Seignior himself
+has his Divan." It was this failure to provide a council which led the
+convention to give to the Senate a share in some of the executive
+functions of the president, such as the making of treaties, the
+appointment of ambassadors, consuls, judges of the supreme court, and
+other officers of the United States whose appointment was not otherwise
+provided for. As it was objected to the office of vice-president that he
+seemed to have nothing provided for him to do, he was disposed of by
+making him president of the Senate. No cabinet was created by the
+Constitution, but since then the heads of various executive departments,
+appointed by the president, have come to constitute what is called his
+cabinet. Since, however, the members of it do not belong to Congress,
+and can neither initiate nor guide legislation, they really constitute a
+privy council rather than a cabinet in the modern sense, thus furnishing
+another illustration of the analogy between the president and the
+archaic sovereign.
+
+[Sidenote: The federal judiciary.]
+
+Concerning the structure of the federal judiciary little need be said
+here. It was framed with very little disagreement among the delegates.
+The work was chiefly done in committee by Ellsworth, Wilson, Randolph,
+and Rutledge, and the result did not differ essentially from the scheme
+laid down in the Virginia plan. It was indeed the indispensable
+completion of the work which was begun by the creation of a national
+House of Representatives. To make a federal government immediately
+operative upon individual citizens, it must of course be armed with
+federal courts to try and federal officers to execute judgment in all
+cases in which individual citizens were amenable to the national law.
+But for this system of United States courts extended throughout the
+states and supreme within its own sphere, the federal constitution could
+never have been put into practical working order. In another respect the
+federal judiciary was the most remarkable and original of all the
+creations of that wonderful convention. It was charged with the duty of
+interpreting, in accordance with the general principles of common law,
+the Federal Constitution itself. This is the most noble as it is the
+most distinctive feature in the government of the United States. It
+constitutes a difference between the American and British systems more
+fundamental than the separation of the executive from the legislative
+department. In Great Britain the unwritten constitution is administered
+by the omnipotent House of Commons; whatever statute is enacted by
+Parliament must stand until some future Parliament may see fit to repeal
+it. But an act passed by both houses of Congress, and signed by the
+president, may still be set aside as unconstitutional by the supreme
+court of the United States in its judgments upon individual cases
+brought before it. It was thus that the practical working of our Federal
+Constitution during the first thirty years of the nineteenth century was
+swayed to so great an extent by the profound and luminous decisions of
+Chief Justice Marshall, that he must be assigned a foremost place among
+the founders of our Federal Union. This intrusting to the judiciary the
+whole interpretation of the fundamental instrument of government is the
+most peculiarly American feature of the work done by the convention, and
+to the stability of such a federation as ours, covering as it does the
+greater part of a huge continent, it was absolutely indispensable.
+
+Thus, at length, was realized the sublime conception of a nation in
+which every citizen lives under two complete and well-rounded systems of
+laws,--the state law and the federal law,--each with its legislature,
+its executive, and its judiciary moving one within the other,
+noiselessly and without friction. It was one of the longest reaches of
+constructive statesmanship ever known in the world. There never was
+anything quite like it before, and in Europe it needs much explanation
+to-day even for educated statesmen who have never seen its workings. Yet
+to Americans it has become so much a matter of course that they, too,
+sometimes need to be told how much it signifies. In 1787 it was the
+substitution of law for violence between states that were partly
+sovereign. In some future still grander convention we trust the same
+thing will be done between states that have been wholly sovereign,
+whereby peace may gain and violence be diminished over other lands than
+this which has set the example.
+
+Great as was the work which the Federal Convention had now accomplished,
+none of the members supposed it to be complete. After some discussion,
+it was decided that Congress might at any time, by a two thirds vote in
+both houses, propose amendments to the constitution, or on the
+application of the legislatures of two thirds of the states might call a
+convention for proposing amendments; and such amendments should become
+part of the constitution as soon as ratified by three fourths of the
+states, either through their legislatures or through special conventions
+summoned for the purpose. The design of this elaborate arrangement was
+to guard against hasty or ill-considered changes in the fundamental
+instrument of government; and its effectiveness has been such that an
+amendment has come to be impossible save as the result of intense
+conviction on the part of a vast majority of the whole American people.
+
+Finally it was decided that the Federal Constitution, as now completed,
+should be presented to the Continental Congress, and then referred to
+special conventions in all the states for ratification; and that when
+nine states, or two thirds of the whole number, should have ratified, it
+should at once go into operation as between such ratifying states.
+
+[Sidenote: Signing the Constitution.]
+
+When the great document was at last drafted by Gouverneur Morris, and
+was all ready for the signatures, the aged Franklin produced a paper,
+which was read for him, as his voice was weak. Some parts of this
+Constitution, he said, he did not approve, but he was astonished to find
+it so nearly perfect. Whatever opinion he had of its errors he would
+sacrifice to the public good, and he hoped that every member of the
+convention who still had objections would on this occasion doubt a
+little of his own infallibility, and for the sake of unanimity put his
+name to this instrument. Hamilton added his plea. A few members, he
+said, by refusing to sign, might do infinite mischief. No man's ideas
+could be more remote from the plan than his were known to be; but was it
+possible for a true patriot to deliberate between anarchy and
+convulsion, on the one side, and the chance of good to be expected from
+this plan, on the other? From these appeals, as well as from
+Washington's solemn warning at the outset, we see how distinctly it was
+realized that the country was on the verge of civil war. Most of the
+members felt so, but to some the new government seemed far too strong,
+and there were three who dreaded despotism even more than anarchy.
+Mason, Randolph, and Gerry refused to sign, though Randolph sought to
+qualify his refusal by explaining that he could not yet make up his
+mind whether to oppose or defend the Constitution, when it should be
+laid before the people of Virginia. He wished to reserve to himself full
+liberty of action in the matter. That Mason and Gerry, valuable as their
+services had been in the making of the Constitution, would now go home
+and vigorously oppose it, there was no doubt. Of the delegates who were
+present on the last day of the convention, all but these three signed
+the Constitution. In the signatures the twelve states which had taken
+part in the work were all represented, Hamilton signing alone for New
+York.
+
+Thus after four months of anxious toil, through the whole of a scorching
+Philadelphia summer, after earnest but sometimes bitter discussion, in
+which more than once the meeting had seemed on the point of breaking up,
+a colossal work had at last been accomplished, the results of which were
+most powerfully to affect the whole future career of the human race so
+long as it shall dwell upon the earth. In spite of the high-wrought
+intensity of feeling which had been now and then displayed, grave
+decorum had ruled the proceedings; and now, though few were really
+satisfied, the approach to unanimity was remarkable. When all was over,
+it is said that many of the members seemed awe-struck. Washington sat
+with head bowed in solemn meditation. The scene was ended by a
+characteristic bit of homely pleasantry from Franklin. Thirty-three
+years ago, in the days of George II., before the first mutterings of the
+Revolution had been heard, and when the French dominion in America was
+still untouched, before the banishment of the Acadians or the rout of
+Braddock, while Washington was still surveying lands in the wilderness,
+while Madison was playing in the nursery and Hamilton was not yet born,
+Franklin had endeavoured to bring together the thirteen colonies in a
+federal union. Of the famous Albany plan of 1754, the first complete
+outline of a federal constitution for America that ever was made, he was
+the principal if not the sole author. When he signed his name to the
+Declaration of Independence in this very room, his years had rounded the
+full period of threescore and ten. Eleven years more had passed, and he
+had been spared to see the noble aim of his life accomplished. There was
+still, no doubt, a chance of failure, but hope now reigned in the old
+man's breast. On the back of the president's quaint black armchair there
+was emblazoned a half-sun, brilliant with its gilded rays. As the
+meeting was breaking up and Washington arose, Franklin pointed to the
+chair, and made it the text for prophecy. "As I have been sitting here
+all these weeks," said he, "I have often wondered whether yonder sun is
+rising or setting. But now I know that it is a rising sun!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+CROWNING THE WORK.
+
+
+[Sidenote: The new Constitution is laid before Congress and submitted
+forthwith to the several states for ratification.]
+
+It was on the 17th of September, 1787, that the Federal Convention broke
+up. For most of the delegates there was a long and tedious journey home
+before they could meet their fellow-citizens and explain what had been
+done at Philadelphia during this anxious summer. Not so, however, with
+Benjamin Franklin and the Pennsylvania delegation. At eleven o'clock on
+the next morning, radiant with delight at seeing one of the most
+cherished purposes of his life so nearly accomplished, the venerable
+philosopher, attended by his seven colleagues, presented to the
+legislature of Pennsylvania a copy of the Federal Constitution, and in a
+brief but pithy speech, characterized by his usual homely wisdom, begged
+for it their most favourable consideration. His words fell upon willing
+ears, for nowhere was the disgust at the prevailing anarchy greater than
+in Philadelphia. But still it was not quite in order for the assembly to
+act upon the matter until word should come from the Continental
+Congress. Since its ignominious flight to Princeton, four years ago,
+that migratory body had not honoured Philadelphia with its presence. It
+had once flitted as far south as Annapolis, but at length had chosen for
+its abiding-place the city of New York, where it was now in session. To
+Congress the new Constitution must be submitted before it was in order
+for the several states to take action upon it. On the 20th of September
+the draft of the Constitution was laid before Congress, accompanied by a
+letter from Washington. The forces of the opposition were promptly
+mustered. At their head was Richard Henry Lee, who eleven years ago had
+moved in Congress the Declaration of Independence. He was ably supported
+by Nathan Dane of Massachusetts, and the delegation from New York were
+unanimous in their determination to obstruct any movement toward a
+closer union of the states. Their tactics were vigorous, but the
+majority in Congress were against them, especially after the return of
+Madison from Philadelphia. Madison, aided by Edward Carrington and young
+Henry Lee, the famous leader of light horse, succeeded in every division
+in carrying the vote of Virginia in favour of the Constitution and
+against the obstructive measures of the elder Lee. The objection was
+first raised that the new Constitution would put an end to the
+Continental Congress, and that in recommending it to the states for
+consideration Congress would be virtually asking them to terminate its
+own existence. Was it right or proper for Congress thus to have a hand
+in signing its own death-warrant? But this flimsy argument was quickly
+overturned. Seven months before Congress had recognized the necessity
+for calling the convention together; whatever need for its work existed
+then, there was the same need now; and by refusing to take due
+cognizance of it Congress would simply stultify itself. The opposition
+then tried to clog the measure by proposing amendments, but they were
+outgeneralled, and after eight days' discussion it was voted that the
+new Constitution, together with Washington's letter, "be transmitted to
+the several legislatures, in order to be submitted to a convention of
+delegates in each state by the people thereof, in conformity to the
+resolves of the convention."
+
+[Sidenote: First American parties, Federalists and Antifederalists.]
+
+The submission of the Constitution to the people of the states was the
+signal for the first formation of political parties on a truly national
+issue. During the war there had indeed been Whigs and Tories, but their
+strife had not been like the ordinary strife of political parties; it
+was actual warfare. Irredeemably discredited from the outset, the Tories
+had been overridden and outlawed from one end of the Union to the other.
+They had never been able to hold up their heads as a party in
+opposition. Since the close of the war there had been local parties in
+the various states, divided on issues of hard and soft money, or the
+impost, or state rights, and these issues had coincided in many of the
+states. During the autumn of 1787 all these elements were segregated
+into two great political parties, whose character and views are
+sufficiently described by their names. Those who supported the new
+Constitution were henceforth known as Federalists; those who were
+opposed to strengthening the bond between the states were called
+Antifederalists. It was fit that their name should have this merely
+negative significance, for their policy at this time was purely a policy
+of negation and obstruction. Care must be taken not to confound them
+with the Democratic-Republicans, or _strict constructionists_, who
+appear in opposition to the Federalists soon after the adoption of the
+Constitution. The earlier short-lived party furnished a great part of
+its material to the later one, but the attitude of the strict
+constructionists under the Constitution was very different from that of
+the Antifederalists. Madison, the second Republican president, was now
+the most energetic of Federalists; and Jefferson, soon to become the
+founder of the Democratic-Republican party, wrote from Paris, saying,
+"The Constitution is a good canvas, on which some strokes only want
+retouching." He found the same fault with it that was found by many of
+the ablest and most patriotic men in the country,--that it failed to
+include a bill of rights; but at the same time he declared that while he
+was not of the party of Federalists, he was much further from that of
+the Antifederalists. The Federal Convention he characterized as "an
+assembly of demi-gods."
+
+[Sidenote: The contest in Pennsylvania.]
+
+The first contest over the new Constitution came in Pennsylvania. The
+Federalists in that state were numerous, but their opponents had one
+point in their favour which they did not fail to make the most of. The
+constitution of Pennsylvania was peculiar. Its legislature consisted of
+a single house, and its president was chosen by that house. Therefore,
+said the Antifederalists, if we approve of a federal constitution which
+provides for a legislature of two houses and chooses a president by the
+device of an electoral college, we virtually condemn the state
+constitution under which we live. This cry was raised with no little
+effect. But some of the strongest immediate causes of opposition to the
+new Constitution were wanting in Pennsylvania. The friends of paper
+money were few there, and the objections to the control of the central
+government over commerce were weaker than in many of the other states.
+The Antifederalists were strongest in the mountain districts west of the
+Susquehanna, where the somewhat lawless population looked askance at any
+plan that savoured of a stronger government and a more regular
+collection of revenue. In the eastern counties, and especially in
+Philadelphia, the Federalists could count upon a heavy majority.
+
+[Sidenote: How to make a quorum.]
+
+The contest began in the legislature on the 28th of September, the very
+day on which Congress decided to submit the Constitution to the states,
+and before the news of the action had reached Philadelphia. The zeal of
+the Federalists was so intense that they could wait no longer, and they
+hurried the event with a high-handed vigour that was not altogether
+seemly. The assembly was on the eve of breaking up, and a new election
+was to be held on the first Tuesday of November. The Antifederalists
+hoped to make a stirring campaign, and secure such a majority in the new
+legislature as to prevent the Constitution from being laid before the
+people. But their game was frustrated by George Clymer, who had sat in
+the Federal Convention, and now most unexpectedly moved that a state
+convention be called to consider the proposed form of government. Great
+was the wrath of the Antifederalists. Mr. Clymer was quite out of order,
+they said. Congress had not yet sent them the Constitution; and besides,
+no such motion could be made without notice given beforehand, nor could
+it be voted on till it had passed three readings. Parliamentary usage
+was doubtless on the side of the Antifederalists, but the majority were
+clamorous, and overwhelmed them with cries of "Question, question!" The
+question was then put, and carried, by 43 votes against 19, and the
+house adjourned till four o'clock. Before going to their dinners the 19
+held an indignation meeting, at which it was decided that they would
+foil these outrageous proceedings by staying away. It took 47 to make a
+quorum, and without these malcontents the assembly numbered but 45. When
+the house was called to order after dinner, it was found there were but
+45 members present. The sergeant-at-arms was sent to summon the
+delinquents, but they defied him, and so it became necessary to adjourn
+till next morning. It was now the turn of the Federalists to uncork the
+vials of wrath. The affair was discussed in the taverns till after
+midnight, the 19 were abused without stint, and soon after breakfast,
+next morning, two of them were visited by a crowd of men, who broke into
+their lodgings and dragged them off to the state house, where they were
+forcibly held down in their seats, growling and muttering curses. This
+made a quorum, and a state convention was immediately appointed for the
+20th of November. Before these proceedings were concluded, an
+express-rider brought the news from New York that Congress had submitted
+the Constitution to the judgment of the states.
+
+And now there ensued such a war of pamphlets, broadsides, caricatures,
+squibs, and stump-speeches, as had never yet been seen in America. Cato
+and Aristides, Cincinnatus and Plain Truth, were out in full force. What
+was the matter with the old confederation? asked the Antifederalists.
+Had it not conducted a glorious and triumphant war? Had it not set us
+free from the oppression of England? That there was some trouble now in
+the country could not be denied, but all would be right if people would
+only curb their extravagance, wear homespun clothes, and obey the laws.
+There was government enough in the country already. This Philadelphia
+convention ought to be distrusted. Some of its members, such as John
+Dickinson and Robert Morris, had opposed the Declaration of
+Independence. Pretty men these, to be offering us a new government! You
+might be sure there was a British cloven foot in it somewhere. Their
+convention had sat four months with closed doors, as if they were afraid
+to let people know what they were about. Nobody could tell what secret
+conspiracies against American liberty might not have been hatched in all
+that time. One thing was sure: the convention had squabbled. Some
+members had gone home in a huff; others had refused to sign a document
+fraught with untold evils to the country. And now came James Wilson,
+making speeches in behalf of this precious Constitution, and trying to
+pull the wool over people's eyes and persuade them to adopt it. Who was
+James Wilson, any way? A Scotchman, a countryman of Lord Bute, a born
+aristocrat, a snob, a patrician, Jimmy, James de Caledonia. Beware of
+any form of government defended by such a man. And as to the other
+members of the convention, there was Roger Sherman, who had signed the
+articles of confederation, and was now trying to undo his own work. What
+confidence could be placed in a man who did not know his own mind any
+better than that? Then there were Hamilton and Madison, mere boys; and
+Franklin, an old dotard, a man in his second childhood. And as to
+Washington, he was doubtless a good soldier, but what did he know about
+politics? So said the more moderate of the malcontents, hesitating for
+the moment to speak disrespectfully of such a man; but presently their
+zeal got the better of them, and in a paper signed "Centinel" it was
+boldly declared that Washington was a born fool!
+
+[Sidenote: Delaware ratifies the Constitution, Dec. 6, 1787;
+Pennsylvania, Dec. 12; New Jersey, Dec. 18.]
+
+From the style and temper of these arguments one clearly sees that the
+Antifederalists in Pennsylvania felt from the beginning that the day was
+going against them. Sixteen of the men who had seceded from the
+assembly, headed by Robert Whitehill of Carlisle, issued a manifesto
+setting forth the ill-treatment they had received, and sounding an alarm
+against the dangers of tyranny to which the new Constitution was already
+exposing them. They were assisted by Richard Henry Lee, who published a
+series of papers entitled "Letters from the Federal Farmer," and
+scattered thousands of copies through the state of Pennsylvania. He did
+not deny that the government needed reforming, but in the proposed plan
+he saw the seeds of aristocracy and of centralization. The chief
+objections to the Constitution were that it created a national
+legislature in which the vote was to be by individuals, and not by
+states; that it granted to this body an unlimited power of taxation;
+that it gave too much power to the federal judiciary; that it provided
+for paying the salaries of members of Congress out of the federal
+treasury, and would thus make them independent of their own states; that
+it required an oath of allegiance to the federal government; and
+finally, that it did not include a bill of rights. These objections were
+very elaborately set forth by the leading Antifederalists in the state
+convention; but the logic and eloquence of James Wilson bore down all
+opposition. The Antifederalists resorted to filibustering. Five days, it
+is said, were used up in settling the meanings of the two words
+"annihilation" and "consolidation." In this way the convention was kept
+sitting for nearly three weeks, when news came from "the Delaware
+state," as it used then to be called in Pennsylvania. The concession of
+an equal representation in the federal Senate had removed the only
+ground of opposition in Delaware, and the Federalists had everything
+their own way there. In a convention assembled at Dover, on the 6th of
+December, the Constitution was ratified without a single dissenting
+voice. Thus did this little state lead the way in the good work. The
+news was received with exultation by the Federalists at Philadelphia,
+and on the 12th Pennsylvania ratified the Constitution by a two thirds
+vote of 46 to 23. The next day all business was quite at a standstill,
+while the town gave itself up to processions and merry-making. The
+convention of New Jersey had assembled at Trenton on the 11th, and one
+week later, on the 18th, it ratified the Constitution unanimously.
+
+A most auspicious beginning had thus been made. Three states, one third
+of the whole number required, had ratified almost at the same moment.
+Two of these, moreover, were small states, which at the beginning of the
+Federal Convention had been obstinately opposed to any fundamental
+change in the government. It was just here that the Federalists were now
+strongest. The Connecticut compromise had wrought with telling effect,
+not only in the convention, but upon the people of the states. When the
+news from Trenton was received in Pennsylvania, there was great
+rejoicing in the eastern counties, while beyond the Susquehanna there
+were threats of armed rebellion. On the day after Christmas, as the
+Federalists of Carlisle were about to light a bonfire on the common and
+fire a salute, they were driven off the field by a mob armed with
+bludgeons, their rickety old cannon was spiked, and an almanac for the
+new year, containing a copy of the Constitution, was duly cursed, and
+then burned. Next day the Federalists, armed with muskets, came back,
+and went through their ceremonies. Their opponents did not venture to
+molest them; but after they had dispersed, an Antifederalist
+demonstration was made, and effigies of James Wilson and Thomas McKean,
+another prominent Federalist, were dragged to the common, and there
+burned at the stake.
+
+[Sidenote: Georgia ratifies, Jan. 2, 1788; Connecticut, Jan. 9. The
+outlook in Massachusetts.]
+
+The action of Delaware and New Jersey had shown that the Antifederalists
+could not build any hopes upon the antagonism between large and small
+states. It was thought, however, that the southern states would unite in
+opposing the Constitution from their dread of becoming commercially
+subjected to New England. But the compromise on the slave-trade had
+broken through this opposition. On the 2d of January, 1788, the
+Constitution was ratified in Georgia without a word of dissent. One week
+later Connecticut ratified by a vote of 128 to 40, after a session of
+only five days. The hopes of the Antifederalists now rested upon
+Massachusetts, where the state convention assembled on the 9th of
+January, the same day on which that of Connecticut broke up. Should
+Massachusetts refuse to ratify, there would be no hope for the
+Constitution. Even should nine states adopt it without her, no one
+supposed a Federal Union feasible from which so great a state should be
+excluded. Her action, too, would have a marked effect upon other states.
+It could not be denied that the outlook in Massachusetts was far from
+encouraging. The embers of the Shays rebellion still smouldered there,
+and in the mountain counties of Worcester and Berkshire were heard loud
+murmurs of discontent. Laws impairing the obligation of contracts were
+just what these hard-pressed farmers desired, and by the proposed
+Constitution all such laws were forever prohibited. The people of the
+district of Maine, which had formed part of Massachusetts for nearly a
+century, were anxious to set up an independent government for
+themselves; and they feared that if they were to enter into the new and
+closer Federal Union as part of that state, they might hereafter find it
+impossible to detach themselves. For this reason half of the Maine
+delegates were opposed to the Constitution. In none of the thirteen
+states, moreover, was there a more intense devotion to state rights than
+in Massachusetts. Nowhere had local self-government reached a higher
+degree of efficiency; nowhere had the town meeting flourished with such
+vigour. It was especially characteristic of men trained in the town
+meeting to look with suspicion upon all delegated power, upon all
+authority that was to be exercised from a distance. They believed it to
+be all important that people should manage their own affairs, instead of
+having them managed by other people; and so far had this principle been
+carried that the towns of Massachusetts were like little
+semi-independent republics, and the state was like a league of such
+republics, whose representatives, sitting in the state legislature, were
+like delegates strictly bound by instructions rather than untrammelled
+members of a deliberative body. To men trained in such a school, it
+would naturally seem that the new Constitution delegated altogether too
+much power to a governing body which must necessarily be remote from
+most of its constituents. It was feared that some sort of tyranny might
+grow out of this, and such fears were entertained by men who were not in
+the slightest degree infected with Shaysism, as the political disease of
+the inland counties was then called. Such fears were entertained by one
+of the greatest citizens that Massachusetts has ever produced, the man
+who has been well described as preëminently "the man of the town
+meeting,"--Samuel Adams. The limitations of this great man, as well as
+his powers, were those which belonged to him as chief among the men of
+English race who have swayed society through the medium of the ancient
+folk mote. At this time he was believed by many to be hostile to the new
+Constitution, and his influence in Massachusetts was still greater than
+that of any other man. Besides this, it was thought that the governor,
+John Hancock, was half-hearted in his support of the Constitution, and
+it was in everybody's mouth that Elbridge Gerry had refused to set his
+name to that document because he felt sure it would create a tyranny.
+
+Such symptoms encouraged the Antifederalists in the hope that
+Massachusetts would reject the Constitution and ruin the plans of the
+"visionary young men"--as Richard Henry Lee called them--who had swayed
+the Federal Convention. But there were strong forces at work in the
+opposite direction. In Boston and all the large coast towns, even those
+of the Maine district, the dominant feeling was Federalist. All
+well-to-do people had been alarmed by the Shays insurrection, and
+merchants, shipwrights, and artisans of every sort were convinced that
+there was no prosperity in store for them until the federal government
+should have control over commerce, and be enabled to make its strength
+felt on the seas and in Europe. In these views Samuel Adams shared so
+thoroughly that his attitude toward the Constitution at this moment was
+really that of a waverer rather than an opponent. Amid balancing
+considerations he found it for some time hard to make up his mind.
+
+In the convention which met on the 9th of January there sat Gorham,
+Strong, and King, who had taken part in the Federal Convention. There
+were also Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin; the revolutionary generals,
+Heath and Lincoln; and the rising statesmen, Sedgwick, Parsons, and
+Fisher Ames, whose eloquence was soon to become so famous. There were
+twenty-four clergymen, of various denominations,--men of sound
+scholarship, and several of them eminent for worldly wisdom and
+liberality of temper. Governor Hancock presided, gorgeous in crimson
+velvet and finest laces, while about the room sat many browned and
+weather-beaten farmers, among whom were at least eighteen who hardly a
+year ago had marched over the pine-clad mountain ridges of Petersham,
+under the banner of the rebel Shays. It was a wholesome no less than a
+generous policy that let these men come in and freely speak their minds.
+The air was thus the sooner cleared of discontent; the disease was thus
+the more likely to heal itself. In all there were three hundred and
+fifty-five delegates present,--a much larger number than took part in
+any of the other state conventions. The people of all parts of
+Massachusetts were very thoroughly represented, as befitted the state
+which was preëminent in the active political life of its town meetings,
+and the work done here was in some respects decisive in its effect upon
+the adoption of the Constitution.
+
+[Sidenote: Debates in the Massachusetts convention.]
+
+The convention began by overhauling that document from beginning to end,
+discussing it clause by clause with somewhat wearisome minuteness. Some
+of the objections seem odd to us at this time, with our larger
+experience. It was several days before the minds of the country members
+could be reconciled to the election of representatives for so long a
+period as two years. They had not been wont to delegate power to anybody
+for so long a time, not even to their selectmen, whom they had always
+under their eyes. How much more dangerous was it likely to prove if
+delegated authority were to be exercised for so long a period at some
+distant federal city, such as the Constitution contemplated! There was a
+vague dread that in some indescribable way the new Congress might
+contrive to make its sittings perpetual, and thus become a tyrannical
+oligarchy, which might tax the people without their consent. And then as
+to this federal city, there were some who did not like the idea. A
+district ten miles square! Was not that a great space to give up to the
+uncontrolled discretion of the federal government, wherein it could
+wreak its tyrannical will without let or hindrance? One of the delegates
+thought he could be reconciled to the new Constitution if this district
+could only be narrowed down to one mile square. And then there was the
+power granted to Congress to maintain a standing army, of which the
+president was to be _ex officio_ commander-in-chief. Did not this open
+the door for a Cromwell? It was to be a standing army for at least two
+years, since this was the shortest period between elections. Why, even
+the British Parliament, since 1688, did not keep up a standing army for
+more than one year at a time, but renewed its existence annually under
+what was termed the Mutiny Act. But what need of a standing army at all?
+Would it not be sure to provoke needless disorders? Had they already
+forgotten the Boston Massacre, in spite of all the orations that had
+been delivered in the Old South Meeting-House? A militia, organized
+under the town-meeting system, was surely all-sufficient. Such a militia
+had won glorious triumphs at Lexington and Bennington; and at King's
+Mountain, had not an army of militia surrounded and captured an army of
+regulars led by one of England's most skilful officers? What more could
+you ask? Clearly this plan for a standing army foreboded tyranny. Upon
+this point Mr. Nason, from the Maine district, had his say, in tones of
+inimitable bombast. "Had I the voice of Jove," said he, "I would
+proclaim it throughout the world; and had I an arm like Jove, I would
+hurl from the globe those villains that would dare attempt to establish
+in our country a standing army!"
+
+[Sidenote: Liberal attitude of the clergy.]
+
+Next came the complaint that the Constitution did not recognize the
+existence of God, and provided no religious tests for candidates for
+federal offices. But, strange to say, this objection did not come from
+the clergy. It was urged by some of the country members, but the
+ministers in the convention were nearly unanimous in opposing it. There
+had been a remarkable change of sentiment among the clergy of this
+state, which had begun its existence as a theocracy, in which none but
+church members could vote or hold office. The seeds of modern liberalism
+had been planted in their minds. When Amos Singletary of Sutton declared
+it to be scandalous that a Papist or an infidel should be as eligible to
+office as a Christian,--a remark which naively assumed that Roman
+Catholics were not Christians,--the Rev. Daniel Shute of Hingham replied
+that no conceivable advantage could result from a religious test. Yes,
+said the Rev. Philip Payson of Chelsea, "human tribunals for the
+consciences of men are impious encroachments upon the prerogatives of
+God. A religious test, as a qualification for office, would have been a
+great blemish." "In reason and in the Holy Scripture," said the Rev.
+Isaac Backus of Middleborough, "religion is ever a matter between God
+and the individual; the imposing of religious tests hath been the
+greatest engine of tyranny in the world." With this liberal stand firmly
+taken by the ministers, the religious objection was speedily overruled.
+
+Then the clause which allows Congress to regulate the times, places, and
+manner of holding federal elections was severely criticised. It was
+feared that Congress would take advantage of this provision to destroy
+the freedom of elections. It was further objected that members of
+Congress, being paid their salaries from the federal treasury, would
+become too independent of their constituents. Federal collectors of
+revenue, moreover, would not be so likely to act with moderation and
+justice as collectors appointed by the state. Then it was very doubtful
+whether the people could support the expense of an elaborate federal
+government. They were already scarcely able to pay their town, county,
+and state taxes; was it to be supposed they could bear the additional
+burden with which federal taxation would load them? Then the compromise
+on the slave-trade was fiercely attacked. They did not wish to have a
+hand in licensing this nefarious traffic for twenty years. But it was
+urged, on the other hand, that by prohibiting the foreign slave-trade
+after 1808 the Constitution was really dealing a death-blow to slavery;
+and this opinion prevailed.
+
+During the whole course of the discussion, observed the Rev. Samuel West
+of New Bedford, it seemed to be taken for granted that the federal
+government was going to be put into the hands of crafty knaves. "I
+wish," said he, "that the gentlemen who have started so many _possible_
+objections would try to show us that what they so much deprecate is
+_probable_.... Because power _may_ be abused, shall we be reduced to
+anarchy? What hinders our state legislatures from abusing their
+powers?... May we not rationally suppose that the persons we shall
+choose to administer the government will be, in general, good men?"
+General Thompson said he was surprised to hear such an argument from a
+clergyman, who was professionally bound to maintain that all men were
+totally depraved. For his part he believed they were so, and he could
+prove it from the Old Testament. "I would not trust them," echoed
+Abraham White of Bristol, "though every one of them should be a Moses."
+
+[Sidenote: Speech of a Berkshire farmer.]
+
+The feeling of distrust was strongest among the farmers from the
+mountain districts. As Rufus King said, they objected, not so much to
+the Constitution as to the men who made it and the men who sang its
+praises. They hated lawyers, and were jealous of wealthy merchants.
+"These lawyers," said Amos Singletary, "and men of learning, and moneyed
+men that talk so finely and gloss over matters so smoothly, to make us
+poor illiterate people swallow the pill, expect to get into Congress
+themselves. They mean to be managers of the Constitution. They mean to
+get all the money into their hands, and then they will swallow up us
+little folk, like the great Leviathan, Mr. President; yes, just as the
+whale swallowed up Jonah." Here a more liberal-minded farmer, Jonathan
+Smith of Lanesborough, rose to reply with references to the Shays
+rebellion, which presently called forth cries of "Order!" from some of
+the members. Samuel Adams said the gentleman was quite in order,--let
+him go on in his own way. "I am a plain man," said Mr. Smith, "and am
+not used to speak in public, but I am going to show the effects of
+anarchy, that you may see why I wish for good government. Last winter
+people took up arms, and then, if you went to speak to them, you had the
+musket of death presented to your breast. They would rob you of your
+property, threaten to burn your houses, oblige you to be on your guard
+night and day. Alarms spread from town to town, families were broken up;
+the tender mother would cry, 'Oh, my son is among them! What shall I do
+for my child?' Some were taken captive; children taken out of their
+schools and carried away.... How dreadful was this! Our distress was so
+great that we should have been glad to snatch at anything that looked
+like a government.... Now, Mr. President, when I saw this Constitution,
+I found that it was a cure for these disorders. I got a copy of it, and
+read it over and over.... I did not go to any lawyer, to ask his
+opinion; we have no lawyer in our town, and we do well enough without.
+My honourable old daddy there [pointing to Mr. Singletary] won't think
+that I expect to be a Congressman, and swallow up the liberties of the
+people. I never had any post, nor do I want one. But I don't think the
+worse of the Constitution because lawyers, and men of learning, and
+moneyed men are fond of it. I am not of such a jealous make. They that
+are honest men themselves are not apt to suspect other people....
+Brother farmers, let us suppose a case, now. Suppose you had a farm of
+50 acres, and your title was disputed, and there was a farm of 5,000
+acres joined to you that belonged to a man of learning, and his title
+was involved in the same difficulty: would you not be glad to have him
+for your friend, rather than to stand alone in the dispute? Well, the
+case is the same. These lawyers, these moneyed men, these men of
+learning, are all embarked in the same cause with us, and we must all
+sink or swim together. Shall we throw the Constitution overboard because
+it does not please us all alike? Suppose two or three of you had been at
+the pains to break up a piece of rough land and sow it with wheat: would
+you let it lie waste because you could not agree what sort of a fence to
+make? Would it not be better to put up a fence that did not please every
+one's fancy, rather than keep disputing about it until the wild beasts
+came in and devoured the crop? Some gentlemen say, Don't be in a hurry;
+take time to consider. I say, There is a time to sow and a time to reap.
+We sowed our seed when we sent men to the Federal Convention, now is the
+time to reap the fruit of our labour; and if we do not do it now, I am
+afraid we shall never have another opportunity."
+
+[Sidenote: Attitude of Samuel Adams.]
+
+It may be doubted whether all the eloquence of Fisher Ames could have
+stated the case more forcibly than it was put by this plain farmer from
+the Berkshire hills. Upon Ames, with King, Parsons, Bowdoin, and Strong,
+fell the principal work in defending the Constitution. For the first two
+weeks, Samuel Adams scarcely opened his mouth, but listened with anxious
+care to everything that was said on either side. The convention was so
+evenly divided that there could be no doubt that his single voice would
+decide the result. Every one eagerly awaited his opinion. In the debate
+on the two years' term of members of Congress, he had asked Caleb
+Strong the reason why the Federal Convention had decided upon so long a
+term; and when it was explained as a necessary compromise between the
+views of so many delegates, he replied, "I am satisfied." "Will Mr.
+Adams kindly say that again?" asked one of the members. "I am
+satisfied," he repeated; and not another word was said on the subject in
+all those weeks. So profound was the faith of this intelligent and
+skeptical and independent people in the sound judgment and unswerving
+integrity of the Father of the Revolution! As the weeks went by, and the
+issue seemed still dubious, the workingmen of Boston, shipwrights and
+brass-founders and other mechanics, decided to express their opinion in
+a way that they knew Samuel Adams would heed. They held a meeting at the
+Green Dragon tavern, passed resolutions in favour of the Constitution,
+and appointed a committee, with Paul Revere at its head, to make known
+these resolutions to the great popular leader. When Adams had read the
+paper, he asked of Paul Revere, "How many mechanics were at the Green
+Dragon when these resolutions passed?" "More, sir, than the Green Dragon
+could hold." "And where were the rest, Mr. Revere?" "In the streets,
+sir." "And how many were in the streets?" "More, sir, than there are
+stars in the sky."
+
+[Sidenote: Washington's fruitful suggestion.]
+
+Between Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson there were several points of
+resemblance, the chief of which was an intense faith in the sound common
+sense of the mass of the people. This faith was one of the strongest
+attributes of both these great men. It has usually been supposed that
+it was this incident of the meeting at the Green Dragon that determined
+Adams's final attitude in the state convention. Unquestionably, such a
+demonstration must have had great weight with him. But at the same time
+the affair was taking such a turn as would have decided him, even
+without the aid of this famous mass-meeting. The long delay in the
+decision of the Massachusetts convention had carried the excitement to
+fever heat throughout the country. Not only were people from New
+Hampshire and New York and naughty Rhode Island waiting anxiously about
+Boston to catch every crumb of news they could get, but intrigues were
+going on, as far south as Virginia, to influence the result. On the 21st
+of January the "Boston Gazette" came out with a warning, headed by
+enormous capitals with three exclamation-points: "_Bribery and
+Corruption!!!_ The most diabolical plan is on foot to corrupt the
+members of the convention who oppose the adoption of the new
+Constitution. Large sums of money have been brought from a neighbouring
+state for that purpose, contributed by the wealthy. If so, is it not
+probable there may be collections for the same accursed purpose nearer
+home?" No adequate investigation ever determined whether this charge was
+true or not. We may hope that it was ill-founded; but our general
+knowledge of human nature must compel us to admit that there was
+probably a grain of truth in it. But what was undeniable was that
+Richard Henry Lee wrote a letter to Gerry, urging that Massachusetts
+should not adopt the Constitution without insisting upon sundry
+amendments; and in order to consider these amendments, it was suggested
+that there should be another Federal Convention. At this anxious crisis,
+Washington suddenly threw himself into the breach with that infallible
+judgment of his which always saw the way to victory. "If another Federal
+Convention is attempted," said Washington, "its members will be more
+discordant, and will agree upon no general plan. The Constitution is the
+best that can be obtained at this time.... The Constitution or disunion
+are before us to choose from. If the Constitution is our choice, a
+constitutional door is open for amendments, and they may be adopted in a
+peaceable manner, without tumult or disorder."
+
+[Sidenote: Massachusetts ratifies, proposing amendments, Feb. 6, 1788.]
+
+When this advice of Washington's reached Boston, it set in motion a
+train of events which soon solved the difficulty, both for Massachusetts
+and for the other states which had not yet made up their mind. Chief
+among the objections to the Constitution had been the fact that it did
+not contain a bill of rights. It did not guarantee religious liberty,
+freedom of speech and of the press, or the right of the people
+peacefully to assemble and petition the government for a redress of
+grievances. It did not provide against the quartering of soldiers upon
+the people in time of peace. It did not provide against general
+search-warrants, nor did it securely prescribe the methods by which
+individuals should be held to answer for criminal offences. It did not
+even provide that nobody should be burned at the stake or stretched on
+the rack, for holding peculiar opinions about the nature of God or the
+origin of evil. That such objections to the Constitution seem strange to
+us to-day is partly due to the determined attitude of the men who, amid
+all the troubles of the time, would not consent to any arrangement from
+which such safeguards to free thinking and free living should be
+omitted. The friends of the Constitution in Boston now proposed that the
+convention, while adopting it, should suggest sundry amendments
+containing the essential provisions of a bill of rights. It was not
+intended that the ratification should be conditional. Under the
+circumstances, a conditional ratification might prove as disastrous as
+rejection. It might lead to a second Federal Convention, in which the
+good work already accomplished might be undone. The ratification was to
+be absolute, and the amendments were offered in the hope that action
+would be taken upon them as soon as the new government should go into
+operation. There could be little doubt that the suggestion would be
+heeded, not only from the importance of Massachusetts in the Union, but
+also from the fact that Virginia and other states would be sure to
+follow her example in suggesting such amendments. This forecast proved
+quite correct, and it was in this way that the first ten amendments
+originated, which were acted on by Congress in 1790, and became part of
+the Constitution in 1791. As soon as this plan had been matured, Hancock
+proposed it to the convention; the hearty support of Adams was
+immediately insured, and within a week from that time, on the 6th of
+February, the Constitution was ratified by the narrow majority of 187
+votes against 168. On that same day Jefferson, in Paris, wrote to
+Madison: "I wish with all my soul that the nine first conventions may
+accept the new Constitution, to secure to us the good it contains; but I
+equally wish that the four latest, whichever they may be, may refuse to
+accede to it till a declaration of rights be annexed; but no objection
+to the new form must produce a schism in our Union." But as soon as he
+heard of the action of Massachusetts, he approved it as preferable to
+his own idea, and he wrote home urging Virginia to follow the example.
+
+Massachusetts was thus the sixth state to ratify the Constitution. On
+that day the name of the Long Lane by the meeting-house where the
+convention had sat was changed to Federal Street. The Boston people,
+said Henry Knox, had quite lost their senses with joy. The two counties
+of Worcester and Berkshire had given but 14 yeas against 59 nays, but
+the farmers went home declaring that they should cheerfully abide by the
+decision of the majority. Not a murmur was heard from any one.
+
+[Sidenote: Maryland ratifies, April 28.]
+
+[Sidenote: Debates in the South Carolina legislature.]
+
+[Sidenote: South Carolina ratifies, May 23.]
+
+About the time that the Massachusetts convention broke up, that of New
+Hampshire assembled at Exeter; but after a brief discussion it was
+decided to adjourn until June, in order to see how the other states
+would act. On the 21st of April the Maryland convention assembled at
+Annapolis. All the winter Patrick Henry had been busily at work, with
+the hope of inducing the southern states to establish a separate
+confederacy; but he had made little headway anywhere, and none at all in
+Maryland, where his influence was completely counteracted by that of
+Washington. Above all things, said Washington, do not let the convention
+adjourn till the matter is decided, for the Antifederalists are taking
+no end of comfort from the postponement in New Hampshire. Their glee was
+short-lived, however. Some of Maryland's strongest men, such as Luther
+Martin and Samuel Chase, were Antifederalists; but their efforts were of
+no avail. After a session of five days the Constitution was ratified by
+a vote of 63 to 11. Whatever damage New Hampshire might have done was
+thus more than made good. The eyes of the whole country were now turned
+upon the eighth state, South Carolina. Her convention was to meet at
+Charleston on the 12th of May, the anniversary of the day on which
+General Lincoln had surrendered that city to Sir Henry Clinton; but
+there had been a decisive preliminary struggle in the legislature in
+January. The most active of the Antifederalists was Rawlins Lowndes, who
+had opposed the Declaration of Independence. Lowndes was betrayed into
+silliness. "We are now," said he, "under a most excellent
+constitution,--a blessing from Heaven, that has stood the test of time
+[!!], and given us liberty and independence; yet we are impatient to
+pull down that fabric which we raised at the expense of our blood." This
+was not very convincing to the assembly, most of the members knowing
+full well that the fabric had not stood the test of time, but had
+already tumbled in by reason of its vicious construction. A more
+effective plea was that which referred to the slave-trade. "What cause
+is there," said Lowndes, "for jealousy of our importing negroes? Why
+confine us to twenty years? Why limit us at all? This trade can be
+justified on the principles of religion and humanity. They do not like
+our having slaves because they have none themselves, and therefore want
+to exclude us from this great advantage." Cotesworth Pinckney replied:
+"By this settlement we have secured an unlimited importation of negroes
+for twenty years. The general government can never emancipate them, for
+no such authority is granted, and it is admitted on all hands that the
+general government has no powers but what are expressly granted by the
+Constitution. We have obtained a right to recover our slaves in whatever
+part of the country they may take refuge, which is a right we had not
+before. In short, considering all circumstances, we have made the best
+terms in our power for the security of this species of property. We
+would have made better if we could; but, on the whole, I do not think
+them bad." Perhaps Pinckney would not have assumed exactly this tone at
+Philadelphia, but at Charleston the argument was convincing. Lowndes
+then sounded the alarm that the New England states would monopolize the
+carrying-trade and charge ruinous freights, and he drew a harrowing
+picture of warehouses packed to bursting with rice and indigo spoiling
+because the owners could not afford to pay the Yankee skippers' prices
+for carrying their goods to market. But Pinckney rejoined that a Yankee
+shipmaster in quest of cargoes would not be likely to ruin his own
+chances for getting them, and he called attention to the great
+usefulness of the eastern merchant marine as affording material for a
+navy, and thus contributing to the defence of the country. Finally
+Lowndes put in a plea for paper money, but with little success. The
+result of the debate set the matter so clearly before the people that a
+great majority of Federalists were elected to the convention. Among them
+were Gadsden, the Rutledges and the Pinckneys, Moultrie, and William
+Washington, who had become a citizen of the state from which he had
+helped to expel the British invader. The Antifederalists were largely
+represented by men from the upland counties, belonging to a population
+in which there was considerable likeness all along the Appalachian chain
+of mountains, from Pennsylvania to the southern extremity of the range.
+There were among them many "moonshiners," as they were
+called,--distillers of illicit whiskey,--and they did not relish the
+idea of a federal excise. At their head was Thomas Sumter, a convert to
+Patrick Henry's scheme for a southern confederacy. Their policy was one
+of delay and obstruction, but it availed them little, for on the 23d of
+May, after a session of eleven days, South Carolina ratified the
+Constitution by a vote of 149 against 73.
+
+[Sidenote: Important effect upon Virginia.]
+
+[Sidenote: Debates in the Virginia Convention.]
+
+[Sidenote: Madison and Marshall prevail and Virginia ratifies, June 25.]
+
+The sound policy of the Federal Convention in adopting the odious
+compromise over the slave-trade was now about to bear fruit. In Virginia
+there had grown up a party which favoured the establishment of a
+separate southern confederacy. By the action of South Carolina all such
+schemes were now nipped in the bud. Of the states south of Mason and
+Dixon's line, three had now ratified the Constitution, so that any
+separate confederacy could now consist only of Virginia and North
+Carolina. The reason for this short-lived separatist feeling in Virginia
+was to be found in the complications which had grown out of the attempt
+of Spain to close the Mississippi River. It will be remembered that only
+two years before Jay had actually recommended to Congress that the right
+to navigate the lower Mississippi be surrendered for twenty-five years,
+in exchange for a favourable commercial treaty with Spain. The New
+England states, caring nothing for the distant Mississippi, supported
+this measure in Congress; and this narrow and selfish policy naturally
+created alarm in Virginia, which, in her district of Kentucky, touched
+upon the great river. Thus to the vague dread of the southern states in
+general, in the event of New England's controlling the commercial policy
+of the government, there was added, in Virginia's case, a specific fear.
+If the New England people were thus ready to barter away the vital
+interests of a remote part of the country, what might they not do? Would
+they ever stop at anything so long as they could go on building up their
+commerce? This feeling strongly influenced Patrick Henry in his desire
+for a separate confederacy; and we have seen how Randolph and Mason, in
+the Federal Convention, were so disturbed at the power given to
+Congress to regulate commerce by a simple majority of votes that they
+refused to set their names to the Constitution. They alleged further
+reasons for their refusal, but this was the chief one. They wanted a two
+thirds vote to be required, in order that the south might retain the
+means of protecting itself. Under these circumstances the opposition to
+the Constitution was very strong, and but for the action of South
+Carolina the party in favour of a separate confederacy might have been
+capable of doing much mischief. As it was, since that party had actively
+intrigued both in South Carolina and Maryland, the ratification of the
+Constitution by both these states was a direct rebuff. It quite
+demoralized the advocates of secession. The paper-money men, moreover,
+were handicapped by the fact that two of the most powerful
+Antifederalists, Mason and Lee, were determined opponents of a paper
+currency, so that this subject had to be dropped or very gingerly dealt
+with. The strength of the Antifederalists, though impaired by these
+causes, was still very great. The contest was waged with all the more
+intensity of feeling because, since eight states had now adopted the
+Constitution, the verdict of Virginia would be decisive. The convention
+met at Richmond on the 2d of June, and Edmund Pendleton was chosen
+president. Foremost among the Antifederalists was Patrick Henry, whose
+eloquence was now as zealously employed against the new government as it
+had been in bygone days against the usurpations of Great Britain. He was
+supported by Mason, Lee, and Grayson, as well as by Benjamin Harrison
+and John Tyler, the fathers of two future presidents; and he could count
+on the votes of most of the delegates from the midland counties, from
+the south bank of the James River, and from Kentucky. But the united
+talents of the opposition had no chance of success in a conflict with
+the genius and tact of Madison, who at one moment crushed, at another
+conciliated, his opponent, but always won the day. To Madison, more than
+any other man, the Federalist victory was due. But he was ably seconded
+by Governor Randolph, whom he began by winning over from the opposite
+party, and by the favourite general and eloquent speaker, "Light-Horse
+Harry." Conspicuous in the ranks of Federalists, and unsurpassed in
+debate, was a tall and gaunt young man, with beaming countenance, eyes
+of piercing brilliancy, and an indescribable kingliness of bearing, who
+was by and by to become chief justice of the United States, and by his
+masterly and far-reaching decisions to win a place side by side with
+Madison and Hamilton among the founders of our national government. John
+Marshall, second to none among all the illustrious jurists of the
+English race, was then, at the age of thirty-three, the foremost lawyer
+in Virginia. He had already served for several terms in the state
+legislature, but his national career began in this convention, where his
+arguments with those of Madison, reinforcing each other, bore down all
+opposition. The details of the controversy were much the same as in the
+states already passed in review, save in so far as coloured by the
+peculiar circumstances of Virginia. After more than three weeks of
+debate, on the 25th of June, the question was put to vote, and the
+Constitution was ratified by the narrow majority of 89 against 79.
+Amendments were offered, after the example of Massachusetts, which had
+already been followed by South Carolina and the minority in Maryland;
+and, as in Massachusetts, the defeated Antifederalists announced their
+intention to abide loyally by the result.
+
+[Sidenote: New Hampshire had already ratified, June 21.]
+
+The discussion had lasted so long that Virginia lost the distinction of
+being the ninth state to ratify the Constitution. That honour had been
+reserved for New Hampshire, whose convention had met on the anniversary
+of Bunker Hill, and after a four days' session, on the 21st of June, had
+given its consent to the new government by a vote of 57 against 46. The
+couriers from Virginia and those from New Hampshire, as they spurred
+their horses over long miles of dusty road, could shout to each other
+the joyous news in passing. Though the ratification of New Hampshire had
+secured the necessary ninth state, yet the action of Virginia was not
+the less significant and decisive. Virginia was at that time, and for a
+quarter of a century afterward, the most populous state in the Union,
+and one of the greatest in influence. Even with the needed nine states
+all in hand, it is clear that the new government could not have gone
+into successful operation with the leading state, the home of Washington
+himself, left out in the cold. The New Roof, as men were then fond of
+calling the Federal Constitution, must speedily have fallen in without
+this indispensable prop. When it was known that Virginia had ratified,
+it was felt that the victory was won, and the success of the new scheme
+assured. The 4th of July, 1788, witnessed such loud rejoicings as have
+perhaps never been seen before or since on American soil. In
+Philadelphia there was a procession miles in length, in which every
+trade was represented, and wagons laden with implements of industry or
+emblematic devices alternated with bands of music and gorgeous banners.
+There figured the New Roof, supported by thirteen columns, and there was
+to be seen the Ship of State, the good ship Constitution, made out of
+the barge which Paul Jones had taken from the shattered and
+blood-stained Serapis, after his terrible fight. As for the old scow
+Confederacy, Imbecility master, it was proclaimed she had foundered at
+sea, and "the sloop Anarchy, when last heard from, was ashore on Union
+Rocks." All over the country there were processions and bonfires, and in
+some towns there were riots. In Providence the Federalists prepared a
+barbecue of oxen roasted whole, but a mob of farmers, led by three
+members of the state legislature, attempted to disperse them, and were
+with some difficulty pacified. In Albany the Antifederalists publicly
+burned the Constitution, whereupon a party of Federalists brought out
+another copy of it, and nailed it to the top of a pole, which they
+planted defiantly amid the ashes of the fire their opponents had made.
+Out of these proceedings there grew a riot, in which knives were drawn,
+stones were thrown, and blood was shed.
+
+[Sidenote: The struggle in New York.]
+
+[Sidenote: The "Federalist."]
+
+Such incidents might have served to remind one that the end had not yet
+come. The difficulties were not yet surmounted, and the rejoicing was in
+some respects premature. It was now settled that the new government was
+to go into operation, but how it was going to be able to get along
+without the adhesion of New York it was not easy to see. It is true that
+New York then ranked only as fifth among the states in population, but
+commercially and militarily she was the centre of the Union. She not
+only touched at once on the ocean and the lakes, but she separated New
+England from the rest of the country. It was rightly felt that the Union
+could never be cemented without this central state. So strongly were
+people impressed with this feeling that some went so far as to threaten
+violence. It was said that if New York did not come into the Union
+peacefully and of her own accord, she should be conquered and dragged
+in. That she would come in peacefully seemed at first very improbable.
+When the state convention assembled at Poughkeepsie, on the 17th of
+June, more than two thirds of its members were avowed Antifederalists.
+At their head was the governor, George Clinton, hard-headed and
+resolute, the bitterest hater of the Constitution that could be found
+anywhere in the thirteen states. Foremost among his supporters were
+Yates and Lansing, with Melanchthon Smith, a man familiar with political
+history, and one of the ablest debaters in the country. On the
+Federalist side were such eminent men as Livingston and Jay; but the
+herculean task of vanquishing this great hostile majority, and
+converting it by sheer dint of argument into a majority on the right
+side, fell chiefly upon the shoulders of one man. But for Alexander
+Hamilton the decision of New York would unquestionably have been adverse
+to the Constitution. Nay, more, it is very improbable that, but for him,
+the good work would have made such progress as it had in the other
+states. To get the people to adopt the Constitution, it was above all
+things needful that its practical working should be expounded, in
+language such as every one could understand, by some writer endowed in
+the highest degree with political intelligence and foresight. Upon their
+return from the Federal Convention, Yates and Lansing had done all in
+their power to bring its proceedings into ill-repute. Pamphlets and
+broadsides were scattered right and left. The Constitution was called
+the "triple-headed monster," and declared to be "as deep and wicked a
+conspiracy as ever was invented in the darkest ages against the
+liberties of a free people." It soon occurred to Hamilton that it would
+be well worth while to explain the meaning of all parts of the
+Constitution in a series of short, incisive essays. He communicated his
+plan to Madison and Jay, who joined him in the work, and the result was
+the "Federalist," perhaps the most famous of American books, and
+undoubtedly the most profound and suggestive treatise on government that
+has ever been written. Of the eighty-five numbers originally published
+in the "Independent Gazetteer," under the common signature of "Publius,"
+Jay wrote five, Madison twenty-nine, and Hamilton fifty-one. Jay's
+papers related chiefly to diplomatic points, with which his experience
+abroad had fitted him to deal. The first number was written by Hamilton
+in the cabin of a sloop on the Hudson, in October, 1787; and they
+continued to appear, sometimes as often as three or four in a week,
+through the winter and spring. Madison would have contributed a larger
+share than he did had he not been called early in March to Virginia to
+fight the battle of the Constitution in that state. The essays were
+widely and eagerly read, and probably accomplished more toward insuring
+the adoption of the Constitution than anything else that was said or
+done in that eventful year. They were hastily written,--struck out at
+white heat by men full of their subject. Doubtless the authors did not
+realize the grandeur of the literary work they were doing, and among the
+men of the time there were few who foresaw the immortal fame which these
+essays were to earn. It is said of one of the senators in the first
+Congress that he made the memorandum, "Get the 'Federalist,' if I can,
+without buying it. It isn't worth it." But for all posterity the
+"Federalist" must remain the most authoritative commentary upon the
+Constitution that can be found; for it is the joint work of the
+principal author of that Constitution and of its most brilliant
+advocate.
+
+In nothing could the flexibleness of Hamilton's intellect, or the
+genuineness of his patriotism, have been more finely shown than in the
+hearty zeal and transcendent ability with which he now wrote in defence
+of a plan of government so different from what he would himself have
+proposed. He made Madison's thoughts his own, until he set them forth
+with even greater force than Madison himself could command. Yet no
+arguments could possibly be less chargeable with partisanship than the
+arguments of the "Federalist." The judgment is as dispassionate as could
+be shown in a philosophical treatise. The tone is one of grave and lofty
+eloquence, apt to move even to tears the reader who is fully alive to
+the stupendous issues that were involved in the discussion. Hamilton was
+supremely endowed with the faculty of imagining, with all the
+circumstantial minuteness of concrete reality, political situations
+different from those directly before him; and he put this rare power to
+noble use in tracing out the natural and legitimate working of such a
+Constitution as that which the Federal Convention had framed.
+
+[Sidenote: Hamilton wins the victory, and New York ratifies, July 26.]
+
+When it came to defending the Constitution before the hostile convention
+at Poughkeepsie, he had before him as arduous a task as ever fell to the
+lot of a parliamentary debater. It was a case where political management
+was out of the question. The opposition were too numerous to be
+silenced, or cajoled, or bargained with. They must be converted. With an
+eloquence scarcely equalled before or since in America until Webster's
+voice was heard, Hamilton argued week after week, till at last
+Melanchthon Smith, the foremost debater of Clinton's party, broke away,
+and came to the Federalist side. It was like crushing the centre of a
+hostile army. After this the Antifederalist forces were confused and
+easily routed. The decisive struggle was over the question whether New
+York could ratify the Constitution conditionally, reserving to herself
+the right to withdraw from the Union in case the amendments upon which
+she had set her heart should not be adopted. Upon this point Hamilton
+reinforced himself with the advice of Madison, who had just returned to
+New York. Could a state once adopt the Constitution, and then withdraw
+from the Union if not satisfied? Madison's reply was prompt and
+decisive. No, such a thing could never be done. A state which had once
+ratified was in the federal bond forever. The Constitution could not
+provide for nor contemplate its own overthrow. There could be no such
+thing as a constitutional right of secession. When Melanchthon Smith
+deserted the Antifederalists on this point, the victory was won, and on
+the 26th of July, New York ratified the Constitution by the bare
+majority of 30 votes against 27. Rejoicings were now renewed throughout
+the country. In the city of New York there was an immense parade, and as
+the emblematic federal ship was drawn through the streets, with
+Hamilton's name emblazoned on her side, it was doubtless the proudest
+moment of the young statesman's life.
+
+[Sidenote: The laggard states, North Carolina and Rhode Island.]
+
+New York, however, dogged her acceptance by proposing, a few days
+afterward, that a second Federal Convention be called for considering
+the amendments suggested by the various states. The proposal was
+supported by the Virginia legislature, but Massachusetts and
+Pennsylvania opposed it, as having a dangerous tendency to reopen the
+whole discussion and unsettle everything. The proposal fell to the
+ground. People were weary of the long dispute, and turned their
+attention to electing representatives to the first Congress. With the
+adhesion of New York all serious anxiety came to an end. The new
+government could be put in operation without waiting for North Carolina
+and Rhode Island to make up their minds. The North Carolina convention
+met on the 21st of July, and adjourned on the 1st of August without
+coming to any decision. The same objections were raised as in Virginia;
+and besides, the paper-money party was here much stronger than in the
+neighbouring state. In Rhode Island paper money was the chief
+difficulty; that state did not even take the trouble to call a
+convention. It was not until the 21st of November, 1789, after
+Washington's government had been several months in operation, that North
+Carolina joined the Federal Union. Rhode Island did not join till the
+29th of May, 1790. If she had waited but a few months longer, Vermont,
+the first state not of the original thirteen, would have come in before
+her.
+
+The autumn of 1788 was a season of busy but peaceful electioneering.
+That remarkable body, the Continental Congress, in putting an end to its
+troubled existence, decreed that presidential electors should be chosen
+on the first Wednesday of January, 1789, that the electors should meet
+and cast their votes for president on the first Wednesday in February,
+and that the Senate and House of Representatives should assemble on the
+first Wednesday in March. This latter day fell, in 1789, on the 4th of
+the month, and accordingly, three years afterward, Congress took it for
+a precedent, and decreed that thereafter each new administration should
+begin on the 4th of March. It was further decided, after some warm
+debate, that until the site for the proposed federal city could be
+selected and built upon, the seat of the new government should be the
+city of New York.
+
+[Sidenote: First presidential election, Jan. 7, 1789.]
+
+In accordance with these decrees, presidential elections were held on
+the first Wednesday in January. The Antifederalists were still potent
+for mischief in New York, with the result that, just as that state had
+not joined in the Declaration of Independence until after it had been
+proclaimed to the world, and just as she refused to adopt the Federal
+Constitution until after more than the requisite number of states had
+ratified it, so now she failed to choose electors, and had nothing to do
+with the vote that made Washington our first president. The other ten
+states that had ratified the Constitution all chose electors. But things
+moved slowly and cumbrously at this first assembling of the new
+government. The House of Representatives did not succeed in getting a
+quorum together until the 1st of April. On the 6th, the Senate chose
+John Langdon for its president, and the two houses in concert counted
+the electoral votes. There were 69 in all, and every one of the 69 was
+found to be for George Washington of Virginia. For the second name on
+the list there was nothing like such unanimity. It was to be expected
+that the other name would be that of a citizen of Massachusetts, as the
+other leading state in the Union. The two foremost citizens of
+Massachusetts bore the same name, and were cousins. There would have
+been most striking poetic justice in coupling with the name of
+Washington that of Samuel Adams, since these two men had been
+indisputably foremost in the work of achieving the independence of the
+United States. But for the hesitancy of Samuel Adams in indorsing the
+Federal Constitution, he would very likely have been our first
+vice-president and our second president. But the wave of federalism had
+now begun to sweep strongly over Massachusetts, carrying everything
+before it, and none but the most ardent Federalists had a chance to meet
+in the electoral college. Voices were raised in behalf of Samuel Adams.
+While we honour the American Fabius, it was said, let us not forget the
+American Cato. It was urged by some, with much truth, that but for his
+wise and cautious action in the Massachusetts convention, the good ship
+Constitution would have been fatally wrecked upon the reefs of Shaysism.
+His course had not been that of an obstructionist, like that of his old
+friends Henry and Lee and Gerry; but at the critical moment--one of the
+most critical in all that wonderful crisis--he had thrown his vast
+influence, with decisive effect, upon the right side. All this is plain
+enough to the historian of to-day. But in the political fervour of the
+election of 1789, the fact most clearly visible to men was that Samuel
+Adams had hesitated, and perhaps made things wait. These points came out
+most distinctly on the issue of his election to the Federal Congress,
+in which he was defeated by the youthful Fisher Ames, whose eloquence in
+the state convention had been so conspicuous and useful; but they serve
+to explain thoroughly why he was not put upon the presidential list
+along with Washington. His cousin, John Adams, had just returned from
+his mission to England, weary and disgusted with the scanty respect
+which he had been able to secure for a feeble league of states that
+could not make good its own promises. His services during the Revolution
+had been of the most splendid sort: and after Washington, he was the
+second choice of the electoral college, receiving 34 votes, while John
+Jay of New York, his nearest competitor, received only 9. John Adams was
+accordingly declared vice-president.
+
+[Sidenote: Inauguration of Washington, April 30.]
+
+On the 14th of April Washington was informed of his election, and on the
+next day but one he bid adieu again to his beloved home at Mount Vernon,
+where he had hoped to pass the remainder of his days in that rural peace
+and quiet for which no one yearns like the man who is burdened with
+greatness and fame unsought for. The position to which he was summoned
+was one of unparalleled splendour,--how splendid we can now realize much
+better than he, and our grandchildren will realize it better than
+we,--the position of first ruler of what was soon to become at once the
+strongest and the most peace-loving people upon the face of the earth.
+As he journeyed toward New York, his thoughts must have been busy with
+the arduous problems of the time. Already, doubtless, he had marked out
+the two great men, Jefferson and Hamilton, for his chief advisers: the
+one to place us in a proper attitude before the mocking nations of
+Europe; the other to restore our shattered credit, and enlist the
+moneyed interests of all the states in the success of the Federal Union.
+Washington's temperament was a hopeful one, as befitted a man of his
+strength and dash. But in his most hopeful mood he could hardly have
+dared to count upon such a sudden and wonderful demonstration of
+national strength as was about to ensue upon the heroic financial
+measures of Hamilton. His meditations on this journey we may well
+believe to have been solemn and anxious enough. But if he could gather
+added courage from the often-declared trust of his fellow-countrymen,
+there was no lack of such comfort for him. At every town through which
+he passed, fresh evidences of it were gathered, but at one point on the
+route his strong nature was especially wrought upon. At Trenton, as he
+crossed the bridge over the Assunpink Creek, where twelve years ago, at
+the darkest moment of the Revolution, he had outwitted Cornwallis in the
+most skilful of stratagems, and turned threatening defeat into glorious
+victory,--at this spot, so fraught with thrilling associations, he was
+met by a party of maidens dressed in white, who strewed his path with
+sweet spring flowers, while triumphal arches in softest green bore
+inscriptions declaring that he who had watched over the safety of the
+mothers could well be trusted to protect the daughters. On the 23d he
+arrived in New York, and was entertained at dinner by Governor Clinton.
+One week later, on the 30th, came the inauguration. It was one of those
+magnificent days of clearest sunshine that sometimes make one feel in
+April as if summer had come. At noon of that day Washington went from
+his lodgings, attended by a military escort, to Federal Hall, at the
+corner of Wall and Nassau streets, where his statue has lately been
+erected. The city was ablaze with excitement. A sea of upturned eager
+faces surrounded the spot, and as the hero appeared thousands of cocked
+hats were waved, while ladies fluttered their white handkerchiefs.
+Washington came forth clad in a suit of dark brown cloth of American
+make, with white silk hose and shoes decorated with silver buckles,
+while at his side hung a dress-sword. For a moment all were hushed in
+deepest silence, while the secretary of the Senate held forth the Bible
+upon a velvet cushion, and Chancellor Livingston administered the oath
+of office. Then, before Washington had as yet raised his head,
+Livingston shouted,--and from all the vast company came answering
+shouts,--"Long live George Washington, President of the United States!"
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.
+
+
+The bibliography of the period covered in this book is most copiously
+and thoroughly treated in the seventh volume of Winsor's _Narrative and
+Critical History of America_, Boston, 1888. For the benefit of the
+reader who may not have ready access to that vast storehouse of
+information, the following brief notes may be of service.
+
+The best account of the peace negotiations is to be found in chapter ii.
+of Winsor's volume just cited, written by Hon. John Jay, who had already
+discussed the subject quite thoroughly in his _Address before the New
+York Historical Society on its Seventy-Ninth Anniversary_, Nov. 27,
+1883. Of the highest value are Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice's _Life of Lord
+Shelburne_, 3 vols., London, 1875-76, and Adolphe de Circourt, _Histoire
+de l'action commune de la France et de l'Amérique, etc._, tome iii.,
+_Documents originaux inédits_, Paris, 1876. See also Sparks, _Diplomatic
+Correspondence of the American Revolution_, 12 vols., Boston, 1829-30;
+Trescot's _Diplomacy of the American Revolution_, N.Y., 1852; Lyman's
+_Diplomacy of the United States_, Boston, 1826; Elliot's _American
+Diplomatic Code_, 2 vols., Washington, 1834; Chalmers's _Collection of
+Treaties_, 2 vols., London, 1790; Lord Stanhope's _History of England_,
+vol. vii., London, 1853; Lecky's _History of England_, vol. iv., London,
+1882; Lord John Russell's _Memorials of Fox_, 4 vols., London, 1853-57;
+Albemarle's _Rockingham and his Contemporaries_, 2 vols., London, 1852;
+Walpole's _Last Journals_, 2 vols., London, 1859; Force's _American
+Archives_, 4th series, 6 vols., Washington, 1839-46; John Adams's
+_Works_, 10 vols., Boston, 1850-56; Rives's _Life of Madison_, 3 vols.,
+Boston, 1859-68; Madison's _Letters and other Writings_, 4 vols.,
+Phila., 1865; the lives of Franklin, by Bigelow and Parton; the lives
+of Jay, by Jay, Flanders, and Whitelocke; Morse's _John Adams_, Boston,
+1885; _Correspondence of George III. with Lord North_, 2 vols., London,
+1867; Wharton's _Digest of International Law_, Washington, 1887,
+_Appendix_ to vol. iii.; Hale's _Franklin in France_, 2 vols., Boston,
+1888. The view of the treaty set forth in 1830 by Sparks, according to
+which Jay and Adams were quite mistaken in their suspicions of the
+French court, we may now regard as disposed of by the evidence presented
+by Circourt and Fitzmaurice. It has led many writers astray, and even
+with all the lights which Mr. Bancroft has had, the account in the last
+revision of his _History of the United States_, vol. v., N.Y., 1886,
+though in some respects one of the best to be found in the general
+histories, still leaves much to be desired.
+
+The general condition of the United States under the articles of
+confederation is well sketched in the sixth volume of Bancroft's final
+revision, and in Curtis's _History of the Constitution_, 2 vols., N.Y.,
+1861. An excellent summary is given in the first volume of Schouler's
+_History of the United States under the Constitution_, of which vols,
+i.-iii. (Washington, 1882-85) have appeared. Mr. Schouler's book is
+suggestive and stimulating. The work most rich in details is Professor
+McMaster's _History of the People of the United States_, of which the
+first volume rather more than covers the period 1783-89. The author is
+especially deserving of praise for the diligence with which he has
+searched the newspapers and obscure pamphlets of the period. He has thus
+given much fresh life to the narrative, besides throwing valuable light
+upon the thoughts and feelings of the men who lived under the "league of
+friendship." I take pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to
+Professor McMaster for several interesting illustrative details, chiefly
+in my third, fourth, and seventh chapters. At the same time one is
+sorely puzzled at some of his omissions, as in the account of the
+Federal Convention, in which one finds no allusion whatever to the
+all-important question of the representation of slaves, or to the
+compromise by which New England secured to Congress full power to
+regulate commerce by yielding to Georgia and South Carolina in the
+matter of the African slave-trade. So the discussion as to the national
+executive is carried on till July 26th, when it was decided that the
+president should be chosen by Congress for a single term of seven years;
+then the subject is dropped, and the reader is left to suppose that such
+was the final arrangement. Instances of what seems like carelessness are
+sufficiently numerous to make the book in some places an unsafe guide to
+the general reader, but in spite of such defects, which a careful
+revision might remedy, its value is great. Further general information
+as to the period of the Confederation may be found in Morse's admirable
+_Life of Alexander Hamilton_, 3d ed., 2 vols., Boston, 1882; J.C.
+Hamilton's _Republic of the United States_, 7 vols., Boston, 1879;
+Frothingham's _Rise of the Republic_, Boston, 1872, chapter xii.; Von
+Holst's _Constitutional History_, 5 vols., Chicago, 1877-85, chapter i.;
+Pitkin's _History of the United States_, 2 vols., New Haven, 1828, vol.
+ii.; Marshall's _Life of Washington_, 5 vols., Phila., 1805-07;
+_Journals of Congress_, 13 vols., Phila., 1800; _Secret Journals of
+Congress_, 4 vols., Boston, 1820-21.
+
+On the loyalists and their treatment, the able essay by Rev. G.E. Ellis,
+in Winsor's seventh volume, is especially rich in bibliographical
+references. See also Sabine's _Loyalists of the American Revolution_, 2
+vols., Boston, 1864; Ryerson's _Loyalists of America_, 2 vols., Toronto,
+1880; Jones's _New York during the Revolution_, 2 vols., N.Y., 1879.
+Although chiefly concerned with events earlier than 1780, the _Journal
+and Letters of Samuel Curwen_, 4th ed., Boston, 1864, and especially the
+_Diary and Letters of Thomas Hutchinson_, 2 vols., Boston, 1884-86, are
+valuable in this connection.
+
+For the financial troubles the most convenient general survey is to be
+found in A.S. Bolles's _Financial History of the United States_,
+1774-1789, N.Y., 1879; Sparks's _Life of Gouverneur Morris_, 3 vols.,
+Boston, 1832; Pelatiah Webster's _Political Essays_, Phila., 1791;
+Phillips's _Colonial and Continental Paper Currency_, 2 vols., Roxbury,
+1865-66; Varnum's _Case of Trevett v. Weeden_, Providence, 1787;
+Arnold's _History of Rhode Island_, 2 vols., N.Y., 1859-60. The best
+account of the Shays rebellion is G.R. Minot's _History of the
+Insurrections in Massachusetts_, Worcester, 1788; see also Barry's
+_History of Massachusetts_, 3 vols., Boston, 1855-57; Austin's _Life of
+Gerry_, 2 vols., Boston, 1828-29. A new and interesting account of the
+northwestern cessions and the Ordinance of 1787 is B.A. Hinsdale's _Old
+Northwest_, N.Y., 1888; see also Dunn's _Indiana_, Boston, 1888;
+Cutler's _Life, Journal, and Correspondence of Manasseh Cutler_, 2
+vols., Cincinnati, 1887.
+
+In the _Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political
+Science_, the following articles bear especially upon subjects here
+treated and are worthy of careful study: II., v., vi., H.C. Adams,
+_Taxation in the United States_, 1789-1816; III., i., H.B. Adams,
+_Maryland's Influence upon Land Cessions to the United States_; III.,
+ix., x., Davis, _American Constitutions_; IV., v., Jameson's
+_Introduction to the Constitutional and Political History of the
+Individual States_; IV., vii.-ix., Shoshuke Sato's _History of the Land
+Question in the United States_.
+
+For the proceedings of the Federal Convention in framing the
+Constitution, and of the several state conventions in ratifying it, the
+great treasure-house of authoritative information is Elliot's _Debates
+in the Conventions_, 5 vols., originally published under the sanction of
+Congress in 1830-45; new reprint, Phila., 1888. The contents of the
+volumes are as follows:--
+
+     I. Sundry preliminary papers, relating to the ante-revolutionary
+     period, and the period of the Confederation; journal of the Federal
+     Convention; Yates's minutes of the proceedings; the official
+     letters of Martin, Yates, Lansing, Randolph, Mason, and Gerry, in
+     explanation of their several courses; Jay's address to the people
+     of New York; and other illustrative papers.
+
+     II, III., IV. Proceedings of the several state conventions; with
+     other documents, including the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of
+     1798, and data relating thereto.
+
+     V. Madison's journal of debates in the Congress of the
+     Confederation, Nov. 4, 1782-June 21, 1783, and Feb. 19-April 25,
+     1787; Madison's journal of the Federal Convention; letters from
+     Madison to Washington, Jefferson, and Randolph, Sept. 1787-Nov.
+     1788; and other papers.
+
+The best edition of the "Federalist" is by H.C. Lodge, N.Y., 1888. See
+also Story's _Commentaries on the Constitution_, 4th ed., 3 vols.,
+Boston, 1873; the works of Daniel Webster, 6 vols., Boston, 1851; Hurd's
+_Theory of our National Existence_, Boston, 1881. The above works
+expound the Constitution as not a league between sovereign states but a
+fundamental law ordained by the people of the United States. The
+opposite view is presented in _The Republic of Republics_, by P.C. Centz
+[Plain Common Sense, pseudonym of B.J. Sage of New Orleans], Boston,
+1881; the works of Calhoun, 6 vols., N.Y., 1853-55; A.H. Stephens's _War
+between the States_, 2 vols., Phila., 1868; Jefferson Davis's _Rise and
+Fall of the Confederate Government_, 2 vols., N.Y., 1881.
+
+Several volumes of the "American Statesmen" contain interesting accounts
+of discussions in the various conventions, as Tyler's _Patrick Henry_,
+Hosmer's _Samuel Adams_, Lodge's _Hamilton_, Magruder's _Marshall_,
+Roosevelt's _Morris_. Gay's _Madison_ falls far below the general
+standard of this excellent and popular series. No satisfactory biography
+of Madison has yet been written, though the voluminous work of W.C.
+Rives contains much good material. For judicial interpretations of the
+Constitution one may consult B.R. Curtis's _Digest of Decisions_,
+1790-1854; Flanders's _Lives of the Chief Justices_, Phila., 1858;
+Marshall's _Writings on the Federal Constitution_, ed. Perkins, Boston,
+1839; see also Pomeroy's _Constitutional Law_, N.Y., 1868; Wharton's
+_Commentaries_, Phila., 1884; Von Holst's _Calhoun_, Boston, 1882;
+Tyler's _Letters and Times of the Tylers_, 2 vols., Richmond, 1884-85.
+Among critical and theoretical works, Fisher's _Trial of the
+Constitution_, Phila., 1862, and Lockwood's _Abolition of the
+Presidency_, N.Y., 1884, are variously suggestive; Woodrow Wilson's
+_Congressional Government_, Boston, 1885, is a work of rare ability,
+pointing out the divergence which has arisen between the literary theory
+of our government and its practical working. Walter Bagehot's _English
+Constitution_, revised ed., Boston, 1873, had already, in a most
+profound and masterly fashion, exhibited the divergence between the
+literary theory and the actual working of the British government. Some
+points of weakness in the British system are touched in Albert
+Stickney's _True Republic_, N.Y., 1879; see also his _Democratic
+Government_, N.Y., 1885. The constitutional history of England is
+presented, in its earlier stages, with prodigious learning, by Dr.
+Stubbs, 3 vols., London, 1873-78, and in its later stages by Hallam, 2
+vols., London, 1842, and Sir Erskine May, 2 vols., Boston, 1862-63; see
+also Freeman's _Growth of the English Constitution_, London, 1872;
+_Comparative Politics_, London, 1873; _Some Impressions of the United
+States_, London, 1883; Rudolph Gneist, _History of the English
+Constitution_, 2 vols., London, 1886; J.S. Mill, _Representative
+Government_, N.Y., 1862; Sir H. Maine, _Popular Government_, N.Y., 1886;
+S.R. Gardiner's _Introduction to the Study of English History_, London,
+1881. In this connection I may refer to my own book, _American Political
+Ideas_, N.Y., 1885; and my articles, "Great Britain," "House of Lords,"
+and "House of Commons," in Lalor's _Cyclopædia of Political Science_, 3
+vols., Chicago, 1882-84. It is always pleasant to refer to that
+cyclopædia, because it contains the numerous articles on American
+history by Prof. Alexander Johnston. One must stop somewhere, and I will
+conclude by saying that I do not know where one can find anything more
+richly suggestive than Professor Johnston's articles.
+
+
+
+
+MEMBERS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION.
+
+
+The names of those who for various reasons were absent when the
+Constitution was signed are given in italics; the names of those who
+were present, but refused to sign, are given in small capitals.
+
+  New Hampshire     John Langdon.
+                    Nicholas Gilman.
+  Massachusetts     ELBRIDGE GERRY.
+                    Nathaniel Gorham.
+                    Rufus King.
+                    _Caleb Strong._
+  Connecticut       William Samuel Johnson.
+                    Roger Sherman.
+                    _Oliver Ellsworth._
+  New York          _Robert Yates._
+                    Alexander Hamilton.
+                    _John Lansing._
+  New Jersey        William Livingston.
+                    David Brearley.
+                    _William Churchill Houston._
+                    William Paterson.
+                    Jonathan Dayton.
+  Pennsylvania      Benjamin Franklin.
+                    Thomas Mifflin.
+                    Robert Morris.
+                    George Clymer.
+                    Thomas Fitzsimmons.
+                    Jared Ingersoll.
+                    James Wilson.
+                    Gouverneur Morris.
+
+  Delaware          George Read.
+                    Gunning Bedford.
+                    John Dickinson.
+                    Richard Bassett.
+                    Jacob Broom.
+  Maryland          James McHenry.
+                    Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer.
+                    Daniel Carroll.
+                    _John Francis Mercer._
+                    _Luther Martin._
+  Virginia          George Washington.
+                    EDMUND RANDOLPH.
+                    John Blair.
+                    James Madison.
+                    GEORGE MASON.
+                    _George Wythe._
+                    _James McClurg._
+  North Carolina    _Alexander Martin._
+                    _William Richardson Davie._
+                    William Blount.
+                    Richard Dobbs Spaight.
+                    Hugh Williamson.
+  South Carolina    John Rutledge.
+                    Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
+                    Charles Pinckney.
+                    Pierce Butler.
+  Georgia           William Few.
+                    Abraham Baldwin.
+                    _William Pierce._
+                    _William Houstoun._
+
+Of those who signed their names to the Federal Constitution, the six
+following were signers of the Declaration of Independence:--
+
+  Roger Sherman,
+  Benjamin Franklin,
+  Robert Morris,
+  George Clymer,
+  James Wilson,
+  George Read.
+
+The ten following were appointed as delegates to the Federal
+Convention, but never took their seats:--
+
+  New Hampshire     John Pickering.
+                    Benjamin West.
+  Massachusetts     Francis Dana.
+  New Jersey        John Nelson.
+                    Abraham Clark.
+  Virginia          Patrick Henry (declined).
+  North Carolina    Richard Caswell (resigned).
+                    Willie Jones (declined).
+  Georgia           George Walton.
+                    Nathaniel Pendleton.
+
+No delegates were appointed by Rhode Island. In a letter addressed to
+"the Honourable the Chairman of the General Convention," and dated
+"Providence, May 11, 1787," several leading citizens of Rhode Island
+expressed their regret that their state should not be represented on so
+momentous an occasion. At the same time, says the letter, "the result of
+your deliberations ... we still hope may finally be approved and adopted
+by this state, for which we pledge our influence and best exertions."
+The letter was signed by John Brown, Joseph Nightingale, Levi Hall,
+Philip Allen, Paul Allen, Jabez Bowen, Nicholas Brown, John Jinkes,
+Welcome Arnold, William Russell, Jeremiah Olney, William Barton, and
+Thomas Lloyd Halsey. The letter was presented to the Convention on May
+28th by Gouverneur Morris, and, "being read, was ordered to lie on the
+table for further consideration." See Elliot's _Debates_, v. 125.
+
+The Constitution was ratified by the thirteen states, as follows:--
+
+   1. Delaware         Dec. 6, 1787.
+   2. Pennsylvania     Dec. 12, 1787.
+   3. New Jersey       Dec. 18, 1787.
+   4. Georgia          Jan. 2, 1788.
+   5. Connecticut      Jan. 9, 1788.
+   6. Massachusetts    Feb. 6, 1788.
+   7. Maryland         April 28, 1788.
+   8. South Carolina   May 23, 1788.
+   9. New Hampshire    June 21, 1788.
+  10. Virginia         June 25, 1788.
+  11. New York         July 26, 1788.
+  12. North Carolina   Nov. 21, 1789.
+  13. Rhode Island     May 29, 1790.
+
+
+PRESIDENTS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
+
+   1. Peyton Randolph of Virginia        Sept. 5, 1774.
+   2. Henry Middleton of South Carolina  Oct. 22, 1774.
+      Peyton Randolph                    May 10, 1775.
+   3. John Hancock of Massachusetts      May 24, 1775.
+   4. Henry Laurens of South Carolina    Nov. 1, 1777.
+   5. John Jay of New York               Dec. 10, 1778.
+   6. Samuel Huntington of Connecticut   Sept. 28, 1779.
+   7. Thomas McKean of Delaware          July 10, 1781.
+   8. John Hanson of Maryland            Nov. 5, 1781.
+   9. Elias Boudinot of New Jersey       Nov. 4, 1782.
+  10. Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania     Nov. 3, 1783.
+  11. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia      Nov. 30, 1784.
+  12. Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts  June 6, 1786.
+  13. Arthur St. Clair of Pennsylvania   Feb. 2, 1787.
+  14. Cyrus Griffin of Virginia          Jan. 22, 1788.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+Acadians, 205.
+
+Adams, Herbert B., 192.
+
+Adams, John, arrives in Paris, 22;
+  his indignation at the pusillanimous instructions from Congress, 36;
+  condemns the Cincinnati, 116;
+  tries in vain to negotiate commercial treaty with Great Britain, 139-141;
+  negotiates a treaty with Holland, 155;
+  obtains a loan there, 156, 157;
+  his interview with the envoy from Tripoli, 161;
+  absent from the United States at the time of the Federal Convention, 223;
+  elected vice-president of the United States, 348.
+
+Adams, Samuel, his devotion to local self-government, 57, 318;
+  his committees of correspondence, 92;
+  opposes Washington's proposal for pensioning officers, 106;
+  but at length supports the Commutation Act, 114;
+  condemns the Cincinnati, 116, 118;
+  approves the conduct of the Massachusetts delegates, 143;
+  opposes pardoning the ringleaders in the Shays insurrection, 184;
+  not a delegate to the Federal Convention, 225;
+  "the man of the town meeting," 318;
+  in the Massachusetts convention, 324, 326-328;
+  why not selected for the vice-presidency, 347.
+
+Albany, riot in, 339.
+
+Amendments to Constitution, 302, 330, 338.
+
+Ames, Fisher, 319, 326, 348.
+
+Amis, North Carolinian trader, 210.
+
+Amphiktyonic council, 249.
+
+Annapolis convention, 216.
+
+Antagonisms between large and small states, 244-252;
+  between east and west, 255;
+  between north and south, 256-267.
+
+Antifederalist party, 309;
+  in Pennsylvania, 310;
+  in Massachusetts, 317, 324;
+  in South Carolina, 334;
+  in Virginia, 335-337;
+  in New York, 340, 341, 346.
+
+Antipathies between states, 62.
+
+Aranda, Count, his prophecy, 19.
+
+Aristides, pseudonym, 312.
+
+Aristocracy, 283.
+
+Aristotle, 225.
+
+Arkwright, Sir Richard, 267.
+
+Armada, the Invincible, 235.
+
+Armstrong, John, 109, 150.
+
+Army, dread of, 105, 321.
+
+Arnold, Benedict, 28, 106, 151.
+
+Asbury, Francis, 85.
+
+Ashburton, Lord, 5.
+
+Ashburton treaty, 26.
+
+Assemblies, 65.
+
+Assunpink Creek, 349.
+
+Augustine, 158.
+
+
+Backus, Rev. Isaac, 322.
+
+Bagehot, Walter, 291.
+
+Baldwin, Abraham, 251.
+
+Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 213.
+
+Baptists persecuted in Virginia, 80.
+
+Barbary pirates, 157-161.
+
+Barré, Isaac, 41.
+
+Bedford, Gunning, 249.
+
+Bennington, 321.
+
+Bernard, Sir Francis, 298.
+
+Biennial elections, 327.
+
+Bill of rights demanded, 329.
+
+Blackstone, Sir William, 290, 291, 297.
+
+Bossuet on slavery, 72.
+
+Boston Gazette, quoted, 328.
+
+Boundaries of United States as settled by the treaty, 25.
+
+Bowdoin, James, 143, 180-184, 319, 324.
+
+Boyd, Lieutenant, 122.
+
+Braddock, Edward, 305.
+
+Bradshaw's Railway Guide, 171.
+
+Brearley, David, 229, 246.
+
+Bribery, charges of, 328.
+
+British army departs, 51.
+
+British Constitution compared with American, 290-298.
+
+Buff and blue colours, 2.
+
+Burgesses, House of, in Virginia, 65.
+
+Burke, Ædanus, 116.
+
+Burke, Edmund, his sympathy with the Americans, 2;
+  could not see the need for parliamentary reform, 6;
+  his invective against Shelburne, 17;
+  on the slave-trade, 72.
+
+Butler, Pierce, 258.
+
+
+Cabinet, the president's, 299.
+
+Cabinet government, growth of, in England, 296.
+
+Camden, Lord, 5.
+
+Canada, Franklin suggests that it should be ceded to the United
+  States, 9, 14.
+
+Carleton, Sir Guy, 50, 131.
+
+Carlisle, Pa., disturbances at, 315.
+
+Carpet-bag governments, 270.
+
+Carr, Dabney, 92.
+
+Carrington, Edward, 204, 307.
+
+Carroll, Daniel, 228.
+
+Carrying trade, 163, 263.
+
+Cartwright, Edmund, 267.
+
+Catalonian rebels indemnified, 29.
+
+Catholics in the United States, 87.
+
+Cato, pseudonym, 312.
+
+Cavendish, Lord John, 5, 16.
+
+Censors, council of, in Pennsylvania, 150.
+
+Centinel, pseudonym, 313.
+
+Cervantes, Miguel de, 159.
+
+Charles II., 29.
+
+Chase, Samuel, 322.
+
+Chatham, Lord, 188.
+
+Cherry Valley, 122.
+
+Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 213.
+
+Chittenden, Thomas, 121.
+
+Cincinnati, order of the, 114-118.
+
+Cincinnati, the city, original name of, 197.
+
+Cincinnatus, pseudonym, 312.
+
+Clan system, 62.
+
+Clergymen in the Massachusetts convention, 319;
+  their liberal spirit, 322.
+
+Cleveland, Grover, his tariff message, 294.
+
+Clinton, George, favours persecution of Tories, 123;
+  an enemy to closer union of the states, 145;
+  defeats impost amendment, 220;
+  opposes the Constitution, 340;
+  entertains President Washington at dinner, 350.
+
+Clinton, Sir Henry, 322.
+
+Clymer, George, 311.
+
+Coalition ministry, 38-46.
+
+Coeur-de-Lion and Saladin, 161.
+
+Coinage, 165.
+
+Coke, Thomas, 86.
+
+Columbia College, 125.
+
+Commerce, control of, given to Congress, 263.
+
+Common law in the United States, 69.
+
+Commons, House of, in England, 68, 290-298;
+  in North Carolina, 65.
+
+Compromises of the Federal Constitution, 250-267.
+
+Confederation, articles of, 92-98.
+
+Congress, Continental, its instructions to the commissioners at Paris, 35;
+  its weakness, 56, 98, 102-113, 234;
+  its anomalous character, 92;
+  its presidents, 96;
+  driven from Philadelphia by drunken soldiers, 112;
+  flees to Princeton, 113;
+  unable to enforce the provisions of the treaty, 119-131, 154;
+  unable to regulate commerce, 140-144;
+  afraid to interfere openly in the Shays rebellion, 185;
+  passes ordinance for government of northwestern territory, 203-206;
+  refuses to recommend a convention for reforming the government, 218;
+  reconsiders its refusal, 221;
+  in some respects a diplomatic rather than a legislative body, 237;
+  its migrations, 271, 306;
+  debates on the Constitution, 307;
+  submits it to the states, 308;
+  comes to an end, 345.
+
+Congress, Federal, powers granted to, 270;
+  choice of president by, 282-284;
+  counting electoral votes in, 284, 285, 289.
+
+Connecticut, government of, 65;
+  quarrels with New York and Pennsylvania, 146-151;
+  keeps almost entirely clear of paper money, 172;
+  western claims of, 189, 194;
+  ratifies the Constitution, 316.
+
+Connecticut compromise, the, 250-255.
+
+Conservative character of the American Revolution, 64.
+
+Constitution, emblematic federal ship, 339, 344.
+
+Convention, the Federal, 154, 222-305.
+
+Conway, Gen. Henry, 5.
+
+Cooper, Dr. Myles, 126.
+
+Cornwallis, Lord, 22, 51, 349.
+
+Council, privy, 299.
+
+Cowardice of American politicians, 231.
+
+Crawford, William, 51.
+
+Curtis, B.R., 276.
+
+Cutler, Manasseh, 203.
+
+
+Dane, Nathan, 204, 217, 307.
+
+Dayton, Jonathan, 225, 229.
+
+Debt, imprisonment for, 173.
+
+Debts to British creditors, 27, 131.
+
+Delaware, government of, 65;
+  ratifies the Constitution, 314.
+
+Democratic-Republican party, 309.
+
+Dickinson, John, 93, 112, 228, 242, 243, 281, 283, 299, 312.
+
+Dissolution of Parliament, 298.
+
+Dollar, the Spanish, 165.
+
+Dunmore, Lord, 298.
+
+
+Election by lot, 281;
+  first presidential, 346-348.
+
+Electoral college in Maryland, 66;
+  device adopted for choosing the president, 281-287;
+  its practical working, 288.
+
+Elliot, Sir Gilbert, 3.
+
+Ellsworth, Oliver, 228, 249, 250, 267, 269, 274, 276, 280, 300.
+
+Embargo acts, 142.
+
+Eminent domain, 194.
+
+Episcopal church, 77-85.
+
+Erie Canal, 212, 228.
+
+Executive, federal, 241, 277;
+  length of term, 279;
+  how elected, 279-285;
+  corresponds to sovereign, not to prime minister, 290, 299.
+
+Exports not to be taxed, 264, 270.
+
+
+"Federal," the word preferred to "national," 254.
+
+Federal city under federal jurisdiction, 271, 320.
+
+"Federal Farmer" (letters by R.H. Lee), 314.
+
+Federal Street in Boston, 331.
+
+"Federalist," the, 235, 341-343.
+
+Federalist party, 238, 309.
+
+Field, S.J., 275.
+
+Fisheries, question of, 20, 26, 37, 139, 163.
+
+Fitzherbert, Alleyne, 22, 45.
+
+Florida surrendered by Great Britain to Spain, 37;
+  disputes about boundary of, 208.
+
+Folkland, 187, 207.
+
+Fox, C.J., his sympathy with the Americans, 2;
+  quarrels with Shelburne, 6, 14;
+  resigns, 15;
+  waywardness of his early career, 16;
+  coalition with North, 38-42;
+  mistake in opposing a dissolution, 48.
+
+France, treaty of 1783 with Great Britain, 37.
+
+Franklin, Benjamin, negotiates with Oswald, 9;
+  overruled by Jay and Adams, 23;
+  his arguments against compensating the loyalists, 30;
+  ridicules the Cincinnati, 116;
+  returns from France, 138;
+  in the Federal Convention, 225, 250, 277, 299, 303, 305;
+  lays the Constitution before the Pennsylvania legislature, 306;
+  called a dotard by the Antifederalists, 313.
+
+Franklin, state of, 200, 209.
+
+Frederick the Great, on republics, 58.
+
+Free trade, 4, 134-139.
+
+French army embarks at Boston, 51.
+
+Froissart, 153.
+
+Frontier posts to be surrendered by Great Britain, 51;
+  why not surrendered, 152.
+
+Fugitive slaves, 206, 267, 333.
+
+Fur trade, 132, 164.
+
+
+Gadsden, C., 122, 334.
+
+Gallatin, A., 125, 134.
+
+Galloway, Joseph, 248.
+
+Gardoqui, Diego, 209.
+
+Gates, Horatio, 108-111, 180.
+
+George III. threatens to abdicate, 3;
+  his disgust at the coalition, 44;
+  rebuked by House of Commons, 46;
+  his personal government overthrown, 48;
+  hopes the Americans will repent of their folly, 58, 141;
+  resists the movement for abolishing slave-trade, 72;
+  his personal government, 297.
+
+Georgia takes the lead in making the judiciary elective, 69;
+  abandons that evil practice, 69;
+  issues paper money, 169;
+  ratifies the Constitution, 316.
+
+Germaine, Lord George, 39.
+
+Gerry, Elbridge, 118, 229, 243, 251, 252, 256, 269, 279, 282, 298, 303,
+  304, 328, 347.
+
+Gibbon, Edward, 38, 39.
+
+Gibraltar, 17, 36.
+
+Gladstone, W.E., 223, 292, 294.
+
+Gorham, Nathaniel, 252, 253, 319.
+
+Governors, colonial, unpopularity of, 67.
+
+Gower, Lord, 44.
+
+Grafton, Duke of, 5.
+
+Grantham, Lord, 17.
+
+Granville, Lord, 293.
+
+Grasse, Count, defeated by Rodney, 12, 13.
+
+Grayson, William, 162, 205, 337.
+
+Green Dragon tavern, 327.
+
+Greene, Nathanael, 94, 102, 108, 116, 122, 225.
+
+Grenville, Thomas, 11.
+
+Guadaloupe, 36.
+
+Guilford, Earl of, 44.
+
+
+Half-pay controversy, 106.
+
+Hamilton, Alexander, his early life, 124-126;
+  attacks the Trespass Act, 128;
+  calls for a federal convention, 217;
+  advocates the impost amendment, 220;
+  in the Federal Convention, 225, 226, 243, 244, 246, 249, 254, 279, 303,
+    304;
+  on inconvertible paper, 274;
+  on the electoral college, 287;
+  called a boy by the Antifederalists, 313;
+  authorship of the "Federalist," 341-343;
+  supports the Constitution in the New York convention, 343, 344;
+  his financial measures, 349.
+
+Hancock, John, 104, 184, 318, 319, 330.
+
+Hannibal, 158.
+
+Hargreaves, James, 267.
+
+Harrington, James, 64.
+
+Harrison, Benjamin, 337.
+
+Hartington, Lord, 293.
+
+Hartley, David, 45.
+
+Hawks, F.L., 82.
+
+Heath, Gen. William, 319.
+
+Henry, Patrick, 80, 225, 331, 335, 336, 347.
+
+Hint Club, 169.
+
+
+Impost amendment, 218-240.
+
+India bill, 46.
+
+Insurrections, suppression of, 269.
+
+Intercitizenship, 94.
+
+Iroquois league, 190.
+
+Irreconcilables in the Federal Convention, 225, 242, 244, 246, 254.
+
+Isolation of states a century ago, 62.
+
+
+Jay, John, thwarts Vergennes, 21, 35;
+  tries to establish free trade between United States and Great Britain,
+    26;
+  condemns persecution of Tories, 122;
+  on compensation for slaves, 132;
+  consents to the closing of the Mississippi River for twenty-five years,
+    210;
+  why not sent as delegate to Federal Convention, 225;
+  supports the Constitution in New York convention, 340;
+  contributes articles to the "Federalist," 341;
+  receives nine electoral votes for the vice-presidency, 348.
+
+Jefferson, Thomas, opposed to slavery, 72;
+  favours religious freedom, 81;
+  minister to France, 138, 155;
+  assists Gouverneur Morris in arranging our decimal currency, 166;
+  his plan for the government of the northwestern territory, 196;
+  wishes to prohibit slavery in the national domain, 198, 205;
+  his purchase of Louisiana, 207;
+  absent from United States at the time of the Federal Convention, 225;
+  his faith in the people, 226, 337;
+  his opinion of the Constitution, 309;
+  approves the action of the Massachusetts convention, 331.
+
+Johnson, W.S., 229.
+
+Johnston, Alexander, 223.
+
+Jones, Paul, 339.
+
+Jonesborough, convention at, 200.
+
+Judiciary, elective, 69;
+  federal, 242, 300, 301.
+
+Juilliard _vs._ Greenman, 275.
+
+
+Kentucky, 18, 189, 199, 202, 209, 210.
+
+Keppel, Lord, 5, 16, 45.
+
+King, Rufus, 217, 221, 228, 246, 249, 250, 256, 261, 276, 279, 282, 324,
+  326.
+
+King's Mountain, 28, 200, 321.
+
+Kings, election of, in Poland, 279.
+
+Know Ye men and Know Ye measures, 177, 243.
+
+Knox, Henry, 114.
+
+
+Lafayette, 50, 54.
+
+Langdon, John, 229, 269, 274, 276, 283, 346.
+
+Lansing, John, 225, 242, 244, 246, 254, 340, 341.
+
+Laurens, Henry, 2, 22.
+
+Lecky, W., 103.
+
+Ledyard, Isaac, 128.
+
+Lee, Henry, 307, 337.
+
+Lee, Richard Henry, 57, 143, 204, 205, 225, 307, 313, 318, 328, 336, 337,
+  347.
+
+"Letters from a Federal Farmer," by R.H. Lee, 314.
+
+Lexington, 50, 321.
+
+Lincoln, Abraham, 72, 198, 207.
+
+Lincoln, Benjamin, 181-183, 319, 332.
+
+Livingston, Robert, 36, 340, 350.
+
+Livingston, William, 171, 229.
+
+Locke, John, 64, 225.
+
+Long Lane becomes Federal Street, 331.
+
+Long Parliament, 92, 235.
+
+Lords, House of, 66, 68;
+  contrasted with Senate, 295.
+
+Lowndes, Rawlins, 332-334.
+
+Loyalists, compensation of, 28-33;
+  persecution of, 120-130;
+  did not form, in any proper sense of the word, an opposition party, 308.
+
+Luzerne, Chevalier de, 35, 54.
+
+Lykian League, 249.
+
+
+Macdougall, Alexander, 107.
+
+McDuffle, George, 60.
+
+McKean, Thomas, 316.
+
+McMaster, J.B., 151.
+
+Madison, James, and the Religious Freedom Act, 81;
+  on right of coercion, 100;
+  advocates five per cent. impost, 104;
+  on the ordinance of 1787, 206;
+  moves that a convention be held to secure a uniform commercial policy,
+    214;
+  succeeds in getting delegates appointed, 220;
+  his character and appearance, 226, 227;
+  his journal of the proceedings, 229;
+  chief author of the Virginia plan, 233, 267;
+  one of the first to arrive at the fundamental conception of our partly
+    federal and partly national government, 239;
+  approves at first of giving Congress the power to annul state laws, 241;
+  opposes the New Jersey plan, 246;
+  declares that the real antagonism is between slave states and free
+    states, 249, 256;
+  author of the three fifths compromise, 260, 261;
+  condemns paper money, 275;
+  disapproves of election of the executive by the legislature, 279;
+  approves of a privy council, 299;
+  supports the Constitution in Congress, 307;
+  called a boy by the Antifederalists, 313;
+  supports the Constitution in the Virginia convention, 337;
+  part author of the "Federalist," 341, 342;
+  denies that there can be a constitutional right of secession, 344.
+
+Maine as part of Massachusetts, 317.
+
+Manchester, Duke of, 45.
+
+Marbois, François de Barbé, 22, 35.
+
+Marion, Francis, 122.
+
+Marshall, John, 82, 276, 301, 337.
+
+Martin, Luther, 229, 242-244, 246, 249, 250, 254, 275, 322.
+
+Maryland, government of, 65;
+  insists upon cession of northwestern lands, 93, 192, 195;
+  paper money in, 170;
+  message to Virginia, 215;
+  ratifies the Constitution, 332.
+
+Mason, George, 229, 243, 252, 264, 265, 275, 276, 277, 279, 281, 282, 283,
+  299, 303, 304, 335, 337.
+
+Massachusetts, government of, 67;
+  abolishes slavery, 75;
+  religious bigotry, 76;
+  on the five per cent. duty, 104;
+  tries to propose a convention for increasing the powers of Congress, 142;
+  lays claim to a small part of Vermont, 152;
+  paper money in, 172-179;
+  western claims of, 189;
+  changes her attitude, 221;
+  local self-government in, 317;
+  debates on the Constitution, 320-330;
+  ratifies it, suggesting amendments, 331.
+
+Massachusetts Chronicle, quoted, 120.
+
+Massacre, Boston, 321.
+
+Mayhew, Jonathan, 92.
+
+Meade, William, 79, 83.
+
+Mentor and Phocion, 128.
+
+Mercer, J.F., 274.
+
+Methodists, 85.
+
+Middletown convention, 113.
+
+Mifflin, Thomas, 52.
+
+Minisink, 122.
+
+Mirabeau, Count de, 116.
+
+Mississippi River, attempt to close it, 209-211, 335;
+  valley of the, 18, 188.
+
+Monroe, James, 216.
+
+Montesquieu, C., 225, 291.
+
+Moonshiners, 334.
+
+Morris, Gouverneur, 108, 166, 228, 242, 251, 261, 264, 269, 273, 276, 279,
+  282, 303.
+
+Morris, Robert, 108, 167, 228, 312.
+
+Moultrie, William, 143, 334.
+
+Muley Abdallah, 158.
+
+Mutiny act, 321.
+
+
+Names of persons and places, fashions in, 197.
+
+Nantucket, 163.
+
+Nason, Samuel, 321.
+
+Naval eminence of New England, 20, 139.
+
+Navigation acts, 138-143, 164.
+
+Negroes carried away by British fleet, 131.
+
+Nelson, Samuel, 276.
+
+New Connecticut, 152.
+
+New Hampshire lays claim to Vermont, 151-153;
+  riots in, 183;
+  hesitates to ratify the Constitution, 331;
+  ratifies it, 338.
+
+New Jersey quarrels with New York, 146;
+  paper money in, 171;
+  opposes the attempt to close the Mississippi, 211;
+  instructs her delegates to the Annapolis convention, 217;
+  her plan for amending the articles of confederation, 245;
+  ratifies the Constitution, 315.
+
+New Roof, 338.
+
+New York passes navigation and tariff acts directed against neighbouring
+    states, 146;
+  lays claim to Vermont, 151-153;
+  paper money in, 170;
+  western claims of, 190, 193;
+  defeats the impost amendment, 218-220;
+  debates on the Constitution, 340-344;
+  ratifies it, 344;
+  asks for a second convention, 344;
+  fails to choose electors, 346.
+
+New York Central Railroad, 212.
+
+Newburgh address, 108-112, 118.
+
+Nicola, Louis, his letter to Washington, 107, 118.
+
+Non-importation agreement, 142.
+
+North, Frederick, Lord, fall of his ministry, 1;
+  coalition with Fox, 38-42;
+  his blindness, 41;
+  his proposals after Saratoga, 91;
+  his subservience to the king, 297.
+
+North Carolina issues paper money, 169;
+  cedes her western lands to the United States, 199;
+  repeals the act of cession, 201;
+  delays her ratification of the Constitution, 345.
+
+
+Ohio, 203-206.
+
+Old Sarum, 249.
+
+Old South Church, 321.
+
+Onslow, George, 2.
+
+Ordinance of 1787, 199, 203-206.
+
+Oregon, 60.
+
+Oswald, Richard, 9-14, 22-26, 32, 45.
+
+
+Paine, Thomas, 50, 55, 191.
+
+Paper currency, 163-179, 205, 218, 273-276.
+
+Parker, Theodore, 264.
+
+Parsons, Samuel Holden, 203.
+
+Parsons, Theophilus, 319, 324.
+
+Parties, formation of, 308.
+
+Paterson, William, 229, 245-248, 255, 258, 274.
+
+Patterson, militia officer in Wyoming, 149.
+
+Payson, Rev. Philip, 322.
+
+Pendleton, Edmund, 336.
+
+Pennsylvania, government of, 65;
+  first tariff act, 142;
+  quarrels with Connecticut, 148-150;
+  paper money in, 170;
+  opposes the closing of the Mississippi, 211;
+  contest over the Constitution, 309-314;
+  ratifies it, 315.
+
+Petersham, scene of Shays's defeat, 182, 319.
+
+Philadelphia, Congress driven from, 112;
+  Federal Convention meets at, 222;
+  unparliamentary proceedings in legislature, 311;
+  celebrates ratification by ten states, 339.
+
+Phocion and Mentor, 128.
+
+Pinckney, Charles, 228, 243, 261, 265, 266, 269, 276, 277, 334.
+
+Pinckney, Cotesworth, 228, 243, 258, 261, 263, 265, 266, 276, 333, 334.
+
+Pitt, Thomas, 44.
+
+Pitt, William, chancellor of exchequer, 16;
+  denounces the coalition, 39;
+  defends the treaty, 43;
+  refuses to form a ministry, 44;
+  character, 47;
+  prime minister, 47;
+  wins a great political victory, 48;
+  favours free trade with the United States, 136.
+
+Polish kings, election of, 279.
+
+Population as an index of wealth, 257.
+
+Portland, Duke of, 16, 45.
+
+Potomac, navigation of, 213-216.
+
+Poughkeepsie, convention at, 340-344.
+
+Powers granted to federal government, 268.
+
+Presbyterians, 81, 86.
+
+Presidents of Continental Congress, 96.
+
+Prevost's march against Charleston, 27.
+
+Prime minister contrasted with president, 292-294.
+
+Primogeniture, abolition of, 71.
+
+Proprietary governments, 65, 71.
+
+Providence, R.I., barbecue and mob at, 339.
+
+Public lands, 188.
+
+Putnam, Israel, 151.
+
+Putnam, Rufus, 203.
+
+
+Quebec act, 18.
+
+Quesnay, François, 141.
+
+Quorum, how to make a, 311.
+
+
+Railroads, political influence of, 60.
+
+Randolph, Edmund, 229, 233, 235, 239, 242, 246, 265, 269, 275, 276, 277,
+  282, 300, 303, 335, 337.
+
+Rayneval, Gérard de, 21.
+
+Read, George, 242, 274.
+
+Reform, parliamentary, 6.
+
+Religious freedom, progress in, 76-87.
+
+Religious tests opposed by Massachusetts clergymen, 322.
+
+Representation of slaves, 258-262.
+
+Representatives, House of, 236, 252.
+
+Republican party, 238.
+
+Republics, old notion that they must be small in area, 59.
+
+Reserve, Connecticut's western, 194.
+
+Revenue bills, 270.
+
+Revere, Paul, 327.
+
+Revolution, American, its conservative character, 64;
+  the French, 64, 118.
+
+Rhode Island, government of, 65;
+  extends franchise to Catholics, 77;
+  on the five per cent. duty, 104;
+  paper money in, 172-177;
+  opposes the closing of the Mississippi, 211;
+  does not send delegates to Philadelphia, 222;
+  delays her ratification of the Constitution, 345.
+
+Richmond, Duke of, 2, 16.
+
+Rittenhouse, David, 111.
+
+Rockingham, Marquis of, 4;
+  instability of his ministry, 5;
+  its excellent work, 7;
+  his death, 15.
+
+Rodney's victory over Grasse, 12, 13.
+
+Roman republic not like the United States, 59.
+
+Rousseau, J.J., 64, 117.
+
+Rutgers, Elizabeth, 127.
+
+Rutledge, John, 228, 243, 261, 265, 278, 279, 281, 300, 334.
+
+
+St. Clair, Arthur, 197, 206.
+
+Saladin and Coeur-de-Lion, 161.
+
+Sandy Hook light-house, 147.
+
+Sargent, Winthrop, 203.
+
+Schuyler, Philip, 126, 146, 151, 193.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, 153.
+
+Scottish representation in Parliament, 249.
+
+Seabury, Samuel, 84.
+
+Secession, threats of, 211, 218;
+  no constitutional right of, 344.
+
+Secrecy of the debates in Federal Convention, 230.
+
+Sedgwick, Theodore, 122, 319.
+
+Self-government, 57, 63, 88.
+
+Senate, federal, made independent of lower house, 253;
+  contrasted with House of Lords, 295.
+
+Senates, origin of, 66.
+
+Seven Years' War, 13, 188.
+
+Sevier, John, 200.
+
+Shattuck, Job, 180.
+
+Shays rebellion, 180-182, 218, 243, 316, 319, 325.
+
+Sheffield, Lord, protectionist, 137;
+  on the Barbary pirates, 160.
+
+Shelburne, William, Earl of, his character, 4;
+  his memorandum on proposed cession of Canada, 11;
+  prime minister, 16;
+  approached by Rayneval and Vaughan, 22;
+  misjudged by Fox, 40;
+  defends the treaty, 43;
+  resigns, 44;
+  his conduct justified by his enemies, 45;
+  understood the principles of free trade, 4, 134.
+
+Shepard, William, 180, 181.
+
+Sherman, Roger, 229, 243, 250, 255, 267, 274, 276, 279, 283, 299, 313;
+  his suggestion as to relations of the executive to the legislature, 278,
+    280, 298.
+
+Shillings, 165.
+
+Ship-building in New England, 137-139.
+
+Shute, Rev. Daniel, 322.
+
+Sidney, Algernon, 64.
+
+Singletary, Amos, 322, 324, 325.
+
+Six Nations, 190, 203.
+
+Slave-trade, foreign, permitted for twenty years, 264, 323, 333.
+
+Slavery in the several states, 72-75, 266;
+  prohibited in northwestern territory, 205;
+  discussions about it in Federal Convention, 257-267;
+  condemned by George Mason, 264.
+
+Slaves, representation of, 258-262;
+  numbers of, in the several states, 266.
+
+Small states converted to federalism by the Connecticut compromise, 255,
+  315.
+
+Smith, Adam, 125, 134, 135.
+
+Smith, Capt. John, 191.
+
+Smith, Jonathan, 324-326.
+
+Smith, Melanchthon, 340, 343, 344.
+
+Smugglers, 135.
+
+South Carolina, Episcopal church in, 78, 82;
+  revokes five per cent. impost, 108;
+  issues paper money, 169;
+  absolute need of conciliating her, 259, 260;
+  makes bargain with New England states, 262-267;
+  debates on the Constitution, 332-334;
+  ratifies it, 334.
+
+Sovereignty never belonged to separate states, 90.
+
+Spain, treaty of 1783 with Great Britain, 36;
+  attempts to close Mississippi River, 208-211, 218, 335.
+
+Spanish dollar, why it superseded English pound as unit of value in
+  America, 166.
+
+Spermaceti oil, 139, 163.
+
+Springfield arsenal, 181, 185.
+
+States, powers denied to, 272.
+
+Stormont, Lord, 45.
+
+Story, Joseph, 276.
+
+Strachey, Sir Henry, 22.
+
+Strong, Caleb, 228, 252, 279, 324, 327.
+
+Succession disputed, 289.
+
+Suffrage, limitations upon, 70.
+
+Sugar trade, 138.
+
+
+Temple, Lord, 44, 46.
+
+Tennessee, 18, 189, 199.
+
+Thayendanegea, 50.
+
+Thomas, Isaiah, 165.
+
+Thompson, Gen., in Massachusetts convention, 324.
+
+Thurlow, Lord, 5.
+
+Thurston, member of Virginia legislature, 144.
+
+Tithing-men in New England, 76.
+
+Tobacco as currency in Virginia, 165.
+
+Tories, American; see Loyalists.
+
+Tories, British, 42.
+
+Townshend, Thomas, 17.
+
+Trade, barbarous superstitions about, 134.
+
+Travelling, difficulties of, a century ago, 61.
+
+Treaty of 1783, difficulties in the way of, 8;
+  strange character of, 24;
+  provisions of, 25-33;
+  a great diplomatic victory for the Americans, 34, 189;
+  secret article relating to Florida boundary, 33, 208;
+  adopted, 45;
+  news arrives in America, 50;
+  Congress unable to carry out its provisions, 119-132, 154.
+
+Trespass Act in New York. 123-128.
+
+Trevett _vs._ Weeden, 176.
+
+Tucker, Josiah, 58, 141.
+
+Tyler, John, the elder, 214, 337.
+
+
+Union, sentiment of, 55.
+
+Unitarianism, 86.
+
+University men in Federal Convention, 224.
+
+
+Vaughan, Benjamin, 22, 35.
+
+Vergennes, Count de, 12;
+  wishes to satisfy Spain at the expense of the United States, 18-21;
+  thwarted by Jay, 22;
+  accuses the Americans of bad faith, 33;
+  tired of sending loans, 104.
+
+Vermont, troubles in, 151-153;
+  riots in connection with the Shays rebellion, 183.
+
+Vice-presidency, 282.
+
+Victoria, Queen, 293.
+
+Vincennes, riot in, 210.
+
+Violence of political invective, 39.
+
+Virginia, church and state in, 78-85;
+  on five per cent. impost, 104;
+  paper money in, 170;
+  takes possession of northwestern territory, 188-191;
+  cedes it to the United States, 194;
+  plan for new federal government, 233-242;
+  its reception by the convention, 242;
+  compromise as to representation of slaves, 259-262;
+  resents the compromise between South Carolina and the New England
+    states, 265;
+  debates on the Constitution, 335-337;
+  ratifies it, 337.
+
+"Visionary young men," i.e., Hamilton, Madison, Gouverneur Morris,
+  etc., 318.
+
+
+Waddington, Joshua, 127.
+
+Walpole, Horace, 16.
+
+Walpole, Sir Robert, 296.
+
+War, the Civil, 55, 256, 262;
+  contrast with Revolutionary, 101-103;
+  cost of Revolutionary, 166.
+
+Washington, George, marches from Yorktown to the Hudson River, 51;
+  disbands the army, 51;
+  resigns his command, 52;
+  goes home to Mount Vernon, 53;
+  his "legacy" to the American people, 54;
+  on the right of coercion, 100;
+  urges half-pay for retired officers, 106;
+  supposed scheme for making him king, 107;
+  his masterly speech at Newburgh, 110;
+  president of the Cincinnati, 115;
+  on the weakness of the confederation, 162;
+  wishes to hang speculators in bread-stuffs, 164;
+  disapproves of Connecticut's reservation of a tract of western land, 193;
+  approves of Ohio Company, 203;
+  his views on the need for canals between east and west, 212;
+  important meeting held at his house, 214;
+  is chosen delegate to the Federal Convention, 221;
+  president of the convention, 229;
+  his solemn warning, 231, 303;
+  his suggestion as to the basis of representation, 252;
+  asks if he shall put the question on the motion of Wilson and Pinckney,
+    277;
+  disapproves of electing executive by the legislature, 279;
+  sends draft of the Constitution to Congress, 307;
+  called a fool by the Antifederalists, 313;
+  approves of amendments, but opposes a second convention, 329;
+  unanimously chosen president of the United States, 346;
+  his journey to New York, 349;
+  his inauguration, 350.
+
+Washington, William, 334.
+
+Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, 83.
+
+Watt, James, 60, 267.
+
+Wayne, Anthony, 50.
+
+Wealth as a basis of representation, 257.
+
+Webster, Daniel, 56, 206, 276.
+
+Webster, Pelatiah, 101, 222.
+
+Weems, Mason, 83.
+
+Wesley, John, 85.
+
+West, Rev. Samuel, 322.
+
+West India trade, 138, 164.
+
+Whigs, British, sympathize with revolutionary party in America, 2.
+
+Whiskey as currency in North Carolina, 165.
+
+White, Abraham, 324.
+
+Whitefield, George, 85.
+
+Whitehill, Robert, 313.
+
+Whitney, Eli, 267.
+
+William the Silent, 55.
+
+Wilson, James, 228, 243, 246, 248, 251, 261, 274, 277, 279, 281, 282, 299,
+  300, 312, 313, 316.
+
+Witenagemot, 66.
+
+Worcester Spy, 165.
+
+Wraxall's Memoirs, 2.
+
+Wyoming, troubles in, 148-150.
+
+Wythe, George, 228.
+
+
+Yates, Robert, 225, 242, 244, 246, 254, 340, 341.
+
+Yazoo boundary, 33, 208.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] In recent years Georgia has been one of the first states to abandon
+this bad practice.
+
+[2] I suppose it was this same Mason Weems that was afterward known in
+Virginia as Parson Weems, of Pohick parish, near Mount Vernon. See
+_Magazine of American History_, iii. 465-472; v. 85-90. At first an
+eccentric preacher, Parson Weems became an itinerant violin-player and
+book-peddler, and author of that edifying work, _The Life of George
+Washington, with Curious Anecdotes equally Honourable to Himself and
+Exemplary to his Young Countrymen_. On the title-page the author
+describes himself as "formerly rector of Mount Vernon Parish,"--which
+Bishop Meade calls preposterous. The book is a farrago of absurdities,
+reminding one, alike in its text and its illustrations, of an overgrown
+English chap-book of the olden time. It has had an enormous sale, and
+has very likely contributed more than any other single book toward
+forming the popular notion of Washington. It seems to have been this
+fiddling parson that first gave currency to the everlasting story of the
+cherry-tree and the little hatchet.
+
+[3] _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_, iii. 447.
+
+[4] A very interesting account of these troubles may be found in the
+first volume of Professor McMaster's _History of the People of the
+United States_.
+
+[5] This subject has been treated in a masterly manner by Mr. H.B.
+Adams, in an essay on Maryland's Influence upon Land Cessions to the
+United States, published in the Third Series of the admirable _Johns
+Hopkins University Studies in History and Politics_. I am indebted to
+Mr. Adams for many valuable suggestions.
+
+[6] It would be in the highest degree erroneous, however, to suppose
+that the Constitution of the United States is not, as much as any other,
+an instance of evolution from precedents. See, in this connection, the
+very able article by Prof. Alexander Johnston, _New Princeton Review_,
+Sept., 1887, pp. 175-190.
+
+[7] The slave-population of the United States, according to the census
+of 1700, was thus distributed among the states:--
+
+_North._
+
+New Hampshire          158
+Vermont                 17
+Massachusetts           --
+Rhode Island           952
+Connecticut          2,759
+New York            21,324
+New Jersey          11,423
+Pennsylvania         3,737
+                    ------
+                   40,370
+
+_South._
+
+Delaware             8,887
+Maryland           103,036
+Virginia           293,427
+North Carolina     100,572
+South Carolina     107,094
+Georgia             29,264
+Kentucky            11,830
+Tennessee            3,417
+                   -------
+                  657,527
+
+Total              697,897.
+
+[8] Since this was written, this last and most serious danger would seem
+to have been removed by the acts of 1886 and 1887 regulating the
+presidential succession and the counting of electoral votes.
+
+[9] The history of President Cleveland's tariff message of 1887,
+however, shows that, where a wise and courageous president calls
+attention to a living issue, his party, alike in Congress and in the
+country, is in a measure compelled to follow his lead.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Critical Period of American History, by 
+John Fiske
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+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Critical Period of American History
+      1783&ndash;1789, by John Fiske.
+    </title>
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+
+Project Gutenberg's The Critical Period of American History, by John Fiske
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Critical Period of American History
+
+Author: John Fiske
+
+Release Date: December 7, 2008 [EBook #27430]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRITICAL PERIOD AMERICAN HISTORY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Greg Bergquist
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="tn">
+
+<p class="center"><big><b>Transcriber&#8217;s Note</b></big></p>
+
+<p class="noin">The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully preserved. Only obvious
+typographical errors have been corrected.</p>
+
+</div>
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h1>THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF<br />
+
+AMERICAN HISTORY<br />
+
+1783&ndash;1789<br /><br /></h1>
+
+<p class="center"><small>BY</small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><big>JOHN FISKE</big><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>"I am uneasy and apprehensive, more so than during the war."<br />
+<span class="smcap">Jay to Washington</span>, <i>June</i> 27, 1786.</small><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
+<img src="images/003.jpg" width="100" height="124" alt="Insignia" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center"><small>BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br />
+HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY</small></p>
+<p class="oldeng">The Riverside Press, Cambridge
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p class="center"><small><br /><br /><br />Copyright, 1888,<br />
+
+<span class="smcap">By</span> JOHN FISKE.<br /><br />
+
+<i>All rights reserved.</i></small><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><i>The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.</i><br />
+Electrotyped and Printed by H.O. Houghton &amp; Co.</small><br /><br /><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p class="center"><br /><br /><br />
+<small>To</small><br />
+<small>MY DEAR CLASSMATES,</small><br />
+FRANCIS LEE HIGGINSON<br />
+<small>AND</small><br />
+CHARLES CABOT JACKSON,<br />
+<small><i>I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.</i></small><br /><br /><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">This</span> book contains the substance of the course of lectures given in the
+Old South Meeting-House in Boston in December, 1884, at the Washington
+University in St. Louis in May, 1885, and in the theatre of the
+University Club in New York in March, 1886. In its present shape it may
+serve as a sketch of the political history of the United States from the
+end of the Revolutionary War to the adoption of the Federal
+Constitution. It makes no pretensions to completeness, either as a
+summary of the events of that period or as a discussion of the political
+questions involved in them. I have aimed especially at grouping facts in
+such a way as to bring out and emphasize their causal sequence, and it
+is accordingly hoped that the book may prove useful to the student of
+American history.</p>
+
+<p>My title was suggested by the fact of Thomas Paine's stopping the
+publication of the "Crisis," on hearing the news of the treaty of 1783,
+with the remark, "The times that tried men's souls are over." Commenting
+upon this, on page 55 of the present work, I observed that so far from
+the crisis being over in 1783, the next five years were to be the most
+critical time of all. I had not then seen Mr. Trescot's "Diplomatic
+History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams," on page 9 of
+which he uses almost the same words: "It must not be supposed that the
+treaty of peace secured the national life. Indeed, it would be more
+correct to say that the most critical period of the country's history
+embraced the time between 1783 and the adoption of the Constitution in
+1788."</p>
+
+<p>That period was pre&euml;minently the turning-point in the development of
+political society in the western hemisphere. Though small in their mere
+dimensions, the events here summarized were in a remarkable degree
+germinal events, fraught with more tremendous alternatives of future
+welfare or misery for mankind than it is easy for the imagination to
+grasp. As we now stand upon the threshold of that mighty future, in the
+light of which all events of the past are clearly destined to seem
+dwindled in dimensions and significant only in the ratio of their
+potency as causes; as we discern how large a part of that future must be
+the outcome of the creative work, for good or ill, of men of English
+speech; we are put into the proper mood for estimating the significance
+of the causes which determined a century ago that the continent of North
+America should be dominated by a single powerful and pacific federal
+nation instead of being parcelled out among forty or fifty small
+communities, wasting their strength and lowering their moral tone by
+perpetual warfare, like the states of ancient Greece, or by perpetual
+preparation for warfare, like the nations of modern Europe. In my book
+entitled "American Political Ideas, viewed from the Standpoint of
+Universal History," I have tried to indicate the pacific influence
+likely to be exerted upon the world by the creation and maintenance of
+such a political structure as our Federal Union. The present narrative
+may serve as a commentary upon what I had in mind on page 133 of that
+book, in speaking of the work of our Federal Convention as "the finest
+specimen of constructive statesmanship that the world has ever seen." On
+such a point it is pleasant to find one's self in accord with a
+statesman so wise and noble as Mr. Gladstone, whose opinion is here
+quoted on page 223.</p>
+
+<p>To some persons it may seem as if the years 1861&ndash;65 were of more
+cardinal importance than the years 1783&ndash;89. Our civil war was indeed an
+event of prodigious magnitude, as measured by any standard that history
+affords; and there can be little doubt as to its decisiveness. The
+measure of that decisiveness is to be found in the completeness of the
+reconciliation that has already, despite the feeble wails of
+unscrupulous place-hunters and unteachable bigots, cemented the Federal
+Union so powerfully that all likelihood of its disruption may be said to
+have disappeared forever. When we consider this wonderful harmony which
+so soon has followed the deadly struggle, we may well believe it to be
+the index of such a stride toward the ultimate pacification of mankind
+as was never made before. But it was the work done in the years 1783&ndash;89
+that created a federal nation capable of enduring the storm and stress
+of the years 1861&ndash;65. It was in the earlier crisis that the pliant twig
+was bent; and as it was bent, so has it grown; until it has become
+indeed a goodly and a sturdy tree.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cambridge</span>, October 10, 1888.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents.">
+<tr>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'>CHAPTER I.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><small>RESULTS OF YORKTOWN.</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right' colspan='2'><small>PAGE</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left' width='80%'>Fall of Lord North's ministry</td>
+ <td align='right' width='20%'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Sympathy between British Whigs and the revolutionary party in America</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_2">2</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>It weakened the Whig party in England</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Character of Lord Shelburne</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Political instability of the Rockingham ministry</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_5">5, 6</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Obstacles in the way of a treaty of peace</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_7">7, 8</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Oswald talks with Franklin</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_9">9&ndash;11</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Grenville has an interview with Vergennes</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Effects of Rodney's victory</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Misunderstanding between Fox and Shelburne</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Fall of the Rockingham ministry</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Shelburne becomes prime minister</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Defeat of the Spaniards and French at Gibraltar</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>French policy opposed to American interests</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The valley of the Mississippi; Aranda's prophecy</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Newfoundland fisheries</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Jay detects the schemes of Vergennes</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And sends Dr Vaughan to visit Shelburne</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>John Adams arrives in Paris and joins with Jay in insisting upon a separate negotiation with England</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_23">23, 24</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The separate American treaty, as agreed upon:</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="td1">1.&nbsp;Boundaries</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class='td1'>2.&nbsp;Fisheries; commercial intercourse</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class='td1'>3.&nbsp;Private debts</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class='td1'>4.&nbsp;Compensation of loyalists</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_28">28&ndash;32</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Secret article relating to the Yazoo boundary</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Vergennes does not like the way in which it has been done</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>On the part of the Americans it was a great diplomatic victory</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Which the commissioners won by disregarding the instructions of Congress and acting on their own responsibility</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Spanish treaty</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The French treaty</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Coalition of Fox with North</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_38">38&ndash;42</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>They attack the American treaty in Parliament</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And compel Shelburne to resign</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Which leaves England without a government, while for several weeks the king is too angry to appoint ministers</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Until at length he succumbs to the coalition, which presently adopts and ratifies the American treaty</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The coalition ministry is wrecked upon Fox's India Bill</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Constitutional crisis ends in the overwhelming victory of Pitt in the elections of May, 1784</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And this, although apparently a triumph for the king, was really a death-blow to his system of personal government</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_48">48, 49</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'>CHAPTER II.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><small>THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS.</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Cessation of hostilities in America</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Departure of the British troops</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Washington resigns his command</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And goes home to Mount Vernon</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>His "legacy" to the American people</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The next five years were the most critical years in American history</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Absence of a sentiment of union, and consequent danger of anarchy</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_56">56, 57</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>European statesmen, whether hostile or friendly, had little faith in the stability of the Union</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>False historic analogies</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Influence of railroad and telegraph upon the perpetuity of the Union</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Difficulty of travelling a hundred years ago</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Local jealousies and antipathies, an inheritance from primeval savagery</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_62">62, 63</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Conservative character of the American Revolution</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>State governments remodelled; assemblies continued from colonial times</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Origin of the senates in the governor's council of assistants</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Governors viewed with suspicion</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Analogies with British institutions</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The judiciary</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Restrictions upon suffrage</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Abolition of primogeniture, entails, and manorial privileges</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Steps toward the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_72">72&ndash;75</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Progress toward religious freedom</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_76">76, 77</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Church and state in Virginia</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_78">78, 79</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Persecution of dissenters</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Madison and the Religions Freedom Act</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Temporary overthrow of the church</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Difficulties in regard to ordination; the case of Mason Weems</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Ordination of Samuel Seabury by non-jurors at Aberdeen</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Francis Asbury and the Methodists</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Presbyterians and Congregationalists</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Roman Catholics</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Except in the instance of slavery, all the changes described in this chapter were favourable to the union of the states</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>But while the state governments, in all these changes, are seen working smoothly, we have next to observe, by contrast, the clumsiness and inefficiency of the federal government</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'>CHAPTER III.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><small>THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP.</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The several states have never enjoyed complete sovereignty</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>But in the very act of severing their connection with Great Britain, they entered into some sort of union</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Anomalous character of the Continental Congress</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The articles of confederation; they sought to establish a "league of friendship" between the states</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_93">93&ndash;97</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>But failed to create a federal government endowed with real sovereignty</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_98">98&ndash;100</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Military weakness of the government</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_101">101&ndash;103</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Extreme difficulty of obtaining a revenue</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_104">104, 105</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Congress, being unable to pay the army, was afraid of it</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Supposed scheme for making Washington king</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Greene's experience in South Carolina</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Gates's staff officers and the Newburgh address</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The danger averted by Washington</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_110">110, 111</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Congress driven from Philadelphia by mutinous soldiers</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Commutation Act denounced in New England</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Order of the Cincinnati</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_114">114&ndash;117</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Reasons for the dread which it inspired</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Congress finds itself unable to carry out the provisions of the treaty with Great Britain</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Persecution of the loyalists</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_120">120, 121</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>It was especially severe in New York</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Trespass Act of 1784 directed against the loyalists</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Character and early career of Alexander Hamilton</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_124">124&ndash;126</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The case of Rutgers <i>v.</i> Waddington</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_127">127, 128</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Wholesale emigration of Tories</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_129">129, 130</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Congress unable to enforce payment of debts to British creditors</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>England retaliates by refusing to surrender the fortresses on the northwestern frontier</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_132">132, 133</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IV.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><small>DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY.</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The barbarous superstitions of the Middle Ages concerning trade were still rife in the eighteenth century</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The old theory of the uses of a colony</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Pitt's unsuccessful attempt to secure free trade between Great Britain and the United States</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Ship-building in New England</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>British navigation acts and orders in council directed against American commerce</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>John Adams tried in vain to negotiate a commercial treaty with Great Britain</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_139">139, 140</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And could see no escape from the difficulties except in systematic reprisal</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>But any such reprisal was impracticable, for the several states imposed conflicting duties</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Attempts to give Congress the power of regulating commerce were unsuccessful</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_143">143, 144</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And the several states began to make commercial war upon one another</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Attempts of New York to oppress New Jersey and Connecticut</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Retaliatory measures of the two latter states</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The quarrel between Connecticut and Pennsylvania over the possession of the valley of Wyoming</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_148">148&ndash;150</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The quarrel between New York and New Hampshire over the possession of the Green Mountains</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_151">151&ndash;153</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Failure of American diplomacy because European states could not tell whether they were dealing with one nation or with thirteen</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_154">154, 155</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Failure of American credit; John Adams begging in Holland</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_156">156, 157</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Barbary pirates</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>American citizens kidnapped and sold into slavery</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Lord Sheffield's outrageous pamphlet</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Tripoli's demand for blackmail</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Congress unable to protect American citizens</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Financial distress after the Revolutionary War</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_163">163, 164</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>State of the coinage</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Cost of the war in money</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Robert Morris and his immense services</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The craze for paper money</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Agitation in the southern and middle states</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_169">169&ndash;171</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Distress in New England</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Imprisonment for debt</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Rag-money victorious in Rhode Island; the "Know Ye" measures</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_174">174&ndash;176</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Rag-money defeated in Massachusetts; the Shays insurrection</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_177">177&ndash;181</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The insurrection suppressed by state troops</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Conduct of the neighbouring states</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The rebels pardoned</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Timidity of Congress</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_185">185, 186</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'>CHAPTER V.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><small>GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY.</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Creation of a national domain beyond the Alleghanies</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_187">187, 188</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Conflicting claims to the western territory</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_189">189, 190</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Claims of New York</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Virginia's claims</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Maryland's novel and beneficent suggestion</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The several states yield their claims in favour of the United States</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_193">193, 194</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Magnanimity of Virginia</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Jefferson proposes a scheme of government for the northwestern territory</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Names of the proposed ten states</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Jefferson wishes to prohibit slavery in the national domain</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>North Carolina's cession of western lands</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>John Sevier and the state of Franklin</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_200">200, 201</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The northwestern territory</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Origin of the Ohio company</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Ordinance of 1787</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_204">204&ndash;206</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Theory of folkland upon which the ordinance was based</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_207">207</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Spain, hearing of the secret article in the treaty of 1783, loses her temper and threatens to shut up the Mississippi River</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_208">208, 209</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Gardoqui and Jay</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Threats of secession in Kentucky and New England</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Washington's views on the political importance of canals between east and west</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>His far-sighted genius and self-devotion</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Maryland confers with Virginia regarding the navigation of the Potomac</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Madison-Tyler motion in the Virginia legislature</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_215">215</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Convention at Annapolis, Sept 11, 1786</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_216">216</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Hamilton's address calling for a convention at Philadelphia</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The impost amendment defeated by the action of New York; last ounce upon the camel's back</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_218">218&ndash;220</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Sudden changes in popular sentiment</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Federal Convention meets at Philadelphia, May, 1787</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Mr. Gladstone's opinion of the work of the convention</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The men who were assembled there</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_224">224, 225</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Character of James Madison</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_226">226, 227</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The other leading members</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Washington chosen president of the convention</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VI.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><small>THE FEDERAL CONVENTION.</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Why the proceedings of the convention were kept secret for so many years</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Difficulty of the problem to be solved</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Symptoms of cowardice repressed by Washington's impassioned speech</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The root of all the difficulties; the edicts of the federal government had operated only upon states, not upon individuals, and therefore could not be enforced without danger of war</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_233">233&ndash;233</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Virginia plan, of which Madison was the chief author, offered a radical cure</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And was felt to be revolutionary in its character</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_237">237&ndash;239</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Fundamental features of the Virginia plan</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_240">240, 241</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>How it was at first received</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The House of Representatives must be directly elected by the people</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Question as to the representation of states brings out the antagonism between large and small states</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>William Paterson presents the New Jersey plan; not a radical cure, but a feeble palliative</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Straggle between the Virginia and New Jersey plans</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_246">246&ndash;249</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Connecticut compromise, according to which the national principle is to prevail in the House of Representatives, and the federal principle in the Senate, meets at first with fierce opposition</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_250">250, 251</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>But is at length adopted</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And proves a decisive victory for Madison and his methods</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>A few irreconcilable members go home in dudgeon</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>But the small states, having been propitiated, are suddenly converted to Federalism, and make the victory complete</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Vague dread of the future west</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The struggle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery parties began in the convention, and was quieted by two compromises</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Should representation be proportioned to wealth or to population?</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Were slaves to be reckoned as persons or as chattels?</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Attitude of the Virginia statesmen</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>It was absolutely necessary to satisfy South Carolina</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The three fifths compromise, suggested by Madison, was a genuine English solution, if ever there was one</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>There was neither rhyme nor reason in it, but for all that, it was the best solution attainable at the time</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The next compromise was between New England and South Carolina as to the foreign slave-trade and the power of the federal government over commerce</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_263">263</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>George Mason calls the slave-trade an "infernal traffic"</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And the compromise offends and alarms Virginia</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Belief in the moribund condition of slavery</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The foundations of the Constitution were laid in compromise</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Powers granted to the federal government</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Use of federal troops in suppressing insurrections</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Various federal powers</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Provision for a federal city under federal jurisdiction</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Federal Congress might compel the attendance of members</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Powers denied to the several states</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Should the federal government he allowed to make its promissory notes a legal tender in payment of debts? powerful speech of Gouverneur Morris</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Emphatic and unmistakable condemnation of paper money by all the leading delegates</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The convention refused to grant to the federal government the power of issuing inconvertible paper, but did not think an express prohibition necessary</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_275">275</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>If they could have foreseen some recent judgments of the supreme court, they would doubtless have made the prohibition explicit and absolute</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Debates as to the federal executive</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_277">277</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Sherman's suggestion as to the true relation of the executive to the legislature</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_278">278</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>There was to be a single chief magistrate, but how should he be chosen?</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Objections to an election by Congress</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_280">280</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Ellsworth and King suggest the device of an electoral college, which is at first rejected</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_281">281</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>But afterwards adopted</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Provisions for an election by Congress in the case of a failure of choice by the electoral college</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Provisions for counting the electoral votes</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_284">284</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>It was not intended to leave anything to be decided by the president of the Senate</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_285">285</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The convention foresaw imaginary dangers, but not the real ones</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Hamilton's opinion of the electoral scheme</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_287">287</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>How it has actually worked</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>In this part of its work the convention tried to copy from the British Constitution</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>In which they supposed the legislative and executive departments to be distinct and separate</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_290">290</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Here they were misled by Montesquieu and Blackstone</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_291">291</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>What our government would be if it were really like that of Great Britain</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_292">292&ndash;294</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>In the British government the executive department is not separated from the legislative</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Circumstances which obscured the true aspect of the case a century ago</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_296">296&ndash;298</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The American cabinet is analogous, not to the British cabinet, but to the privy council</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The federal judiciary, and its remarkable character</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_300">300&ndash;301</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Provisions for amending the Constitution</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_302">302</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The document is signed by all but three of the delegates</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_303">303</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And the convention breaks up</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>With a pleasant remark from Franklin</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_305">305</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><small>CROWNING THE WORK.</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Franklin lays the Constitution before the legislature of Pennsylvania</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_306">306</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>It is submitted to Congress, which refers it to the legislatures of the thirteen states, to be ratified or rejected by the people in conventions</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_307">307</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>First American parties, Federalists and Antifederalists</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_308">308, 309</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The contest in Pennsylvania</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_310">310</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>How to make a quorum</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_311">311</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>A war of pamphlets and newspaper squibs</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_312">312, 313</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Ending in the ratification of the Constitution by Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_314">314</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Rejoicings and mutterings</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_315">315</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Georgia and Connecticut ratify</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_316">316</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The outlook in Massachusetts</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_317">317, 318</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Massachusetts convention meets</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_319">319</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And overhauls the Constitution clause by clause</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>On the subject of an army Mr. Nason waxes eloquent</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_321">321</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The clergymen oppose a religious test</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_322">322</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>And Rev. Samuel West argues on the assumption that all men are not totally depraved</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Feeling of distrust in the mountain districts</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_324">324</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Timely speech of a Berkshire farmer</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_325">325, 326</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Attitude of Samuel Adams</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_326">326, 327</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Meeting of mechanics at the Green Dragon</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_327">327</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Charges of bribery</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Washington's fruitful suggestion</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_329">329</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Massachusetts ratifies, but proposes amendments</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_330">330</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The Long Lane has a turning and becomes Federal Street</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>New Hampshire hesitates, but Maryland ratifies, and all eyes are turned upon South Carolina</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Objections of Rawlins Lowndes answered by Cotesworth Pinckney</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_333">333</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>South Carolina ratifies the Constitution</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Important effect upon Virginia, where thoughts of a southern confederacy had been entertained</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_335">335, 336</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Madison and Marshall prevail in the Virginia convention, and it ratifies the Constitution</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>New Hampshire had ratified four days before</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_338">338</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Rejoicings at Philadelphia; riots at Providence and Albany</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>The struggle in New York</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_340">340</a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Origin of the "Federalist"</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_341">341&ndash;343</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Hamilton wins the victory, and New York ratifies</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_344">344</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>All serious anxiety is now at an end; the laggard states, North Carolina and Rhode Island</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_345">345</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>First presidential election, January 7, 1789; Washington is unanimously chosen</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_346">346</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Why Samuel Adams was not selected for vice-president</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_347">347</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Selection of John Adams</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_348">348</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Washington's journey to New York, April 16&ndash;23</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_349">349</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>His inauguration</td>
+ <td align='right'><a href="#Page_350">350</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h1>THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF<br /> AMERICAN HISTORY.</h1>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>RESULTS OF YORKTOWN.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">Sympathy between British Whigs and the revolutionary party in
+America.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> 20th of March, 1782, the day which witnessed the fall of Lord
+North's ministry, was a day of good omen for men of English race on both
+sides of the Atlantic. Within two years from this time, the treaty which
+established the independence of the United States was successfully
+negotiated at Paris; and at the same time, as part of the series of
+events which resulted in the treaty, there went on in England a rapid
+dissolution and reorganization of parties, which ended in the
+overwhelming defeat of the king's attempt to make the forms of the
+constitution subservient to his selfish purposes, and established the
+liberty of the people upon a broader and sounder basis than it had ever
+occupied before. Great indignation was expressed at the time, and has
+sometimes been echoed by British historians, over the conduct of those
+Whigs who never lost an opportunity of expressing their approval of the
+American revolt. The Duke of Richmond, at the beginning of the contest,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
+expressed a hope that the Americans might succeed, because they were in
+the right. Charles Fox spoke of General Howe's first victory as "the
+terrible news from Long Island." Wraxall says that the celebrated buff
+and blue colours of the Whig party were adopted by Fox in imitation of
+the Continental uniform; but his unsupported statement is open to
+question. It is certain, however, that in the House of Commons the Whigs
+habitually alluded to Washington's army as "our army," and to the
+American cause as "the cause of liberty;" and Burke, with characteristic
+vehemence, declared that he would rather be a prisoner in the Tower with
+Mr. Laurens than enjoy the blessings of freedom in company with the men
+who were seeking to enslave America. Still more, the Whigs did all in
+their power to discourage enlistments, and in various ways so thwarted
+and vexed the government that the success of the Americans was by many
+people ascribed to their assistance. A few days before Lord North's
+resignation, George Onslow, in an able defence of the prime minister,
+exclaimed, "Why have we failed so miserably in this war against America,
+if not from the support and countenance given to rebellion in this very
+House?"</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">It weakened the Whigs in England.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Character of Lord Shelburne.</div>
+
+<p>Now the violence of party leaders like Burke and Fox owed much of its
+strength, no doubt, to mere rancorousness of party spirit. But, after
+making due allowance for this, we must admit that it was essentially
+based upon the intensity of their conviction that the cause of English
+liberty was inseparably bound up with the defeat of the king's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> attempt
+upon the liberties of America. Looking beyond the quarrels of the
+moment, they preferred to have freedom guaranteed, even at the cost of
+temporary defeat and partial loss of empire. Time has shown that they
+were right in this, but the majority of the people could hardly be
+expected to comprehend their attitude. It seemed to many that the great
+Whig leaders were forgetting their true character as English statesmen,
+and there is no doubt that for many years this was the chief source of
+the weakness of the Whig party. Sir Gilbert Elliot said, with truth,
+that if the Whigs had not thus to a considerable extent arrayed the
+national feeling against themselves, Lord North's ministry would have
+fallen some years sooner than it did. The king thoroughly understood the
+advantage which accrued to him from this state of things; and with that
+short-sighted shrewdness of the mere political wire-puller, in which few
+modern politicians have excelled him, he had from the outset preferred
+to fight his battle on constitutional questions in America rather than
+in England, in order that the national feeling of Englishmen might be
+arrayed on his side. He was at length thoroughly beaten on his own
+ground, and as the fatal day approached he raved and stormed as he had
+not stormed since the spring of 1778, when he had been asked to entrust
+the government to Lord Chatham. Like the child who refuses to play when
+he sees the game going against him, George threatened to abdicate the
+throne and go over to Hanover, leaving his son to get along with the
+Whig statesmen. But presently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> he took heart again, and began to resort
+to the same kind of political management which had served him so well in
+the earlier years of his reign. Among the Whig statesmen, the Marquis of
+Buckingham had the largest political following. He represented the old
+Whig aristocracy, his section of the party had been first to urge the
+recognition of American independence, and his principal followers were
+Fox and Burke. For all these reasons he was especially obnoxious to the
+king. On the other hand, the Earl of Shelburne was, in a certain sense,
+the political heir of Lord Chatham, and represented principles far more
+liberal than those of the Old Whigs. Shelburne was one of the most
+enlightened statesmen of his time. He was an earnest advocate of
+parliamentary reform and of free trade. He had paid especial attention
+to political economy, and looked with disgust upon the whole barbaric
+system of discriminative duties and commercial monopolies which had been
+so largely instrumental in bringing about the American Revolution. But
+being in these respects in advance of his age, Lord Shelburne had but
+few followers. Moreover, although a man of undoubted integrity, quite
+exempt from sordid or selfish ambition, there was a cynical harshness
+about him which made him generally disliked and distrusted. He was so
+suspicious of other men that other men were suspicious of him; so that,
+in spite of many admirable qualities, he was extremely ill adapted for
+the work of a party manager.</p>
+
+<p>It was doubtless for these reasons that the king,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> when it became clear
+that a new government must be formed, made up his mind that Lord
+Shelburne would be the safest man to conduct it. In his hands the Whig
+power would not be likely to grow too strong, and dissensions would be
+sure to arise, from which the king might hope to profit. The first place
+in the treasury was accordingly offered to Shelburne; and when he
+refused it, and the king found himself forced to appeal to Lord
+Rockingham, the manner in which the bitter pill was taken was quite
+characteristic of George III. He refused to meet Rockingham in person,
+but sent all his communications to him through Shelburne, who, thus
+conspicuously singled out as the object of royal preference, was certain
+to incur the distrust of his fellow ministers.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Political instability of the Rockingham ministry.</div>
+
+<p>The structure of the new cabinet was unstable enough, however, to have
+satisfied even such an enemy as the king. Beside Rockingham himself,
+Lord John Cavendish, Charles Fox, Lord Keppel, and the Duke of Richmond
+were all Old Whigs. To offset these five there were five New Whigs, the
+Duke of Grafton, Lords Shelburne, Camden, and Ashburton, and General
+Conway; while the eleventh member was none other than the Tory
+chancellor, Lord Thurlow, who was kept over from Lord North's ministry.
+Burke was made paymaster of the forces, but had no seat in the cabinet.
+In this curiously constructed cabinet, the prime minister, Lord
+Rockingham, counted for little. Though a good party leader, he was below
+mediocrity as a statesman, and his health was failing, so that he could
+not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>attend to business. The master spirits were the two secretaries of
+state, Fox and Shelburne, and they wrangled perpetually, while Thurlow
+carried the news of all their quarrels to the king, and in cabinet
+meetings usually voted with Shelburne. The ministry had not lasted five
+weeks when Fox began to predict its downfall. On the great question of
+parliamentary reform, which was brought up in May by the young William
+Pitt, the government was hopelessly divided. Shelburne's party was in
+favour of reform, and this time Fox was found upon the same side, as
+well as the Duke of Richmond, who went so far as to advocate universal
+suffrage. On the other hand, the Whig aristocracy, led by Rockingham,
+were as bitterly opposed as the king himself to any change in the method
+of electing parliaments; and, incredible as it may seem, even such a man
+as Burke maintained that the old system, rotten boroughs and all, was a
+sacred part of the British Constitution, which none could handle rudely
+without endangering the country! But in this moment of reaction against
+the evil influences which had brought about the loss of the American
+colonies, there was a strong feeling in favour of reform, and Pitt's
+motion was only lost by a minority of twenty in a total vote of three
+hundred. Half a century was to elapse before the reformers were again to
+come so near to victory.</p>
+
+<p>But Lord Rockingham's weak and short-lived ministry was nevertheless
+remarkable for the amount of good work it did in spite of the king's
+dogged opposition. It contained great administrative talent, which made
+itself felt in the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> adverse circumstances. To add to the
+difficulty, the ministry came into office at the critical moment of a
+great agitation in Ireland. In less than three months, not only was the
+trouble successfully removed, but the important bills for disfranchising
+revenue officers and excluding contractors from the House of Commons
+were carried, and a tremendous blow was thus struck at the corrupt
+influence of the crown upon elections. Burke's great scheme of
+economical reform was also put into operation, cutting down the pension
+list and diminishing the secret service fund, and thus destroying many
+sources of corruption. At no time, perhaps, since the expulsion of the
+Stuarts, had so much been done toward purifying English political life
+as during the spring of 1782. But during the progress of these important
+measures, the jealousies and bickerings in the cabinet became more and
+more painfully apparent, and as the question of peace with America came
+into the foreground, these difficulties hastened to a crisis.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Obstacles in the way of a treaty of peace.</div>
+
+<p>From the policy which George III. pursued with regard to Lord Shelburne
+at this time, one would suppose that in his secret heart the king
+wished, by foul means since all others had failed, to defeat the
+negotiations for peace and to prolong the war. Seldom has there been a
+more oddly complicated situation. Peace was to be made with America,
+France, Spain, and Holland. Of these powers, America and France were
+leagued together by one treaty of alliance, and France and Spain by
+another, and these treaties in some respects conflicted with one another
+in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> the duties which they entailed upon the combatants. Spain, though at
+war with England for purposes of her own, was bitterly hostile to the
+United States; and France, thus leagued with two allies which pulled in
+opposite directions, felt bound to satisfy both, while pursuing her own
+ends against England. To deal with such a chaotic state of things, an
+orderly and harmonious government in England should have seemed
+indispensably necessary. Yet on the part of England the negotiation of a
+treaty of peace was to be the work of two secretaries of state who were
+both politically and personally hostile to each other. Fox, as secretary
+of state for foreign affairs, had to superintend the negotiations with
+France, Spain, and Holland. Shelburne was secretary of state for home
+and colonial affairs; and as the United States were still officially
+regarded as colonies, the American negotiations belonged to his
+department. With such a complication of conflicting interests, George
+III. might well hope that no treaty could be made.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Oswald talks with Franklin.</div>
+
+<p>The views of Fox and Shelburne as to the best method of conceding
+American independence were very different. Fox understood that France
+was really in need of peace, and he believed that she would not make
+further demands upon England if American independence should once be
+recognized. Accordingly, Fox would have made this concession at once as
+a preliminary to the negotiation. On the other hand, Shelburne felt sure
+that France would insist upon further concessions, and he thought it
+best to hold in reserve the recognition of independence as a
+consideration to be bargained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> for. Informal negotiations began between
+Shelburne and Franklin, who for many years had been warm friends. In
+view of the impending change of government, Franklin had in March sent a
+letter to Shelburne, expressing a hope that peace might soon be
+restored. When the letter reached London the new ministry had already
+been formed, and Shelburne, with the consent of the cabinet, answered it
+by sending over to Paris an agent, to talk with Franklin informally, and
+ascertain the terms upon which the Americans would make peace. The
+person chosen for this purpose was Richard Oswald, a Scotch merchant,
+who owned large estates in America,&mdash;a man of very frank disposition and
+liberal views, and a friend of Adam Smith. In April, Oswald had several
+conversations with Franklin. In one of these conversations Franklin
+suggested that, in order to make a durable peace, it was desirable to
+remove all occasion for future quarrel; that the line of frontier
+between New York and Canada was inhabited by a lawless set of men, who
+in time of peace would be likely to breed trouble between their
+respective governments; and that therefore it would be well for England
+to cede Canada to the United States. A similar reasoning would apply to
+Nova Scotia. By ceding these countries to the United States it would be
+possible, from the sale of unappropriated lands, to indemnify the
+Americans for all losses of private property during the war, and also to
+make reparation to the Tories, whose estates had been confiscated. By
+pursuing such a policy, England, which had made war on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> America
+unjustly, and had wantonly done it great injuries, would achieve not
+merely peace, but reconciliation, with America; and reconciliation, said
+Franklin, is "a sweet word." No doubt this was a bold tone for Franklin
+to take, and perhaps it was rather cool in him to ask for Canada and
+Nova Scotia; but he knew that almost every member of the Whig ministry
+had publicly expressed the opinion that the war against America was an
+unjust and wanton war; and being, moreover, a shrewd hand at a bargain,
+he began by setting his terms high. Oswald doubtless looked at the
+matter very much from Franklin's point of view, for on the suggestion of
+the cession of Canada he expressed neither surprise nor reluctance.
+Franklin had written on a sheet of paper the main points of his
+conversation, and, at Oswald's request, he allowed him to take the paper
+to London to show to Lord Shelburne, first writing upon it a note
+expressly declaring its informal character. Franklin also sent a letter
+to Shelburne, describing Oswald as a gentleman with whom he found it
+very pleasant to deal. On Oswald's arrival in London, Shelburne did not
+show the notes of the conversation to any of his colleagues, except Lord
+Ashburton. He kept the paper over one night, and then returned it to
+Franklin without any formal answer. But the letter he showed to the
+cabinet, and on the 23d of April it was decided to send Oswald back to
+Paris, to represent to Franklin that, on being restored to the same
+situation in which she was left by the treaty of 1763, Great Britain
+would be willing to recognize the independence of the United<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> States.
+Fox was authorized to make a similar representation to the French
+government, and the person whom he sent to Paris for this purpose was
+Thomas Grenville, son of the author of the Stamp Act.</p>
+
+<p>As all British subjects were prohibited from entering into negotiations
+with the revolted colonies, it was impossible for Oswald to take any
+decisive step until an enabling act should be carried through
+Parliament. But while waiting for this he might still talk informally
+with Franklin. Fox thought that Oswald's presence in Paris indicated a
+desire on Shelburne's part to interfere with the negotiations with the
+French government; and indeed, the king, out of his hatred of Fox and
+his inborn love of intrigue, suggested to Shelburne that Oswald "might
+be a useful check on that part of the negotiation which was in other
+hands." But Shelburne paid no heed to this crooked advice, and there is
+nothing to show that he had the least desire to intrigue against Fox. If
+he had, he would certainly have selected some other agent than Oswald,
+who was the most straightforward of men, and scarcely close-mouthed
+enough for a diplomatist. He told Oswald to impress it upon Franklin
+that if America was to be independent at all she must be independent of
+the whole world, and must not enter into any secret arrangement with
+France which might limit her entire freedom of action in the future. To
+the private memorandum which desired the cession of Canada for three
+reasons, his answers were as follows: "1. <i>By way of
+reparation.</i>&mdash;Answer. No reparation can be heard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> of. 2. <i>To prevent
+future wars.</i>&mdash;Answer. It is to be hoped that some more friendly method
+will be found. 3. <i>As a fund of indemnification to loyalists.</i>&mdash;Answer.
+No independence to be acknowledged without their being taken care of."
+Besides, added Shelburne, the Americans would be expected to make some
+compensation for the surrender of Charleston, Savannah, and the city of
+New York, still held by British troops. From this it appears that
+Shelburne, as well as Franklin, knew how to begin by asking more than he
+was likely to get.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Grenville has an interview with Vergennes.</div>
+
+<p>While Oswald submitted these answers to Franklin, Grenville had his
+interview with Vergennes, and told him that, if England recognized the
+independence of the United States, she should expect France to restore
+the islands of the West Indies which she had taken from England. Why
+not, since the independence of the United States was the sole avowed
+object for which France had gone to war? Now this was on the 8th of May,
+and the news of the destruction of the French fleet in the West Indies,
+nearly four weeks ago, had not yet reached Europe. Flushed with the
+victories of Grasse, and exulting in the prowess of the most formidable
+naval force that France had ever sent out, Vergennes not only expected
+to keep the islands which he had got, but was waiting eagerly for the
+news that he had acquired Jamaica into the bargain. In this mood he
+returned a haughty answer to Grenville. He reminded him that nations
+often went to war for a specified object, and yet seized twice as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> much
+if favoured by fortune; and, recurring to the instance which rankled
+most deeply in the memories of Frenchmen, he cited the events of the
+last war. In 1756 England went to war with France over the disputed
+right to some lands on the Ohio River and the Maine frontier. After
+seven years of fighting she not only kept these lands, but all of
+Canada, Louisiana, and Florida, and ousted the French from India into
+the bargain. No, said Vergennes, he would not rest content with the
+independence of America. He would not even regard such an offer as a
+concession to France in any way, or as a price in return for which
+France was to make a treaty favourable to England. As regards the
+recognition of independence, England must treat directly with America.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Effects of Rodney's victory.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Fall of the Rockingham ministry, July 1, 1782.</div>
+
+<p>Grenville was disappointed and chagrined by this answer, and the
+ministry made up their minds that there would be no use in trying to get
+an honourable peace with France for the present. Accordingly, it seemed
+better to take Vergennes at his word, though not in the sense in which
+he meant it, and, by granting all that the Americans could reasonably
+desire, to detach them from the French alliance as soon as possible. On
+the 18th of May there came the news of the stupendous victory of Rodney
+over Grasse, and all England rang with jubilee. Again it had been shown
+that "Britannia rules the wave;" and it seemed that, if America could be
+separately pacified, the House of Bourbon might be successfully defied.
+Accordingly, on the 23d, five days after the news of victory, the
+ministry decided "to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> propose the independence of America in the first
+instance, instead of making it the condition of a general treaty." Upon
+this Fox rather hastily maintained that the United States were put at
+once into the position of an independent and foreign power, so that the
+business of negotiating with them passed from Shelburne's department
+into his own. Shelburne, on the other hand, argued that, as the
+recognition of independence could not take effect until a treaty of
+peace should be concluded, the negotiation with America still belonged
+to him, as secretary for the colonies. Following Fox's instructions,
+Grenville now claimed the right of negotiating with Franklin as well as
+with Vergennes; but as his written credentials only authorized him to
+treat with France, the French minister suspected foul play, and turned a
+cold shoulder to Grenville. For the same reason, Grenville found
+Franklin very reserved and indisposed to talk on the subject of the
+treaty. While Grenville was thus rebuffed and irritated he had a talk
+with Oswald, in the course of which he got from that simple and
+high-minded gentleman the story of the private paper relating to the
+cession of Canada, which Franklin had permitted Lord Shelburne to see.
+Grenville immediately took offence; he made up his mind that something
+underhanded was going on, and that this was the reason for the coldness
+of Franklin and Vergennes; and he wrote an indignant letter about it to
+Fox. From the wording of this letter, Fox got the impression that
+Franklin's proposal was much more serious than it really was. It
+naturally puzzled him and made him angry, for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> attitude of America
+implied in the request for a cession of Canada was far different from
+the attitude presumed by the theory that the mere offer of independence
+would be enough to detach her from her alliance with France. The plan of
+the ministry seemed imperilled. Fox showed Grenville's letter to
+Rockingham, Richmond, and Cavendish; and they all inferred that
+Shelburne was playing a secret part, for purposes of his own. This was
+doubtless unjust to Shelburne. Perhaps his keeping the matter to himself
+was simply one more illustration of his want of confidence in Fox; or,
+perhaps he did not think it worth while to stir up the cabinet over a
+question which seemed too preposterous ever to come to anything. Fox,
+however, cried out against Shelburne's alleged duplicity, and made up
+his mind at all events to get the American negotiations transferred to
+his own department. To this end he moved in the cabinet, on the last day
+of June, that the independence of the United States should be
+unconditionally acknowledged, so that England might treat as with a
+foreign power. The motion was lost, and Fox announced that he should
+resign his office. His resignation would probably of itself have broken
+up the ministry, but, by a curious coincidence, on the next day Lord
+Rockingham died; and so the first British government begotten of
+Washington's victory at Yorktown came prematurely to an end.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Shelburne prime minister.</div>
+
+<p>The Old Whigs now found some difficulty in choosing a leader. Burke was
+the greatest statesman in the party, but he had not the qualities of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> a
+party leader, and his connections were not sufficiently aristocratic.
+Fox was distrusted by many people for his gross vices, and because of
+his waywardness in politics. In the dissipated gambler, who cast in his
+lot first with one party and then with the other, and who had shamefully
+used his matchless eloquence in defending some of the worst abuses of
+the time, there seemed as yet but little promise of the great reformer
+of later years, the Charles Fox who came to be loved and idolized by all
+enlightened Englishmen. Next to Fox, the ablest leader in the party was
+the Duke of Richmond, but his advanced views on parliamentary reform put
+him out of sympathy with the majority of the party. In this
+embarrassment, the choice fell upon the Duke of Portland, a man of great
+wealth and small talent, concerning whom Horace Walpole observed, "It is
+very entertaining that two or three great families should persuade
+themselves that they have a hereditary and exclusive right of giving us
+a head without a tongue!" The choice was a weak one, and played directly
+into the hands of the king. When urged to make the Duke of Portland his
+prime minister, the king replied that he had already offered that
+position to Lord Shelburne. Hereupon Fox and Cavendish resigned, but
+Richmond remained in office, thus virtually breaking his connection with
+the Old Whigs. Lord Keppel also remained. Many members of the party
+followed Richmond and went over to Shelburne. William Pitt, now
+twenty-three years old, succeeded Cavendish as chancellor of the
+exchequer; Thomas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> Townshend became secretary of state for home and
+colonies, and Lord Grantham became foreign secretary. The closing days
+of Parliament were marked by altercations which showed how wide the
+breach had grown between the two sections of the Whig party. Fox and
+Burke believed that Shelburne was not only playing a false part, but was
+really as subservient to the king as Lord North had been. In a speech
+ridiculous for its furious invective, Burke compared the new prime
+minister with Borgia and Catiline. And so Parliament was adjourned on
+the 11th of July, and did not meet again until December.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">French policy opposed to American interests.</div>
+
+<p>The task of making a treaty of peace was simplified both by this change
+of ministry and by the total defeat of the Spaniards and French at
+Gibraltar in September. Six months before, England had seemed worsted in
+every quarter. Now England, though defeated in America, was victorious
+as regarded France and Spain. The avowed object for which France had
+entered into alliance with the Americans was to secure the independence
+of the United States, and this point was now substantially gained. The
+chief object for which Spain had entered into alliance with France was
+to drive the English from Gibraltar, and this point was now decidedly
+lost. France had bound herself not to desist from the war until Spain
+should recover Gibraltar; but now there was little hope of accomplishing
+this, except by some fortunate bargain in the treaty, and Vergennes
+tried to persuade England to cede the great stronghold in exchange for
+West Florida, which Spain had lately <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>conquered, or for Oran or
+Guadaloupe. Failing in this, he adopted a plan for satisfying Spain at
+the expense of the United States; and he did this the more willingly as
+he had no love for the Americans, and did not wish to see them become
+too powerful. France had strictly kept her pledges; she had given us
+valuable and timely aid in gaining our independence; and the sympathies
+of the French people were entirely with the American cause. But the
+object of the French government had been simply to humiliate England,
+and this end was sufficiently accomplished by depriving her of her
+thirteen colonies.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The valley of the Mississippi; Aranda's prophecy.</div>
+
+<p>The immense territory extending from the Alleghany Mountains to the
+Mississippi River, and from the border of "West Florida to the Great
+Lakes, had passed from the hands of France into those of England at the
+peace of 1763; and by the Quebec Act of 1774 England had declared the
+southern boundary of Canada to be the Ohio River. At present the whole
+territory, from Lake Superior down to the southern boundary of what is
+now Kentucky, belonged to the state of Virginia, whose backwoodsmen had
+conquered it from England in 1779. In December, 1780, Virginia had
+provisionally ceded the portion north of the Ohio to the United States,
+but the cession was not yet completed. The region which is now Tennessee
+belonged to North Carolina, which had begun to make settlements there as
+long ago as 1758. The trackless forests included between Tennessee and
+West Florida were still in the hands of wild tribes of Cherokees and
+Choctaws, Chickasaws and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> Creeks. Several thousand pioneers from North
+Carolina and Virginia had already settled beyond the mountains, and the
+white population was rapidly increasing. This territory the French
+government was very unwilling to leave in American hands. The
+possibility of enormous expansion which it would afford to the new
+nation was distinctly foreseen by sagacious men. Count Aranda, the
+representative of Spain in these negotiations, wrote a letter to his
+king just after the treaty was concluded, in which he uttered this
+notable prophecy: "This federal republic is born a pygmy. A day will
+come when it will be a giant, even a colossus, formidable in these
+countries. Liberty of conscience, the facility for establishing a new
+population on immense lands, as well as the advantages of the new
+government, will draw thither farmers and artisans from all the nations.
+In a few years we shall watch with grief the tyrannical existence of
+this same colossus." The letter went on to predict that the Americans
+would presently get possession of Florida and attack Mexico. Similar
+arguments were doubtless used by Aranda in his interviews with
+Vergennes, and France, as well as Spain, sought to prevent the growth of
+the dreaded colossus. To this end Vergennes maintained that the
+Americans ought to recognize the Quebec Act, and give up to England all
+the territory north of the Ohio River. The region south of this limit
+should, he thought, be made an Indian territory, and placed under the
+protection of Spain and the United States. A line was to be drawn from
+the mouth of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>Cumberland River, following that stream about as far
+as the site of Nashville, thence running southward to the Tennessee,
+thence curving eastward nearly to the Alleghanies, and descending
+through what is now eastern Alabama to the Florida line. The territory
+to the east of this irregular line was to be under the protection of the
+United States; the territory to the west of it was to be under the
+protection of Spain. In this division, the settlers beyond the mountains
+would retain their connection with the United States, which would not
+touch the Mississippi River at any point. Vergennes held that this was
+all the Americans could reasonably demand, and he agreed with Aranda
+that they had as yet gained no foothold upon the eastern bank of the
+great river, unmindful of the fact that at that very moment the
+fortresses at Cahokia and Kaskaskia were occupied by American garrisons.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a href="images/mapfull.jpg">
+<img src="images/map.jpg" width="600" height="910" alt="MAP OF NORTH AMERICA" title="" /></a>
+<span class="caption">MAP OF NORTH AMERICA,<br /><br />
+
+<small>Showing the Boundaries of the UNITED STATES, CANADA, and the SPANISH
+POSSESSIONS, according to the proposals of the Court of France in
+1782.</small></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">The Newfoundland fisheries.</div>
+
+<p>Upon another important point the views of the French government were
+directly opposed to American interests. The right to catch fish on the
+banks of Newfoundland had been shared by treaty between France and
+England; and the New England fishermen, as subjects of the king of Great
+Britain, had participated in this privilege. The matter was of very
+great importance, not only to New England, but to the United States in
+general. Not only were the fisheries a source of lucrative trade to the
+New England people, but they were the training-school of a splendid race
+of seamen, the nursery of naval heroes whose exploits were by and by to
+astonish the world. To deprive the Americans of their share in these
+fisheries was to strike a serious blow at the strength and resources of
+the new nation. The British government was not inclined to grant the
+privilege, and on this point Vergennes took sides with England, in order
+to establish a claim upon her for concessions advantageous to France in
+some other quarter. With these views, Vergennes secretly aimed at
+delaying the negotiations; for as long as hostilities were kept up, he
+might hope to extort from his American allies a recognition of the
+Spanish claims and a renouncement of the fisheries, simply by
+threatening to send them no further assistance in men or money. In order
+to retard the proceedings, he refused to take any steps whatever until
+the independence of the United States should first be irrevocably
+acknowledged by Great Britain, without reference to the final settlement
+of the rest of the treaty. In this Vergennes was supported by Franklin,
+as well as by Jay, who had lately arrived in Paris to take part in the
+negotiations. But the reasons of the American commissioners were very
+different from those of Vergennes. They feared that, if they began to
+treat before independence was acknowledged, they would be unfairly dealt
+with by France and Spain, and unable to gain from England the
+concessions upon which they were determined.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Jay detects the schemes of Vergennes.</div>
+
+<p>Jay soon began to suspect the designs of the French minister. He found
+that he was sending M. de Rayneval as a secret emissary to Lord
+Shelburne under an assumed name; he ascertained that the right of the
+United States to the Mississippi valley was to be denied; and he got
+hold of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> a dispatch from Marbois, the French secretary of legation at
+Philadelphia, to Vergennes, opposing the American claim to the
+Newfoundland fisheries. As soon as Jay learned these facts, he sent his
+friend Dr. Benjamin Vaughan to Lord Shelburne to put him on his guard,
+and while reminding him that it was greatly for the interest of England
+to dissolve the alliance between America and France, he declared himself
+ready to begin the negotiations without waiting for the recognition of
+independence, provided that Oswald's commission should speak of the
+thirteen United States of America, instead of calling them colonies and
+naming them separately. This decisive step was taken by Jay on his own
+responsibility, and without the knowledge of Franklin, who had been
+averse to anything like a separate negotiation with England. It served
+to set the ball rolling at once. After meeting the messengers from Jay
+and Vergennes, Lord Shelburne at once perceived the antagonism that had
+arisen between the allies, and promptly took advantage of it. A new
+commission was made out for Oswald, in which the British government
+first described our country as the United States; and early in October
+negotiations were begun and proceeded rapidly. On the part of England,
+the affair was conducted by Oswald, assisted by Strachey and
+Fitzherbert, who had succeeded Grenville. In the course of the month
+John Adams arrived in Paris, and a few weeks later Henry Laurens, who
+had been exchanged for Lord Cornwallis and released from the Tower, was
+added to the company.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> Adams had a holy horror of Frenchmen in general,
+and of Count Vergennes in particular. He shared that common but mistaken
+view of Frenchmen which regards them as shallow, frivolous, and
+insincere; and he was indignant at the position taken by Vergennes on
+the question of the fisheries. In this, John Adams felt as all New
+Englanders felt, and he realized the importance of the question from a
+national point of view, as became the man who in later years was to earn
+lasting renown as one of the chief founders of the American navy. His
+behaviour on reaching Paris was characteristic. It is said that he left
+Count Vergennes to learn of his arrival through the newspapers. It was
+certainly some time before he called upon him, and he took occasion,
+besides, to express his opinions about republics and monarchies in terms
+which courtly Frenchmen thought very rude.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Franklin overruled by Jay and Adams.</div>
+
+<p>The arrival of Adams fully decided the matter as to a separate
+negotiation with England. He agreed with Jay that Vergennes should be
+kept as far as possible in the dark until everything was cut and dried,
+and Franklin was reluctantly obliged to yield. The treaty of alliance
+between France and the United States had expressly stipulated that
+neither power should ever make peace without the consent of the other,
+and in view of this Franklin was loth to do anything which might seem
+like abandoning the ally whose timely interposition had alone enabled
+Washington to achieve the crowning triumph of Yorktown. In justice to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>Vergennes, it should be borne in mind that he had kept strict faith
+with us in regard to every point that had been expressly stipulated; and
+Franklin, who felt that he understood Frenchmen better than his
+colleagues, was naturally unwilling to seem behindhand in this respect.
+At the same time, in regard to matters not expressly stipulated,
+Vergennes was clearly playing a sharp game against us; and it is
+undeniable that, without departing technically from the obligations of
+the alliance, Jay and Adams&mdash;two men as honourable as ever lived&mdash;played
+a very sharp defensive game against him. The traditional French subtlety
+was no match for Yankee shrewdness. The treaty with England was not
+concluded until the consent of France had been obtained, and thus the
+express stipulation was respected; but a thorough and detailed agreement
+was reached as to what the purport of the treaty should be, while our
+not too friendly ally was kept in the dark. The annals of modern
+diplomacy have afforded few stranger spectacles. With the indispensable
+aid of France we had just got the better of England in fight, and now we
+proceeded amicably to divide territory and commercial privileges with
+the enemy, and to make arrangements in which the ally was virtually
+ignored. It ceases to be a paradox, however, when we remember that with
+the change of government in England some essential conditions of the
+case were changed. The England against which we had fought was the
+hostile England of Lord North; the England with which we were now
+dealing was the friendly England of Shelburne and Pitt. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> the moment,
+the English race, on both sides of the Atlantic, was united in its main
+purpose and divided only by questions of detail, while the rival
+colonizing power, which sought to work in a direction contrary to the
+general interests of English-speaking people, was in great measure
+disregarded.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The separate American treaty, as agreed upon:<br />
+1. Boundaries;</div>
+
+<p>As soon as the problem was thus virtually reduced to a negotiation
+between the American commissioners and Lord Shelburne's ministry, the
+air was cleared in a moment. The principal questions had already been
+discussed between Franklin and Oswald. Independence being first
+acknowledged, the question of boundaries came up for settlement. England
+had little interest in regaining the territory between the Alleghanies
+and the Mississippi, the forts in which were already held by American
+soldiers, and she relinquished all claim upon it. The Mississippi River
+thus became the dividing line between the United States and the Spanish
+possessions, and its navigation was made free alike to British and
+American ships. Franklin's suggestion of a cession of Canada and Nova
+Scotia was abandoned without discussion. It was agreed that the boundary
+line should start at the mouth of the river St. Croix, and, running to a
+point near Lake Madawaska in the highlands separating the Atlantic
+watershed from that of the St. Lawrence, should follow these highlands
+to the head of the Connecticut River, and then descend the middle of the
+river to the forty-fifth parallel, thence running westward and through
+the centre of the water communications of the Great Lakes to the Lake of
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> Woods, thence to the source of the Mississippi, which was supposed
+to be west of this lake. This line was marked in red ink by Oswald on
+one of Mitchell's maps of North America, to serve as a memorandum
+establishing the precise meaning of the words used in the description.
+It ought to have been accurately fixed in its details by surveys made
+upon the spot; but no commissioners were appointed for this purpose. The
+language relating to the northeastern portion of the boundary contained
+some inaccuracies which were revealed by later surveys, and the map used
+by Oswald was lost. Hence a further question arose between Great Britain
+and the United States, which was finally settled by the Ashburton treaty
+in 1842.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">2. Fisheries; commercial intercourse;</div>
+
+<p>The Americans retained the right of catching fish on the banks of
+Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but lost the right of
+drying their fish on the Newfoundland coast. On the other hand, no
+permission was given to British subjects to fish on the coasts of the
+United States. As regarded commercial intercourse, Jay sought to
+establish complete reciprocal freedom between the two countries, and a
+clause was proposed to the effect that "all British merchants and
+merchant ships, on the one hand, shall enjoy in the United States, and
+in all places belonging to them, the same protection and commercial
+privileges, and be liable only to the same charges and duties as their
+own merchants and merchant ships; and, on the other hand, the merchants
+and merchant ships of the United States shall enjoy in all places
+belonging to his Britannic Majesty the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> same protection and commercial
+privileges, and be liable only to the same charges and duties as British
+merchants and merchant ships, saving always to the chartered trading
+companies of Great Britain such exclusive use and trade, and the
+respective ports and establishments, as neither the other subjects of
+Great Britain nor any the most favoured nation participate in."
+Unfortunately for both countries, this liberal provision was rejected on
+the ground that the ministry had no authority to interfere with the
+Navigation Act.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">3. Private debts;</div>
+
+<p>Only two questions were now left to be disposed of,&mdash;the question of
+paying private debts, and that of compensating the American loyalists
+for the loss of property and general rough treatment which they had
+suffered. There were many old debts outstanding from American to British
+merchants. These had been for the most part incurred before 1775, and
+while many honest debtors, impoverished during the war, felt unable to
+pay, there were doubtless many others who were ready to take advantage
+of circumstances and refuse the payment which they were perfectly able
+to make. It was scarcely creditable to us that any such question should
+have arisen. Franklin, indeed, argued that these debts were more than
+fully offset by damages done to private property by British soldiers:
+as, for example, in the wanton raids on the coasts of Connecticut and
+Virginia in 1779, or in Prevost's buccaneering march against Charleston.
+To cite these atrocities, however, as a reason for the non-payment of
+debts legitimately owed to innocent merchants in London and Glasgow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> was
+to argue as if two wrongs could make a right. The strong sense of John
+Adams struck at once to the root of the matter. He declared "he had no
+notion of cheating anybody. The questions of paying debts and
+compensating Tories were two." This terse statement carried the day, and
+it was finally decided that all private debts on either side, whether
+incurred before or after 1775, remained still binding, and must be
+discharged at their full value in sterling money.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">4. Compensation of loyalists.</div>
+
+<p>The last question of all was the one most difficult to settle. There
+were many loyalists in the United States who had sacrificed everything
+in the support of the British cause, and it was unquestionably the duty
+of the British government to make every possible effort to insure them
+against further injury, and, if practicable, to make good their losses
+already incurred. From Virginia and the New England states, where they
+were few in number, they had mostly fled, and their estates had been
+confiscated. In New York and South Carolina, where they remained in
+great numbers, they were still waging a desultory war with the patriots,
+which far exceeded in cruelty and bitterness the struggle between the
+regular armies. In many cases they had, at the solicitation of the
+British government, joined the invading army, and been organized into
+companies and regiments. The regular troops defeated at King's Mountain,
+and those whom Arnold took with him to Virginia, were nearly all
+American loyalists. Lord Shelburne felt that it would be wrong to
+abandon these unfortunate men to the vengeance of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> fellow
+countrymen, and he insisted that the treaty should contain an amnesty
+clause providing for the restoration of the Tories to their civil
+rights, with compensation for their confiscated property. However
+disagreeable such a course might seem to the victorious Americans, there
+were many precedents for it in European history. It had indeed come to
+be customary at the close of civil wars, and the effect of such a policy
+had invariably been good. Cromwell, in his hour of triumph, inflicted no
+disabilities upon his political enemies; and when Charles II. was
+restored to the throne the healing effect of the amnesty act then passed
+was so great that historians sometimes ask what in the world had become
+of that Puritan party which a moment before had seemed supreme in the
+land. At the close of the war of the Spanish Succession, the rebellious
+people of Catalonia were indemnified for their losses, at the request of
+England, and with a similar good effect. In view of such European
+precedents, Vergennes agreed with Shelburne as to the propriety of
+securing compensation and further immunity for the Tories in America.
+John Adams insinuated that the French minister took this course because
+he foresaw that the presence of the Tories in the United States would
+keep the people perpetually divided into a French party and an English
+party; but such a suspicion was quite uncalled for. There is no reason
+to suppose that in this instance Vergennes had anything at heart but the
+interests of humanity and justice.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the Americans brought forward very strong reasons why
+the Tories should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> not be indemnified by Congress. First, as Franklin
+urged, many of them had, by their misrepresentations to the British
+government, helped to stir up the disputes which led to the war; and as
+they had made their bed, so they must lie in it. Secondly, such of them
+as had been concerned in burning and plundering defenceless villages,
+and wielding the tomahawk in concert with bloodthirsty Indians, deserved
+no compassion. It was rather for them to make compensation for the
+misery they had wrought. Thirdly, the confiscated Tory property had
+passed into the hands of purchasers who had bought it in good faith and
+could not now be dispossessed, and in many cases it had been distributed
+here and there and lost sight of. An estimate of the gross amount might
+be made, and a corresponding sum appropriated for indemnification. But,
+fourthly, the country was so impoverished by the war that its own
+soldiers, the brave men whose heroic exertions had won the independence
+of the United States, were at this moment in sore distress for the want
+of the pay which Congress could not give them, but to which its honour
+was sacredly pledged. The American government was clearly bound to pay
+its just debts to the friends who had suffered so much in its behalf
+before it should proceed to entertain a chimerical scheme for satisfying
+its enemies. For, fifthly, any such scheme was in the present instance
+clearly chimerical. The acts under which Tory property had been
+confiscated were acts of state legislatures, and Congress had no
+jurisdiction over such a matter. If restitution was to be made, it must
+be made by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> the separate states. The question could not for a moment be
+entertained by the general government or its agents.</p>
+
+<p>Upon these points the American commissioners were united and inexorable.
+Various suggestions were offered in vain by the British. Their troops
+still held the city of New York, and it was doubtful whether the
+Americans could hope to capture it in another campaign. It was urged
+that England might fairly claim in exchange for New York a round sum of
+money wherewith the Tories might be indemnified. It was further urged
+that certain unappropriated lands in the Mississippi valley might be
+sold for the same purpose. But the Americans would not hear of buying
+one of their own cities, whose independence was already acknowledged by
+the first article of the treaty which recognized the independence of the
+United States and as for the western lands, they were wanted as a means
+of paying our own war debts and providing for our veteran soldiers.
+Several times Shelburne sent word to Paris that he would break off the
+negotiation unless the loyalist claims were in some way recognized. But
+the Americans were obdurate. They had one advantage, and knew it.
+Parliament was soon to meet, and it was doubtful whether Lord Shelburne
+could command a sufficient majority to remain long in office. He was,
+accordingly, very anxious to complete the treaty of peace, or at least
+to detach America from the French alliance, as soon as possible. The
+American commissioners were also eager to conclude the treaty. They had
+secured very favourable terms, and were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> loth to run any risk of
+spoiling what had been done. Accordingly, they made a proposal in the
+form of a compromise, which nevertheless settled the point in their
+favour. The matter, they said, was beyond the jurisdiction of Congress,
+but they agreed that Congress should <i>recommend</i> to the several states
+to desist from further proceedings against the Tories, and to reconsider
+their laws on this subject; it should further recommend that persons
+with claims upon confiscated lands might be authorized to use legal
+means of recovering them, and to this end might be allowed to pass to
+and fro without personal risk for the term of one year. The British
+commissioners accepted this compromise, unsatisfactory as it was,
+because it was really impossible to obtain anything better without
+throwing the whole negotiation overboard. The constitutional difficulty
+was a real one indeed. As Adams told Oswald, if the point were further
+insisted upon, Congress would be obliged to refer it to the several
+states, and no one could tell how long it might be before any decisive
+result could be reached in this way. Meanwhile, the state of war would
+continue, and it would be cheaper for England to indemnify the loyalists
+herself than to pay the war bills for a single month. Franklin added
+that, if the loyalists were to be indemnified, it would be necessary
+also to reckon up the damage they had done in burning houses and
+kidnapping slaves, and then strike a balance between the two accounts;
+and he gravely suggested that a special commission might be appointed
+for this purpose. At the prospect of endless discussion which this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+suggestion involved, the British commissioners gave way and accepted the
+American terms, although they were frankly told that too much must not
+be expected from the recommendation of Congress. The articles were
+signed on the 30th of November, six days before the meeting of
+Parliament. Hostilities in America were to cease at once, and upon the
+completion of the treaty the British fleets and armies were to be
+immediately withdrawn from every place which they held within the limits
+of the United States. A supplementary and secret article provided that
+if England, on making peace with Spain, should recover Wept Florida, the
+northern boundary of that province should be a line running due east
+from the mouth of the Yazoo River to the Chattahoochee.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Vergennes does not like the way in which it has been done.</div>
+
+<p>Thus by skilful diplomacy the Americans had gained all that could
+reasonably be asked, while the work of making a general peace was
+greatly simplified. It was declared in the preamble that the articles
+here signed were provisional, and that the treaty was not to take effect
+until terms of peace should be agreed on between England and France.
+Without delay, Franklin laid the whole matter, except the secret
+article, before Vergennes, who forthwith accused the Americans of
+ingratitude and bad faith. Franklin's reply, that at the worst they
+could only be charged with want of diplomatic courtesy, has sometimes
+been condemned as insincere, but on inadequate grounds. He had consented
+with reluctance to the separate negotiation, because he did not wish to
+give France any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> possible ground for complaint, whether real or
+ostensible. There does not seem, however, to have been sufficient
+justification for so grave a charge as was made by Vergennes. If the
+French negotiations had failed until after the overthrow of the
+Shelburne ministry; if Fox, on coming into power, had taken advantage of
+the American treaty to continue the war against France; and if under
+such circumstances the Americans had abandoned their ally, then
+undoubtedly they would have become guilty of ingratitude and treachery.
+There is no reason for supposing that they would ever have done so, had
+the circumstances arisen. Their preamble made it impossible for them
+honourably to abandon France until a full peace should be made, and more
+than this France could not reasonably demand. The Americans had kept to
+the strict letter of their contract, as Vergennes had kept to the strict
+letter of his, and beyond this they meted out exactly the same measure
+of frankness which they received. To say that our debt of gratitude to
+France was such as to require us to acquiesce in her scheme for
+enriching our enemy Spain at our expense is simply childish. Franklin
+was undoubtedly right. The commissioners may have been guilty of a
+breach of diplomatic courtesy, but nothing more. Vergennes might be
+sarcastic about it for the moment, but the cordial relations between
+France and America remained undisturbed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A great diplomatic victory.</div>
+
+<p>On the part of the Americans the treaty of Paris was one of the most
+brilliant triumphs in the whole history of modern diplomacy. Had the
+affair been managed by men of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> ordinary ability, some of the greatest
+results of the Revolutionary War would probably have been lost; the new
+republic would have been cooped up between the Atlantic Ocean and the
+Alleghany Mountains; our westward expansion would have been impossible
+without further warfare in which European powers would have been
+involved; and the formation of our Federal Union would doubtless have
+been effectively hindered, if not, indeed, altogether prevented. To the
+grand triumph the varied talents of Franklin, Adams, and Jay alike
+contributed. To the latter is due the credit of detecting and baffling
+the sinister designs of France; but without the tact of Franklin this
+probably could not have been accomplished without offending France in
+such wise as to spoil everything. It is, however, to the rare
+discernment and boldness of Jay, admirably seconded by the sturdy Adams,
+that the chief praise is due. The turning-point of the whole affair was
+the visit of Dr. Vaughan to Lord Shelburne. The foundation of success
+was the separate negotiation with England, and here there had stood in
+the way a more formidable obstacle than the mere reluctance of Franklin.
+The chevalier Luzerne and his secretary Marbois had been busy with
+Congress, and that body had sent well-meant but silly and pusillanimous
+instructions to its commissioners at Paris to be guided in all things by
+the wishes of the French court. To disregard such instructions required
+all the lofty courage for which Jay and Adams were noted, and for the
+moment it brought upon them something like a rebuke from Congress,
+conveyed in a letter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> from Robert Livingston. As Adams said, in his
+vehement way, "Congress surrendered their own sovereignty into the hands
+of a French minister. Blush! blush! ye guilty records! blush and perish!
+It is glory to have broken such infamous orders." True enough; the
+commissioners knew that in diplomacy, as in warfare, to the agent at a
+distance from his principal some discretionary power must be allowed.
+They assumed great responsibility, and won a victory of incalculable
+grandeur.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Spanish treaty.</div>
+
+<p>The course of the Americans produced no effect upon the terms obtained
+by France, but it seriously modified the case with Spain. Unable to
+obtain Gibraltar by arms, that power hoped to get it by diplomacy; and
+with the support of France she seemed disposed to make the cession of
+the great fortress an ultimatum, without which the war must go on.
+Shelburne, on his part, was willing to exchange Gibraltar for an island
+in the West Indies; but it was difficult to get the cabinet to agree on
+the matter, and the scheme was violently opposed by the people, for the
+heroic defence of the stronghold had invested it with a halo of romance
+and endeared it to every one. Nevertheless, so persistent was Spain, and
+so great the desire for peace on the part of the ministry, that they had
+resolved to exchange Gibraltar for Guadaloupe, when the news arrived of
+the treaty with America. The ministers now took a bold stand, and
+refused to hear another word about giving up Gibraltar. Spain scolded,
+and threatened a renewal of hostilities, but France was unwilling to
+give further assistance, and the matter was settled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> by England's
+surrendering East Florida, and allowing the Spaniards to keep West
+Florida and Minorca, which were already in their hands.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The French treaty.</div>
+
+<p>By the treaty with France, the West India islands of Grenada, St.
+Vincent, St. Christopher, Dominica, Nevis, and Montserrat were restored
+to England, which in turn restored St. Lucia and ceded Tobago to France.
+The French were allowed to fortify Dunkirk, and received some slight
+concessions in India and Africa; they retained their share in the
+Newfoundland fisheries, and recovered the little neighbouring islands of
+St. Pierre and Miquelon. For the fourteen hundred million francs which
+France had expended in the war, she had the satisfaction of detaching
+the American colonies from England, thus inflicting a blow which it was
+confidently hoped would prove fatal to the maritime power of her ancient
+rival; but beyond this short-lived satisfaction, the fallaciousness of
+which events were soon to show, she obtained very little. On the 20th of
+January, 1783, the preliminaries of peace were signed between England,
+on the one hand, and France and Spain, on the other. A truce was at the
+same time concluded with Holland, which was soon followed by a peace, in
+which most of the conquests on either side were restored.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Coalition of Fox with North.</div>
+
+<p>A second English ministry was now about to be wrecked on the rock of
+this group of treaties. Lord Shelburne's government had at no time been
+a strong one. He had made many enemies by his liberal and reforming
+measures, and he had alienated most of his colleagues by his reserved
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>demeanour and seeming want of confidence in them. In December several
+of the ministers resigned. The strength of parties in the House of
+Commons was thus quaintly reckoned by Gibbon: "Minister 140; Reynard 90;
+Boreas 120; the rest unknown or uncertain." But "Reynard" and "Boreas"
+were now about to join forces in one of the strangest coalitions ever
+known in the history of politics. No statesman ever attacked another
+more ferociously than Fox had attacked North during the past ten years.
+He had showered abuse upon him; accused him of "treachery and
+falsehood," of "public perfidy," and "breach of a solemn specific
+promise;" and had even gone so far as to declare to his face a hope that
+he would be called upon to expiate his abominable crimes upon the
+scaffold. Within a twelvemonth he had thus spoken of Lord North and his
+colleagues: "From the moment when I shall make any terms with one of
+them, I will rest satisfied to be called the most infamous of mankind. I
+would not for an instant think of a coalition with men who, in every
+public and private transaction as ministers, have shown themselves void
+of every principle of honour and honesty. In the hands of such men I
+would not trust my honour even for a moment." Still more recently, when
+at a loss for words strong enough to express his belief in the
+wickedness of Shelburne, he declared that he had no better opinion of
+that man than to deem him capable of forming an alliance with North. We
+may judge, then, of the general amazement when, in the middle of
+February, it turned out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> that Fox had himself done this very thing. An
+"ill-omened marriage," William Pitt called it in the House of Commons.
+"If this ill-omened marriage is not already solemnized, I know a just
+and lawful impediment, and in the name of the public safety I here
+forbid the banns." Throughout the country the indignation was great.
+Many people had blamed Fox for not following up his charges by actually
+bringing articles of impeachment against Lord North. That the two
+enemies should thus suddenly become leagued in friendship seemed utterly
+monstrous. It injured Fox extremely in the opinion of the country, and
+it injured North still more, for it seemed like a betrayal of the king
+on his part, and his forgiveness of so many insults looked
+mean-spirited. It does not appear, however, that there was really any
+strong personal animosity between North and Fox. They were both men of
+very amiable character, and almost incapable of cherishing resentment.
+The language of parliamentary orators was habitually violent, and the
+huge quantities of wine which gentlemen in those days used to drink may
+have helped to make it extravagant. The excessive vehemence of political
+invective often deprived it of half its effect. One day, after Fox had
+exhausted his vocabulary of abuse upon Lord George Germaine, Lord North
+said to him, "You were in very high feather to-day, Charles, and I am
+glad you did not fall upon me." On another occasion, it is said that
+while Fox was thundering against North's unexampled turpitude, the
+object of his furious tirade cosily dropped off to sleep. Gibbon, who
+was the friend of both<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> statesmen, expressly declares that they bore
+each other no ill will. But while thus alike indisposed to harbour
+bitter thoughts, there was one man for whom both Fox and North felt an
+abiding distrust and dislike; and that man was Lord Shelburne, the prime
+minister.</p>
+
+<p>As a political pupil of Burke, Fox shared that statesman's distrust of
+the whole school of Lord Chatham, to which Shelburne belonged. In many
+respects these statesmen were far more advanced than Burke, but they did
+not sufficiently realize the importance of checking the crown by means
+of a united and powerful ministry. Fox thoroughly understood that much
+of the mischief of the past twenty years, including the loss of America,
+had come from the system of weak and divided ministries, which gave the
+king such great opportunity for wreaking his evil will. He had himself
+been a member of such a ministry, which had fallen seven months ago.
+When the king singled out Shelburne for his confidence, Fox naturally
+concluded that Shelburne was to be made to play the royal game, as North
+had been made to play it for so many years. This was very unjust to
+Shelburne, but there is no doubt that Fox was perfectly honest in his
+belief. It seemed to him that the present state of things must be
+brought to an end, at whatever cost. A ministry strong enough to curb
+the king could be formed only by a coalescence of two out of the three
+existing parties. A coalescence of Old and New Whigs had been tried last
+spring, and failed. It only remained now to try the effect of a
+coalescence of Old Whigs and Tories.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p><p>Such was doubtless the chief motive of Fox in this extraordinary move.
+The conduct of North seems harder to explain, but it was probably due to
+a reaction of feeling on his part. He had done violence to his own
+convictions out of weak compassion for George III., and had carried on
+the American war for four years after he had been thoroughly convinced
+that peace ought to be made. Remorse for this is said to have haunted
+him to the end of his life. When in his old age he became blind, he bore
+this misfortune with his customary lightness of heart; and one day,
+meeting the veteran Barr&eacute;, who had also lost his eyesight, he exclaimed,
+with his unfailing wit, "Well, colonel, in spite of all our differences,
+I suppose there are no two men in England who would be gladder to <i>see</i>
+each other than you and I." But while Lord North could jest about his
+blindness, the memory of his ill-judged subservience to the king was
+something that he could not laugh away, and among his nearest friends he
+was sometimes heard to reproach himself bitterly. When, therefore, in
+1783, he told Fox that he fully agreed with him in thinking that the
+royal power ought to be curbed, he was doubtless speaking the truth. No
+man had a better right to such an opinion than he had gained through
+sore experience. In his own ministry, as he said to Fox, he took the
+system as he found it, and had not vigour and resolution enough to put
+an end to it; but he was now quite convinced that in such a country as
+England, while the king should be treated with all outward show of
+respect, he ought on no account to be allowed to exercise any real
+power.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p><p>Now this was in 1783 the paramount political question in England, just
+as much as the question of secession was paramount in the United States
+in 1861. Other questions could be postponed; the question of curbing the
+king could not. Upon this all-important point North had come to agree
+with Fox; and as the principal motive of their coalition may be thus
+explained, the historian is not called upon to lay too much stress upon
+the lower motives assigned in profusion by their political enemies. This
+explanation, however, does not quite cover the case. The mass of the
+Tories would never follow North in an avowed attempt to curb the king,
+but they agreed with the followers of Fox, though not with Fox himself,
+in holy horror of parliamentary reform, and were alarmed by a recent
+declaration of Shelburne that the suffrage must be extended so as to
+admit a hundred new county members. Thus while the two leaders were
+urged to coalescence by one motive, their followers were largely swayed
+by another, and this added much to the mystery and general
+unintelligibleness of the movement. In taking this step Fox made the
+mistake which was characteristic of the Old Whig party. He gave too
+little heed to the great public outside the walls of the House of
+Commons. The coalition, once made, was very strong in Parliament, but it
+mystified and scandalized the people, and this popular disapproval by
+and by made it easy for the king to overthrow it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Fall of Shelburne's ministry.</div>
+
+<p>It was agreed to choose the treaty as the occasion for the combined
+attack upon the Shelburne ministry. North, as the minister who had
+conducted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> the unsuccessful war, was bound to oppose the treaty, in any
+case. It would not do for him to admit that better terms could not have
+been made. The treaty was also very unpopular with Fox's party, and with
+the nation at large. It was thought that too much territory had been
+conceded to the Americans, and fault was found with the article on the
+fisheries. But the point which excited most indignation was the virtual
+abandonment of the loyalists, for here the honour of England was felt to
+be at stake. On this ground the treaty was emphatically condemned by
+Burke, Sheridan, and Wilberforce, no less than by North. It was ably
+defended in the Commons by Pitt, and in the Lords by Shelburne himself,
+who argued that he had but the alternative of accepting the terms as
+they stood, or continuing the war; and since it had come to this, he
+said, without spilling a drop of blood, or incurring one fifth of the
+expense of a year's campaign, the comfort and happiness of the American
+loyalists could be easily secured. By this he meant that, should America
+fail to make good their losses, it was far better for England to
+indemnify them herself than to prolong indefinitely a bloody and ruinous
+struggle. As we shall hereafter see, this liberal and enlightened policy
+was the one which England really pursued, so far as practicable, and her
+honour was completely saved. That Shelburne and Pitt were quite right
+there can now be little doubt. But argument was of no avail against the
+resistless power of the coalition. On the 17th of February Lord John
+Cavendish moved an amendment to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> ministerial address on the treaty,
+refusing to approve it. On the 21st he moved a further amendment
+condemning the treaty. Both motions were carried, and on the 24th Lord
+Shelburne resigned. He did not dissolve Parliament and appeal to the
+country, partly because he was aware of his personal unpopularity, and
+partly because, in spite of the general disgust at the coalition, there
+was little doubt that on the particular question of the treaty the
+public opinion agreed with the majority in Parliament, and not with the
+ministry. For this reason, Pitt, though personally popular, saw that it
+was no time for him to take the first place in the government, and when
+the king proceeded to offer it to him he declined.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The king's wrath.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The treaty is adopted, after all, by the coalition ministry,
+which presently falls.</div>
+
+<p>For more than five weeks, while the treasury was nearly empty, and the
+question of peace or war still hung in the balance, England was without
+a regular government, while the angry king went hunting for some one who
+would consent to be his prime minister. He was determined not to submit
+to the coalition. He was naturally enraged at Lord North for turning
+against him. Meeting one day North's father, Lord Guilford, he went up
+to him, tragically wringing his hands, and exclaimed in accents of woe,
+"Did I ever think, my Lord Guilford, that your son would thus have
+betrayed me into the hands of Mr. Fox?" He appealed in vain to Lord
+Gower, and then to Lord Temple, to form a ministry. Lord Gower suggested
+that perhaps Thomas Pitt, cousin of William, might be willing to serve.
+"I desired him," said the king, "to apply to Mr. Thomas Pitt,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> or Mr.
+Thomas anybody." It was of no use. By the 2d of April Parliament had
+become furious at the delay, and George was obliged to yield. The Duke
+of Portland was brought in as nominal prime minister, with Fox as
+foreign secretary, North as secretary for home and colonies, Cavendish
+as chancellor of the exchequer, and Keppel as first lord of the
+admiralty. The only Tory in the cabinet, excepting North, was Lord
+Stormont, who became president of the council. The commissioners,
+Fitzherbert and Oswald, were recalled from Paris, and the Duke of
+Manchester and David Hartley, son of the great philosopher, were
+appointed in their stead. Negotiations continued through the spring and
+summer. Attempts were made to change some of the articles, especially
+the obnoxious article concerning the loyalists, but all to no purpose.
+Hartley's attempt to negotiate a mutually advantageous commercial treaty
+with America also came to nothing. The definitive treaty which was
+finally signed on the 3d of September, 1783, was an exact transcript of
+the treaty which Shelburne had made, and for making which the present
+ministers had succeeded in turning him out of office. No more emphatic
+justification of Shelburne's conduct of this business could possibly
+have been obtained.</p>
+
+<p>The coalition ministry did not long survive the final signing of the
+treaty. The events of the next few months are curiously instructive as
+showing the quiet and stealthy way in which a political revolution may
+be consummated in a thoroughly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> conservative and constitutional country.
+Early in the winter session of Parliament Fox brought in his famous bill
+for organizing the government of the great empire which Clive and
+Hastings had built up in India. Popular indignation at the ministry had
+been strengthened by its adopting the same treaty of peace for the
+making of which it had assaulted Shelburne; and now, on the passage of
+the India Bill by the House of Commons, there was a great outcry. Many
+provisions of the bill were exceedingly unpopular, and its chief object
+was alleged to be the concentration of the immense patronage of India
+into the hands of the old Whig families. With the popular feeling thus
+warmly enlisted against the ministry, George III. was now emboldened to
+make war on it by violent means; and, accordingly, when the bill came up
+in the House of Lords, he caused it to be announced, by Lord Temple,
+that any peer who should vote in its favour would be regarded as an
+enemy by the king. Four days later the House of Commons, by a vote of
+153 to 80, resolved that "to report any opinion, or pretended opinion,
+of his majesty upon any bill or other proceeding depending in either
+house of Parliament, with a view to influence the votes of the members,
+is a high crime and misdemeanour, derogatory to the honour of the crown,
+a breach of the fundamental privileges of Parliament, and subversive of
+the constitution of this country." A more explicit or emphatic defiance
+to the king would have been hard to frame. Two days afterward the Lords
+rejected the India Bill, and on the next day, the 18th of December,
+George turned the ministers out of office.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Constitutional crisis, ending in the overwhelming victory of
+Pitt, May, 1784.</div>
+
+<p>In this grave constitutional crisis the king invited William Pitt to
+form a government, and this young statesman, who had consistently
+opposed the coalition, now saw that his hour was come. He was more than
+any one else the favourite of the people. Fox's political reputation was
+eclipsed, and North's was destroyed, by their unseemly alliance. People
+were sick of the whole state of things which had accompanied the
+American war. Pitt, who had only come into Parliament in 1780, was free
+from these unpleasant associations. The unblemished purity of his life,
+his incorruptible integrity, his rare disinterestedness, and his
+transcendent ability in debate were known to every one. As the worthy
+son of Lord Chatham, whose name was associated with the most glorious
+moment of English history, he was peculiarly dear to the people. His
+position, however, on taking supreme office at the instance of a king
+who had just committed an outrageous breach of the constitution, was
+extremely critical, and only the most consummate skill could have won
+from the chaos such a victory as he was about to win. When he became
+first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, in December,
+1783, he had barely completed his twenty-fifth year. All his colleagues
+in the new cabinet were peers, so that he had to fight single-handed in
+the Commons against the united talents of Burke and Sheridan, Fox and
+North; and there was a heavy majority against him, besides. In view of
+this adverse majority, it was Pitt's constitutional duty to dissolve
+Parliament<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> and appeal to the country. But Fox, unwilling to imperil his
+great majority by a new election, now made the fatal mistake of opposing
+a dissolution; thus showing his distrust of the people and his dread of
+their verdict. With consummate tact, Pitt allowed the debates to go on
+till March, and then, when the popular feeling in his favour had grown
+into wild enthusiasm, he dissolved Parliament. In the general election
+which followed, 160 members of the coalition lost their seats, and Pitt
+obtained the greatest majority that has ever been given to an English
+minister.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Overthrow of George III.'s system of personal government.</div>
+
+<p>Thus was completed the political revolution in England which was set on
+foot by the American victory at Yorktown. Its full significance was only
+gradually realized. For the moment it might seem that it was the king
+who had triumphed. He had shattered the alliance which had been formed
+for the purpose of curbing him, and the result of the election had
+virtually condoned his breach of the constitution. This apparent
+victory, however, had been won only by a direct appeal to the people,
+and all its advantages accrued to the people, and not to George III. His
+ingenious system of weak and divided ministries, with himself for
+balance-wheel, was destroyed. For the next seventeen years the real
+ruler of England was not George III., but William Pitt, who, with his
+great popular following, wielded such a power as no English sovereign
+had possessed since the days of Elizabeth. The political atmosphere was
+cleared of intrigue; and Fox, in the legitimate attitude of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> leader of
+the new opposition, entered upon the glorious part of his career. There
+was now set in motion that great work of reform which, hindered for a
+while by the reaction against the French revolutionists, won its
+decisive victory in 1832. Down to the very moment at which American and
+British history begin to flow in distinct and separate channels, it is
+interesting to observe how closely they are implicated with each other.
+The victory of the Americans not only set on foot the British revolution
+here described, but it figured most prominently in each of the political
+changes that we have witnessed, down to the very eve of the overthrow of
+the coalition. The system which George III. had sought to fasten upon
+America, in order that he might fasten it upon England, was shaken off
+and shattered by the good people of both countries at almost the same
+moment of time.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">Departure of the British troops, Nov. 25, 1783.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Washington resigns his command, Dec. 23.</div>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">The</span> times that tried men's souls are over," said Thomas Paine in the
+last number of the "Crisis," which he published after hearing that the
+negotiations for a treaty of peace had been concluded. The preliminary
+articles had been signed at Paris on the 20th of January, 1783. The news
+arrived in America on the 23d of March, in a letter to the president of
+Congress from Lafayette, who had returned to France soon after the
+victory at Yorktown. A few days later Sir Guy Carleton received his
+orders from the ministry to proclaim a cessation of hostilities by land
+and sea. A similar proclamation made by Congress was formally
+communicated to the army by Washington on the 19th of April, the eighth
+anniversary of the first bloodshed on Lexington green. Since Wayne had
+driven the British from Georgia, early in the preceding year, there had
+been no military operations between the regular armies. Guerrilla
+warfare between Whig and Tory had been kept up in parts of South
+Carolina and on the frontier of New York, where Thayendanegea was still
+alert and defiant; while beyond the mountains the tomahawk and
+scalping-knife had been busy, and Washington's old friend and comrade,
+Colonel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> Crawford, had been scorched to death by the firebrands of the
+red demons; but the armies had sat still, awaiting the peace which every
+one felt sure must speedily come. After Cornwallis's surrender,
+Washington marched his army back to the Hudson, and established his
+headquarters at Newburgh. Rochambeau followed somewhat later, and in
+September joined the Americans on the Hudson; but in December the French
+army marched to Boston, and there embarked for France. After the formal
+cessation of hostilities on the 19th of April, 1783, Washington granted
+furloughs to most of his soldiers; and these weather-beaten veterans
+trudged homeward in all directions, in little groups of four or five,
+depending largely for their subsistence on the hospitality of the
+farm-houses along the road. Arrived at home, their muskets were hung
+over the chimney-piece as trophies for grandchildren to be proud of, the
+stories of their exploits and their sufferings became household legends,
+and they turned the furrows and drove the cattle to pasture just as in
+the "old colony times." Their furloughs were equivalent to a full
+discharge, for on the 3d of September the definitive treaty was signed,
+and the country was at peace. On the 3d of November the army was
+formally disbanded, and on the 25th of that month Sir Guy Carleton's
+army embarked from New York. Small British garrisons still remained in
+the frontier posts of Ogdensburg, Oswego, Niagara, Erie, Sandusky,
+Detroit, and Mackinaw, but by the terms of the treaty these places were
+to be promptly surrendered to the United States. On<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> the 4th of December
+a barge waited at the South Ferry in New York to carry General
+Washington across the river to Paulus Hook. He was going to Annapolis,
+where Congress was in session, in order to resign his command. At
+Fraunces's Tavern, near the ferry, he took leave of the officers who so
+long had shared his labours. One after another they embraced their
+beloved commander, while there were few dry eyes in the company. They
+followed him to the ferry, and watched the departing boat with hearts
+too full for words, and then in solemn silence returned up the street.
+At Philadelphia he handed to the comptroller of the treasury a neatly
+written manuscript, containing an accurate statement of his expenses in
+the public service since the day when he took command of the army. The
+sums which Washington had thus spent out of his private fortune amounted
+to $64,315. For his personal services he declined to take any pay. At
+noon of the 23d, in the presence of Congress and of a throng of ladies
+and gentlemen at Annapolis, the great general gave up his command, and
+requested as an "indulgence" to be allowed to retire into private life.
+General Mifflin, who during the winter of Valley Forge had conspired
+with Gates to undermine the confidence of the people in Washington, was
+now president of Congress, and it was for him to make the reply. "You
+retire," said Mifflin, "from the theatre of action with the blessings of
+your fellow-citizens, but the glory of your virtues will not terminate
+with your military command; it will continue to animate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> remotest ages."
+The next morning Washington hurried away to spend Christmas at his
+pleasant home at Mount Vernon, which, save for a few hours in the autumn
+of 1781, he had not set eyes on for more than eight years. His estate
+had suffered from his long absence, and his highest ambition was to
+devote himself to its simple interests. To his friends he offered
+unpretentious hospitality. "My manner of living is plain," he said, "and
+I do not mean to be put out of it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton
+are always ready, and such as will be content to partake of them are
+always welcome. Those who expect more will be disappointed." To
+Lafayette he wrote that he was now about to solace himself with those
+tranquil enjoyments of which the anxious soldier and the weary statesman
+know but little. "I have not only retired from all public employments,
+but I am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary
+walk and tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction.
+Envious of none, I am determined to be pleased with all; and this, my
+dear friend, being the order of my march, I will move gently down the
+stream of life until I sleep with my fathers."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His "legacy" to the American people, June 8, 1783.</div>
+
+<p>In these hopes Washington was to be disappointed. "All the world is
+touched by his republican virtues," wrote Luzerne to Vergennes, "but it
+will be useless for him to try to hide himself and live the life of a
+private man: he will always be the first citizen of the United States."
+It indeed required no prophet to foretell that the American people could
+not long dispense with the services of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> this greatest of citizens.
+Washington had already put himself most explicitly on record as the
+leader of the men who were urging the people of the United States toward
+the formation of a more perfect union. The great lesson of the war had
+not been lost on him. Bitter experience of the evils attendant upon the
+weak government of the Continental Congress had impressed upon his mind
+the urgent necessity of an immediate and thorough reform. On the 8th of
+June, in view of the approaching disbandment of the army, he had
+addressed to the governors and presidents of the several states a
+circular letter, which he wished to have regarded as his legacy to the
+American people. In this letter he insisted upon four things as
+essential to the very existence of the United States as an independent
+power. First, there must be an indissoluble union of all the states
+under a single federal government, which must possess the power of
+enforcing its decrees; for without such authority it would be a
+government only in name. Secondly, the debts incurred by Congress for
+the purpose of carrying on the war and securing independence must be
+paid to the uttermost farthing. Thirdly, the militia system must be
+organized throughout the thirteen states on uniform principles.
+Fourthly, the people must be willing to sacrifice, if need be, some of
+their local interests to the common weal; they must discard their local
+prejudices, and regard one another as fellow-citizens of a common
+country, with interests in the deepest and truest sense identical.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Absence of a sentiment of union, and consequent danger of
+anarchy.</div>
+
+<p>The unparalleled grandeur of Washington's character, his heroic
+services, and his utter disinterestedness had given him such a hold upon
+the people as scarcely any other statesman known to history, save
+perhaps William the Silent, has ever possessed. The noble and sensible
+words of his circular letter were treasured up in the minds of all the
+best people in the country, and when the time for reforming the weak and
+disorderly government had come it was again to Washington that men
+looked as their leader and guide. But that time had not yet come. Only
+through the discipline of perplexity and tribulation could the people be
+brought to realize the indispensable necessity of that indissoluble
+union of which Washington had spoken. Thomas Paine was sadly mistaken
+when, in the moment of exultation over the peace, he declared that the
+trying time was ended. The most trying time of all was just beginning.
+It is not too much to say that the period of five years following the
+peace of 1783 was the most critical moment in all the history of the
+American people. The dangers from which we were saved in 1788 were even
+greater than the dangers from which we were saved in 1865. In the War of
+Secession the love of union had come to be so strong that thousands of
+men gave up their lives for it as cheerfully and triumphantly as the
+martyrs of older times, who sang their hymns of praise even while their
+flesh was withering in the relentless flames. In 1783 the love of union,
+as a sentiment for which men would fight, had scarcely come into
+existence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> among the people of these states. The souls of the men of
+that day had not been thrilled by the immortal eloquence of Webster, nor
+had they gained the historic experience which gave to Webster's words
+their meaning and their charm. They had not gained control of all the
+fairest part of the continent, with domains stretching more than three
+thousand miles from ocean to ocean, and so situated in geographical
+configuration and commercial relations as to make the very idea of
+disunion absurd, save for men in whose minds fanaticism for the moment
+usurped the place of sound judgment. The men of 1783 dwelt in a long,
+straggling series of republics, fringing the Atlantic coast, bordered on
+the north and south and west by two European powers whose hostility they
+had some reason to dread. But nine years had elapsed since, in the first
+Continental Congress, they had begun to act consistently and
+independently in common, under the severe pressure of a common fear and
+an immediate necessity of action. Even under such circumstances the war
+had languished and come nigh to failure simply through the difficulty of
+insuring concerted action. Had there been such a government that the
+whole power of the thirteen states could have been swiftly and
+vigorously wielded as a unit, the British, fighting at such disadvantage
+as they did, might have been driven to their ships in less than a year.
+The length of the war and its worst hardships had been chiefly due to
+want of organization. Congress had steadily declined in power and in
+respectability; it was much weaker at the end of the war than at the
+beginning; and there was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> reason to fear that as soon as the common
+pressure was removed the need for concerted action would quite cease to
+be felt, and the scarcely formed Union would break into pieces. There
+was the greater reason for such a fear in that, while no strong
+sentiment had as yet grown up in favour of union, there was an intensely
+powerful sentiment in favour of local self-government. This feeling was
+scarcely less strong as between states like Connecticut and Rhode
+Island, or Maryland and Virginia, than it was between Athens and Megara,
+Argos and Sparta, in the great days of Grecian history. A most wholesome
+feeling it was, and one which needed not so much to be curbed as to be
+guided in the right direction. It was a feeling which was shared by some
+of the foremost Revolutionary leaders, such as Samuel Adams and Richard
+Henry Lee. But unless the most profound and delicate statesmanship
+should be forthcoming, to take this sentiment under its guidance, there
+was much reason to fear that the release from the common adhesion to
+Great Britain would end in setting up thirteen little republics, ripe
+for endless squabbling, like the republics of ancient Greece and
+medi&aelig;val Italy, and ready to become the prey of England and Spain, even
+as Greece became the prey of Macedonia.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">False historic analogies.</div>
+
+<p>As such a lamentable result was dreaded by Washington, so by statesmen
+in Europe it was generally expected, and by our enemies it was eagerly
+hoped for. Josiah Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, was a far-sighted man in
+many things; but he said, "As to the future grandeur of America, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+its being a rising empire under one head, whether republican or
+monarchical, it is one of the idlest and most visionary notions that
+ever was conceived even by writers of romance. The mutual antipathies
+and clashing interests of the Americans, their difference of
+governments, habitudes, and manners, indicate that they will have no
+centre of union and no common interest. They never can be united into
+one compact empire under any species of government whatever; a disunited
+people till the end of time, suspicious and distrustful of each other,
+they will be divided and subdivided into little commonwealths or
+principalities, according to natural boundaries, by great bays of the
+sea, and by vast rivers, lakes, and ridges of mountains." Such were the
+views of a liberal-minded philosopher who bore us no ill-will. George
+III. said officially that he hoped the Americans would not suffer from
+the evils which in history had always followed the throwing off of
+monarchical government: which meant, of course, that he hoped they
+<i>would</i> suffer from such evils. He believed we should get into such a
+snarl that the several states, one after another, would repent and beg
+on their knees to be taken back into the British empire. Frederick of
+Prussia, though friendly to the Americans, argued that the mere extent
+of country from Maine to Georgia would suffice either to break up the
+Union, or to make a monarchy necessary. No republic, he said, had ever
+long existed on so great a scale. The Roman republic had been
+transformed into a despotism mainly by the excessive enlargement of its
+area. It was only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> little states, like Venice, Switzerland, and Holland,
+that could maintain a republican government. Such arguments were common
+enough a century ago, but they overlooked three essential differences
+between the Roman republic and the United States. The Roman republic in
+C&aelig;sar's time comprised peoples differing widely in blood, in speech, and
+in degree of civilization; it was perpetually threatened on all its
+frontiers by powerful enemies; and representative assemblies were
+unknown to it. The only free government of which the Roman knew anything
+was that of the primary assembly or town meeting. On the other hand, the
+people of the United States were all English in speech, and mainly
+English in blood. The differences in degree of civilization between such
+states as Massachusetts and North Carolina were considerable, but in
+comparison with such differences as those between Attika and Lusitania
+they might well be called slight. The attacks of savages on the frontier
+were cruel and annoying, but never since the time of King Philip had
+they seemed to threaten the existence of the white man. A very small
+military establishment was quite enough to deal with the Indians. And to
+crown all, the American people were thoroughly familiar with the
+principle of representation, having practised it on a grand scale for
+four centuries in England, and for more than a century in America. The
+governments of the thirteen states were all similar, and the political
+ideas of one were perfectly intelligible to all the others. It was
+essentially fallacious, therefore, to liken the case of the United
+States to that of ancient Rome.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Influence of railroad and telegraph upon perpetuity of the
+American Union.</div>
+
+<p>But there was another feature of the case which was quite hidden from
+the men of 1783. Just before the assembling of the first Continental
+Congress James Watt had completed his steam-engine; in the summer of
+1787, while the Federal Convention was sitting at Philadelphia, John
+Fitch launched his first steamboat on the Delaware River; and
+Stephenson's invention of the locomotive was to follow in less than half
+a century. Even with all other conditions favourable, it is doubtful if
+the American Union could have been preserved to the present time without
+the railroad. But for the military aid of railroads our government would
+hardly have succeeded in putting down the rebellion of the southern
+states. In the debates on the Oregon Bill in the United States Senate in
+1843, the idea that we could ever have an interest in so remote a
+country as Oregon was loudly ridiculed by some of the members. It would
+take ten months&mdash;said George McDuffie, the very able senator from South
+Carolina&mdash;for representatives to get from that territory to the District
+of Columbia and back again. Yet since the building of railroads to the
+Pacific coast, we can go from Boston to the capital of Oregon in much
+less time than it took John Hancock to make the journey from Boston to
+Philadelphia. Railroads and telegraphs have made our vast country, both
+for political and for social purposes, more snug and compact than little
+Switzerland was in the Middle Ages or New England a century ago.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Difficulty of travelling a hundred years ago.</div>
+
+<p>At the time of our Revolution the difficulties of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> travelling formed an
+important social obstacle to the union of the states. In our time the
+persons who pass in a single day between New York and Boston by six or
+seven distinct lines of railroad and steamboat are numbered by
+thousands. In 1783 two stage-coaches were enough for all the travellers,
+and nearly all the freight besides, that went between these two cities,
+except such large freight as went by sea around Cape Cod. The journey
+began at three o'clock in the morning. Horses were changed every twenty
+miles, and if the roads were in good condition some forty miles would be
+made by ten o'clock in the evening. In bad weather, when the passengers
+had to get down and lift the clumsy wheels out of deep ruts, the
+progress was much slower. The loss of life from accidents, in proportion
+to the number of travellers, was much greater than it has ever been on
+the railway. Broad rivers like the Connecticut and Housatonic had no
+bridges. To drive across them in winter, when they were solidly frozen
+over, was easy; and in pleasant summer weather to cross in a row-boat
+was not a dangerous undertaking. But squalls at some seasons and
+floating ice at others were things to be feared. More than one instance
+is recorded where boats were crushed and passengers drowned, or saved
+only by scrambling upon ice-floes. After a week or ten days of
+discomfort and danger the jolted and jaded traveller reached New York.
+Such was a journey in the most highly civilized part of the United
+States. The case was still worse in the South, and it was not so very
+much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> better in England and France. In one respect the traveller in the
+United States fared better than the traveller in Europe: the danger from
+highwaymen was but slight.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Local jealousies and antipathies, an inheritance from
+primeval savagery.</div>
+
+<p>Such being the difficulty of travelling, people never made long journeys
+save for very important reasons. Except in the case of the soldiers,
+most people lived and died without ever having seen any state but their
+own. And as the mails were irregular and uncertain, and the rates of
+postage very high, people heard from one another but seldom. Commercial
+dealings between the different states were inconsiderable. The
+occupation of the people was chiefly agriculture. Cities were few and
+small, and each little district for the most part supported itself.
+Under such circumstances the different parts of the country knew very
+little about each other, and local prejudices were intense. It was not
+simply free Massachusetts and slave-holding South Carolina, or English
+Connecticut and Dutch New York, that misunderstood and ridiculed each
+the other; but even between such neighbouring states as Connecticut and
+Massachusetts, both of them thoroughly English and Puritan, and in all
+their social conditions almost exactly alike, it used often to be said
+that there was no love lost. These unspeakably stupid and contemptible
+local antipathies are inherited by civilized men from that far-off time
+when the clan system prevailed over the face of the earth, and the hand
+of every clan was raised against its neighbours. They are pale and
+evanescent survivals from the universal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> primitive warfare, and the
+sooner they die out from human society the better for every one. They
+should be stigmatized and frowned down upon every fit occasion, just as
+we frown upon swearing as a symbol of anger and contention. But the only
+thing which can finally destroy them is the widespread and unrestrained
+intercourse of different groups of people in peaceful social and
+commercial relations. The rapidity with which this process is now going
+on is the most encouraging of all the symptoms of our modern
+civilization. But a century ago the progress made in this direction had
+been relatively small, and it was a very critical moment for the
+American people.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Conservative character of the Revolution.</div>
+
+<p>The thirteen states, as already observed, had worked in concert for only
+nine years, during which their co&ouml;peration had been feeble and halting.
+But the several state governments had been in operation since the first
+settlement of the country, and were regarded with intense loyalty by the
+people of the states. Under the royal governors the local political life
+of each state had been vigorous and often stormy, as befitted
+communities of the sturdy descendants of English freemen. The
+legislative assembly of each state had stoutly defended its liberties
+against the encroachments of the governor. In the eyes of the people it
+was the only power on earth competent to lay taxes upon them, it was as
+supreme in its own sphere as the British Parliament itself, and in
+behalf of this rooted conviction the people had gone to war and won
+their independence from England. During the war the people of all the
+states, except <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>Connecticut and Rhode Island, had carefully remodelled
+their governments, and in the performance of this work had withdrawn
+many of their ablest statesmen from the Continental Congress; but except
+for the expulsion of the royal and proprietary governors, the work had
+in no instance been revolutionary in its character. It was not so much
+that the American people gained an increase of freedom by their
+separation from England, as that they kept the freedom they had always
+enjoyed, that freedom which was the inalienable birthright of
+Englishmen, but which George III. had foolishly sought to impair. The
+American Revolution was therefore in no respect destructive. It was the
+most conservative revolution known to history, thoroughly English in
+conception from beginning to end. It had no likeness whatever to the
+terrible popular convulsion which soon after took place in France. The
+mischievous doctrines of Rousseau had found few readers and fewer
+admirers among the Americans. The principles upon which their revolution
+was conducted were those of Sidney, Harrington, and Locke. In
+remodelling the state governments, as in planning the union of the
+states, the precedents followed and the principles applied were almost
+purely English. We must now pass in review the principal changes wrought
+in the several states, and we shall then be ready to consider the
+general structure of the Confederation, and to describe the remarkable
+series of events which led to the adoption of our Federal Constitution.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">State governments remodelled; assemblies continued from
+colonial times.</div>
+
+<p>It will be remembered that at the time of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> Declaration of
+Independence there were three kinds of government in the colonies.
+Connecticut and Rhode Island had always been true republics, with
+governors and legislative assemblies elected by the people.
+Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland presented the appearance of limited
+hereditary monarchies. Their assemblies were chosen by the people, but
+the lords proprietary appointed their governors, or in some instances
+acted as governors themselves. In Maryland the office of lord
+proprietary was hereditary in the Calvert family; in Delaware and
+Pennsylvania, which, though distinct commonwealths with separate
+legislatures, had the same executive head, it was hereditary in the Penn
+family. The other eight colonies were viceroyalties, with governors
+appointed by the king, while in all alike the people elected the
+legislatures. Accordingly in Connecticut and Rhode Island no change was
+made necessary by the Revolution, beyond the mere omission of the king's
+name from legal documents; and their charters, which dated from the
+middle of the seventeenth century, continued to do duty as state
+constitutions till far into the nineteenth. During the Revolutionary War
+all the other states framed new constitutions, but in most essential
+respects they took the old colonial charters for their model. The
+popular legislative body remained unchanged even in its name. In North
+Carolina its supreme dignity was vindicated in its title of the House of
+Commons; in Virginia it was called the House of Burgesses; in most of
+the states the House of Representatives. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>members were chosen each
+year, except in South Carolina, where they served for two years. In the
+New England states they represented the townships, in other states the
+counties. In all the states except Pennsylvania a property qualification
+was required of them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Origin of the senates.</div>
+
+<p>In addition to this House of Representatives all the legislatures except
+those of Pennsylvania and Georgia contained a second or upper house
+known as the Senate. The origin of the senate is to be found in the
+governor's council of colonial times, just as the House of Lords is
+descended from the Witenagemot or council of great barons summoned by
+the Old-English kings. The Americans had been used to having the acts of
+their popular assemblies reviewed by a council, and so they retained
+this revisory body as an upper house. A higher property qualification
+was required than for membership of the lower house, and, except in New
+Hampshire, Massachusetts, and South Carolina, the term of service was
+longer. In Maryland senators sat for five years, in Virginia and New
+York for four years, elsewhere for two years. In some states they were
+chosen by the people, in others by the lower house. In Maryland they
+were chosen by a college of electors, thus affording a precedent for the
+method of electing the chief magistrate of the union under the Federal
+Constitution.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Governors viewed with suspicion.</div>
+
+<p>Governors were unpopular in those days. There was too much flavour of
+royalty and high prerogative about them. Except in the two republics of
+Rhode Island and Connecticut, American political<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> history during the
+eighteenth century was chiefly the record of interminable squabbles
+between governors and legislatures, down to the moment when the detested
+agents of royalty were clapped into jail, or took refuge behind the
+bulwarks of a British seventy-four. Accordingly the new constitutions
+were very chary of the powers to be exercised by the governor. In
+Pennsylvania and Delaware, in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the
+governor was at first replaced by an executive council, and the
+president of this council was first magistrate and titular ruler of the
+state. His dignity was imposing enough, but his authority was merely
+that of a chairman. The other states had governors chosen by the
+legislatures, except in New York where the governor was elected by the
+people. No one was eligible to the office of governor who did not
+possess a specified amount of property. In most of the states the
+governor could not be re&euml;lected, he had no veto upon the acts of the
+legislature, nor any power of appointing officers. In 1780, in a new
+constitution drawn up by James Bowdoin and the two Adamses,
+Massachusetts led the way in the construction of a more efficient
+executive department. The president was replaced by a governor elected
+annually by the people, and endowed with the power of appointment and a
+suspensory veto. The first governor elected under this constitution was
+John Hancock. In 1783 New Hampshire adopted a similar constitution. In
+1790 Pennsylvania added an upper house to its legislature, and vested
+the executive power in a governor elected by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>people for a term of
+three years, and twice re&euml;ligible. He was intrusted with the power of
+appointment to offices, with a suspensory veto, and with the royal
+prerogative of reprieving or pardoning criminals. In 1792 similar
+changes were made in Delaware. In 1789 Georgia added the upper house to
+its legislature, and about the same time in several states the
+governor's powers were enlarged.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the various state governments were repetitions on a small scale of
+what was then supposed to be the triplex government of England, with its
+King, Lords, and Commons. The governor answered to the king with his
+dignity curtailed by election for a short period, and by narrowly
+limited prerogatives. The senate answered to the House of Lords, except
+in being a representative and not a hereditary body. It was supposed to
+represent more especially that part of the community which was possessed
+of most wealth and consideration; and in several states the senators
+were apportioned with some reference to the amount of taxes paid by
+different parts of the state. The senate of New York, in direct
+imitation of the House of Lords, was made a supreme court of errors. On
+the other hand, the assembly answered to the House of Commons, save that
+its power was really limited by the senate as the power of the House of
+Commons is not really limited by the House of Lords. But this
+peculiarity of the British Constitution was not well understood a
+century ago; and the misunderstanding, as we shall hereafter see,
+exerted a very serious influence upon the form of our federal
+government, as well as upon the constitutions of the several states.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">The judiciary.</div>
+
+<p>In all the thirteen states the common law of England remained in force,
+as it does to this day save where modified by statute. British and
+colonial statutes made prior to the Revolution continued also in force
+unless expressly repealed. The system of civil and criminal courts, the
+remedies in common law and equity, the forms of writs, the functions of
+justices of the peace, the courts of probate, all remained substantially
+unchanged. In Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, the judges held
+office for a term of seven years; in all the other states they held
+office for life or during good behaviour. In all the states save Georgia
+they were appointed either by the governor or by the legislature. It was
+Georgia that in 1812 first set the pernicious example of electing judges
+for short terms by the people,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>&mdash;a practice which is responsible for
+much of the degradation that the courts have suffered in many of our
+states, and which will have to be abandoned before a proper
+administration of justice can ever be secured.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The limited suffrage.</div>
+
+<p>In bestowing the suffrage, the new constitutions were as conservative as
+in all other respects. The general state of opinion in America at that
+time, with regard to universal suffrage, was far more advanced than the
+general state of opinion in England, but it was less advanced than the
+opinions of such statesmen as Pitt and Shelburne and the Duke of
+Richmond. There was a truly English irregularity in the provisions which
+were made on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> this subject. In New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
+and South Carolina, all resident freemen who paid taxes could vote. In
+North Carolina all such persons could vote for members of the lower
+house, but in order to vote for senators a freehold of fifty acres was
+required. In Virginia none could vote save those who possessed such a
+freehold of fifty acres. To vote for governor or for senators in New
+York, one must possess a freehold of $250, clear of mortgage, and to
+vote for assemblymen one must either have a freehold of $50, or pay a
+yearly rent of $10. The pettiness of these sums was in keeping with the
+time when two daily coaches sufficed for the traffic between our two
+greatest commercial cities. In Rhode Island an unincumbered freehold
+worth $134 was required; but in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania the eldest
+sons of qualified freemen could vote without payment of taxes. In all
+the other states the possession of a small amount of property, either
+real or personal, varying from $33 to $200, was the necessary
+qualification for voting. Thus slowly and irregularly did the states
+drift toward universal suffrage; but although the impediments in the way
+of voting were more serious than they seem to us in these days when the
+community is more prosperous and money less scarce, they were still not
+very great, and in the opinion of conservative people they barely
+sufficed to exclude from the suffrage such shiftless persons as had no
+visible interest in keeping down the taxes.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Abolition of primogeniture, entails, and manorial
+privileges.</div>
+
+<p>At the time of the Revolution the succession to property was regulated
+in New York and the southern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> states by the English rule of
+primogeniture. The eldest son took all. In New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
+Delaware, and the four New England states, the eldest son took a double
+share. It was Georgia that led the way in decreeing the equal
+distribution of intestate property, both real and personal; and between
+1784 and 1796 the example was followed by all the other states. At the
+same time entails were either definitely abolished, or the obstacles to
+cutting them off were removed. In New York the manorial privileges of
+the great patroons were swept away. In Maryland the old manorial system
+had long been dying a natural death through the encroachments of the
+patriarchal system of slavery. The ownership of all ungranted lands
+within the limits of the thirteen states passed from the crown not to
+the Confederacy, but to the several state governments. In Pennsylvania
+and Maryland such ungranted lands had belonged to the lords proprietary.
+They were now forfeited to the state. The Penn family was indemnified by
+Pennsylvania to the amount of half a million dollars; but Maryland made
+no compensation to the Calverts, inasmuch as their claim was presented
+by an illegitimate descendant of the last Lord Baltimore.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Steps toward the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade.</div>
+
+<p>The success of the American Revolution made it possible for the
+different states to take measures for the gradual abolition of slavery
+and the immediate abolition of the foreign slave-trade. On this great
+question the state of public opinion in America was more advanced than
+in England. So great a thinker as Edmund Burke, who devoted much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+thought to the subject, came to the conclusion that slavery was an
+incurable evil, and that there was not the slightest hope that the trade
+in slaves could be stopped. The most that he thought could be done by
+judicious legislation was to mitigate the horrors which the poor negroes
+endured on board ship, or to prevent wives from being sold away from
+their husbands or children from their parents. Such was the outlook to
+one of the greatest political philosophers of modern times just
+eighty-two years before the immortal proclamation of President Lincoln!
+But how vast was the distance between Burke and Bossuet, who had
+declared about eighty years earlier that "to condemn slavery was to
+condemn the Holy Ghost!" It was equally vast between Burke and his
+contemporary Thurlow, who in 1799 poured out the vials of his wrath upon
+"the altogether miserable and contemptible" proposal to abolish the
+slave-trade. George III. agreed with his chancellor, and resisted the
+movement for abolition with all the obstinacy of which his hard and
+narrow nature was capable. In 1769 the Virginia legislature had enacted
+that the further importation of negroes, to be sold into slavery, should
+be prohibited. But George III. commanded the governor to veto this act,
+and it was vetoed. In Jefferson's first-draft of the Declaration of
+Independence, this action of the king was made the occasion of a fierce
+denunciation of slavery, but in deference to the prejudices of South
+Carolina and Georgia the clause was struck out by Congress. When George
+III. and his vetoes had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>eliminated from the case, it became
+possible for the states to legislate freely on the subject. In 1776
+negro slaves were held in all the thirteen states, but in all except
+South Carolina and Georgia there was a strong sentiment in favour of
+emancipation. In North Carolina, which contained a large Quaker
+population, and in which estates were small and were often cultivated by
+free labour, the pro-slavery feeling was never so strong as in the
+southernmost states. In Virginia all the foremost statesmen&mdash;Washington,
+Jefferson, Lee, Randolph, Henry, Madison, and Mason&mdash;were opposed to the
+continuance of slavery; and their opinions were shared by many of the
+largest planters. For tobacco-culture slavery did not seem so
+indispensable as for the raising of rice and indigo; and in Virginia the
+negroes, half-civilized by kindly treatment, were not regarded with
+horror by their masters, like the ill-treated and ferocious blacks of
+South Carolina and Georgia. After 1808 the policy and the sentiments of
+Virginia underwent a marked change. The invention of the cotton-gin,
+taken in connection with the sudden and prodigious development of
+manufactures in England, greatly stimulated the growth of cotton in the
+ever-enlarging area of the Gulf states, and created an immense demand
+for slave-labour, just at the time when the importation of negroes from
+Africa came to an end. The breeding of slaves, to be sold to the
+planters of the Gulf states, then became such a profitable occupation in
+Virginia as entirely to change the popular feeling about slavery. But
+until 1808 Virginia sympathized with the anti-slavery sentiment which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+was growing up in the northern states; and the same was true of
+Maryland. Emancipation was, however, much more easy to accomplish in the
+north, because the number of slaves was small, and economic
+circumstances distinctly favoured free labour. In the work of gradual
+emancipation the little state of Delaware led the way. In its new
+constitution of 1776 the further introduction of slaves was prohibited,
+all restraints upon emancipation having already been removed. In the
+assembly of Virginia in 1778 a bill prohibiting the further introduction
+of slaves was moved and carried by Thomas Jefferson, and the same
+measure was passed in Maryland in 1783, while both these states removed
+all restraints upon emancipation. North Carolina was not ready to go
+quite so far, but in 1786 she sought to discourage the slave-trade by
+putting a duty of &pound;5 per head on all negroes thereafter imported. New
+Jersey followed the example of Maryland and Virginia. Pennsylvania went
+farther. In 1780 its assembly enacted that no more slaves should be
+brought in, and that all children of slaves born after that date should
+be free. The same provisions were made by New Hampshire in its new
+constitution of 1783, and by the assemblies of Connecticut and Rhode
+Island in 1784. New York went farther still, and in 1785 enacted that
+all children of slaves thereafter born should not only be free, but
+should be admitted to vote on the same conditions as other freemen. In
+1788 Virginia, which contained many free negroes, enacted that any
+person convicted of kidnapping or selling into slavery any free person
+should suffer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> death on the gallows. Summing up all these facts, we see
+that within two years after the independence of the United States had
+been acknowledged by England, while the two southernmost states had done
+nothing to check the growth of slavery, North Carolina had discouraged
+the importation of slaves; Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey
+had stopped such importation and removed all restraint upon
+emancipation; and all the remaining states, except Massachusetts, had
+made gradual emancipation compulsory. Massachusetts had gone still
+farther. Before the Revolution the anti-slavery feeling had been
+stronger there than in any other state, and cases brought into court for
+the purpose of testing the legality of slavery had been decided in
+favour of those who were opposed to the continuance of that barbarous
+institution. In 1777 an American cruiser brought into the port of Salem
+a captured British ship with slaves on board, and these slaves were
+advertised for sale, but on complaint being made before the legislature
+they were set free. The new constitution of 1780 contained a declaration
+of rights which asserted that all men are born free and have an equal
+and inalienable right to defend their lives and liberties, to acquire
+property, and to seek and obtain safety and happiness. The supreme court
+presently decided that this clause worked the abolition of slavery, and
+accordingly Massachusetts was the first of American states, within the
+limits of the Union, to become in the full sense of the words a free
+commonwealth. Of the negro inhabitants, not more than six thousand in
+number, a large proportion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> had already for a long time enjoyed freedom;
+and all were now admitted to the suffrage on the same terms as other
+citizens.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Progress toward freedom in religion.</div>
+
+<p>By the revolutionary legislation of the states some progress was also
+effected in the direction of a more complete religious freedom.
+Pennsylvania and Delaware were the only states in which all Christian
+sects stood socially and politically on an equal footing. In Rhode
+Island all Protestants enjoyed equal privileges, but Catholics were
+debarred from voting. In Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut,
+the old Puritan Congregationalism was the established religion. The
+Congregational church was supported by taxes, and the minister, once
+chosen, kept his place for life or during good behaviour. He could not
+be got rid of unless formally investigated and dismissed by an
+ecclesiastical council. Laws against blasphemy, which were virtually
+laws against heresy, were in force in these three states. In
+Massachusetts, Catholic priests were liable to imprisonment for life.
+Any one who should dare to speculate too freely about the nature of
+Christ, or the philosophy of the plan of salvation, or to express a
+doubt as to the plenary inspiration of every word between the two covers
+of the Bible, was subject to fine and imprisonment. The tithing-man
+still arrested Sabbath-breakers and shut them up in the town-cage in the
+market-place; he stopped all unnecessary riding or driving on Sunday,
+and haled people off to the meeting-house whether they would or not.
+Such restraints upon liberty were still endured by people who had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> dared
+and suffered so much for liberty's sake. The men of Boston strove hard
+to secure the repeal of these barbarous laws and the disestablishment of
+the Congregational church; but they were outvoted by the delegates from
+the rural towns. The most that could be accomplished was the provision
+that dissenters might escape the church-rate by supporting a church of
+their own. The nineteenth century was to arrive before church and state
+were finally separated in Massachusetts. The new constitution of New
+Hampshire was similarly illiberal, and in Connecticut no change was
+made. Rhode Island nobly distinguished herself by contrast when in 1784
+she extended the franchise to Catholics.</p>
+
+<p>In the six states just mentioned the British government had been
+hindered by charter, and by the overwhelming opposition of the people,
+from seriously trying to establish the Episcopal church. The sure fate
+of any such mad experiment had been well illustrated in the time of
+Andros. In the other seven states there were no such insuperable
+obstacles. The Church of England was maintained with languid
+acquiescence in New York. By the Quakers and Presbyterians of New Jersey
+and North Carolina, as well as in half-Catholic, half-Puritan Maryland,
+its supremacy was unwillingly endured; in the turbulent frontier
+commonwealth of Georgia it was accepted with easy contempt. Only in
+South Carolina and Virginia had the Church of England ever possessed any
+real hold upon the people. The Episcopal clergy of South Carolina, men
+of learning and high character,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> elected by their own congregations
+instead of being appointed to their livings by a patron, were thoroughly
+independent, and in the late war their powerful influence had been
+mainly exerted in behalf of the patriot cause. Hence, while they
+retained their influence after the close of the war, there was no
+difficulty in disestablishing the church. It felt itself able to stand
+without government support. As soon as the political separation from
+England was effected, the Episcopal church was accordingly separated
+from the state, not only in South Carolina, but in all the states in
+which it had hitherto been upheld by the authority of the British
+government; and in the constitutions of New Jersey, Georgia, and the two
+Carolinas, no less than in those of Delaware and Pennsylvania, it was
+explicitly provided that no man should be obliged to pay any church rate
+or attend any religious service save according to his own free and
+unhampered will.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Church and state in Virginia.</div>
+
+<p>The case of Virginia was peculiar. At first the Church of England had
+taken deep root there because of the considerable immigration of members
+of the Cavalier party after the downfall of Charles I. Most of the great
+statesmen of Virginia in the Revolution&mdash;such as Washington, Madison,
+Mason, Jefferson, Pendleton, Henry, the Lees, and the Randolphs&mdash;were
+descendants of Cavaliers and members of the Church of England. But for a
+long time the Episcopal clergy had been falling into discredit. Many of
+them were appointed by the British government and ordained by the
+Bishop<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> of London, and they were affected by the irreligious
+listlessness and low moral tone of the English church in the eighteenth
+century. The Virginia legislature thought it necessary to pass special
+laws prohibiting these clergymen from drunkenness and riotous living. It
+was said that they spent more time in hunting foxes and betting on
+race-horses than in conducting religious services or visiting the sick;
+and according to Bishop Meade, many dissolute parsons, discarded from
+the church in England as unworthy, were yet thought fit to be presented
+with livings in Virginia. To this general character of the clergy there
+were many exceptions. There were many excellent clergymen, especially
+among the native Virginians, whose appointment depended to some extent
+upon the repute in which they were held by their neighbours. But on the
+whole the system was such as to illustrate all the worst vices of a
+church supported by the temporal power. The Revolution achieved the
+discomfiture of a clergy already thus deservedly discredited. The
+parsons mostly embraced the cause of the crown, but failed to carry
+their congregations with them, and thus they found themselves arrayed in
+hopeless antagonism to popular sentiment in a state which contained
+perhaps fewer Tories in proportion to its population than any other of
+the thirteen.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Madison and the Religious Freedom Act, 1785.</div>
+
+<p>At the same time the Episcopal church itself had gradually come to be a
+minority in the commonwealth. For more than half a century Scotch and
+Welsh Presbyterians, German Lutherans, English Quakers, and Baptists,
+had been working<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> their way southward from Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
+and had settled in the fertile country west of the Blue Ridge. Daniel
+Morgan, who had won the most brilliant battle of the Revolution, was one
+of these men, and sturdiness was a chief characteristic of most of them.
+So long as these frontier settlers served as a much-needed bulwark
+against the Indians, the church saw fit to ignore them and let them
+build meeting-houses and carry on religious services as they pleased.
+But when the peril of Indian attack had been thrust westward into the
+Ohio valley, and these dissenting communities had waxed strong and
+prosperous, the ecclesiastical party in the state undertook to lay taxes
+on them for the support of the Church of England, and to compel them to
+receive Episcopal clergymen to preach for them, to bless them in
+marriage, and to bury their dead. The immediate consequence was a revolt
+which not only overthrew the established church in Virginia, but nearly
+effected its ruin. The troubles began in 1768, when the Baptists had
+made their way into the centre of the state, and three of their
+preachers were arrested by the sheriff of Spottsylvania. As the
+indictment was read against these men for "preaching the gospel contrary
+to law," a deep and solemn voice interrupted the proceedings. Patrick
+Henry had come on horseback many a mile over roughest roads to listen to
+the trial, and this phrase, which savoured of the religious despotisms
+of old, was quite too much for him. "May it please your worships," he
+exclaimed, "what did I hear read? Did I hear an expression<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> that these
+men, whom your worships are about to try for misdemeanour, are charged
+with preaching the gospel of the Son of God!" The shamefast silence and
+confusion which ensued was of ill omen for the success of an undertaking
+so unwelcome to the growing liberalism of the time. The zeal of the
+persecuted Baptists was presently reinforced by the learning and the
+dialectic skill of the Presbyterian ministers. Unlike the Puritans of
+New England, the Presbyterians were in favour of the total separation of
+church from state. It was one of their cardinal principles that the
+civil magistrate had no right to interfere in any way with matters of
+religion. By taking this broad ground they secured the powerful aid of
+Thomas Jefferson, and afterwards of Madison and Mason. The controversy
+went on through all the years of the Revolutionary War, while all
+Virginia, from the sea to the mountains, rang with fulminations and
+arguments. In 1776 Jefferson and Mason succeeded in carrying a bill
+which released all dissenters from parish rates and legalized all forms
+of worship. At last in 1785 Madison won the crowning victory in the
+Religious Freedom Act, by which the Church of England was disestablished
+and all parish rates abolished, and still more, all religious tests were
+done away with. In this last respect Virginia came to the front among
+all the American states, as Massachusetts had come to the front in the
+abolition of negro slavery. Nearly all the states still imposed
+religious tests upon civil office-holders, from simply declaring a
+general belief in the infallibleness of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> the Bible to accepting the
+doctrine of the Trinity. The Virginia statute, which declared that
+"opinion in matters of religion shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or
+affect civil capacities," was translated into French and Italian, and
+was widely read and commented on in Europe.</p>
+
+<p>It is the historian's unpleasant duty to add that the victory thus
+happily won was ungenerously followed up. Theological and political
+odium combined to overwhelm the Episcopal church in Virginia. The
+persecuted became persecutors. It was contended that the property of the
+church, having been largely created by unjustifiable taxation, ought to
+be forfeited. In 1802 its parsonages and glebe lands were sold, its
+parishes wiped out, and its clergy left without a calling. "A reckless
+sensualist," said Dr. Hawks, "administered the morning dram to his
+guests from the silver cup" used in the communion service. But in all
+this there is a manifest historic lesson. That it should have been
+possible thus to deal with the Episcopal church in Virginia shows
+forcibly the moribund condition into which it had been brought through
+dependence upon the extraneous aid of a political sovereignty from which
+the people of Virginia were severing their allegiance. The lesson is
+most vividly enhanced by the contrast with the church of South Carolina
+which, rooted in its own soil, was quite able to stand alone when
+government aid was withdrawn. In Virginia the church in which George
+Washington was reared had so nearly vanished by the year 1830 that Chief
+Justice Marshall said it was folly to dream of reviving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> so dead a
+thing. Nevertheless, under the noble ministration of its great bishop,
+William Meade, the Episcopal church in Virginia, no longer relying upon
+state aid, but trusting in the divine persuasive power of spiritual
+truth, was even then entering upon a new life and beginning to exercise
+a most wholesome influence.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Mason Weems and Samuel Seabury.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">November 14, 1784.</div>
+
+<p>The separation of the English church in America from the English crown
+was the occasion of a curious difficulty with regard to the ordination
+of bishops. Until after the Revolution there were no bishops of that
+church in America, and between 1783 and 1785 it was not clear how
+candidates for holy orders could receive the necessary consecration. In
+1784 a young divinity student from Maryland, named Mason Weems, who had
+been studying for some time in England, applied to the Bishop of London
+for admission to holy orders, but was rudely refused. Weems then had
+recourse to Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, author of the famous reply to
+Gibbon. Watson treated him kindly and advised him to get a letter of
+recommendation from the governor of Maryland, but after this had been
+obtained he referred him to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who said that
+nothing could be done without the consent of Parliament. As the law
+stood, no one could be admitted into the ranks of the English clergy
+without taking the oath of allegiance and acknowledging the king of
+England as the head of the church. Weems then wrote to John Adams at the
+Hague, and to Franklin at Paris, to see if there were any Protestant
+bishops on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>Continent from whom he could obtain consecration. A
+rather amusing diplomatic correspondence ensued, and finally the king of
+Denmark, after taking theological advice, kindly offered the services of
+a Danish bishop, who was to perform the ceremony in Latin. Weems does
+not seem to have availed himself of this permission, probably because
+the question soon reached a more satisfactory solution.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> About the
+same time the Episcopal church in Connecticut sent one of its ministers,
+Samuel Seabury of New London, to England, to be ordained as bishop. The
+oaths of allegiance and supremacy stood as much in the way of the
+learned and famous minister as in that of the young and obscure student.
+Seabury accordingly appealed to the non-juring Jacobite bishops of the
+Episcopal church of Scotland, and at length was duly ordained at
+Aberdeen as bishop of the diocese of Connecticut. While Seabury was in
+England, the churches in the various states<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> chose delegates to a
+general convention, which framed a constitution for the "Protestant
+Episcopal Church of the United States of America." Advowsons were
+abolished, some parts of the liturgy were dropped, and the tenure of
+ministers, even of bishops, was to be during good behaviour. At the same
+time a friendly letter was sent to the bishops of England, urging them
+to secure, if possible, an act of Parliament whereby American clergymen
+might be ordained without taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy.
+Such an act was obtained without much difficulty, and three American
+bishops were accordingly consecrated in due form. The peculiar
+ordination of Seabury was also recognized as valid by the general
+convention, and thus the Episcopal church in America was fairly started
+on its independent career.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Francis Asbury and the Methodists.</div>
+
+<p>This foundation of a separate episcopacy west of the Atlantic was
+accompanied by the further separation of the Methodists as a distinct
+religious society. Although John Wesley regarded the notion of an
+apostolical succession as superstitious, he had made no attempt to
+separate his followers from the national church. He translated the
+titles of "bishop" and "priest" from Greek into Latin and English,
+calling them "superintendent" and "elder," but he did not deny the
+king's headship. Meanwhile during the long period of his preaching there
+had begun to grow up a Methodist church in America. George Whitefield
+had come over and preached in Georgia in 1737, and in Massachusetts in
+1744, where he encountered much opposition on the part of the Puritan
+clergy. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> the first Methodist church in America was founded in the
+city of New York in 1766. In 1772 Wesley sent over Francis Asbury, a man
+of shrewd sense and deep religious feeling, to act as his assistant and
+representative in this country. At that time there were not more than a
+thousand Methodists, with six preachers, and all these were in the
+middle and southern colonies; but within five years, largely owing to
+the zeal and eloquence of Asbury, these numbers had increased sevenfold.
+At the end of the war, seeing the American Methodists cut loose from the
+English establishment, Wesley in his own house at Bristol, with the aid
+of two presbyters, proceeded to ordain ministers enough to make a
+presbytery, and thereupon set apart Thomas Coke to be "superintendent"
+or bishop for America. On the same day of November, 1784, on which
+Seabury was consecrated by the non-jurors at Aberdeen, Coke began
+preaching and baptizing in Maryland, in rude chapels built of logs or
+under the shade of forest trees. On Christmas Eve a conference assembled
+at Baltimore, at which Asbury was chosen bishop by some sixty ministers
+present, and ordained by Coke, and the constitution of the Methodist
+church in America was organized. Among the poor white people of the
+southern states, and among the negroes, the new church rapidly obtained
+great sway; and at a somewhat later date it began to assume considerable
+proportions in the north.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Presbyterians; Roman Catholics.</div>
+
+<p>Four years after this the Presbyterians, who were most numerous in the
+middle states, organized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> their government in a general assembly, which
+was also attended by Congregationalist delegates from New England in the
+capacity of simple advisers. The theological difference between these
+two sects was so slight that an alliance grew up between them, and in
+Connecticut some fifty years later their names were often inaccurately
+used as if synonymous. Such a difference seemed to vanish when
+confronted with the newer differences that began to spring up soon after
+the close of the Revolution. The revolt against the doctrine of eternal
+punishment was already beginning in New England, and among the learned
+and thoughtful clergy of Massachusetts the seeds of Unitarianism were
+germinating. The gloomy intolerance of an older time was beginning to
+yield to more enlightened views. In 1789 the first Roman Catholic church
+in New England was dedicated in Boston. So great had been the prejudice
+against this sect that in 1784 there were only 600 Catholics in all New
+England. In the four southernmost states, on the other hand, there were
+2,500; in New York and New Jersey there were 1,700; in Delaware and
+Pennsylvania there were 7,700; in Maryland there were 20,000; while
+among the French settlements along the eastern bank of the Mississippi
+there were supposed to be nearly 12,000. In 1786 John Carroll, a cousin
+of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, was selected by the Pope as his
+apostolic vicar, and was afterward successively made bishop of Baltimore
+and archbishop of the United States. By 1789 all obstacles to the
+Catholic worship had been done away with in all the states.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Except in the instance of slavery, all these changes were
+favourable to union.</div>
+
+<p>In this brief survey of the principal changes wrought in the several
+states by the separation from England, one cannot fail to be struck with
+their conservative character. Things proceeded just as they had done
+from time immemorial with the English race. Forms of government were
+modified just far enough to adapt them to the new situation and no
+farther. The abolition of entails, of primogeniture, and of such few
+manorial privileges as existed, were useful reforms of far less sweeping
+character than similar changes would have been in England; and they were
+accordingly effected with ease. Even the abolition of slavery in the
+northern states, where negroes were few in number and chiefly employed
+in domestic service, wrought nothing in the remotest degree resembling a
+social revolution. But nowhere was this constitutionally cautious and
+precedent-loving mode of proceeding more thoroughly exemplified than in
+the measures just related, whereby the Episcopal and Methodist churches
+were separated from the English establishment and placed upon an
+independent footing in the new world. From another point of view it may
+be observed that all these changes, except in the instance of slavery,
+tended to assimilate the states to one another in their political and
+social condition. So far as they went, these changes were favourable to
+union, and this was perhaps especially true in the case of the
+ecclesiastical bodies, which brought citizens of different states into
+co&ouml;peration in pursuit of specific ends in common.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p><p>At the same time this survey most forcibly reminds us how completely
+the legislation which immediately affected the daily domestic life of
+the citizen was the legislation of the single state in which he lived.
+In the various reforms just passed in review the United States
+government took no part, and could not from the nature of the case. Even
+to-day our national government has no power over such matters, and it is
+to be hoped it never will have. But at the present day our national
+government performs many important functions of common concern, which a
+century ago were scarcely performed at all. The organization of the
+single state was old in principle and well understood by everybody. It
+therefore worked easily, and such changes as those above described were
+brought about with little friction. On the other hand, the principles
+upon which the various relations of the states to each other were to be
+adjusted were not well understood. There was wide disagreement upon the
+subject, and the attempt to compromise between opposing views was not at
+first successful. Hence, in the management of affairs which concerned
+the United States as a nation, we shall not find the central machinery
+working smoothly or quietly. We are about to traverse a period of
+uncertainty and confusion, in which it required all the political
+sagacity and all the good temper of the people to save the half-built
+ship of state from going to pieces on the rocks of civil contention.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">The several states have never enjoyed complete sovereignty.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">That</span> some kind of union existed between the states was doubted by no
+one. Ever since the assembling of the first Continental Congress in 1774
+the thirteen commonwealths had acted in concert, and sometimes most
+generously, as when Maryland and South Carolina had joined in the
+Declaration of Independence without any crying grievances of their own,
+from a feeling that the cause of one should be the cause of all. It has
+sometimes been said that the Union was in its origin a league of
+sovereign states, each of which surrendered a specific portion of its
+sovereignty to the federal government for the sake of the common
+welfare. Grave political arguments have been based upon this alleged
+fact, but such an account of the matter is not historically true. There
+never was a time when Massachusetts or Virginia was an absolutely
+sovereign state like Holland or France. Sovereign over their own
+internal affairs they are to-day as they were at the time of the
+Revolution, but there was never a time when they presented themselves
+before other nations as sovereign, or were recognized as such. Under the
+government of England before the Revolution the thirteen commonwealths
+were independent of one another,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> and were held together, juxtaposed
+rather than united, only through their allegiance to the British crown.
+Had that allegiance been maintained there is no telling how long they
+might have gone on thus disunited; and this, it seems, should be one of
+our chief reasons for rejoicing that the political connection with
+England was dissolved when it was. A permanent redress of grievances,
+and even virtual independence such as Canada now enjoys, we might
+perhaps have gained had we listened to Lord North's proposals after the
+surrender of Burgoyne; but the formation of the Federal Union would
+certainly have been long postponed, and when we realize the grandeur of
+the work which we are now doing in the world through the simple fact of
+such a union, we cannot fail to see that such an issue would have been
+extremely unfortunate. However this may be, it is clear that until the
+connection with England was severed the thirteen commonwealths were not
+united, nor were they sovereign. It is also clear that in the very act
+of severing their connection with England these commonwealths entered
+into some sort of union which was incompatible with their absolute
+sovereignty taken severally. It was not the people of New Hampshire,
+Massachusetts, and so on through the list, that declared their
+independence of Great Britain, but it was the representatives of the
+United States in Congress assembled, and speaking as a single body in
+the name of the whole. Three weeks before this declaration was adopted,
+Congress appointed a committee to draw up the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> "articles of
+confederation and perpetual union," by which the sovereignty of the
+several states was expressly limited and curtailed in many important
+particulars. This committee had finished its work by the 12th of July,
+but the articles were not adopted by Congress until the autumn of 1777,
+and they were not finally put into operation until the spring of 1781.
+During this inchoate period of union the action of the United States was
+that of a confederation in which some portion of the several
+sovereignties was understood to be surrendered to the whole. It was the
+business of the articles to define the precise nature and extent of this
+surrendered sovereignty which no state by itself ever exercised. In the
+mean time this sovereignty, undefined in nature and extent, was
+exercised, as well as circumstances permitted, by the Continental
+Congress.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Continental Congress; its extraordinary character.</div>
+
+<p>A most remarkable body was this Continental Congress. For the
+vicissitudes through which it passed, there is perhaps no other
+revolutionary body, save the Long Parliament, which can be compared with
+it. For its origin we must look back to the committees of correspondence
+devised by Jonathan Mayhew, Samuel Adams, and Dabney Carr. First
+assembled in 1774 to meet an emergency which was generally believed to
+be only temporary, it continued to sit for nearly seven years before its
+powers were ever clearly defined; and during those seven years it
+exercised some of the highest functions of sovereignty which are
+possible to any governing body. It declared the independence of the
+United States;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> it contracted an offensive and defensive alliance with
+France; it raised and organized a Continental army; it borrowed large
+sums of money, and pledged what the lenders understood to be the
+national credit for their repayment; it issued an inconvertible paper
+currency, granted letters of marque, and built a navy. All this it did
+in the exercise of what in later times would have been called "implied
+war powers," and its authority rested upon the general acquiescence in
+the purposes for which it acted and in the measures which it adopted.
+Under such circumstances its functions were very inefficiently
+performed. But the articles of confederation, which in 1781 defined its
+powers, served at the same time to limit them; so that for the remaining
+eight years of its existence the Continental Congress grew weaker and
+weaker, until it was swept away to make room for a more efficient
+government.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The articles of confederation.</div>
+
+<p>John Dickinson is supposed to have been the principal author of the
+articles of confederation; but as the work of the committee was done in
+secret and has never been reported, the point cannot be determined. In
+November, 1777, Congress sent the articles to the several state
+legislatures, with a circular letter recommending them as containing the
+only plan of union at all likely to be adopted. In the course of the
+next fifteen months the articles were ratified by all the states except
+Maryland, which refused to sign until the states laying claim to the
+northwestern lands, and especially Virginia, should surrender their
+claims to the confederation. We shall by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> and by see, when we come to
+explain this point in detail, that from this action of Maryland there
+flowed beneficent consequences that were little dreamed of. It was first
+in the great chain of events which led directly to the formation of the
+Federal Union. Having carried her point, Maryland ratified the articles
+on the first day of March, 1781; and thus in the last and most brilliant
+period of the war, while Greene was leading Cornwallis on his fatal
+chase across North Carolina, the confederation proposed at the time of
+the Declaration of Independence was finally consummated.</p>
+
+<p>According to the language of the articles, the states entered into a
+firm league of friendship with each other; and in order to secure and
+perpetuate such friendship, the freemen of each state were entitled to
+all the privileges and immunities of freemen in all the other states.
+Mutual extradition of criminals was established, and in each state full
+faith and credit was to be given to the records, acts, and judicial
+proceedings of every other state. This universal intercitizenship was
+what gave reality to the nascent and feeble Union. In all the common
+business relations of life, the man of New Hampshire could deal with the
+man of Georgia on an equal footing before the law. But this was almost
+the only effectively cohesive provision in the whole instrument.
+Throughout the remainder of the articles its language was largely
+devoted to reconciling the theory that the states were severally
+sovereign with the visible fact that they were already merged to some
+extent in a larger political body. The sovereignty of this larger body
+was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> vested in the Congress of delegates appointed yearly by the states.
+No state was to be represented by less than two or more than seven
+members; no one could be a delegate for more than three years out of
+every six; and no delegate could hold any salaried office under the
+United States. As in colonial times the states had, to preserve their
+self-government, insisted upon paying their governors and judges,
+instead of allowing them to be paid out of the royal treasury, so now
+the delegates in Congress were paid by their own states. In determining
+questions in Congress, each state had one vote, without regard to
+population; but a bare majority was not enough to carry any important
+measure. Not only for such extraordinary matters as wars and treaties,
+but even for the regular and ordinary business of raising money to carry
+on the government, not a single step could be taken without the consent
+of at least nine of the thirteen states; and this provision well-nigh
+sufficed of itself to block the wheels of federal legislation. The
+Congress assembled each year on the first Monday of November, and could
+not adjourn for a longer period than six months. During its recess the
+continuity of government was preserved by an executive committee,
+consisting of one delegate from each state, and known as the "committee
+of the states." Saving such matters of warfare or treaty as the public
+interest might require to be kept secret, all the proceedings of
+Congress were entered in a journal, to be published monthly; and the
+yeas and nays must be entered should any delegate request it. The
+executive <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>departments of war, finance, and so forth were intrusted at
+first to committees, until experience soon showed the necessity of
+single heads. There was a president of Congress, who, as representing
+the dignity of the United States, was, in a certain sense, the foremost
+person in the country, but he had no more power than any other delegate.
+Of the fourteen presidents between 1774 and 1789, perhaps only Randolph,
+Hancock, and Laurens are popularly remembered in that capacity; Jay, St.
+Clair, Mifflin, and Lee are remembered for other things; Hanson,
+Griffin, and Boudinot are scarcely remembered at all, save by the
+student of American history.</p>
+
+<p>Between the Congress thus constituted and the several state governments
+the attributes of sovereignty were shared in such a way as to produce a
+minimum of result with a maximum of effort. The states were prohibited
+from keeping up any naval or military force, except militia, or from
+entering into any treaty or alliance, either with a foreign power or
+between themselves, without the consent of Congress. No state could
+engage in war except by way of defence against a sudden Indian attack.
+Congress had the sole right of determining on peace and war, of sending
+and receiving ambassadors, of making treaties, of adjudicating all
+disputes between the states, of managing Indian affairs, and of
+regulating the value of coin and fixing the standard of weights and
+measures. Congress took control of the post-office on condition that no
+more revenue should be raised from postage than should suffice to
+discharge the expenses of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> service. Congress controlled the army,
+but was provided with no means of raising soldiers save through
+requisitions upon the states, and it could only appoint officers above
+the rank of colonel; the organization of regiments was left entirely in
+the hands of the states. The traditional and wholesome dread of a
+standing army was great, but there was no such deep-seated jealousy of a
+navy, and Congress was accordingly allowed not only to appoint all naval
+officers, but also to establish courts of admiralty.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The articles failed to create a federal government endowed
+with real sovereignty.</div>
+
+<p>Several essential attributes of sovereignty were thus withheld from the
+states; and by assuming all debts contracted by Congress prior to the
+adoption of the articles, and solemnly pledging the public faith for
+their payment, it was implicitly declared that the sovereignty here
+accorded to Congress was substantially the same as that which it had
+asserted and exercised ever since the severing of the connection with
+England. The articles simply defined the relations of the states to the
+Confederation as they had already shaped themselves. Indeed, the
+articles, though not finally ratified till 1781, had been known to
+Congress and to the people ever since 1776 as their expected
+constitution, and political action had been shaped in general accordance
+with the theory on which they had been drawn up. They show that
+political action was at no time based on the view of the states as
+absolutely sovereign, but they also show that the share of sovereignty
+accorded to Congress was very inadequate even to the purposes of an
+effective confederation. The position in which they left Congress was
+hardly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> more than that of the deliberative head of a league. For the
+most fundamental of all the attributes of sovereignty&mdash;the power of
+taxation&mdash;was not given to Congress. It could neither raise taxes
+through an excise nor through custom-house duties; it could only make
+requisitions upon the thirteen members of the confederacy in proportion
+to the assessed value of their real estate, and it was not provided with
+any means of enforcing these requisitions. On this point the articles
+contained nothing beyond the vague promise of the states to obey. The
+power of levying taxes was thus retained entirely by the states. They
+not only imposed direct taxes, as they do to-day, but they laid duties
+on exports and imports, each according to its own narrow view of its
+local interests. The only restriction upon this was that such
+state-imposed duties must not interfere with the stipulations of any
+foreign treaties such as Congress might make in pursuance of treaties
+already proposed to the courts of France and Spain. Besides all this,
+the states shared with Congress the powers of coining money, of emitting
+bills of credit, and of making their promissory notes a legal tender for
+debts.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the constitution under which the United States had begun to
+drift toward anarchy even before the close of the Revolutionary War, but
+which could only be amended by the unanimous consent of all the thirteen
+states. The historian cannot but regard this difficulty of amendment as
+a fortunate circumstance; for in the troubles which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> presently arose it
+led the distressed people to seek some other method of relief, and thus
+prepared the way for the Convention of 1787, which destroyed the whole
+vicious scheme, and gave us a form of government under which we have
+just completed a century unparalleled for peace and prosperity. Besides
+this extreme difficulty of amendment, the fatal defects of the
+Confederation were three in number. The first defect was the two thirds
+vote necessary for any important legislation in Congress; under this
+rule any five of the states&mdash;as, for example, the four southernmost
+states with Maryland, or the four New England states with New
+Jersey&mdash;could defeat the most sorely needed measures. The second defect
+was the impossibility of presenting a united front to foreign countries
+in respect to commerce. The third and greatest defect was the lack of
+any means, on the part of Congress, of enforcing obedience. Not only was
+there no federal executive or judiciary worthy of the name, but the
+central government operated only upon states, and not upon individuals.
+Congress could call for troops and for money in strict conformity with
+the articles; but should any state prove delinquent in furnishing its
+quota, there were no constitutional means of compelling it to obey the
+call. This defect was seen and deplored at the outset by such men as
+Washington and Madison, but the only remedy which at first occurred to
+them was one more likely to kill than to cure. Only six weeks after the
+ratification of the articles, Madison proposed an amendment "to give to
+the United States full authority to employ their force, as well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> by sea
+as by land, to compel any delinquent state to fulfil its federal
+engagements." Washington approved of this measure, hoping, as he said,
+that "a knowledge that this power was lodged in Congress might be the
+means to prevent its ever being exercised, and the more readily induce
+obedience. Indeed," added Washington, "if Congress were unquestionably
+possessed of the power, nothing should induce the display of it but
+obstinate disobedience and the urgency of the general welfare." Madison
+argued that in the very nature of the Confederation such a right of
+coercion was necessarily implied, though not expressed in the articles,
+and much might have been said in behalf of this opinion. The
+Confederation explicitly declared itself to be perpetual, yet how could
+it perpetuate itself for a dozen years without the right to coerce its
+refractory members? Practically, however, the remedy was one which could
+never have been applied without breaking the Confederation into
+fragments. To use the army or navy in coercing a state meant nothing
+less than civil war. The local yeomanry would have turned out against
+the Continental army with as high a spirit as that with which they
+swarmed about the British enemy at Lexington or King's Mountain. A
+government which could not collect the taxes for its yearly budget
+without firing upon citizens or blockading two or three harbours would
+have been the absurdest political anomaly imaginable. No such idea could
+have entered the mind of a statesman save from the hope that if one
+state should prove refractory, all the others would immediately frown
+upon it and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> uphold Congress in overawing it. In such case the knowledge
+that Congress had the power would doubtless have been enough to make its
+exercise unnecessary. But in fact this hope was disappointed, for the
+delinquency of each state simply set an example of disobedience for all
+the others to follow; and the amendment, had it been carried, would
+merely have armed Congress with a threat which everybody would have
+laughed at. So manifestly hopeless was the case to Pelatiah Webster that
+as early as May, 1781, he published an able pamphlet, urging the
+necessity for a federal convention for overhauling the whole scheme of
+government from beginning to end.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Military weakness of the government.</div>
+
+<p>The military weakness due to this imperfect governmental organization
+may be illustrated by comparing the number of regular troops which
+Congress was able to keep in the field during the Revolutionary War with
+the number maintained by the United States government during the War of
+Secession. A rough estimate, obtained from averages, will suffice to
+show the broad contrast. In 1863, the middle year of the War of
+Secession, the total population of the loyal states was about
+23,491,600, of whom about one fifth, or 4,698,320, were adult males of
+military age. Supposing one adult male out of every five to have been
+under arms at one time, the number would have been 939,664. Now the
+total number of troops enlisted in the northern army during the four
+years of the war, reduced to a uniform standard, was 2,320,272, or an
+average of 580,068 under arms in any single year. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> point of fact,
+this average was reached before the middle of the war, and the numbers
+went on increasing, until at the end there were more than a million men
+under arms,&mdash;at least one out of every five adult males in the northern
+states. On the other hand, in 1779, the middle year of the Revolutionary
+War, the white population of the United States was about 2,175,000, of
+whom 435,000 were adult males of military age. Supposing one out of
+every five of these to have been under arms at once, the number would
+have been 87,000. Now in the spring of 1777, when the Continental
+Congress was at the highest point of authority which it ever reached,
+when France was willing to lend it money freely, when its paper currency
+was not yet discredited and it could make liberal offers of bounties, a
+demand was made upon the states for 80,000 men, or nearly one fifth of
+the adult male population, to serve for three years or during the war.
+Only 34,820 were obtained. The total number of men in the field in that
+most critical year, including the swarms of militia who came to the
+rescue at Ridgefield and Bennington and Oriskany, and the Pennsylvania
+militia who turned out while their state was invaded, was 68,720. In
+1781, when the credit of Congress was greatly impaired, although
+military activity again rose to a maximum and it was necessary for the
+people to strain every nerve, the total number of men in the field,
+militia and all, was only 29,340, of whom only 13,292 were Continentals;
+and it was left for the genius of Washington and Greene, working with
+desperate energy and most pitiful resources, to save the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> country. A
+more impressive contrast to the readiness with which the demands of the
+government were met in the War of Secession can hardly be imagined. Had
+the country put forth its strength in 1781 as it did in 1864, an army of
+90,000 men might have overwhelmed Clinton at the north and Cornwallis at
+the south, without asking any favours of the French fleet. Had it put
+forth its full strength in 1777, four years of active warfare might have
+been spared. Mr. Lecky explains this difference by his favourite
+hypothesis that the American Revolution was the work of a few
+ultra-radical leaders, with whom the people were not generally in
+sympathy; and he thinks we could not expect to see great heroism or
+self-sacrifice manifested by a people who went to war over what he calls
+a "money dispute."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> But there is no reason for supposing that the
+loyalists represented the general sentiment of the country in the
+Revolutionary War any more than the peace party represented the general
+sentiment of the northern states in the War of Secession. There is no
+reason for supposing that the people were less at heart in 1781 in
+fighting for the priceless treasure of self-government than they were in
+1864 when they fought for the maintenance of the pacific principles
+underlying our Federal Union. The differences in the organization of the
+government, and in its power of operating directly upon the people, are
+quite enough to explain the difference between the languid conduct of
+the earlier war and the energetic conduct of the later.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Extreme difficulty of obtaining a revenue.</div>
+
+<p>Impossible as Congress found it to fill the quotas of the army, the task
+of raising a revenue by requisitions upon the states was even more
+discouraging. Every state had its own war-debt, and several were
+applicants for foreign loans not easy to obtain, so that none could
+without the greatest difficulty raise a surplus to hand over to
+Congress. The Continental rag-money had ceased to circulate by the end
+of 1780, and our foreign credit was nearly ruined. The French government
+began to complain of the heavy demands which the Americans made upon its
+exchequer, and Vergennes, in sending over a new loan in the fall of
+1782, warned Franklin that no more must be expected. To save American
+credit from destruction, it was at least necessary that the interest on
+the public debt should be paid. For this purpose Congress in 1781 asked
+permission to levy a five per cent. duty on imports. The modest request
+was the signal for a year of angry discussion. Again and again it was
+asked, If taxes could thus be levied by any power outside the state, why
+had we ever opposed the Stamp Act or the tea duties? The question was
+indeed a serious one, and as an instance of reasoning from analogy
+seemed plausible enough. After more than a year Massachusetts consented,
+by a bare majority of two in the House and one in the Senate, reserving
+to herself the right of appointing the collectors. The bill was then
+vetoed by Governor Hancock, though one day too late, and so it was
+saved. But Rhode Island flatly refused her consent, and so did Virginia,
+though Madison earnestly pleaded the cause<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> of the public credit. For
+the current expenses of the government in that same year $9,000,000 were
+needed. It was calculated that $4,000,000 might be raised by a loan, and
+the other $5,000,000 were demanded of the states. At the end of the year
+$422,000 had been collected, not a cent of which came from Georgia, the
+Carolinas, or Delaware. Rhode Island, which paid $38,000, did the best
+of all according to its resources. Of the Continental taxes assessed in
+1783, only one-fifth part had been paid by the middle of 1785. And the
+worst of it was that no one could point to a remedy for this state of
+things, or assign any probable end to it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Dread of the army.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Supposed scheme for making Washington king.</div>
+
+<p>Under such circumstances the public credit sank at home as well as
+abroad. Foreign creditors&mdash;even France, who had been nothing if not
+generous with her loans&mdash;might be made to wait; but there were creditors
+at home who, should they prove ugly, could not be so easily put off. The
+disbandment of the army in the summer of 1783, before the British troops
+had evacuated New York, was hastened by the impossibility of paying the
+soldiers and the dread of what they might do under such provocation.
+Though peace had been officially announced, Hamilton and Livingston
+urged that, for the sake of appearances if for no other reason, the army
+should be kept together so long as the British remained in New York, if
+not until they should have surrendered the western frontier posts. But
+Congress could not pay the army, and was afraid of it,&mdash;and not without
+some reason. Discouraged at the length of time which had passed since
+they had received any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> money, the soldiers had begun to fear lest, now
+that their services were no longer needed, their honest claims would be
+set aside. Among the officers, too, there was grave discontent. In the
+spring of 1778, after the dreadful winter at Valley Forge, several
+officers had thrown up their commissions, and others threatened to do
+likewise. To avert the danger, Washington had urged Congress to promise
+half-pay for life to such officers as should serve to the end of the
+war. It was only with great difficulty that he succeeded in obtaining a
+promise of half-pay for seven years, and even this raised an outcry
+throughout the country, which seemed to dread its natural defenders only
+less than its enemies. In the fall of 1780, however, in the general
+depression which followed upon the disasters at Charleston and Camden,
+the collapse of the paper money, and the discovery of Arnold's treason,
+there was serious danger that the army would fall to pieces. At this
+critical moment Washington had earnestly appealed to Congress, and
+against the strenuous opposition of Samuel Adams had at length extorted
+the promise of half-pay for life. In the spring of 1782, seeing the
+utter inability of Congress to discharge its pecuniary obligations, many
+officers began to doubt whether the promise would ever be kept. It had
+been made before the articles of confederation, which required the
+assent of nine states to any such measure, had been finally ratified. It
+was well known that nine states had never been found to favour the
+measure, and it was now feared that it might be repealed or repudiated,
+so loud was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> popular clamour against it. All this comes of
+republican government, said some of the officers; too many cooks spoil
+the broth; a dozen heads are as bad as no head; you do not know whose
+promises to trust; a monarchy, with a good king whom all men can trust,
+would extricate us from these difficulties. In this mood, Colonel Louis
+Nicola, of the Pennsylvania line, a foreigner by birth, addressed a long
+and well-argued letter to Washington, setting forth the troubles of the
+time, and urging him to come forward as a saviour of society, and accept
+the crown at the hands of his faithful soldiers. Nicola was an aged man,
+of excellent character, and in making this suggestion he seemed to be
+acting as spokesman of a certain clique or party among the
+officers,&mdash;how numerous is not known. Washington instantly replied that
+Nicola could not have found a person to whom such a scheme could be more
+odious, and he was at a loss to conceive what he had ever done to have
+it supposed that he could for one moment listen to a suggestion so
+fraught with mischief to his country. Lest the affair, becoming known,
+should enhance the popular distrust of the army, Washington said nothing
+about it. But as the year went by, and the outcry against half-pay
+continued, and Congress showed symptoms of a willingness to compromise
+the matter, the discontent of the army increased. Officers and soldiers
+brooded alike over their wrongs. "The army," said General Macdougall,
+"is verging to that state which, we are told, will make a wise man mad."
+The peril of the situation was increased by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> well-meant but
+injudicious whisperings of other public creditors, who believed that if
+the army would only take a firm stand and insist upon a grant of
+permanent funds to Congress for liquidating all public debts, the states
+could probably be prevailed upon to make such a grant. Robert Morris,
+the able secretary of finance, held this opinion, and did not believe
+that the states could be brought to terms in any other way. His namesake
+and assistant, Gouverneur Morris, held similar views, and gave
+expression to them in February, 1783, in a letter to General Greene, who
+was still commanding in South Carolina. When Greene received the letter,
+he urged upon the legislature of that state, in most guarded and
+moderate language, the paramount need of granting a revenue to Congress,
+and hinted that the army would not be satisfied with anything less. The
+assembly straightway flew into a rage. "No dictation by a Cromwell!"
+shouted the members. South Carolina had consented to the five per cent.
+impost, but now she revoked it, to show her independence, and Greene's
+eyes were opened at once to the danger of the slightest appearance of
+military intervention in civil affairs.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The dangerous Newburgh address, March 11, 1783.</div>
+
+<p>At the same time a violent outbreak in the army at Newburgh was barely
+prevented by the unfailing tact of Washington. A rumour went about the
+camp that it was generally expected the army would not disband until the
+question of pay should be settled, and that the public creditors looked
+to them to make some such demonstration as would overawe the delinquent
+states. General Gates<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> had lately emerged from the retirement in which
+he had been fain to hide himself after Camden, and had rejoined the army
+where there was now such a field for intrigue. An odious aroma of
+impotent malice clings about his memory on this last occasion on which
+the historian needs to notice him. He plotted in secret with officers of
+the staff and others. One of his staff, Major Armstrong, wrote an
+anonymous appeal to the troops, and another, Colonel Barber, caused it
+to be circulated about the camp. It named the next day for a meeting to
+consider grievances. Its language was inflammatory. "My friends!" it
+said, "after seven long years your suffering courage has conducted the
+United States of America through a doubtful and bloody war; and peace
+returns to bless&mdash;whom? A country willing to redress your wrongs,
+cherish your worth, and reward your services? Or is it rather a country
+that tramples upon your rights, disdains your cries, and insults your
+distresses? ... If such be your treatment while the swords you wear are
+necessary for the defence of America, what have you to expect when those
+very swords, the instruments and companions of your glory, shall be
+taken from your sides, and no mark of military distinction left but your
+wants, infirmities, and scars? If you have sense enough to discover and
+spirit to oppose tyranny, whatever garb it may assume, awake to your
+situation. If the present moment be lost, your threats hereafter will be
+as empty as your entreaties now. Appeal from the justice to the fears of
+government, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>suspect the man who would advise to longer
+forbearance."</p>
+
+<p>Better English has seldom been wasted in a worse cause. Washington, the
+man who was aimed at in the last sentence, got hold of the paper next
+day, just in time, as he said, "to arrest the feet that stood wavering
+on a precipice." The memory of the revolt of the Pennsylvania line,
+which had so alarmed the people in 1781, was still fresh in men's minds;
+and here was an invitation to more wholesale mutiny, which could hardly
+fail to end in bloodshed, and might precipitate the perplexed and
+embarrassed country into civil war. Washington issued a general order,
+recognizing the existence of the manifesto, but overruling it so far as
+to appoint the meeting for a later day, with the senior major-general,
+who happened to be Gates, to preside. This order, which neither
+discipline nor courtesy could disregard, in a measure tied Gates's
+hands, while it gave Washington time to ascertain the extent of the
+disaffection. On the appointed day he suddenly came into the meeting,
+and amid profoundest silence broke forth in a most eloquent and touching
+speech. Sympathizing keenly with the sufferings of his hearers, and
+fully admitting their claims, he appealed to their better feelings, and
+reminded them of the terrible difficulties under which Congress
+laboured, and of the folly of putting themselves in the wrong. He still
+counselled forbearance as the greatest of victories, and with consummate
+skill he characterized the anonymous appeal as undoubtedly the work of
+some crafty emissary of the British, eager to disgrace<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> the army which
+they had not been able to vanquish. All were hushed by that majestic
+presence and those solemn tones. The knowledge that he had refused all
+pay, while enduring more than any other man in the room, gave added
+weight to every word. In proof of the good faith of Congress he began
+reading a letter from one of the members, when, finding his sight dim,
+he paused and took from his pocket the new pair of spectacles which the
+astronomer David Rittenhouse had just sent him. He had never worn
+spectacles in public, and as he put them on he said, in his simple
+manner and with his pleasant smile, "I have grown gray in your service,
+and now find myself growing blind." While all hearts were softened he
+went on reading the letter, and then withdrew, leaving the meeting to
+its deliberations. There was a sudden and mighty revulsion of feeling. A
+motion was reported declaring "unshaken confidence in the justice of
+Congress;" and it was added that "the officers of the American army view
+with abhorrence and reject with disdain the infamous proposals contained
+in a late anonymous address to them." The crestfallen Gates, as
+chairman, had nothing to do but put the question and report it carried
+unanimously; for if any still remained obdurate they no longer dared to
+show it. Washington immediately set forth the urgency of the case in an
+earnest letter to Congress, and one week later the matter was settled by
+an act commuting half-pay for life into a gross sum equal to five years'
+full pay, to be discharged at once by certificates bearing interest at
+six per cent. Such poor paper was all that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> Congress had to pay with,
+but it was all ultimately redeemed; and while the commutation was
+advantageous to the government, it was at the same time greatly for the
+interest of the officers, while they were looking out for new means of
+livelihood, to have their claims adjusted at once, and to receive
+something which could do duty as a respectable sum of money.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Congress driven from Philadelphia by mutinous soldiers, June
+21, 1783.</div>
+
+<p>Nothing, however, could prevent the story of the Newburgh affair from
+being published all over the country, and it greatly added to the
+distrust with which the army was regarded on general principles. What
+might have happened was forcibly suggested by a miserable occurrence in
+June, about two months after the disbanding of the army had begun. Some
+eighty soldiers of the Pennsylvania line, mutinous from discomfort and
+want of pay, broke from their camp at Lancaster and marched down to
+Philadelphia, led by a sergeant or two. They drew up in line before the
+state house, where Congress was assembled, and after passing the grog
+began throwing stones and pointing their muskets at the windows. They
+demanded pay, and threatened, if it were not forthcoming, to seize the
+members of Congress and hold them as hostages, or else to break into the
+bank where the federal deposits were kept. The executive council of
+Pennsylvania sat in the same building, and so the federal government
+appealed to the state government for protection. The appeal was
+fruitless. President Dickinson had a few state militia at his disposal,
+but did not dare to summon them, for fear they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> should side with the
+rioters. The city government was equally listless, and the townsfolk
+went their ways as if it were none of their business; and so Congress
+fled across the river and on to Princeton, where the college afforded it
+shelter. Thus in a city of thirty-two thousand inhabitants, the largest
+city in the country, the government of the United States, the body which
+had just completed a treaty browbeating England and France, was
+ignominiously turned out-of-doors by a handful of drunken mutineers. The
+affair was laughed at by many, but sensible men keenly felt the
+disgrace, and asked what would be thought in Europe of a government
+which could not even command the services of the police. The army became
+more unpopular than ever, and during the summer and fall many
+town-meetings were held in New England, condemning the Commutation Act.
+Are we not poor enough already, cried the farmers, that we must be taxed
+to support in idle luxury a riotous rabble of soldiery, or create an
+aristocracy of men with gold lace and epaulets, who will presently plot
+against our liberties? The Massachusetts legislature protested; the
+people of Connecticut meditated resistance. A convention was held at
+Middletown in December, at which two thirds of the towns in the state
+were represented, and the best method of overruling Congress was
+discussed. Much high-flown eloquence was wasted, but the convention
+broke up without deciding upon any course of action. The matter had
+become so serious that wise men changed their minds, and disapproved of
+proceedings calculated to throw Congress into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>contempt. Samuel Adams,
+who had almost violently opposed the grant of half-pay and had been
+dissatisfied with the Commutation Act, now came completely over to the
+other side. Whatever might be thought of the policy of the measures, he
+said, Congress had an undoubted right to adopt them. The army had been
+necessary for the defence of our liberties, and the public faith had
+been pledged to the payment of the soldiers. States were as much bound
+as individuals to fulfil their engagements, and did not the sacred
+Scriptures say of an honest man that, though he sweareth to his own
+hurt, he changeth not? Such plain truths prevailed in the Boston
+town-meeting, which voted that "the commutation is wisely blended with
+the national debt." The agitation in New England presently came to an
+end, and in this matter the course of Congress was upheld.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Order of the Cincinnati.</div>
+
+<p>In order fully to understand this extravagant distrust of the army, we
+have to take into account another incident of the summer of 1783, which
+gave rise to a discussion that sent its reverberation all over the
+civilized world. Men of the present generation who in childhood rummaged
+in their grandmothers' cosy garrets cannot fail to have come across
+scores of musty and worm-eaten pamphlets, their yellow pages crowded
+with italics and exclamation points, inveighing in passionate language
+against the wicked and dangerous society of the Cincinnati. Just before
+the army was disbanded, the officers, at the suggestion of General Knox,
+formed themselves into a secret society, for the purpose of keeping up
+their friendly intercourse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> and cherishing the heroic memories of the
+struggle in which they had taken part. With the fondness for classical
+analogies which characterized that time, they likened themselves to
+Cincinnatus, who was taken from the plough to lead an army, and returned
+to his quiet farm so soon as his warlike duties were over. They were
+modern Cincinnati. A constitution and by-laws were established for the
+order, and Washington was unanimously chosen to be its president. Its
+branches in the several states were to hold meetings each Fourth of
+July, and there was to be a general meeting of the whole society every
+year in the month of May. French officers who had taken part in the war
+were admitted to membership, and the order was to be perpetuated by
+descent through the eldest male representatives of the families of the
+members. It was further provided that a limited membership should from
+time to time be granted, as a distinguished honour, to able and worthy
+citizens, without regard to the memories of the war. A golden American
+eagle attached to a blue ribbon edged with white was the sacred badge of
+the order; and to this emblem especial favour was shown at the French
+court, where the insignia of foreign states were generally, it is said,
+regarded with jealousy. No political purpose was to be subserved by this
+order of the Cincinnati, save in so far as the members pledged to one
+another their determination to promote and cherish the union between the
+states. In its main intent the society was to be a kind of masonic
+brotherhood, charged with the duty of aiding the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> widows and the orphan
+children of its members in time of need. Innocent as all this was,
+however, the news of the establishment of such a society was greeted
+with a howl of indignation all over the country. It was thought that its
+founders were inspired by a deep-laid political scheme for centralizing
+the government and setting up a hereditary aristocracy. The press teemed
+with invective and ridicule, and the feeling thus expressed by the
+penny-a-liners was shared by able men accustomed to weigh their words.
+Franklin dealt with it in a spirit of banter, and John Adams in a spirit
+of abhorrence; while Samuel Adams pointed out the dangers inherent in
+the principle of hereditary transmission of honours, and in the
+admission of foreigners into a secret association possessed of political
+influence in America. What! cried the men of Massachusetts. Have we
+thrown overboard the effete institutions of Europe, only to have them
+straightway introduced among us again, after this plausible and
+surreptitious fashion? At Cambridge it was thought that the general
+sentiment of the university was in favour of suppressing the order by
+act of legislature. One of the members, who was a candidate for senator
+in the spring of 1784, found it necessary to resign in order to save his
+chances for election. Rhode Island proposed to disfranchise such of her
+citizens as belonged to the order, albeit her most eminent citizen,
+Nathanael Greene, was one of them. &AElig;danus Burke, a judge of the Supreme
+Court of South Carolina, wrote a violent pamphlet against the society of
+the Cincinnati under the pseudonym of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> Cassius, the slayer of tyrants;
+and this diatribe, translated and amplified by Mirabeau, awakened dull
+echoes among readers of Rousseau and haters of privilege in all parts of
+Europe. A swarm of brochures in rejoinder and rebutter issued from the
+press, and the nineteenth century had come in before the controversy was
+quite forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>It is easy for us now to smile at this outcry against the Cincinnati as
+much ado about nothing, seeing as we do that in the absence of
+territorial jurisdiction or especial political privileges an order of
+nobility cannot be created by the mere inheritance of empty titles or
+badges. For example, since the great revolution which swept away the
+landlordship and fiscal exemptions of the French nobility, a marquisate
+or a dukedom in France is of scarcely more political importance than a
+doctorate of laws in a New England university. Men were nevertheless not
+to be blamed in 1783 for their hostility toward that ghost of the
+hereditary principle which the Cincinnati sought to introduce. In a free
+industrial society like that of America it had no proper place or
+meaning; and the attempt to set up such a form might well have been
+cited in illustration of the partial reversion toward militancy which
+eight years of warfare had effected. The absurdity of the situation was
+quickly realized by Washington, and he prevailed upon the society, in
+its first annual meeting of May, 1784, to abandon the principle of
+hereditary membership. The agitation was thus allayed, and in the
+presence of graver questions the much-dreaded brotherhood gradually
+ceased to occupy popular attention.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p><p>The opposition to the Cincinnati is not fully explained unless we
+consider it in connection with Nicola's letter, the Newburgh address,
+and the flight of Congress to Princeton. The members of the Cincinnati
+were pledged to do whatever they could to promote the union between the
+states; the object of the Newburgh address was to enlist the army in
+behalf of the public creditors, and in some vaguely-imagined fashion to
+force a stronger government upon the country; the letter of Nicola shows
+that at least some of the officers had harboured the notion of a
+monarchy; and the weakness of Congress had been revealed in the most
+startling manner by its flight before a squad of mutineers. It is one of
+the lessons of history that, in the virtual absence of a central
+government for which a need is felt, the want is apt to be supplied by
+the strongest organization in the country, whatever that may happen to
+be. It was in this way that the French army, a few years later, got
+control of the government of France and made its general emperor. In
+1783, if the impotence of Congress were to be as explicitly acknowledged
+as it was implicitly felt, the only national organization left in the
+country was the army, and when this was disbanded it seemed nevertheless
+to prolong its life under a new and dangerous form in the secret
+brotherhood of the Cincinnati. The cession of western lands to the
+confederacy was, moreover, completed at about this time, and one of the
+uses to which the new territory was to be put was the payment of claims
+due to the soldiers. It was distinctly feared, as is shown in a letter
+from Samuel Adams to Elbridge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> Gerry, that the members of the Cincinnati
+would acquire large tracts of western land under this arrangement, and,
+importing peasants from Germany, would grant farms to them on terms of
+military service and fealty, thus introducing into America the feudal
+system. In order to forestall any such movement, it was provided by
+Congress that in any new states formed out of the western territory no
+person holding a hereditary title should be admitted to citizenship.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Congress finds itself unable to carry out the provisions of
+the treaty.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Persecution of Tories.</div>
+
+<p>From the weakness of Congress as illustrated in its inability to raise
+money to pay the public debt and meet the current expenses of
+government, and from the popular dread of military usurpation which went
+along with the uneasy consciousness of that weakness, we have now to
+turn to another group of affairs in which the same point is still
+further illustrated and emphasized. We have seen how the commissioners
+of the United States in Paris had succeeded in making a treaty of peace
+with Great Britain on extremely favourable terms. So unpopular was the
+treaty in England, on account of the great concessions made to the
+Americans, that, as we have seen, the fall of Lord Shelburne's ministry
+was occasioned thereby. As an offset to these liberal concessions, of
+which the most considerable was the acknowledgment of the American claim
+to the northwestern territory, our confederate government was pledged to
+do all in its power to effect certain concessions which were demanded by
+England. That the American loyalists, whose property had been
+confiscated by various state governments,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> should be indemnified for
+their losses was a claim which, whatever Americans might think of it,
+England felt bound in honour to urge. That private debts, due from
+American to British creditors, should be faithfully discharged was the
+plainest dictate of common honesty. Congress, as we have seen, was bound
+by the treaty to recommend to the several states to desist from the
+persecution of Tories, and to give them an opportunity of recovering
+their estates; and it had been further agreed that all private debts
+should be discharged at their full value in sterling money. It now
+turned out that Congress was powerless to carry out the provisions of
+the treaty upon either of these points. The recommendations concerning
+the Tories were greeted with a storm of popular indignation. Since the
+beginning of the war these unfortunate persons had been treated with
+severity both by the legislatures and by the people. Many had been
+banished; others had fled the country, and against these refugees
+various harsh laws had been enacted. Their estates had been confiscated,
+and their return prohibited under penalty of imprisonment or death. Many
+others, who had remained in the country, were objects of suspicion and
+dislike in states where they had not, as in New York and the Carolinas,
+openly aided the enemy or taken part in Indian atrocities. Now, on the
+conclusion of peace, in utter disregard of Congress, fresh measures of
+vengeance were taken against these "fawning spaniels," as they were
+called, these "tools and minions of Britain." An article in the
+"Massachusetts Chronicle" expressed the common<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> feeling: "As Hannibal
+swore never to be at peace with the Romans, so let every Whig swear, by
+his abhorrence of slavery, by liberty and religion, by the shades of
+departed friends who have fallen in battle, by the ghosts of those of
+our brethren who have been destroyed on board of prison-ships and in
+loathsome dungeons, never to be at peace with those fiends the refugees,
+whose thefts, murders, and treasons have filled the cup of woe." Tons of
+pamphlets, issued under the customary Latin pseudonyms, were filled with
+this truculent bombast; and like sentiments were thundered from the
+pulpit by men who had quite forgotten for the moment their duty of
+preaching reconciliation and forgiveness of injuries. Why should not
+these wretches, it was sarcastically asked, be driven at once from the
+country? Of course they could not desire to live under a free government
+which they had been at such pains to destroy. Let them go forthwith to
+his majesty's dominions, and live under the government they preferred.
+It would never do to let them stay here, to plot treason at their
+leisure; in a few years they would get control of all the states, and
+either hand them over to Great Britain again, or set up a Tory despotism
+on American soil. Such was the rubbish that passed current as argument
+with the majority of the people. A small party of moderate Whigs saw its
+absurdity, and urged that the Tories had much better remain at home,
+where they had lost all political influence, than go and found
+unfriendly colonies to the northward. The moderate Whigs were in favour
+of heeding the recommendation of Congress, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>acting in accordance
+with the spirit of the treaty; and these humane and sensible views were
+shared by Gadsden and Marion in South Carolina, by Theodore Sedgwick in
+Massachusetts, and by Greene, Hamilton, and Jay. But any man who held
+such opinions, no matter how conspicuous his services had been, ran the
+risk of being accused of Tory sympathies. "Time-serving Whigs" and
+"trimmers" were the strangely inappropriate epithets hurled at men who,
+had they been in the slightest degree time-servers, would have shrunk
+from the thankless task of upholding good sense and humanity in the
+teeth of popular prejudice.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Trespass Act of New York, 1784.</div>
+
+<p>In none of the states did the loyalists receive severer treatment than
+in New York, and for obvious reasons. Throughout the war the frontier
+had been the scene of atrocities such as no other state, save perhaps
+South Carolina, had witnessed. Cherry Valley and Minisink were names of
+horror not easily forgotten, and the fate of Lieutenant Boyd and
+countless other victims called loudly for vengeance. The sins of the
+Butlers and their bloodthirsty followers were visited in robbery and
+insult upon unoffending men, who were like them in nothing but in being
+labelled with the epithet "Tory." During the seven years that the city
+of New York had been occupied by the British army, many of these
+loyalists had found shelter there. The Whig citizens, on the other hand,
+had been driven off the island, to shift as best they might in New
+Jersey, while their comfortable homes were seized and assigned by
+military orders to these very Tories. For seven years the refugee Whigs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+from across the Hudson had looked upon New York with feelings like those
+with which the medi&aelig;val exile from Florence or Pisa was wont to regard
+his native city. They saw in it the home of enemies who had robbed them,
+the prison-house of gallant friends penned up to die of wanton ill-usage
+in foul ships' holds in the harbour. When at last the king's troops left
+the city, it was felt that a great day of reckoning had arrived. In
+September, 1783, two months before the evacuation, more than twelve
+thousand men, women, and children embarked for the Bahamas or for Nova
+Scotia, rather than stay and face the troubles that were coming. Many of
+these were refined and cultivated persons, and not all had been actively
+hostile to the American cause; many had simply accepted British
+protection. Against those who remained in the city the returning Whigs
+now proceeded with great severity. The violent party was dominant in the
+legislature, and George Clinton, the governor, put himself conspicuously
+at its head. A bill was passed disfranchising all such persons as had
+voluntarily stayed in neighbourhoods occupied by the British troops;
+their offence was called misprision of treason. But the council vetoed
+this bill as too wholesale in its operation, for it would have left some
+districts without voters enough to hold an election. An "iron-clad oath"
+was adopted instead, and no one was allowed to vote unless he could
+swear that he had never in anywise abetted the enemy. It was voted that
+no Tory who had left the state should be permitted to return; and a bill
+was passed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> known as the Trespass Act, whereby all persons who had quit
+their homes by reason of the enemy's presence might recover damages in
+an action of trespass against such persons as had since taken possession
+of the premises. Defendants in such cases were expressly barred from
+pleading a military order in justification of their possession. As there
+was scarcely a building on the island of New York that had not thus
+changed hands during the British occupation, it was easy to foresee what
+confusion must ensue. Everybody whose house had once been, for ever so
+few days, in the hands of a Tory now rushed into court with his action
+of trespass. Damages were rated at most exorbitant figures, and it
+became clear that the misdeeds of the enemy were about to be made the
+excuse for a carnival of spoliation, when all at once the test case of
+Rutgers <i>v.</i> Waddington brought upon the scene a sturdy defender of
+order, an advocate who was soon to become one of the foremost personages
+in American history.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Alexander Hamilton.</div>
+
+<p>Of all the young men of that day, save perhaps William Pitt, the most
+precocious was Alexander Hamilton. He had already given promise of a
+great career before the breaking out of the war. He was born on the
+island of Nevis, in the West Indies, in 1757. His father belonged to
+that famous Scottish clan from which have come one of the most learned
+metaphysicians and one of the most original mathematicians of modern
+times. His mother was a French lady, of Huguenot descent, and
+biographers have been fond of tracing in his character the various
+qualities of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> his parents. To the shrewdness and persistence, the
+administrative ability, and the taste for abstract reasoning which we
+are wont to find associated in the highest type of Scottish mind he
+joined a truly French vivacity and grace. His earnestness, sincerity,
+and moral courage were characteristic alike of Puritan and of Huguenot.
+In the course of his short life he exhibited a remarkable
+many-sidedness. So great was his genius for organization that in many
+essential respects the American government is moving to-day along the
+lines which he was the first to mark out. As an economist he shared to
+some extent in the shortcomings of the age which preceded Adam Smith,
+but in the special department of finance he has been equalled by no
+other American statesman save Albert Gallatin. He was a splendid orator
+and brilliant writer, an excellent lawyer, and a clear-headed and
+industrious student of political history. He was also eminent as a
+political leader, although he lacked faith in democratic government, and
+a generous impatience of temperament sometimes led him to prefer short
+and arbitrary by-paths toward desirable ends, which can never be
+securely reached save along the broad but steep and arduous road of
+popular conviction. But with all Hamilton's splendid qualities, nothing
+about him is so remarkable as the early age at which these were
+developed. At the age of fifteen a brilliant newspaper article brought
+him into such repute in the little island of Nevis that he was sent to
+New York to avail himself of the best advantages afforded by the King's
+College, now known<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> as Columbia. He had at first no definite intention
+of becoming an American citizen, but the thrilling events of the time
+appealed strongly to the earnest heart and powerful intelligence of this
+wonderful boy. At a gathering of the people of New York in July, 1774,
+his generous blood warmed, till a resistless impulse brought him on his
+feet to speak to the assembled multitude. It was no company of
+half-drunken idlers that thronged about him, but an assemblage of grave
+and responsible citizens, who looked with some astonishment upon this
+boy of seventeen years, short and slight in stature, yet erect and
+C&aelig;sar-like in bearing, with firm set mouth and great, dark, earnest
+eyes. His eloquent speech, full of sense and without a syllable of
+bombast, held his hearers entranced, and from that day Alexander
+Hamilton was a marked man. He began publishing anonymous pamphlets,
+which at first were attributed by some to Jay, and by others to
+Livingston. When their authorship was discovered, the loyalist party
+tried in vain to buy off the formidable youth. He kept up the
+pamphlet-war, in the course of which he wofully defeated Dr. Cooper, the
+Tory president of the college; but shortly afterward he defended the
+doctor's house against an angry mob, until that unpopular gentleman had
+succeeded in making his escape to a British ship. Hamilton served in the
+army throughout the war, for the most part as aid and secretary to
+Washington; but in 1781 he was a colonel in the line, and stormed a
+redoubt at Yorktown with distinguished skill and bravery. He married a
+daughter of Philip Schuyler, began the practice of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> law, and in 1782, at
+the age of twenty-five, was chosen a delegate to Congress.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The case of Rutgers <i>v.</i> Waddington.</div>
+
+<p>In 1784, when the Trespass Act threw New York into confusion, Hamilton
+had come to be regarded as one of the most powerful advocates in the
+country. In the test case which now came before the courts he played a
+part of consummate boldness and heroism. Elizabeth Rutgers was a widow,
+who had fled from New York after its capture by General Howe. Her
+confiscated estate had passed into the hands of Joshua Waddington, a
+rich Tory merchant, and she now brought suit under the Trespass Act for
+its recovery. It was a case in which popular sympathy was naturally and
+strongly enlisted in behalf of the poor widow. That she should have been
+turned out of house and home was one of the many gross instances of
+wickedness wrought by the war. On the other hand, the disturbance
+wrought by the enforcement of the Trespass Act was already creating
+fresh wrongs much faster than it was righting old ones; and it is for
+such reasons as this that both in the common law and in the law of
+nations the principle has been firmly established that "the fruits of
+immovables belong to the captor as long as he remains in actual
+possession of them." The Trespass Act contravened this principle, and it
+also contravened the treaty. It moreover placed the state of New York in
+an attitude of defiance toward Congress, which had made the treaty and
+expressly urged upon the states to suspend the legislation against the
+Tories. On large grounds of public policy, therefore, the Trespass Act
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>deserved to be set aside by the courts, and when Hamilton was asked to
+serve as counsel for the defendant he accepted the odious task without
+hesitation. There can be no better proof of his forensic ability than
+his winning a verdict, in such a case as this, from a hostile court that
+was largely influenced by the popular excitement. The decision nullified
+the Trespass Act, and forthwith mass meetings of the people and an extra
+session of the legislature condemned this action of the court. Hamilton
+was roundly abused, and his conduct was attributed to unworthy motives.
+But he faced the people as boldly as he had faced the court, and
+published a letter, under the signature of Phocion, setting forth in the
+clearest light the injustice and impolicy of extreme measures against
+the Tories. The popular wrath and disgust at Hamilton's course found
+expression in a letter from one Isaac Ledyard, a hot-headed pot-house
+politician, who signed himself Mentor. A war of pamphlets ensued between
+Mentor and Phocion. It was genius pitted against dulness, reason against
+passion; and reason wielded by genius won the day. The more intelligent
+and respectable citizens reluctantly admitted that Hamilton's arguments
+were unanswerable. A club of boon companions, to which Ledyard belonged,
+made the same admission by the peculiar manner in which it proposed to
+silence him. It was gravely proposed that the members of the club should
+pledge themselves one after another to challenge Hamilton to mortal
+combat, until some one of them should have the good fortune to kill him!
+The scheme met with general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> favour, but was defeated by the exertions
+of Ledyard himself, whose zeal was not ardent enough to condone
+treachery and murder. The incident well illustrates the intense
+bitterness of political passion at the time, as Hamilton's conduct shows
+him in the light of a most courageous and powerful defender of the
+central government. For nothing was more significant in the verdict
+which he had obtained than its implicit assertion of the rights of the
+United States as against the legislature of a single state.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Emigration of Tories.</div>
+
+<p>In spite of the efforts of such men as Hamilton, life was made very
+uncomfortable for the Tories. In some states they were subjected to mob
+violence. Instances of tarring and feathering were not uncommon. The
+legislature of South Carolina was honourably distinguished for the good
+faith with which it endeavoured to enforce the recommendation of
+Congress; but the people, unable to forget the smoking ruins of
+plundered homes, were less lenient. Notices were posted ordering
+prominent loyalists to leave the country; the newspapers teemed with
+savage warnings; and finally, of those who tarried beyond a certain
+time, many were shot or hanged to trees. This extremity of bitterness,
+however, did not long continue. The instances of physical violence were
+mostly confined to the first two or three years after the close of the
+war. In most of the states the confiscating acts were after a while
+repealed, and many of the loyalists were restored to their estates. But
+the emigration which took place between 1783 and 1785 was very large. It
+has been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>estimated that 100,000 persons, or nearly three per cent. of
+the total white population, quit the country. Those from the southern
+states went mostly to the Bahamas and Florida; while those from the
+north laid the foundation of new British states in New Brunswick and
+Upper Canada. Many of these refugees appealed to the British government
+for indemnification for their losses, and their claims received prompt
+attention. A parliamentary commission was appointed to inquire into the
+matter, and by the year 1790 some $16,000,000 had been distributed among
+about 4,000 sufferers, while many others received grants of crown-lands,
+or half-pay as military officers, or special annuities, or appointments
+in the civil service. On the whole, the compensation which the refugees
+received from Parliament seems to have been much more ample than that
+which the ragged soldiers of our Revolutionary army ever received from
+Congress.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Congress is unable to enforce payment of debts to British
+creditors. England retaliates by refusing to surrender the western
+posts.</div>
+
+<p>While the political passions resulting in this forced emigration of
+loyalists were such as naturally arise in the course of a civil war, the
+historian cannot but regret that the United States should have been
+deprived of the services of so many excellent citizens. In nearly all
+such cases of wholesale popular vengeance, it is the wrong individuals
+who suffer. We could well afford to dispense with the border-ruffians
+who abetted the Indians in their carnival of burning and scalping, but
+the refugees of 1784 were for the most part peaceful and unoffending
+families, above the average in education and refinement. The vicarious
+suffering inflicted upon them set nothing right, but simply increased<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+the mass of wrong, while to the general interests of the country the
+loss of such people was in every way damaging. The immediate political
+detriment wrought at the time, though it is that which here most nearly
+concerns us, was perhaps the least important. Since Congress was
+manifestly unable to carry out the treaty, an excuse was furnished to
+England for declining to fulfil some of its provisions. In regard to the
+loyalists, indeed, the treaty had recognized that Congress possessed but
+an advisory power; but in the other provision concerning the payment of
+private debts, which in the popular mind was very much mixed up with the
+question of justice to the loyalists, the faith of the United States was
+distinctly pledged. On this point also Congress was powerless to enforce
+the treaty. Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia,
+and South Carolina had all enacted laws obstructing the collection of
+British debts; and in flat defiance of the treaty these statutes
+remained in force until after the downfall of the Confederation. The
+states were aware that such conduct needed an excuse, and one was soon
+forthcoming. Many negroes had left the country with the British fleet:
+some doubtless had sought their freedom; others, perhaps, had been
+kidnapped as booty, and sold to planters in the West Indies. The number
+of these black men carried away by the fleet had been magnified tenfold
+by popular rumour. Complaints had been made to Sir Guy Carleton, but he
+had replied that any negro who came within his lines was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>presumably a
+freeman, and he could not lend his aid in remanding such persons to
+slavery. Jay, as one of the treaty commissioners, gave it as his opinion
+that Carleton was quite right in this, but he thought that where a loss
+of slaves could be proved, Great Britain was bound to make pecuniary
+compensation to the owners. The matter was wrangled over for several
+years, in the state legislatures, in town and county meetings, at
+dinner-tables, and in bar-rooms, with the general result that, until
+such compensation should be made, the statutes hindering the collection
+of debts would not be repealed. In retaliation for this, Great Britain
+refused to withdraw her garrisons from the western fortresses, which the
+treaty had surrendered to the United States. This measure was very
+keenly felt by the people. As an assertion of superior strength, it was
+peculiarly galling to our weak and divided confederacy, and it also
+wrought us direct practical injury. It encouraged the Indian tribes in
+their depredations on the frontier, and it deprived American merchants
+of an immensely lucrative trade in furs. In the spring of 1787 there
+were advertised for sale in London more than 360,000 skins, worth
+$1,200,000 at the lowest estimate; and had the posts been surrendered
+according to the treaty, all this would have passed through the hands of
+American merchants. The London fur-traders were naturally loth to lose
+their control over this business, and in the language of modern politics
+they brought "pressure" to bear on the government to retain the
+fortresses as long as possible. The American refusal to pay British
+creditors furnished an excellent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> excuse, while the weakness of Congress
+made any kind of reprisal impossible; and it was not until Washington's
+second term as president, after our national credit had been restored
+and the strength of our new government made manifest, that England
+surrendered this chain of strongholds, commanding the woods and waters
+of our northwestern frontier.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">Barbarous superstitions about trade.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">At</span> the close of the eighteenth century the barbarous superstitions of
+the Middle Ages concerning trade between nations still flourished with
+scarcely diminished vitality. The epoch-making work of Adam Smith had
+been published in the same year in which the United States declared
+their independence. The one was the great scientific event, as the other
+was the great political event of the age; but of neither the one nor the
+other were the scope and purport fathomed at the time. Among the
+foremost statesmen, those who, like Shelburne and Gallatin, understood
+the principles of the "Wealth of Nations" were few indeed. The simple
+principle that when two parties trade both must be gainers, or one would
+soon stop trading, was generally lost sight of; and most commercial
+legislation proceeded upon the theory that in trade, as in gambling or
+betting, what the one party gains the other must lose. Hence towns,
+districts, and nations surrounded themselves with walls of legislative
+restrictions intended to keep out the monster Trade, or to admit him
+only on strictest proof that he could do no harm. On this barbarous
+theory, the use of a colony consisted in its being a customer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> which you
+could compel to trade with yourself, while you could prevent it from
+trading with anybody else; and having secured this point, you could
+cunningly arrange things by legislation so as to throw all the loss upon
+this enforced customer, and keep all the gain to yourself. In the
+seventeenth and eighteenth centuries all the commercial legislation of
+the great colonizing states was based upon this theory of the use of a
+colony. For effectiveness, it shared to some extent the characteristic
+features of legislation for making water run up hill. It retarded
+commercial development all over the world, fostered monopolies, made the
+rich richer and the poor poorer, hindered the interchange of ideas and
+the refinement of manners, and sacrificed millions of human lives in
+misdirected warfare; but what it was intended to do it did not do. The
+sturdy race of smugglers&mdash;those despised pioneers of a higher
+civilization&mdash;thrived in defiance of kings and parliaments; and as it
+was impossible to carry out such legislation thoroughly without stopping
+trade altogether, colonies and mother countries contrived to increase
+their wealth in spite of it. The colonies, however, understood the
+animus of the theory in so far as it was directed against them, and the
+revolutionary sentiment in America had gained much of its strength from
+the protest against this one-sided justice. In one of its most important
+aspects, the Revolution was a deadly blow aimed at the old system of
+trade restrictions. It was to a certain extent a step in realization of
+the noble doctrines of Adam Smith. But where the scientific thinker<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
+grasped the whole principle involved in the matter, the practical
+statesmen saw only the special application which seemed to concern them
+for the moment. They all understood that the Revolution had set them
+free to trade with other countries than England, but very few of them
+understood that, whatever countries trade together, the one cannot hope
+to benefit by impoverishing the other.</p>
+
+<p>This point is much better understood in England to-day than in the
+United States; but a century ago there was little to choose between the
+two countries in ignorance of political economy. England had gained
+great wealth and power through trade with her rapidly growing American
+colonies. One of her chief fears, in the event of American independence,
+had been the possible loss of that trade. English merchants feared that
+American commerce, when no longer confined to its old paths by
+legislation, would somehow find its way to France and Holland and Spain
+and other countries, until nothing would be left for England. The
+Revolution worked no such change, however. The principal trade of the
+United States was with England, as before, because England could best
+supply the goods that Americans wanted; and it is such considerations,
+and not acts of Parliament, that determine trade in its natural and
+proper channels. In 1783 Pitt introduced into Parliament a bill which
+would have secured mutual unconditional free trade between the two
+countries; and this was what such men as Franklin, Jefferson, and
+Madison desired. Could this bill have passed, the hard feelings
+occasioned by the war would soon have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> died out, the commercial progress
+of both countries would have been promoted, and the stupid measures
+which led to a second war within thirty years might have been prevented.
+But the wisdom of Pitt found less favour in Parliament than the dense
+stupidity of Lord Sheffield, who thought that to admit Americans to the
+carrying trade would undermine the naval power of Great Britain. Pitt's
+measure was defeated, and the regulation of commerce with America was
+left to the king in council. Orders were forthwith passed as if upon the
+theory that America poor would be a better customer than America rich.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Ship-building in New England.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">British navigation acts and orders in council directed
+against American commerce.</div>
+
+<p>The carrying trade to the West Indies had been one of the most important
+branches of American industry. The men of New England were famous for
+seamanship, and better and cheaper ships could be built in the seaports
+of Massachusetts than anywhere in Great Britain. An oak vessel could be
+built at Gloucester or Salem for twenty-four dollars per ton; a ship of
+live-oak or American cedar cost not more than thirty-eight dollars per
+ton. On the other hand, fir vessels built on the Baltic cost thirty-five
+dollars per ton, and nowhere in England, France, or Holland could a ship
+be made of oak for less than fifty dollars per ton. Often the cost was
+as high as sixty dollars. It was not strange, therefore, that before the
+war more than one third of the tonnage afloat under the British flag was
+launched from American dock-yards. The war had violently deprived
+England of this enormous advantage, and now she sought to make the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+privation perpetual, in the delusive hope of confining British trade to
+British keels, and in the belief that it was the height of wisdom to
+impoverish the nation which she regarded as her best customer. In July,
+1783, an order in council proclaimed that henceforth all trade between
+the United States and the British West Indies must be carried on in
+British-built ships, owned and navigated by British subjects. A serious
+blow was thus dealt not only at American shipping, but also at the
+interchange of commodities between the states and the islands, which was
+greatly hampered by this restriction. During the whole of the eighteenth
+century the West India sugar trade with the North American colonies and
+with Great Britain had been of immense value to all parties, and all had
+been seriously damaged by the curtailment of it due to the war. Now that
+the artificial state of things created by the war was to be perpetuated
+by legislation, the prospect of repairing the loss seemed indefinitely
+postponed. Moreover, even in trading directly with Great Britain,
+American ships were only allowed to bring in articles produced in the
+particular states of which their owners were citizens,&mdash;an enactment
+which seemed to add insult to injury, inasmuch as it directed especial
+attention to the want of union among the thirteen states. Great
+indignation was aroused in America, and reprisals were talked of, but
+efforts were first made to obtain a commercial treaty.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">John Adams tries in vain to negotiate a commercial treaty.</div>
+
+<p>In 1785 Franklin returned from France, and Jefferson was sent as
+minister in his stead, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> John Adams became the first representative
+of the United States at the British court. Adams was at first very
+courteously received by George III., and presently set to work to
+convince Lord Carmarthen, the foreign secretary, of the desirableness of
+unrestricted intercourse between the two countries. But popular opinion
+in England was obstinately set against him. But for the Navigation Act
+and the orders in council, it was said, all ships would by and by come
+to be built in America, and every time a frigate was wanted for the navy
+the Lords of Admiralty would have to send over to Boston or Philadelphia
+and order one. Rather than do such a thing as this, it was thought that
+the British navy should content itself with vessels of inferior
+workmanship and higher cost, built in British dock-yards. Thirty years
+after, England gathered an unexpected fruit of this narrow policy, when,
+to her intense bewilderment, she saw frigate after frigate outsailed and
+defeated in single combat with American antagonists. Owing to her
+exclusive measures, the rapid improvement in American shipbuilding had
+gone on quite beyond her ken, until she was thus rudely awakened to it.
+With similar short-sighted jealousy, it was argued that the American
+share in the whale-fishery and in the Newfoundland fishery should be
+curtailed as much as possible. Spermaceti oil was much needed in
+England: complaints were rife of robbery and murder in the dimly lighted
+streets of London and other great cities. But it was thought that if
+American ships could carry oil to England and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> salt fish to Jamaica, the
+supply of seamen for the British navy would be diminished; and
+accordingly such privileges must not be granted the Americans unless
+valuable privileges could be granted in return. But the government of
+the United States could grant no privileges because it could impose no
+restrictions. British manufactured goods were needed in America, and
+Congress, which could levy no duties, had no power to keep them out.
+British merchants and manufacturers, it was argued, already enjoyed all
+needful privileges in American ports, and accordingly they asked no
+favours and granted none.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the arguments to which Adams was obliged to listen. The
+popular feeling was so strong that Pitt could not have stemmed it if he
+would. It was in vain that Adams threatened reprisals, and urged that
+the British measures would defeat their own purpose. "The end of the
+Navigation Act," said he, "as expressed in its own preamble, is to
+confine the commerce of the colonies to the mother country; but now we
+are become independent states, instead of confining our trade to Great
+Britain, it will drive it to other countries:" and he suggested that the
+Americans might make a navigation act in their turn, admitting to
+American ports none but American-built ships, owned and commanded by
+Americans. But under the articles of confederation such a threat was
+idle, and the British government knew it to be so. Thirteen separate
+state governments could never be made to adopt any such measure in
+concert. The weakness of Congress had been fatally revealed in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> its
+inability to protect the loyalists or to enforce the payment of debts,
+and in its failure to raise a revenue for meeting its current expenses.
+A government thus slighted at home was naturally despised abroad.
+England neglected to send a minister to Philadelphia, and while Adams
+was treated politely, his arguments were unheeded. Whether in this
+behaviour Pitt's government was influenced or not by political as well
+as economical reasons, it was certain that a political purpose was
+entertained by the king and approved by many people. There was an
+intention of humiliating the Americans, and it was commonly said that
+under a sufficient weight of commercial distress the states would break
+up their feeble union, and come straggling back, one after another, to
+their old allegiance. The fiery spirit of Adams could ill brook this
+contemptuous treatment of the nation which he represented. Though he
+favoured very liberal commercial relations with the whole world, he
+could see no escape from the present difficulties save in systematic
+retaliation. "I should be sorry," he said, "to adopt a monopoly, but,
+driven to the necessity of it, I would not do things by halves.... If
+monopolies and exclusions are the only arms of defence against
+monopolies and exclusions, I would venture upon them without fear of
+offending Dean Tucker or the ghost of Dr. Quesnay." That is to say,
+certain commercial privileges must be withheld from Great Britain, in
+order to be offered to her in return for reciprocal privileges. It was a
+miserable policy to be forced to adopt, for such restrictions upon trade
+inevitably cut both ways. Like the non-importation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> agreement of 1768
+and the embargo of 1808, such a policy was open to the objections
+familiarly urged against biting off one's own nose. It was injuring
+one's self in the hope of injuring somebody else. It was perpetuating in
+time of peace the obstacles to commerce generated by a state of war. In
+a certain sense, it was keeping up warfare by commercial instead of
+military methods, and there was danger that it might lead to a renewal
+of armed conflict. Nevertheless, the conduct of the British government
+seemed to Adams to leave no other course open. But such "means of
+preserving ourselves," he said, "can never be secured until Congress
+shall be made supreme in foreign commerce."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Reprisal impossible; the states impose conflicting duties.</div>
+
+<p>It was obvious enough that the separate action of the states upon such a
+question was only adding to the general uncertainty and confusion. In
+1785 New York laid a double duty on all goods whatever imported in
+British ships. In the same year Pennsylvania passed the first of the
+long series of American tariff acts, designed to tax the whole community
+for the alleged benefit of a few greedy manufacturers. Massachusetts
+sought to establish committees of correspondence for the purpose of
+entering into a new non-importation agreement, and its legislature
+resolved that "the present powers of the Congress of the United States,
+as contained in the articles of confederation, are not fully adequate to
+the great purposes they were originally designed to effect." The
+Massachusetts delegates in Congress&mdash;Gerry, Holton, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>King&mdash;were
+instructed to recommend a general convention of the states for the
+purpose of revising and amending the articles of confederation; but the
+delegates refused to comply with their instructions, and set forth their
+reasons in a paper which was approved by Samuel Adams, and caused the
+legislature to reconsider its action. It was feared that a call for a
+convention might seem too much like an open expression of a want of
+confidence in Congress, and might thereby weaken it still further
+without accomplishing any good result. For the present, as a temporary
+expedient, Massachusetts took counsel with New Hampshire, and the two
+states passed navigation acts, prohibiting British ships from carrying
+goods out of their harbours, and imposing a fourfold duty upon all such
+goods as they should bring in. A discriminating tonnage duty was also
+laid upon all foreign vessels. Rhode Island soon after adopted similar
+measures. In Congress a scheme for a uniform navigation act, to be
+concurred in and passed by all the thirteen states, was suggested by one
+of the Maryland delegates; but it was opposed by Richard Henry Lee and
+most of the delegates from the far south. The southern states, having no
+ships or seamen of their own, feared that the exclusion of British
+competition might enable northern ship-owners to charge exorbitant rates
+for carrying their rice and tobacco, thus subjecting them to a ruinous
+monopoly; but the gallant Moultrie, then governor of South Carolina,
+taking a broader view of the case, wrote to Bowdoin, governor of
+Massachusetts, asserting the paramount need of harmonious and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> united
+action. In the Virginia assembly, a hot-headed member, named Thurston,
+declared himself in doubt "whether it would not be better to encourage
+the British rather than the eastern marine;" but the remark was greeted
+with hisses and groans, and the speaker was speedily put down. Amid such
+mutual jealousies and misgivings, during the year 1785 acts were passed
+by ten states granting to Congress the power of regulating commerce for
+the ensuing thirteen years. The three states which refrained from acting
+were Georgia, South Carolina, and Delaware. The acts of the other ten
+were, as might have been expected, a jumble of incongruities. North
+Carolina granted all the power that was asked, but stipulated that when
+all the states should have done likewise their acts should be summed up
+in a new article of confederation. Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and
+Maryland had fixed the date at which the grant was to take effect, while
+Rhode Island provided that it should not expire until after the lapse of
+twenty-five years. The grant by New Hampshire allowed the power to be
+used only in one specified way,&mdash;by restricting the duties imposable by
+the several states. The grants of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey,
+and Virginia were not to take effect until all the others should go into
+operation. The only thing which Congress could do with these acts was to
+refer them back to the several legislatures, with a polite request to
+try to reduce them to something like uniformity.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Commercial war between different states.</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the different states, with their different tariff and tonnage
+acts, began to make <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>commercial war upon one another. No sooner had the
+other three New England states virtually closed their ports to British
+shipping than Connecticut threw hers wide open, an act which she
+followed up by laying duties upon imports from Massachusetts.
+Pennsylvania discriminated against Delaware, and New Jersey, pillaged at
+once by both her greater neighbours, was compared to a cask tapped at
+both ends. The conduct of New York became especially selfish and
+blameworthy. That rapid growth which was so soon to carry the city and
+the state to a position of primacy in the Union had already begun. After
+the departure of the British the revival of business went on with leaps
+and bounds. The feeling of local patriotism waxed strong, and in no one
+was it more completely manifested than in George Clinton, the
+Revolutionary general, whom the people elected governor for nine
+successive terms. From a humble origin, by dint of shrewdness and
+untiring push, Clinton had come to be for the moment the most powerful
+man in the state of New York. He had come to look upon the state almost
+as if it were his own private manor, and his life was devoted to
+furthering its interests as he understood them. It was his first article
+of faith that New York must be the greatest state in the Union. But his
+conceptions of statesmanship were extremely narrow. In his mind, the
+welfare of New York meant the pulling down and thrusting aside of all
+her neighbours and rivals. He was the vigorous and steadfast advocate of
+every illiberal and exclusive measure, and the most uncompromising<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+enemy to a closer union of the states. His great popular strength and
+the commercial importance of the community in which he held sway made
+him at this time the most dangerous man in America. The political
+victories presently to be won by Hamilton, Schuyler, and Livingston,
+without which our grand and pacific federal union could not have been
+brought into being, were victories won by most desperate fighting
+against the dogged opposition of Clinton. Under his guidance, the
+history of New York, during the five years following the peace of 1783,
+was a shameful story of greedy monopoly and sectional hate. Of all the
+thirteen states, none behaved worse except Rhode Island.</p>
+
+<p>A single instance, which occurred early in 1787, may serve as an
+illustration. The city of New York, with its population of 30,000 souls,
+had long been supplied with firewood from Connecticut, and with butter
+and cheese, chickens and garden vegetables, from the thrifty farms of
+New Jersey. This trade, it was observed, carried thousands of dollars
+out of the city and into the pockets of detested Yankees and despised
+Jerseymen. It was ruinous to domestic industry, said the men of New
+York. It must be stopped by those effective remedies of the Sangrado
+school of economic doctors, a navigation act and a protective tariff.
+Acts were accordingly passed, obliging every Yankee sloop which came
+down through Hell Gate, and every Jersey market boat which was rowed
+across from Paulus Hook to Cortlandt Street, to pay entrance fees and
+obtain clearances at the custom-house, just as was done by ships from
+London or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> Hamburg; and not a cart-load of Connecticut firewood could be
+delivered at the back-door of a country-house in Beekman Street until it
+should have paid a heavy duty. Great and just was the wrath of the
+farmers and lumbermen. The New Jersey legislature made up its mind to
+retaliate. The city of New York had lately bought a small patch of
+ground on Sandy Hook, and had built a light-house there. This
+light-house was the one weak spot in the heel of Achilles where a
+hostile arrow could strike, and New Jersey gave vent to her indignation
+by laying a tax of $1,800 a year on it. Connecticut was equally prompt.
+At a great meeting of business men, held at New London, it was
+unanimously agreed to suspend all commercial intercourse with New York.
+Every merchant signed an agreement, under penalty of $250 for the first
+offence, not to send any goods whatever into the hated state for a
+period of twelve months. By such retaliatory measures, it was hoped that
+New York might be compelled to rescind her odious enactment. But such
+meetings and such resolves bore an ominous likeness to the meetings and
+resolves which in the years before 1775 had heralded a state of war; and
+but for the good work done by the federal convention another five years
+would scarcely have elapsed before shots would have been fired and seeds
+of perennial hatred sown on the shores that look toward Manhattan
+Island.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Disputes about territory; disasters in the valley of Wyoming,
+1784.</div>
+
+<p>To these commercial disputes there were added disputes about territory.
+The chronic quarrel between Connecticut and Pennsylvania over the valley
+of Wyoming was decided in the autumn of 1782<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> by a special federal
+court, appointed in accordance with the articles of confederation. The
+prize was adjudged to Pennsylvania, and the government of Connecticut
+submitted as gracefully as possible. But new troubles were in store for
+the inhabitants of that beautiful region. The traces of the massacre of
+1778 had disappeared, the houses had been rebuilt, new settlers had come
+in, and the pretty villages had taken on their old look of contentment
+and thrift, when in the spring of 1784 there came an accumulation of
+disasters. During a very cold winter great quantities of snow had
+fallen, and lay piled in huge masses on the mountain sides, until in
+March a sudden thaw set in. The Susquehanna rose, and overflowed the
+valley, and great blocks of ice drifted here and there, carrying death
+and destruction with them. Houses, barns, and fences were swept away,
+the cattle were drowned, the fruit trees broken down, the stores of food
+destroyed, and over the whole valley there lay a stratum of gravel and
+pebbles. The people were starving with cold and hunger, and President
+Dickinson urged the legislature to send prompt relief to the sufferers.
+But the hearts of the members were as flint, and their talk was
+incredibly wicked. Not a penny would they give to help the accursed
+Yankees. It served them right. If they had stayed in Connecticut, where
+they belonged, they would have kept out of harm's way. And with a
+blasphemy thinly veiled in phrases of pious unction, the desolation of
+the valley was said to have been contrived by the Deity with the
+express<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> object of punishing these trespassers. But the cruelty of the
+Pennsylvania legislature was not confined to words. A scheme was devised
+for driving out the settlers and partitioning their lands among a
+company of speculators. A force of militia was sent to Wyoming,
+commanded by a truculent creature named Patterson. The ostensible
+purpose was to assist in restoring order in the valley, but the
+behaviour of the soldiers was such as would have disgraced a horde of
+barbarians. They stole what they could find, dealt out blows to the men
+and insults to the women, until their violence was met with violence in
+return. Then Patterson sent a letter to President Dickinson, accusing
+the farmers of sedition, and hinting that extreme measures were
+necessary. Having thus, as he thought, prepared the way, he attacked the
+settlement, turned some five hundred people out-of-doors, and burned
+their houses to the ground. The wretched victims, many of them tender
+women, or infirm old men, or little children, were driven into the
+wilderness at the point of the bayonet, and told to find their way to
+Connecticut without further delay. Heartrending scenes ensued. Many died
+of exhaustion, or furnished food for wolves. But this was more than the
+Pennsylvania legislature had intended. Patterson's zeal had carried him
+too far. He was recalled, and the sheriff of Northumberland County was
+sent, with a posse of men, to protect the settlers. Patterson disobeyed,
+however, and withdrawing his men to a fortified lair in the mountains,
+kept up a guerilla warfare. All the Connecticut men in the neighbouring
+country flew to arms.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> Men were killed on both sides, and presently
+Patterson was besieged. A regiment of soldiers was then sent from
+Philadelphia, under Colonel Armstrong, who had formerly been on Gates's
+staff, the author of the incendiary Newburgh address. On arriving in the
+valley, Armstrong held a parley with the Connecticut men, and persuaded
+them to lay down their arms; assuring them on his honour that they
+should meet with no ill treatment, and that their enemy, Patterson,
+should be disarmed also. Having thus fallen into this soldier's
+clutches, they were forthwith treated as prisoners. Seventy-six of them
+were handcuffed and sent under guard, some to Easton and some to
+Northumberland, where they were thrown into jail.</p>
+
+<p>Great was the indignation in New England when these deeds were heard of.
+The matter had become very serious. A war between Connecticut and
+Pennsylvania might easily grow out of it. But the danger was averted
+through a very singular feature in the Pennsylvania constitution. In
+order to hold its legislature in check, Pennsylvania had a council of
+censors, which was assembled once in seven years in order to inquire
+whether the state had been properly governed during the interval. Soon
+after the troubles in Wyoming the regular meeting of the censors was
+held, and the conduct of Armstrong and Patterson was unreservedly
+condemned. A hot controversy ensued between the legislature and the
+censors, and as the people set great store by the latter peculiar
+institution, public sympathy was gradually awakened for the sufferers.
+The wickedness of the affair began to dawn upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> people's minds, and
+they were ashamed of what had been done. Patterson and Armstrong were
+frowned down, the legislature disavowed their acts, and it was ordered
+that full reparation should be made to the persecuted settlers of
+Wyoming.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Troubles in the Green Mountains, 1777&ndash;84.</div>
+
+<p>In the Green Mountains and on the upper waters of the Connecticut there
+had been trouble for many years. In the course of the Revolutionary War,
+the fierce dispute between New York and New Hampshire for the possession
+of the Green Mountains came in from time to time to influence most
+curiously the course of events. It was closely connected with the
+intrigues against General Schuyler, and thus more remotely with the
+Conway cabal and the treason of Arnold. About the time of Burgoyne's
+invasion the association of Green Mountain Boys endeavoured to cut the
+Gordian knot by declaring Vermont an independent state, and applying to
+the Continental Congress for admission into the Union. The New York
+delegates in Congress succeeded in defeating this scheme, but the
+Vermont people went on and framed their constitution. Thomas Chittenden,
+a man of rough manners but very considerable ability, a farmer and
+innkeeper, like Israel Putnam, was chosen governor, and held that
+position for many years. New Hampshire thus far had not actively opposed
+these measures, but fresh grounds of quarrel were soon at hand. Several
+towns on the east bank of the Connecticut River wished to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> escape from
+the jurisdiction of New Hampshire. They preferred to belong to Vermont,
+because it was not within the Union, and accordingly not liable to
+requisitions of taxes from the Continental Congress. It was conveniently
+remembered that by the original grant, in the reign of Charles II., New
+Hampshire extended only sixty miles from the coast. Vermont was at first
+inclined to assent, but finding the scheme unpopular in Congress, and
+not wishing to offend that body, she changed her mind. The towns on both
+banks of the river then tried to organize themselves into a middle
+state,&mdash;a sort of Lotharingia on the banks of this New World Rhine,&mdash;to
+be called New Connecticut. By this time New Hampshire was aroused, and
+she called attention to the fact that she still believed herself
+entitled to dominion over the whole of Vermont. Massachusetts now began
+to suspect that the upshot of the matter would be the partition of the
+whole disputed territory between New Hampshire and New York, and,
+ransacking her ancient grants and charters, she decided to set up a
+claim on her own part to the southernmost towns in Vermont. Thus goaded
+on all sides, Vermont adopted an aggressive policy. She not only annexed
+the towns east of the Connecticut River, but also asserted sovereignty
+over the towns in New York as far as the Hudson. New York sent troops to
+the threatened frontier, New Hampshire prepared to do likewise, and for
+a moment war seemed inevitable. But here, as in so many other instances,
+Washington appeared as peace-maker, and prevailed upon Governor
+Chittenden to use his influence in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> getting the dangerous claims
+withdrawn. After the spring of 1784 the outlook was less stormy in the
+Green Mountains. The conflicting claims were allowed to lie dormant, but
+the possibilities of mischief remained, and the Vermont question was not
+finally settled until after the adoption of the Federal Constitution.
+Meanwhile, on the debatable frontier between Vermont and New York the
+embers of hatred smouldered. Barns and houses were set on fire, and
+belated wayfarers were found mysteriously murdered in the depths of the
+forest.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">One nation or thirteen?</div>
+
+<p>Incidents like these of Wyoming and Vermont seem trivial, perhaps, when
+contrasted with the lurid tales of border warfare in older times between
+half-civilized peoples of medi&aelig;val Europe, as we read them in the pages
+of Froissart and Sir Walter Scott. But their historic lesson is none the
+less clear. Though they lift the curtain but a little way, they show us
+a glimpse of the untold dangers and horrors from which the adoption of
+our Federal Constitution has so thoroughly freed us that we can only
+with some effort realize how narrowly we have escaped them. It is fit
+that they should be borne in mind, that we may duly appreciate the
+significance of the reign of law and order which has been established on
+this continent during the greater part of a century. When reported in
+Europe, such incidents were held to confirm the opinion that the
+American confederacy was going to pieces. With quarrels about trade and
+quarrels about boundaries, we seemed to be treading the old-fashioned
+paths of anarchy, even as they had been trodden in other ages and other
+parts of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> world. It was natural that people in Europe should think
+so, because there was no historic precedent to help them in forming a
+different opinion. No one could possibly foresee that within five years
+a number of gentlemen at Philadelphia, containing among themselves a
+greater amount of political sagacity than had ever before been brought
+together within the walls of a single room, would amicably discuss the
+situation and agree upon a new system of government whereby the dangers
+might be once for all averted. Still less could any one foresee that
+these gentlemen would not only agree upon a scheme among themselves, but
+would actually succeed, without serious civil dissension, in making the
+people of thirteen states adopt, defend, and cherish it. History
+afforded no example of such a gigantic act of constructive
+statesmanship. It was, moreover, a strange and apparently fortuitous
+combination of circumstances that were now preparing the way for it and
+making its accomplishment possible. No one could forecast the future.
+When our ministers and agents in Europe raised the question as to making
+commercial treaties, they were disdainfully asked whether European
+powers were expected to deal with thirteen governments or with one. If
+it was answered that the United States constituted a single government
+so far as their relations with foreign powers were concerned, then we
+were forthwith twitted with our failure to keep our engagements with
+England with regard to the loyalists and the collection of private
+debts. Yes, we see, said the European diplomats; the United States<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> are
+one nation to-day and thirteen to-morrow, according as may seem to
+subserve their selfish interests. Jefferson, at Paris, was told again
+and again that it was useless for the French government to enter into
+any agreement with the United States, as there was no certainty that it
+would be fulfilled on our part; and the same things were said all over
+Europe. Toward the close of the war most of the European nations had
+seemed ready to enter into commercial arrangements with the United
+States, but all save Holland speedily lost interest in the subject. John
+Adams had succeeded in making a treaty with Holland in 1782. Frederick
+the Great treated us more civilly than other sovereigns. One of the last
+acts of his life was to conclude a treaty for ten years with the United
+States; asserting the principle that free ships make free goods, taking
+arms and military stores out of the class of contraband, agreeing to
+refrain from privateering even in case of war between the two countries,
+and in other respects showing a liberal and enlightened spirit.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Failure of American credit; John Adams begging in Holland,
+1784.</div>
+
+<p>This treaty was concluded in 1786. It scarcely touched the subject of
+international trade in time of peace, but it was valuable as regarded
+the matters it covered, and in the midst of the general failure of
+American diplomacy in Europe it fell pleasantly upon our ears. Our
+diplomacy had failed because our weakness had been proclaimed to the
+world. We were bullied by England, insulted by France and Spain, and
+looked askance at in Holland. The humiliating position in which our
+ministers were placed by the beggarly poverty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> of Congress was something
+almost beyond credence. It was by no means unusual for the
+superintendent of finance, when hard pushed for money, to draw upon our
+foreign ministers, and then sell the drafts for cash. This was not only
+not unusual; it was an established custom. It was done again and again,
+when there was not the smallest ground for supposing that the minister
+upon whom the draft was made would have any funds wherewith to meet it.
+He must go and beg the money. That was part of his duty as envoy,&mdash;to
+solicit loans without security for a government that could not raise
+enough money by taxation to defray its current expenses. It was
+sickening work. Just before John Adams had been appointed minister to
+England, and while he was visiting in London, he suddenly learned that
+drafts upon him had been presented to his bankers in Amsterdam to the
+amount of more than a million florins. Less than half a million florins
+were on hand to meet these demands, and unless something were done at
+once the greater part of this paper would go back to America protested.
+Adams lost not a moment in starting for Holland. In these modern days of
+precision in travel, when we can translate space into time, the distance
+between London and Amsterdam is eleven hours. It was accomplished by
+Adams, after innumerable delays and vexations and no little danger, in
+fifty-four days. The bankers had contrived, by ingenious excuses, to
+keep the drafts from going to protest until the minister's arrival, but
+the gazettes were full of the troubles of Congress and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>bickerings
+of the states, and everybody was suspicious. Adams applied in vain to
+the regency of Amsterdam. The promise of the American government was not
+regarded as valid security for a sum equivalent to about three hundred
+thousand dollars. The members of the regency were polite, but
+inexorable. They could not make a loan on such terms; it was
+unbusinesslike and contrary to precedent. Finding them immovable, Adams
+was forced to apply to professional usurers and Jew brokers, from whom,
+after three weeks of perplexity and humiliation, he obtained a loan at
+exorbitant interest, and succeeded in meeting the drafts. It was only
+too plain, as he mournfully confessed, that American credit was dead.
+Such were the trials of our American ministers in Europe in the dark
+days of the League of Friendship. It was not a solitary, but a typical,
+instance. John Jay's experience at the unfriendly court of Spain was
+perhaps even more trying.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Barbary pirates.</div>
+
+<p>European governments might treat us with cold disdain, and European
+bankers might pronounce our securities worthless, but there was one
+quarter of the world from which even worse measure was meted out to us.
+Of all the barbarous communities with which the civilized world has had
+to deal in modern times, perhaps none have made so much trouble as the
+Mussulman states on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. After the
+breaking up of the great Moorish kingdoms of the Middle Ages, this
+region had fallen under the nominal control of the Turkish sultans as
+lords paramount of the orthodox Mohammedan world. Its miserable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
+populations became the prey of banditti. Swarms of half-savage
+chieftains settled down upon the land like locusts, and out of such a
+pandemonium of robbery and murder as has scarcely been equalled in
+historic times the pirate states of Morocco and Algiers, Tunis and
+Tripoli, gradually emerged. Of these communities history has not one
+good word to say. In these fair lands, once illustrious for the genius
+and virtues of a Hannibal and the profound philosophy of St. Augustine,
+there grew up some of the most terrible despotisms ever known to the
+world. The things done daily by the robber sovereigns were such as to
+make a civilized imagination recoil with horror. One of these cheerful
+creatures, who reigned in the middle of the eighteenth century, and was
+called Muley Abdallah, especially prided himself on his peculiar skill
+in mounting a horse. Resting his left hand upon the horse's neck, as he
+sprang into the saddle he simultaneously swung the sharp scimiter in his
+right hand so deftly as to cut off the head of the groom who held the
+bridle. From his behaviour in these sportive moods one may judge what he
+was capable of on serious occasions. He was a fair sample of the Barbary
+monarchs. The foreign policy of these wretches was summed up in piracy
+and blackmail. Their corsairs swept the Mediterranean and ventured far
+out upon the ocean, capturing merchant vessels, and murdering or
+enslaving their crews. Of the rich booty, a fixed proportion was paid
+over to the robber sovereign, and the rest was divided among the gang.
+So lucrative was this business that it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> attracted hardy ruffians from
+all parts of Europe, and the misery they inflicted upon mankind during
+four centuries was beyond calculation. One of their favourite practices
+was the kidnapping of eminent or wealthy persons, in the hope of
+extorting ransom. Cervantes and Vincent de Paul were among the
+celebrated men who thus tasted the horrors of Moorish slavery; but it
+was a calamity that might fall to the lot of any man, or woman, and it
+was but rarely that the victims ever regained their freedom.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">American citizens kidnapped.</div>
+
+<p>Against these pirates the governments of Europe contended in vain. Swift
+cruisers frequently captured their ships, and from the days of Joan of
+Arc down to the days of Napoleon their skeletons swung from long rows of
+gibbets on all the coasts of Europe, as a terror and a warning. But
+their losses were easily repaired, and sometimes they cruised in fleets
+of seventy or eighty sail, defying the navies of England and France. It
+was not until after England, in Nelson's time, had acquired supremacy in
+the Mediterranean that this dreadful scourge was destroyed. Americans,
+however, have just ground for pride in recollecting that their
+government was foremost in chastising these pirates in their own
+harbours. The exploits of our little navy in the Mediterranean at the
+beginning of the present century form an interesting episode in American
+history, but in the weak days of the Confederation our commerce was
+plundered with impunity, and American citizens were seized and sold into
+slavery in the markets of Algiers and Tripoli. One reason for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> the long
+survival of this villainy was the low state of humanity among European
+nations. An Englishman's sympathy was but feebly aroused by the plunder
+of Frenchmen, and the bigoted Spaniard looked on with approval so long
+as it was Protestants that were kidnapped and bastinadoed. In 1783 Lord
+Sheffield published a pamphlet on the commerce of the United States, in
+which he shamelessly declared that the Barbary pirates were really
+useful to the great maritime powers, because they tended to keep the
+weaker nations out of their share in the carrying trade. This, he
+thought, was a valuable offset to the Empress Catherine's device of the
+armed neutrality, whereby small nations were protected; and on this
+wicked theory, as Franklin tells us, London merchants had been heard to
+say that "if there were no Algiers, it would be worth England's while to
+build one." It was largely because of such feelings that the great
+states of Europe so long persisted in the craven policy of paying
+blackmail to the robbers, instead of joining in a crusade and destroying
+them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Tripoli demands blackmail, Feb. 1786.</div>
+
+<p>In 1786 Congress felt it necessary to take measures for protecting the
+lives and liberties of American citizens. The person who called himself
+"Emperor" of Morocco at that time was different from most of his kind.
+He had a taste for reading, and had thus caught a glimmering of the
+enlightened liberalism which French philosophers were preaching. He
+wished to be thought a benevolent despot, and with Morocco, accordingly,
+Congress succeeded in making a treaty. But nothing could be done with
+the other pirate states without paying blackmail.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> Few scenes in our
+history are more amusing, or more irritating, than the interview of John
+Adams with an envoy from Tripoli in London. The oily-tongued barbarian,
+with his soft voice and his bland smile, asseverating that his only
+interest in life was to do good and make other people happy, stands out
+in fine contrast with the blunt, straightforward, and truthful New
+Englander; and their conversation reminds one of the old story of
+C&#339;ur-de-Lion with his curtal-axe and Saladin with the blade that cut
+the silken cushion. Adams felt sure that the fellow was either saint or
+devil, but could not quite tell which. The envoy's love for mankind was
+so great that he could not bear the thought of hostility between the
+Americans and the Barbary States, and he suggested that everything might
+be happily arranged for a million dollars or so. Adams thought it better
+to fight than to pay tribute. It would be cheaper in the end, as well as
+more manly. At the same time, it was better economy to pay a million
+dollars at once than waste many times that sum in war risks and loss of
+trade. But Congress could do neither one thing nor the other. It was too
+poor to build a navy, and too poor to buy off the pirates; and so for
+several years to come American ships were burned and American sailors
+enslaved with utter impunity. With the memory of such wrongs deeply
+graven in his heart, it was natural that John Adams, on becoming
+president of the United States, should bend his energies toward founding
+a strong American navy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Congress unable to protect American citizens.</div>
+
+<p>A government touches the lowest point of ignominy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> when it confesses its
+inability to protect the lives and property of its citizens. A
+government which has come to this has failed in discharging the primary
+function of government, and forthwith ceases to have any reason for
+existing. In March, 1786, Grayson wrote to Madison that several members
+of Congress thought seriously of recommending a general convention for
+remodelling the government. "I have not made up my mind," says Grayson,
+"whether it would not be better to bear the ills we have than fly to
+those we know not of. I am, however, in no doubt about the weakness of
+the federal government. If it remains much longer in its present state
+of imbecility, we shall be one of the most contemptible nations on the
+face of the earth." "It is clear to me as A, B, C," said Washington,
+"that an extension of federal powers would make us one of the most
+happy, wealthy, respectable, and powerful nations that ever inhabited
+the terrestrial globe. Without them we shall soon be everything which is
+the direct reverse. I predict the worst consequences from a
+half-starved, limping government, always moving upon crutches and
+tottering at every step."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Financial distress precipitates the political crisis.</div>
+
+<p>There is no telling how long the wretched state of things which followed
+the Revolution might have continued, had not the crisis been
+precipitated by the wild attempts of the several states to remedy the
+distress of the people by legislation. That financial distress was
+widespread and deep-seated was not to be denied. At the beginning of the
+war the amount of accumulated capital in the country had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> very
+small. The great majority of the people did little more than get from
+the annual yield of their farms or plantations enough to meet the
+current expenses of the year. Outside of agriculture the chief resources
+were the carrying trade, the exchange of commodities with England and
+the West Indies, and the cod and whale fisheries; and in these
+occupations many people had grown rich. The war had destroyed all these
+sources of revenue. Imports and exports had alike been stopped, so that
+there was a distressing scarcity of some of the commonest household
+articles. The enemy's navy had kept us from the fisheries. Before the
+war, the dock-yards of Nantucket were ringing with the busy sound of
+adze and hammer, rope-walks covered the island, and two hundred keels
+sailed yearly in quest of spermaceti. At the return of peace, the docks
+were silent and grass grew in the streets. The carrying trade and the
+fisheries began soon to revive, but it was some years before the old
+prosperity was restored. The war had also wrought serious damage to
+agriculture, and in some parts of the country the direct destruction of
+property by the enemy's troops had been very great. To all these causes
+of poverty there was added the hopeless confusion due to an
+inconvertible paper currency. The worst feature of this financial device
+is that it not only impoverishes people, but bemuddles their brains by
+creating a false and fleeting show of prosperity. By violently
+disturbing apparent values, it always brings on an era of wild
+speculation and extravagance in living, followed by sudden collapse and
+protracted suffering. In such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> crises the poorest people, those who earn
+their bread by the sweat of their brows and have no margin of
+accumulated capital, always suffer the most. Above all men, it is the
+labouring man who needs sound money and steady values. We have seen all
+these points amply illustrated since the War of Secession. After the War
+of Independence, when the margin of accumulated capital was so much
+smaller, the misery was much greater. While the paper money lasted there
+was marked extravagance in living, and complaints were loud against the
+speculators, especially those who operated in bread-stuffs. Washington
+said he would like to hang them all on a gallows higher than that of
+Haman; but they were, after all, but the inevitable products of this
+abnormal state of things, and the more guilty criminals were the
+demagogues who went about preaching the doctrine that the poor man needs
+cheap money. After the collapse of this continental currency in 1780, it
+seemed as if there were no money in the country, and at the peace the
+renewal of trade with England seemed at first to make matters worse. The
+brisk importation of sorely needed manufactured goods, which then began,
+would naturally have been paid for in the south by indigo, rice, and
+tobacco, in the middle states by exports of wheat and furs, and in New
+England by the profits of the fisheries, the shipping, and the West
+India trade. But in the southern and middle states the necessary revival
+of agriculture could not be effected in a moment, and British
+legislation against American shipping and the West India trade fell with
+crippling force<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> upon New England. Consequently, we had little else but
+specie with which to pay for imports, and the country was soon drained
+of what little specie there was. In the absence of a circulating medium
+there was a reversion to the practice of barter, and the revival of
+business was thus further impeded. Whiskey in North Carolina, tobacco in
+Virginia, did duty as measures of value; and Isaiah Thomas, editor of
+the Worcester "Spy," announced that he would receive subscriptions for
+his paper in salt pork.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">State of the coinage.</div>
+
+<p>It is worth while, in this connection, to observe what this specie was,
+the scarcity of which created so much embarrassment. Until 1785 no
+national coinage was established, and none was issued until 1793.
+English, French, Spanish, and German coins, of various and uncertain
+value, passed from hand to hand. Beside the ninepences and
+fourpence-ha'-pennies, there were bits and half-bits, pistareens,
+picayunes, and fips. Of gold pieces there were the johannes, or joe, the
+doubloon, the moidore, and pistole, with English and French guineas,
+carolins, ducats, and chequins. Of coppers there were English pence and
+halfpence and French sous; and pennies were issued at local mints in
+Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The
+English shilling had everywhere degenerated in value, but differently in
+different localities; and among silver pieces the Spanish dollar, from
+Louisiana and Cuba, had begun to supersede it as a measure of value. In
+New England the shilling had sunk from nearly one fourth to one sixth of
+a dollar; in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> New York to one eighth; in North Carolina to one tenth. It
+was partly for this reason that in devising a national coinage the more
+uniform dollar was adopted as the unit. At the same time the decimal
+system of division was adopted instead of the cumbrous English system,
+and the result was our present admirably simple currency, which we owe
+to Gouverneur Morris, aided as to some points by Thomas Jefferson.
+During the period of the Confederation, the chaotic state of the
+currency was a serious obstacle to trade, and it afforded endless
+opportunities for fraud and extortion. Clipping and counterfeiting were
+carried to such lengths that every moderately cautious person, in taking
+payment in hard cash, felt it necessary to keep a small pair of scales
+beside him and carefully weigh each coin, after narrowly scrutinizing
+its stamp and deciphering its legend.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Cost of the war; Robert Morris and his immense services.</div>
+
+<p>In view of all these complicated impediments to business on the morrow
+of a long and costly war, it was not strange that the whole country was
+in some measure pauperized. The cost of the war, estimated in cash, had
+been about $170,000,000&mdash;a huge sum if we consider the circumstances of
+the country at that time. To meet this crushing indebtedness Mr.
+Hildreth reckons the total amount raised by the states, whether by means
+of repudiated paper or of taxes, down to 1784, as not more than
+$30,000,000. No wonder if the issue of such a struggle seemed quite
+hopeless. In many parts of the country, by the year 1786, the payment of
+taxes had come to be regarded as an amiable eccentricity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> At one
+moment, early in 1782, there was not a single dollar in the treasury.
+That the government had in any way been able to finish the war, after
+the downfall of its paper money, was due to the gigantic efforts of one
+great man,&mdash;Robert Morris, of Pennsylvania. This statesman was born in
+England, but he had come to Philadelphia in his boyhood, and had amassed
+an enormous fortune, which he devoted without stint to the service of
+his adopted country. Though opposed to the Declaration of Independence
+as rash and premature, he had, nevertheless, signed his name to that
+document, and scarcely any one had contributed more to the success of
+the war. It was he who supplied the money which enabled Washington to
+complete the great campaign of Trenton and Princeton. In 1781 he was
+made superintendent of finance, and by dint of every imaginable device
+of hard-pressed ingenuity he contrived to support the brilliant work
+which began at the Cowpens and ended at Yorktown. He established the
+Bank of North America as an instrument by which government loans might
+be negotiated. Sometimes his methods were such as doctors call heroic,
+as when he made sudden drafts upon our ministers in Europe after the
+manner already described. In every dire emergency he was Washington's
+chief reliance, and in his devotion to the common weal he drew upon his
+private resources until he became poor; and in later years&mdash;for shame be
+it said&mdash;an ungrateful nation allowed one of its noblest and most
+disinterested champions to languish in a debtor's prison. It was of ill
+omen for the fortunes of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> the weak and disorderly Confederation that in
+1784, after three years of herculean struggle with impossibilities, this
+stout heart and sagacious head could no longer weather the storm. The
+task of creating wealth out of nothing had become too arduous and too
+thankless to be endured. Robert Morris resigned his place, and it was
+taken by a congressional committee of finance, under whose management
+the disorders only hurried to a crisis.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The craze for paper-money, 1786.</div>
+
+<p>By 1786, under the universal depression and want of confidence, all
+trade had well-nigh stopped, and political quackery, with its cheap and
+dirty remedies, had full control of the field. In the very face of
+miseries so plainly traceable to the deadly paper currency, it may seem
+strange that people should now have begun to clamour for a renewal of
+the experiment which had worked so much evil. Yet so it was. As starving
+men are said to dream of dainty banquets, so now a craze for fictitious
+wealth in the shape of paper money ran like an epidemic through the
+country. There was a Barmecide feast of economic vagaries; only now it
+was the several states that sought to apply the remedy, each in its own
+way. And when we have threaded the maze of this rash legislation, we
+shall the better understand that clause in our federal constitution
+which forbids the making of laws impairing the obligation of contracts.
+The events of 1786 impressed upon men's minds more forcibly than ever
+the wretched and disorderly condition of the country, and went far
+toward calling into existence the needful popular sentiment in favour of
+an overruling central government.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Agitation in southern and middle states.</div>
+
+<p>The disorders assumed very different forms in the different states, and
+brought out a great diversity of opinion as to the causes of the
+distress and the efficacy of the proposed remedies. Only two states out
+of the thirteen&mdash;Connecticut and Delaware&mdash;escaped the infection, but,
+on the other hand, it was only in seven states that the paper money
+party prevailed in the legislatures. North Carolina issued a large
+amount of paper, and, in order to get it into circulation as quickly as
+possible, the state government proceeded to buy tobacco with it, paying
+double the specie value of the tobacco. As a natural consequence, the
+paper dollar instantly fell to seventy cents, and went on declining. In
+South Carolina an issue was tried somewhat more cautiously, but the
+planters soon refused to take the paper at its face value. Coercive
+measures were then attempted. Planters and merchants were urged to sign
+a pledge not to discriminate between paper and gold, and if any one
+dared refuse the fanatics forthwith attempted to make it hot for him. A
+kind of "Kuklux" society was organized at Charleston, known as the "Hint
+Club." Its purpose was to hint to such people that they had better look
+out. If they did not mend their ways, it was unnecessary to inform them
+more explicitly what they might expect. Houses were combustible then as
+now, and the use of firearms was well understood. In Georgia the
+legislature itself attempted coercion. Paper money was made a legal
+tender in spite of strong opposition, and a law was passed prohibiting
+any planter or merchant from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> exporting any produce without taking
+affidavit that he had never refused to receive this scrip at its full
+face value. But somehow people found that the more it was sought to keep
+up the paper by dint of threats and forcing acts, the faster its value
+fell. Virginia had issued bills of credit during the campaign of 1781,
+but it was enacted at the same time that they should not be a legal
+tender after the next January. The influence of Washington, Madison, and
+Mason was effectively brought to bear in favour of sound currency, and
+the people of Virginia were but slightly affected by the craze of 1786.
+In the autumn of that year a proposition from two counties for an issue
+of paper was defeated in the legislature by a vote of eighty-five to
+seventeen, and no more was heard of the matter. In Maryland, after a
+very obstinate fight, a rag money bill was carried in the house of
+representatives, but the senate threw it out; and the measure was thus
+postponed until the discussion over the federal constitution superseded
+it in popular interest. Pennsylvania had warily begun in May, 1785, to
+issue a million dollars in bills of credit, which were not made a legal
+tender for the payment of private debts. They were mainly loaned to
+farmers on mortgage, and were received by the state as an equivalent for
+specie in the payment of taxes. By August, 1786, even this carefully
+guarded paper had fallen some twelve cents below par,&mdash;not a bad showing
+for such a year as that. New York moved somewhat less cautiously. A
+million dollars were issued in bills of credit receivable for the
+custom-house duties, which were then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> paid into the state treasury; and
+these bills were made a legal tender for all money received in lawsuits.
+At the same time the New Jersey legislature passed a bill for issuing
+half a million paper dollars, to be a legal tender in all business
+transactions. The bill was vetoed by the governor in council. The aged
+Governor Livingston was greatly respected by the people; and so the mob
+at Elizabethtown, which had duly planted a stake and dragged his effigy
+up to it, refrained from inflicting the last indignities upon the image,
+and burned that of one of the members of the council instead. At the
+next session the governor yielded, and the rag money was issued. But an
+unforeseen difficulty arose. Most of the dealings of New Jersey people
+were in the cities of New York and Philadelphia, and in both cities the
+merchants refused their paper, so that it speedily became worthless.</p>
+
+<p>The business of exchange was thus fast getting into hopeless confusion.
+It has been said of Bradshaw's Railway Guide, the indispensable
+companion of the traveller in England, that no man can study it for an
+hour without qualifying himself for an insane asylum. But Bradshaw is
+pellucid clearness compared with the American tables of exchange in
+1786, with their medley of dollars and shillings, moidores and
+pistareens. The addition of half a dozen different kinds of paper
+created such a labyrinth as no human intellect could explore. No wonder
+that men were counted wise who preferred to take whiskey and pork
+instead. Nobody who had a yard of cloth to sell could tell how much it
+was worth. But even worse than all this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> was the swift and certain
+renewal of bankruptcy which so many states were preparing for
+themselves.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Distress in New England.</div>
+
+<p>Nowhere did the warning come so quickly or so sharply as in New England.
+Connecticut, indeed, as already observed, came off scot-free. She had
+issued a little paper money soon after the battle of Lexington, but had
+stopped it about the time of the surrender of Burgoyne. In 1780 she had
+wisely and summarily adjusted all relations between debtor and creditor,
+and the crisis of 1786 found her people poor enough, no doubt, but able
+to wait for better times and indisposed to adopt violent remedies. It
+was far otherwise in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. These were
+pre&euml;minently the maritime states of the Union, and upon them the blows
+aimed by England at American commerce had fallen most severely. It was
+these two maritime states that suffered most from the cutting down of
+the carrying trade and the restriction of intercourse with the West
+Indies. These things worked injury to shipbuilding, to the exports of
+lumber and oil and salted fish, even to the manufacture of Medford rum.
+Nowhere had the normal machinery of business been thrown out of gear so
+extensively as in these two states, and in Rhode Island there was the
+added disturbance due to a prolonged occupation by the enemy's troops.
+Nowhere, perhaps, was there a larger proportion of the population in
+debt, and in these pre&euml;minently commercial communities private debts
+were a heavier burden and involved more personal suffering than in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>somewhat patriarchal system of life in Virginia or South Carolina. In
+the time of which we are now treating, imprisonment for debt was common.
+High-minded but unfortunate men were carried to jail, and herded with
+thieves and ruffians in loathsome dungeons, for the crime of owing a
+hundred dollars which they could not promptly pay. Under such
+circumstances, a commercial disturbance, involving widespread debt,
+entailed an amount of personal suffering and humiliation of which, in
+these kinder days, we can form no adequate conception. It tended to make
+the debtor an outlaw, ready to entertain schemes for the subversion of
+society. In the crisis of 1786, the agitation in Rhode Island and
+Massachusetts reached white heat, and things were done which alarmed the
+whole country. But the course of events was different in the two states.
+In Rhode Island the agitators obtained control of the government, and
+the result was a paroxysm of tyranny. In Massachusetts the agitators
+failed to secure control of the government, and the result was a
+paroxysm of rebellion.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Rag money victorious in Rhode Island; the "Know Ye"
+measures.</div>
+
+<p>The debates over paper money in the Rhode Island legislature began in
+1785, but the advocates of a sound currency were victorious. These men
+were roundly abused in the newspapers, and in the next spring election
+most of them lost their seats. The legislature of 1786 showed an
+overwhelming majority in favor of paper money. The farmers from the
+inland towns were unanimous in supporting the measure. They could not
+see the difference between the state making a dollar out of paper and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> a
+dollar out of silver. The idea that the value did not lie in the
+government stamp they dismissed as an idle crotchet, a wire-drawn
+theory, worthy only of "literary fellows." What they could see was the
+glaring fact that they had no money, hard or soft; and they wanted
+something that would satisfy their creditors and buy new gowns for their
+wives, whose raiment was unquestionably the worse for wear. On the other
+hand, the merchants from seaports like Providence, Newport, and Bristol
+understood the difference between real money and the promissory notes of
+a bankrupt government, but they were in a hopeless minority. Half a
+million dollars were issued in scrip, to be loaned to the farmers on a
+mortgage of their real estate. No one could obtain the scrip without
+giving a mortgage for twice the amount, and it was thought that this
+security would make it as good as gold. But the depreciation began
+instantly. When the worthy farmers went to the store for dry goods or
+sugar, and found the prices rising with dreadful rapidity, they were at
+first astonished, and then enraged. The trouble, as they truly said, was
+with the wicked merchants, who would not take the paper dollars at their
+face value. These men were thus thwarting the government, and must be
+punished. An act was accordingly hurried through the legislature,
+commanding every one to take paper as an equivalent for gold, under
+penalty of five hundred dollars fine and loss of the right of suffrage.
+The merchants in the cities thereupon shut up their shops. During the
+summer of 1786 all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> business was at a standstill in Newport and
+Providence, except in the bar-rooms. There and about the market-places
+men spent their time angrily discussing politics, and scarcely a day
+passed without street-fights, which at times grew into riots. In the
+country, too, no less than in the cities, the goddess of discord
+reigned. The farmers determined to starve the city people into
+submission, and they entered into an agreement not to send any produce
+into the cities until the merchants should open their shops and begin
+selling their goods for paper at its face value. Not wishing to lose
+their pigs and butter and grain, they tried to dispose of them in Boston
+and New York, and in the coast towns of Connecticut. But in all these
+places their proceedings had awakened such lively disgust that placards
+were posted in the taverns warning purchasers against farm produce from
+Rhode Island. Disappointed in these quarters, the farmers threw away
+their milk, used their corn for fuel, and let their apples rot on the
+ground, rather than supply the detested merchants. Food grew scarce in
+Providence and Newport, and in the latter city a mob of sailors
+attempted unsuccessfully to storm the provision stores. The farmers were
+threatened with armed violence. Town-meetings were held all over the
+state, to discuss the situation, and how long they might have talked to
+no purpose none can say, when all at once the matter was brought into
+court. A cabinet-maker in Newport named Trevett went into a meat-market
+kept by one John Weeden, and selecting a joint of meat, offered paper in
+payment. Weeden refused to take the paper except at a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> heavy discount.
+Trevett went to bed supperless, and next morning informed against the
+obstinate butcher for disobedience to the forcing act. Should the court
+find him guilty, it would be a good speculation for Trevett, for half of
+the five hundred dollars fine was to go to the informer. Hard-money men
+feared lest the court might prove subservient to the legislature, since
+that body possessed the power of removing the five judges. The case was
+tried in September amid furious excitement. Huge crowds gathered about
+the court-house and far down the street, screaming and cheering like a
+crowd on the night of a presidential election. The judges were
+clear-headed men, not to be browbeaten. They declared the forcing act
+unconstitutional, and dismissed the complaint. Popular wrath then turned
+upon them. A special session of the legislature was convened, four of
+the judges were removed, and a new forcing-act was prepared. This act
+provided that no man could vote at elections or hold any office without
+taking a test oath promising to receive paper money at par. But this was
+going too far. Many soft-money men were not wild enough to support such
+a measure; among the farmers there were some who had grown tired of
+seeing their produce spoiled on their hands; and many of the richest
+merchants had announced their intention of moving out of the state. The
+new forcing act accordingly failed to pass, and presently the old one
+was repealed. The paper dollar had been issued in May; in November it
+passed for sixteen cents.</p>
+
+<p>These outrageous proceedings awakened disgust<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> and alarm among sensible
+people in all the other states, and Rhode Island was everywhere reviled
+and made fun of. One clause of the forcing act had provided that if a
+debtor should offer paper to his creditor and the creditor should refuse
+to take it at par, the debtor might carry his rag money to court and
+deposit it with the judge; and the judge must thereupon issue a
+certificate discharging the debt. The form of certificate began with the
+words "Know Ye," and forthwith the unhappy little state was nicknamed
+Rogues' Island, the home of Know Ye men and Know Ye measures.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Rag money defeated in Massachusetts; the Shays insurrection,
+Aug. 1786&ndash;Feb. 1787.</div>
+
+<p>While the scorn of the people was thus poured out upon Rhode Island,
+much sympathy was felt for the government of Massachusetts, which was
+called upon thus early to put down armed rebellion. The pressure of debt
+was keenly felt in the rural districts of Massachusetts. It is estimated
+that the private debts in the state amounted to some $7,000,000, and the
+state's arrears to the federal government amounted to some $7,000,000
+more. Adding to these sums the arrears of bounties due to the soldiers,
+and the annual cost of the state, county, and town governments, there
+was reached an aggregate equivalent to a tax of more than $50 on every
+man, woman, and child in this population of 379,000 souls. Upon every
+head of a family the average burden was some $200 at a time when most
+farmers would have thought such a sum yearly a princely income. In those
+days of scarcity most of them did not set eyes on so much as $50 in the
+course of a year, and happy was he who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> had tucked away two or three
+golden guineas or moidores in an old stocking, and sewed up the treasure
+in his straw mattress or hidden it behind the bricks of the
+chimney-piece. Under such circumstances the payment of debts and taxes
+was out of the question; and as the same state of things made creditors
+clamorous and ugly, the courts were crowded with lawsuits. The lawyers
+usually contrived to get their money by exacting retainers in advance,
+and the practice of champerty was common, whereby the lawyer did his
+work in consideration of a percentage on the sum which was at last
+forcibly collected. Homesteads were sold for the payment of foreclosed
+mortgages, cattle were seized in distrainer, and the farmer himself was
+sent to jail. The smouldering fires of wrath thus kindled found
+expression in curses aimed at lawyers, judges, and merchants. The wicked
+merchants bought foreign goods and drained the state of specie to pay
+for them, while they drank Madeira wine and dressed their wives in fine
+velvets and laces. So said the farmers; and city ladies, far kinder than
+these railers deemed them, formed clubs, of which the members pledged
+themselves to wear homespun,&mdash;a poor palliative for the deep-seated ills
+of the time. In such mood were many of the villagers when in the summer
+of 1786 they were overtaken by the craze for paper money. At the meeting
+of the legislature in May, a petition came in from Bristol County,
+praying for an issue of paper. The petitioners admitted that such money
+was sure to deteriorate in value, and they doubted the wisdom of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> trying
+to keep it up by forcing acts. Instead of this they would have the rate
+of its deterioration regulated by law, so that a dollar might be worth
+ninety cents to-day, and presently seventy cents, and by and by fifty
+cents, and so on till it should go down to zero and be thrown overboard.
+People would thus know what to expect, and it would be all right. The
+delicious <i>na&iuml;vet&eacute;</i> of this argument did not prevail with the
+legislature of Massachusetts, and soft money was frowned down by a vote
+of ninety-nine to nineteen. Then a bill was brought in seeking to
+re&euml;stablish in legislation the ancient practice of barter, and make
+horses and cows legal tender for debts; and this bill was crushed by
+eighty-nine votes against thirty-five. At the same time this legislature
+passed a bill to strengthen the federal government by a grant of
+supplementary funds to Congress, and thus laid a further burden of taxes
+upon the people.</p>
+
+<p>There was an outburst of popular wrath. A convention at Hatfield in
+August decided that the court of common pleas ought to be abolished,
+that no funds should be granted to Congress, and that paper money should
+be issued at once. Another convention at Lenox denounced such incendiary
+measures, approved of supporting the federal government, and declared
+that no good could come from the issue of paper money. But meanwhile the
+angry farmers had resorted to violence. The legislature, they said, had
+its sittings in Boston, under the influence of wicked lawyers and
+merchants, and thus could not be expected to do the will of the people.
+A cry went up that henceforth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> the law-makers must sit in some small
+inland town, where jealous eyes might watch their proceedings. Meanwhile
+the lawyers must be dealt with; and at Northampton, Worcester, Great
+Barrington, and Concord the courts were broken up by armed mobs. At
+Concord one Job Shattuck brought several hundred armed men into the town
+and surrounded the court-house, while in a fierce harangue he declared
+that the time had come for wiping out all debts. "Yes," squeaked a nasal
+voice from the crowd,&mdash;"yes, Job, we know all about them two farms you
+can't never pay for!" But this repartee did not save the judges, who
+thought it best to flee from the town. At first the legislature deemed
+it wise to take a lenient view of these proceedings, and it even went so
+far as to promise to hold its next session out of Boston. But the
+agitation had reached a point where it could not be stayed. In September
+the supreme court was to sit at Springfield, and Governor Bowdoin sent a
+force of 600 militia under General Shepard to protect it. They were
+confronted by some 600 insurgents, under the leadership of Daniel Shays.
+This man had been a captain in the Continental army, and in his force
+were many of the penniless veterans whom Gates would fain have incited
+to rebellion at Newburgh. Shays seems to have done what he could to
+restrain his men from violence, but he was a poor creature, wanting
+alike in courage and good faith. On the other hand the militia were
+lacking in spirit. After a disorderly parley, with much cursing and
+swearing, they beat a retreat, and the court was prevented from sitting.
+Fresh riots <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>followed at Worcester and Concord. A regiment of cavalry,
+sent out by the governor, scoured Middlesex County, and, after a short
+fight in the woods near Groton, captured Job Shattuck and dispersed his
+men. But this only exasperated the insurgents. They assembled in
+Worcester to the number of 1,200 or more, where they lived for two
+months at free quarters, while Shays organized and drilled them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The insurrection suppressed by state troops.</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the habeas corpus act was suspended for eight months, and
+Governor Bowdoin called out an army of 4,400 men, who were placed under
+command of General Lincoln. As the state treasury was nearly empty, some
+wealthy gentlemen in Boston subscribed the money needed for equipping
+these troops, and about the middle of January, 1787, they were collected
+at Worcester. The rebels had behaved shamefully, burning barns and
+seizing all the plunder they could lay hands on. As their numbers
+increased they found their military stores inadequate, and accordingly
+they marched upon Springfield, with the intent to capture the federal
+arsenal there, and provide themselves with muskets and cannon. General
+Shepard held Springfield with 1,200 men, and on the 25th of January
+Shays attacked him with a force of somewhat more than 2,000, hoping to
+crush him and seize the arsenal before Lincoln could come to the rescue.
+But his plan of attack was faulty, and as soon as his men began falling
+under Shepard's fire a panic seized them, and they retreated in disorder
+to Ludlow, and then to Amherst, setting fire to houses and robbing the
+inhabitants. On the approach of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> Lincoln's army, three days later, Shays
+retreated to Pelham, and planted his forces on two steep hills protected
+at the bottom by huge snowdrifts. Lincoln advanced to Hadley and sought
+to open negotiations with the rebels. They were reminded that a contest
+with the state government was hopeless, and that they had already
+incurred the penalty of death; but if they would now lay down their arms
+and go home, a free pardon could be obtained for them. Shays seemed
+willing to yield, and Saturday, the 3d of February, was appointed for a
+conference between some of the leading rebels and some of the officers.
+But this was only a stratagem. During the conference Shays decamped and
+marched his men through Prescott and North Dana to Petersham. Toward
+nightfall the trick was discovered, and Lincoln set his whole force in
+motion over the mountain ridges of Shutesbury and New Salem. The day had
+been mild, but during the night the thermometer dropped below zero and
+an icy, cutting snow began to fall. There was great suffering during the
+last ten miles, and indeed the whole march of thirty miles in thirteen
+hours over steep and snow-covered roads was a worthy exploit for these
+veterans of the Revolution. Shays and his men had not looked for such a
+display of energy, and as they were getting their breakfast on Sunday
+morning at Petersham they were taken by surprise. A few minutes sufficed
+to scatter them in flight. A hundred and fifty, including Shays himself,
+were taken prisoners. The rest fled in all directions, most of them to
+Athol and Northfield,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> whence they made their way into Vermont. General
+Lincoln then marched his troops into the mountains of Berkshire, where
+disturbances still continued. On the 26th of February one Captain
+Hamlin, with several hundred insurgents, plundered the town of
+Stockbridge and carried off the leading citizens as hostages. He was
+pursued as far as Sheffield, defeated there in a sharp skirmish, with a
+loss of some thirty in killed and wounded, and his troops scattered.
+This put an end to the insurrection in Massachusetts.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Conduct of neighbouring states.</div>
+
+<p>During the autumn similar disturbances had occurred in the states to the
+northward. At Exeter in New Hampshire and at Windsor and Rutland in
+Vermont the courts had been broken up by armed mobs, and at Rutland
+there had been bloodshed. When the Shays rebellion was put down,
+Governor Bowdoin requested the neighbouring states to lend their aid in
+bringing the insurgents to justice, and all complied with the request
+except Vermont and Rhode Island. The legislature of Rhode Island
+sympathized with the rebels, and refused to allow the governor to issue
+a warrant for their arrest. On the other hand, the governor of Vermont
+issued a proclamation out of courtesy toward Massachusetts, but he
+caused it to be understood that this was but an empty form, as the state
+of Vermont could not afford to discourage immigration! A feeling of
+compassion for the insurgents was widely spread in Massachusetts. In
+March the leaders were tried, and fourteen were convicted of treason and
+sentenced to death; but Governor Bowdoin,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> whose term was about to
+expire, granted a reprieve for a few weeks. At the annual election in
+April the candidates for the governorship were Bowdoin and Hancock, and
+it was generally believed that the latter would be more likely than the
+former to pardon the convicted men. So strong was this feeling that,
+although much gratitude was felt toward Bowdoin, to whose energetic
+measures the prompt suppression of the rebellion was due, Hancock
+obtained a large majority. When the question of a pardon came up for
+discussion, Samuel Adams, who was then president of the senate, was
+strongly opposed to it, and one of his arguments was very
+characteristic. "In monarchies," he said, "the crime of treason and
+rebellion may admit of being pardoned or lightly punished; but the man
+who dares to rebel against the laws of a republic ought to suffer
+death." This was Adams's sensitive point. He wanted the whole world to
+realize that the rule of a republic is a rule of law and order, and that
+liberty does not mean license. But in spite of this view, for which
+there was much to be said, the clemency of the American temperament
+prevailed, and Governor Hancock pardoned all the prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing in the history of these disturbances is more instructive than
+the light incidentally thrown upon the relations between Congress and
+the state government. Just before the news of the rout at Petersham,
+Samuel Adams had proposed in the senate that the governor should be
+requested to write to Congress and inform that body of what was going on
+in Massachusetts, stating that "although<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> the legislature are firmly
+persuaded that ... in all probability they will be able speedily and
+effectively to suppress the rebellion, yet, if any unforeseen event
+should take place which may frustrate the measures of government, they
+rely upon such support from the United States as is expressly and
+solemnly stipulated by the articles of confederation." A resolution to
+this effect was carried in the senate, but defeated in the house through
+the influence of western county members in sympathy with the insurgents;
+and incredible as it may seem, the argument was freely used that it was
+incompatible with the dignity of Massachusetts to allow United States
+troops to set foot upon her soil. When we reflect that the arsenal at
+Springfield, where the most considerable disturbance occurred, was
+itself federal property, the climax of absurdity might seem to have been
+reached.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Congress afraid to interfere.</div>
+
+<p>It was left for Congress itself, however, to cap that climax. The
+progress of the insurrection in the autumn in Vermont, New Hampshire,
+and Massachusetts, as well as the troubles in Rhode Island, had alarmed
+the whole country. It was feared that the insurgents in these states
+might join forces, and in some way kindle a flame that would run through
+the land. Accordingly Congress in October called upon the states for a
+continental force, but did not dare to declare openly what it was to be
+used for. It was thought necessary to say that the troops were wanted
+for an expedition against the northwestern Indians! National humiliation
+could go no further than such a confession, on the part of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> our central
+government, that it dared not use force in defence of those very
+articles of confederation to which it owed its existence. Things had
+come to such a pass that people of all shades of opinion were beginning
+to agree upon one thing,&mdash;that something must be done, and done quickly.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">Creation of a national domain beyond the Alleghanies.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">While</span> the events we have heretofore contemplated seemed to prophesy the
+speedy dissolution and downfall of the half-formed American Union, a
+series of causes, obscure enough at first, but emerging gradually into
+distinctness and then into prominence, were preparing the way for the
+foundation of a national sovereignty. The growth of this sovereignty
+proceeded stealthily along such ancient lines of precedent as to take
+ready hold of people's minds, although few, if any, understood the full
+purport of what they were doing. Ever since the days when our English
+forefathers dwelt in village communities in the forests of northern
+Germany, the idea of a common land or folkland&mdash;a territory belonging to
+the whole community, and upon which new communities might be organized
+by a process analogous to what physiologists call
+cell-multiplication&mdash;had been perfectly familiar to everybody. Townships
+budded from village or parish folkland in Maryland and Massachusetts in
+the seventeenth century, just as they had done in England before the
+time of Alfred. The critical period of the Revolution witnessed the
+repetition of this process on a gigantic scale. It witnessed the
+creation of a national<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> territory beyond the Alleghanies,&mdash;an enormous
+folkland in which all the thirteen old states had a common interest, and
+upon which new and derivative communities were already beginning to
+organize themselves. Questions about public lands are often regarded as
+the driest of historical deadwood. Discussions about them in newspapers
+and magazines belong to the class of articles which the general reader
+usually skips. Yet there is a great deal of the philosophy of history
+wrapped up in this subject, and it now comes to confront us at a most
+interesting moment; for without studying this creation of a national
+domain between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, we cannot understand
+how our Federal Union came to be formed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Conflicting claims to the western territory.</div>
+
+<p>When England began to contend with France and Spain for the possession
+of North America, she made royal grants of land upon this continent, in
+royal ignorance of its extent and configuration. But until the Seven
+Years' War the eastward and westward partitioning of these grants was of
+little practical consequence; for English dominion was bounded by the
+Alleghanies, and everything beyond was in the hands of the French. In
+that most momentous war the genius of the elder Pitt won the region east
+of the Mississippi for men of English race, while the vast territory of
+Louisiana, beyond, passed under the control of Spain. During the
+Revolutionary War, in a series of romantic expeditions, the state of
+Virginia took military possession of a great part of the wilderness east
+of the Mississippi, founding towns in the Ohio and Cumberland valleys,
+and occupying with garrisons of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> her state militia the posts at Cahokia,
+Kaskaskia, and Vincennes. We have seen how, through the skill of our
+commissioners at Paris, this noble country was secured for the Americans
+in the treaty of 1783, in spite of the reluctance of France and the
+hostility of Spain. Throughout the Revolutionary War the Americans
+claimed the territory as part of the United States; but when once it
+passed from under the control of Great Britain, into whose hands did it
+go? To whom did it belong? To this question there were various and
+conflicting answers. North Carolina, indeed, had already taken
+possession of what was afterward called Tennessee, and at the beginning
+of the war Virginia had annexed Kentucky. As to these points there could
+be little or no dispute. But with the territory north of the Ohio River
+it was very different. Four states laid claim either to the whole or to
+parts of this territory, and these claims were not simply conflicting,
+but irreconcilable.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut.</div>
+
+<p>The charters of Massachusetts and Connecticut were framed at a time when
+people had not got over the notion that this part of the continent was
+not much wider than Mexico, and accordingly these colonies had received
+the royal permission to extend from sea to sea. The existence of a
+foreign colony of Dutchmen in the neighbourhood was a trifle about which
+these documents did not trouble themselves; but when Charles II.
+conquered this colony and bestowed it upon his brother, the province of
+New York became a stubborn fact, which could not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> be disregarded.
+Massachusetts and Connecticut peaceably settled their boundary line with
+New York, and laid no claims to land within the limits of that state;
+but they still continued to claim what lay beyond it, as far as the
+Mississippi River, where the Spanish dominion now began. The regions
+claimed by Massachusetts have since become the southern halves of the
+states of Michigan and Wisconsin. The region claimed by Connecticut was
+a narrow strip running over the northern portions of Pennsylvania, Ohio,
+Indiana, and Illinois; and we have seen how much trouble was occasioned
+in Pennsylvania by this circumstance.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Claims of New York.</div>
+
+<p>But New York laughed to scorn these claims of Connecticut. In the
+seventeenth century all the Algonquin tribes between Lake Erie and the
+Cumberland Mountains had become tributary to the Iroquois; and during
+the hundred years' struggle between France and England for the supremacy
+of this continent the Iroquois had put themselves under the protection
+of England, which thenceforth always treated them as an appurtenance to
+New York. For a hundred years before the Revolution, said New York, she
+had borne the expense of protecting the Iroquois against the French, and
+by various treaties she had become lawful suzerain over the Six Nations
+and their lands and the lands of their Algonquin vassals. On such
+grounds New York claimed pretty much everything north of the Ohio and
+east of the Miami.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Virginia's claims.</div>
+
+<p>But according to Virginia, it made little difference what Massachusetts
+and Connecticut and New<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> York thought about the matter, for every acre
+of land, from the Ohio River up to Lake Superior, belonged to her. Was
+not she the lordly "Old Dominion," out of which every one of the states
+had been carved? Even Cape Cod and Cape Ann were said to be in "North
+Virginia," until, in 1614, Captain John Smith invented the name "New
+England." It was a fair presumption that any uncarved territory belonged
+to Virginia; and it was further held that the original charter of 1609
+used language which implicitly covered the northwestern territory,
+though, as Thomas Paine showed, in a pamphlet entitled "Public Good,"
+this was very doubtful. But besides all this, it was Virginia that had
+actually conquered the disputed territory, and held every military post
+in it except those which the British had not surrendered; and who could
+doubt that possession was nine points in the law?</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Maryland's novel and beneficent suggestion, Oct. 15, 1777.</div>
+
+<p>Of these conflicting claims, those of New York and Virginia were the
+most grasping and the most formidable, because they concerned a region
+into which immigration was beginning rapidly to pour. They were regarded
+with strong disfavour by the small states, Rhode Island, New Jersey,
+Delaware, and Maryland, which were so situated that they never could
+expand in any direction. They looked forward with dread to a future in
+which New York and Virginia might wax powerful enough to tyrannize over
+their smaller neighbours. But of these protesting states it was only
+Maryland that fairly rose to the occasion, and suggested an idea which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
+seemed startling at first, but from which mighty and unforeseen
+consequences were soon to follow.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> It was on the 15th of October,
+1777, just two days before Burgoyne's surrender, that this path-breaking
+idea first found expression in Congress. The articles of confederation
+were then just about to be presented to the several states to be
+ratified, and the question arose as to how the conflicting western
+claims should be settled. A motion was then made that "the United States
+in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power
+to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such states as claim to the
+Mississippi, ... and lay out the land beyond the boundary so ascertained
+into separate and independent states, from time to time, as the numbers
+and circumstances of the people may require." To carry out such a
+motion, it would be necessary for the four claimant states to surrender
+their claims into the hands of the United States, and thus create a
+domain which should be owned by the confederacy in common. So bold a
+step towards centralization found no favour at the time. No other state
+but Maryland voted for it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The several states yield their claims in favour of the United
+States, 1780&ndash;85.</div>
+
+<p>But Maryland's course was well considered: she pursued it resolutely,
+and was rewarded with complete success. By February, 1779, all the other
+states had ratified the articles of confederation. In the following May,
+Maryland declared that she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> would not ratify the articles until she
+should receive some definite assurance that the northwestern territory
+should become the common property of the United States, "subject to be
+parcelled out by Congress into free, convenient, and independent
+governments." The question, thus boldly brought into the foreground, was
+earnestly discussed in Congress and in the state legislatures, until in
+February, 1780, partly through the influence of General Schuyler, New
+York decided to cede all her claims to the western lands. This act of
+New York set things in motion, so that in September Congress recommended
+to all states having western claims to cede them to the United States.
+In October, Congress, still pursuing the Maryland idea, went farther,
+and declared that all such lands as might be ceded should be sold in
+lots to immigrants and the money used for federal purposes, and that in
+due season distinct states should be formed there, to be admitted into
+the Union, with the same rights of sovereignty as the original thirteen
+states. As an inducement to Virginia, it was further provided that any
+state which had incurred expense during the war in defending its western
+possessions should receive compensation. To this general invitation
+Connecticut immediately responded by offering to cede everything to
+which she laid claim, except 3,250,000 acres on the southern shore of
+Lake Erie, which she wished to reserve for educational purposes.
+Washington disapproved of this reservation, but it was accepted by
+Congress, though the business was not completed until 1786. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> part
+of the state of Ohio is still commonly spoken of as the "Connecticut
+Reserve." Half a million acres were given to citizens of Connecticut
+whose property had been destroyed in the British raids upon her coast
+towns, and the rest were sold, in 1795, for $1,200,000, in aid of
+schools and colleges.</p>
+
+<p>In January, 1781, Virginia offered to surrender all the territory
+northwest of the Ohio, provided that Congress would guarantee her in the
+possession of Kentucky. This gave rise to a discussion which lasted
+nearly three years, until Virginia withdrew her proviso and made the
+cession absolute. It was accepted by Congress on the 1st of March, 1784,
+and on the 19th of April, in the following year,&mdash;the tenth anniversary
+of Lexington,&mdash;Massachusetts surrendered her claims; and the whole
+northwestern territory&mdash;the area of the great states of Michigan,
+Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio (excepting the Connecticut
+Reserve)&mdash;thus became the common property of the half-formed nation.
+Maryland, however, did not wait for this. As soon as New York and
+Virginia had become thoroughly committed to the movement, she ratified
+the articles of confederation, which thus went into operation on the 1st
+of March, 1781.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Magnanimity of Virginia.</div>
+
+<p>This acquisition of a common territory speedily led to results not at
+all contemplated in the theory of union upon which the articles of
+confederation were based. It led to "the exercise of national
+sovereignty in the sense of eminent domain," as shown in the ordinances
+of 1784 and 1787, and prepared men's minds for the work of the Federal
+Convention. Great credit is due to Maryland for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> her resolute course in
+setting in motion this train of events. It aroused fierce indignation at
+the time, as to many people it looked unfriendly to the Union. Some
+hot-heads were even heard to say that if Maryland should persist any
+longer in her refusal to join the confederation, she ought to be
+summarily divided up between the neighbouring states, and her name
+erased from the map. But the brave little state had earned a better fate
+than that of Poland. When we have come to trace out the results of her
+action, we shall see that just as it was Massachusetts that took the
+decisive step in bringing on the Revolutionary War when she threw the
+tea into Boston harbour, so it was Maryland that, by leading the way
+toward the creation of a national domain, laid the corner-stone of our
+Federal Union. Equal credit must be given to Virginia for her
+magnanimity in making the desired surrender. It was New York, indeed,
+that set the praiseworthy example; but New York, after all, surrendered
+only a shadowy claim, whereas Virginia gave up a magnificent and
+princely territory of which she was actually in possession. She might
+have held back and made endless trouble, just as, at the beginning of
+the Revolution, she might have refused to make common cause with
+Massachusetts; but in both instances her leading statesmen showed a
+far-sighted wisdom and a breadth of patriotism for which no words of
+praise can be too strong. In the later instance, as in the earlier,
+Thomas Jefferson played an important part. He, who in after years, as
+president of the United States, was destined, by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> the purchase of
+Louisiana, to carry our western frontier beyond the Rocky Mountains,
+had, in 1779, done more than any one else to support the romantic
+campaign in which General Clark had taken possession of the country
+between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. He had much to do with the
+generous policy which gave up the greater part of that country for a
+national domain, and on the very day on which the act of cession was
+completed he presented to Congress a remarkable plan for the government
+of the new territory, which was only partially successful because it
+attempted too much, but the results of which were in many ways notable.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Jefferson proposes a scheme of government for the
+northwestern territory, 1784.</div>
+
+<p>In this plan, known as the Ordinance of 1784, Jefferson proposed to
+divide the northwestern territory into ten states, or just twice as many
+as have actually grown out of it. In each of these states the settlers
+might establish a local government, under the authority of Congress; and
+when in any one of them the population should come to equal that of the
+least populous of the original states, it might be admitted into the
+Union by the consent of nine states in Congress. The new states were to
+have universal suffrage; they must have republican forms of government;
+they must pay their shares of the federal debt; they must forever remain
+a part of the United States; and after the year 1800 negro slavery must
+be prohibited within their limits. The names of these ten states have
+afforded much amusement to Jefferson's biographers. In those days the
+schoolmaster was abroad in the land after a peculiar fashion. Just as we
+are now in the full<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> tide of that Gothic revival which goes back for its
+beginnings to Sir Walter Scott; as we admire medi&aelig;val things, and try to
+build our houses after old English models, and prefer words of what
+people call "Saxon" origin, and name our children Roland and Herbert, or
+Edith and Winifred, so our great-grandfathers lived in a time of
+classical revival. They were always looking for precedents in Greek and
+Roman history; they were just beginning to try to make their wooden
+houses look like temples, with Doric columns; they preferred words of
+Latin origin; they signed their pamphlets "Brutus" and "Lycurgus," and
+in sober earnest baptized their children as C&aelig;sar, or Marcellus, or
+Darius. The map of the United States was just about to bloom forth with
+towns named Ithaca and Syracuse, Corinth and Sparta; and on the Ohio
+River, opposite the mouth of Licking Creek, a city had lately been
+founded, the name of which was truly portentous. "Losantiville" was this
+wonderful compound, in which the initial <i>L</i> stood for "Licking," while
+<i>os</i> signified "mouth," <i>anti</i> "opposite," and <i>ville</i> "town;" and the
+whole read backwards as "Town-opposite-mouth-of-Licking." In 1790
+General St. Clair, then governor of the northwest territory, changed
+this name to Cincinnati, in honor of the military order to which he
+belonged. With such examples in mind, we may see that the names of the
+proposed ten states, from which the failure of Jefferson's ordinance has
+delivered us, illustrated the prevalent taste of the time rather than
+any idiosyncrasy of the man. The proposed names were Sylvania,
+Michigania, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>Chersonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Illinoia, Saratoga,
+Washington, Polypotamia, and Pelisipia.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">He wishes to prohibit slavery in the national domain.</div>
+
+<p>It was not the nomenclature that stood in the way of Jefferson's scheme,
+but the wholesale way in which he tried to deal with the slavery
+question. He wished to hem in the probable extension of slavery by an
+impassable barrier, and accordingly he not only provided that it should
+be extinguished in the northwestern territory after the year 1800, but
+at the same time his anti-slavery ardour led him to try to extend the
+national dominion southward. He did his best to persuade the legislature
+of Virginia to crown its work by giving up Kentucky to the United
+States, and he urged that North Carolina and Georgia should also cede
+their western territories. As for South Carolina, she was shut in
+between the two neighbouring states in such wise that her western claims
+were vague and barren. Jefferson would thus have drawn a north-and-south
+line from Lake Erie down to the Spanish border of the Floridas, and west
+of this line he would have had all negro slavery end with the eighteenth
+century. The policy of restricting slavery, so as to let it die a
+natural death within a narrowly confined area,&mdash;the policy to sustain
+which Mr. Lincoln was elected president in 1860,&mdash;was thus first
+definitely outlined by Jefferson in 1784. It was the policy of
+forbidding slavery in the national territory. Had this policy succeeded
+then, it would have been an ounce of prevention worth many a pound of
+cure. But it failed because of its largeness, because it had too many
+elements to deal with. For the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> moment, the proposal to exclude slavery
+from the northwestern territory was defeated, because of the two thirds
+vote required in Congress for any important measure. It got only seven
+states in its favour, where it needed nine. This defeat, however, was
+retrieved three years later, when the famous Ordinance of 1787
+prohibited slavery forever from the national territory north of the Ohio
+River. But Jefferson's scheme had not only to deal with the national
+domain as it was, but also to extend that domain southward to Florida;
+and in this it failed. Virginia could not be persuaded to give up
+Kentucky until too late. When Kentucky came into the Union, after the
+adoption of the Federal Constitution, she came as a sovereign state,
+with all her domestic institutions in her own hands. With the western
+districts of North Carolina the case was somewhat different, and the
+story of this region throws a curious light upon the affairs of that
+disorderly time.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">John Sevier, and the state of Franklin, 1784&ndash;-87.</div>
+
+<p>In surrendering her western territory, North Carolina showed
+praiseworthy generosity. But the frontier settlers were too numerous to
+be handed about from one dominion to another, without saying something
+about it themselves; and their action complicated the matter, until it
+was too late for Jefferson's scheme to operate upon them. In June, 1784,
+North Carolina ceded the region since known as Tennessee, and allowed
+Congress two years in which to accept the grant. Meanwhile, her own
+authority was to remain supreme there. But the settlers grumbled and
+protested. Some of them were sturdy pioneers of the finest type, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+along with these there was a lawless population of "white trash,"
+ancestors of the peculiar race of men we find to-day in rural districts
+of Missouri and Arkansas. They were the refuse of North Carolina,
+gradually pushed westward by the advance of an orderly civilization.
+Crime was rife in the settlements, and, in the absence of courts, a
+rough-and-ready justice was administered by vigilance committees. The
+Cherokees, moreover, were troublesome neighbours, and people lived in
+dread of their tomahawks. Petitions had again and again gone up to the
+legislature, urging the establishment of courts and a militia, but had
+passed unheeded, and now it seemed that the state had withdrawn her
+protection entirely. The settlers did not wish to have their country
+made a national domain. If their own state could not protect them, it
+was quite clear to them that Congress could not. What was Congress, any
+way, but a roomful of men whom nobody heeded? So these backwoodsmen held
+a convention in a log-cabin at Jonesborough, and seceded from North
+Carolina. They declared that the three counties between the Bald
+Mountains and the Holston River constituted an independent state, to
+which they gave the name of Franklin; and they went on to frame a
+constitution and elect a legislature with two chambers. For governor
+they chose John Sevier, one of the heroes of King's Mountain, a man of
+Huguenot ancestry, and such dauntless nature that he was generally known
+as the "lion of the border." Having done all this, the seceders, in
+spite of their small respect for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> Congress, sent a delegate to that
+body, requesting that the new state of Franklin might be admitted into
+the Union. Before this business had been completed, North Carolina
+repealed her act of cession, and warned the backwoodsmen to return to
+their allegiance. This at once split the new state into two factions:
+one party wished to keep on as they had now started, the other wished
+for reunion with North Carolina. In 1786 the one party in each county
+elected members to represent them in the North Carolina legislature,
+while the other party elected members of the legislature of Franklin.
+Everywhere two sets of officers claimed authority, civil dudgeon grew
+very high, and pistols were freely used. The agitation extended into the
+neighbouring counties of Virginia, where some discontented people wished
+to secede and join the state of Franklin. For the next two years there
+was something very like civil war, until the North Carolina party grew
+so strong that Sevier fled, and the state of Franklin ceased to exist.
+Sevier was arrested on a warrant for high treason, but he effected an
+escape, and after men's passions had cooled down his great services and
+strong character brought him again to the front. He sat in the senate of
+North Carolina, and in 1796, when Tennessee became a state in the Union,
+Sevier was her first governor.</p>
+
+<p>These troubles show how impracticable was the attempt to create a
+national domain in any part of the country which contained a
+considerable population. The instinct of self-government was too strong
+to allow it. Any such population would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> have refused to submit to
+ordinances of Congress. To obey the parent state or to set up for one's
+self,&mdash;these were the only alternatives which ordinary men at that time
+could understand. Experience had not yet ripened their minds for
+comprehending a temporary condition of semi-independence, such as exists
+to-day under our territorial governments. The behaviour of these
+Tennessee backwoodsmen was just what might have been expected. The land
+on which they were living was not common land: it had been appropriated;
+it belonged to them, and it was for them to make laws for it. Such is
+the lesson of the short-lived state of Franklin. It was because she
+perceived that similar feelings were at work in Kentucky that Virginia
+did not venture to loosen her grasp upon that state until it was fully
+organized and ready for admission into the Union. It was in no such
+partly settled country that Congress could do such a thing as carve out
+boundaries and prohibit slavery by an act of national sovereignty. There
+remained the magnificent territory north of the Ohio,&mdash;an empire in
+itself, as large as the German Empire, with the Netherlands thrown
+in,&mdash;in which the collective wisdom of the American people, as
+represented in Congress, might autocratically shape the future; for it
+was still a wilderness, watched by frontier garrisons, and save for the
+Indians and the trappers and a few sleepy old French towns on the
+eastern bank of the Mississippi, there were no signs of human life in
+all its vast solitude. Here, where there was nobody to grumble or
+secede, Congress, in 1787, proceeded to carry out the work which
+Jefferson had outlined three years before.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Origin of the Ohio company.</div>
+
+<p>It is interesting to trace the immediate origin of the famous Ordinance
+of 1787. At the close of the war General Rufus Putnam, from the mountain
+village of Rutland in Massachusetts, sent to Congress an outline of a
+plan for colonizing the region between Lake Erie and the Ohio with
+veterans of the army, who were well fitted to protect the border against
+Indian attacks. The land was to be laid out in townships six miles
+square, "with large reservations for the ministry and schools;" and by
+selling it to the soldiers at a merely nominal price, the penniless
+Congress might obtain an income, and at the same time recognize their
+services in the only substantial way that seemed practicable. Washington
+strongly favoured the scheme, but, in order to carry it out, it was
+necessary to wait until the cession of the territory by the various
+claimant states should be completed. After this had been done, a series
+of treaties were made with the Six Nations, as overlords, and their
+vassal tribes, the Wyandots, Chippewas, Ottawas, Delawares, and
+Shawnees, whereby all Indian claims to the lands in question were
+forever renounced. The matter was then formally taken up by Holden
+Parsons of Connecticut, and Rufus Putnam, Manasseh Cutler, Winthrop
+Sargent, and others, of Massachusetts, and a joint-stock company was
+formed for the purchase of lands on the Ohio River. A large number of
+settlers&mdash;old soldiers of excellent character, whom the war had
+impoverished&mdash;were ready to go and take possession at once; and in its
+petition the Ohio company asked for nothing better than that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> its
+settlers should be "under the immediate government of Congress in such
+mode and for such time as Congress shall judge proper." Such a proposal,
+affording a means at once of replenishing the treasury and satisfying
+the soldiers, could not but be accepted; and thus were laid the
+foundations of a state destined within a century to equal in population
+and far surpass in wealth the whole Union as it was at that time. It
+became necessary at once to lay down certain general principles of
+government applicable to the northwestern territory; and the result was
+the Ordinance of 1787, which was chiefly the work of Edward Carrington
+and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, and Nathan Dane of Massachusetts, in
+committee, following the outlines of a draft which is supposed to have
+been made by Manasseh Cutler. Jefferson was no longer on the ground,
+having gone on his mission to Paris, but some of the principles of his
+proposed Ordinance of 1784 were adopted.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Ordinance of 1787.</div>
+
+<p>It was provided that the northwestern territory should ultimately be
+carved into states, not exceeding five in number, and any one of these
+might be admitted into the Union as soon as its population should reach
+60,000. In the mean time, the whole territory was to be governed by
+officers appointed by Congress, and required to take an oath of
+allegiance to the United States. Under this government there was to be
+unqualified freedom of religious worship, and no religious tests should
+be required of any public official. Intestate property should descend in
+equal shares to children of both sexes. Public schools were to be
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>established. Suffrage was not yet made universal, as a freehold in
+fifty acres was required. No law was ever to be made which should impair
+the obligation of contracts, and it was thoroughly agreed that this
+provision especially covered and prohibited the issue of paper money.
+The future states to be formed from this territory must make their laws
+conform to these fundamental principles, and under no circumstances
+could any one of them ever be separated from the Union. In such wise,
+the theory of peaceful secession was condemned in advance, so far as it
+was possible for the federal government to do so. Jefferson's principle,
+that slavery should not be permitted in the national domain, was also
+adopted so far as the northwest was concerned; and it is interesting to
+observe the names of the states which were present in Congress when this
+clause was added to the ordinance. They were Georgia, the two Carolinas,
+Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts; and the
+vote was unanimous. No one was more active in bringing about this result
+than William Grayson of Virginia, who was earnestly supported by Lee.
+The action of Virginia and North Carolina at that time need not surprise
+us. But the movements in favour of emancipation in these two states, and
+the emancipation actually effected or going on at the north, had already
+made Georgia and South Carolina extremely sensitive about slavery; and
+their action on this occasion can be explained only by supposing that
+they were willing to yield a point in this remote territory, in order by
+and by to be able to insist upon an equivalent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> in the case of the
+territory lying west of Georgia. Nor would they have yielded at all had
+not a fugitive slave law been enacted, providing that slaves escaping
+beyond the Ohio should be arrested and returned to their owners. These
+arrangements having been made, General St. Clair was appointed governor
+of the territory; surveys were made; land was put up for sale at sixty
+cents per acre, payable in certificates of the public debt; and settlers
+rapidly came in. The westward exodus from New England and Pennsylvania
+now began, and only fourteen years elapsed before Ohio, the first of the
+five states, was admitted into the Union.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Theory of folkland upon which the ordinance was based.</div>
+
+<p>"I doubt," says Daniel Webster, "whether one single law of any
+law-giver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct,
+marked, and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787." Nothing could
+have been more emphatically an exercise of national sovereignty; yet, as
+Madison said, while warmly commending the act, Congress did it "without
+the least colour of constitutional authority." The ordinance was never
+submitted to the states for ratification. The articles of confederation
+had never contemplated an occasion for such a peculiar assertion of
+sovereignty. "A great and independent fund of revenue," said Madison,
+"is passing into the hands of a single body of men, who can raise troops
+to an indefinite number, and appropriate money to their support for an
+indefinite period of time.... Yet no blame has been whispered, no alarm
+has been sounded," even by men most zealous for state rights and most
+suspicious of Congress. Within a few months this argument<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> was to be
+cited with telling effect against those who hesitated to accept the
+Federal Constitution because of the great powers which it conferred upon
+the general government. Unless you give a government specific powers,
+commensurate with its objects, it is liable on occasions of public
+necessity to exercise powers which have not been granted. Avoid the
+dreadful dilemma between dissolution and usurpation, urged Madison, by
+clothing the government with powers that are ample but clearly defined.
+In a certain sense, the action of Congress in 1787 was a usurpation of
+authority to meet an emergency which no one had foreseen, as in the
+cases of Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana and Lincoln's emancipation of
+the slaves. Each of these instances marked, in one way or another, a
+brilliant epoch in American history, and in each case the public
+interest was so unmistakable that the people consented and applauded.
+The theory upon which the Ordinance of 1787 was based was one which
+nobody could fail to understand, though perhaps no one would then have
+known just how to put it into words. It was simply the thirteen states,
+through their delegates in Congress, dealing with the unoccupied
+national domain as if it were the common land or folkland of a
+stupendous township.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Spain, hearing of the secret article in the treaty of 1783,
+loses her temper and threatens to shut up the Mississippi River.</div>
+
+<p>The vast importance of the lands between the Alleghanies and the
+Mississippi was becoming more apparent every year, as the westward
+movement of population went on. But at this time their value was much
+more clearly seen by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> southern than by the northern states. In the
+north the westward emigration was only just beginning to pass the
+Alleghanies; in the south, as we have seen, it had gone beyond them
+several years ago. The southern states, accordingly, took a much sounder
+view than the northern states of the importance to the Union of the free
+navigation of the Mississippi River. The difference was forcibly
+illustrated in the dispute with Spain, which came to a crisis in the
+summer of 1786. It will be remembered that by the treaties which closed
+the Revolutionary War the provinces of East and West Florida were ceded
+by England to Spain. West Florida was the region lying between the
+Appalachicola and the Mississippi rivers, including the southernmost
+portions of the present states of Alabama and Mississippi. By the treaty
+between Great Britain and the United States, the northern boundary of
+this province was described by the thirty-first parallel of latitude;
+but Spain denied the right of these powers to place the boundary so low.
+Her troops still held Natchez, and she maintained that the boundary must
+be placed a hundred miles farther north, starting from the Mississippi
+at the mouth of the Yazoo River, near the present site of Vicksburg. Now
+the treaty between Great Britain and the United States contained a
+secret article, wherein it was provided that if England could contrive
+to keep West Florida, instead of surrendering it to Spain, then the
+boundary should start at the Yazoo. This showed that both England and
+the United States<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> were willing to yield the one to the other a strip of
+territory which both agreed in withholding from Spain. Presently the
+Spanish court got hold of the secret article, and there was great
+indignation. Here was England giving to the Americans a piece of land
+which she knew, and the Americans knew, was recently a part of West
+Florida, and therefore belonged to Spain! Castilian grandees went to bed
+and dreamed of invincible armadas. Congress was promptly informed that,
+until this affair should be set right, the Americans need not expect the
+Spanish government to make any treaty of commerce with them; and
+furthermore, let no American sloop or barge dare to show itself on the
+Mississippi below the Yazoo, under penalty of confiscation. When these
+threats were heard in America, there was great excitement everywhere,
+but it assumed opposite phases in the north and in the south. The
+merchants of New York and Boston cared little more about the Mississippi
+River than about Timbuctoo, but they were extremely anxious to see a
+commercial treaty concluded with Spain. On the other hand, the
+backwoodsmen of Kentucky and the state of Franklin cared nothing for the
+trade on the ocean, but they would not sit still while their corn and
+their pork were confiscated on the way to New Orleans. The people of
+Virginia sympathized with the backwoodsmen, but her great statesmen
+realized the importance of both interests and the danger of a conflict
+between them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Gardoqui and Jay.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Threats of secession in Kentucky and in New England, 1786.</div>
+
+<p>The Spanish envoy, Gardoqui, arrived in the summer of 1784, and had many
+interviews with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> Jay, who was then secretary for foreign affairs.
+Gardoqui set forth that his royal master was graciously pleased to deal
+leniently with the Americans, and would confer one favour upon them, but
+could not confer two. He was ready to enter into a treaty of commerce
+with us, but not until we should have renounced all claim to the
+navigation of the Mississippi River below the Yazoo. Here the Spaniard
+was inexorable. A year of weary argument passed by, and he had not
+budged an inch. At last, in despair, Jay advised Congress, for the sake
+of the commercial treaty, to consent to the closing of the Mississippi,
+but only for twenty-five years. As the rumour of this went abroad among
+the settlements south of the Ohio, there was an outburst of wrath, to
+which an incident that now occurred gave added virulence. A North
+Carolinian trader, named Amis, sailed down the Mississippi with a cargo
+of pots and kettles and barrels of flour. At Natchez his boat and his
+goods were seized by the Spanish officers, and he was left to make his
+way home afoot through several hundred miles of wilderness. The story of
+his wrongs flew from one log-cabin to another, until it reached the
+distant northwestern territory. In the neighbourhood of Vincennes there
+were Spanish traders, and one of them kept a shop in the town. The shop
+was sacked by a band of American soldiers, and an attempt was made to
+incite the Indians to attack the Spaniards. Indignation meetings were
+held in Kentucky. The people threatened to send a force of militia down
+the river and capture Natchez and New Orleans; and a more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> dangerous
+threat was made. Should the northeastern states desert them and adopt
+Jay's suggestion, they vowed they would secede, and throw themselves
+upon Great Britain for protection. On the other hand, there was great
+agitation in the seaboard towns of Massachusetts. They were disgusted
+with the backwoodsmen for making such a fuss about nothing, and with the
+people of the southern states for aiding and abetting them; and during
+this turbulent summer of 1786, many persons were heard to declare that,
+in case Jay's suggestion should not be adopted, it would be high time
+for the New England states to secede from the Union, and form a
+confederation by themselves. The situation was dangerous in the extreme.
+Had the question been forced to an issue, the southern states would
+never have seen their western territories go and offer themselves to
+Great Britain. Sooner than that, they would have broken away from the
+northern states. But New Jersey and Pennsylvania now came over to the
+southern side, and Rhode Island, moving in her eccentric orbit,
+presently joined them; and thus the treaty was postponed for the
+present, and the danger averted.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Washington's views on the importance of canals between east
+and west.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His far-sighted genius and self-devotion.</div>
+
+<p>This lamentable dispute was watched by Washington with feelings of
+gravest concern. From an early age he had indulged in prophetic dreams
+of the grandeur of the coming civilization in America, and had looked to
+the country beyond the mountains as the field in which the next
+generation was to find room for expansion. Few had been more efficient
+than he in aiding the great scheme of Pitt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> for overthrowing the French
+power in America, and he understood better than most men of his time how
+much that scheme implied. In his early journeys in the wilderness he had
+given especial attention to the possibilities of water connection
+between the east and west, and he had bought for himself and surveyed
+many extensive tracts of land beyond the mountains. The subject was a
+favourite one with him, and he looked at it from both a commercial and a
+political point of view. What we most needed, he said in 1770, were easy
+transit lines between east and west, as "the channel of conveyance of
+the extensive and valuable trade of a rising empire." Just before
+resigning his commission in 1783 Washington had explored the route
+through the Mohawk Valley, afterward taken first by the Erie Canal, and
+then by the New York Central Railroad, and had prophesied its commercial
+importance in the present century. Soon after reaching his home at Mount
+Vernon, he turned his attention to the improvement of intercourse with
+the west through the valley of the Potomac. The east and west, he said,
+must be cemented together by interests in common; otherwise they will
+break asunder. Without commercial intercourse they will cease to
+understand each other, and will thus be ripe for disagreement. It is
+easy for mental habits, as well as merchandise, to glide down stream,
+and the connections of the settlers beyond the mountains all centre in
+New Orleans, which is in the hands of a foreign and hostile power. No
+one can tell what complications may arise from this,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> argued Washington;
+"let us bind these people to us by a chain that can never be broken;"
+and with characteristic energy he set to work at once to establish that
+line of communication that has since grown into the Chesapeake and Ohio
+Canal, and into the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. During the three years
+preceding the meeting of the Federal Convention he was largely occupied
+with this work. In 1785 he became president of a company for extending
+the navigation of the Potomac and James rivers, and the legislature of
+Virginia passed an act vesting him with one hundred and fifty shares in
+the stock of the company, in order to testify their "sense of his
+unexampled merits." But Washington refused the testimonial, and declined
+to take any pay for his services, because he wished to arouse the people
+to the political importance of the undertaking, and felt that his words
+would have more weight if he were known to have no selfish interest in
+it. His sole purpose, as he repeatedly said, was to strengthen the
+spirit of union by cementing the eastern and western regions together.
+At this time he could ill afford to give his services without pay, for
+his long absence in war-time had sadly impaired his estate. But such was
+Washington.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Maryland confers with Virginia regarding the navigation of
+the Potomac, 1785.</div>
+
+<p>In order to carry out the enterprise of extending the navigation of the
+Potomac, it became necessary for the two states Virginia and Maryland to
+act in concert; and early in 1785 a joint commission of the two states
+met for consultation at Washington's house at Mount Vernon. A compact
+insuring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> harmonious co&ouml;peration was prepared by the commissioners; and
+then, as Washington's scheme involved the connection of the head waters
+of the Potomac with those of the Ohio, it was found necessary to invite
+Pennsylvania to become a party to the compact. Then Washington took the
+occasion to suggest that Maryland and Virginia, while they were about
+it, should agree upon a uniform system of duties and other commercial
+regulations, and upon a uniform currency; and these suggestions were
+sent, together with the compact, to the legislatures of the two states.
+Great things were destined to come from these modest beginnings. Just as
+in the Yorktown campaign, there had come into existence a multifarious
+assemblage of events, apparently unconnected with one another, and all
+that was needed was the impulse given by Washington's far-sighted genius
+to set them all at work, surging, swelling, and hurrying straight
+forward to a decisive result.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Madison's motion; a step in advance, 1785.</div>
+
+<p>Late in 1785, when the Virginia legislature had wrangled itself into
+imbecility over the question of clothing Congress with power over trade,
+Madison hit upon an expedient. He prepared a motion to the effect that
+commissioners from all the states should hold a meeting, and discuss the
+best method of securing a uniform treatment of commercial questions; but
+as he was most conspicuous among the advocates of a more perfect union,
+he was careful not to present the motion himself. Keeping in the
+background, he persuaded another member&mdash;John Tyler, father of the
+president of that name, a fierce<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> zealot for state rights&mdash;to make the
+motion. The plan, however, was "so little acceptable that it was not
+then persisted in," and the motion was laid on the table. But Madison
+knew what was coming from Maryland, and bided his time. After some weeks
+it was announced that Maryland had adopted the compact made at Mount
+Vernon concerning jurisdiction over the Potomac. Virginia instantly
+replied by adopting it also. Then it was suggested, in the report from
+Maryland, that Delaware, as well as Pennsylvania, ought to be consulted,
+since the scheme should rightly include a canal between the Delaware
+River and the Chesapeake Bay. And why not also consult with these states
+about a uniform system of duties? If two states can agree upon these
+matters, why not four? And still further, said the Maryland
+message,&mdash;dropping the weightiest part of the proposal into a
+subordinate clause, just as women are said to put the quintessence of
+their letters into the postscript,&mdash;might it not be well enough, if we
+are going to have such a conference, to invite commissioners from all
+the thirteen states to attend it? An informal discussion can hurt
+nobody. The conference of itself can settle nothing; and if four states
+can take part in it, why not thirteen? Here was the golden opportunity.
+The Madison-Tyler motion was taken up from the table and carried.
+Commissioners from all the states were invited to meet on the first
+Monday of September, 1786, at Annapolis,&mdash;a safe place, far removed from
+the influence of that dread tyrant, the Congress, and from wicked
+centres of trade, such as New York<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> and Boston. It was the governor of
+Virginia who sent the invitations. It may not amount to much, wrote
+Madison to Monroe, but "the expedient is better than nothing; and, as
+the recommendation of additional powers to Congress is within the
+purview of the commission, it may possibly lead to better consequences
+than at first occur."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Convention at Annapolis, Sept. 11, 1786.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Hamilton's address; a further step in advance.</div>
+
+<p>The seed dropped by Washington had fallen on fruitful soil. At first it
+was to be just a little meeting of two or three states to talk about the
+Potomac River and some projected canals, and already it had come to be a
+meeting of all the states to discuss some uniform system of legislation
+on the subject of trade. This looked like progress, yet when the
+convention was gathered at Annapolis, on the 11th of September, the
+outlook was most discouraging. Commissioners were there from Virginia,
+Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Massachusetts and New
+Hampshire, Rhode Island and North Carolina, had duly appointed
+commissioners, but they were not there. It is curious to observe that
+Maryland, which had been so earnest in the matter, had nevertheless now
+neglected to appoint commissioners; and no action had been taken by
+Georgia, South Carolina, or Connecticut. With only five states
+represented, the commissioners did not think it worth while to go on
+with their work. But before adjourning they adopted an address, written
+by Alexander Hamilton, and sent it to all the states. All the
+commissioners present had been empowered to consider how far a uniform
+commercial system might be essential to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>permanent harmony of the
+states. But New Jersey had taken a step in advance, and instructed her
+delegates "to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial
+regulations <i>and other important matters</i> might be necessary to the
+common interest and permanent harmony of the several states." <i>And other
+important matters</i>,&mdash;thus again was the weightiest part of the business
+relegated to a subordinate clause. So gingerly was the great
+question&mdash;so dreaded, yet so inevitable&mdash;approached! This reference to
+"other matters" was pronounced by the commissioners to be a vast
+improvement on the original plan; and Hamilton's address now urged that
+commissioners be appointed by all the states, to meet in convention at
+Philadelphia on the second Monday of the following May, "to devise such
+further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the
+constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the
+Union, and to report to Congress such an act as, when agreed to by them,
+and confirmed by the legislatures of every state, would effectually
+provide for the same." The report of the commissioners was brought
+before Congress in October, in the hope that Congress would earnestly
+recommend to the several states the course of action therein suggested.
+But Nathan Dane and Rufus King of Massachusetts, intent upon
+technicalities, succeeded in preventing this. According to King, a
+convention was an irregular body, which had no right to propose changes
+in the organic law of the land, and the state legislatures could not
+properly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> confirm the acts of such a body, or take notice of them.
+Congress was the only source from which such proposals could properly
+emanate. These arguments were pleasing to the self-love of Congress, and
+it refused to sanction the plan of the Annapolis commissioners.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">New York defeats the impost amendment.</div>
+
+<p>In an ordinary season this would perhaps have ended the matter, but the
+winter of 1786&ndash;87 was not an ordinary season. All the troubles above
+described seemed to culminate just at this moment. The paper-money craze
+in so many of the states, the shameful deeds of Rhode Island, the riots
+in Vermont and New Hampshire, the Shays rebellion in Massachusetts, the
+dispute with Spain, and the consequent imminent danger of separation
+between north and south had all come together; and the feeling of
+thoughtful men and women throughout the country was one of real
+consternation. The last ounce was now to be put upon the camel's back in
+the failure of the impost amendment. In 1783, when the cessions of
+western lands were creating a national domain, a promising plan had been
+devised for relieving the country of its load of debt, and furnishing
+Congress with money for its current expenses. All the money coming from
+sales of the western folkland was to be applied to reducing and wiping
+out the principal of the public debt. Then the interest of this debt
+must be provided for; and to that end Congress had recommended an
+impost, or system of custom-house duties, upon liquors, sugars, teas,
+coffees, cocoa, molasses, and pepper. This impost was to be kept up for
+twenty-five years only, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> the collectors were to be appointed by the
+several states, each for its own ports. Then for the current expenses of
+the government, supplementary funds were needed; and these were to be
+assessed upon the several states, each of which might raise its quota as
+it saw fit. Such was the original plan; but it soon turned out that the
+only available source of revenue was the national domain, which had thus
+been nothing less than the principal thread which had held the Union
+together. As for the impost, it had never been possible to get a
+sufficient number of states to agree upon it, and of the quotas for
+current expenses, as we have seen, very little had found its way to the
+federal treasury. Under these difficulties, it had been proposed that an
+amendment to the articles of confederation should endow Congress with
+the power of levying customs-duties and appointing the collectors; and
+by the summer of 1786, after endless wrangling, twelve states had
+consented to the amendment. But, in order that an amendment should be
+adopted, unanimous consent was necessary. The one delinquent state,
+which thus blocked the wheels of the confederacy, was New York. She had
+her little system of duties all nicely arranged for what seemed to be
+her own interests, and she would not surrender this system to Congress.
+Upon the neighbouring states her tariff system bore hard, and especially
+upon New Jersey. In 1786 this little state flatly refused to pay her
+quota until New York should stop discriminating against her trade.
+Nothing which occurred in that troubled year caused more alarm than
+this, for it could not be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> denied that such a declaration seemed little
+less than an act of secession on the part of New Jersey. The arguments
+of a congressional committee at last prevailed upon the state to rescind
+her declaration. At the same time there came the final struggle in New
+York over the impost amendment, against which Governor Clinton had
+firmly set his face. There was a fierce fight, in which Hamilton's most
+strenuous efforts succeeded in carrying the amendment in part, but not
+until it had been clogged with a condition that made it useless.
+Congress, it was declared, might have the revenue, but New York must
+appoint the collectors; she was not going to have federal officials
+rummaging about her docks. The legislature well knew that to grant the
+amendment in such wise was not to grant it at all, but simply to reopen
+the whole question. Such was the result. Congress expostulated in vain.
+On the 15th of February, 1787, the matter was reconsidered in the New
+York legislature, and the impost amendment was defeated.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Sudden changes in popular sentiment.</div>
+
+<p>Thus, only three months before the Federal Convention was to meet, if
+indeed it was ever to meet, Congress was decisively informed that it
+would not be allowed to take any effectual measures for raising a
+revenue. There now seemed nothing left for Congress to do but adopt the
+recommendation of the Annapolis commissioners, and give its sanction to
+the proposed convention. Madison, however, had not waited for this, but
+had prevailed upon the Virginia legislature to go on and appoint its
+delegates to the convention. The events of the year had worked a change
+in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> popular sentiment in Virginia; people were more afraid of
+anarchy, and not quite so much afraid of centralization; and now, under
+Madison's lead, Virginia played her trump card and chose George
+Washington as one of her delegates. As soon as this was known, there was
+an outburst of joy throughout the land. All at once the people began
+everywhere to feel an interest in the proposed convention, and presently
+Massachusetts changed her attitude. Up to this time Massachusetts had
+been as obstinate in her assertion of local independence, and as
+unwilling to strengthen the hands of Congress, as any of the thirteen
+states, except New York and Rhode Island. But the Shays rebellion had
+served as a useful object-lesson. Part of the distress in Massachusetts
+could be traced to the inability of Congress to pay debts which it owed
+to her citizens. It was felt that the time had come when the question of
+a national revenue must be seriously considered. Every week saw fresh
+converts to the party which called for a stronger government. Then came
+the news that Virginia had chosen delegates, and that Washington was one
+of them; then that New Jersey had followed the example; then that
+Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Delaware, had chosen delegates. It was
+time for Massachusetts to act, and Rufus King now brought the matter up
+in Congress. His scruples as to the legality of the proceeding had not
+changed, and accordingly he moved that Congress should of itself propose
+a convention at Philadelphia, identical with the one which the Annapolis
+commissioners had already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> recommended. The motion was carried, and in
+this way Congress formally approved and adopted what was going on.
+Massachusetts immediately chose delegates, and was followed by New York.
+In April, Georgia and South Carolina followed suit. Connecticut and
+Maryland came on in May, and New Hampshire, somewhat tardily, in June.
+Of the thirteen states, Rhode Island alone refused to take any part in
+the proceedings.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Federal Convention meets at Philadelphia, May 14&ndash;25,
+1787.</div>
+
+<p>The convention held its meetings in that plain brick building in
+Philadelphia already immortalized as the place from which the
+Declaration of Independence was published to the world. The work which
+these men were undertaking was to determine whether that Declaration had
+been for the blessing or the injury of America and of mankind. That they
+had succeeded in assembling here at all was somewhat remarkable, when we
+think of the curious medley of incidents that led to it. At no time in
+this distressed period would a frank and abrupt proposal for a
+convention to remodel the government have found favour. Such proposals,
+indeed, had been made, beginning with that of Pelatiah Webster in 1781,
+and they had all failed to break through the crust of a truly English
+conservatism and dread of centralized power. Now, through what some
+might have called a strange chapter of accidents, before the element of
+causal sequence in it all had become so manifest as it is to us to-day,
+this remarkable group of men had been brought together in a single room,
+while even yet but few of them realized how thoroughly and exhaustively<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+reconstructive their work was to be. To most of them it was not clear
+whether they were going merely to patch up the articles of
+confederation, or to strike out into a new and very different path.
+There were a few who entertained far-reaching purposes; the rest were
+intelligent critics rather than constructive thinkers; the result was
+surprising to all. It is worth our while to pause for a moment, and
+observe the character and composition of one of the most memorable
+assemblies the world has ever seen. Mr. Gladstone says that just "as the
+British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded
+from progressive history, so the American Constitution is the most
+wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose
+of man."<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Let us now see who the men were who did this wonderful
+work,&mdash;this Iliad, or Parthenon, or Fifth Symphony, of statesmanship. We
+shall not find that they were all great geniuses. Such is never the case
+in such an assembly. There are not enough great geniuses to go around;
+and if there were, it is questionable if the result would be
+satisfactory. In such discussions the points which impress the more
+ordinary and less far-sighted members are sure to have great value;
+especially when we bear in mind that the object of such an assembly is
+not merely to elaborate a plan, but to get the great mass of people,
+including the brick-layers and hod-carriers, to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>understand it well
+enough to vote for it. An ideally perfect assembly of law-makers will
+therefore contain two or three men of original constructive genius, two
+or three leading spirits eminent for shrewdness and tact, a dozen or
+more excellent critics representing various conflicting interests, and a
+rank and file of thoroughly respectable, commonplace men, unfitted for
+shining in the work of the meeting, but admirably competent to proclaim
+its results and get their friends and neighbours to adopt them. And in
+such an assembly, even if it be such as we call ideally perfect, we must
+allow something for the presence of a few hot-headed and irreconcilable
+members,&mdash;men of inflexible mind, who cannot adapt themselves to
+circumstances, and will refuse to play when they see the game going
+against them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The men who were assembled.</div>
+
+<p>All these points are well illustrated in the assemblage of men that
+framed our Federal Constitution. In its composition, this group of men
+left nothing to be desired. In its strength and in its weakness, it was
+an ideally perfect assembly. There were fifty-five men, all of them
+respectable for family and for personal qualities,&mdash;men who had been
+well educated, and had done something whereby to earn recognition in
+these troubled times. Twenty-nine were university men, graduates of
+Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, William and Mary, Oxford, Glasgow,
+and Edinburgh. Twenty-six were not university men, and among these were
+Washington and Franklin. Of the illustrious citizens who, for their
+public services, would naturally have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> here, John Adams and Thomas
+Jefferson were in Europe; Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry
+Lee disapproved of the convention, and remained at home; and the
+greatest man of Rhode Island, Nathanael Greene, who&mdash;one likes to
+think&mdash;might have succeeded in bringing his state into the convention,
+had lately died of a sun-stroke, at the early age of forty-four.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">James Madison.</div>
+
+<p>Of the two most famous men present little need be said. The names of
+Washington and Franklin stood for supreme intelligence and consummate
+tact. Franklin had returned to this country two years before, and was
+now president of Pennsylvania. He was eighty-one years of age, the
+oldest man in the convention, as Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey, aged
+twenty-six, was the youngest. The two most profound and original
+thinkers in the company were but little older than Dayton. Alexander
+Hamilton was thirty, James Madison thirty-six. Among political writers,
+these two men must be ranked in the same order with Aristotle,
+Montesquieu, and Locke; and the "Federalist," their joint production, is
+the greatest treatise on government that has ever been written. John
+Jay, who contributed a few pages to this immortal volume, had not been
+sent to the convention, because New York did not wish to have it
+succeed. Along with Hamilton, New York sent two commonplace men, Robert
+Yates and John Lansing, who were extreme and obstinate Antifederalists;
+and the action of Hamilton, who was thus prevented from carrying the
+vote of his own state for any measure which he might propose, was in
+this way sadly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>embarrassed. For another reason, Hamilton failed to
+exert as much influence in the convention as one would have expected
+from his profound thought and his brilliant eloquence. Scarcely any of
+these men entertained what we should now call extreme democratic views.
+Scarcely any, perhaps, had that intense faith in the ultimate good sense
+of the people which was the most powerful characteristic of Jefferson.
+But Hamilton went to the other extreme, and expressed his distrust of
+popular government too plainly. His views were too aristocratic and his
+preference for centralization was too pronounced to carry conviction to
+his hearers. The leading part in the convention fell, therefore, to
+James Madison, a young man somewhat less brilliant than Hamilton, but
+superior to him in sobriety and balance of powers. Madison used to be
+called the "Father of the Constitution," and it is true that the
+government under which we live is more his work than that of any other
+one man. From early youth his life had been devoted to the study of
+history and the practice of statesmanship. He was a graduate of
+Princeton College, an earnest student, familiar with all the best
+literature of political science from Aristotle down to his own time, and
+he had given especial attention to the history of federal government in
+ancient Greece, and in Switzerland and Holland. At the age of
+twenty-five he had taken part in the Virginia convention which
+instructed the delegates from that state in Congress to bring forward
+the Declaration of Independence. During the last part of the war he was
+an active and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> influential member of Congress, where no one equalled or
+approached him for knowledge of English history and constitutional law.
+In 1784 he had returned to the Virginia legislature, and been foremost
+in securing the passage of the great act which gave complete religious
+freedom to the people of that state. No man understood better than he
+the causes of the alarming weakness of the federal government, and of
+the commercial disturbances and popular discontent of the time; nor had
+any one worked more zealously or more adroitly in bringing about the
+meeting of this convention. As he stood here now, a leader in the
+debate, there was nothing grand or imposing in his appearance. He was
+small of stature and slight in frame, like Hamilton, but he had none of
+Hamilton's personal magnetism. His manner was shy and prim, and blushes
+came often to his cheeks. At the same time, he had that rare dignity of
+unconscious simplicity which characterizes the earnest and disinterested
+scholar. He was exceedingly sweet-tempered, generous, and kind, but very
+hard to move from a path which, after long reflection, he had decided to
+be the right one. He looked at politics judicially, and was so little of
+a party man that on several occasions he was accused (quite wrongfully,
+as I hope hereafter to prove) of gross inconsistency. The position of
+leadership, which he won so early and kept so long, he held by sheer
+force of giant intelligence, sleepless industry, and an integrity which
+no man ever doubted. But he was above all things a man of peace. When in
+after years, as president of the United States, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> was called upon to
+manage a great war, he was out of place, and his reputation for supreme
+ability was temporarily lowered. Here in the Federal Convention we are
+introduced to him at the noblest and most useful moment of his life.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Other leading members.</div>
+
+<p>Of the fifty-five men here assembled, Washington, Franklin, Hamilton,
+and Madison were of the first order of ability. Many others in the room
+were gentlemen of more than ordinary talent and culture. There was John
+Dickinson, who had moved from Pennsylvania into Delaware, and now came
+to defend the equal rights of the smaller states. There was James Wilson
+of Pennsylvania, born and educated in Scotland, one of the most learned
+jurists this country has ever seen. Beside him sat the financier, Robert
+Morris, and his namesake Gouverneur Morris of Morrisania, near the city
+of New York, the originator of our decimal currency, and one of the
+far-sighted projectors of the Erie Canal. Then there was John Rutledge
+of South Carolina, who ever since the Stamp Act Congress had been the
+mainstay of his state; and with him were the two able and gallant
+Pinckneys. Caleb Strong, afterward ten times governor of Massachusetts,
+was a typical Puritan, hard-headed and supremely sensible; his
+colleague, Rufus King, already distinguished for his opposition to negro
+slavery, was a man of brilliant attainments. And there were George
+Wythe, the chancellor of Virginia, and Daniel Carroll of Maryland, who
+had played a prominent part in the events which led to the creation of a
+national domain. Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, afterward chief
+justice of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> the United States, was one of the ablest lawyers of his
+time; with him were Roger Sherman and William Johnson, the latter a
+Fellow of the Royal Society, and afterward president of Columbia
+College. The New Jersey delegation, consisting of William Livingston,
+David Brearley, William Paterson, and Jonathan Dayton, was a very strong
+one; and as to New Hampshire, it is enough to mention the name of John
+Langdon. Besides all these there were some twenty of less mark, men who
+said little, but listened and voted. And then there were the
+irreconcilables, Yates and Lansing, the two Antifederalists from New
+York; and four men of much greater ability, who took an important part
+in the proceedings, but could not be induced to accept the result. These
+four were Luther Martin of Maryland; George Mason and Edmund Randolph of
+Virginia; and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts.</p>
+
+<p>When these men had assembled in Independence Hall, they chose George
+Washington president of the convention. The doors were locked, and an
+injunction of strict secrecy was put upon every one. The results of
+their work were known in the following September, when the draft of the
+Federal Constitution was published. But just what was said and done in
+this secret conclave was not revealed until fifty years had passed, and
+the aged James Madison, the last survivor of those who sat there, had
+been gathered to his fathers. He kept a journal of the proceedings,
+which was published after his death, and upon the interesting story told
+in that journal we have now to enter.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FEDERAL CONVENTION.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">Difficult problem before the convention.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Washington's solemn appeal.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Federal Convention did wisely in withholding its debates from the
+knowledge of the people. It was felt that discussion would be more
+untrammelled, and that its result ought to go before the country as the
+collective and unanimous voice of the convention. There was likely to be
+wrangling enough among themselves; but should their scheme be unfolded,
+bit by bit, before its parts could be viewed in their mutual relations,
+popular excitement would become intense, there might be riots, and an
+end would be put to that attitude of mental repose so necessary for the
+constructive work that was to be done. It was thought best that the
+scheme should be put forth as a completed whole, and that for several
+years, even, until the new system of government should have had a fair
+trial, the traces of the individual theories and preferences concerned
+in its formation should not be revealed. For it was generally assumed
+that a system of government new in some important respects would be
+proposed by the convention, and while the people awaited the result the
+wildest speculations and rumours were current. A few hoped, and many
+feared, that some scheme of monarchy would be established. Such
+surmises<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> found their way across the ocean, and hopes were expressed in
+England that, should a king be chosen, it might be a younger son of
+George III. It was even hinted, with alarm, that, through gratitude to
+our recent allies, we might be persuaded to offer the crown to some
+member of the royal family of France. No such thoughts were entertained,
+however, by any person present in the convention. Some of the delegates
+came with the design of simply amending the articles of confederation by
+taking away from the states the power of regulating commerce, and
+intrusting this power to Congress. Others felt that if the work were not
+done thoroughly now another chance might never be offered; and these men
+thought it necessary to abolish the confederation, and establish a
+federal republic, in which the general government should act directly
+upon the people. The difficult problem was how to frame a plan of this
+sort which people could be made to understand and adopt. At the very
+outset some of the delegates began to exhibit symptoms of that peculiar
+kind of moral cowardice which is wont to afflict free governments, and
+of which American history furnishes so many instructive examples. It was
+suggested that palliatives and half measures would be far more likely to
+find favour with the people than any thorough-going reform, when
+Washington suddenly interposed with a brief but immortal speech, which
+ought to be blazoned in letters of gold, and posted on the wall of every
+American assembly that shall meet to nominate a candidate, or declare a
+policy, or pass a law, so long as the weakness of human nature<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> shall
+endure. Rising from his president's chair, his tall figure drawn up to
+its full height, he exclaimed in tones unwontedly solemn with suppressed
+emotion, "It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted.
+Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If, to please the
+people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward
+defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the
+honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God."</p>
+
+<p>This outburst of noble eloquence carried conviction to every one, and
+henceforth we do not hear that any attempt was avowedly made to avoid
+the issues as they came up. It was a most wholesome tonic. It braced up
+the convention to high resolves, and impressed upon all the delegates
+that they were in a situation where faltering or trifling was both
+wicked and dangerous. From that moment the mood in which they worked
+caught something from the glorious spirit of Washington. There was need
+of such high purpose, for two plans were presently laid before the
+meeting, which, for a moment, brought out one of the chief elements of
+antagonism existing between the states, and which at first seemed
+irreconcilable. It was the happy compromise which united and harmonised
+these two plans that smoothed the further work of the convention, and
+made it possible for a stable and powerful government to be constructed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The root of all the difficulties.</div>
+
+<p>The first of these plans was known as the Virginia plan. It was agreed
+upon in a committee of the delegates of that state, and was brought
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>forward by Edmund Randolph, governor of Virginia, in the name of the
+state, but its chief author was Madison. It struck instantly at the root
+of the difficulties under which the country had been staggering ever
+since the Declaration of Independence. The federal government had
+possessed no means of enforcing obedience to its laws. Its edicts were
+without a sanction; and this was because they operated upon states, and
+not upon individuals. When an individual defies the law, you can lock
+him up in jail, or levy an execution upon his property. The immense
+force of the community is arrayed against him, and he is as helpless as
+a straw on the billows of the ocean. He cannot raise a militia to
+protect himself. But when the law is defied by a state, it is quite
+otherwise. You cannot put a state into jail, nor seize its goods; you
+can only make war on it, and if you try that expedient you find that the
+state is not helpless. Its local pride and prejudices are aroused
+against you, and its militia will turn out in full force to uphold the
+infraction of law. Against this obstinate and exasperated military force
+what superior force can you bring? Under some rare combination of
+circumstances you might get the military force of several of the other
+states; but ordinarily, when what you are trying to do is simply to
+enforce every-day laws, and when you simply represent a distrusted
+general government in conflict with a local government, you cannot do
+this. The other states will sympathize with the delinquent state; they
+will feel that the very same condition of things which leads you to
+attack that state <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>to-day will lead you to attack some other state
+to-morrow. Hence you cannot get any military help, and you are
+powerless.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the case with the Continental Congress. A novel and distrusted
+institution, it was called upon to enforce its laws upon
+long-established communities, full of sturdy independence and obstinate
+local prejudices. It was able to act, though with clumsy slowness, as
+long as there was an enemy in the field who was even more dreaded. But
+as soon as this enemy had been beaten out of sight it could not act at
+all. This had been because it did not represent the American people, but
+only the American states. The vital force which moved it was not the
+resistless force of a whole people, but only a shadowy semblance of
+force, derived from a theoretical consent of thirteen corporate bodies,
+which in their corporate capacity could never be compelled to agree
+about anything under the sun; and unless compelled they would not agree.
+Four years of disturbance in every part of the country, in the course of
+which troops had been called out in several states, and civil war had
+been narrowly averted at least half a dozen times, had proved this
+beyond all cavil. With almost any other people than the Americans civil
+war would have come already. With all the vast future interests that
+were involved in these quarrels looming up before their keen, sagacious
+minds, it was a wonder that they had been kept from coming to blows.
+Such self-restraint had been greatly to their credit. It was the blessed
+fruit of more than a century of government by free discussion, while yet
+these states were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> colonies, peopled by the very cream of English
+freemen who had fought the decisive battle of civil and religious
+freedom for mankind in that long crisis when the Invincible Armada was
+overwhelmed and the Long Parliament won its triumphs. Such
+self-restraint had this people shown in days of trial, under a vicious
+government adopted in a time of hurry and sore distress. But late events
+had gone far to show that it could not endure.</p>
+
+<p>The words of Randolph's opening speech are worth quoting in this
+connection. "The confederation," he said, "was made in the infancy of
+the science of constitutions, when the inefficiency of requisitions was
+unknown; when no commercial discord had arisen among states; when no
+rebellion like that in Massachusetts had broken out; when foreign debts
+were not urgent; when the havoc of paper money had not been foreseen;
+when treaties had not been violated; and when nothing better could have
+been conceded by states jealous of their sovereignty. But it offered no
+security against foreign invasion, for Congress could neither prevent
+nor conduct a war, nor punish infractions of treaties or of the law of
+nations, nor control particular states from provoking war. The federal
+government has no constitutional power to check a quarrel between
+separate states; nor to suppress a rebellion in any one of them; nor to
+establish a productive impost; nor to counteract the commercial
+regulations of other nations; nor to defend itself against the
+encroachments of the states. From the manner in which it has been
+ratified in many of the states, it cannot be claimed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> to be paramount to
+the state constitutions; so that there is a prospect of anarchy from the
+inherent laxity of the government. As the remedy, the government to be
+established must have for its basis the republican principle."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Virginia plan; a radical cure.</div>
+
+<p>Having thus tersely stated the whole problem, Randolph went on to
+present the Virginia plan. To make the federal government operate
+directly upon individuals, one provision was absolutely necessary. It
+did not solve the whole problem, but it was an indispensable beginning.
+This was the proposal that there should be a national legislature, in
+which the American <i>people</i> instead of the American states should be
+represented. For the purposes of federal legislation, there must be an
+assembly elected directly by the people, and with its members
+apportioned according to population. There must be such an assembly as
+our present House of Representatives, standing in the same immediate
+relation to the people of the whole country as was sustained by the
+assembly of each separate state to the people of that state. Without
+such direct representation of the whole people in the Federal Congress,
+it would be impossible to achieve one secure step toward the radical
+reform of the weaknesses and vices of the confederation. It was the only
+way in which the vexed question of one nation or thirteen could be made
+to yield a satisfactory answer. At the same time it could not be denied
+that such a proposal was revolutionary in character. It paved the way
+for a national consolidation which might go further than any one could
+foresee, and much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> further than was desirable. The moribund Congress of
+the Confederation, with its delegates chosen by the state assemblies,
+and casting its vote simply by states, had utterly failed to serve as a
+national legislature. There was a good deal of truth in what John Adams
+once said of it, that it was more a diplomatic than a legislative body.
+It was, indeed, because of this consciously felt diplomatic character
+that it was called a Congress, and not a Parliament. In its lack of
+coercive power it resembled the international congresses of Europe
+rather than the supreme legislature of any country. To substitute
+abruptly for such a body a truly national legislature, based not upon
+states but upon population, was quietly to inaugurate a revolution of no
+less magnitude than that which had lately severed us from Great Britain.
+So bold a step, while all-essential in order to complete that
+revolution, and make its victorious issue fortunate instead of
+disastrous to the American people, was sufficiently revolutionary to
+awaken the fears of many members of the Federal Convention. To the
+familiar state governments which had so long possessed their love and
+allegiance, it was super-adding a new and untried government, which it
+was feared would swallow up the states and everywhere extinguish local
+independence. Nor can it be said that such fears were unreasonable. Our
+federal government has indeed shown a strong tendency to encroach upon
+the province of the state governments, especially since our late Civil
+War. Too much centralization is our danger to-day, as the weakness of
+the federal tie was our danger a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> century ago. The rule of the
+Federalist party was needed in 1789 as the rule of the Republican party
+was needed in 1861, to put a curb upon the centrifugal tendencies. But
+after Federalism had fairly done its great work, at the beginning of the
+nineteenth century, it was well that the administration of our national
+affairs should pass into the hands of the party to which Thomas
+Jefferson and Samuel Adams belonged, and which Madison, in his calm
+statesmanlike wisdom, had come to join. And now that, in our own day,
+the disruptive forces have been even more thoroughly and effectually
+overcome, it is time for the principles of that party to be reasserted
+with fresh emphasis. If the day should ever arrive (which God forbid!)
+when the people of the different parts of our country shall allow their
+local affairs to be administered by prefects sent from Washington, and
+when the self-government of the states shall have been so far lost as
+that of the departments of France, or even so far as that of the
+counties of England,&mdash;on that day the progressive political career of
+the American people will have come to an end, and the hopes that have
+been built upon it for the future happiness and prosperity of mankind
+will be wrecked forever.</p>
+
+<p>I do not think that the historian writing at the present day need fear
+any such direful calamity, for the past century has shown most
+instructively how, in such a society as ours, the sense of political
+dangers slowly makes its way through the whole mass of the people, until
+movements at length are made to avert them, and the pendulum swings in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>
+the opposite direction. The history of political parties in the United
+States is especially rich in lessons of this sort. Compared with the
+statesmen of the Federal Convention, we are at a great advantage in
+studying this question of national consolidation; and we have no excuse
+for failing to comprehend the attitude of the men who dreaded the
+creation of a national legislature as the entering wedge which would by
+and by rend asunder the structure of our liberties. The great mind of
+Madison was one of the first to entertain distinctly the noble
+conception of two kinds of government operating at one and the same time
+upon the same individuals, harmonious with each other, but each supreme
+in its own sphere. Such is the fundamental conception of our partly
+federal, partly national, government, which appears throughout the
+Virginia plan as well as in the Constitution which grew out of it. It
+was a political conception of a higher order than had ever before been
+entertained; it took a great deal of discussion to make it clear to the
+minds of the delegates generally; and the struggle over this initial
+measure of a national legislature was so bitter as to come near breaking
+up the convention.</p>
+
+<p>In its original shape the Virginia plan went much further toward
+national consolidation than the Constitution as adopted. The reaction
+against the evils of the loose-jointed confederation, which Randolph so
+ably summed up, was extreme. According to the Virginia plan, the
+national legislature was to be composed of two houses, like the
+legislatures of the several states. The members of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> the lower house
+should be chosen directly by the people; members of the upper house, or
+Senate, should be elected by the lower house out of persons nominated by
+the state legislatures. In both the lower and the upper branches of this
+national legislature the votes were to be the votes of individuals, and
+no longer the votes of states, as in the Continental Congress. Under the
+articles of confederation each state had an equal vote, and two thirds
+were required for every important measure. Under the proposed
+Constitution each state was to have a number of representatives
+proportionate either to its wealth or to the number of its free
+inhabitants, and a bare majority of votes was to suffice to pass all
+measures in the ordinary course of business; and these rules were to
+apply both to the lower house and to the Senate. To adopt such a plan
+would overthrow the equality of the states altogether. It would give
+Virginia, the greatest state, sixteen representatives, where Georgia,
+the smallest state, had but one; and besides, as the votes were no
+longer to be taken by states, individual members could combine in any
+way they pleased, quite irrespective of state lines. It was not strange
+that to many delegates in the convention such a beginning should have
+seemed revolutionary. This impression was deepened when it was further
+proposed not only to clothe this national legislature with original
+powers of legislation in all cases to which the several states are
+incompetent, but also to allow it to set aside at discretion such state
+laws as it might deem unconstitutional. It is interesting to find
+Madison, whose Federalism<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> afterward came to be so moderate, now
+appearing as the earnest defender of this extreme provision, so
+incompatible with state rights. But in Madison's mind at this moment, in
+the actual presence of the anarchy of the confederation, the only
+alternative which seemed to present itself was that of armed coercion.
+"A negative on state laws," he said, "is the mildest expedient that can
+be devised for enforcing a national decree. Should no such precaution be
+engrafted, the only remedy would be coercion. The negative would render
+the use of force unnecessary. This prerogative of the general government
+is the great pervading principle that must control the centrifugal
+tendency of the states, which, without it, will continually fly out of
+their proper orbits, and destroy the order and harmony of the political
+system." But these views were not destined to find favour with the
+convention, which finally left the matter to be much more satisfactorily
+adjusted through the medium of the federal judiciary.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the fundamental provisions of the Virginia plan with regard to
+the national legislature. To carry out the laws, it was proposed that
+there should be a national executive, to be chosen by the national
+legislature for a short term, and ineligible a second time. Whether the
+executive power should be invested in a single person or in several was
+not specified. As will be seen hereafter, this was regarded as an
+extremely delicate point, with which it was thought best not to
+embarrass the Virginia plan at the outset. Passing lightly over this, it
+was urged that, in order to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>complete the action of the government upon
+individuals, there must be a national judiciary to determine cases
+arising under the Constitution, cases in admiralty, and cases in which
+different states or their citizens appear as parties. The judges were to
+be chosen by the national legislature, to hold office during good
+behaviour.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">First reception of the Virginia plan.</div>
+
+<p>Such, in its main outlines, was the plan which Randolph laid before the
+convention, in the name of the Virginia delegation. An audacious scheme!
+exclaimed some of the delegates; it was enough to take your breath away.
+If they were going to begin like this, they might as well go home, for
+all discussion would be time wasted. They were not sent there to set on
+foot a revolution, but to amend and strengthen the articles of
+confederation. But this audacious plan simply abolished the
+Confederation in order to substitute for it a consolidated national
+government. Foremost in urging this objection were Yates and Lansing of
+New York, with Luther Martin of Maryland. Dickinson said it was pushing
+things altogether too far, and his colleague, George Read, hinted that
+the delegation from Delaware might feel obliged to withdraw from the
+convention if the election of representatives according to population
+should be adopted. By the tact of Madison and Gouverneur Morris this
+question was postponed for a few days. After some animated discussion,
+the issues became so narrowed and defined that they could be taken up
+one by one. It was first decided that the national legislature should
+consist of two branches. Then came a warm discussion as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> whether the
+members of the lower house should be elected directly by the people.
+Curiously enough, in a country where the principle of popular election
+had long since taken such deep root, where the assemblies of the several
+states had been chosen by the people from the very beginning, there was
+some doubt as to whether the same principle could safely be applied to
+the national House of Representatives. Gerry, with his head full of the
+Shays rebellion and the "Know Ye" measures of the neighbouring state,
+thought the people could not be trusted. "The people do not want
+virtue," said he, "but are the dupes of pretended patriots." Roger
+Sherman took a similar view, and was supported by Martin, Rutledge, and
+both the Pinckneys; but the sounder opinion prevailed. On this point
+Hamilton was at one with Mason, Wilson, and Dickinson. The proposed
+assembly, said Mason, was to be, so to speak, our House of Commons, and
+ought to know and sympathize with every part of the community. It ought
+to have at heart the rights and interests of every class of the people,
+and in no other way could this end be so completely attained as by
+popular election. "Yes," added Wilson, "without the confidence of the
+people no government, least of all a republican government, can long
+subsist.... The election of the first branch by the people is not the
+corner-stone only, but the foundation of the fabric." "It is essential
+to the democratic rights of the community," said Hamilton, "that the
+first branch be directly elected by the people." Madison argued
+powerfully on the same side, and the question was finally decided in
+favour of popular election.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Antagonism between large states and small states.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The New Jersey plan; a feeble palliative.</div>
+
+<p>It was now the 4th of June, when the great question came up which nearly
+wrecked the convention before it was settled, after a whole month of
+stormy debate. This was the question as to how the states should be
+represented in the new Congress. On the Virginia plan, the smaller
+states would be virtually swamped. Unless they could have equal votes,
+without regard to wealth or population, they would be at the mercy of
+the great states. In the division which ensued, the four most populous
+states&mdash;Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and North
+Carolina&mdash;favoured the Virginia plan; and they succeeded in carrying
+South Carolina with them. Georgia, too, which, though weak at that
+moment, possessed considerable room for expansion, voted upon the same
+side. On the other hand, the states of Connecticut, New Jersey,
+Delaware, and Maryland&mdash;which were not only small in area, but were cut
+off from further expansion by their geographical situation&mdash;were not
+inclined to give up their equal vote in either branch of the national
+legislature. At this stage of the proceedings the delegation from New
+Hampshire had not yet arrived upon the scene. On several occasions the
+majority of the Maryland delegation went with the larger states, but
+Luther Martin, always opposed to the Virginia plan, usually succeeded in
+dividing the vote of the delegation. Of the New York members, Yates and
+Lansing, here as always, thwarted Hamilton by voting with the smaller
+states. Their policy throughout was one of obstruction. The members from
+Connecticut<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> were disposed to be conciliatory; but New Jersey was
+obstinate and implacable. She knew what it was to be tyrannized over by
+powerful neighbours. The wrongs she had suffered from New York and
+Pennsylvania rankled in the minds of her delegates. Accordingly, in the
+name of the smaller states, William Paterson laid before the convention
+the so-called "New Jersey plan" for the amendment of the articles of
+confederation. This scheme admitted a federal legislature, consisting of
+a single house, an executive in the form of a council to be chosen by
+Congress, and likewise a federal judiciary, with powers less extensive
+than those contemplated by the Virginia plan. It gave to Congress the
+power to regulate foreign and domestic commerce, to levy duties on
+imports, and even to raise internal revenue by means of a Stamp Act. But
+with all this apparent liberality on the surface, the New Jersey plan
+was vicious at bottom. It did not really give Congress the power to act
+immediately upon individuals. The federal legislature which it proposed
+was to represent states, and not individuals, and the states were to
+vote equally, without regard to wealth or population. If things were to
+be left in this shape, there was no security that the powers granted to
+Congress could ever be really exercised. Nay, it was almost certain that
+they could not be put into operation. It was easy enough on paper to
+give Congress the permission to levy duties and regulate commerce, but
+such a permission would amount to nothing unless Congress were armed
+with the power of enforcing its decrees upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> individuals. And it could
+in no wise acquire such power unless as the creature of the people, and
+not of the states. The New Jersey plan, therefore, furnished no real
+remedy for the evils which afflicted the country. It was vigorously
+opposed by Hamilton, Madison, Wilson, and King. Hamilton, indeed, took
+this occasion to offer a plan of his own, which, in addition to
+Madison's scheme of a purely national legislature, contained the
+features of a tenure for life or good behaviour, for the executive and
+the members of the upper house. But to most of the delegates this scheme
+seemed too little removed from a monarchy, and Hamilton's brilliant
+speech in its favour, while applauded by many, was supported by none.
+The weighty arguments of Wilson, King, and Madison prevailed, and the
+New Jersey plan lost its original shape when it was decided that
+Congress should consist of two houses. The principle of equal state
+representation, however, remained as a stumbling-block. Paterson,
+supported by his able colleague Brearley, as well as by Martin and the
+two irreconcilables from New York, stoutly maintained that to depart
+from this principle would be to exceed the powers of the convention,
+which assuredly was not intended to remodel the government from
+beginning to end. But Randolph answered, "When the salvation of the
+republic is at stake, it would be treason to our trust not to propose
+what we find necessary;" and Hamilton pithily reminded the delegates
+that as they were there only for the purpose of recommending a scheme
+which would have to be submitted to the states for acceptance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> they
+need not be deterred by any false scruples from using their wits to the
+best possible advantage. The debate on the merits of the question was an
+angry one. According to the Virginia plan, said Brearly, the three
+states of Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania will carry
+everything before them. "It was known to him, from facts within New
+Jersey, that where large and small counties were united into a district
+for electing representatives for the district, the large counties always
+carried their point, and consequently the large states would do so....
+Was it fair, on the other hand, that Georgia should have an equal vote
+with Virginia? He would not say it was. What remedy, then? One only:
+that a map of the United States be spread out, that all the existing
+boundaries be erased, and that a new partition of the whole be made into
+thirteen equal parts." "Yes," said Paterson, "a confederacy supposes
+sovereignty in the members composing it, and sovereignty supposes
+equality. If we are to be considered as a nation, all state distinctions
+must be abolished, the whole must be thrown into hotchpot, and when an
+equal division is made then there may be fairly an equality of
+representation." This argument was repeated with a triumphant air, as
+seeming to reduce the Virginia plan to absurdity. Paterson went on to
+say that "there was no more reason that a great individual state,
+contributing much, should have more votes than a small one, contributing
+little, than that a rich individual citizen should have more votes than
+an indigent one. If the ratable property of A was to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> that of B as forty
+to one, ought A, for that reason, to have forty times as many votes as
+B?... Give the large states an influence in proportion to their
+magnitude, and what will be the consequence? Their ambition will be
+proportionally increased, and the small states will have everything to
+fear. It was once proposed by Galloway [in the first Continental
+Congress] that America should be represented in the British Parliament,
+and then be bound by its laws. America could not have been entitled to
+more than one third of the representatives which would fall to the share
+of Great Britain: would American rights and interests have been safe
+under an authority thus constituted?" Then, warming with the subject, he
+exclaimed, If the great states wish to unite on such a plan, "let them
+unite if they please, but let them remember that they have no authority
+to compel the others to unite.... Shall I submit the welfare of New
+Jersey with five votes in a council where Virginia has sixteen?... I
+will never consent to the proposed plan. I will not only oppose it here,
+but on my return home will do everything in my power to defeat it there.
+Neither my state nor myself will ever submit to tyranny."</p>
+
+<p>Paterson was ably answered by James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, who pointed
+out the absurdity of giving 180,000 men in one part of the country as
+much weight in the national legislature as 750,000 in another part. It
+is unjust, he said. "The gentleman from New Jersey is candid. He
+declares his opinions boldly. I commend him for it. I will be equally
+candid.... I never will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>confederate on his principles." The convention
+grew nervous and excited over this seemingly irreconcilable antagonism.
+The discussion was kept up with much learning and acuteness by Madison,
+Ellsworth, and Martin, and history was ransacked for testimony from the
+Amphiktyonic Council to Old Sarum, and back again to the Lykian League.
+Madison, rightly reading the future, declared that if once the proposed
+union should be formed, the real danger would come not from the rivalry
+between large and small states, but from the antagonistic interests of
+the slave-holding and non-slaveholding states. Hamilton pointed out that
+in the state of New York five counties had a majority of the
+representatives, and yet the citizens of the other counties were in no
+danger of tyranny, as the laws have an equal operation upon all. Rufus
+King called attention to the fact that the rights of Scotland were
+secure from encroachments, although her representation in Parliament was
+necessarily smaller than that of England. But New Jersey and Delaware,
+mindful of recent grievances, were not to be argued down or soothed.
+Gunning Bedford of Delaware was especially violent. "Pretences to
+support ambition," said he, "are never wanting. The cry is, Where is the
+danger? and it is insisted that although the powers of the general
+government will be increased, yet it will be for the good of the whole;
+and although the three great states form nearly a majority of the people
+of America, they never will injure the lesser states. <i>Gentlemen, I do
+not trust you.</i> If you possess the power, the abuse of it could not be
+checked; and what then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> would prevent you from exercising it to our
+destruction?... Sooner than be ruined, <i>there are foreign powers who
+will take us by the hand</i>. I say this not to threaten or intimidate, but
+that we should reflect seriously before we act." This language called
+forth a rebuke from Rufus King. "I am concerned," said he, "for what
+fell from the gentleman from Delaware,&mdash;<i>take a foreign power by the
+hand!</i> I am sorry he mentioned it, and I hope he is able to excuse it to
+himself on the score of passion."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Connecticut compromise.</div>
+
+<p>The situation had become dangerous. "The convention," said Martin, "was
+on the verge of dissolution, scarce held together by the strength of a
+hair." When things were looking darkest, Oliver Ellsworth and Roger
+Sherman suggested a compromise. "Yes," said Franklin, "when a joiner
+wishes to fit two boards, he sometimes pares off a bit from both." The
+famous Connecticut compromise led the way to the arrangement which was
+ultimately adopted, according to which the national principle was to
+prevail in the House of Representatives, and the federal principle in
+the Senate. But at first the compromise met with little favour. Neither
+party was willing to give way. "No compromise for us," said Luther
+Martin. "You must give each state an equal suffrage, or our business is
+at an end." "Then we are come to a full stop," said Roger Sherman. "I
+suppose it was never meant that we should break up without doing
+something." When the question as to allowing equality of suffrage to the
+states in the Federal Senate was put to vote, the result was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> a tie.
+Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland&mdash;five
+states&mdash;voted in the affirmative; Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
+North Carolina, and South Carolina&mdash;five states&mdash;voted in the negative;
+the vote of Georgia was divided and lost. It was Abraham Baldwin, a
+native of Connecticut and lately a tutor in Yale College, a recent
+emigrant to Georgia, who thus divided the vote of that state, and
+prevented a decision which would in all probability have broken up the
+convention. His state was the last to vote, and the house was hushed in
+anxious expectation, when this brave and wise young man yielded his
+private conviction to what he saw to be the paramount necessity of
+keeping the convention together. All honour to his memory!</p>
+
+<p>The moral effect of the tie vote was in favour of the Connecticut
+compromise; for no one could doubt that the little states, New Hampshire
+and Rhode Island, had they been represented in the division, would have
+voted upon that side. The matter was referred to a committee as
+impartially constituted as possible, with Elbridge Gerry as chairman;
+and On the 5th of July, after a recess of three days, the committee
+reported in favour of the compromise. Fresh objections on the part of
+the large states were now offered by Wilson and Gouverneur Morris, and
+gloom again overhung the convention. Gerry said that, while he did not
+fully approve of the compromise, he had nevertheless supported it,
+because he felt sure that if nothing were done war and confusion must
+ensue, the old confederation being already virtually at an end. George
+Mason<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> observed that "it could not be more inconvenient for any
+gentleman to remain absent from his private affairs than it was for him;
+but he would bury his bones in that city rather than expose his country
+to the consequences of a dissolution of the convention." Mason's
+subsequent behaviour was hardly in keeping with the promise of this
+brave speech, and in Gerry we shall observe like inconsistency. At
+present a timely speech from Madison soothed the troubled waters; but it
+was only after eleven days of somewhat more tranquil debate that the
+compromise was adopted on the 16th of July. Even then it was but
+narrowly secured. The ayes were Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware,
+Maryland, and North Carolina,&mdash;five states; the noes were Pennsylvania,
+Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia,&mdash;four states; Gerry and Strong
+against King and Gorham divided the vote of Massachusetts, which was
+thus lost. New York, for reasons presently to be stated, was absent. It
+is accordingly to Elbridge Gerry and Caleb Strong that posterity are
+indebted for here preventing a tie, and thus bringing the vexed question
+to a happy issue.</p>
+
+<p>According to the compromise secured with so much difficulty, it was
+arranged that in the lower house population was to be represented, and
+in the upper house the states, each of which, without regard to size,
+was forever to be entitled to two senators. In the lower house there was
+to be one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants, but at
+Washington's suggestion the number was changed to 30,000, so as to
+increase the house, which then seemed likely to be too small in numbers.
+Some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> one suggested that with the growth of population that rate would
+make an unwieldy house within a hundred and fifty years from that time,
+whereat Gorham of Massachusetts laughed to scorn the idea that any
+system of government they could devise in that room could possibly last
+a hundred and fifty years. The difficulty has been surmounted by
+enlarging from time to time the basis of representation. It now seemed
+inadvisable that the senators should be chosen by the lower house out of
+persons nominated by the state legislatures; and it was accordingly
+decided that they should be not merely nominated, but elected, by the
+state legislatures. Thus the Senate was made quite independent of the
+lower house. At the same time, the senators were to vote as individuals,
+and thus the old practice of voting by states, except in certain
+peculiar emergencies, was finally done away with.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">It was a decisive victory for Madison's scheme.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Irreconcilables go home.</div>
+
+<p>It is seldom, if ever, that a political compromise leaves things evenly
+balanced. Almost every such arrangement, when once set working, weighs
+down the scales decidedly to the one side or the other. The Connecticut
+compromise was really a decisive victory for Madison and his party,
+although it modified the Virginia plan so considerably. They could well
+afford to defer to the fears and prejudices of the smaller states in the
+structure of the Senate, for by securing a lower house, which
+represented the American people, and not the American states, they won
+the whole battle in so far as the question of radically reforming the
+government was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>concerned. As soon as the foundation was thus laid for a
+government which should act directly upon individuals, it obviously
+became necessary to abandon the articles of confederation, and work out
+a new constitution in all its details. The plan, as now reported,
+omitted the obnoxious adjective "national," and spoke of the <i>federal</i>
+legislature and <i>federal</i> courts. But to the men who were still blindly
+wedded to the old confederation this soothing change of phraseology did
+not conceal their defeat. On the very day that the compromise was
+favourably reported by the committee, Yates and Lansing quit the
+convention in disgust, and went home to New York. After the departure of
+these uncongenial colleagues, Hamilton might have acted with power, had
+he not known too well that the sentiment of his state did not support
+him. As a mere individual he could do but little, and accordingly he
+went home for a while to attend to pressing business, returning just in
+time to take part in the closing scenes. His share in the work of
+framing the Federal Constitution was very small. About the time that
+Hamilton returned, Luther Martin, whose wrath had waxed hotter every
+day, as he saw power after power extended to the federal government, at
+length gave way and went back to Maryland, vowing that he would have
+nothing more to do with such high-handed proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>While the Connecticut compromise thus scattered a few scintillations of
+discontent, and relieved the convention of some of its most discordant
+elements, its general effect was wonderfully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>harmonizing. The men who
+had opposed the Virginia plan only through their dread of the larger
+states were now more than conciliated. The concession of equal
+representation in the Senate turned out to have been a master stroke of
+diplomacy. As soon as the little states were assured of an equal share
+in the control of one of the two central legislative bodies, they
+suddenly forgot their scruples about thoroughly overhauling the
+government, and none were readier than they to intrust extensive powers
+to the new Congress. Paterson of New Jersey, the fiercest opponent of
+the Virginia plan, became from that time forth to the end of his life
+the most devoted of Federalists.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Other antagonisms; vague dread of the future west.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Antagonism between slave states and free states.</div>
+
+<p>That first step which proverbially gives the most trouble had now been
+fairly taken. But other compromises were needed before the work of
+construction could properly be carried out. As the antagonism between
+great and small states disappeared from the scene, other antagonisms
+appeared. It is worth noting that just for a moment there was revealed a
+glimmering of jealousy and dread on the part of the eastern states
+toward those of which the foundations were laid in the northwestern
+territory. Many people in New England feared that their children would
+be drawn westward in such numbers as to create immense states beyond the
+Ohio; and thus it was foreseen that the relative political weight of New
+England in the future would be diminished. To a certain extent this
+prediction has been justified by events, but Roger Sherman rightly
+maintained that it afforded no just grounds for dread.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> King and Gerry
+introduced a most illiberal and mischievous motion, that the total
+number of representatives from new states must never be allowed to
+exceed the total number from the original thirteen. Such an arrangement,
+which would surely have been enough to create that antagonism between
+east and west which it sought to forestall and avoid, was supported by
+Massachusetts and Connecticut, with Delaware and Maryland; but it was
+defeated by the combination of New Jersey with the four states south of
+Maryland. The ground was thus cleared for a very different kind of
+sectional antagonism,&mdash;that which, as Madison truly said, would prove
+the most deep-seated and enduring of all,&mdash;the antagonism between north
+and south. The first great struggle between the pro-slavery and
+anti-slavery parties began in the Federal Convention, and it resulted in
+the first two of the long series of compromises by which the
+irrepressible conflict was postponed until the north had waxed strong
+enough to confront the dreaded spectre of secession, and, summoning all
+its energies in one stupendous effort, exorcise it forever. From this
+moment down to 1865 we shall continually be made to realize how the
+American people had entered into the shadow of the coming Civil War
+before they had fairly emerged from that of the Revolution; and as we
+pass from scene to scene of the solemn story, we shall learn how to be
+forever grateful for the sudden and final clearing of the air wrought by
+that frightful storm which men not yet old can still so well remember.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p><p>The first compromise related to the distribution of representatives
+between north and south. Was representation in the lower house of
+Congress to be proportioned to wealth, or to population; and if the
+latter, were all the inhabitants, or only all the free inhabitants, to
+be counted? It was soon agreed that wealth was difficult to reckon and
+population easy to count; and to an extent sufficient for all ordinary
+purposes, population might serve as an index of wealth. A state with
+500,000 inhabitants would be in most cases richer than one with 400,000.
+In those days, when cities were few and small, this was approximately
+true. In our day it is not at all true. A state with large commercial
+and manufacturing cities is sure to be much richer than a state in which
+the population is chiefly rural. The population of Massachusetts is
+somewhat smaller than that of Indiana; but her aggregate wealth is more
+than double that of Indiana. Disparities like this, which do not trouble
+us to-day, would have troubled the Federal Convention. We no longer
+think it desirable to give political representation to wealth, or to
+anything but persons. We have become thoroughly democratic, but our
+great-grandfathers had not. To them it seemed quite essential that
+wealth should be represented as well as persons; but they got over the
+main difficulty easily, because under the economic conditions of that
+time population could serve roughly as an index to wealth, and it was
+much easier to count noses than to assess the value of farms and stock.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Were slaves to be reckoned as persons or as chattels?</div>
+
+<p>But now there was in all the southern states,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> and in most of the
+northern, a peculiar species of collective existence, which might be
+described either as wealth or as population. As human beings the slaves
+might be described as population, but in the eye of the law they were
+chattels. In the northern states slavery was rapidly disappearing, and
+the property in negroes was so small as to be hardly worth considering;
+while south of Mason and Dixon's line this peculiar kind of property was
+the chief wealth of the states. But clearly, in apportioning
+representation, in sharing political power in the federal assembly, the
+same rule should have been applied impartially to all the states. At
+this point, Pierce Butler and Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina
+insisted that slaves were part of the population, and as such must be
+counted in ascertaining the basis of representation. A fierce and
+complicated dispute ensued. The South Carolina proposal suggested a
+uniform rule, but it was one that would scarcely alter the political
+weight of the north, while it would vastly increase the weight of the
+south; and it would increase it most in just the quarter where slavery
+was most deeply rooted. The power of South Carolina, as a member of the
+Union, would be doubled by such a measure. Hence the northern delegates
+maintained that slaves, as chattels, ought no more to be reckoned as
+part of the population than houses or ships. "Has a man in Virginia,"
+exclaimed Paterson, "a number of votes in proportion to the number of
+his slaves? And if negroes are not represented in the states to which
+they belong, why should they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> be represented in the general
+government?... If a meeting of the people were to take place in a slave
+state, would the slaves vote? They would not. Why then should they be
+represented in a federal government?" "I can never agree," said
+Gouverneur Morris, "to give such encouragement to the slave-trade as
+would be given by allowing the southern states a representation for
+their negroes.... I would sooner submit myself to a tax for paying for
+all the negroes in the United States than saddle posterity with such a
+constitution."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The three fifths compromise; a genuine English solution, if
+ever there was one.</div>
+
+<p>The attitude taken by Virginia was that of peace-maker. On the one hand,
+such men as Washington, Madison, and Mason, who were earnestly hoping to
+see their own state soon freed from the curse of slavery, could not fail
+to perceive that if Virginia were to gain an increase of political
+weight from the existence of that institution, the difficulty of getting
+the state legislature to abolish it would be enhanced. But on the other
+hand, they saw that South Carolina was inexorable, and that her refusal
+to adopt the Constitution for this reason would certainly carry Georgia
+with her, and probably North Carolina, also. Even had South Carolina
+alone been involved, it was not simply a question of forming a Union
+which should either include her or leave her out in the cold. The case
+was much more complicated than that. It was really doubtful if, without
+the cordial assistance of South Carolina, a Union could be formed at
+all. A Federal Constitution had not only to be framed, but it had to be
+presented to the thirteen states for adoption. It was by no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> means clear
+that enough states would ratify it to enable the experiment of the new
+government to go into operation. New York and Rhode Island were known to
+be bitterly opposed to it; Massachusetts could not be counted on as
+sure; to add South Carolina to this list would be to endanger
+everything. The event justified this caution. We shall hereafter see
+that it was absolutely necessary to satisfy South Carolina, and that but
+for her ratification, coming just at the moment when it did, the work of
+the Federal Convention would probably have been done in vain. It was a
+clear perception of the wonderful complication of interests involved in
+the final appeal to the people that induced the Virginia statesmen to
+take the lead in a compromise. Four years before, in 1783, when Congress
+was endeavouring to apportion the quotas of revenue to be required of
+the several states, a similar dispute had arisen. If taxation were to be
+distributed according to population, it made a great difference whether
+slaves were to be counted as population or not. If slaves were to be
+counted, the southern states would have to pay more than their equitable
+share into the federal treasury; if slaves were not to be counted, it
+was argued at the north that they would be paying less than their
+equitable share. Consequently, at that time the north had been inclined
+to maintain that the slaves were population, while the south had
+preferred to regard them as chattels. Thus we see that in politics, as
+well as in algebra, it makes all the difference in the world whether you
+start with <i>plus</i> or with <i>minus</i>. On that occasion Madison had offered
+a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> successful compromise, in which a slave figured as three fifths of a
+freeman; and Rutledge of South Carolina, who was now present in the
+convention, had supported the measure. Madison now proposed the same
+method of getting over the difficulty about representation, and his
+compromise was adopted. It was agreed that in counting population,
+whether for direct taxation or for representation in the lower house of
+Congress, five slaves should be reckoned as three individuals.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">In other words, it was the best solution attainable under the
+circumstances.</div>
+
+<p>All this was thoroughly illogical, of course; it left the question
+whether slaves are population or chattels for theorizers to wrangle
+over, and for future events to decide. It was easy for James Wilson to
+show that there was neither rhyme nor reason in it: but he subscribed to
+it, nevertheless, just as the northern abolitionists, Rufus King and
+Gouverneur Morris, joined with Washington and Madison, and with the
+pro-slavery Pinckneys, in subscribing to it, because they all believed
+that without such a compromise the Constitution would not be adopted;
+and in this there can be little doubt that they were right. The evil
+consequences were unquestionably very serious indeed. Henceforth, so
+long as slavery lasted, the vote of a southerner counted for more than
+the vote of a northerner; and just where negroes were most numerous the
+power of their masters became greatest. In South Carolina there soon
+came to be more blacks than whites, and the application of the rule
+therefore went far toward doubling the vote of South Carolina in the
+House of Representatives and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> the electoral college. Every five
+slaveholders down there were equal in political weight to not less than
+eight farmers or merchants in the north; and thus this troublesome state
+acquired a power of working mischief out of all proportion to her real
+size. At a later date the operation of the rule in Mississippi was
+similar; and in general it was just the most backward and barbarous
+parts of the Union that were thus favoured at the expense of the most
+civilized parts. Admitting all this, however, it remains undeniable that
+the Constitution saved us from anarchy; and there can be little doubt
+that slavery and every other remnant of barbarism in American society
+would have thriven far more lustily under a state of chronic anarchy
+than was possible under the Constitution. Four years of concentrated
+warfare, animated by an intense and lofty moral purpose, could not hurt
+the character or mar the fortunes of the people, like a century of
+aimless and miscellaneous squabbling over a host of petty local
+interests. The War of Secession was a terrible ordeal to pass through;
+but when one tries to picture what might have happened in this fair land
+without the work of the Federal Convention, the imagination stands
+aghast.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Compromise between New England and South Carolina as to the
+foreign slave-trade.</div>
+
+<p>The second great compromise between northern and southern interests
+related to the abolition of the foreign slave-trade and the power of the
+federal government over commerce. All the states except South Carolina
+and Georgia wished to stop the importation of slaves; but the physical
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>conditions of rice and indigo culture exhausted the negroes so fast
+that these two states felt that their industries would be dried up at
+the very source if the importation of fresh negroes were to be stopped.
+Cotesworth Pinckney accordingly declared that South Carolina would
+consider a vote to abolish the slave-trade as simply a polite way of
+telling her that she was not wanted in the Union. On the other hand, the
+three New England states present in the convention had made up their
+minds that it would not do to allow the several states any longer to
+regulate commerce each according to its own whim. It was of vital
+importance that this power should be taken from the states and lodged in
+Congress; otherwise, the Union would soon be rent in pieces by
+commercial disputes. The policy of New York had thoroughly impressed
+this lesson upon all the neighbouring states. But none of the southern
+states were in favour of granting this power unreservedly to Congress.
+If a navigation act could be passed by a simple majority in Congress, it
+was feared that the New Englanders would get all the carrying trade into
+their own hands, and then charge ruinous freights for carrying rice,
+indigo, and tobacco to the north and to Europe. On this point,
+accordingly, the southern delegates acted as a unit in insisting that
+Congress should not be empowered to pass navigation acts, except by a
+two thirds vote of both houses. This would have tied the hands of the
+federal government most unfortunately; and the New Englanders,
+enlightened by their own interests, saw it to be so. Here were the
+materials ready for a compromise, or, as the stout<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> abolitionist,
+Gouverneur Morris, truly called it, a "bargain" between New England and
+the far south. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut consented
+to the prolonging of the foreign slave-trade for twenty years, or until
+1808; and in return South Carolina and Georgia consented to the clause
+empowering Congress to pass navigation acts and otherwise regulate
+commerce by a simple majority of votes. At the same time, as a
+concession to rice and indigo, the New Englanders agreed that Congress
+should be forever prohibited from taxing exports; and thus one remnant
+of medi&aelig;val political economy was neatly swept away.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">This last compromise seems to make the adhesion of Virginia
+doubtful.</div>
+
+<p>This compromise was carried against the sturdy opposition of Virginia.
+The language of George Mason of Virginia is worth quoting, for it was
+such as Theodore Parker might have used. He called the slave-trade "this
+infernal traffic." "Slavery," said he, "discourages arts and
+manufactures. The poor despise labour when performed by slaves. They
+prevent the immigration of whites, who really strengthen and enrich a
+country. They produce the most pernicious effect on manners. Every
+master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of
+Heaven on a country. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the
+next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and
+effects, Providence punishes national sins by national calamities." But
+these prophetic words were powerless against the combination of New
+England with the far south. One thing was now made certain,&mdash;that the
+vast <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>influence of Rutledge and the Pinckneys would be thrown
+unreservedly in behalf of the new Constitution. "I will confess," said
+Cotesworth Pinckney, "that I had prejudices against the eastern states
+before I came here, but I have found them as liberal and candid as any
+men whatever." But this compromise, which finally secured South Carolina
+and Georgia, made Virginia for the moment doubtful; for Mason and
+Randolph were so disgusted at the absolute power over commerce conceded
+to Congress that, when the Constitution was finished and engrossed on
+paper, they refused to sign it.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to read this or any other episode in our history whereby
+negro slavery was extended and fostered without burning indignation. But
+this is not the proper mood for the historian, whose aim is to interpret
+men's actions by the circumstances of their time, in order to judge
+their motives correctly. In 1787 slavery was the cloud like unto a man's
+hand which portended a deluge, but those who could truly read the signs
+were few. From north to south, slavery had been slowly dying out for
+nearly fifty years. It had become extinct in Massachusetts, it was
+nearly so in all the other northern states, and it had just been forever
+prohibited in the national domain. In Maryland and Virginia there was a
+strong and growing party in favour of abolition. The movement had even
+gathered strength in North Carolina. Only the rice-swamps of the far
+south remained wedded to their idols. It was quite generally believed
+that slavery was destined speedily to expire, to give<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> place to a better
+system of labour, without any great danger or disturbance; and this
+opinion was distinctly set forth by many delegates in the convention.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+Even Charles Pinckney went so far as to express a hope that South
+Carolina, if not too much meddled with, would by and by voluntarily rank
+herself among the emancipating states; but his older cousin declared
+himself bound in candour to acknowledge that there was very little
+likelihood indeed of so desirable an event. Not even these South
+Carolinians ventured to defend slavery on principle. This belief in the
+moribund condition of slavery prevented the convention from realizing
+the actual effect of the concessions which were made. Scarcely any
+cotton was grown at that time, and none was sent to England. The
+industrial revolution about to be wrought by the inventions of Arkwright
+and Hargreaves, Cartwright and Watt and Whitney, could not be foreseen.
+Nor could it be foreseen that presently, when there should thus arise a
+great demand for slaves from Virginia as a breeding-ground, the
+abolitionist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> party in that state would disappear, leaving her to join
+in the odious struggle for introducing slavery into the national domain.
+Though these things were so soon to happen, the wisest man in 1787 could
+not foresee them. The convention hoped that twenty years would see not
+only the end of the foreign slave-trade, but the restriction and
+diminution of slavery itself. It was in such a mood that they completed
+the compromise by recommending a tariff of ten dollars a head upon all
+negroes imported, while at the same time a clause was added for insuring
+the recovery of fugitive slaves, quite similar to the clause in the
+ordinance for the government of the northwestern territory.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The foundations of the Constitution were thus laid in
+compromise.</div>
+
+<p>It was the three great compromises here described that laid the
+foundations of our Federal Constitution. The first compromise, by
+conceding equal representation to the states in the Senate, enlisted the
+small states in favour of the new scheme, and by establishing a national
+system of representation in the lower house, prepared the way for a
+government that could endure. This was Madison's great victory, secured
+by the aid of Sherman and Ellsworth, without which nothing could have
+been effected. The second compromise, at the cost of giving
+disproportionate weight to the slave states, gained their support for
+the more perfect union that was about to be formed. The third
+compromise, at the cost of postponing for twenty years the abolition of
+the foreign slave-trade, secured absolute free-trade between the states,
+with the surrender of all control over commerce into the hands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> of the
+federal government. After these steps had been taken, the most difficult
+and dangerous part of the road had been travelled; the remainder, though
+extremely important, was accomplished far more easily. It was mainly the
+task of building on the foundations already laid.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Powers granted to the federal government.</div>
+
+<p>In the grants to the federal government of powers hitherto reserved to
+the several states, the diversity of opinion among the members of the
+convention was but slight compared to the profound antagonism which had
+been allayed by the three initial compromises. It was admitted, as a
+matter of course, that the federal government alone could coin money,
+fix the standard of weights and measures, establish post-offices and
+post-roads, and grant patents and copyrights. To it alone was naturally
+intrusted the whole business of war and of international relations. It
+could define and punish felonies committed on the high seas; it could
+maintain a navy and issue letters of marque and reprisal; it could
+support an army and provide for calling forth the militia to execute the
+laws of the Union, to suppress insurrections, and to repel invasions.
+But in relation to this question of the army and the militia there was
+some characteristic discussion. It was at first proposed that Congress
+should have the power "to subdue a rebellion in any state on the
+application of its legislature." The Shays rebellion was then fresh in
+the memory of all the delegates, and their arguments simply reflected
+the impression which that unpleasant affair had left upon them. Charles
+Pinckney, Gouverneur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> Morris, and John Langdon wished to have the power
+given to Congress unconditionally, without waiting for an application
+from the legislature. But Gerry, who had been on the ground, spoke
+sturdily against such a needless infraction of state rights. He was
+utterly opposed, he said, to "letting loose the myrmidons of the United
+States on a state without its own consent. The states will be the best
+judges in such cases. More blood would have been spilt in Massachusetts
+in the late insurrection if the general authority had intermeddled."
+Ellsworth suggested that Congress should use its discretion only in
+cases where the legislature of the state could not meet; but Randolph
+forcibly replied that if Congress is to judge whether a state
+legislature can or cannot meet, the difficulty is in no wise surmounted.
+Gerry's view at last prevailed, and in accordance therewith it was
+decided that the federal power should guarantee to every state a
+republican form of government, and should protect each of them against
+invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (if
+the legislature could not be convened), it should protect them against
+domestic violence. This arrangement did not fully provide against such
+an emergency as that of rival and hostile executives in the same state,
+as under the so-called "carpet-bag" governments which followed after the
+War of Secession, but it was doubtless as sound a provision as any
+general constitution could make.</p>
+
+<p>The federal government was further empowered to borrow money on the
+credit of the United States; and it was declared that all debts
+contracted and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> engagements entered into before the adoption of this
+constitution should be as valid against the United States under this
+constitution as under the confederation. There was to be no repudiation
+or readjustment of debts on the ground of inability to pay. Congress was
+further empowered to establish a uniform rule of naturalization and a
+uniform law of bankruptcy. But it was prohibited from passing bills of
+attainder or <i>ex post facto</i> laws, or suspending the writ of <i>habeas
+corpus</i>, except under the stress of rebellion or invasion. It was
+provided that all duties, imposts, or excises should be uniform
+throughout the United States. The federal government could not give
+preference to one state over another in its commercial regulations. It
+could not tax exports. It could not draw money from the treasury save by
+due process of appropriation, and all bills relating to the raising of
+revenue must originate in the lower house, which directly represented
+the people. Congress was empowered to admit new states into the Union,
+but it was not allowed to interfere with the territorial areas of states
+already existing without the express consent of the local legislatures.
+To insure the independence of the federal government, it was provided
+that senators and representatives should be paid out of the federal
+treasury, and not by their respective states, as had been the case under
+the confederation. Except for such offences as treason, felony, or
+breach of the peace, they should be "privileged from arrest during their
+attendance, at the session of their respective houses, and in going to
+or returning from the same; and for any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> speech or debate in either
+house" they were not to be "questioned in any other place." It was
+further provided that a territory not exceeding ten miles square should
+be ceded to the United States, and set apart as the site of a federal
+city, in which the general government should ever after hold its
+meetings, erect its buildings, and exercise exclusive jurisdiction.
+During the past four years the Continental Congress had skipped about
+from Philadelphia to Princeton, to Annapolis, to Trenton, to New York,
+until it had become a laughing-stock, and the newspapers were full of
+squibs about it. Verily, said one facetious editor, the Lord shall make
+this government like unto a wheel, and keep it rolling back and forth
+betwixt Dan and Beersheba, and grant it no rest this side of Jordan.
+This inconvenience was now to be remedied. Congress was hereafter to
+have a federal police force at its disposal, and was never more to be
+reduced to the humiliation of a fruitless appeal to the protecting arm
+of a state government, as at Philadelphia in the summer of 1783.
+Furthermore, the Continental Congress had of late years commanded so
+little respect, and had offered so few temptations to able men in quest
+of political distinction, that its meetings were often attended by no
+more than eight or ten members. It was actually on the point of dying a
+natural death through sheer lack of public interest in it. To prevent
+any possible continuance of such a disgraceful state of things, it was
+agreed that the Federal Congress should be "authorized to compel the
+attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>
+as each house may provide." Had the political life of the country
+continued to go on as under the confederation, it is very doubtful
+whether such a provision as this would have remedied the evil. But the
+new Federal Congress, drawing its life directly from the people, was
+destined to afford far greater opportunities for a political career than
+were afforded by the feeble body of delegates which preceded it; and a
+penal clause, compelling members to attend its meetings, was hardly
+needed under the new circumstances which arose.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Powers denied to the states.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Emphatic condemnation of paper money.</div>
+
+<p>While the powers of the federal government were thus carefully defined,
+at the same time several powers were expressly denied to the states. No
+state was allowed, without explicit authority from Congress, to lay any
+tonnage or custom-house duties, "keep troops or ships of war in time of
+peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state or with a
+foreign power, or engage in war unless actually invaded, or in such
+imminent danger as will not admit of delays." The following clause
+provided against a recurrence of some of the worst evils which had been
+felt under the "league of friendship:" "No state shall enter into any
+treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and
+reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and
+silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder,
+<i>ex post facto</i> law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or
+grant any title of nobility." Henceforth there was to be no repetition
+of such disgraceful scenes as had lately been witnessed in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> Rhode
+Island. So far as the state legislatures were concerned, paper money was
+to be ruled out forever. But how was it with the federal government? By
+the articles of confederation the United States were allowed to issue
+bills of credit, and make them a tender in payment of debts. In the
+Federal Convention the committee of detail suggested that this
+permission might remain under the new constitution; but the suggestion
+was almost unanimously condemned. All the ablest men in the convention
+spoke emphatically against it. Gouverneur Morris urged that the federal
+government, no less than the state governments, should be expressly
+prohibited from issuing bills of credit, or in any wise making its
+promissory notes a legal tender. He went over the history of the past
+ten years; he called attention to the obstinacy with which the wretched
+device had been resorted to again and again, after its evils had been
+thrust before everybody's eyes; and he proved himself a true prophet
+when he said that if the United States should ever again have a great
+war to conduct, people would have forgotten all about these things, and
+would call for fresh issues of inconvertible paper, with similar
+disastrous results. Now was the time to stop it once for all. "Yes,"
+echoed Roger Sherman, "this is the favourable crisis for crushing paper
+money." "This is the time," said his colleague, Ellsworth, "to shut and
+bar the door against paper money, which can in no case be necessary.
+Give the government credit, and other resources will offer. The power
+may do harm, never good."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> There was no way, he added, in which powerful
+friends could so soon be gained for the new constitution as by
+withholding this power from the government. James Wilson took the same
+view. "It will have the most salutary influence on the credit of the
+United States," said he, "to remove the possibility of paper money."
+"Rather than grant the power to Congress," said John Langdon, "I would
+reject the whole plan." "The words which grant this power," said George
+Read of Delaware, "if not struck out, will be as alarming as the mark of
+the Beast, in the Apocalypse." On none of the subjects that came up for
+discussion during that summer was the convention more nearly unanimous
+than in its condemnation of paper money. The only delegate who ventured
+to speak in its favour was Mercer of Maryland. What Hamilton would have
+said, if he had been present that day, we may judge from his vigorous
+words published some time before. The power to emit an inconvertible
+paper as a sign of value ought never hereafter to be used; for in its
+very nature, said he, it is "pregnant with abuses, and liable to be made
+the engine of imposition and fraud, holding out temptations equally
+pernicious to the integrity of government and to the morals of the
+people." Paterson called it "sanctifying iniquity by law." The same
+views were entertained by Washington and Madison. There were a few
+delegates, however, who thought it unsafe to fetter Congress absolutely.
+To use Luther Martin's expression, they did not set themselves up to be
+"wise beyond every event." George Mason said he "had a mortal hatred to
+paper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> money, yet, as he could not foresee all emergencies, he was
+unwilling to tie the hands of the legislature. The late war," he
+thought, "could not have been carried on had such a prohibition
+existed." Randolph spoke to the same effect. It was finally decided, by
+the vote of nine states against New Jersey and Maryland, that the power
+to issue inconvertible paper should not be granted to the federal
+government. An express prohibition, such as had been adopted for the
+separate states, was thought unnecessary. It was supposed that it was
+enough to withhold the power, since the federal government would not
+venture to exercise it unless expressly permitted in the Constitution.
+"Thus," says Madison, in his narrative of the proceedings, "the pretext
+for a paper currency, and particularly for making the bills a tender,
+either for public or private debts, was cut off." Nothing could be more
+clearly expressed than this. As Mr. Justice Field observes, in his able
+dissenting opinion in the recent case of Juilliard <i>vs.</i> Greenman, "if
+there be anything in the history of the Constitution which can be
+established with moral certainty, it is that the framers of that
+instrument intended to prohibit the issue of legal-tender notes both by
+the general government and by the states, and thus prevent interference
+with the contracts of private parties." Such has been the opinion of our
+ablest constitutional jurists, Marshall, Webster, Story, Curtis, and
+Nelson. There can be little doubt that, according to all sound
+principles of interpretation, the Legal Tender Act of 1862 was passed in
+flagrant violation of the Constitution. Could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>Ellsworth and Morris,
+Langdon and Madison, have foreseen the possibility of such extraordinary
+judgments as have lately emanated from the Supreme Court of the United
+States, they would doubtless have insisted upon the express prohibition,
+instead of leaving it to posterity to root out the plague, as it will
+apparently some time have to do, by the cumbrous process of an amendment
+to the Constitution.</p>
+
+<p>The work of the convention, as thus far considered, related to the
+legislative department of the new government. While these discussions
+were going on, much attention had been paid, from time to time, to the
+characteristics of the proposed federal executive. The debates on this
+question, though long kept up, were far less acrimonious than the
+debates on representation and the power of Congress over trade, because
+here there was no obvious clashing of local interests. But for this very
+reason the convention had no longer so clear a chart to steer by. On the
+question of the slave-trade, the Pinckneys knew accurately just what
+South Carolina wanted, how much it would do to claim, and how far it
+would be necessary to yield. As to the regulation of commerce by a bare
+majority of votes in Congress, King and Sherman on the one hand, Mason
+and Randolph on the other, were able to pursue a thoroughly definite
+course of action in behalf of what were supposed to be the special
+interests of New England or of Virginia. Consequently, the debates kept
+close to the point; the controversy was keen, and sometimes, as we have
+seen, angry.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Debates as to the federal executive.</div>
+
+<p>It was very different with the question as to the federal executive.
+Upon this point the discussions were guided rather by general
+speculations as to what would be most likely to work well, and
+accordingly they wandered far and wide. Some of the delegates seemed to
+think we should sooner or later come to adopt a hereditary monarchy, and
+that the chief thing to be done was to postpone the event as long as
+possible. Many wild ideas were broached: such, for example, as a
+triple-headed executive, to represent the eastern, middle, and southern
+states, somewhat as associated Roman emperors at times administered
+affairs in the different portions of an undivided empire. The Virginia
+plan had not stated whether its proposed executive was to be single or
+plural, because the Virginia delegates could not agree. Madison wished
+it to be single, to insure greater efficiency, but to Randolph and Mason
+a tyranny seemed to lurk in such an arrangement. When James Wilson and
+Charles Pinckney suggested that the executive power should be intrusted
+into the hands of one man, a profound silence fell upon the convention.
+No one spoke for several minutes, until Washington, from the chair,
+asked if he should put the question. Franklin then got up, and said it
+was an interesting subject, and he should like to hear what the members
+had to say; and so the ball was set rolling. Rutledge said there was no
+need of their being so shy. A man might frankly express his opinions,
+and afterwards change them if he saw good reason for so doing. For his
+part, he was in favour of vesting the executive power in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> single
+person, to secure efficiency of administration and concentration of
+responsibility; but he would not give him the power to declare war and
+make peace. Sherman then made the far-reaching suggestion, that the
+executive magistracy was really "nothing more than an institution for
+carrying the will of the legislature into effect; that the person or
+persons ought to be appointed by and accountable to the legislature
+only, which was the depository of the supreme will of the society. As
+they were the best judges of the business which ought to be done by the
+executive department, ... he wished the number might not be fixed, but
+that the legislature should be at liberty to appoint one or more, as
+experience might dictate." It would greatly have astonished the
+convention had they been told that this suggestion of Sherman's was a
+move in the very same line of development which the British government
+had been following for more than half a century; yet such, as we shall
+presently see, was the case. Had this point been understood then as we
+understand it now, the proceedings of the convention could not have
+failed to be profoundly affected by it. As it was, the suggestion did
+not receive due attention, and the stream of discussion was turned into
+a very different channel. Wilson argued powerfully in favour of a single
+chief magistrate, and this view finally prevailed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">There should be a president, but how should he be elected.</div>
+
+<p>After it had been decided that there should be one man set in so high a
+position, there was endless discussion as to whether he should be
+elected by the people or by Congress, and whether he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> should serve for
+one, or two, or three, or four, or ten, or fifteen years. "Better call
+it twenty," said Rufus King, sarcastically; "it is the average reign of
+princes." Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris would have had him chosen for
+life, subject to removal for misbehaviour; but the preference for a
+short term of service was soon manifest. As to the method of election,
+opinions oscillated back and forth for several weeks. Wilson said "he
+was almost unwilling to declare the mode which he wished to take place,
+being apprehensive that it might appear chimerical. He would say,
+however, at least, that in theory he was for an election by the people.
+Experience, particularly in New York and Massachusetts, showed that an
+election of the first magistrate by the people at large was both a
+convenient and a successful mode. The objects of choice in such cases
+must be persons whose merits have general notoriety." Mason, Rutledge,
+and Strong agreed with Sherman that the executive should be chosen by
+the legislature; but Washington, Madison, Gerry, and Gouverneur Morris
+strongly disapproved of this. Morris argued that an election by the
+national legislature would be the work of intrigue and corruption, like
+the election of the king of Poland by a diet of nobles; but Mason
+declared, on the other hand, that "to refer the choice of a proper
+character for a chief magistrate to the people would be as unnatural as
+to refer a trial of colours to a blind man." A decision was first
+reached against an election by Congress, because it was thought that if
+the chief magistrate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> should prove himself thoroughly competent he ought
+to be re&euml;ligible; but if re&euml;ligible he would be exposed to the
+temptation of truckling to the most powerful party or cabal in Congress,
+in order to secure his re&euml;lection. It did not occur to any one to
+suggest that under ordinary circumstances the executive ought to follow
+the policy of the most powerful party in Congress, and that he might at
+the same time preserve all needful independence by being clothed with
+the power of dissolving Congress and making an appeal to the people in a
+new election. It is interesting to consider what might have come of such
+a suggestion, following upon the heels of that made by Roger Sherman. As
+we shall presently see, it would have immeasurably simplified the
+machinery of our government, besides making the executive what it ought
+to be, the arm of the legislature, instead of a separate and co&ouml;rdinate
+power. Upon this point the minds of nearly all the members were so far
+under the sway of an incorrect theory that such an idea occurred to none
+of them. It was decided that the chief magistrate ought to be
+re&euml;ligible, and therefore should not be elected by Congress.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Suggestion of an electoral college.</div>
+
+<p>An immediate choice by the people, however, did not meet with general
+favour. To obviate the difficulty, Ellsworth and King suggested the
+device of an electoral college, in which the electors should be chosen
+by the state legislatures, and should hold a meeting at the federal city
+for the sole purpose of deciding upon a chief magistrate. It was then
+objected that it would be difficult to find competent men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> who would be
+willing to undertake a long journey simply for such a purpose. The
+objection was felt to be a very grave one, and so the convention
+returned to the plan of an election by Congress, and again confronted
+the difficulty of the chief magistrate's intriguing to secure his
+re&euml;lection. Wilson thought to do away with this difficulty by
+introducing the element of blind chance, as in some of the states of
+ancient Greece, and choosing the executive by a board of electors taken
+from Congress by lot; but the suggestion found little support. Dickinson
+thought it would be well if the people of each state were to choose its
+best citizen,&mdash;in modern parlance, its "favourite son;" then out of
+these thirteen names a chief magistrate might be chosen, either by
+Congress or by a special board of electors. At length, on the 26th of
+July, at the motion of Mason, the convention resolved that there should
+be a national executive, to consist of a single person, to be chosen by
+the national legislature for the term of seven years, and to be
+ineligible for a second term. He was to be styled President of the
+United States of America.</p>
+
+<p>This decision remained until the very end of August, when the whole
+question was reopened by a motion of Rutledge that the two houses of
+Congress, in electing the president, should proceed by "joint ballot."
+The object of this motion was to prevent either house from exerting a
+negative on the choice of the other. It was carried in spite of the
+opposition of some of the smaller states, which might hope to exercise a
+greater relative influence upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> the choice of presidents, if the Senate
+were to vote separately. At this point the fears of Gouverneur Morris,
+that an election by Congress would result in boundless intrigue, were
+revived; and in a powerful speech he persuaded the convention to return
+to the device of the electoral college, which might be made equal in
+number and similar in composition to the two houses of Congress sitting
+together. It need not be required of the electors, after all, that they
+should make a long journey to the seat of the federal government. They
+might meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two
+persons, one of whom must be an inhabitant of a different state. By this
+provision it was hoped to diminish the chances for extreme sectional
+partiality. A list of these votes might be sent under seal to the
+presiding officer of the Senate, to be counted. Should no candidate turn
+out to have a majority of the votes, the Senate might choose a president
+from the five highest candidates on the list. The candidate having the
+next highest number of votes might be declared vice-president, and
+preserve the visible continuity of the government in case of the death
+of the president during his term of office. By these changes the method
+of electing the president, as finally decided upon, was nearly
+completed. But Mason, Randolph, Gerry, King, and Wilson were not
+satisfied with the provision that the Senate might choose the president
+in case of a failure of choice on the part of the electoral college:
+they preferred to give this power to the House of Representatives. It
+was thought that the Senate would be likely to prove an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>aristocratic
+body, somewhat removed from the people in its sympathies, and there was
+a dread of intrusting to it too many important functions. Mason thought
+that the sway of an aristocracy would be worse than an absolute
+monarchy; and if the Senate might every now and then elect the
+president, there would be a risk that the dignity of his office might
+degenerate, until he should become a mere creature of the Senate. On the
+other hand, the small states, in order to have an equal voice with the
+large ones, in such an emergency as the failure of choice by the
+electoral college, wished to keep the eventual choice in the hands of
+the Senate. Among the delegates from the small states, only Langdon and
+Dickinson at first supported the change, and only New Hampshire voted
+for it. At length Sherman proposed a compromise, which was carried. It
+was agreed that the eventual choice should be given to the House of
+Representatives, and not to the Senate, but that in exercising this
+function the vote in the House of Representatives should be taken by
+states. Thus the humours of the delegates from the small states, and of
+those who dreaded the accumulation of powers into the hands of an
+oligarchy, were alike gratified. This arrangement was finally adopted by
+the votes of ten states against Delaware.</p>
+
+<p>But in spite of all the minute and anxious care that was taken in
+guarding this point, the contingency of an election being thus thrown
+into the hands of the national legislature was not regarded as likely
+often to occur. In point of fact, it has hitherto happened only twice in
+the century, in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> elections of 1800 and of 1824. It was recognized
+that the work would ordinarily be done through the machinery of the
+electoral college, and that thus the fear of intrigue between the
+president and Congress, as it had originally been felt by the
+convention, might be set aside. To make assurance doubly sure, it was
+provided that "no person shall be appointed an elector who is a member
+of the legislature of the United States, or who holds any office of
+profit or trust under the United States." It then appeared that the
+arguments which had been alleged against the eligibility of the
+president for a second term had lost their force; and he was accordingly
+made re&euml;ligible, while his term of service was reduced from seven years
+to four.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">How to count the votes.</div>
+
+<p>The scheme had thus arrived substantially at its present shape, except
+that the counting of the electoral vote still remained in the hands of
+the Senate. On the 6th of September this provision was altered, and it
+was decided that "the president of the Senate shall, in the presence of
+the Senate and the House of Representatives, open all the certificates,
+and the votes shall then be counted." The object of this provision was
+to take the office of counting away from the Senate alone, and give it
+to Congress as a whole; and while doing so, to guard against the failure
+of an election through the disagreement of the two houses. The method of
+counting was not prescribed, for it was thought that it might safely be
+left to joint rules established by the two houses of Congress
+themselves, after analogies supplied by the experience of the several
+state legislatures.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> The case of double returns, sent in by rival
+governments in the same state, was not contemplated by the convention;
+and thus the door was left open for a danger considerably greater than
+many of those over which the delegates were agitated. It may safely be
+said, however, that not even the wildest license of interpretation can
+find any support for the ridiculous doctrine suggested by some persons
+blinded by political passion in 1877, that the business of counting the
+votes and deciding upon the validity of returns belongs to the president
+of the Senate. No such idea was for a moment entertained by the
+convention. Any such idea is completely negatived by their action of the
+6th of September. The express purpose of the final arrangement made on
+that day was to admit the House of Representatives to active
+participation in the office of determining who should have been elected
+president. It was expressly declared that this work was too important to
+be left to the Senate alone. What, then, would the convention have said
+to the preposterous notion that this work might safely be left to the
+presiding officer of the Senate? The convention were keenly alive to any
+imaginable grant of authority that might enable the Senate to grow into
+an oligarchy. What would they have said to the proposal to create a
+monocrat <i>ad hoc</i>, an official permanently endowed by virtue of his
+office with the function of king-maker?</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The convention foresaw imaginary dangers, but not the real
+ones.</div>
+
+<p>In this connection it is worth our while to observe that in no respect
+has the actual working of the Constitution departed so far from the
+intentions of its framers as in the case of their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>provisions concerning
+the executive. Against a host of possible dangers they guarded most
+elaborately, but the dangers and inconveniences against which we have
+actually had to contend they did not foresee. It will be observed that
+Wilson's proposal for a direct election of the president by the people
+found little favour in the convention. The schemes that were seriously
+considered oscillated back and forth between an election by the national
+legislature and an election by a special college of electors. The
+electors might be chosen by a popular vote, or by the state
+legislatures, or in any such wise as each state might see fit to
+determine for itself. In point of fact, electors were chosen by the
+legislature in New Jersey till 1816; in Connecticut till 1820; in New
+York, Delaware, and Vermont, and with one exception in Georgia, till
+1824; in South Carolina till 1868. Massachusetts adopted various plans,
+and did not finally settle down to an election by the people until 1828.
+Now there were several reasons why the Federal Convention was afraid to
+trust the choice of the president directly to the people. One was that
+very old objection, the fear of the machinations of demagogues, since
+people were supposed to be so easily fooled. As already observed, the
+democratic sentiment in the convention was such as we should now call
+weak. Another reason shows vividly how wide the world seemed in those
+days of slow coaches and mail-bags carried on horseback. It was feared
+that people would not have sufficient data wherewith to judge of the
+merits of public men in states<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> remote from their own. The electors, as
+eminent men exceptionally well informed, and screened from the sophisms
+of demagogues, might hold little conventions and select the best
+possible candidates, using in every case their own unfettered judgment.</p>
+
+<p>In this connection the words of Hamilton are worth quoting. In the
+sixty-eighth number of the "Federalist" he says: "The mode of
+appointment of the chief magistrate of the United States is almost the
+only part of the system which has escaped without severe censure, or
+which has received the slightest mark of approbation from its opponents.
+The most plausible of these who has appeared in print has even deigned
+to admit that the election of the president is well guarded.... It was
+desirable that the sense of the people should operate in the choice of
+the person to whom so important a trust was to be confided.... It was
+equally desirable that the immediate election should be made by men
+capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting
+under circumstances favourable to deliberation and to a judicious
+combination of all the reasons and inducements that were proper to
+govern their choice. A small number of persons, selected by their
+fellow-citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess
+the information and discernment requisite to so complicated an
+investigation.... It was also peculiarly desirable to afford as little
+opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder. This evil was not least
+to be dreaded in the election of a magistrate who was to have so
+important an agency in the administration of the government."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Actual working of the electoral scheme.</div>
+
+<p>Such was the theory as set forth by a thinker endowed with rare ability
+to follow out in imagination the results of any course of political
+action. It is needless to say that the actual working of the scheme has
+been very different from what was expected. In our very first great
+struggle of parties, in 1800, the electors divided upon party lines,
+with little heed to the "complicated investigation" for which they were
+supposed to be chosen. Quite naturally, for the work of electing a
+candidate presupposes a state of mind very different from that of serene
+deliberation. In 1800 the electors acted simply as automata recording
+the victory of their party, and so it has been ever since. In our own
+time presidents and vice-presidents are nominated, not without elaborate
+intrigue, by special conventions quite unknown to the Constitution; the
+people cast their votes for the two or three pairs of candidates thus
+presented, and the electoral college simply registers the results. The
+system is thus fully exposed to all the dangers which our forefathers
+dreaded from the frequent election of a chief magistrate by the people.
+Owing to the great good-sense and good-nature of the American people,
+the system does not work so badly as might be expected. It has, indeed,
+worked immeasurably better than any one would have ventured to predict.
+It is nevertheless open to grave objections. It compels a change of
+administration at stated astronomical periods, whether any change of
+policy is called for or not; it stirs up the whole country every fourth
+year with a furious excitement that is often largely factitious;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> and
+twice within the century, in 1801 and again in 1877, it has brought us
+to the verge of the most foolish and hopeless species of civil war, in
+view of that thoroughly monarchical kind of accident, a disputed
+succession.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The convention supposed itself to be copying from the British
+Constitution.</div>
+
+<p>The most curious and instructive point concerning the peculiar executive
+devised for the United States by the Federal Convention is the fact that
+the delegates proceeded upon a thoroughly false theory of what they were
+doing. As already observed, in this part of its discussions the
+convention had not the clearly outlined chart of local interests to
+steer by. It indulged in general speculations and looked about for
+precedents; and there was one precedent which American statesmen then
+always had before their eyes, whether they were distinctly aware of it
+or not. In creating an executive department, the members of the
+convention were really trying to copy the only constitution of which
+they had any direct experience, and which most of them agreed in
+thinking the most efficient working constitution in existence,&mdash;as
+indeed it was. They were trying to copy the British Constitution,
+modifying it to suit their republican ideas: but curiously enough, what
+they copied in creating the office of president was not the real English
+executive or prime minister, but the fictitious English executive, the
+sovereign. And this was associated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> in their minds with another profound
+misconception, which influenced all this part of their work. They
+thought that to keep the legislative and executive offices distinct and
+separate was the very palladium of liberty; and they all took it for
+granted, without a moment's question, that the British Constitution did
+this thing. England, they thought, is governed by King, Lords, and
+Commons, and the supreme power is nicely divided between the three, so
+that neither one can get the whole of it, and that is the safeguard of
+English liberty. So they arranged President, Senate, and Representatives
+to correspond, and sedulously sought to divide supreme power between the
+three, so that they might operate as checks upon each other. If either
+one should ever succeed in acquiring the whole sovereignty, then they
+thought there would be an end of American liberty.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Influence of Montesquieu and Blackstone.</div>
+
+<p>Now in the earlier part of the work of the Federal Convention, in
+dealing with the legislative department, the delegates were on firm
+ground, because they were dealing with things of which they knew
+something by experience; but in all this careful separation of the
+executive power from the legislative they went wide of the mark, because
+they were following a theory which did not truly describe things as they
+really existed. And that was because the English Constitution was, and
+still is, covered up with a thick husk of legal fictions which long ago
+ceased to have any vitality. Blackstone, the great authority of the
+eighteenth century, set forth this theory of the division of power
+between King, Lords, and Commons with clearness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> and force, and nobody
+then understood English history minutely or thoroughly enough to see its
+fallaciousness. Montesquieu also, the ablest and most elegant political
+writer of the age, with whose works most of the statesmen in the Federal
+Convention were familiar, gave a similar description of the English
+Constitution, and generalized from it as the ideal constitution for a
+free people. But Montesquieu and Blackstone, in their treatment of this
+point, had their eyes upon the legal fictions, and were blind to the
+real machinery which was working under them. They gave elegant
+expression to what the late Mr. Bagehot called the "literary theory" of
+the English Constitution. But the real thing differed essentially from
+the "literary theory" even in their day. In our own time the divergence
+has become so conspicuous that it would not now be possible for
+well-informed writers to make the mistake of Montesquieu and Blackstone.
+In our time it has come to be perfectly obvious that so far from the
+English Constitution separating the executive power from the
+legislative, this is precisely what it does not do. In Great Britain the
+supreme power is all lodged in a single body, the House of Commons. The
+sovereign has come to be purely a legal fiction, and the House of Lords
+maintains itself only by submitting to the Commons. The House of Commons
+is absolutely supreme, and, as we shall presently see, it really both
+appoints and dismisses the executive. The English executive, or chief
+magistrate, is ordinarily the first lord of the treasury, and is
+commonly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> styled the prime minister. He is chairman of the most
+important committee of the House of Commons, and his cabinet consists of
+the chairmen of other committees.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">What our government would be if it were really like that of
+Great Britain.</div>
+
+<p>To make this perfectly clear, let us see what our machinery of
+government would be, if it were really like the English. The presence or
+absence of the crowned head makes no essential difference; it is only a
+kind of ornamental cupola. Suppose for a moment the presidency
+abolished, or reduced to the political nullity of the crown in England;
+and postpone for a moment the consideration of the Senate. Suppose that
+in our House of Representatives the committee of ways and means had two
+chairmen,&mdash;an upper chairman who looks after all sorts of business, and
+a lower chairman who attends especially to the finances. This upper
+chairman, we will say, corresponds to the first lord of the treasury,
+while the lower one corresponds to the chancellor of the exchequer.
+Sometimes, when the upper chairman is a great financier, and capable of
+enormous labour, he will fill both places at once, as Mr. Gladstone was
+lately first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. The
+chairmen of the other committees on foreign, military, and naval affairs
+will answer to the English secretaries of state for foreign affairs and
+for war, the first lord of the admiralty, and so on. This group of
+chairmen, headed by the upper chairman of the ways and means, will then
+answer to the English cabinet, with its prime minister. To complete the
+parallel, let us suppose that, after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> a new House of Representatives is
+elected, it chooses this prime minister, and he appoints the other
+chairmen who are to make up his cabinet. Suppose, too, that he initiates
+all legislation, and executes all laws, and stays in office three weeks
+or thirty years, or as long as he can get a majority of the house to
+vote for his measures. If he loses his majority, he can either resign or
+dissolve the house, and order a new election, thus appealing directly to
+the people. If the new house gives him a majority, he stays in office;
+if it shows a majority against him, he steps down into the house, and
+becomes, perhaps, the leader of the opposition.</p>
+
+<p>Now if this were the form of our government, it would correspond in all
+essential features to that of England. The likeness is liable to be
+obscured by the fact that in England it is the queen who is supposed to
+appoint the prime minister; but that is simply a part of the antiquated
+"literary theory" of the English Constitution. In reality the queen only
+acts as mistress of the ceremonies. Whatever she may wish, the prime
+minister must be the man who can command the best working majority in
+the house. This is not only tested by the first vote that is taken, but
+it is almost invariably known beforehand so well that if the queen
+offers the place to the wrong man he refuses to take it. Should he be so
+foolish as to take it, he is sure to be overthrown at the first test
+vote, and then the right man comes in. Thus in 1880 the queen's manifest
+preference for Lord Granville or Lord Hartington made no sort of
+difference. Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> Gladstone was as much chosen by the House of Commons as
+if the members had sat in their seats and balloted for him. If the crown
+were to be abolished to-morrow, and the house were henceforth, on the
+resignation of a prime minister, to elect a new one to serve as long as
+he could command a majority, it would not be doing essentially otherwise
+than it does now. The house then dismisses its minister when it rejects
+one of his important measures. But while thus appointed and dismissed by
+the house, he is in no wise its slave; for by the power of dissolution
+he has the right to appeal to the country, and let the general election
+decide the issue. The obvious advantages of this system are that it
+makes anything like a deadlock between the legislature and the executive
+impossible; and it insures a concentration of responsibility. The prime
+minister's bills cannot be disregarded, like the president's messages;
+and thus, too, the house is kept in hand, and cannot degenerate into a
+debating club.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">In the British government, the executive department is not
+separated from the legislative.</div>
+
+<p>A system so delicate and subtle, yet so strong and efficient, as this
+could no more have been invented by the wisest of statesmen than a
+chemist could make albumen by taking its elements and mixing them
+together. In its practical working it is a much simpler system than
+ours, and still its principal features are not such as would be likely
+to occur to men who had not had some actual <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>experience of them. It is
+the peculiar outgrowth of English history. As we can now see, its chief
+characteristic is its not separating the executive power from the
+legislative. As a member of Parliament, the prime minister introduces
+the legislation which he is himself expected to carry into effect. Nor
+does the English system even keep the judiciary entirely separate, for
+the lord chancellor not only presides over the House of Lords, but sits
+in the cabinet as the prime minister's legal adviser. It is somewhat as
+if the chief justice of the United States were <i>ex officio</i> president of
+the Senate and attorney-general; though here the resemblance is somewhat
+superficial. Our Senate, although it does not represent landed
+aristocracy or the church, but the federal character of our government,
+has still a superficial resemblance to the House of Lords. It passes on
+all bills that come up from the lower house, and can originate bills on
+most matters, but not for raising revenue. Its function as a high court
+of impeachment, with the chief justice for its presiding officer, was
+directly copied from the House of Lords. But here the resemblance ends.
+The House of Lords has no such veto upon the House of Commons as our
+Senate has upon the House of Representatives. Between our upper and
+lower houses a serious deadlock is possible; but the House of Lords can
+only reject a bill until it sees that the House of Commons is determined
+to have it carried. It can only enter a protest. If it is obstinate and
+tries to do more, the House of Commons, through its prime minister,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> can
+create enough new peers to change the vote,&mdash;a power so formidable in
+its effects upon the social position of the peerage that it does not
+need to be used. The knowledge that it exists is enough to bring the
+House of Lords to terms.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Circumstances which obscured the true aspect of the case a
+century ago.</div>
+
+<p>These features of the English Constitution are so prominent since the
+reform of Parliament in 1832 as to be generally recognized. They have
+been gradually becoming its essential features ever since the Revolution
+of 1688. Before that time the crown had really been the executive, and
+there had really been a separation between the executive and legislative
+branches of the government, which on several occasions, and notably in
+the middle of the seventeenth century, had led to armed strife. What the
+Revolution of 1688 really decided was that henceforth in England the
+executive was to be the mighty arm of the legislature, and not a
+separate and rival power. It ended whatever of reality there was in the
+old system of King, Lords, and Commons, and by the time of Sir Robert
+Walpole the system of cabinet government had become fairly established;
+but men still continued to use the phrases and formulas bequeathed from
+former ages, so that the meaning of the changes going on under their
+very eyes was obscured. There was also a great historical incident,
+after Walpole's time, which served further to obscure the meaning of
+these changes, especially to Americans. From 1760 to 1784, by means of
+the rotten borough system of elections and the peculiar attitude of
+political parties, the king contrived to make his will felt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> in the
+House of Commons to such an extent that it became possible to speak of
+the personal government of George III. The work of the Revolution of
+1688 was not really completed till the election of 1784 which made Pitt
+the ruler of England, and its fruits cannot be said to have been fully
+secured till 1832. Now as our Revolutionary War was brought on by the
+attempts of George III. to establish his personal government, and as it
+was actually he rather than Lord North who ruled England during that
+war, it was not strange that Americans, even of the highest education,
+should have failed to discover the transformation which the past century
+had wrought in the framework of the English government. Nay, more,
+during this century the king had seemed even more of a real institution
+to the Americans than to the British. He had seemed to them the only
+link which bound the different parts of the empire together. Throughout
+the struggles which culminated in the War of Independence, it had been
+the favourite American theory that while the colonial assemblies and the
+British Parliament were sovereign each in its own sphere, all alike owed
+allegiance to the king as visible head of the empire. To people who had
+been in the habit of setting forth and defending such a theory, it was
+impossible that the crown should seem so much a legal fiction as it had
+really come to be in England. It is very instructive to note that while
+the members of the Federal Convention thoroughly understood the
+antiquated theory of the English Constitution as set forth by
+Blackstone, they drew very few illustrations from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> modern working of
+Parliament, with which they had not had sufficient opportunities of
+becoming familiar. In particular they seemed quite unconscious of the
+vast significance of a dissolution of Parliament, although a dissolution
+had occurred only three years before under such circumstances as to work
+a revolution in British politics without a breath of disturbance. The
+only sort of dissolution with which they were familiar was that in which
+Dunmore or Bernard used to send the colonial assemblies home about their
+business whenever they grew too refractory. Had the significance of a
+dissolution, in the British sense, been understood by the convention,
+the pregnant suggestion of Roger Sherman, above mentioned, could not
+have failed to give a different turn to the whole series of debates on
+the executive branch of the government. Had our Constitution been framed
+a few years later, this point would have had a better chance of being
+understood. As it was, in trying to modify the English system so as to
+adapt it to our own uses, it was the archaic monarchical feature, and
+not the modern ministerial feature, upon which we seized. The president,
+in our system, irremovable by the national legislature, does not answer
+to the modern prime minister, but to the old-fashioned king, with powers
+for mischief curtailed by election for short terms.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The American cabinet is analogous not to the British cabinet,
+but to the privy council.</div>
+
+<p>The close parallelism between the office of president and that of king
+in the minds of the framers of the Constitution was instructively shown
+in the debates on the advisableness of restraining the president's
+action by a privy council. Gerry and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> Sherman urged that there was need
+of such a council, in order to keep watch over the president. It was
+suggested that the privy council should consist of "the president of the
+Senate, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the chief justice
+of the supreme court, and the principal officer in each of five
+departments as they shall from time to time be established; their duty
+shall be to advise him in matters which he shall lay before them, but
+their advice shall not conclude him, or affect his responsibility." The
+plan for such a council found favour with Franklin, Madison, Wilson,
+Dickinson, and Mason, but did not satisfy the convention. When it was
+voted down Mason used strong language. "In rejecting a council to the
+president," said he, "we are about to try an experiment on which the
+most despotic government has never ventured; the Grand Seignior himself
+has his Divan." It was this failure to provide a council which led the
+convention to give to the Senate a share in some of the executive
+functions of the president, such as the making of treaties, the
+appointment of ambassadors, consuls, judges of the supreme court, and
+other officers of the United States whose appointment was not otherwise
+provided for. As it was objected to the office of vice-president that he
+seemed to have nothing provided for him to do, he was disposed of by
+making him president of the Senate. No cabinet was created by the
+Constitution, but since then the heads of various executive departments,
+appointed by the president, have come to constitute what is called his
+cabinet. Since, however, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> members of it do not belong to Congress,
+and can neither initiate nor guide legislation, they really constitute a
+privy council rather than a cabinet in the modern sense, thus furnishing
+another illustration of the analogy between the president and the
+archaic sovereign.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The federal judiciary.</div>
+
+<p>Concerning the structure of the federal judiciary little need be said
+here. It was framed with very little disagreement among the delegates.
+The work was chiefly done in committee by Ellsworth, Wilson, Randolph,
+and Rutledge, and the result did not differ essentially from the scheme
+laid down in the Virginia plan. It was indeed the indispensable
+completion of the work which was begun by the creation of a national
+House of Representatives. To make a federal government immediately
+operative upon individual citizens, it must of course be armed with
+federal courts to try and federal officers to execute judgment in all
+cases in which individual citizens were amenable to the national law.
+But for this system of United States courts extended throughout the
+states and supreme within its own sphere, the federal constitution could
+never have been put into practical working order. In another respect the
+federal judiciary was the most remarkable and original of all the
+creations of that wonderful convention. It was charged with the duty of
+interpreting, in accordance with the general principles of common law,
+the Federal Constitution itself. This is the most noble as it is the
+most distinctive feature in the government of the United States. It
+constitutes a difference between the American<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> and British systems more
+fundamental than the separation of the executive from the legislative
+department. In Great Britain the unwritten constitution is administered
+by the omnipotent House of Commons; whatever statute is enacted by
+Parliament must stand until some future Parliament may see fit to repeal
+it. But an act passed by both houses of Congress, and signed by the
+president, may still be set aside as unconstitutional by the supreme
+court of the United States in its judgments upon individual cases
+brought before it. It was thus that the practical working of our Federal
+Constitution during the first thirty years of the nineteenth century was
+swayed to so great an extent by the profound and luminous decisions of
+Chief Justice Marshall, that he must be assigned a foremost place among
+the founders of our Federal Union. This intrusting to the judiciary the
+whole interpretation of the fundamental instrument of government is the
+most peculiarly American feature of the work done by the convention, and
+to the stability of such a federation as ours, covering as it does the
+greater part of a huge continent, it was absolutely indispensable.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, at length, was realized the sublime conception of a nation in
+which every citizen lives under two complete and well-rounded systems of
+laws,&mdash;the state law and the federal law,&mdash;each with its legislature,
+its executive, and its judiciary moving one within the other,
+noiselessly and without friction. It was one of the longest reaches of
+constructive statesmanship ever known in the world. There never was
+anything quite like it before, and in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>Europe it needs much explanation
+to-day even for educated statesmen who have never seen its workings. Yet
+to Americans it has become so much a matter of course that they, too,
+sometimes need to be told how much it signifies. In 1787 it was the
+substitution of law for violence between states that were partly
+sovereign. In some future still grander convention we trust the same
+thing will be done between states that have been wholly sovereign,
+whereby peace may gain and violence be diminished over other lands than
+this which has set the example.</p>
+
+<p>Great as was the work which the Federal Convention had now accomplished,
+none of the members supposed it to be complete. After some discussion,
+it was decided that Congress might at any time, by a two thirds vote in
+both houses, propose amendments to the constitution, or on the
+application of the legislatures of two thirds of the states might call a
+convention for proposing amendments; and such amendments should become
+part of the constitution as soon as ratified by three fourths of the
+states, either through their legislatures or through special conventions
+summoned for the purpose. The design of this elaborate arrangement was
+to guard against hasty or ill-considered changes in the fundamental
+instrument of government; and its effectiveness has been such that an
+amendment has come to be impossible save as the result of intense
+conviction on the part of a vast majority of the whole American people.</p>
+
+<p>Finally it was decided that the Federal Constitution, as now completed,
+should be presented to the Continental Congress, and then referred to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>
+special conventions in all the states for ratification; and that when
+nine states, or two thirds of the whole number, should have ratified, it
+should at once go into operation as between such ratifying states.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Signing the Constitution.</div>
+
+<p>When the great document was at last drafted by Gouverneur Morris, and
+was all ready for the signatures, the aged Franklin produced a paper,
+which was read for him, as his voice was weak. Some parts of this
+Constitution, he said, he did not approve, but he was astonished to find
+it so nearly perfect. Whatever opinion he had of its errors he would
+sacrifice to the public good, and he hoped that every member of the
+convention who still had objections would on this occasion doubt a
+little of his own infallibility, and for the sake of unanimity put his
+name to this instrument. Hamilton added his plea. A few members, he
+said, by refusing to sign, might do infinite mischief. No man's ideas
+could be more remote from the plan than his were known to be; but was it
+possible for a true patriot to deliberate between anarchy and
+convulsion, on the one side, and the chance of good to be expected from
+this plan, on the other? From these appeals, as well as from
+Washington's solemn warning at the outset, we see how distinctly it was
+realized that the country was on the verge of civil war. Most of the
+members felt so, but to some the new government seemed far too strong,
+and there were three who dreaded despotism even more than anarchy.
+Mason, Randolph, and Gerry refused to sign, though Randolph sought to
+qualify his refusal by explaining that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> could not yet make up his
+mind whether to oppose or defend the Constitution, when it should be
+laid before the people of Virginia. He wished to reserve to himself full
+liberty of action in the matter. That Mason and Gerry, valuable as their
+services had been in the making of the Constitution, would now go home
+and vigorously oppose it, there was no doubt. Of the delegates who were
+present on the last day of the convention, all but these three signed
+the Constitution. In the signatures the twelve states which had taken
+part in the work were all represented, Hamilton signing alone for New
+York.</p>
+
+<p>Thus after four months of anxious toil, through the whole of a scorching
+Philadelphia summer, after earnest but sometimes bitter discussion, in
+which more than once the meeting had seemed on the point of breaking up,
+a colossal work had at last been accomplished, the results of which were
+most powerfully to affect the whole future career of the human race so
+long as it shall dwell upon the earth. In spite of the high-wrought
+intensity of feeling which had been now and then displayed, grave
+decorum had ruled the proceedings; and now, though few were really
+satisfied, the approach to unanimity was remarkable. When all was over,
+it is said that many of the members seemed awe-struck. Washington sat
+with head bowed in solemn meditation. The scene was ended by a
+characteristic bit of homely pleasantry from Franklin. Thirty-three
+years ago, in the days of George II., before the first mutterings of the
+Revolution had been heard, and when the French dominion in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> America was
+still untouched, before the banishment of the Acadians or the rout of
+Braddock, while Washington was still surveying lands in the wilderness,
+while Madison was playing in the nursery and Hamilton was not yet born,
+Franklin had endeavoured to bring together the thirteen colonies in a
+federal union. Of the famous Albany plan of 1754, the first complete
+outline of a federal constitution for America that ever was made, he was
+the principal if not the sole author. When he signed his name to the
+Declaration of Independence in this very room, his years had rounded the
+full period of threescore and ten. Eleven years more had passed, and he
+had been spared to see the noble aim of his life accomplished. There was
+still, no doubt, a chance of failure, but hope now reigned in the old
+man's breast. On the back of the president's quaint black armchair there
+was emblazoned a half-sun, brilliant with its gilded rays. As the
+meeting was breaking up and Washington arose, Franklin pointed to the
+chair, and made it the text for prophecy. "As I have been sitting here
+all these weeks," said he, "I have often wondered whether yonder sun is
+rising or setting. But now I know that it is a rising sun!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>CROWNING THE WORK.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">The new Constitution is laid before Congress and submitted
+forthwith to the several states for ratification.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was on the 17th of September, 1787, that the Federal Convention broke
+up. For most of the delegates there was a long and tedious journey home
+before they could meet their fellow-citizens and explain what had been
+done at Philadelphia during this anxious summer. Not so, however, with
+Benjamin Franklin and the Pennsylvania delegation. At eleven o'clock on
+the next morning, radiant with delight at seeing one of the most
+cherished purposes of his life so nearly accomplished, the venerable
+philosopher, attended by his seven colleagues, presented to the
+legislature of Pennsylvania a copy of the Federal Constitution, and in a
+brief but pithy speech, characterized by his usual homely wisdom, begged
+for it their most favourable consideration. His words fell upon willing
+ears, for nowhere was the disgust at the prevailing anarchy greater than
+in Philadelphia. But still it was not quite in order for the assembly to
+act upon the matter until word should come from the Continental
+Congress. Since its ignominious flight to Princeton, four years ago,
+that migratory body had not honoured Philadelphia with its presence. It
+had once flitted as far south as Annapolis, but at length had chosen for
+its abiding-place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> the city of New York, where it was now in session. To
+Congress the new Constitution must be submitted before it was in order
+for the several states to take action upon it. On the 20th of September
+the draft of the Constitution was laid before Congress, accompanied by a
+letter from Washington. The forces of the opposition were promptly
+mustered. At their head was Richard Henry Lee, who eleven years ago had
+moved in Congress the Declaration of Independence. He was ably supported
+by Nathan Dane of Massachusetts, and the delegation from New York were
+unanimous in their determination to obstruct any movement toward a
+closer union of the states. Their tactics were vigorous, but the
+majority in Congress were against them, especially after the return of
+Madison from Philadelphia. Madison, aided by Edward Carrington and young
+Henry Lee, the famous leader of light horse, succeeded in every division
+in carrying the vote of Virginia in favour of the Constitution and
+against the obstructive measures of the elder Lee. The objection was
+first raised that the new Constitution would put an end to the
+Continental Congress, and that in recommending it to the states for
+consideration Congress would be virtually asking them to terminate its
+own existence. Was it right or proper for Congress thus to have a hand
+in signing its own death-warrant? But this flimsy argument was quickly
+overturned. Seven months before Congress had recognized the necessity
+for calling the convention together; whatever need for its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> work existed
+then, there was the same need now; and by refusing to take due
+cognizance of it Congress would simply stultify itself. The opposition
+then tried to clog the measure by proposing amendments, but they were
+outgeneralled, and after eight days' discussion it was voted that the
+new Constitution, together with Washington's letter, "be transmitted to
+the several legislatures, in order to be submitted to a convention of
+delegates in each state by the people thereof, in conformity to the
+resolves of the convention."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">First American parties, Federalists and Antifederalists.</div>
+
+<p>The submission of the Constitution to the people of the states was the
+signal for the first formation of political parties on a truly national
+issue. During the war there had indeed been Whigs and Tories, but their
+strife had not been like the ordinary strife of political parties; it
+was actual warfare. Irredeemably discredited from the outset, the Tories
+had been overridden and outlawed from one end of the Union to the other.
+They had never been able to hold up their heads as a party in
+opposition. Since the close of the war there had been local parties in
+the various states, divided on issues of hard and soft money, or the
+impost, or state rights, and these issues had coincided in many of the
+states. During the autumn of 1787 all these elements were segregated
+into two great political parties, whose character and views are
+sufficiently described by their names. Those who supported the new
+Constitution were henceforth known as Federalists; those who were
+opposed to strengthening the bond between the states were called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>
+Antifederalists. It was fit that their name should have this merely
+negative significance, for their policy at this time was purely a policy
+of negation and obstruction. Care must be taken not to confound them
+with the Democratic-Republicans, or <i>strict constructionists</i>, who
+appear in opposition to the Federalists soon after the adoption of the
+Constitution. The earlier short-lived party furnished a great part of
+its material to the later one, but the attitude of the strict
+constructionists under the Constitution was very different from that of
+the Antifederalists. Madison, the second Republican president, was now
+the most energetic of Federalists; and Jefferson, soon to become the
+founder of the Democratic-Republican party, wrote from Paris, saying,
+"The Constitution is a good canvas, on which some strokes only want
+retouching." He found the same fault with it that was found by many of
+the ablest and most patriotic men in the country,&mdash;that it failed to
+include a bill of rights; but at the same time he declared that while he
+was not of the party of Federalists, he was much further from that of
+the Antifederalists. The Federal Convention he characterized as "an
+assembly of demi-gods."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The contest in Pennsylvania.</div>
+
+<p>The first contest over the new Constitution came in Pennsylvania. The
+Federalists in that state were numerous, but their opponents had one
+point in their favour which they did not fail to make the most of. The
+constitution of Pennsylvania was peculiar. Its legislature consisted of
+a single house, and its president was chosen by that house. Therefore,
+said the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>Antifederalists, if we approve of a federal constitution which
+provides for a legislature of two houses and chooses a president by the
+device of an electoral college, we virtually condemn the state
+constitution under which we live. This cry was raised with no little
+effect. But some of the strongest immediate causes of opposition to the
+new Constitution were wanting in Pennsylvania. The friends of paper
+money were few there, and the objections to the control of the central
+government over commerce were weaker than in many of the other states.
+The Antifederalists were strongest in the mountain districts west of the
+Susquehanna, where the somewhat lawless population looked askance at any
+plan that savoured of a stronger government and a more regular
+collection of revenue. In the eastern counties, and especially in
+Philadelphia, the Federalists could count upon a heavy majority.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">How to make a quorum.</div>
+
+<p>The contest began in the legislature on the 28th of September, the very
+day on which Congress decided to submit the Constitution to the states,
+and before the news of the action had reached Philadelphia. The zeal of
+the Federalists was so intense that they could wait no longer, and they
+hurried the event with a high-handed vigour that was not altogether
+seemly. The assembly was on the eve of breaking up, and a new election
+was to be held on the first Tuesday of November. The Antifederalists
+hoped to make a stirring campaign, and secure such a majority in the new
+legislature as to prevent the Constitution from being laid before the
+people. But their game was frustrated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> by George Clymer, who had sat in
+the Federal Convention, and now most unexpectedly moved that a state
+convention be called to consider the proposed form of government. Great
+was the wrath of the Antifederalists. Mr. Clymer was quite out of order,
+they said. Congress had not yet sent them the Constitution; and besides,
+no such motion could be made without notice given beforehand, nor could
+it be voted on till it had passed three readings. Parliamentary usage
+was doubtless on the side of the Antifederalists, but the majority were
+clamorous, and overwhelmed them with cries of "Question, question!" The
+question was then put, and carried, by 43 votes against 19, and the
+house adjourned till four o'clock. Before going to their dinners the 19
+held an indignation meeting, at which it was decided that they would
+foil these outrageous proceedings by staying away. It took 47 to make a
+quorum, and without these malcontents the assembly numbered but 45. When
+the house was called to order after dinner, it was found there were but
+45 members present. The sergeant-at-arms was sent to summon the
+delinquents, but they defied him, and so it became necessary to adjourn
+till next morning. It was now the turn of the Federalists to uncork the
+vials of wrath. The affair was discussed in the taverns till after
+midnight, the 19 were abused without stint, and soon after breakfast,
+next morning, two of them were visited by a crowd of men, who broke into
+their lodgings and dragged them off to the state house, where they were
+forcibly held down in their seats, growling and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>muttering curses. This
+made a quorum, and a state convention was immediately appointed for the
+20th of November. Before these proceedings were concluded, an
+express-rider brought the news from New York that Congress had submitted
+the Constitution to the judgment of the states.</p>
+
+<p>And now there ensued such a war of pamphlets, broadsides, caricatures,
+squibs, and stump-speeches, as had never yet been seen in America. Cato
+and Aristides, Cincinnatus and Plain Truth, were out in full force. What
+was the matter with the old confederation? asked the Antifederalists.
+Had it not conducted a glorious and triumphant war? Had it not set us
+free from the oppression of England? That there was some trouble now in
+the country could not be denied, but all would be right if people would
+only curb their extravagance, wear homespun clothes, and obey the laws.
+There was government enough in the country already. This Philadelphia
+convention ought to be distrusted. Some of its members, such as John
+Dickinson and Robert Morris, had opposed the Declaration of
+Independence. Pretty men these, to be offering us a new government! You
+might be sure there was a British cloven foot in it somewhere. Their
+convention had sat four months with closed doors, as if they were afraid
+to let people know what they were about. Nobody could tell what secret
+conspiracies against American liberty might not have been hatched in all
+that time. One thing was sure: the convention had squabbled. Some
+members had gone home in a huff; others had refused to sign a document
+fraught with untold evils to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> country. And now came James Wilson,
+making speeches in behalf of this precious Constitution, and trying to
+pull the wool over people's eyes and persuade them to adopt it. Who was
+James Wilson, any way? A Scotchman, a countryman of Lord Bute, a born
+aristocrat, a snob, a patrician, Jimmy, James de Caledonia. Beware of
+any form of government defended by such a man. And as to the other
+members of the convention, there was Roger Sherman, who had signed the
+articles of confederation, and was now trying to undo his own work. What
+confidence could be placed in a man who did not know his own mind any
+better than that? Then there were Hamilton and Madison, mere boys; and
+Franklin, an old dotard, a man in his second childhood. And as to
+Washington, he was doubtless a good soldier, but what did he know about
+politics? So said the more moderate of the malcontents, hesitating for
+the moment to speak disrespectfully of such a man; but presently their
+zeal got the better of them, and in a paper signed "Centinel" it was
+boldly declared that Washington was a born fool!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Delaware ratifies the Constitution, Dec. 6, 1787;
+Pennsylvania, Dec. 12; New Jersey, Dec. 18.</div>
+
+<p>From the style and temper of these arguments one clearly sees that the
+Antifederalists in Pennsylvania felt from the beginning that the day was
+going against them. Sixteen of the men who had seceded from the
+assembly, headed by Robert Whitehill of Carlisle, issued a manifesto
+setting forth the ill-treatment they had received, and sounding an alarm
+against the dangers of tyranny to which the new Constitution was already
+exposing them. They were assisted by Richard Henry Lee, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> published a
+series of papers entitled "Letters from the Federal Farmer," and
+scattered thousands of copies through the state of Pennsylvania. He did
+not deny that the government needed reforming, but in the proposed plan
+he saw the seeds of aristocracy and of centralization. The chief
+objections to the Constitution were that it created a national
+legislature in which the vote was to be by individuals, and not by
+states; that it granted to this body an unlimited power of taxation;
+that it gave too much power to the federal judiciary; that it provided
+for paying the salaries of members of Congress out of the federal
+treasury, and would thus make them independent of their own states; that
+it required an oath of allegiance to the federal government; and
+finally, that it did not include a bill of rights. These objections were
+very elaborately set forth by the leading Antifederalists in the state
+convention; but the logic and eloquence of James Wilson bore down all
+opposition. The Antifederalists resorted to filibustering. Five days, it
+is said, were used up in settling the meanings of the two words
+"annihilation" and "consolidation." In this way the convention was kept
+sitting for nearly three weeks, when news came from "the Delaware
+state," as it used then to be called in Pennsylvania. The concession of
+an equal representation in the federal Senate had removed the only
+ground of opposition in Delaware, and the Federalists had everything
+their own way there. In a convention assembled at Dover, on the 6th of
+December, the Constitution was ratified without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> a single dissenting
+voice. Thus did this little state lead the way in the good work. The
+news was received with exultation by the Federalists at Philadelphia,
+and on the 12th Pennsylvania ratified the Constitution by a two thirds
+vote of 46 to 23. The next day all business was quite at a standstill,
+while the town gave itself up to processions and merry-making. The
+convention of New Jersey had assembled at Trenton on the 11th, and one
+week later, on the 18th, it ratified the Constitution unanimously.</p>
+
+<p>A most auspicious beginning had thus been made. Three states, one third
+of the whole number required, had ratified almost at the same moment.
+Two of these, moreover, were small states, which at the beginning of the
+Federal Convention had been obstinately opposed to any fundamental
+change in the government. It was just here that the Federalists were now
+strongest. The Connecticut compromise had wrought with telling effect,
+not only in the convention, but upon the people of the states. When the
+news from Trenton was received in Pennsylvania, there was great
+rejoicing in the eastern counties, while beyond the Susquehanna there
+were threats of armed rebellion. On the day after Christmas, as the
+Federalists of Carlisle were about to light a bonfire on the common and
+fire a salute, they were driven off the field by a mob armed with
+bludgeons, their rickety old cannon was spiked, and an almanac for the
+new year, containing a copy of the Constitution, was duly cursed, and
+then burned. Next day the Federalists, armed with muskets, came back,
+and went through their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>ceremonies. Their opponents did not venture to
+molest them; but after they had dispersed, an Antifederalist
+demonstration was made, and effigies of James Wilson and Thomas McKean,
+another prominent Federalist, were dragged to the common, and there
+burned at the stake.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Georgia ratifies, Jan. 2, 1788; Connecticut, Jan. 9. The
+outlook in Massachusetts.</div>
+
+<p>The action of Delaware and New Jersey had shown that the Antifederalists
+could not build any hopes upon the antagonism between large and small
+states. It was thought, however, that the southern states would unite in
+opposing the Constitution from their dread of becoming commercially
+subjected to New England. But the compromise on the slave-trade had
+broken through this opposition. On the 2d of January, 1788, the
+Constitution was ratified in Georgia without a word of dissent. One week
+later Connecticut ratified by a vote of 128 to 40, after a session of
+only five days. The hopes of the Antifederalists now rested upon
+Massachusetts, where the state convention assembled on the 9th of
+January, the same day on which that of Connecticut broke up. Should
+Massachusetts refuse to ratify, there would be no hope for the
+Constitution. Even should nine states adopt it without her, no one
+supposed a Federal Union feasible from which so great a state should be
+excluded. Her action, too, would have a marked effect upon other states.
+It could not be denied that the outlook in Massachusetts was far from
+encouraging. The embers of the Shays rebellion still smouldered there,
+and in the mountain counties of Worcester and Berkshire were heard loud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>
+murmurs of discontent. Laws impairing the obligation of contracts were
+just what these hard-pressed farmers desired, and by the proposed
+Constitution all such laws were forever prohibited. The people of the
+district of Maine, which had formed part of Massachusetts for nearly a
+century, were anxious to set up an independent government for
+themselves; and they feared that if they were to enter into the new and
+closer Federal Union as part of that state, they might hereafter find it
+impossible to detach themselves. For this reason half of the Maine
+delegates were opposed to the Constitution. In none of the thirteen
+states, moreover, was there a more intense devotion to state rights than
+in Massachusetts. Nowhere had local self-government reached a higher
+degree of efficiency; nowhere had the town meeting flourished with such
+vigour. It was especially characteristic of men trained in the town
+meeting to look with suspicion upon all delegated power, upon all
+authority that was to be exercised from a distance. They believed it to
+be all important that people should manage their own affairs, instead of
+having them managed by other people; and so far had this principle been
+carried that the towns of Massachusetts were like little
+semi-independent republics, and the state was like a league of such
+republics, whose representatives, sitting in the state legislature, were
+like delegates strictly bound by instructions rather than untrammelled
+members of a deliberative body. To men trained in such a school, it
+would naturally seem that the new Constitution delegated altogether too
+much power to a governing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> body which must necessarily be remote from
+most of its constituents. It was feared that some sort of tyranny might
+grow out of this, and such fears were entertained by men who were not in
+the slightest degree infected with Shaysism, as the political disease of
+the inland counties was then called. Such fears were entertained by one
+of the greatest citizens that Massachusetts has ever produced, the man
+who has been well described as pre&euml;minently "the man of the town
+meeting,"&mdash;Samuel Adams. The limitations of this great man, as well as
+his powers, were those which belonged to him as chief among the men of
+English race who have swayed society through the medium of the ancient
+folk mote. At this time he was believed by many to be hostile to the new
+Constitution, and his influence in Massachusetts was still greater than
+that of any other man. Besides this, it was thought that the governor,
+John Hancock, was half-hearted in his support of the Constitution, and
+it was in everybody's mouth that Elbridge Gerry had refused to set his
+name to that document because he felt sure it would create a tyranny.</p>
+
+<p>Such symptoms encouraged the Antifederalists in the hope that
+Massachusetts would reject the Constitution and ruin the plans of the
+"visionary young men"&mdash;as Richard Henry Lee called them&mdash;who had swayed
+the Federal Convention. But there were strong forces at work in the
+opposite direction. In Boston and all the large coast towns, even those
+of the Maine district, the dominant feeling was Federalist. All
+well-to-do people had been alarmed by the Shays insurrection, and
+merchants,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> shipwrights, and artisans of every sort were convinced that
+there was no prosperity in store for them until the federal government
+should have control over commerce, and be enabled to make its strength
+felt on the seas and in Europe. In these views Samuel Adams shared so
+thoroughly that his attitude toward the Constitution at this moment was
+really that of a waverer rather than an opponent. Amid balancing
+considerations he found it for some time hard to make up his mind.</p>
+
+<p>In the convention which met on the 9th of January there sat Gorham,
+Strong, and King, who had taken part in the Federal Convention. There
+were also Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin; the revolutionary generals,
+Heath and Lincoln; and the rising statesmen, Sedgwick, Parsons, and
+Fisher Ames, whose eloquence was soon to become so famous. There were
+twenty-four clergymen, of various denominations,&mdash;men of sound
+scholarship, and several of them eminent for worldly wisdom and
+liberality of temper. Governor Hancock presided, gorgeous in crimson
+velvet and finest laces, while about the room sat many browned and
+weather-beaten farmers, among whom were at least eighteen who hardly a
+year ago had marched over the pine-clad mountain ridges of Petersham,
+under the banner of the rebel Shays. It was a wholesome no less than a
+generous policy that let these men come in and freely speak their minds.
+The air was thus the sooner cleared of discontent; the disease was thus
+the more likely to heal itself. In all there were three hundred and
+fifty-five delegates present,&mdash;a much larger number than took<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> part in
+any of the other state conventions. The people of all parts of
+Massachusetts were very thoroughly represented, as befitted the state
+which was pre&euml;minent in the active political life of its town meetings,
+and the work done here was in some respects decisive in its effect upon
+the adoption of the Constitution.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Debates in the Massachusetts convention.</div>
+
+<p>The convention began by overhauling that document from beginning to end,
+discussing it clause by clause with somewhat wearisome minuteness. Some
+of the objections seem odd to us at this time, with our larger
+experience. It was several days before the minds of the country members
+could be reconciled to the election of representatives for so long a
+period as two years. They had not been wont to delegate power to anybody
+for so long a time, not even to their selectmen, whom they had always
+under their eyes. How much more dangerous was it likely to prove if
+delegated authority were to be exercised for so long a period at some
+distant federal city, such as the Constitution contemplated! There was a
+vague dread that in some indescribable way the new Congress might
+contrive to make its sittings perpetual, and thus become a tyrannical
+oligarchy, which might tax the people without their consent. And then as
+to this federal city, there were some who did not like the idea. A
+district ten miles square! Was not that a great space to give up to the
+uncontrolled discretion of the federal government, wherein it could
+wreak its tyrannical will without let or hindrance? One of the delegates
+thought he could be reconciled to the new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> Constitution if this district
+could only be narrowed down to one mile square. And then there was the
+power granted to Congress to maintain a standing army, of which the
+president was to be <i>ex officio</i> commander-in-chief. Did not this open
+the door for a Cromwell? It was to be a standing army for at least two
+years, since this was the shortest period between elections. Why, even
+the British Parliament, since 1688, did not keep up a standing army for
+more than one year at a time, but renewed its existence annually under
+what was termed the Mutiny Act. But what need of a standing army at all?
+Would it not be sure to provoke needless disorders? Had they already
+forgotten the Boston Massacre, in spite of all the orations that had
+been delivered in the Old South Meeting-House? A militia, organized
+under the town-meeting system, was surely all-sufficient. Such a militia
+had won glorious triumphs at Lexington and Bennington; and at King's
+Mountain, had not an army of militia surrounded and captured an army of
+regulars led by one of England's most skilful officers? What more could
+you ask? Clearly this plan for a standing army foreboded tyranny. Upon
+this point Mr. Nason, from the Maine district, had his say, in tones of
+inimitable bombast. "Had I the voice of Jove," said he, "I would
+proclaim it throughout the world; and had I an arm like Jove, I would
+hurl from the globe those villains that would dare attempt to establish
+in our country a standing army!"</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Liberal attitude of the clergy.</div>
+
+<p>Next came the complaint that the Constitution did not recognize the
+existence of God, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>provided no religious tests for candidates for
+federal offices. But, strange to say, this objection did not come from
+the clergy. It was urged by some of the country members, but the
+ministers in the convention were nearly unanimous in opposing it. There
+had been a remarkable change of sentiment among the clergy of this
+state, which had begun its existence as a theocracy, in which none but
+church members could vote or hold office. The seeds of modern liberalism
+had been planted in their minds. When Amos Singletary of Sutton declared
+it to be scandalous that a Papist or an infidel should be as eligible to
+office as a Christian,&mdash;a remark which naively assumed that Roman
+Catholics were not Christians,&mdash;the Rev. Daniel Shute of Hingham replied
+that no conceivable advantage could result from a religious test. Yes,
+said the Rev. Philip Payson of Chelsea, "human tribunals for the
+consciences of men are impious encroachments upon the prerogatives of
+God. A religious test, as a qualification for office, would have been a
+great blemish." "In reason and in the Holy Scripture," said the Rev.
+Isaac Backus of Middleborough, "religion is ever a matter between God
+and the individual; the imposing of religious tests hath been the
+greatest engine of tyranny in the world." With this liberal stand firmly
+taken by the ministers, the religious objection was speedily overruled.</p>
+
+<p>Then the clause which allows Congress to regulate the times, places, and
+manner of holding federal elections was severely criticised. It was
+feared that Congress would take advantage of this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>provision to destroy
+the freedom of elections. It was further objected that members of
+Congress, being paid their salaries from the federal treasury, would
+become too independent of their constituents. Federal collectors of
+revenue, moreover, would not be so likely to act with moderation and
+justice as collectors appointed by the state. Then it was very doubtful
+whether the people could support the expense of an elaborate federal
+government. They were already scarcely able to pay their town, county,
+and state taxes; was it to be supposed they could bear the additional
+burden with which federal taxation would load them? Then the compromise
+on the slave-trade was fiercely attacked. They did not wish to have a
+hand in licensing this nefarious traffic for twenty years. But it was
+urged, on the other hand, that by prohibiting the foreign slave-trade
+after 1808 the Constitution was really dealing a death-blow to slavery;
+and this opinion prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>During the whole course of the discussion, observed the Rev. Samuel West
+of New Bedford, it seemed to be taken for granted that the federal
+government was going to be put into the hands of crafty knaves. "I
+wish," said he, "that the gentlemen who have started so many <i>possible</i>
+objections would try to show us that what they so much deprecate is
+<i>probable</i>.... Because power <i>may</i> be abused, shall we be reduced to
+anarchy? What hinders our state legislatures from abusing their
+powers?... May we not rationally suppose that the persons we shall
+choose to administer the government will be, in general, good men?"
+General<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> Thompson said he was surprised to hear such an argument from a
+clergyman, who was professionally bound to maintain that all men were
+totally depraved. For his part he believed they were so, and he could
+prove it from the Old Testament. "I would not trust them," echoed
+Abraham White of Bristol, "though every one of them should be a Moses."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Speech of a Berkshire farmer.</div>
+
+<p>The feeling of distrust was strongest among the farmers from the
+mountain districts. As Rufus King said, they objected, not so much to
+the Constitution as to the men who made it and the men who sang its
+praises. They hated lawyers, and were jealous of wealthy merchants.
+"These lawyers," said Amos Singletary, "and men of learning, and moneyed
+men that talk so finely and gloss over matters so smoothly, to make us
+poor illiterate people swallow the pill, expect to get into Congress
+themselves. They mean to be managers of the Constitution. They mean to
+get all the money into their hands, and then they will swallow up us
+little folk, like the great Leviathan, Mr. President; yes, just as the
+whale swallowed up Jonah." Here a more liberal-minded farmer, Jonathan
+Smith of Lanesborough, rose to reply with references to the Shays
+rebellion, which presently called forth cries of "Order!" from some of
+the members. Samuel Adams said the gentleman was quite in order,&mdash;let
+him go on in his own way. "I am a plain man," said Mr. Smith, "and am
+not used to speak in public, but I am going to show the effects of
+anarchy, that you may see why I wish for good government.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> Last winter
+people took up arms, and then, if you went to speak to them, you had the
+musket of death presented to your breast. They would rob you of your
+property, threaten to burn your houses, oblige you to be on your guard
+night and day. Alarms spread from town to town, families were broken up;
+the tender mother would cry, 'Oh, my son is among them! What shall I do
+for my child?' Some were taken captive; children taken out of their
+schools and carried away.... How dreadful was this! Our distress was so
+great that we should have been glad to snatch at anything that looked
+like a government.... Now, Mr. President, when I saw this Constitution,
+I found that it was a cure for these disorders. I got a copy of it, and
+read it over and over.... I did not go to any lawyer, to ask his
+opinion; we have no lawyer in our town, and we do well enough without.
+My honourable old daddy there [pointing to Mr. Singletary] won't think
+that I expect to be a Congressman, and swallow up the liberties of the
+people. I never had any post, nor do I want one. But I don't think the
+worse of the Constitution because lawyers, and men of learning, and
+moneyed men are fond of it. I am not of such a jealous make. They that
+are honest men themselves are not apt to suspect other people....
+Brother farmers, let us suppose a case, now. Suppose you had a farm of
+50 acres, and your title was disputed, and there was a farm of 5,000
+acres joined to you that belonged to a man of learning, and his title
+was involved in the same difficulty: would you not be glad to have him
+for your friend, rather than to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> stand alone in the dispute? Well, the
+case is the same. These lawyers, these moneyed men, these men of
+learning, are all embarked in the same cause with us, and we must all
+sink or swim together. Shall we throw the Constitution overboard because
+it does not please us all alike? Suppose two or three of you had been at
+the pains to break up a piece of rough land and sow it with wheat: would
+you let it lie waste because you could not agree what sort of a fence to
+make? Would it not be better to put up a fence that did not please every
+one's fancy, rather than keep disputing about it until the wild beasts
+came in and devoured the crop? Some gentlemen say, Don't be in a hurry;
+take time to consider. I say, There is a time to sow and a time to reap.
+We sowed our seed when we sent men to the Federal Convention, now is the
+time to reap the fruit of our labour; and if we do not do it now, I am
+afraid we shall never have another opportunity."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Attitude of Samuel Adams.</div>
+
+<p>It may be doubted whether all the eloquence of Fisher Ames could have
+stated the case more forcibly than it was put by this plain farmer from
+the Berkshire hills. Upon Ames, with King, Parsons, Bowdoin, and Strong,
+fell the principal work in defending the Constitution. For the first two
+weeks, Samuel Adams scarcely opened his mouth, but listened with anxious
+care to everything that was said on either side. The convention was so
+evenly divided that there could be no doubt that his single voice would
+decide the result. Every one eagerly awaited his opinion. In the debate
+on the two years' term of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> members of Congress, he had asked Caleb
+Strong the reason why the Federal Convention had decided upon so long a
+term; and when it was explained as a necessary compromise between the
+views of so many delegates, he replied, "I am satisfied." "Will Mr.
+Adams kindly say that again?" asked one of the members. "I am
+satisfied," he repeated; and not another word was said on the subject in
+all those weeks. So profound was the faith of this intelligent and
+skeptical and independent people in the sound judgment and unswerving
+integrity of the Father of the Revolution! As the weeks went by, and the
+issue seemed still dubious, the workingmen of Boston, shipwrights and
+brass-founders and other mechanics, decided to express their opinion in
+a way that they knew Samuel Adams would heed. They held a meeting at the
+Green Dragon tavern, passed resolutions in favour of the Constitution,
+and appointed a committee, with Paul Revere at its head, to make known
+these resolutions to the great popular leader. When Adams had read the
+paper, he asked of Paul Revere, "How many mechanics were at the Green
+Dragon when these resolutions passed?" "More, sir, than the Green Dragon
+could hold." "And where were the rest, Mr. Revere?" "In the streets,
+sir." "And how many were in the streets?" "More, sir, than there are
+stars in the sky."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Washington's fruitful suggestion.</div>
+
+<p>Between Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson there were several points of
+resemblance, the chief of which was an intense faith in the sound common
+sense of the mass of the people. This faith was one of the strongest
+attributes of both these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> great men. It has usually been supposed that
+it was this incident of the meeting at the Green Dragon that determined
+Adams's final attitude in the state convention. Unquestionably, such a
+demonstration must have had great weight with him. But at the same time
+the affair was taking such a turn as would have decided him, even
+without the aid of this famous mass-meeting. The long delay in the
+decision of the Massachusetts convention had carried the excitement to
+fever heat throughout the country. Not only were people from New
+Hampshire and New York and naughty Rhode Island waiting anxiously about
+Boston to catch every crumb of news they could get, but intrigues were
+going on, as far south as Virginia, to influence the result. On the 21st
+of January the "Boston Gazette" came out with a warning, headed by
+enormous capitals with three exclamation-points: "<i>Bribery and
+Corruption!!!</i> The most diabolical plan is on foot to corrupt the
+members of the convention who oppose the adoption of the new
+Constitution. Large sums of money have been brought from a neighbouring
+state for that purpose, contributed by the wealthy. If so, is it not
+probable there may be collections for the same accursed purpose nearer
+home?" No adequate investigation ever determined whether this charge was
+true or not. We may hope that it was ill-founded; but our general
+knowledge of human nature must compel us to admit that there was
+probably a grain of truth in it. But what was undeniable was that
+Richard Henry Lee wrote a letter to Gerry, urging that Massachusetts
+should not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> adopt the Constitution without insisting upon sundry
+amendments; and in order to consider these amendments, it was suggested
+that there should be another Federal Convention. At this anxious crisis,
+Washington suddenly threw himself into the breach with that infallible
+judgment of his which always saw the way to victory. "If another Federal
+Convention is attempted," said Washington, "its members will be more
+discordant, and will agree upon no general plan. The Constitution is the
+best that can be obtained at this time.... The Constitution or disunion
+are before us to choose from. If the Constitution is our choice, a
+constitutional door is open for amendments, and they may be adopted in a
+peaceable manner, without tumult or disorder."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Massachusetts ratifies, proposing amendments, Feb. 6, 1788.</div>
+
+<p>When this advice of Washington's reached Boston, it set in motion a
+train of events which soon solved the difficulty, both for Massachusetts
+and for the other states which had not yet made up their mind. Chief
+among the objections to the Constitution had been the fact that it did
+not contain a bill of rights. It did not guarantee religious liberty,
+freedom of speech and of the press, or the right of the people
+peacefully to assemble and petition the government for a redress of
+grievances. It did not provide against the quartering of soldiers upon
+the people in time of peace. It did not provide against general
+search-warrants, nor did it securely prescribe the methods by which
+individuals should be held to answer for criminal offences. It did not
+even provide that nobody should be burned at the stake or stretched on
+the rack, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> holding peculiar opinions about the nature of God or the
+origin of evil. That such objections to the Constitution seem strange to
+us to-day is partly due to the determined attitude of the men who, amid
+all the troubles of the time, would not consent to any arrangement from
+which such safeguards to free thinking and free living should be
+omitted. The friends of the Constitution in Boston now proposed that the
+convention, while adopting it, should suggest sundry amendments
+containing the essential provisions of a bill of rights. It was not
+intended that the ratification should be conditional. Under the
+circumstances, a conditional ratification might prove as disastrous as
+rejection. It might lead to a second Federal Convention, in which the
+good work already accomplished might be undone. The ratification was to
+be absolute, and the amendments were offered in the hope that action
+would be taken upon them as soon as the new government should go into
+operation. There could be little doubt that the suggestion would be
+heeded, not only from the importance of Massachusetts in the Union, but
+also from the fact that Virginia and other states would be sure to
+follow her example in suggesting such amendments. This forecast proved
+quite correct, and it was in this way that the first ten amendments
+originated, which were acted on by Congress in 1790, and became part of
+the Constitution in 1791. As soon as this plan had been matured, Hancock
+proposed it to the convention; the hearty support of Adams was
+immediately insured, and within a week from that time, on the 6th of
+February, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> Constitution was ratified by the narrow majority of 187
+votes against 168. On that same day Jefferson, in Paris, wrote to
+Madison: "I wish with all my soul that the nine first conventions may
+accept the new Constitution, to secure to us the good it contains; but I
+equally wish that the four latest, whichever they may be, may refuse to
+accede to it till a declaration of rights be annexed; but no objection
+to the new form must produce a schism in our Union." But as soon as he
+heard of the action of Massachusetts, he approved it as preferable to
+his own idea, and he wrote home urging Virginia to follow the example.</p>
+
+<p>Massachusetts was thus the sixth state to ratify the Constitution. On
+that day the name of the Long Lane by the meeting-house where the
+convention had sat was changed to Federal Street. The Boston people,
+said Henry Knox, had quite lost their senses with joy. The two counties
+of Worcester and Berkshire had given but 14 yeas against 59 nays, but
+the farmers went home declaring that they should cheerfully abide by the
+decision of the majority. Not a murmur was heard from any one.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Maryland ratifies, April 28.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Debates in the South Carolina legislature.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">South Carolina ratifies, May 23.</div>
+
+<p>About the time that the Massachusetts convention broke up, that of New
+Hampshire assembled at Exeter; but after a brief discussion it was
+decided to adjourn until June, in order to see how the other states
+would act. On the 21st of April the Maryland convention assembled at
+Annapolis. All the winter Patrick Henry had been busily at work, with
+the hope of inducing the southern states<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> to establish a separate
+confederacy; but he had made little headway anywhere, and none at all in
+Maryland, where his influence was completely counteracted by that of
+Washington. Above all things, said Washington, do not let the convention
+adjourn till the matter is decided, for the Antifederalists are taking
+no end of comfort from the postponement in New Hampshire. Their glee was
+short-lived, however. Some of Maryland's strongest men, such as Luther
+Martin and Samuel Chase, were Antifederalists; but their efforts were of
+no avail. After a session of five days the Constitution was ratified by
+a vote of 63 to 11. Whatever damage New Hampshire might have done was
+thus more than made good. The eyes of the whole country were now turned
+upon the eighth state, South Carolina. Her convention was to meet at
+Charleston on the 12th of May, the anniversary of the day on which
+General Lincoln had surrendered that city to Sir Henry Clinton; but
+there had been a decisive preliminary struggle in the legislature in
+January. The most active of the Antifederalists was Rawlins Lowndes, who
+had opposed the Declaration of Independence. Lowndes was betrayed into
+silliness. "We are now," said he, "under a most excellent
+constitution,&mdash;a blessing from Heaven, that has stood the test of time
+[!!], and given us liberty and independence; yet we are impatient to
+pull down that fabric which we raised at the expense of our blood." This
+was not very convincing to the assembly, most of the members knowing
+full well that the fabric had not stood the test of time, but had
+already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> tumbled in by reason of its vicious construction. A more
+effective plea was that which referred to the slave-trade. "What cause
+is there," said Lowndes, "for jealousy of our importing negroes? Why
+confine us to twenty years? Why limit us at all? This trade can be
+justified on the principles of religion and humanity. They do not like
+our having slaves because they have none themselves, and therefore want
+to exclude us from this great advantage." Cotesworth Pinckney replied:
+"By this settlement we have secured an unlimited importation of negroes
+for twenty years. The general government can never emancipate them, for
+no such authority is granted, and it is admitted on all hands that the
+general government has no powers but what are expressly granted by the
+Constitution. We have obtained a right to recover our slaves in whatever
+part of the country they may take refuge, which is a right we had not
+before. In short, considering all circumstances, we have made the best
+terms in our power for the security of this species of property. We
+would have made better if we could; but, on the whole, I do not think
+them bad." Perhaps Pinckney would not have assumed exactly this tone at
+Philadelphia, but at Charleston the argument was convincing. Lowndes
+then sounded the alarm that the New England states would monopolize the
+carrying-trade and charge ruinous freights, and he drew a harrowing
+picture of warehouses packed to bursting with rice and indigo spoiling
+because the owners could not afford to pay the Yankee skippers' prices
+for carrying their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> goods to market. But Pinckney rejoined that a Yankee
+shipmaster in quest of cargoes would not be likely to ruin his own
+chances for getting them, and he called attention to the great
+usefulness of the eastern merchant marine as affording material for a
+navy, and thus contributing to the defence of the country. Finally
+Lowndes put in a plea for paper money, but with little success. The
+result of the debate set the matter so clearly before the people that a
+great majority of Federalists were elected to the convention. Among them
+were Gadsden, the Rutledges and the Pinckneys, Moultrie, and William
+Washington, who had become a citizen of the state from which he had
+helped to expel the British invader. The Antifederalists were largely
+represented by men from the upland counties, belonging to a population
+in which there was considerable likeness all along the Appalachian chain
+of mountains, from Pennsylvania to the southern extremity of the range.
+There were among them many "moonshiners," as they were
+called,&mdash;distillers of illicit whiskey,&mdash;and they did not relish the
+idea of a federal excise. At their head was Thomas Sumter, a convert to
+Patrick Henry's scheme for a southern confederacy. Their policy was one
+of delay and obstruction, but it availed them little, for on the 23d of
+May, after a session of eleven days, South Carolina ratified the
+Constitution by a vote of 149 against 73.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Important effect upon Virginia.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Debates in the Virginia Convention.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Madison and Marshall prevail and Virginia ratifies, June 25.</div>
+
+<p>The sound policy of the Federal Convention in adopting the odious
+compromise over the slave-trade was now about to bear fruit. In Virginia
+there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> had grown up a party which favoured the establishment of a
+separate southern confederacy. By the action of South Carolina all such
+schemes were now nipped in the bud. Of the states south of Mason and
+Dixon's line, three had now ratified the Constitution, so that any
+separate confederacy could now consist only of Virginia and North
+Carolina. The reason for this short-lived separatist feeling in Virginia
+was to be found in the complications which had grown out of the attempt
+of Spain to close the Mississippi River. It will be remembered that only
+two years before Jay had actually recommended to Congress that the right
+to navigate the lower Mississippi be surrendered for twenty-five years,
+in exchange for a favourable commercial treaty with Spain. The New
+England states, caring nothing for the distant Mississippi, supported
+this measure in Congress; and this narrow and selfish policy naturally
+created alarm in Virginia, which, in her district of Kentucky, touched
+upon the great river. Thus to the vague dread of the southern states in
+general, in the event of New England's controlling the commercial policy
+of the government, there was added, in Virginia's case, a specific fear.
+If the New England people were thus ready to barter away the vital
+interests of a remote part of the country, what might they not do? Would
+they ever stop at anything so long as they could go on building up their
+commerce? This feeling strongly influenced Patrick Henry in his desire
+for a separate confederacy; and we have seen how Randolph and Mason, in
+the Federal Convention, were so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> disturbed at the power given to
+Congress to regulate commerce by a simple majority of votes that they
+refused to set their names to the Constitution. They alleged further
+reasons for their refusal, but this was the chief one. They wanted a two
+thirds vote to be required, in order that the south might retain the
+means of protecting itself. Under these circumstances the opposition to
+the Constitution was very strong, and but for the action of South
+Carolina the party in favour of a separate confederacy might have been
+capable of doing much mischief. As it was, since that party had actively
+intrigued both in South Carolina and Maryland, the ratification of the
+Constitution by both these states was a direct rebuff. It quite
+demoralized the advocates of secession. The paper-money men, moreover,
+were handicapped by the fact that two of the most powerful
+Antifederalists, Mason and Lee, were determined opponents of a paper
+currency, so that this subject had to be dropped or very gingerly dealt
+with. The strength of the Antifederalists, though impaired by these
+causes, was still very great. The contest was waged with all the more
+intensity of feeling because, since eight states had now adopted the
+Constitution, the verdict of Virginia would be decisive. The convention
+met at Richmond on the 2d of June, and Edmund Pendleton was chosen
+president. Foremost among the Antifederalists was Patrick Henry, whose
+eloquence was now as zealously employed against the new government as it
+had been in bygone days against the usurpations of Great Britain. He was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>supported by Mason, Lee, and Grayson, as well as by Benjamin Harrison
+and John Tyler, the fathers of two future presidents; and he could count
+on the votes of most of the delegates from the midland counties, from
+the south bank of the James River, and from Kentucky. But the united
+talents of the opposition had no chance of success in a conflict with
+the genius and tact of Madison, who at one moment crushed, at another
+conciliated, his opponent, but always won the day. To Madison, more than
+any other man, the Federalist victory was due. But he was ably seconded
+by Governor Randolph, whom he began by winning over from the opposite
+party, and by the favourite general and eloquent speaker, "Light-Horse
+Harry." Conspicuous in the ranks of Federalists, and unsurpassed in
+debate, was a tall and gaunt young man, with beaming countenance, eyes
+of piercing brilliancy, and an indescribable kingliness of bearing, who
+was by and by to become chief justice of the United States, and by his
+masterly and far-reaching decisions to win a place side by side with
+Madison and Hamilton among the founders of our national government. John
+Marshall, second to none among all the illustrious jurists of the
+English race, was then, at the age of thirty-three, the foremost lawyer
+in Virginia. He had already served for several terms in the state
+legislature, but his national career began in this convention, where his
+arguments with those of Madison, reinforcing each other, bore down all
+opposition. The details of the controversy were much the same as in the
+states already passed in review, save<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> in so far as coloured by the
+peculiar circumstances of Virginia. After more than three weeks of
+debate, on the 25th of June, the question was put to vote, and the
+Constitution was ratified by the narrow majority of 89 against 79.
+Amendments were offered, after the example of Massachusetts, which had
+already been followed by South Carolina and the minority in Maryland;
+and, as in Massachusetts, the defeated Antifederalists announced their
+intention to abide loyally by the result.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">New Hampshire had already ratified, June 21.</div>
+
+<p>The discussion had lasted so long that Virginia lost the distinction of
+being the ninth state to ratify the Constitution. That honour had been
+reserved for New Hampshire, whose convention had met on the anniversary
+of Bunker Hill, and after a four days' session, on the 21st of June, had
+given its consent to the new government by a vote of 57 against 46. The
+couriers from Virginia and those from New Hampshire, as they spurred
+their horses over long miles of dusty road, could shout to each other
+the joyous news in passing. Though the ratification of New Hampshire had
+secured the necessary ninth state, yet the action of Virginia was not
+the less significant and decisive. Virginia was at that time, and for a
+quarter of a century afterward, the most populous state in the Union,
+and one of the greatest in influence. Even with the needed nine states
+all in hand, it is clear that the new government could not have gone
+into successful operation with the leading state, the home of Washington
+himself, left out in the cold. The New Roof, as men were then fond of
+calling the Federal Constitution, must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> speedily have fallen in without
+this indispensable prop. When it was known that Virginia had ratified,
+it was felt that the victory was won, and the success of the new scheme
+assured. The 4th of July, 1788, witnessed such loud rejoicings as have
+perhaps never been seen before or since on American soil. In
+Philadelphia there was a procession miles in length, in which every
+trade was represented, and wagons laden with implements of industry or
+emblematic devices alternated with bands of music and gorgeous banners.
+There figured the New Roof, supported by thirteen columns, and there was
+to be seen the Ship of State, the good ship Constitution, made out of
+the barge which Paul Jones had taken from the shattered and
+blood-stained Serapis, after his terrible fight. As for the old scow
+Confederacy, Imbecility master, it was proclaimed she had foundered at
+sea, and "the sloop Anarchy, when last heard from, was ashore on Union
+Rocks." All over the country there were processions and bonfires, and in
+some towns there were riots. In Providence the Federalists prepared a
+barbecue of oxen roasted whole, but a mob of farmers, led by three
+members of the state legislature, attempted to disperse them, and were
+with some difficulty pacified. In Albany the Antifederalists publicly
+burned the Constitution, whereupon a party of Federalists brought out
+another copy of it, and nailed it to the top of a pole, which they
+planted defiantly amid the ashes of the fire their opponents had made.
+Out of these proceedings there grew a riot, in which knives were drawn,
+stones were thrown, and blood was shed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">The struggle in New York.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The "Federalist."</div>
+
+<p>Such incidents might have served to remind one that the end had not yet
+come. The difficulties were not yet surmounted, and the rejoicing was in
+some respects premature. It was now settled that the new government was
+to go into operation, but how it was going to be able to get along
+without the adhesion of New York it was not easy to see. It is true that
+New York then ranked only as fifth among the states in population, but
+commercially and militarily she was the centre of the Union. She not
+only touched at once on the ocean and the lakes, but she separated New
+England from the rest of the country. It was rightly felt that the Union
+could never be cemented without this central state. So strongly were
+people impressed with this feeling that some went so far as to threaten
+violence. It was said that if New York did not come into the Union
+peacefully and of her own accord, she should be conquered and dragged
+in. That she would come in peacefully seemed at first very improbable.
+When the state convention assembled at Poughkeepsie, on the 17th of
+June, more than two thirds of its members were avowed Antifederalists.
+At their head was the governor, George Clinton, hard-headed and
+resolute, the bitterest hater of the Constitution that could be found
+anywhere in the thirteen states. Foremost among his supporters were
+Yates and Lansing, with Melanchthon Smith, a man familiar with political
+history, and one of the ablest debaters in the country. On the
+Federalist side were such eminent men as Livingston and Jay; but the
+herculean task of vanquishing this great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> hostile majority, and
+converting it by sheer dint of argument into a majority on the right
+side, fell chiefly upon the shoulders of one man. But for Alexander
+Hamilton the decision of New York would unquestionably have been adverse
+to the Constitution. Nay, more, it is very improbable that, but for him,
+the good work would have made such progress as it had in the other
+states. To get the people to adopt the Constitution, it was above all
+things needful that its practical working should be expounded, in
+language such as every one could understand, by some writer endowed in
+the highest degree with political intelligence and foresight. Upon their
+return from the Federal Convention, Yates and Lansing had done all in
+their power to bring its proceedings into ill-repute. Pamphlets and
+broadsides were scattered right and left. The Constitution was called
+the "triple-headed monster," and declared to be "as deep and wicked a
+conspiracy as ever was invented in the darkest ages against the
+liberties of a free people." It soon occurred to Hamilton that it would
+be well worth while to explain the meaning of all parts of the
+Constitution in a series of short, incisive essays. He communicated his
+plan to Madison and Jay, who joined him in the work, and the result was
+the "Federalist," perhaps the most famous of American books, and
+undoubtedly the most profound and suggestive treatise on government that
+has ever been written. Of the eighty-five numbers originally published
+in the "Independent Gazetteer," under the common signature of "Publius,"
+Jay wrote five, Madison<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> twenty-nine, and Hamilton fifty-one. Jay's
+papers related chiefly to diplomatic points, with which his experience
+abroad had fitted him to deal. The first number was written by Hamilton
+in the cabin of a sloop on the Hudson, in October, 1787; and they
+continued to appear, sometimes as often as three or four in a week,
+through the winter and spring. Madison would have contributed a larger
+share than he did had he not been called early in March to Virginia to
+fight the battle of the Constitution in that state. The essays were
+widely and eagerly read, and probably accomplished more toward insuring
+the adoption of the Constitution than anything else that was said or
+done in that eventful year. They were hastily written,&mdash;struck out at
+white heat by men full of their subject. Doubtless the authors did not
+realize the grandeur of the literary work they were doing, and among the
+men of the time there were few who foresaw the immortal fame which these
+essays were to earn. It is said of one of the senators in the first
+Congress that he made the memorandum, "Get the 'Federalist,' if I can,
+without buying it. It isn't worth it." But for all posterity the
+"Federalist" must remain the most authoritative commentary upon the
+Constitution that can be found; for it is the joint work of the
+principal author of that Constitution and of its most brilliant
+advocate.</p>
+
+<p>In nothing could the flexibleness of Hamilton's intellect, or the
+genuineness of his patriotism, have been more finely shown than in the
+hearty zeal and transcendent ability with which he now wrote in defence
+of a plan of government so different from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> what he would himself have
+proposed. He made Madison's thoughts his own, until he set them forth
+with even greater force than Madison himself could command. Yet no
+arguments could possibly be less chargeable with partisanship than the
+arguments of the "Federalist." The judgment is as dispassionate as could
+be shown in a philosophical treatise. The tone is one of grave and lofty
+eloquence, apt to move even to tears the reader who is fully alive to
+the stupendous issues that were involved in the discussion. Hamilton was
+supremely endowed with the faculty of imagining, with all the
+circumstantial minuteness of concrete reality, political situations
+different from those directly before him; and he put this rare power to
+noble use in tracing out the natural and legitimate working of such a
+Constitution as that which the Federal Convention had framed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Hamilton wins the victory, and New York ratifies, July 26.</div>
+
+<p>When it came to defending the Constitution before the hostile convention
+at Poughkeepsie, he had before him as arduous a task as ever fell to the
+lot of a parliamentary debater. It was a case where political management
+was out of the question. The opposition were too numerous to be
+silenced, or cajoled, or bargained with. They must be converted. With an
+eloquence scarcely equalled before or since in America until Webster's
+voice was heard, Hamilton argued week after week, till at last
+Melanchthon Smith, the foremost debater of Clinton's party, broke away,
+and came to the Federalist side. It was like crushing the centre of a
+hostile army. After this the Antifederalist forces were confused and
+easily routed. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>decisive struggle was over the question whether New
+York could ratify the Constitution conditionally, reserving to herself
+the right to withdraw from the Union in case the amendments upon which
+she had set her heart should not be adopted. Upon this point Hamilton
+reinforced himself with the advice of Madison, who had just returned to
+New York. Could a state once adopt the Constitution, and then withdraw
+from the Union if not satisfied? Madison's reply was prompt and
+decisive. No, such a thing could never be done. A state which had once
+ratified was in the federal bond forever. The Constitution could not
+provide for nor contemplate its own overthrow. There could be no such
+thing as a constitutional right of secession. When Melanchthon Smith
+deserted the Antifederalists on this point, the victory was won, and on
+the 26th of July, New York ratified the Constitution by the bare
+majority of 30 votes against 27. Rejoicings were now renewed throughout
+the country. In the city of New York there was an immense parade, and as
+the emblematic federal ship was drawn through the streets, with
+Hamilton's name emblazoned on her side, it was doubtless the proudest
+moment of the young statesman's life.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The laggard states, North Carolina and Rhode Island.</div>
+
+<p>New York, however, dogged her acceptance by proposing, a few days
+afterward, that a second Federal Convention be called for considering
+the amendments suggested by the various states. The proposal was
+supported by the Virginia legislature, but Massachusetts and
+Pennsylvania opposed it, as having a dangerous tendency to reopen the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>
+whole discussion and unsettle everything. The proposal fell to the
+ground. People were weary of the long dispute, and turned their
+attention to electing representatives to the first Congress. With the
+adhesion of New York all serious anxiety came to an end. The new
+government could be put in operation without waiting for North Carolina
+and Rhode Island to make up their minds. The North Carolina convention
+met on the 21st of July, and adjourned on the 1st of August without
+coming to any decision. The same objections were raised as in Virginia;
+and besides, the paper-money party was here much stronger than in the
+neighbouring state. In Rhode Island paper money was the chief
+difficulty; that state did not even take the trouble to call a
+convention. It was not until the 21st of November, 1789, after
+Washington's government had been several months in operation, that North
+Carolina joined the Federal Union. Rhode Island did not join till the
+29th of May, 1790. If she had waited but a few months longer, Vermont,
+the first state not of the original thirteen, would have come in before
+her.</p>
+
+<p>The autumn of 1788 was a season of busy but peaceful electioneering.
+That remarkable body, the Continental Congress, in putting an end to its
+troubled existence, decreed that presidential electors should be chosen
+on the first Wednesday of January, 1789, that the electors should meet
+and cast their votes for president on the first Wednesday in February,
+and that the Senate and House of Representatives should assemble on the
+first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> Wednesday in March. This latter day fell, in 1789, on the 4th of
+the month, and accordingly, three years afterward, Congress took it for
+a precedent, and decreed that thereafter each new administration should
+begin on the 4th of March. It was further decided, after some warm
+debate, that until the site for the proposed federal city could be
+selected and built upon, the seat of the new government should be the
+city of New York.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">First presidential election, Jan. 7, 1789.</div>
+
+<p>In accordance with these decrees, presidential elections were held on
+the first Wednesday in January. The Antifederalists were still potent
+for mischief in New York, with the result that, just as that state had
+not joined in the Declaration of Independence until after it had been
+proclaimed to the world, and just as she refused to adopt the Federal
+Constitution until after more than the requisite number of states had
+ratified it, so now she failed to choose electors, and had nothing to do
+with the vote that made Washington our first president. The other ten
+states that had ratified the Constitution all chose electors. But things
+moved slowly and cumbrously at this first assembling of the new
+government. The House of Representatives did not succeed in getting a
+quorum together until the 1st of April. On the 6th, the Senate chose
+John Langdon for its president, and the two houses in concert counted
+the electoral votes. There were 69 in all, and every one of the 69 was
+found to be for George Washington of Virginia. For the second name on
+the list there was nothing like such unanimity. It was to be expected
+that the other name would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> be that of a citizen of Massachusetts, as the
+other leading state in the Union. The two foremost citizens of
+Massachusetts bore the same name, and were cousins. There would have
+been most striking poetic justice in coupling with the name of
+Washington that of Samuel Adams, since these two men had been
+indisputably foremost in the work of achieving the independence of the
+United States. But for the hesitancy of Samuel Adams in indorsing the
+Federal Constitution, he would very likely have been our first
+vice-president and our second president. But the wave of federalism had
+now begun to sweep strongly over Massachusetts, carrying everything
+before it, and none but the most ardent Federalists had a chance to meet
+in the electoral college. Voices were raised in behalf of Samuel Adams.
+While we honour the American Fabius, it was said, let us not forget the
+American Cato. It was urged by some, with much truth, that but for his
+wise and cautious action in the Massachusetts convention, the good ship
+Constitution would have been fatally wrecked upon the reefs of Shaysism.
+His course had not been that of an obstructionist, like that of his old
+friends Henry and Lee and Gerry; but at the critical moment&mdash;one of the
+most critical in all that wonderful crisis&mdash;he had thrown his vast
+influence, with decisive effect, upon the right side. All this is plain
+enough to the historian of to-day. But in the political fervour of the
+election of 1789, the fact most clearly visible to men was that Samuel
+Adams had hesitated, and perhaps made things wait. These points came out
+most distinctly on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> the issue of his election to the Federal Congress,
+in which he was defeated by the youthful Fisher Ames, whose eloquence in
+the state convention had been so conspicuous and useful; but they serve
+to explain thoroughly why he was not put upon the presidential list
+along with Washington. His cousin, John Adams, had just returned from
+his mission to England, weary and disgusted with the scanty respect
+which he had been able to secure for a feeble league of states that
+could not make good its own promises. His services during the Revolution
+had been of the most splendid sort: and after Washington, he was the
+second choice of the electoral college, receiving 34 votes, while John
+Jay of New York, his nearest competitor, received only 9. John Adams was
+accordingly declared vice-president.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Inauguration of Washington, April 30.</div>
+
+<p>On the 14th of April Washington was informed of his election, and on the
+next day but one he bid adieu again to his beloved home at Mount Vernon,
+where he had hoped to pass the remainder of his days in that rural peace
+and quiet for which no one yearns like the man who is burdened with
+greatness and fame unsought for. The position to which he was summoned
+was one of unparalleled splendour,&mdash;how splendid we can now realize much
+better than he, and our grandchildren will realize it better than
+we,&mdash;the position of first ruler of what was soon to become at once the
+strongest and the most peace-loving people upon the face of the earth.
+As he journeyed toward New York, his thoughts must have been busy with
+the arduous problems of the time. Already, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span>doubtless, he had marked out
+the two great men, Jefferson and Hamilton, for his chief advisers: the
+one to place us in a proper attitude before the mocking nations of
+Europe; the other to restore our shattered credit, and enlist the
+moneyed interests of all the states in the success of the Federal Union.
+Washington's temperament was a hopeful one, as befitted a man of his
+strength and dash. But in his most hopeful mood he could hardly have
+dared to count upon such a sudden and wonderful demonstration of
+national strength as was about to ensue upon the heroic financial
+measures of Hamilton. His meditations on this journey we may well
+believe to have been solemn and anxious enough. But if he could gather
+added courage from the often-declared trust of his fellow-countrymen,
+there was no lack of such comfort for him. At every town through which
+he passed, fresh evidences of it were gathered, but at one point on the
+route his strong nature was especially wrought upon. At Trenton, as he
+crossed the bridge over the Assunpink Creek, where twelve years ago, at
+the darkest moment of the Revolution, he had outwitted Cornwallis in the
+most skilful of stratagems, and turned threatening defeat into glorious
+victory,&mdash;at this spot, so fraught with thrilling associations, he was
+met by a party of maidens dressed in white, who strewed his path with
+sweet spring flowers, while triumphal arches in softest green bore
+inscriptions declaring that he who had watched over the safety of the
+mothers could well be trusted to protect the daughters. On the 23d he
+arrived in New York, and was entertained at dinner by Governor Clinton.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>
+One week later, on the 30th, came the inauguration. It was one of those
+magnificent days of clearest sunshine that sometimes make one feel in
+April as if summer had come. At noon of that day Washington went from
+his lodgings, attended by a military escort, to Federal Hall, at the
+corner of Wall and Nassau streets, where his statue has lately been
+erected. The city was ablaze with excitement. A sea of upturned eager
+faces surrounded the spot, and as the hero appeared thousands of cocked
+hats were waved, while ladies fluttered their white handkerchiefs.
+Washington came forth clad in a suit of dark brown cloth of American
+make, with white silk hose and shoes decorated with silver buckles,
+while at his side hung a dress-sword. For a moment all were hushed in
+deepest silence, while the secretary of the Senate held forth the Bible
+upon a velvet cushion, and Chancellor Livingston administered the oath
+of office. Then, before Washington had as yet raised his head,
+Livingston shouted,&mdash;and from all the vast company came answering
+shouts,&mdash;"Long live George Washington, President of the United States!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="BIBLIOGRAPHICAL_NOTE" id="BIBLIOGRAPHICAL_NOTE"></a>BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> bibliography of the period covered in this book is most copiously
+and thoroughly treated in the seventh volume of Winsor's <i>Narrative and
+Critical History of America</i>, Boston, 1888. For the benefit of the
+reader who may not have ready access to that vast storehouse of
+information, the following brief notes may be of service.</p>
+
+<p>The best account of the peace negotiations is to be found in chapter ii.
+of Winsor's volume just cited, written by Hon. John Jay, who had already
+discussed the subject quite thoroughly in his <i>Address before the New
+York Historical Society on its Seventy-Ninth Anniversary</i>, Nov. 27,
+1883. Of the highest value are Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice's <i>Life of Lord
+Shelburne</i>, 3 vols., London, 1875&ndash;76, and Adolphe de Circourt, <i>Histoire
+de l'action commune de la France et de l'Am&eacute;rique, etc.</i>, tome iii.,
+<i>Documents originaux in&eacute;dits</i>, Paris, 1876. See also Sparks, <i>Diplomatic
+Correspondence of the American Revolution</i>, 12 vols., Boston, 1829&ndash;30;
+Trescot's <i>Diplomacy of the American Revolution</i>, N.Y., 1852; Lyman's
+<i>Diplomacy of the United States</i>, Boston, 1826; Elliot's <i>American
+Diplomatic Code</i>, 2 vols., Washington, 1834; Chalmers's <i>Collection of
+Treaties</i>, 2 vols., London, 1790; Lord Stanhope's <i>History of England</i>,
+vol. vii., London, 1853; Lecky's <i>History of England</i>, vol. iv., London,
+1882; Lord John Russell's <i>Memorials of Fox</i>, 4 vols., London, 1853&ndash;57;
+Albemarle's <i>Rockingham and his Contemporaries</i>, 2 vols., London, 1852;
+Walpole's <i>Last Journals</i>, 2 vols., London, 1859; Force's <i>American
+Archives</i>, 4th series, 6 vols., Washington, 1839&ndash;46; John Adams's
+<i>Works</i>, 10 vols., Boston, 1850&ndash;56; Rives's <i>Life of Madison</i>, 3 vols.,
+Boston, 1859&ndash;68; Madison's <i>Letters and other Writings</i>, 4 vols.,
+Phila., 1865; the lives of Franklin,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> by Bigelow and Parton; the lives
+of Jay, by Jay, Flanders, and Whitelocke; Morse's <i>John Adams</i>, Boston,
+1885; <i>Correspondence of George III. with Lord North</i>, 2 vols., London,
+1867; Wharton's <i>Digest of International Law</i>, Washington, 1887,
+<i>Appendix</i> to vol. iii.; Hale's <i>Franklin in France</i>, 2 vols., Boston,
+1888. The view of the treaty set forth in 1830 by Sparks, according to
+which Jay and Adams were quite mistaken in their suspicions of the
+French court, we may now regard as disposed of by the evidence presented
+by Circourt and Fitzmaurice. It has led many writers astray, and even
+with all the lights which Mr. Bancroft has had, the account in the last
+revision of his <i>History of the United States</i>, vol. v., N.Y., 1886,
+though in some respects one of the best to be found in the general
+histories, still leaves much to be desired.</p>
+
+<p>The general condition of the United States under the articles of
+confederation is well sketched in the sixth volume of Bancroft's final
+revision, and in Curtis's <i>History of the Constitution</i>, 2 vols., N.Y.,
+1861. An excellent summary is given in the first volume of Schouler's
+<i>History of the United States under the Constitution</i>, of which vols,
+i.-iii. (Washington, 1882&ndash;85) have appeared. Mr. Schouler's book is
+suggestive and stimulating. The work most rich in details is Professor
+McMaster's <i>History of the People of the United States</i>, of which the
+first volume rather more than covers the period 1783&ndash;89. The author is
+especially deserving of praise for the diligence with which he has
+searched the newspapers and obscure pamphlets of the period. He has thus
+given much fresh life to the narrative, besides throwing valuable light
+upon the thoughts and feelings of the men who lived under the "league of
+friendship." I take pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to
+Professor McMaster for several interesting illustrative details, chiefly
+in my third, fourth, and seventh chapters. At the same time one is
+sorely puzzled at some of his omissions, as in the account of the
+Federal Convention, in which one finds no allusion whatever to the
+all-important question of the representation of slaves, or to the
+compromise by which New England secured to Congress full power to
+regulate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>commerce by yielding to Georgia and South Carolina in the
+matter of the African slave-trade. So the discussion as to the national
+executive is carried on till July 26th, when it was decided that the
+president should be chosen by Congress for a single term of seven years;
+then the subject is dropped, and the reader is left to suppose that such
+was the final arrangement. Instances of what seems like carelessness are
+sufficiently numerous to make the book in some places an unsafe guide to
+the general reader, but in spite of such defects, which a careful
+revision might remedy, its value is great. Further general information
+as to the period of the Confederation may be found in Morse's admirable
+<i>Life of Alexander Hamilton</i>, 3d ed., 2 vols., Boston, 1882; J.C.
+Hamilton's <i>Republic of the United States</i>, 7 vols., Boston, 1879;
+Frothingham's <i>Rise of the Republic</i>, Boston, 1872, chapter xii.; Von
+Holst's <i>Constitutional History</i>, 5 vols., Chicago, 1877&ndash;85, chapter i.;
+Pitkin's <i>History of the United States</i>, 2 vols., New Haven, 1828, vol.
+ii.; Marshall's <i>Life of Washington</i>, 5 vols., Phila., 1805&ndash;07;
+<i>Journals of Congress</i>, 13 vols., Phila., 1800; <i>Secret Journals of
+Congress</i>, 4 vols., Boston, 1820&ndash;21.</p>
+
+<p>On the loyalists and their treatment, the able essay by Rev. G.E. Ellis,
+in Winsor's seventh volume, is especially rich in bibliographical
+references. See also Sabine's <i>Loyalists of the American Revolution</i>, 2
+vols., Boston, 1864; Ryerson's <i>Loyalists of America</i>, 2 vols., Toronto,
+1880; Jones's <i>New York during the Revolution</i>, 2 vols., N.Y., 1879.
+Although chiefly concerned with events earlier than 1780, the <i>Journal
+and Letters of Samuel Curwen</i>, 4th ed., Boston, 1864, and especially the
+<i>Diary and Letters of Thomas Hutchinson</i>, 2 vols., Boston, 1884&ndash;86, are
+valuable in this connection.</p>
+
+<p>For the financial troubles the most convenient general survey is to be
+found in A.S. Bolles's <i>Financial History of the United States</i>,
+1774&ndash;1789, N.Y., 1879; Sparks's <i>Life of Gouverneur Morris</i>, 3 vols.,
+Boston, 1832; Pelatiah Webster's <i>Political Essays</i>, Phila., 1791;
+Phillips's <i>Colonial and Continental Paper Currency</i>, 2 vols., Roxbury,
+1865&ndash;66; Varnum's <i>Case of Trevett v. Weeden</i>, Providence, 1787;
+Arnold's <i>History of Rhode Island</i>, 2 vols., N.Y., 1859&ndash;60. The best<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span>
+account of the Shays rebellion is G.R. Minot's <i>History of the
+Insurrections in Massachusetts</i>, Worcester, 1788; see also Barry's
+<i>History of Massachusetts</i>, 3 vols., Boston, 1855&ndash;57; Austin's <i>Life of
+Gerry</i>, 2 vols., Boston, 1828&ndash;29. A new and interesting account of the
+northwestern cessions and the Ordinance of 1787 is B.A. Hinsdale's <i>Old
+Northwest</i>, N.Y., 1888; see also Dunn's <i>Indiana</i>, Boston, 1888;
+Cutler's <i>Life, Journal, and Correspondence of Manasseh Cutler</i>, 2
+vols., Cincinnati, 1887.</p>
+
+<p>In the <i>Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political
+Science</i>, the following articles bear especially upon subjects here
+treated and are worthy of careful study: II., v., vi., H.C. Adams,
+<i>Taxation in the United States</i>, 1789&ndash;1816; III., i., H.B. Adams,
+<i>Maryland's Influence upon Land Cessions to the United States</i>; III.,
+ix., x., Davis, <i>American Constitutions</i>; IV., v., Jameson's
+<i>Introduction to the Constitutional and Political History of the
+Individual States</i>; IV., vii.-ix., Shoshuke Sato's <i>History of the Land
+Question in the United States</i>.</p>
+
+<p>For the proceedings of the Federal Convention in framing the
+Constitution, and of the several state conventions in ratifying it, the
+great treasure-house of authoritative information is Elliot's <i>Debates
+in the Conventions</i>, 5 vols., originally published under the sanction of
+Congress in 1830&ndash;45; new reprint, Phila., 1888. The contents of the
+volumes are as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>I. Sundry preliminary papers, relating to the ante-revolutionary
+period, and the period of the Confederation; journal of the Federal
+Convention; Yates's minutes of the proceedings; the official
+letters of Martin, Yates, Lansing, Randolph, Mason, and Gerry, in
+explanation of their several courses; Jay's address to the people
+of New York; and other illustrative papers.</p>
+
+<p>II, III., IV. Proceedings of the several state conventions; with
+other documents, including the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of
+1798, and data relating thereto.</p>
+
+<p>V. Madison's journal of debates in the Congress of the
+Confederation, Nov. 4, 1782&ndash;June 21, 1783, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> Feb. 19&ndash;April 25,
+1787; Madison's journal of the Federal Convention; letters from
+Madison to Washington, Jefferson, and Randolph, Sept. 1787&ndash;Nov.
+1788; and other papers. </p></div>
+
+<p>The best edition of the "Federalist" is by H.C. Lodge, N.Y., 1888. See
+also Story's <i>Commentaries on the Constitution</i>, 4th ed., 3 vols.,
+Boston, 1873; the works of Daniel Webster, 6 vols., Boston, 1851; Hurd's
+<i>Theory of our National Existence</i>, Boston, 1881. The above works
+expound the Constitution as not a league between sovereign states but a
+fundamental law ordained by the people of the United States. The
+opposite view is presented in <i>The Republic of Republics</i>, by P.C. Centz
+[Plain Common Sense, pseudonym of B.J. Sage of New Orleans], Boston,
+1881; the works of Calhoun, 6 vols., N.Y., 1853&ndash;55; A.H. Stephens's <i>War
+between the States</i>, 2 vols., Phila., 1868; Jefferson Davis's <i>Rise and
+Fall of the Confederate Government</i>, 2 vols., N.Y., 1881.</p>
+
+<p>Several volumes of the "American Statesmen" contain interesting accounts
+of discussions in the various conventions, as Tyler's <i>Patrick Henry</i>,
+Hosmer's <i>Samuel Adams</i>, Lodge's <i>Hamilton</i>, Magruder's <i>Marshall</i>,
+Roosevelt's <i>Morris</i>. Gay's <i>Madison</i> falls far below the general
+standard of this excellent and popular series. No satisfactory biography
+of Madison has yet been written, though the voluminous work of W.C.
+Rives contains much good material. For judicial interpretations of the
+Constitution one may consult B.R. Curtis's <i>Digest of Decisions</i>,
+1790&ndash;1854; Flanders's <i>Lives of the Chief Justices</i>, Phila., 1858;
+Marshall's <i>Writings on the Federal Constitution</i>, ed. Perkins, Boston,
+1839; see also Pomeroy's <i>Constitutional Law</i>, N.Y., 1868; Wharton's
+<i>Commentaries</i>, Phila., 1884; Von Holst's <i>Calhoun</i>, Boston, 1882;
+Tyler's <i>Letters and Times of the Tylers</i>, 2 vols., Richmond, 1884&ndash;85.
+Among critical and theoretical works, Fisher's <i>Trial of the
+Constitution</i>, Phila., 1862, and Lockwood's <i>Abolition of the
+Presidency</i>, N.Y., 1884, are variously suggestive; Woodrow Wilson's
+<i>Congressional Government</i>, Boston, 1885, is a work of rare ability,
+pointing out the divergence which has arisen between the literary theory
+of our government and its practical working. Walter Bagehot's <i>English
+Constitution</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> revised ed., Boston, 1873, had already, in a most
+profound and masterly fashion, exhibited the divergence between the
+literary theory and the actual working of the British government. Some
+points of weakness in the British system are touched in Albert
+Stickney's <i>True Republic</i>, N.Y., 1879; see also his <i>Democratic
+Government</i>, N.Y., 1885. The constitutional history of England is
+presented, in its earlier stages, with prodigious learning, by Dr.
+Stubbs, 3 vols., London, 1873&ndash;78, and in its later stages by Hallam, 2
+vols., London, 1842, and Sir Erskine May, 2 vols., Boston, 1862&ndash;63; see
+also Freeman's <i>Growth of the English Constitution</i>, London, 1872;
+<i>Comparative Politics</i>, London, 1873; <i>Some Impressions of the United
+States</i>, London, 1883; Rudolph Gneist, <i>History of the English
+Constitution</i>, 2 vols., London, 1886; J.S. Mill, <i>Representative
+Government</i>, N.Y., 1862; Sir H. Maine, <i>Popular Government</i>, N.Y., 1886;
+S.R. Gardiner's <i>Introduction to the Study of English History</i>, London,
+1881. In this connection I may refer to my own book, <i>American Political
+Ideas</i>, N.Y., 1885; and my articles, "Great Britain," "House of Lords,"
+and "House of Commons," in Lalor's <i>Cyclop&aelig;dia of Political Science</i>, 3
+vols., Chicago, 1882&ndash;84. It is always pleasant to refer to that
+cyclop&aelig;dia, because it contains the numerous articles on American
+history by Prof. Alexander Johnston. One must stop somewhere, and I will
+conclude by saying that I do not know where one can find anything more
+richly suggestive than Professor Johnston's articles.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="MEMBERS_OF_THE_FEDERAL_CONVENTION" id="MEMBERS_OF_THE_FEDERAL_CONVENTION"></a>MEMBERS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> names of those who for various reasons were absent when the
+Constitution was signed are given in italics; the names of those who
+were present, but refused to sign, are given in small capitals.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Constitution Signatures">
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>New Hampshire</td>
+ <td align='left'>John Langdon.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Nicholas Gilman.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Massachusetts</td>
+ <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Elbridge Gerry.</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Nathaniel Gorham.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Rufus King.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>Caleb Strong.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Connecticut</td>
+ <td align='left'>William Samuel Johnson.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Roger Sherman.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>Oliver Ellsworth.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>New York</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>Robert Yates.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Alexander Hamilton.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>John Lansing.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>New Jersey</td>
+ <td align='left'>William Livingston.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>David Brearley.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>William Churchill Houston.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>William Paterson.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Jonathan Dayton.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Pennsylvania</td>
+ <td align='left'>Benjamin Franklin.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Thomas Mifflin.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Robert Morris.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>George Clymer.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Thomas Fitzsimmons.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Jared Ingersoll.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>James Wilson.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Gouverneur Morris.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Delaware</td>
+ <td align='left'>George Read.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Gunning Bedford.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>John Dickinson.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Richard Bassett.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Jacob Broom.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Maryland</td>
+ <td align='left'>James McHenry.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>
+ </td><td align='left'>Daniel Carroll.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>John Francis Mercer.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>Luther Martin.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Virginia</td>
+ <td align='left'>George Washington.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><span class="smcap">Edmund Randolph.</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>John Blair.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>James Madison.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><span class="smcap">George Mason.</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>George Wythe.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>James McClurg.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>North Carolina</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>Alexander Martin.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>William Richardson Davie.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>William Blount.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Richard Dobbs Spaight.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Hugh Williamson.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>South Carolina</td>
+ <td align='left'>John Rutledge.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Charles Pinckney.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Pierce Butler.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Georgia</td>
+ <td align='left'>William Few.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Abraham Baldwin.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>William Pierce.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'><i>William Houstoun.</i></td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>Of those who signed their names to the Federal Constitution, the six
+following were signers of the Declaration of Independence:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Constitution and
+Declaration of Independence Signatures.">
+<tr><td align='left'>Roger Sherman,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Benjamin Franklin,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Robert Morris,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>George Clymer,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>James Wilson,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>George Read.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span></p><p>The ten following were appointed as delegates to the Federal
+Convention, but never took their seats:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Delegates of the Federal Convention.">
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>New Hampshire</td>
+ <td align='left'>John Pickering.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Benjamin West.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Massachusetts</td>
+ <td align='left'>Francis Dana.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>New Jersey</td>
+ <td align='left'>John Nelson.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Abraham Clark.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Virginia</td>
+ <td align='left'>Patrick Henry (declined).</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>North Carolina</td>
+ <td align='left'>Richard Caswell (resigned).</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Willie Jones (declined).</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Georgia</td>
+ <td align='left'>George Walton.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Nathaniel Pendleton.</td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>No delegates were appointed by Rhode Island. In a letter addressed to
+"the Honourable the Chairman of the General Convention," and dated
+"Providence, May 11, 1787," several leading citizens of Rhode Island
+expressed their regret that their state should not be represented on so
+momentous an occasion. At the same time, says the letter, "the result of
+your deliberations ... we still hope may finally be approved and adopted
+by this state, for which we pledge our influence and best exertions."
+The letter was signed by John Brown, Joseph Nightingale, Levi Hall,
+Philip Allen, Paul Allen, Jabez Bowen, Nicholas Brown, John Jinkes,
+Welcome Arnold, William Russell, Jeremiah Olney, William Barton, and
+Thomas Lloyd Halsey. The letter was presented to the Convention on May
+28th by Gouverneur Morris, and, "being read, was ordered to lie on the
+table for further consideration." See Elliot's <i>Debates</i>, v. 125.</p>
+
+<p>The Constitution was ratified by the thirteen states, as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Constitution Ratification Dates.">
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>1.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Delaware</td>
+ <td align='left'>Dec. 6, 1787.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>2.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Pennsylvania</td>
+ <td align='left'>Dec. 12, 1787.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>3.</td>
+ <td align='left'>New Jersey</td>
+ <td align='left'>Dec. 18, 1787.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>4.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Georgia</td>
+ <td align='left'>Jan. 2, 1788.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>5.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Connecticut</td>
+ <td align='left'>Jan. 9, 1788.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>6.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Massachusetts</td>
+ <td align='left'>Feb. 6, 1788.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>7.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Maryland</td>
+ <td align='left'>April 28, 1788.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>8.</td>
+ <td align='left'>South Carolina</td>
+ <td align='left'>May 23, 1788.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>9.</td>
+ <td align='left'>New Hampshire</td>
+ <td align='left'>June 21, 1788.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>10.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Virginia</td>
+ <td align='left'>June 25, 1788.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>11.</td>
+ <td align='left'>New York</td>
+ <td align='left'>July 26, 1788.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>12.</td>
+ <td align='left'>North Carolina</td>
+ <td align='left'>Nov. 21, 1789.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>13.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Rhode Island</td>
+ <td align='left'>May 29, 1790.</td>
+</tr>
+</table><br /><br /></div>
+
+
+<p class="center"><big>PRESIDENTS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.</big></p>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Presidents of the Continental Congress.">
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>1.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Peyton Randolph of Virginia</td>
+ <td align='left'>Sept. 5, 1774.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>2.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Henry Middleton of South Carolina</td>
+ <td align='left'>Oct. 22, 1774.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='left'>Peyton Randolph</td>
+ <td align='left'>May 10, 1775.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>3.</td>
+ <td align='left'>John Hancock of Massachusetts</td>
+ <td align='left'>May 24, 1775.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>4.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Henry Laurens of South Carolina</td>
+ <td align='left'>Nov. 1, 1777.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>5.</td>
+ <td align='left'>John Jay of New York</td>
+ <td align='left'>Dec. 10, 1778.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>6.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Samuel Huntington of Connecticut</td>
+ <td align='left'>Sept. 28, 1779.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>7.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Thomas McKean of Delaware</td>
+ <td align='left'>July 10, 1781.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>8.</td>
+ <td align='left'>John Hanson of Maryland</td>
+ <td align='left'>Nov. 5, 1781.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>9.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Elias Boudinot of New Jersey</td>
+ <td align='left'>Nov. 4, 1782.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>10.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania</td>
+ <td align='left'>Nov. 3, 1783.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>11.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Richard Henry Lee of Virginia</td>
+ <td align='left'>Nov. 30, 1784.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>12.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts</td>
+ <td align='left'>June 6, 1786.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>13.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Arthur St. Clair of Pennsylvania</td>
+ <td align='left'>Feb. 2, 1787.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='right'>14.</td>
+ <td align='left'>Cyrus Griffin of Virginia</td>
+ <td align='left'>Jan. 22, 1788.</td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="index">
+Acadians, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Adams, Herbert B., <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Adams, John, arrives in Paris, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his indignation at the pusillanimous instructions from Congress, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condemns the Cincinnati, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tries in vain to negotiate commercial treaty with Great Britain, <a href="#Page_139">139&ndash;141</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negotiates a treaty with Holland, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obtains a loan there, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his interview with the envoy from Tripoli, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absent from the United States at the time of the Federal Convention, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected vice-president of the United States, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Adams, Samuel, his devotion to local self-government, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his committees of correspondence, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Washington's proposal for pensioning officers, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">but at length supports the Commutation Act, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condemns the Cincinnati, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves the conduct of the Massachusetts delegates, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes pardoning the ringleaders in the Shays insurrection, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not a delegate to the Federal Convention, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"the man of the town meeting," <a href="#Page_318">318</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Massachusetts convention, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326&ndash;328</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">why not selected for the vice-presidency, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Albany, riot in, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Amendments to Constitution, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ames, Fisher, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Amis, North Carolinian trader, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Amphiktyonic council, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Annapolis convention, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Antagonisms between large and small states, <a href="#Page_244">244&ndash;252</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">between east and west, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">between north and south, <a href="#Page_256">256&ndash;267</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Antifederalist party, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Pennsylvania, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Massachusetts, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in South Carolina, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Virginia, <a href="#Page_335">335&ndash;337</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in New York, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Antipathies between states, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Aranda, Count, his prophecy, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Aristides, pseudonym, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Aristocracy, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Aristotle, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Arkwright, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Armada, the Invincible, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Armstrong, John, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Army, dread of, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Arnold, Benedict, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Asbury, Francis, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ashburton, Lord, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ashburton treaty, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Assemblies, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Assunpink Creek, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Augustine, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Backus, Rev. Isaac, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bagehot, Walter, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Baldwin, Abraham, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Baptists persecuted in Virginia, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Barbary pirates, <a href="#Page_157">157&ndash;161</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Barr&eacute;, Isaac, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bedford, Gunning, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bennington, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bernard, Sir Francis, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Biennial elections, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bill of rights demanded, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Blackstone, Sir William, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bossuet on slavery, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Boston Gazette, quoted, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Boundaries of United States as settled by the treaty, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bowdoin, James, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180&ndash;184</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Boyd, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Braddock, Edward, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bradshaw's Railway Guide, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Brearley, David, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bribery, charges of, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>.<br />
+<br />
+British army departs, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.<br />
+<br />
+British Constitution compared with American, <a href="#Page_290">290&ndash;298</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Buff and blue colours, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Burgesses, House of, in Virginia, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Burke, &AElig;danus, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Burke, Edmund, his sympathy with the Americans, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">could not see the need for parliamentary reform, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his invective against Shelburne, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the slave-trade, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Butler, Pierce, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span>Cabinet, the president's, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cabinet government, growth of, in England, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Camden, Lord, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Canada, Franklin suggests that it should be ceded to the United States, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carleton, Sir Guy, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carlisle, Pa., disturbances at, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carpet-bag governments, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carr, Dabney, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carrington, Edward, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carroll, Daniel, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carrying trade, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cartwright, Edmund, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Catalonian rebels indemnified, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Catholics in the United States, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cato, pseudonym, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cavendish, Lord John, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Censors, council of, in Pennsylvania, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Centinel, pseudonym, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cervantes, Miguel de, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Charles II., <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Chase, Samuel, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Chatham, Lord, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cherry Valley, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Chittenden, Thomas, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cincinnati, order of the, <a href="#Page_114">114&ndash;118</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cincinnati, the city, original name of, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cincinnatus, pseudonym, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Clan system, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Clergymen in the Massachusetts convention, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their liberal spirit, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Cleveland, Grover, his tariff message, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Clinton, George, favours persecution of Tories, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an enemy to closer union of the states, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats impost amendment, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes the Constitution, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entertains President Washington at dinner, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Clinton, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Clymer, George, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Coalition ministry, <a href="#Page_38">38&ndash;46</a>.<br />
+<br />
+C&#339;ur-de-Lion and Saladin, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Coinage, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Coke, Thomas, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Columbia College, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Commerce, control of, given to Congress, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Common law in the United States, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Commons, House of, in England, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290&ndash;298</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in North Carolina, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Compromises of the Federal Constitution, <a href="#Page_250">250&ndash;267</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Confederation, articles of, <a href="#Page_92">92&ndash;98</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Congress, Continental, its instructions to the commissioners at Paris, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its weakness, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102&ndash;113</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its anomalous character, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its presidents, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">driven from Philadelphia by drunken soldiers, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flees to Princeton, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unable to enforce the provisions of the treaty, <a href="#Page_119">119&ndash;131</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unable to regulate commerce, <a href="#Page_140">140&ndash;144</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">afraid to interfere openly in the Shays rebellion, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">passes ordinance for government of northwestern territory, <a href="#Page_203">203&ndash;206</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to recommend a convention for reforming the government, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reconsiders its refusal, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in some respects a diplomatic rather than a legislative body, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its migrations, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">debates on the Constitution, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">submits it to the states, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comes to an end, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Congress, Federal, powers granted to, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">choice of president by, <a href="#Page_282">282&ndash;284</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">counting electoral votes in, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Connecticut, government of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with New York and Pennsylvania, <a href="#Page_146">146&ndash;151</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">keeps almost entirely clear of paper money, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">western claims of, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratifies the Constitution, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Connecticut compromise, the, <a href="#Page_250">250&ndash;255</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Conservative character of the American Revolution, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Constitution, emblematic federal ship, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Convention, the Federal, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222&ndash;305</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Conway, Gen. Henry, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cooper, Dr. Myles, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cornwallis, Lord, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Council, privy, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cowardice of American politicians, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Crawford, William, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Curtis, B.R., <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cutler, Manasseh, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Dane, Nathan, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dayton, Jonathan, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Debt, imprisonment for, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Debts to British creditors, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Delaware, government of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratifies the Constitution, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Democratic-Republican party, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dickinson, John, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dissolution of Parliament, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dollar, the Spanish, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dunmore, Lord, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Election by lot, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first presidential, <a href="#Page_346">346&ndash;348</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Electoral college in Maryland, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">device adopted for choosing the president, <a href="#Page_281">281&ndash;287</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its practical working, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Elliot, Sir Gilbert, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ellsworth, Oliver, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Embargo acts, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>Eminent domain, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Episcopal church, <a href="#Page_77">77&ndash;85</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Erie Canal, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Executive, federal, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">length of term, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how elected, <a href="#Page_279">279&ndash;285</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">corresponds to sovereign, not to prime minister, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Exports not to be taxed, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+"Federal," the word preferred to "national," <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Federal city under federal jurisdiction, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>.<br />
+<br />
+"Federal Farmer" (letters by R.H. Lee), <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Federal Street in Boston, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.<br />
+<br />
+"Federalist," the, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341&ndash;343</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Federalist party, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Field, S.J., <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fisheries, question of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fitzherbert, Alleyne, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Florida surrendered by Great Britain to Spain, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disputes about boundary of, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Folkland, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fox, C.J., his sympathy with the Americans, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Shelburne, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">waywardness of his early career, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coalition with North, <a href="#Page_38">38&ndash;42</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mistake in opposing a dissolution, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+France, treaty of 1783 with Great Britain, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Franklin, Benjamin, negotiates with Oswald, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">overruled by Jay and Adams, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his arguments against compensating the loyalists, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ridicules the Cincinnati, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns from France, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Federal Convention, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lays the Constitution before the Pennsylvania legislature, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called a dotard by the Antifederalists, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Franklin, state of, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Frederick the Great, on republics, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Free trade, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134&ndash;139</a>.<br />
+<br />
+French army embarks at Boston, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Froissart, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Frontier posts to be surrendered by Great Britain, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">why not surrendered, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Fugitive slaves, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fur trade, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Gadsden, C., <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gallatin, A., <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Galloway, Joseph, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gardoqui, Diego, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gates, Horatio, <a href="#Page_108">108&ndash;111</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.<br />
+<br />
+George III. threatens to abdicate, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his disgust at the coalition, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebuked by House of Commons, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his personal government overthrown, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hopes the Americans will repent of their folly, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resists the movement for abolishing slave-trade, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his personal government, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Georgia takes the lead in making the judiciary elective, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abandons that evil practice, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">issues paper money, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratifies the Constitution, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Germaine, Lord George, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gerry, Elbridge, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gibbon, Edward, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gibraltar, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gladstone, W.E., <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gorham, Nathaniel, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Governors, colonial, unpopularity of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gower, Lord, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Grafton, Duke of, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Grantham, Lord, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Granville, Lord, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Grasse, Count, defeated by Rodney, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Grayson, William, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Green Dragon tavern, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Greene, Nathanael, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Grenville, Thomas, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Guadaloupe, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Guilford, Earl of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Half-pay controversy, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hamilton, Alexander, his early life, <a href="#Page_124">124&ndash;126</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks the Trespass Act, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls for a federal convention, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates the impost amendment, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Federal Convention, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on inconvertible paper, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the electoral college, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called a boy by the Antifederalists, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">authorship of the "Federalist," <a href="#Page_341">341&ndash;343</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports the Constitution in the New York convention, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his financial measures, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Hancock, John, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hannibal, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hargreaves, James, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Harrington, James, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Harrison, Benjamin, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hartington, Lord, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hartley, David, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hawks, F.L., <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Heath, Gen. William, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Henry, Patrick, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hint Club, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Impost amendment, <a href="#Page_218">218&ndash;240</a>.<br />
+<br />
+India bill, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Insurrections, suppression of, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>Intercitizenship, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Iroquois league, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Irreconcilables in the Federal Convention, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Isolation of states a century ago, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Jay, John, thwarts Vergennes, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tries to establish free trade between United States and Great Britain, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condemns persecution of Tories, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on compensation for slaves, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consents to the closing of the Mississippi River for twenty-five years, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">why not sent as delegate to Federal Convention, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports the Constitution in New York convention, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contributes articles to the "Federalist," <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives nine electoral votes for the vice-presidency, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Jefferson, Thomas, opposed to slavery, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours religious freedom, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minister to France, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assists Gouverneur Morris in arranging our decimal currency, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his plan for the government of the northwestern territory, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wishes to prohibit slavery in the national domain, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his purchase of Louisiana, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absent from United States at the time of the Federal Convention, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his faith in the people, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinion of the Constitution, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves the action of the Massachusetts convention, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Johnson, W.S., <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Johnston, Alexander, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Jones, Paul, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Jonesborough, convention at, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Judiciary, elective, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">federal, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Juilliard <i>vs.</i> Greenman, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Kentucky, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Keppel, Lord, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br />
+<br />
+King, Rufus, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>.<br />
+<br />
+King's Mountain, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Kings, election of, in Poland, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Know Ye men and Know Ye measures, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Knox, Henry, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Lafayette, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Langdon, John, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lansing, John, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Laurens, Henry, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lecky, W., <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ledyard, Isaac, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lee, Henry, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lee, Richard Henry, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>.<br />
+<br />
+"Letters from a Federal Farmer," by R.H. Lee, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lexington, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lincoln, Abraham, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lincoln, Benjamin, <a href="#Page_181">181&ndash;183</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Livingston, Robert, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Livingston, William, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Locke, John, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Long Lane becomes Federal Street, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Long Parliament, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lords, House of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contrasted with Senate, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Lowndes, Rawlins, <a href="#Page_332">332&ndash;334</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Loyalists, compensation of, <a href="#Page_28">28&ndash;33</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">persecution of, <a href="#Page_120">120&ndash;130</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">did not form, in any proper sense of the word, an opposition party, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Luzerne, Chevalier de, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lykian League, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Macdougall, Alexander, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br />
+<br />
+McDuffle, George, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br />
+<br />
+McKean, Thomas, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.<br />
+<br />
+McMaster, J.B., <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Madison, James, and the Religious Freedom Act, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on right of coercion, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates five per cent. impost, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the ordinance of 1787, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moves that a convention be held to secure a uniform commercial policy, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds in getting delegates appointed, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his character and appearance, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his journal of the proceedings, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chief author of the Virginia plan, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">one of the first to arrive at the fundamental conception of our partly federal and partly national government, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves at first of giving Congress the power to annul state laws, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes the New Jersey plan, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares that the real antagonism is between slave states and free states, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">author of the three fifths compromise, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condemns paper money, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves of election of the executive by the legislature, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves of a privy council, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports the Constitution in Congress, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called a boy by the Antifederalists, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports the Constitution in the Virginia convention, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">part author of the "Federalist," <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denies that there can be a constitutional right of secession, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Maine as part of Massachusetts, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Manchester, Duke of, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Marbois, Fran&ccedil;ois de Barb&eacute;, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Marion, Francis, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Marshall, John, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Martin, Luther, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242&ndash;244</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Maryland, government of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insists upon cession of northwestern lands, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">paper money in, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">message to Virginia, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratifies the Constitution, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Mason, George, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Massachusetts, government of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abolishes slavery, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious bigotry, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the five per cent. duty, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tries to propose a convention for increasing the powers of Congress, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lays claim to a small part of Vermont, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">paper money in, <a href="#Page_172">172&ndash;179</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">western claims of, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes her attitude, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local self-government in, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">debates on the Constitution, <a href="#Page_320">320&ndash;330</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratifies it, suggesting amendments, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Massachusetts Chronicle, quoted, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Massacre, Boston, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mayhew, Jonathan, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Meade, William, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mentor and Phocion, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mercer, J.F., <a href="#Page_274">274</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Methodists, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Middletown convention, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mifflin, Thomas, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Minisink, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mirabeau, Count de, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mississippi River, attempt to close it, <a href="#Page_209">209&ndash;211</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">valley of the, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Monroe, James, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Montesquieu, C., <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Moonshiners, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Morris, Gouverneur, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Morris, Robert, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Moultrie, William, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Muley Abdallah, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mutiny act, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Names of persons and places, fashions in, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Nantucket, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Nason, Samuel, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Naval eminence of New England, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Navigation acts, <a href="#Page_138">138&ndash;143</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Negroes carried away by British fleet, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Nelson, Samuel, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.<br />
+<br />
+New Connecticut, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.<br />
+<br />
+New Hampshire lays claim to Vermont, <a href="#Page_151">151&ndash;153</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">riots in, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hesitates to ratify the Constitution, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratifies it, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+New Jersey quarrels with New York, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">paper money in, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes the attempt to close the Mississippi, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">instructs her delegates to the Annapolis convention, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her plan for amending the articles of confederation, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratifies the Constitution, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+New Roof, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.<br />
+<br />
+New York passes navigation and tariff acts directed against neighbouring states, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lays claim to Vermont, <a href="#Page_151">151&ndash;153</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">paper money in, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">western claims of, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats the impost amendment, <a href="#Page_218">218&ndash;220</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">debates on the Constitution, <a href="#Page_340">340&ndash;344</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratifies it, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks for a second convention, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to choose electors, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+New York Central Railroad, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Newburgh address, <a href="#Page_108">108&ndash;112</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Nicola, Louis, his letter to Washington, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Non-importation agreement, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br />
+<br />
+North, Frederick, Lord, fall of his ministry, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coalition with Fox, <a href="#Page_38">38&ndash;42</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his blindness, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his proposals after Saratoga, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his subservience to the king, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+North Carolina issues paper money, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cedes her western lands to the United States, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">repeals the act of cession, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delays her ratification of the Constitution, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Ohio, <a href="#Page_203">203&ndash;206</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Old Sarum, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Old South Church, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Onslow, George, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ordinance of 1787, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203&ndash;206</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Oregon, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Oswald, Richard, <a href="#Page_9">9&ndash;14</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22&ndash;26</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Paine, Thomas, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Paper currency, <a href="#Page_163">163&ndash;179</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273&ndash;276</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Parker, Theodore, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Parsons, Samuel Holden, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Parsons, Theophilus, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Parties, formation of, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Paterson, William, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245&ndash;248</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Patterson, militia officer in Wyoming, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Payson, Rev. Philip, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Pendleton, Edmund, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Pennsylvania, government of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first tariff act, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Connecticut, <a href="#Page_148">148&ndash;150</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">paper money in, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes the closing of the Mississippi, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest over the Constitution, <a href="#Page_309">309&ndash;314</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratifies it, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Petersham, scene of Shays's defeat, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Philadelphia, Congress driven from, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Federal Convention meets at, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unparliamentary proceedings in legislature, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">celebrates ratification by ten states, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Phocion and Mentor, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Pinckney, Charles, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Pinckney, Cotesworth, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Pitt, Thomas, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span>Pitt, William, chancellor of exchequer, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces the coalition, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defends the treaty, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to form a ministry, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prime minister, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wins a great political victory, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours free trade with the United States, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Polish kings, election of, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Population as an index of wealth, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Portland, Duke of, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Potomac, navigation of, <a href="#Page_213">213&ndash;216</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Poughkeepsie, convention at, <a href="#Page_340">340&ndash;344</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Powers granted to federal government, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Presbyterians, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Presidents of Continental Congress, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Prevost's march against Charleston, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Prime minister contrasted with president, <a href="#Page_292">292&ndash;294</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Primogeniture, abolition of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Proprietary governments, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Providence, R.I., barbecue and mob at, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Public lands, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Putnam, Israel, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Putnam, Rufus, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Quebec act, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Quesnay, Fran&ccedil;ois, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Quorum, how to make a, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Railroads, political influence of, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Randolph, Edmund, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rayneval, G&eacute;rard de, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Read, George, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Reform, parliamentary, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Religious freedom, progress in, <a href="#Page_76">76&ndash;87</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Religious tests opposed by Massachusetts clergymen, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Representation of slaves, <a href="#Page_258">258&ndash;262</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Representatives, House of, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Republican party, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Republics, old notion that they must be small in area, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Reserve, Connecticut's western, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Revenue bills, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Revere, Paul, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Revolution, American, its conservative character, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the French, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Rhode Island, government of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extends franchise to Catholics, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the five per cent. duty, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">paper money in, <a href="#Page_172">172&ndash;177</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes the closing of the Mississippi, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">does not send delegates to Philadelphia, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delays her ratification of the Constitution, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Richmond, Duke of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rittenhouse, David, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rockingham, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">instability of his ministry, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its excellent work, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Rodney's victory over Grasse, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Roman republic not like the United States, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rousseau, J.J., <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rutgers, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rutledge, John, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+St. Clair, Arthur, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Saladin and C&#339;ur-de-Lion, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sandy Hook light-house, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sargent, Winthrop, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Schuyler, Philip, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Scott, Sir Walter, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Scottish representation in Parliament, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Seabury, Samuel, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Secession, threats of, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">no constitutional right of, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Secrecy of the debates in Federal Convention, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sedgwick, Theodore, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Self-government, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Senate, federal, made independent of lower house, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contrasted with House of Lords, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Senates, origin of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Seven Years' War, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sevier, John, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Shattuck, Job, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Shays rebellion, <a href="#Page_180">180&ndash;182</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sheffield, Lord, protectionist, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the Barbary pirates, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Shelburne, William, Earl of, his character, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his memorandum on proposed cession of Canada, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prime minister, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approached by Rayneval and Vaughan, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">misjudged by Fox, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defends the treaty, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his conduct justified by his enemies, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">understood the principles of free trade, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Shepard, William, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sherman, Roger, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his suggestion as to relations of the executive to the legislature, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Shillings, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ship-building in New England, <a href="#Page_137">137&ndash;139</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Shute, Rev. Daniel, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sidney, Algernon, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Singletary, Amos, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Six Nations, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Slave-trade, foreign, permitted for twenty years, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Slavery in the several states, <a href="#Page_72">72&ndash;75</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prohibited in northwestern territory, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discussions about it in Federal Convention, <a href="#Page_257">257&ndash;267</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condemned by George Mason, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>Slaves, representation of, <a href="#Page_258">258&ndash;262</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">numbers of, in the several states, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Small states converted to federalism by the Connecticut compromise, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Smith, Adam, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Smith, Capt. John, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Smith, Jonathan, <a href="#Page_324">324&ndash;326</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Smith, Melanchthon, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Smugglers, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.<br />
+<br />
+South Carolina, Episcopal church in, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revokes five per cent. impost, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">issues paper money, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absolute need of conciliating her, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes bargain with New England states, <a href="#Page_262">262&ndash;267</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">debates on the Constitution, <a href="#Page_332">332&ndash;334</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratifies it, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Sovereignty never belonged to separate states, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Spain, treaty of 1783 with Great Britain, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts to close Mississippi River, <a href="#Page_208">208&ndash;211</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Spanish dollar, why it superseded English pound as unit of value in America, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Spermaceti oil, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Springfield arsenal, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.<br />
+<br />
+States, powers denied to, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Stormont, Lord, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Story, Joseph, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Strachey, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Strong, Caleb, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Succession disputed, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Suffrage, limitations upon, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sugar trade, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Temple, Lord, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tennessee, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Thayendanegea, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Thomas, Isaiah, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Thompson, Gen., in Massachusetts convention, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Thurlow, Lord, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Thurston, member of Virginia legislature, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tithing-men in New England, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tobacco as currency in Virginia, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tories, American; see Loyalists.<br />
+<br />
+Tories, British, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Townshend, Thomas, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Trade, barbarous superstitions about, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Travelling, difficulties of, a century ago, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Treaty of 1783, difficulties in the way of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strange character of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">provisions of, <a href="#Page_25">25&ndash;33</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a great diplomatic victory for the Americans, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secret article relating to Florida boundary, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopted, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">news arrives in America, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congress unable to carry out its provisions, <a href="#Page_119">119&ndash;132</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Trespass Act in New York. <a href="#Page_123">123&ndash;128</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Trevett <i>vs.</i> Weeden, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tucker, Josiah, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tyler, John, the elder, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Union, sentiment of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Unitarianism, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br />
+<br />
+University men in Federal Convention, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Vaughan, Benjamin, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Vergennes, Count de, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wishes to satisfy Spain at the expense of the United States, <a href="#Page_18">18&ndash;21</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">thwarted by Jay, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accuses the Americans of bad faith, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tired of sending loans, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Vermont, troubles in, <a href="#Page_151">151&ndash;153</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">riots in connection with the Shays rebellion, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Vice-presidency, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Victoria, Queen, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Vincennes, riot in, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Violence of political invective, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Virginia, church and state in, <a href="#Page_78">78&ndash;85</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on five per cent. impost, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">paper money in, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes possession of northwestern territory, <a href="#Page_188">188&ndash;191</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cedes it to the United States, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plan for new federal government, <a href="#Page_233">233&ndash;242</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its reception by the convention, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compromise as to representation of slaves, <a href="#Page_259">259&ndash;262</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents the compromise between South Carolina and the New England states, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">debates on the Constitution, <a href="#Page_335">335&ndash;337</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratifies it, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+"Visionary young men," i.e., Hamilton, Madison, Gouverneur Morris, etc., <a href="#Page_318">318</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Waddington, Joshua, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Walpole, Horace, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Walpole, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br />
+<br />
+War, the Civil, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contrast with Revolutionary, <a href="#Page_101">101&ndash;103</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cost of Revolutionary, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Washington, George, marches from Yorktown to the Hudson River, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disbands the army, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns his command, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes home to Mount Vernon, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his "legacy" to the American people, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the right of coercion, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges half-pay for retired officers, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supposed scheme for making him king, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his masterly speech at Newburgh, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president of the Cincinnati, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the weakness of the confederation, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wishes to hang speculators in bread-stuffs, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves of Connecticut's reservation of a tract of western land, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves of Ohio Company, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">his views on the need for canals between east and west, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">important meeting held at his house, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">is chosen delegate to the Federal Convention, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president of the convention, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his solemn warning, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his suggestion as to the basis of representation, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks if he shall put the question on the motion of Wilson and Pinckney, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves of electing executive by the legislature, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends draft of the Constitution to Congress, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called a fool by the Antifederalists, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves of amendments, but opposes a second convention, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unanimously chosen president of the United States, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his journey to New York, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his inauguration, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Washington, William, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Watt, James, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wayne, Anthony, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wealth as a basis of representation, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Webster, Daniel, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Webster, Pelatiah, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Weems, Mason, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wesley, John, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br />
+<br />
+West, Rev. Samuel, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>.<br />
+<br />
+West India trade, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Whigs, British, sympathize with revolutionary party in America, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Whiskey as currency in North Carolina, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.<br />
+<br />
+White, Abraham, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Whitefield, George, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Whitehill, Robert, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Whitney, Eli, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.<br />
+<br />
+William the Silent, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wilson, James, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Witenagemot, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Worcester Spy, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wraxall's Memoirs, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wyoming, troubles in, <a href="#Page_148">148&ndash;150</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wythe, George, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Yates, Robert, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Yazoo boundary, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr  />
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> In recent years Georgia has been one of the first states to
+abandon this bad practice.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> I suppose it was this same Mason Weems that was afterward
+known in Virginia as Parson Weems, of Pohick parish, near Mount Vernon.
+See <i>Magazine of American History</i>, iii. 465&ndash;472; v. 85&ndash;90. At first an
+eccentric preacher, Parson Weems became an itinerant violin-player and
+book-peddler, and author of that edifying work, <i>The Life of George
+Washington, with Curious Anecdotes equally Honourable to Himself and
+Exemplary to his Young Countrymen</i>. On the title-page the author
+describes himself as "formerly rector of Mount Vernon Parish,"&mdash;which
+Bishop Meade calls preposterous. The book is a farrago of absurdities,
+reminding one, alike in its text and its illustrations, of an overgrown
+English chap-book of the olden time. It has had an enormous sale, and
+has very likely contributed more than any other single book toward
+forming the popular notion of Washington. It seems to have been this
+fiddling parson that first gave currency to the everlasting story of the
+cherry-tree and the little hatchet.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>History of England in the Eighteenth Century</i>, iii. 447.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> A very interesting account of these troubles may be found
+in the first volume of Professor McMaster's <i>History of the People of
+the United States</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> This subject has been treated in a masterly manner by Mr.
+H.B. Adams, in an essay on Maryland's Influence upon Land Cessions to
+the United States, published in the Third Series of the admirable <i>Johns
+Hopkins University Studies in History and Politics</i>. I am indebted to
+Mr. Adams for many valuable suggestions.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> It would be in the highest degree erroneous, however, to
+suppose that the Constitution of the United States is not, as much as
+any other, an instance of evolution from precedents. See, in this
+connection, the very able article by Prof. Alexander Johnston, <i>New
+Princeton Review</i>, Sept., 1887, pp. 175&ndash;190.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The slave-population of the United States, according to the
+census of 1700, was thus distributed among the states:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="North Slave Population.">
+<tr>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><i>North.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>New Hampshire</td>
+ <td align='right'>158</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Vermont</td>
+ <td align='right'>17</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Massachusetts</td>
+ <td align='right'>&mdash;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Rhode Island</td>
+ <td align='right'>952</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Connecticut</td>
+ <td align='right'>2,759</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>New York</td>
+ <td align='right'>21,324</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>New Jersey</td>
+ <td align='right'>11,423</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Pennsylvania</td>
+ <td align='right'>3,737</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='right'>&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='right'>40,370</td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<div>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="South Slave Population.">
+<tr>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><i>South.</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Delaware</td>
+ <td align='right'>8,887</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Maryland</td>
+ <td align='right'>103,036</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Virginia</td>
+ <td align='right'>293,427</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>North Carolina</td>
+ <td align='right'>100,572</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>South Carolina</td>
+ <td align='right'>107,094</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Georgia</td>
+ <td align='right'>29,264</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Kentucky</td>
+ <td align='right'>11,830</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Tennessee</td>
+ <td align='right'>3,417</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='right'>&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>&nbsp;</td>
+ <td align='right'>657,527</td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<div>
+<table border="0" width="40%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Total Slaves.">
+<tr>
+ <td align='left'>Total</td>
+ <td align='right'>697,897.</td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Since this was written, this last and most serious danger
+would seem to have been removed by the acts of 1886 and 1887 regulating
+the presidential succession and the counting of electoral votes.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The history of President Cleveland's tariff message of
+1887, however, shows that, where a wise and courageous president calls
+attention to a living issue, his party, alike in Congress and in the
+country, is in a measure compelled to follow his lead.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Critical Period of American History, by 
+John Fiske
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+Project Gutenberg's The Critical Period of American History, by John Fiske
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Critical Period of American History
+
+Author: John Fiske
+
+Release Date: December 7, 2008 [EBook #27430]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRITICAL PERIOD AMERICAN HISTORY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Greg Bergquist
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully
+preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+
+
+
+  THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF
+
+  AMERICAN HISTORY
+
+  1783-1789
+
+  BY
+
+  JOHN FISKE
+
+  "I am uneasy and apprehensive, more so than during the war."
+  JAY TO WASHINGTON, _June_ 27, 1786.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  BOSTON AND NEW YORK
+  HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
+  The Riverside Press, Cambridge
+
+
+
+
+  Copyright, 1888,
+
+  BY JOHN FISKE.
+
+  _All rights reserved._
+
+  _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ Electrotyped and Printed
+  by H.O. Houghton & Co.
+
+
+
+
+  To
+
+  MY DEAR CLASSMATES,
+
+  FRANCIS LEE HIGGINSON
+
+  AND
+
+  CHARLES CABOT JACKSON,
+
+  _I DEDICATE THIS BOOK._
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+This book contains the substance of the course of lectures given in the
+Old South Meeting-House in Boston in December, 1884, at the Washington
+University in St. Louis in May, 1885, and in the theatre of the
+University Club in New York in March, 1886. In its present shape it may
+serve as a sketch of the political history of the United States from the
+end of the Revolutionary War to the adoption of the Federal
+Constitution. It makes no pretensions to completeness, either as a
+summary of the events of that period or as a discussion of the political
+questions involved in them. I have aimed especially at grouping facts in
+such a way as to bring out and emphasize their causal sequence, and it
+is accordingly hoped that the book may prove useful to the student of
+American history.
+
+My title was suggested by the fact of Thomas Paine's stopping the
+publication of the "Crisis," on hearing the news of the treaty of 1783,
+with the remark, "The times that tried men's souls are over." Commenting
+upon this, on page 55 of the present work, I observed that so far from
+the crisis being over in 1783, the next five years were to be the most
+critical time of all. I had not then seen Mr. Trescot's "Diplomatic
+History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams," on page 9 of
+which he uses almost the same words: "It must not be supposed that the
+treaty of peace secured the national life. Indeed, it would be more
+correct to say that the most critical period of the country's history
+embraced the time between 1783 and the adoption of the Constitution in
+1788."
+
+That period was preeminently the turning-point in the development of
+political society in the western hemisphere. Though small in their mere
+dimensions, the events here summarized were in a remarkable degree
+germinal events, fraught with more tremendous alternatives of future
+welfare or misery for mankind than it is easy for the imagination to
+grasp. As we now stand upon the threshold of that mighty future, in the
+light of which all events of the past are clearly destined to seem
+dwindled in dimensions and significant only in the ratio of their
+potency as causes; as we discern how large a part of that future must be
+the outcome of the creative work, for good or ill, of men of English
+speech; we are put into the proper mood for estimating the significance
+of the causes which determined a century ago that the continent of North
+America should be dominated by a single powerful and pacific federal
+nation instead of being parcelled out among forty or fifty small
+communities, wasting their strength and lowering their moral tone by
+perpetual warfare, like the states of ancient Greece, or by perpetual
+preparation for warfare, like the nations of modern Europe. In my book
+entitled "American Political Ideas, viewed from the Standpoint of
+Universal History," I have tried to indicate the pacific influence
+likely to be exerted upon the world by the creation and maintenance of
+such a political structure as our Federal Union. The present narrative
+may serve as a commentary upon what I had in mind on page 133 of that
+book, in speaking of the work of our Federal Convention as "the finest
+specimen of constructive statesmanship that the world has ever seen." On
+such a point it is pleasant to find one's self in accord with a
+statesman so wise and noble as Mr. Gladstone, whose opinion is here
+quoted on page 223.
+
+To some persons it may seem as if the years 1861-65 were of more
+cardinal importance than the years 1783-89. Our civil war was indeed an
+event of prodigious magnitude, as measured by any standard that history
+affords; and there can be little doubt as to its decisiveness. The
+measure of that decisiveness is to be found in the completeness of the
+reconciliation that has already, despite the feeble wails of
+unscrupulous place-hunters and unteachable bigots, cemented the Federal
+Union so powerfully that all likelihood of its disruption may be said to
+have disappeared forever. When we consider this wonderful harmony which
+so soon has followed the deadly struggle, we may well believe it to be
+the index of such a stride toward the ultimate pacification of mankind
+as was never made before. But it was the work done in the years 1783-89
+that created a federal nation capable of enduring the storm and stress
+of the years 1861-65. It was in the earlier crisis that the pliant twig
+was bent; and as it was bent, so has it grown; until it has become
+indeed a goodly and a sturdy tree.
+
+CAMBRIDGE, October 10, 1888.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ RESULTS OF YORKTOWN.                                                  PAGE
+
+
+ Fall of Lord North's ministry                                            1
+
+ Sympathy between British Whigs and the revolutionary
+ party in America                                                         2
+
+ It weakened the Whig party in England                                    3
+
+ Character of Lord Shelburne                                              4
+
+ Political instability of the Rockingham ministry                      5, 6
+
+ Obstacles in the way of a treaty of peace                             7, 8
+
+ Oswald talks with Franklin                                            9-11
+
+ Grenville has an interview with Vergennes                               12
+
+ Effects of Rodney's victory                                             13
+
+ Misunderstanding between Fox and Shelburne                              14
+
+ Fall of the Rockingham ministry                                         15
+
+ Shelburne becomes prime minister                                        16
+
+ Defeat of the Spaniards and French at Gibraltar                         17
+
+ French policy opposed to American interests                             18
+
+ The valley of the Mississippi; Aranda's prophecy                        19
+
+ The Newfoundland fisheries                                              20
+
+ Jay detects the schemes of Vergennes                                    21
+
+ And sends Dr Vaughan to visit Shelburne                                 22
+
+ John Adams arrives in Paris and joins with Jay in insisting
+ upon a separate negotiation with England                            23, 24
+
+ The separate American treaty, as agreed upon:
+
+   1.   Boundaries                                                       25
+
+   2.   Fisheries; commercial intercourse                                26
+
+   3.   Private debts                                                    27
+
+   4.   Compensation of loyalists                                     28-32
+
+ Secret article relating to the Yazoo boundary                           33
+
+ Vergennes does not like the way in which it has been done               33
+
+ On the part of the Americans it was a great diplomatic
+   victory      34
+
+ Which the commissioners won by disregarding the instructions
+ of Congress and acting on their own responsibility                      35
+
+ The Spanish treaty                                                      36
+
+ The French treaty                                                       37
+
+ Coalition of Fox with North                                          38-42
+
+ They attack the American treaty in Parliament                           43
+
+ And compel Shelburne to resign                                          44
+
+ Which leaves England without a government, while for
+   several weeks the king is too angry to appoint ministers              44
+
+ Until at length he succumbs to the coalition, which presently
+   adopts and ratifies the American treaty                               45
+
+ The coalition ministry is wrecked upon Fox's India Bill                 46
+
+ Constitutional crisis ends in the overwhelming victory of
+ Pitt in the elections of May, 1784                                      47
+
+ And this, although apparently a triumph for the king, was
+ really a death-blow to his system of personal government            48, 49
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS.
+
+ Cessation of hostilities in America                                     50
+
+ Departure of the British troops                                         51
+
+ Washington resigns his command                                          52
+
+ And goes home to Mount Vernon                                           53
+
+ His "legacy" to the American people                                     54
+
+ The next five years were the most critical years in American
+ history                                                                 55
+
+ Absence of a sentiment of union, and consequent danger of
+ anarchy                                                             56, 57
+
+ European statesmen, whether hostile or friendly, had little
+ faith in the stability of the Union                                     58
+
+ False historic analogies                                                59
+
+ Influence of railroad and telegraph upon the perpetuity of
+ the Union                                                               60
+
+ Difficulty of travelling a hundred years ago                            61
+
+ Local jealousies and antipathies, an inheritance from primeval
+ savagery                                                            62, 63
+
+ Conservative character of the American Revolution                       64
+
+ State governments remodelled; assemblies continued from
+ colonial times                                                          65
+
+ Origin of the senates in the governor's council of assistants           66
+
+ Governors viewed with suspicion                                         67
+
+ Analogies with British institutions                                     68
+
+ The judiciary                                                           69
+
+ Restrictions upon suffrage                                              70
+
+ Abolition of primogeniture, entails, and manorial privileges            71
+
+ Steps toward the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade            72-75
+
+ Progress toward religious freedom                                   76, 77
+
+ Church and state in Virginia                                        78, 79
+
+ Persecution of dissenters                                               80
+
+ Madison and the Religions Freedom Act                                   81
+
+ Temporary overthrow of the church                                       82
+
+ Difficulties in regard to ordination; the case of Mason Weems           83
+
+ Ordination of Samuel Seabury by non-jurors at Aberdeen                  84
+
+ Francis Asbury and the Methodists                                       85
+
+ Presbyterians and Congregationalists                                    86
+
+ Roman Catholics                                                         87
+
+ Except in the instance of slavery, all the changes described
+   in this chapter were favourable to the union of the states            88
+
+ But while the state governments, in all these changes, are
+   seen working smoothly, we have next to observe, by
+   contrast, the clumsiness and inefficiency of the federal government   89
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP.
+
+ The several states have never enjoyed complete sovereignty              90
+
+ But in the very act of severing their connection with Great
+   Britain, they entered into some sort of union                         91
+
+ Anomalous character of the Continental Congress                         92
+
+ The articles of confederation; they sought to establish a
+   "league of friendship" between the states                          93-97
+
+ But failed to create a federal government endowed with real
+   sovereignty                                                       98-100
+
+ Military weakness of the government                                101-103
+
+ Extreme difficulty of obtaining a revenue                         104, 105
+
+ Congress, being unable to pay the army, was afraid of it               106
+
+ Supposed scheme for making Washington king                             107
+
+ Greene's experience in South Carolina                                  108
+
+ Gates's staff officers and the Newburgh address                        109
+
+ The danger averted by Washington                                  110, 111
+
+ Congress driven from Philadelphia by mutinous soldiers                 112
+
+ The Commutation Act denounced in New England                           113
+
+ Order of the Cincinnati                                            114-117
+
+ Reasons for the dread which it inspired                                118
+
+ Congress finds itself unable to carry out the provisions of
+   the treaty with Great Britain                                        119
+
+ Persecution of the loyalists                                      120, 121
+
+ It was especially severe in New York                                   122
+
+ Trespass Act of 1784 directed against the loyalists                    123
+
+ Character and early career of Alexander Hamilton                   124-126
+
+ The case of Rutgers _v._ Waddington                               127, 128
+
+ Wholesale emigration of Tories                                    129, 130
+
+ Congress unable to enforce payment of debts to British creditors       131
+
+ England retaliates by refusing to surrender the fortresses
+   on the northwestern frontier                                    132, 133
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY.
+
+ The barbarous superstitions of the Middle Ages concerning
+   trade were still rife in the eighteenth century                      134
+
+ The old theory of the uses of a colony                                 135
+
+ Pitt's unsuccessful attempt to secure free trade between
+   Great Britain and the United States                                  136
+
+ Ship-building in New England                                           137
+
+ British navigation acts and orders in council directed against
+   American commerce                                                    138
+
+ John Adams tried in vain to negotiate a commercial treaty
+   with Great Britain                                              139, 140
+
+ And could see no escape from the difficulties except in systematic
+   reprisal                                                             141
+
+ But any such reprisal was impracticable, for the several
+   states imposed conflicting duties                                    142
+
+ Attempts to give Congress the power of regulating commerce
+   were unsuccessful                                               143, 144
+
+ And the several states began to make commercial war upon one another   145
+
+ Attempts of New York to oppress New Jersey and Connecticut             146
+
+ Retaliatory measures of the two latter states                          147
+
+ The quarrel between Connecticut and Pennsylvania over the
+   possession of the valley of Wyoming                              148-150
+
+ The quarrel between New York and New Hampshire over
+   the possession of the Green Mountains                            151-153
+
+ Failure of American diplomacy because European states
+   could not tell whether they were dealing with one nation
+   or with thirteen                                                154, 155
+
+ Failure of American credit; John Adams begging in Holland         156, 157
+
+ The Barbary pirates                                                    158
+
+ American citizens kidnapped and sold into slavery                      159
+
+ Lord Sheffield's outrageous pamphlet                                   160
+
+ Tripoli's demand for blackmail                                         161
+
+ Congress unable to protect American citizens                           162
+
+ Financial distress after the Revolutionary War                    163, 164
+
+ State of the coinage                                                   165
+
+ Cost of the war in money                                               166
+
+ Robert Morris and his immense services                                 167
+
+ The craze for paper money                                              168
+
+ Agitation in the southern and middle states                        169-171
+
+ Distress in New England                                                172
+
+ Imprisonment for debt                                                  173
+
+ Rag-money victorious in Rhode Island; the "Know Ye" measures       174-176
+
+ Rag-money defeated in Massachusetts; the Shays insurrection        177-181
+
+ The insurrection suppressed by state troops                            182
+
+ Conduct of the neighbouring states                                     183
+
+ The rebels pardoned                                                    184
+
+ Timidity of Congress                                              185, 186
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY.
+
+ Creation of a national domain beyond the Alleghanies              187, 188
+
+ Conflicting claims to the western territory                            189
+
+ Claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut                           189, 190
+
+ Claims of New York                                                     190
+
+ Virginia's claims                                                      191
+
+ Maryland's novel and beneficent suggestion                             192
+
+ The several states yield their claims in favour of the United
+   States                                                          193, 194
+
+ Magnanimity of Virginia                                                195
+
+ Jefferson proposes a scheme of government for the northwestern
+   territory                                                            196
+
+ Names of the proposed ten states                                       197
+
+ Jefferson wishes to prohibit slavery in the national domain            198
+
+ North Carolina's cession of western lands                              199
+
+ John Sevier and the state of Franklin                             200, 201
+
+ The northwestern territory                                             202
+
+ Origin of the Ohio company                                             203
+
+ The Ordinance of 1787                                              204-206
+
+ Theory of folkland upon which the ordinance was based                  207
+
+ Spain, hearing of the secret article in the treaty of 1783,
+   loses her temper and threatens to shut up the Mississippi
+   River                                                           208, 209
+
+ Gardoqui and Jay                                                       210
+
+ Threats of secession in Kentucky and New England                       211
+
+ Washington's views on the political importance of canals
+   between east and west                                                212
+
+ His far-sighted genius and self-devotion                               213
+
+ Maryland confers with Virginia regarding the navigation of
+   the Potomac                                                          214
+
+ The Madison-Tyler motion in the Virginia legislature                   215
+
+ Convention at Annapolis, Sept 11, 1786                                 216
+
+ Hamilton's address calling for a convention at Philadelphia            217
+
+ The impost amendment defeated by the action of New
+   York; last ounce upon the camel's back                           218-220
+
+ Sudden changes in popular sentiment                                    221
+
+ The Federal Convention meets at Philadelphia, May, 1787                222
+
+ Mr. Gladstone's opinion of the work of the convention                  223
+
+ The men who were assembled there                                  224, 225
+
+ Character of James Madison                                        226, 227
+
+ The other leading members                                              228
+
+ Washington chosen president of the convention                          229
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ THE FEDERAL CONVENTION.
+
+ Why the proceedings of the convention were kept secret for
+   so many years                                                        230
+
+ Difficulty of the problem to be solved                                 231
+
+ Symptoms of cowardice repressed by Washington's impassioned
+   speech                                                               232
+
+ The root of all the difficulties; the edicts of the federal
+   government had operated only upon states, not upon
+   individuals, and therefore could not be enforced without
+   danger of war                                                    233-233
+
+ The Virginia plan, of which Madison was the chief author,
+   offered a radical cure                                               236
+
+ And was felt to be revolutionary in its character                  237-239
+
+ Fundamental features of the Virginia plan                         240, 241
+
+ How it was at first received                                           242
+
+ The House of Representatives must be directly elected by
+   the people                                                           243
+
+ Question as to the representation of states brings out the
+   antagonism between large and small states                            244
+
+ William Paterson presents the New Jersey plan; not a
+   radical cure, but a feeble palliative                                245
+
+ Straggle between the Virginia and New Jersey plans                 246-249
+
+ The Connecticut compromise, according to which the national
+   principle is to prevail in the House of Representatives,
+   and the federal principle in the Senate,
+   meets at first with fierce opposition                           250, 251
+
+ But is at length adopted                                               252
+
+ And proves a decisive victory for Madison and his methods              253
+
+ A few irreconcilable members go home in dudgeon                        254
+
+ But the small states, having been propitiated, are suddenly
+   converted to Federalism, and make the victory complete               255
+
+ Vague dread of the future west                                         255
+
+ The struggle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery parties
+   began in the convention, and was quieted by two compromises          256
+
+ Should representation be proportioned to wealth or to population?      257
+
+ Were slaves to be reckoned as persons or as chattels?                  258
+
+ Attitude of the Virginia statesmen                                     259
+
+ It was absolutely necessary to satisfy South Carolina                  260
+
+ The three fifths compromise, suggested by Madison, was a
+   genuine English solution, if ever there was one                      261
+
+ There was neither rhyme nor reason in it, but for all that,
+   it was the best solution attainable at the time                      262
+
+ The next compromise was between New England and South
+   Carolina as to the foreign slave-trade and the power of
+   the federal government over commerce                                 263
+
+ George Mason calls the slave-trade an "infernal traffic"               264
+
+ And the compromise offends and alarms Virginia                         265
+
+ Belief in the moribund condition of slavery                            266
+
+ The foundations of the Constitution were laid in compromise            267
+
+ Powers granted to the federal government                               268
+
+ Use of federal troops in suppressing insurrections                     269
+
+ Various federal powers                                                 270
+
+ Provision for a federal city under federal jurisdiction                271
+
+ The Federal Congress might compel the attendance of members            272
+
+ Powers denied to the several states                                    272
+
+ Should the federal government he allowed to make its
+   promissory notes a legal tender in payment of debts?
+   powerful speech of Gouverneur Morris                                 273
+
+ Emphatic and unmistakable condemnation of paper money
+   by all the leading delegates                                         274
+
+ The convention refused to grant to the federal government
+   the power of issuing inconvertible paper, but did not
+   think an express prohibition necessary                               275
+
+ If they could have foreseen some recent judgments of the
+   supreme court, they would doubtless have made the
+   prohibition explicit and absolute                                    276
+
+ Debates as to the federal executive                                    277
+
+ Sherman's suggestion as to the true relation of the executive
+   to the legislature                                                   278
+
+ There was to be a single chief magistrate, but how should
+   he be chosen?                                                        279
+
+ Objections to an election by Congress                                  280
+
+ Ellsworth and King suggest the device of an electoral college,
+   which is at first rejected                                           281
+
+ But afterwards adopted                                                 282
+
+ Provisions for an election by Congress in the case of a failure
+   of choice by the electoral college                                   283
+
+ Provisions for counting the electoral votes                            284
+
+ It was not intended to leave anything to be decided by the
+   president of the Senate                                              285
+
+ The convention foresaw imaginary dangers, but not the real
+   ones                                                                 286
+
+ Hamilton's opinion of the electoral scheme                             287
+
+ How it has actually worked                                             288
+
+ In this part of its work the convention tried to copy from
+   the British Constitution                                             289
+
+ In which they supposed the legislative and executive departments
+   to be distinct and separate                                          290
+
+ Here they were misled by Montesquieu and Blackstone                    291
+
+ What our government would be if it were really like that
+   of Great Britain                                                 292-294
+
+ In the British government the executive department is not
+   separated from the legislative                                       295
+
+ Circumstances which obscured the true aspect of the case a
+   century ago                                                      296-298
+
+ The American cabinet is analogous, not to the British cabinet,
+   but to the privy council                                             299
+
+ The federal judiciary, and its remarkable character                300-301
+
+ Provisions for amending the Constitution                               302
+
+ The document is signed by all but three of the delegates               303
+
+ And the convention breaks up                                           304
+
+ With a pleasant remark from Franklin                                   305
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ CROWNING THE WORK.
+
+ Franklin lays the Constitution before the legislature of
+   Pennsylvania                                                         306
+
+ It is submitted to Congress, which refers it to the legislatures
+   of the thirteen states, to be ratified or rejected by
+   the people in conventions                                            307
+
+ First American parties, Federalists and Antifederalists           308, 309
+
+ The contest in Pennsylvania                                            310
+
+ How to make a quorum                                                   311
+
+ A war of pamphlets and newspaper squibs                           312, 313
+
+ Ending in the ratification of the Constitution by Delaware,
+   Pennsylvania, and New Jersey                                         314
+
+ Rejoicings and mutterings                                              315
+
+ Georgia and Connecticut ratify                                         316
+
+ The outlook in Massachusetts                                      317, 318
+
+ The Massachusetts convention meets                                     319
+
+ And overhauls the Constitution clause by clause                        320
+
+ On the subject of an army Mr. Nason waxes eloquent                     321
+
+ The clergymen oppose a religious test                                  322
+
+ And Rev. Samuel West argues on the assumption that all
+   men are not totally depraved                                         323
+
+ Feeling of distrust in the mountain districts                          324
+
+ Timely speech of a Berkshire farmer                               325, 326
+
+ Attitude of Samuel Adams                                          326, 327
+
+ Meeting of mechanics at the Green Dragon                               327
+
+ Charges of bribery                                                     328
+
+ Washington's fruitful suggestion                                       329
+
+ Massachusetts ratifies, but proposes amendments                        330
+
+ The Long Lane has a turning and becomes Federal Street                 331
+
+ New Hampshire hesitates, but Maryland ratifies, and all
+   eyes are turned upon South Carolina                                  332
+
+ Objections of Rawlins Lowndes answered by Cotesworth
+   Pinckney                                                             333
+
+ South Carolina ratifies the Constitution                               334
+
+ Important effect upon Virginia, where thoughts of a southern
+   confederacy had been entertained                                335, 336
+
+ Madison and Marshall prevail in the Virginia convention,
+   and it ratifies the Constitution                                     337
+
+ New Hampshire had ratified four days before                            338
+
+ Rejoicings at Philadelphia; riots at Providence and Albany             339
+
+ The struggle in New York                                               340
+
+ Origin of the "Federalist"                                         341-343
+
+ Hamilton wins the victory, and New York ratifies                       344
+
+ All serious anxiety is now at an end; the laggard states,
+   North Carolina and Rhode Island                                      345
+
+ First presidential election, January 7, 1789; Washington is
+   unanimously chosen                                                   346
+
+ Why Samuel Adams was not selected for vice-president                   347
+
+ Selection of John Adams                                                348
+
+ Washington's journey to New York, April 16-23                          349
+
+ His inauguration                                                       350
+
+
+
+
+THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+RESULTS OF YORKTOWN.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Sympathy between British Whigs and the revolutionary party in
+America.]
+
+The 20th of March, 1782, the day which witnessed the fall of Lord
+North's ministry, was a day of good omen for men of English race on both
+sides of the Atlantic. Within two years from this time, the treaty which
+established the independence of the United States was successfully
+negotiated at Paris; and at the same time, as part of the series of
+events which resulted in the treaty, there went on in England a rapid
+dissolution and reorganization of parties, which ended in the
+overwhelming defeat of the king's attempt to make the forms of the
+constitution subservient to his selfish purposes, and established the
+liberty of the people upon a broader and sounder basis than it had ever
+occupied before. Great indignation was expressed at the time, and has
+sometimes been echoed by British historians, over the conduct of those
+Whigs who never lost an opportunity of expressing their approval of the
+American revolt. The Duke of Richmond, at the beginning of the contest,
+expressed a hope that the Americans might succeed, because they were in
+the right. Charles Fox spoke of General Howe's first victory as "the
+terrible news from Long Island." Wraxall says that the celebrated buff
+and blue colours of the Whig party were adopted by Fox in imitation of
+the Continental uniform; but his unsupported statement is open to
+question. It is certain, however, that in the House of Commons the Whigs
+habitually alluded to Washington's army as "our army," and to the
+American cause as "the cause of liberty;" and Burke, with characteristic
+vehemence, declared that he would rather be a prisoner in the Tower with
+Mr. Laurens than enjoy the blessings of freedom in company with the men
+who were seeking to enslave America. Still more, the Whigs did all in
+their power to discourage enlistments, and in various ways so thwarted
+and vexed the government that the success of the Americans was by many
+people ascribed to their assistance. A few days before Lord North's
+resignation, George Onslow, in an able defence of the prime minister,
+exclaimed, "Why have we failed so miserably in this war against America,
+if not from the support and countenance given to rebellion in this very
+House?"
+
+[Sidenote: It weakened the Whigs in England.]
+
+[Sidenote: Character of Lord Shelburne.]
+
+Now the violence of party leaders like Burke and Fox owed much of its
+strength, no doubt, to mere rancorousness of party spirit. But, after
+making due allowance for this, we must admit that it was essentially
+based upon the intensity of their conviction that the cause of English
+liberty was inseparably bound up with the defeat of the king's attempt
+upon the liberties of America. Looking beyond the quarrels of the
+moment, they preferred to have freedom guaranteed, even at the cost of
+temporary defeat and partial loss of empire. Time has shown that they
+were right in this, but the majority of the people could hardly be
+expected to comprehend their attitude. It seemed to many that the great
+Whig leaders were forgetting their true character as English statesmen,
+and there is no doubt that for many years this was the chief source of
+the weakness of the Whig party. Sir Gilbert Elliot said, with truth,
+that if the Whigs had not thus to a considerable extent arrayed the
+national feeling against themselves, Lord North's ministry would have
+fallen some years sooner than it did. The king thoroughly understood the
+advantage which accrued to him from this state of things; and with that
+short-sighted shrewdness of the mere political wire-puller, in which few
+modern politicians have excelled him, he had from the outset preferred
+to fight his battle on constitutional questions in America rather than
+in England, in order that the national feeling of Englishmen might be
+arrayed on his side. He was at length thoroughly beaten on his own
+ground, and as the fatal day approached he raved and stormed as he had
+not stormed since the spring of 1778, when he had been asked to entrust
+the government to Lord Chatham. Like the child who refuses to play when
+he sees the game going against him, George threatened to abdicate the
+throne and go over to Hanover, leaving his son to get along with the
+Whig statesmen. But presently he took heart again, and began to resort
+to the same kind of political management which had served him so well in
+the earlier years of his reign. Among the Whig statesmen, the Marquis of
+Buckingham had the largest political following. He represented the old
+Whig aristocracy, his section of the party had been first to urge the
+recognition of American independence, and his principal followers were
+Fox and Burke. For all these reasons he was especially obnoxious to the
+king. On the other hand, the Earl of Shelburne was, in a certain sense,
+the political heir of Lord Chatham, and represented principles far more
+liberal than those of the Old Whigs. Shelburne was one of the most
+enlightened statesmen of his time. He was an earnest advocate of
+parliamentary reform and of free trade. He had paid especial attention
+to political economy, and looked with disgust upon the whole barbaric
+system of discriminative duties and commercial monopolies which had been
+so largely instrumental in bringing about the American Revolution. But
+being in these respects in advance of his age, Lord Shelburne had but
+few followers. Moreover, although a man of undoubted integrity, quite
+exempt from sordid or selfish ambition, there was a cynical harshness
+about him which made him generally disliked and distrusted. He was so
+suspicious of other men that other men were suspicious of him; so that,
+in spite of many admirable qualities, he was extremely ill adapted for
+the work of a party manager.
+
+It was doubtless for these reasons that the king, when it became clear
+that a new government must be formed, made up his mind that Lord
+Shelburne would be the safest man to conduct it. In his hands the Whig
+power would not be likely to grow too strong, and dissensions would be
+sure to arise, from which the king might hope to profit. The first place
+in the treasury was accordingly offered to Shelburne; and when he
+refused it, and the king found himself forced to appeal to Lord
+Rockingham, the manner in which the bitter pill was taken was quite
+characteristic of George III. He refused to meet Rockingham in person,
+but sent all his communications to him through Shelburne, who, thus
+conspicuously singled out as the object of royal preference, was certain
+to incur the distrust of his fellow ministers.
+
+[Sidenote: Political instability of the Rockingham ministry.]
+
+The structure of the new cabinet was unstable enough, however, to have
+satisfied even such an enemy as the king. Beside Rockingham himself,
+Lord John Cavendish, Charles Fox, Lord Keppel, and the Duke of Richmond
+were all Old Whigs. To offset these five there were five New Whigs, the
+Duke of Grafton, Lords Shelburne, Camden, and Ashburton, and General
+Conway; while the eleventh member was none other than the Tory
+chancellor, Lord Thurlow, who was kept over from Lord North's ministry.
+Burke was made paymaster of the forces, but had no seat in the cabinet.
+In this curiously constructed cabinet, the prime minister, Lord
+Rockingham, counted for little. Though a good party leader, he was below
+mediocrity as a statesman, and his health was failing, so that he could
+not attend to business. The master spirits were the two secretaries of
+state, Fox and Shelburne, and they wrangled perpetually, while Thurlow
+carried the news of all their quarrels to the king, and in cabinet
+meetings usually voted with Shelburne. The ministry had not lasted five
+weeks when Fox began to predict its downfall. On the great question of
+parliamentary reform, which was brought up in May by the young William
+Pitt, the government was hopelessly divided. Shelburne's party was in
+favour of reform, and this time Fox was found upon the same side, as
+well as the Duke of Richmond, who went so far as to advocate universal
+suffrage. On the other hand, the Whig aristocracy, led by Rockingham,
+were as bitterly opposed as the king himself to any change in the method
+of electing parliaments; and, incredible as it may seem, even such a man
+as Burke maintained that the old system, rotten boroughs and all, was a
+sacred part of the British Constitution, which none could handle rudely
+without endangering the country! But in this moment of reaction against
+the evil influences which had brought about the loss of the American
+colonies, there was a strong feeling in favour of reform, and Pitt's
+motion was only lost by a minority of twenty in a total vote of three
+hundred. Half a century was to elapse before the reformers were again to
+come so near to victory.
+
+But Lord Rockingham's weak and short-lived ministry was nevertheless
+remarkable for the amount of good work it did in spite of the king's
+dogged opposition. It contained great administrative talent, which made
+itself felt in the most adverse circumstances. To add to the
+difficulty, the ministry came into office at the critical moment of a
+great agitation in Ireland. In less than three months, not only was the
+trouble successfully removed, but the important bills for disfranchising
+revenue officers and excluding contractors from the House of Commons
+were carried, and a tremendous blow was thus struck at the corrupt
+influence of the crown upon elections. Burke's great scheme of
+economical reform was also put into operation, cutting down the pension
+list and diminishing the secret service fund, and thus destroying many
+sources of corruption. At no time, perhaps, since the expulsion of the
+Stuarts, had so much been done toward purifying English political life
+as during the spring of 1782. But during the progress of these important
+measures, the jealousies and bickerings in the cabinet became more and
+more painfully apparent, and as the question of peace with America came
+into the foreground, these difficulties hastened to a crisis.
+
+[Sidenote: Obstacles in the way of a treaty of peace.]
+
+From the policy which George III. pursued with regard to Lord Shelburne
+at this time, one would suppose that in his secret heart the king
+wished, by foul means since all others had failed, to defeat the
+negotiations for peace and to prolong the war. Seldom has there been a
+more oddly complicated situation. Peace was to be made with America,
+France, Spain, and Holland. Of these powers, America and France were
+leagued together by one treaty of alliance, and France and Spain by
+another, and these treaties in some respects conflicted with one another
+in the duties which they entailed upon the combatants. Spain, though at
+war with England for purposes of her own, was bitterly hostile to the
+United States; and France, thus leagued with two allies which pulled in
+opposite directions, felt bound to satisfy both, while pursuing her own
+ends against England. To deal with such a chaotic state of things, an
+orderly and harmonious government in England should have seemed
+indispensably necessary. Yet on the part of England the negotiation of a
+treaty of peace was to be the work of two secretaries of state who were
+both politically and personally hostile to each other. Fox, as secretary
+of state for foreign affairs, had to superintend the negotiations with
+France, Spain, and Holland. Shelburne was secretary of state for home
+and colonial affairs; and as the United States were still officially
+regarded as colonies, the American negotiations belonged to his
+department. With such a complication of conflicting interests, George
+III. might well hope that no treaty could be made.
+
+[Sidenote: Oswald talks with Franklin.]
+
+The views of Fox and Shelburne as to the best method of conceding
+American independence were very different. Fox understood that France
+was really in need of peace, and he believed that she would not make
+further demands upon England if American independence should once be
+recognized. Accordingly, Fox would have made this concession at once as
+a preliminary to the negotiation. On the other hand, Shelburne felt sure
+that France would insist upon further concessions, and he thought it
+best to hold in reserve the recognition of independence as a
+consideration to be bargained for. Informal negotiations began between
+Shelburne and Franklin, who for many years had been warm friends. In
+view of the impending change of government, Franklin had in March sent a
+letter to Shelburne, expressing a hope that peace might soon be
+restored. When the letter reached London the new ministry had already
+been formed, and Shelburne, with the consent of the cabinet, answered it
+by sending over to Paris an agent, to talk with Franklin informally, and
+ascertain the terms upon which the Americans would make peace. The
+person chosen for this purpose was Richard Oswald, a Scotch merchant,
+who owned large estates in America,--a man of very frank disposition and
+liberal views, and a friend of Adam Smith. In April, Oswald had several
+conversations with Franklin. In one of these conversations Franklin
+suggested that, in order to make a durable peace, it was desirable to
+remove all occasion for future quarrel; that the line of frontier
+between New York and Canada was inhabited by a lawless set of men, who
+in time of peace would be likely to breed trouble between their
+respective governments; and that therefore it would be well for England
+to cede Canada to the United States. A similar reasoning would apply to
+Nova Scotia. By ceding these countries to the United States it would be
+possible, from the sale of unappropriated lands, to indemnify the
+Americans for all losses of private property during the war, and also to
+make reparation to the Tories, whose estates had been confiscated. By
+pursuing such a policy, England, which had made war on America
+unjustly, and had wantonly done it great injuries, would achieve not
+merely peace, but reconciliation, with America; and reconciliation, said
+Franklin, is "a sweet word." No doubt this was a bold tone for Franklin
+to take, and perhaps it was rather cool in him to ask for Canada and
+Nova Scotia; but he knew that almost every member of the Whig ministry
+had publicly expressed the opinion that the war against America was an
+unjust and wanton war; and being, moreover, a shrewd hand at a bargain,
+he began by setting his terms high. Oswald doubtless looked at the
+matter very much from Franklin's point of view, for on the suggestion of
+the cession of Canada he expressed neither surprise nor reluctance.
+Franklin had written on a sheet of paper the main points of his
+conversation, and, at Oswald's request, he allowed him to take the paper
+to London to show to Lord Shelburne, first writing upon it a note
+expressly declaring its informal character. Franklin also sent a letter
+to Shelburne, describing Oswald as a gentleman with whom he found it
+very pleasant to deal. On Oswald's arrival in London, Shelburne did not
+show the notes of the conversation to any of his colleagues, except Lord
+Ashburton. He kept the paper over one night, and then returned it to
+Franklin without any formal answer. But the letter he showed to the
+cabinet, and on the 23d of April it was decided to send Oswald back to
+Paris, to represent to Franklin that, on being restored to the same
+situation in which she was left by the treaty of 1763, Great Britain
+would be willing to recognize the independence of the United States.
+Fox was authorized to make a similar representation to the French
+government, and the person whom he sent to Paris for this purpose was
+Thomas Grenville, son of the author of the Stamp Act.
+
+As all British subjects were prohibited from entering into negotiations
+with the revolted colonies, it was impossible for Oswald to take any
+decisive step until an enabling act should be carried through
+Parliament. But while waiting for this he might still talk informally
+with Franklin. Fox thought that Oswald's presence in Paris indicated a
+desire on Shelburne's part to interfere with the negotiations with the
+French government; and indeed, the king, out of his hatred of Fox and
+his inborn love of intrigue, suggested to Shelburne that Oswald "might
+be a useful check on that part of the negotiation which was in other
+hands." But Shelburne paid no heed to this crooked advice, and there is
+nothing to show that he had the least desire to intrigue against Fox. If
+he had, he would certainly have selected some other agent than Oswald,
+who was the most straightforward of men, and scarcely close-mouthed
+enough for a diplomatist. He told Oswald to impress it upon Franklin
+that if America was to be independent at all she must be independent of
+the whole world, and must not enter into any secret arrangement with
+France which might limit her entire freedom of action in the future. To
+the private memorandum which desired the cession of Canada for three
+reasons, his answers were as follows: "1. _By way of
+reparation._--Answer. No reparation can be heard of. 2. _To prevent
+future wars._--Answer. It is to be hoped that some more friendly method
+will be found. 3. _As a fund of indemnification to loyalists._--Answer.
+No independence to be acknowledged without their being taken care of."
+Besides, added Shelburne, the Americans would be expected to make some
+compensation for the surrender of Charleston, Savannah, and the city of
+New York, still held by British troops. From this it appears that
+Shelburne, as well as Franklin, knew how to begin by asking more than he
+was likely to get.
+
+[Sidenote: Grenville has an interview with Vergennes.]
+
+While Oswald submitted these answers to Franklin, Grenville had his
+interview with Vergennes, and told him that, if England recognized the
+independence of the United States, she should expect France to restore
+the islands of the West Indies which she had taken from England. Why
+not, since the independence of the United States was the sole avowed
+object for which France had gone to war? Now this was on the 8th of May,
+and the news of the destruction of the French fleet in the West Indies,
+nearly four weeks ago, had not yet reached Europe. Flushed with the
+victories of Grasse, and exulting in the prowess of the most formidable
+naval force that France had ever sent out, Vergennes not only expected
+to keep the islands which he had got, but was waiting eagerly for the
+news that he had acquired Jamaica into the bargain. In this mood he
+returned a haughty answer to Grenville. He reminded him that nations
+often went to war for a specified object, and yet seized twice as much
+if favoured by fortune; and, recurring to the instance which rankled
+most deeply in the memories of Frenchmen, he cited the events of the
+last war. In 1756 England went to war with France over the disputed
+right to some lands on the Ohio River and the Maine frontier. After
+seven years of fighting she not only kept these lands, but all of
+Canada, Louisiana, and Florida, and ousted the French from India into
+the bargain. No, said Vergennes, he would not rest content with the
+independence of America. He would not even regard such an offer as a
+concession to France in any way, or as a price in return for which
+France was to make a treaty favourable to England. As regards the
+recognition of independence, England must treat directly with America.
+
+[Sidenote: Effects of Rodney's victory.]
+
+[Sidenote: Fall of the Rockingham ministry, July 1, 1782.]
+
+Grenville was disappointed and chagrined by this answer, and the
+ministry made up their minds that there would be no use in trying to get
+an honourable peace with France for the present. Accordingly, it seemed
+better to take Vergennes at his word, though not in the sense in which
+he meant it, and, by granting all that the Americans could reasonably
+desire, to detach them from the French alliance as soon as possible. On
+the 18th of May there came the news of the stupendous victory of Rodney
+over Grasse, and all England rang with jubilee. Again it had been shown
+that "Britannia rules the wave;" and it seemed that, if America could be
+separately pacified, the House of Bourbon might be successfully defied.
+Accordingly, on the 23d, five days after the news of victory, the
+ministry decided "to propose the independence of America in the first
+instance, instead of making it the condition of a general treaty." Upon
+this Fox rather hastily maintained that the United States were put at
+once into the position of an independent and foreign power, so that the
+business of negotiating with them passed from Shelburne's department
+into his own. Shelburne, on the other hand, argued that, as the
+recognition of independence could not take effect until a treaty of
+peace should be concluded, the negotiation with America still belonged
+to him, as secretary for the colonies. Following Fox's instructions,
+Grenville now claimed the right of negotiating with Franklin as well as
+with Vergennes; but as his written credentials only authorized him to
+treat with France, the French minister suspected foul play, and turned a
+cold shoulder to Grenville. For the same reason, Grenville found
+Franklin very reserved and indisposed to talk on the subject of the
+treaty. While Grenville was thus rebuffed and irritated he had a talk
+with Oswald, in the course of which he got from that simple and
+high-minded gentleman the story of the private paper relating to the
+cession of Canada, which Franklin had permitted Lord Shelburne to see.
+Grenville immediately took offence; he made up his mind that something
+underhanded was going on, and that this was the reason for the coldness
+of Franklin and Vergennes; and he wrote an indignant letter about it to
+Fox. From the wording of this letter, Fox got the impression that
+Franklin's proposal was much more serious than it really was. It
+naturally puzzled him and made him angry, for the attitude of America
+implied in the request for a cession of Canada was far different from
+the attitude presumed by the theory that the mere offer of independence
+would be enough to detach her from her alliance with France. The plan of
+the ministry seemed imperilled. Fox showed Grenville's letter to
+Rockingham, Richmond, and Cavendish; and they all inferred that
+Shelburne was playing a secret part, for purposes of his own. This was
+doubtless unjust to Shelburne. Perhaps his keeping the matter to himself
+was simply one more illustration of his want of confidence in Fox; or,
+perhaps he did not think it worth while to stir up the cabinet over a
+question which seemed too preposterous ever to come to anything. Fox,
+however, cried out against Shelburne's alleged duplicity, and made up
+his mind at all events to get the American negotiations transferred to
+his own department. To this end he moved in the cabinet, on the last day
+of June, that the independence of the United States should be
+unconditionally acknowledged, so that England might treat as with a
+foreign power. The motion was lost, and Fox announced that he should
+resign his office. His resignation would probably of itself have broken
+up the ministry, but, by a curious coincidence, on the next day Lord
+Rockingham died; and so the first British government begotten of
+Washington's victory at Yorktown came prematurely to an end.
+
+[Sidenote: Shelburne prime minister.]
+
+The Old Whigs now found some difficulty in choosing a leader. Burke was
+the greatest statesman in the party, but he had not the qualities of a
+party leader, and his connections were not sufficiently aristocratic.
+Fox was distrusted by many people for his gross vices, and because of
+his waywardness in politics. In the dissipated gambler, who cast in his
+lot first with one party and then with the other, and who had shamefully
+used his matchless eloquence in defending some of the worst abuses of
+the time, there seemed as yet but little promise of the great reformer
+of later years, the Charles Fox who came to be loved and idolized by all
+enlightened Englishmen. Next to Fox, the ablest leader in the party was
+the Duke of Richmond, but his advanced views on parliamentary reform put
+him out of sympathy with the majority of the party. In this
+embarrassment, the choice fell upon the Duke of Portland, a man of great
+wealth and small talent, concerning whom Horace Walpole observed, "It is
+very entertaining that two or three great families should persuade
+themselves that they have a hereditary and exclusive right of giving us
+a head without a tongue!" The choice was a weak one, and played directly
+into the hands of the king. When urged to make the Duke of Portland his
+prime minister, the king replied that he had already offered that
+position to Lord Shelburne. Hereupon Fox and Cavendish resigned, but
+Richmond remained in office, thus virtually breaking his connection with
+the Old Whigs. Lord Keppel also remained. Many members of the party
+followed Richmond and went over to Shelburne. William Pitt, now
+twenty-three years old, succeeded Cavendish as chancellor of the
+exchequer; Thomas Townshend became secretary of state for home and
+colonies, and Lord Grantham became foreign secretary. The closing days
+of Parliament were marked by altercations which showed how wide the
+breach had grown between the two sections of the Whig party. Fox and
+Burke believed that Shelburne was not only playing a false part, but was
+really as subservient to the king as Lord North had been. In a speech
+ridiculous for its furious invective, Burke compared the new prime
+minister with Borgia and Catiline. And so Parliament was adjourned on
+the 11th of July, and did not meet again until December.
+
+[Sidenote: French policy opposed to American interests.]
+
+The task of making a treaty of peace was simplified both by this change
+of ministry and by the total defeat of the Spaniards and French at
+Gibraltar in September. Six months before, England had seemed worsted in
+every quarter. Now England, though defeated in America, was victorious
+as regarded France and Spain. The avowed object for which France had
+entered into alliance with the Americans was to secure the independence
+of the United States, and this point was now substantially gained. The
+chief object for which Spain had entered into alliance with France was
+to drive the English from Gibraltar, and this point was now decidedly
+lost. France had bound herself not to desist from the war until Spain
+should recover Gibraltar; but now there was little hope of accomplishing
+this, except by some fortunate bargain in the treaty, and Vergennes
+tried to persuade England to cede the great stronghold in exchange for
+West Florida, which Spain had lately conquered, or for Oran or
+Guadaloupe. Failing in this, he adopted a plan for satisfying Spain at
+the expense of the United States; and he did this the more willingly as
+he had no love for the Americans, and did not wish to see them become
+too powerful. France had strictly kept her pledges; she had given us
+valuable and timely aid in gaining our independence; and the sympathies
+of the French people were entirely with the American cause. But the
+object of the French government had been simply to humiliate England,
+and this end was sufficiently accomplished by depriving her of her
+thirteen colonies.
+
+[Sidenote: The valley of the Mississippi; Aranda's prophecy.]
+
+The immense territory extending from the Alleghany Mountains to the
+Mississippi River, and from the border of "West Florida to the Great
+Lakes, had passed from the hands of France into those of England at the
+peace of 1763; and by the Quebec Act of 1774 England had declared the
+southern boundary of Canada to be the Ohio River. At present the whole
+territory, from Lake Superior down to the southern boundary of what is
+now Kentucky, belonged to the state of Virginia, whose backwoodsmen had
+conquered it from England in 1779. In December, 1780, Virginia had
+provisionally ceded the portion north of the Ohio to the United States,
+but the cession was not yet completed. The region which is now Tennessee
+belonged to North Carolina, which had begun to make settlements there as
+long ago as 1758. The trackless forests included between Tennessee and
+West Florida were still in the hands of wild tribes of Cherokees and
+Choctaws, Chickasaws and Creeks. Several thousand pioneers from North
+Carolina and Virginia had already settled beyond the mountains, and the
+white population was rapidly increasing. This territory the French
+government was very unwilling to leave in American hands. The
+possibility of enormous expansion which it would afford to the new
+nation was distinctly foreseen by sagacious men. Count Aranda, the
+representative of Spain in these negotiations, wrote a letter to his
+king just after the treaty was concluded, in which he uttered this
+notable prophecy: "This federal republic is born a pygmy. A day will
+come when it will be a giant, even a colossus, formidable in these
+countries. Liberty of conscience, the facility for establishing a new
+population on immense lands, as well as the advantages of the new
+government, will draw thither farmers and artisans from all the nations.
+In a few years we shall watch with grief the tyrannical existence of
+this same colossus." The letter went on to predict that the Americans
+would presently get possession of Florida and attack Mexico. Similar
+arguments were doubtless used by Aranda in his interviews with
+Vergennes, and France, as well as Spain, sought to prevent the growth of
+the dreaded colossus. To this end Vergennes maintained that the
+Americans ought to recognize the Quebec Act, and give up to England all
+the territory north of the Ohio River. The region south of this limit
+should, he thought, be made an Indian territory, and placed under the
+protection of Spain and the United States. A line was to be drawn from
+the mouth of the Cumberland River, following that stream about as far
+as the site of Nashville, thence running southward to the Tennessee,
+thence curving eastward nearly to the Alleghanies, and descending
+through what is now eastern Alabama to the Florida line. The territory
+to the east of this irregular line was to be under the protection of the
+United States; the territory to the west of it was to be under the
+protection of Spain. In this division, the settlers beyond the mountains
+would retain their connection with the United States, which would not
+touch the Mississippi River at any point. Vergennes held that this was
+all the Americans could reasonably demand, and he agreed with Aranda
+that they had as yet gained no foothold upon the eastern bank of the
+great river, unmindful of the fact that at that very moment the
+fortresses at Cahokia and Kaskaskia were occupied by American garrisons.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF NORTH AMERICA,
+
+Showing the Boundaries of the UNITED STATES, CANADA, and the SPANISH
+POSSESSIONS, according to the proposals of the Court of France in
+1782.]
+
+[Sidenote: The Newfoundland fisheries.]
+
+Upon another important point the views of the French government were
+directly opposed to American interests. The right to catch fish on the
+banks of Newfoundland had been shared by treaty between France and
+England; and the New England fishermen, as subjects of the king of Great
+Britain, had participated in this privilege. The matter was of very
+great importance, not only to New England, but to the United States in
+general. Not only were the fisheries a source of lucrative trade to the
+New England people, but they were the training-school of a splendid race
+of seamen, the nursery of naval heroes whose exploits were by and by to
+astonish the world. To deprive the Americans of their share in these
+fisheries was to strike a serious blow at the strength and resources of
+the new nation. The British government was not inclined to grant the
+privilege, and on this point Vergennes took sides with England, in order
+to establish a claim upon her for concessions advantageous to France in
+some other quarter. With these views, Vergennes secretly aimed at
+delaying the negotiations; for as long as hostilities were kept up, he
+might hope to extort from his American allies a recognition of the
+Spanish claims and a renouncement of the fisheries, simply by
+threatening to send them no further assistance in men or money. In order
+to retard the proceedings, he refused to take any steps whatever until
+the independence of the United States should first be irrevocably
+acknowledged by Great Britain, without reference to the final settlement
+of the rest of the treaty. In this Vergennes was supported by Franklin,
+as well as by Jay, who had lately arrived in Paris to take part in the
+negotiations. But the reasons of the American commissioners were very
+different from those of Vergennes. They feared that, if they began to
+treat before independence was acknowledged, they would be unfairly dealt
+with by France and Spain, and unable to gain from England the
+concessions upon which they were determined.
+
+[Sidenote: Jay detects the schemes of Vergennes.]
+
+Jay soon began to suspect the designs of the French minister. He found
+that he was sending M. de Rayneval as a secret emissary to Lord
+Shelburne under an assumed name; he ascertained that the right of the
+United States to the Mississippi valley was to be denied; and he got
+hold of a dispatch from Marbois, the French secretary of legation at
+Philadelphia, to Vergennes, opposing the American claim to the
+Newfoundland fisheries. As soon as Jay learned these facts, he sent his
+friend Dr. Benjamin Vaughan to Lord Shelburne to put him on his guard,
+and while reminding him that it was greatly for the interest of England
+to dissolve the alliance between America and France, he declared himself
+ready to begin the negotiations without waiting for the recognition of
+independence, provided that Oswald's commission should speak of the
+thirteen United States of America, instead of calling them colonies and
+naming them separately. This decisive step was taken by Jay on his own
+responsibility, and without the knowledge of Franklin, who had been
+averse to anything like a separate negotiation with England. It served
+to set the ball rolling at once. After meeting the messengers from Jay
+and Vergennes, Lord Shelburne at once perceived the antagonism that had
+arisen between the allies, and promptly took advantage of it. A new
+commission was made out for Oswald, in which the British government
+first described our country as the United States; and early in October
+negotiations were begun and proceeded rapidly. On the part of England,
+the affair was conducted by Oswald, assisted by Strachey and
+Fitzherbert, who had succeeded Grenville. In the course of the month
+John Adams arrived in Paris, and a few weeks later Henry Laurens, who
+had been exchanged for Lord Cornwallis and released from the Tower, was
+added to the company. Adams had a holy horror of Frenchmen in general,
+and of Count Vergennes in particular. He shared that common but mistaken
+view of Frenchmen which regards them as shallow, frivolous, and
+insincere; and he was indignant at the position taken by Vergennes on
+the question of the fisheries. In this, John Adams felt as all New
+Englanders felt, and he realized the importance of the question from a
+national point of view, as became the man who in later years was to earn
+lasting renown as one of the chief founders of the American navy. His
+behaviour on reaching Paris was characteristic. It is said that he left
+Count Vergennes to learn of his arrival through the newspapers. It was
+certainly some time before he called upon him, and he took occasion,
+besides, to express his opinions about republics and monarchies in terms
+which courtly Frenchmen thought very rude.
+
+[Sidenote: Franklin overruled by Jay and Adams.]
+
+The arrival of Adams fully decided the matter as to a separate
+negotiation with England. He agreed with Jay that Vergennes should be
+kept as far as possible in the dark until everything was cut and dried,
+and Franklin was reluctantly obliged to yield. The treaty of alliance
+between France and the United States had expressly stipulated that
+neither power should ever make peace without the consent of the other,
+and in view of this Franklin was loth to do anything which might seem
+like abandoning the ally whose timely interposition had alone enabled
+Washington to achieve the crowning triumph of Yorktown. In justice to
+Vergennes, it should be borne in mind that he had kept strict faith
+with us in regard to every point that had been expressly stipulated; and
+Franklin, who felt that he understood Frenchmen better than his
+colleagues, was naturally unwilling to seem behindhand in this respect.
+At the same time, in regard to matters not expressly stipulated,
+Vergennes was clearly playing a sharp game against us; and it is
+undeniable that, without departing technically from the obligations of
+the alliance, Jay and Adams--two men as honourable as ever lived--played
+a very sharp defensive game against him. The traditional French subtlety
+was no match for Yankee shrewdness. The treaty with England was not
+concluded until the consent of France had been obtained, and thus the
+express stipulation was respected; but a thorough and detailed agreement
+was reached as to what the purport of the treaty should be, while our
+not too friendly ally was kept in the dark. The annals of modern
+diplomacy have afforded few stranger spectacles. With the indispensable
+aid of France we had just got the better of England in fight, and now we
+proceeded amicably to divide territory and commercial privileges with
+the enemy, and to make arrangements in which the ally was virtually
+ignored. It ceases to be a paradox, however, when we remember that with
+the change of government in England some essential conditions of the
+case were changed. The England against which we had fought was the
+hostile England of Lord North; the England with which we were now
+dealing was the friendly England of Shelburne and Pitt. For the moment,
+the English race, on both sides of the Atlantic, was united in its main
+purpose and divided only by questions of detail, while the rival
+colonizing power, which sought to work in a direction contrary to the
+general interests of English-speaking people, was in great measure
+disregarded.
+
+[Sidenote: The separate American treaty, as agreed upon: 1. Boundaries;]
+
+As soon as the problem was thus virtually reduced to a negotiation
+between the American commissioners and Lord Shelburne's ministry, the
+air was cleared in a moment. The principal questions had already been
+discussed between Franklin and Oswald. Independence being first
+acknowledged, the question of boundaries came up for settlement. England
+had little interest in regaining the territory between the Alleghanies
+and the Mississippi, the forts in which were already held by American
+soldiers, and she relinquished all claim upon it. The Mississippi River
+thus became the dividing line between the United States and the Spanish
+possessions, and its navigation was made free alike to British and
+American ships. Franklin's suggestion of a cession of Canada and Nova
+Scotia was abandoned without discussion. It was agreed that the boundary
+line should start at the mouth of the river St. Croix, and, running to a
+point near Lake Madawaska in the highlands separating the Atlantic
+watershed from that of the St. Lawrence, should follow these highlands
+to the head of the Connecticut River, and then descend the middle of the
+river to the forty-fifth parallel, thence running westward and through
+the centre of the water communications of the Great Lakes to the Lake of
+the Woods, thence to the source of the Mississippi, which was supposed
+to be west of this lake. This line was marked in red ink by Oswald on
+one of Mitchell's maps of North America, to serve as a memorandum
+establishing the precise meaning of the words used in the description.
+It ought to have been accurately fixed in its details by surveys made
+upon the spot; but no commissioners were appointed for this purpose. The
+language relating to the northeastern portion of the boundary contained
+some inaccuracies which were revealed by later surveys, and the map used
+by Oswald was lost. Hence a further question arose between Great Britain
+and the United States, which was finally settled by the Ashburton treaty
+in 1842.
+
+[Sidenote: 2. Fisheries; commercial intercourse;]
+
+The Americans retained the right of catching fish on the banks of
+Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but lost the right of
+drying their fish on the Newfoundland coast. On the other hand, no
+permission was given to British subjects to fish on the coasts of the
+United States. As regarded commercial intercourse, Jay sought to
+establish complete reciprocal freedom between the two countries, and a
+clause was proposed to the effect that "all British merchants and
+merchant ships, on the one hand, shall enjoy in the United States, and
+in all places belonging to them, the same protection and commercial
+privileges, and be liable only to the same charges and duties as their
+own merchants and merchant ships; and, on the other hand, the merchants
+and merchant ships of the United States shall enjoy in all places
+belonging to his Britannic Majesty the same protection and commercial
+privileges, and be liable only to the same charges and duties as British
+merchants and merchant ships, saving always to the chartered trading
+companies of Great Britain such exclusive use and trade, and the
+respective ports and establishments, as neither the other subjects of
+Great Britain nor any the most favoured nation participate in."
+Unfortunately for both countries, this liberal provision was rejected on
+the ground that the ministry had no authority to interfere with the
+Navigation Act.
+
+[Sidenote: 3. Private debts;]
+
+Only two questions were now left to be disposed of,--the question of
+paying private debts, and that of compensating the American loyalists
+for the loss of property and general rough treatment which they had
+suffered. There were many old debts outstanding from American to British
+merchants. These had been for the most part incurred before 1775, and
+while many honest debtors, impoverished during the war, felt unable to
+pay, there were doubtless many others who were ready to take advantage
+of circumstances and refuse the payment which they were perfectly able
+to make. It was scarcely creditable to us that any such question should
+have arisen. Franklin, indeed, argued that these debts were more than
+fully offset by damages done to private property by British soldiers:
+as, for example, in the wanton raids on the coasts of Connecticut and
+Virginia in 1779, or in Prevost's buccaneering march against Charleston.
+To cite these atrocities, however, as a reason for the non-payment of
+debts legitimately owed to innocent merchants in London and Glasgow was
+to argue as if two wrongs could make a right. The strong sense of John
+Adams struck at once to the root of the matter. He declared "he had no
+notion of cheating anybody. The questions of paying debts and
+compensating Tories were two." This terse statement carried the day, and
+it was finally decided that all private debts on either side, whether
+incurred before or after 1775, remained still binding, and must be
+discharged at their full value in sterling money.
+
+[Sidenote: 4. Compensation of loyalists.]
+
+The last question of all was the one most difficult to settle. There
+were many loyalists in the United States who had sacrificed everything
+in the support of the British cause, and it was unquestionably the duty
+of the British government to make every possible effort to insure them
+against further injury, and, if practicable, to make good their losses
+already incurred. From Virginia and the New England states, where they
+were few in number, they had mostly fled, and their estates had been
+confiscated. In New York and South Carolina, where they remained in
+great numbers, they were still waging a desultory war with the patriots,
+which far exceeded in cruelty and bitterness the struggle between the
+regular armies. In many cases they had, at the solicitation of the
+British government, joined the invading army, and been organized into
+companies and regiments. The regular troops defeated at King's Mountain,
+and those whom Arnold took with him to Virginia, were nearly all
+American loyalists. Lord Shelburne felt that it would be wrong to
+abandon these unfortunate men to the vengeance of their fellow
+countrymen, and he insisted that the treaty should contain an amnesty
+clause providing for the restoration of the Tories to their civil
+rights, with compensation for their confiscated property. However
+disagreeable such a course might seem to the victorious Americans, there
+were many precedents for it in European history. It had indeed come to
+be customary at the close of civil wars, and the effect of such a policy
+had invariably been good. Cromwell, in his hour of triumph, inflicted no
+disabilities upon his political enemies; and when Charles II. was
+restored to the throne the healing effect of the amnesty act then passed
+was so great that historians sometimes ask what in the world had become
+of that Puritan party which a moment before had seemed supreme in the
+land. At the close of the war of the Spanish Succession, the rebellious
+people of Catalonia were indemnified for their losses, at the request of
+England, and with a similar good effect. In view of such European
+precedents, Vergennes agreed with Shelburne as to the propriety of
+securing compensation and further immunity for the Tories in America.
+John Adams insinuated that the French minister took this course because
+he foresaw that the presence of the Tories in the United States would
+keep the people perpetually divided into a French party and an English
+party; but such a suspicion was quite uncalled for. There is no reason
+to suppose that in this instance Vergennes had anything at heart but the
+interests of humanity and justice.
+
+On the other hand, the Americans brought forward very strong reasons why
+the Tories should not be indemnified by Congress. First, as Franklin
+urged, many of them had, by their misrepresentations to the British
+government, helped to stir up the disputes which led to the war; and as
+they had made their bed, so they must lie in it. Secondly, such of them
+as had been concerned in burning and plundering defenceless villages,
+and wielding the tomahawk in concert with bloodthirsty Indians, deserved
+no compassion. It was rather for them to make compensation for the
+misery they had wrought. Thirdly, the confiscated Tory property had
+passed into the hands of purchasers who had bought it in good faith and
+could not now be dispossessed, and in many cases it had been distributed
+here and there and lost sight of. An estimate of the gross amount might
+be made, and a corresponding sum appropriated for indemnification. But,
+fourthly, the country was so impoverished by the war that its own
+soldiers, the brave men whose heroic exertions had won the independence
+of the United States, were at this moment in sore distress for the want
+of the pay which Congress could not give them, but to which its honour
+was sacredly pledged. The American government was clearly bound to pay
+its just debts to the friends who had suffered so much in its behalf
+before it should proceed to entertain a chimerical scheme for satisfying
+its enemies. For, fifthly, any such scheme was in the present instance
+clearly chimerical. The acts under which Tory property had been
+confiscated were acts of state legislatures, and Congress had no
+jurisdiction over such a matter. If restitution was to be made, it must
+be made by the separate states. The question could not for a moment be
+entertained by the general government or its agents.
+
+Upon these points the American commissioners were united and inexorable.
+Various suggestions were offered in vain by the British. Their troops
+still held the city of New York, and it was doubtful whether the
+Americans could hope to capture it in another campaign. It was urged
+that England might fairly claim in exchange for New York a round sum of
+money wherewith the Tories might be indemnified. It was further urged
+that certain unappropriated lands in the Mississippi valley might be
+sold for the same purpose. But the Americans would not hear of buying
+one of their own cities, whose independence was already acknowledged by
+the first article of the treaty which recognized the independence of the
+United States and as for the western lands, they were wanted as a means
+of paying our own war debts and providing for our veteran soldiers.
+Several times Shelburne sent word to Paris that he would break off the
+negotiation unless the loyalist claims were in some way recognized. But
+the Americans were obdurate. They had one advantage, and knew it.
+Parliament was soon to meet, and it was doubtful whether Lord Shelburne
+could command a sufficient majority to remain long in office. He was,
+accordingly, very anxious to complete the treaty of peace, or at least
+to detach America from the French alliance, as soon as possible. The
+American commissioners were also eager to conclude the treaty. They had
+secured very favourable terms, and were loth to run any risk of
+spoiling what had been done. Accordingly, they made a proposal in the
+form of a compromise, which nevertheless settled the point in their
+favour. The matter, they said, was beyond the jurisdiction of Congress,
+but they agreed that Congress should _recommend_ to the several states
+to desist from further proceedings against the Tories, and to reconsider
+their laws on this subject; it should further recommend that persons
+with claims upon confiscated lands might be authorized to use legal
+means of recovering them, and to this end might be allowed to pass to
+and fro without personal risk for the term of one year. The British
+commissioners accepted this compromise, unsatisfactory as it was,
+because it was really impossible to obtain anything better without
+throwing the whole negotiation overboard. The constitutional difficulty
+was a real one indeed. As Adams told Oswald, if the point were further
+insisted upon, Congress would be obliged to refer it to the several
+states, and no one could tell how long it might be before any decisive
+result could be reached in this way. Meanwhile, the state of war would
+continue, and it would be cheaper for England to indemnify the loyalists
+herself than to pay the war bills for a single month. Franklin added
+that, if the loyalists were to be indemnified, it would be necessary
+also to reckon up the damage they had done in burning houses and
+kidnapping slaves, and then strike a balance between the two accounts;
+and he gravely suggested that a special commission might be appointed
+for this purpose. At the prospect of endless discussion which this
+suggestion involved, the British commissioners gave way and accepted the
+American terms, although they were frankly told that too much must not
+be expected from the recommendation of Congress. The articles were
+signed on the 30th of November, six days before the meeting of
+Parliament. Hostilities in America were to cease at once, and upon the
+completion of the treaty the British fleets and armies were to be
+immediately withdrawn from every place which they held within the limits
+of the United States. A supplementary and secret article provided that
+if England, on making peace with Spain, should recover Wept Florida, the
+northern boundary of that province should be a line running due east
+from the mouth of the Yazoo River to the Chattahoochee.
+
+[Sidenote: Vergennes does not like the way in which it has been done.]
+
+Thus by skilful diplomacy the Americans had gained all that could
+reasonably be asked, while the work of making a general peace was
+greatly simplified. It was declared in the preamble that the articles
+here signed were provisional, and that the treaty was not to take effect
+until terms of peace should be agreed on between England and France.
+Without delay, Franklin laid the whole matter, except the secret
+article, before Vergennes, who forthwith accused the Americans of
+ingratitude and bad faith. Franklin's reply, that at the worst they
+could only be charged with want of diplomatic courtesy, has sometimes
+been condemned as insincere, but on inadequate grounds. He had consented
+with reluctance to the separate negotiation, because he did not wish to
+give France any possible ground for complaint, whether real or
+ostensible. There does not seem, however, to have been sufficient
+justification for so grave a charge as was made by Vergennes. If the
+French negotiations had failed until after the overthrow of the
+Shelburne ministry; if Fox, on coming into power, had taken advantage of
+the American treaty to continue the war against France; and if under
+such circumstances the Americans had abandoned their ally, then
+undoubtedly they would have become guilty of ingratitude and treachery.
+There is no reason for supposing that they would ever have done so, had
+the circumstances arisen. Their preamble made it impossible for them
+honourably to abandon France until a full peace should be made, and more
+than this France could not reasonably demand. The Americans had kept to
+the strict letter of their contract, as Vergennes had kept to the strict
+letter of his, and beyond this they meted out exactly the same measure
+of frankness which they received. To say that our debt of gratitude to
+France was such as to require us to acquiesce in her scheme for
+enriching our enemy Spain at our expense is simply childish. Franklin
+was undoubtedly right. The commissioners may have been guilty of a
+breach of diplomatic courtesy, but nothing more. Vergennes might be
+sarcastic about it for the moment, but the cordial relations between
+France and America remained undisturbed.
+
+[Sidenote: A great diplomatic victory.]
+
+On the part of the Americans the treaty of Paris was one of the most
+brilliant triumphs in the whole history of modern diplomacy. Had the
+affair been managed by men of ordinary ability, some of the greatest
+results of the Revolutionary War would probably have been lost; the new
+republic would have been cooped up between the Atlantic Ocean and the
+Alleghany Mountains; our westward expansion would have been impossible
+without further warfare in which European powers would have been
+involved; and the formation of our Federal Union would doubtless have
+been effectively hindered, if not, indeed, altogether prevented. To the
+grand triumph the varied talents of Franklin, Adams, and Jay alike
+contributed. To the latter is due the credit of detecting and baffling
+the sinister designs of France; but without the tact of Franklin this
+probably could not have been accomplished without offending France in
+such wise as to spoil everything. It is, however, to the rare
+discernment and boldness of Jay, admirably seconded by the sturdy Adams,
+that the chief praise is due. The turning-point of the whole affair was
+the visit of Dr. Vaughan to Lord Shelburne. The foundation of success
+was the separate negotiation with England, and here there had stood in
+the way a more formidable obstacle than the mere reluctance of Franklin.
+The chevalier Luzerne and his secretary Marbois had been busy with
+Congress, and that body had sent well-meant but silly and pusillanimous
+instructions to its commissioners at Paris to be guided in all things by
+the wishes of the French court. To disregard such instructions required
+all the lofty courage for which Jay and Adams were noted, and for the
+moment it brought upon them something like a rebuke from Congress,
+conveyed in a letter from Robert Livingston. As Adams said, in his
+vehement way, "Congress surrendered their own sovereignty into the hands
+of a French minister. Blush! blush! ye guilty records! blush and perish!
+It is glory to have broken such infamous orders." True enough; the
+commissioners knew that in diplomacy, as in warfare, to the agent at a
+distance from his principal some discretionary power must be allowed.
+They assumed great responsibility, and won a victory of incalculable
+grandeur.
+
+[Sidenote: The Spanish treaty.]
+
+The course of the Americans produced no effect upon the terms obtained
+by France, but it seriously modified the case with Spain. Unable to
+obtain Gibraltar by arms, that power hoped to get it by diplomacy; and
+with the support of France she seemed disposed to make the cession of
+the great fortress an ultimatum, without which the war must go on.
+Shelburne, on his part, was willing to exchange Gibraltar for an island
+in the West Indies; but it was difficult to get the cabinet to agree on
+the matter, and the scheme was violently opposed by the people, for the
+heroic defence of the stronghold had invested it with a halo of romance
+and endeared it to every one. Nevertheless, so persistent was Spain, and
+so great the desire for peace on the part of the ministry, that they had
+resolved to exchange Gibraltar for Guadaloupe, when the news arrived of
+the treaty with America. The ministers now took a bold stand, and
+refused to hear another word about giving up Gibraltar. Spain scolded,
+and threatened a renewal of hostilities, but France was unwilling to
+give further assistance, and the matter was settled by England's
+surrendering East Florida, and allowing the Spaniards to keep West
+Florida and Minorca, which were already in their hands.
+
+[Sidenote: The French treaty.]
+
+By the treaty with France, the West India islands of Grenada, St.
+Vincent, St. Christopher, Dominica, Nevis, and Montserrat were restored
+to England, which in turn restored St. Lucia and ceded Tobago to France.
+The French were allowed to fortify Dunkirk, and received some slight
+concessions in India and Africa; they retained their share in the
+Newfoundland fisheries, and recovered the little neighbouring islands of
+St. Pierre and Miquelon. For the fourteen hundred million francs which
+France had expended in the war, she had the satisfaction of detaching
+the American colonies from England, thus inflicting a blow which it was
+confidently hoped would prove fatal to the maritime power of her ancient
+rival; but beyond this short-lived satisfaction, the fallaciousness of
+which events were soon to show, she obtained very little. On the 20th of
+January, 1783, the preliminaries of peace were signed between England,
+on the one hand, and France and Spain, on the other. A truce was at the
+same time concluded with Holland, which was soon followed by a peace, in
+which most of the conquests on either side were restored.
+
+[Sidenote: Coalition of Fox with North.]
+
+A second English ministry was now about to be wrecked on the rock of
+this group of treaties. Lord Shelburne's government had at no time been
+a strong one. He had made many enemies by his liberal and reforming
+measures, and he had alienated most of his colleagues by his reserved
+demeanour and seeming want of confidence in them. In December several
+of the ministers resigned. The strength of parties in the House of
+Commons was thus quaintly reckoned by Gibbon: "Minister 140; Reynard 90;
+Boreas 120; the rest unknown or uncertain." But "Reynard" and "Boreas"
+were now about to join forces in one of the strangest coalitions ever
+known in the history of politics. No statesman ever attacked another
+more ferociously than Fox had attacked North during the past ten years.
+He had showered abuse upon him; accused him of "treachery and
+falsehood," of "public perfidy," and "breach of a solemn specific
+promise;" and had even gone so far as to declare to his face a hope that
+he would be called upon to expiate his abominable crimes upon the
+scaffold. Within a twelvemonth he had thus spoken of Lord North and his
+colleagues: "From the moment when I shall make any terms with one of
+them, I will rest satisfied to be called the most infamous of mankind. I
+would not for an instant think of a coalition with men who, in every
+public and private transaction as ministers, have shown themselves void
+of every principle of honour and honesty. In the hands of such men I
+would not trust my honour even for a moment." Still more recently, when
+at a loss for words strong enough to express his belief in the
+wickedness of Shelburne, he declared that he had no better opinion of
+that man than to deem him capable of forming an alliance with North. We
+may judge, then, of the general amazement when, in the middle of
+February, it turned out that Fox had himself done this very thing. An
+"ill-omened marriage," William Pitt called it in the House of Commons.
+"If this ill-omened marriage is not already solemnized, I know a just
+and lawful impediment, and in the name of the public safety I here
+forbid the banns." Throughout the country the indignation was great.
+Many people had blamed Fox for not following up his charges by actually
+bringing articles of impeachment against Lord North. That the two
+enemies should thus suddenly become leagued in friendship seemed utterly
+monstrous. It injured Fox extremely in the opinion of the country, and
+it injured North still more, for it seemed like a betrayal of the king
+on his part, and his forgiveness of so many insults looked
+mean-spirited. It does not appear, however, that there was really any
+strong personal animosity between North and Fox. They were both men of
+very amiable character, and almost incapable of cherishing resentment.
+The language of parliamentary orators was habitually violent, and the
+huge quantities of wine which gentlemen in those days used to drink may
+have helped to make it extravagant. The excessive vehemence of political
+invective often deprived it of half its effect. One day, after Fox had
+exhausted his vocabulary of abuse upon Lord George Germaine, Lord North
+said to him, "You were in very high feather to-day, Charles, and I am
+glad you did not fall upon me." On another occasion, it is said that
+while Fox was thundering against North's unexampled turpitude, the
+object of his furious tirade cosily dropped off to sleep. Gibbon, who
+was the friend of both statesmen, expressly declares that they bore
+each other no ill will. But while thus alike indisposed to harbour
+bitter thoughts, there was one man for whom both Fox and North felt an
+abiding distrust and dislike; and that man was Lord Shelburne, the prime
+minister.
+
+As a political pupil of Burke, Fox shared that statesman's distrust of
+the whole school of Lord Chatham, to which Shelburne belonged. In many
+respects these statesmen were far more advanced than Burke, but they did
+not sufficiently realize the importance of checking the crown by means
+of a united and powerful ministry. Fox thoroughly understood that much
+of the mischief of the past twenty years, including the loss of America,
+had come from the system of weak and divided ministries, which gave the
+king such great opportunity for wreaking his evil will. He had himself
+been a member of such a ministry, which had fallen seven months ago.
+When the king singled out Shelburne for his confidence, Fox naturally
+concluded that Shelburne was to be made to play the royal game, as North
+had been made to play it for so many years. This was very unjust to
+Shelburne, but there is no doubt that Fox was perfectly honest in his
+belief. It seemed to him that the present state of things must be
+brought to an end, at whatever cost. A ministry strong enough to curb
+the king could be formed only by a coalescence of two out of the three
+existing parties. A coalescence of Old and New Whigs had been tried last
+spring, and failed. It only remained now to try the effect of a
+coalescence of Old Whigs and Tories.
+
+Such was doubtless the chief motive of Fox in this extraordinary move.
+The conduct of North seems harder to explain, but it was probably due to
+a reaction of feeling on his part. He had done violence to his own
+convictions out of weak compassion for George III., and had carried on
+the American war for four years after he had been thoroughly convinced
+that peace ought to be made. Remorse for this is said to have haunted
+him to the end of his life. When in his old age he became blind, he bore
+this misfortune with his customary lightness of heart; and one day,
+meeting the veteran Barre, who had also lost his eyesight, he exclaimed,
+with his unfailing wit, "Well, colonel, in spite of all our differences,
+I suppose there are no two men in England who would be gladder to _see_
+each other than you and I." But while Lord North could jest about his
+blindness, the memory of his ill-judged subservience to the king was
+something that he could not laugh away, and among his nearest friends he
+was sometimes heard to reproach himself bitterly. When, therefore, in
+1783, he told Fox that he fully agreed with him in thinking that the
+royal power ought to be curbed, he was doubtless speaking the truth. No
+man had a better right to such an opinion than he had gained through
+sore experience. In his own ministry, as he said to Fox, he took the
+system as he found it, and had not vigour and resolution enough to put
+an end to it; but he was now quite convinced that in such a country as
+England, while the king should be treated with all outward show of
+respect, he ought on no account to be allowed to exercise any real
+power.
+
+Now this was in 1783 the paramount political question in England, just
+as much as the question of secession was paramount in the United States
+in 1861. Other questions could be postponed; the question of curbing the
+king could not. Upon this all-important point North had come to agree
+with Fox; and as the principal motive of their coalition may be thus
+explained, the historian is not called upon to lay too much stress upon
+the lower motives assigned in profusion by their political enemies. This
+explanation, however, does not quite cover the case. The mass of the
+Tories would never follow North in an avowed attempt to curb the king,
+but they agreed with the followers of Fox, though not with Fox himself,
+in holy horror of parliamentary reform, and were alarmed by a recent
+declaration of Shelburne that the suffrage must be extended so as to
+admit a hundred new county members. Thus while the two leaders were
+urged to coalescence by one motive, their followers were largely swayed
+by another, and this added much to the mystery and general
+unintelligibleness of the movement. In taking this step Fox made the
+mistake which was characteristic of the Old Whig party. He gave too
+little heed to the great public outside the walls of the House of
+Commons. The coalition, once made, was very strong in Parliament, but it
+mystified and scandalized the people, and this popular disapproval by
+and by made it easy for the king to overthrow it.
+
+[Sidenote: Fall of Shelburne's ministry.]
+
+It was agreed to choose the treaty as the occasion for the combined
+attack upon the Shelburne ministry. North, as the minister who had
+conducted the unsuccessful war, was bound to oppose the treaty, in any
+case. It would not do for him to admit that better terms could not have
+been made. The treaty was also very unpopular with Fox's party, and with
+the nation at large. It was thought that too much territory had been
+conceded to the Americans, and fault was found with the article on the
+fisheries. But the point which excited most indignation was the virtual
+abandonment of the loyalists, for here the honour of England was felt to
+be at stake. On this ground the treaty was emphatically condemned by
+Burke, Sheridan, and Wilberforce, no less than by North. It was ably
+defended in the Commons by Pitt, and in the Lords by Shelburne himself,
+who argued that he had but the alternative of accepting the terms as
+they stood, or continuing the war; and since it had come to this, he
+said, without spilling a drop of blood, or incurring one fifth of the
+expense of a year's campaign, the comfort and happiness of the American
+loyalists could be easily secured. By this he meant that, should America
+fail to make good their losses, it was far better for England to
+indemnify them herself than to prolong indefinitely a bloody and ruinous
+struggle. As we shall hereafter see, this liberal and enlightened policy
+was the one which England really pursued, so far as practicable, and her
+honour was completely saved. That Shelburne and Pitt were quite right
+there can now be little doubt. But argument was of no avail against the
+resistless power of the coalition. On the 17th of February Lord John
+Cavendish moved an amendment to the ministerial address on the treaty,
+refusing to approve it. On the 21st he moved a further amendment
+condemning the treaty. Both motions were carried, and on the 24th Lord
+Shelburne resigned. He did not dissolve Parliament and appeal to the
+country, partly because he was aware of his personal unpopularity, and
+partly because, in spite of the general disgust at the coalition, there
+was little doubt that on the particular question of the treaty the
+public opinion agreed with the majority in Parliament, and not with the
+ministry. For this reason, Pitt, though personally popular, saw that it
+was no time for him to take the first place in the government, and when
+the king proceeded to offer it to him he declined.
+
+[Sidenote: The king's wrath.]
+
+[Sidenote: The treaty is adopted, after all, by the coalition ministry,
+which presently falls.]
+
+For more than five weeks, while the treasury was nearly empty, and the
+question of peace or war still hung in the balance, England was without
+a regular government, while the angry king went hunting for some one who
+would consent to be his prime minister. He was determined not to submit
+to the coalition. He was naturally enraged at Lord North for turning
+against him. Meeting one day North's father, Lord Guilford, he went up
+to him, tragically wringing his hands, and exclaimed in accents of woe,
+"Did I ever think, my Lord Guilford, that your son would thus have
+betrayed me into the hands of Mr. Fox?" He appealed in vain to Lord
+Gower, and then to Lord Temple, to form a ministry. Lord Gower suggested
+that perhaps Thomas Pitt, cousin of William, might be willing to serve.
+"I desired him," said the king, "to apply to Mr. Thomas Pitt, or Mr.
+Thomas anybody." It was of no use. By the 2d of April Parliament had
+become furious at the delay, and George was obliged to yield. The Duke
+of Portland was brought in as nominal prime minister, with Fox as
+foreign secretary, North as secretary for home and colonies, Cavendish
+as chancellor of the exchequer, and Keppel as first lord of the
+admiralty. The only Tory in the cabinet, excepting North, was Lord
+Stormont, who became president of the council. The commissioners,
+Fitzherbert and Oswald, were recalled from Paris, and the Duke of
+Manchester and David Hartley, son of the great philosopher, were
+appointed in their stead. Negotiations continued through the spring and
+summer. Attempts were made to change some of the articles, especially
+the obnoxious article concerning the loyalists, but all to no purpose.
+Hartley's attempt to negotiate a mutually advantageous commercial treaty
+with America also came to nothing. The definitive treaty which was
+finally signed on the 3d of September, 1783, was an exact transcript of
+the treaty which Shelburne had made, and for making which the present
+ministers had succeeded in turning him out of office. No more emphatic
+justification of Shelburne's conduct of this business could possibly
+have been obtained.
+
+The coalition ministry did not long survive the final signing of the
+treaty. The events of the next few months are curiously instructive as
+showing the quiet and stealthy way in which a political revolution may
+be consummated in a thoroughly conservative and constitutional country.
+Early in the winter session of Parliament Fox brought in his famous bill
+for organizing the government of the great empire which Clive and
+Hastings had built up in India. Popular indignation at the ministry had
+been strengthened by its adopting the same treaty of peace for the
+making of which it had assaulted Shelburne; and now, on the passage of
+the India Bill by the House of Commons, there was a great outcry. Many
+provisions of the bill were exceedingly unpopular, and its chief object
+was alleged to be the concentration of the immense patronage of India
+into the hands of the old Whig families. With the popular feeling thus
+warmly enlisted against the ministry, George III. was now emboldened to
+make war on it by violent means; and, accordingly, when the bill came up
+in the House of Lords, he caused it to be announced, by Lord Temple,
+that any peer who should vote in its favour would be regarded as an
+enemy by the king. Four days later the House of Commons, by a vote of
+153 to 80, resolved that "to report any opinion, or pretended opinion,
+of his majesty upon any bill or other proceeding depending in either
+house of Parliament, with a view to influence the votes of the members,
+is a high crime and misdemeanour, derogatory to the honour of the crown,
+a breach of the fundamental privileges of Parliament, and subversive of
+the constitution of this country." A more explicit or emphatic defiance
+to the king would have been hard to frame. Two days afterward the Lords
+rejected the India Bill, and on the next day, the 18th of December,
+George turned the ministers out of office.
+
+[Sidenote: Constitutional crisis, ending in the overwhelming victory of
+Pitt, May, 1784.]
+
+In this grave constitutional crisis the king invited William Pitt to
+form a government, and this young statesman, who had consistently
+opposed the coalition, now saw that his hour was come. He was more than
+any one else the favourite of the people. Fox's political reputation was
+eclipsed, and North's was destroyed, by their unseemly alliance. People
+were sick of the whole state of things which had accompanied the
+American war. Pitt, who had only come into Parliament in 1780, was free
+from these unpleasant associations. The unblemished purity of his life,
+his incorruptible integrity, his rare disinterestedness, and his
+transcendent ability in debate were known to every one. As the worthy
+son of Lord Chatham, whose name was associated with the most glorious
+moment of English history, he was peculiarly dear to the people. His
+position, however, on taking supreme office at the instance of a king
+who had just committed an outrageous breach of the constitution, was
+extremely critical, and only the most consummate skill could have won
+from the chaos such a victory as he was about to win. When he became
+first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, in December,
+1783, he had barely completed his twenty-fifth year. All his colleagues
+in the new cabinet were peers, so that he had to fight single-handed in
+the Commons against the united talents of Burke and Sheridan, Fox and
+North; and there was a heavy majority against him, besides. In view of
+this adverse majority, it was Pitt's constitutional duty to dissolve
+Parliament and appeal to the country. But Fox, unwilling to imperil his
+great majority by a new election, now made the fatal mistake of opposing
+a dissolution; thus showing his distrust of the people and his dread of
+their verdict. With consummate tact, Pitt allowed the debates to go on
+till March, and then, when the popular feeling in his favour had grown
+into wild enthusiasm, he dissolved Parliament. In the general election
+which followed, 160 members of the coalition lost their seats, and Pitt
+obtained the greatest majority that has ever been given to an English
+minister.
+
+[Sidenote: Overthrow of George III.'s system of personal government.]
+
+Thus was completed the political revolution in England which was set on
+foot by the American victory at Yorktown. Its full significance was only
+gradually realized. For the moment it might seem that it was the king
+who had triumphed. He had shattered the alliance which had been formed
+for the purpose of curbing him, and the result of the election had
+virtually condoned his breach of the constitution. This apparent
+victory, however, had been won only by a direct appeal to the people,
+and all its advantages accrued to the people, and not to George III. His
+ingenious system of weak and divided ministries, with himself for
+balance-wheel, was destroyed. For the next seventeen years the real
+ruler of England was not George III., but William Pitt, who, with his
+great popular following, wielded such a power as no English sovereign
+had possessed since the days of Elizabeth. The political atmosphere was
+cleared of intrigue; and Fox, in the legitimate attitude of leader of
+the new opposition, entered upon the glorious part of his career. There
+was now set in motion that great work of reform which, hindered for a
+while by the reaction against the French revolutionists, won its
+decisive victory in 1832. Down to the very moment at which American and
+British history begin to flow in distinct and separate channels, it is
+interesting to observe how closely they are implicated with each other.
+The victory of the Americans not only set on foot the British revolution
+here described, but it figured most prominently in each of the political
+changes that we have witnessed, down to the very eve of the overthrow of
+the coalition. The system which George III. had sought to fasten upon
+America, in order that he might fasten it upon England, was shaken off
+and shattered by the good people of both countries at almost the same
+moment of time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Departure of the British troops, Nov. 25, 1783.]
+
+[Sidenote: Washington resigns his command, Dec. 23.]
+
+"The times that tried men's souls are over," said Thomas Paine in the
+last number of the "Crisis," which he published after hearing that the
+negotiations for a treaty of peace had been concluded. The preliminary
+articles had been signed at Paris on the 20th of January, 1783. The news
+arrived in America on the 23d of March, in a letter to the president of
+Congress from Lafayette, who had returned to France soon after the
+victory at Yorktown. A few days later Sir Guy Carleton received his
+orders from the ministry to proclaim a cessation of hostilities by land
+and sea. A similar proclamation made by Congress was formally
+communicated to the army by Washington on the 19th of April, the eighth
+anniversary of the first bloodshed on Lexington green. Since Wayne had
+driven the British from Georgia, early in the preceding year, there had
+been no military operations between the regular armies. Guerrilla
+warfare between Whig and Tory had been kept up in parts of South
+Carolina and on the frontier of New York, where Thayendanegea was still
+alert and defiant; while beyond the mountains the tomahawk and
+scalping-knife had been busy, and Washington's old friend and comrade,
+Colonel Crawford, had been scorched to death by the firebrands of the
+red demons; but the armies had sat still, awaiting the peace which every
+one felt sure must speedily come. After Cornwallis's surrender,
+Washington marched his army back to the Hudson, and established his
+headquarters at Newburgh. Rochambeau followed somewhat later, and in
+September joined the Americans on the Hudson; but in December the French
+army marched to Boston, and there embarked for France. After the formal
+cessation of hostilities on the 19th of April, 1783, Washington granted
+furloughs to most of his soldiers; and these weather-beaten veterans
+trudged homeward in all directions, in little groups of four or five,
+depending largely for their subsistence on the hospitality of the
+farm-houses along the road. Arrived at home, their muskets were hung
+over the chimney-piece as trophies for grandchildren to be proud of, the
+stories of their exploits and their sufferings became household legends,
+and they turned the furrows and drove the cattle to pasture just as in
+the "old colony times." Their furloughs were equivalent to a full
+discharge, for on the 3d of September the definitive treaty was signed,
+and the country was at peace. On the 3d of November the army was
+formally disbanded, and on the 25th of that month Sir Guy Carleton's
+army embarked from New York. Small British garrisons still remained in
+the frontier posts of Ogdensburg, Oswego, Niagara, Erie, Sandusky,
+Detroit, and Mackinaw, but by the terms of the treaty these places were
+to be promptly surrendered to the United States. On the 4th of December
+a barge waited at the South Ferry in New York to carry General
+Washington across the river to Paulus Hook. He was going to Annapolis,
+where Congress was in session, in order to resign his command. At
+Fraunces's Tavern, near the ferry, he took leave of the officers who so
+long had shared his labours. One after another they embraced their
+beloved commander, while there were few dry eyes in the company. They
+followed him to the ferry, and watched the departing boat with hearts
+too full for words, and then in solemn silence returned up the street.
+At Philadelphia he handed to the comptroller of the treasury a neatly
+written manuscript, containing an accurate statement of his expenses in
+the public service since the day when he took command of the army. The
+sums which Washington had thus spent out of his private fortune amounted
+to $64,315. For his personal services he declined to take any pay. At
+noon of the 23d, in the presence of Congress and of a throng of ladies
+and gentlemen at Annapolis, the great general gave up his command, and
+requested as an "indulgence" to be allowed to retire into private life.
+General Mifflin, who during the winter of Valley Forge had conspired
+with Gates to undermine the confidence of the people in Washington, was
+now president of Congress, and it was for him to make the reply. "You
+retire," said Mifflin, "from the theatre of action with the blessings of
+your fellow-citizens, but the glory of your virtues will not terminate
+with your military command; it will continue to animate remotest ages."
+The next morning Washington hurried away to spend Christmas at his
+pleasant home at Mount Vernon, which, save for a few hours in the autumn
+of 1781, he had not set eyes on for more than eight years. His estate
+had suffered from his long absence, and his highest ambition was to
+devote himself to its simple interests. To his friends he offered
+unpretentious hospitality. "My manner of living is plain," he said, "and
+I do not mean to be put out of it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton
+are always ready, and such as will be content to partake of them are
+always welcome. Those who expect more will be disappointed." To
+Lafayette he wrote that he was now about to solace himself with those
+tranquil enjoyments of which the anxious soldier and the weary statesman
+know but little. "I have not only retired from all public employments,
+but I am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary
+walk and tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction.
+Envious of none, I am determined to be pleased with all; and this, my
+dear friend, being the order of my march, I will move gently down the
+stream of life until I sleep with my fathers."
+
+[Sidenote: His "legacy" to the American people, June 8, 1783.]
+
+In these hopes Washington was to be disappointed. "All the world is
+touched by his republican virtues," wrote Luzerne to Vergennes, "but it
+will be useless for him to try to hide himself and live the life of a
+private man: he will always be the first citizen of the United States."
+It indeed required no prophet to foretell that the American people could
+not long dispense with the services of this greatest of citizens.
+Washington had already put himself most explicitly on record as the
+leader of the men who were urging the people of the United States toward
+the formation of a more perfect union. The great lesson of the war had
+not been lost on him. Bitter experience of the evils attendant upon the
+weak government of the Continental Congress had impressed upon his mind
+the urgent necessity of an immediate and thorough reform. On the 8th of
+June, in view of the approaching disbandment of the army, he had
+addressed to the governors and presidents of the several states a
+circular letter, which he wished to have regarded as his legacy to the
+American people. In this letter he insisted upon four things as
+essential to the very existence of the United States as an independent
+power. First, there must be an indissoluble union of all the states
+under a single federal government, which must possess the power of
+enforcing its decrees; for without such authority it would be a
+government only in name. Secondly, the debts incurred by Congress for
+the purpose of carrying on the war and securing independence must be
+paid to the uttermost farthing. Thirdly, the militia system must be
+organized throughout the thirteen states on uniform principles.
+Fourthly, the people must be willing to sacrifice, if need be, some of
+their local interests to the common weal; they must discard their local
+prejudices, and regard one another as fellow-citizens of a common
+country, with interests in the deepest and truest sense identical.
+
+[Sidenote: Absence of a sentiment of union, and consequent danger of
+anarchy.]
+
+The unparalleled grandeur of Washington's character, his heroic
+services, and his utter disinterestedness had given him such a hold upon
+the people as scarcely any other statesman known to history, save
+perhaps William the Silent, has ever possessed. The noble and sensible
+words of his circular letter were treasured up in the minds of all the
+best people in the country, and when the time for reforming the weak and
+disorderly government had come it was again to Washington that men
+looked as their leader and guide. But that time had not yet come. Only
+through the discipline of perplexity and tribulation could the people be
+brought to realize the indispensable necessity of that indissoluble
+union of which Washington had spoken. Thomas Paine was sadly mistaken
+when, in the moment of exultation over the peace, he declared that the
+trying time was ended. The most trying time of all was just beginning.
+It is not too much to say that the period of five years following the
+peace of 1783 was the most critical moment in all the history of the
+American people. The dangers from which we were saved in 1788 were even
+greater than the dangers from which we were saved in 1865. In the War of
+Secession the love of union had come to be so strong that thousands of
+men gave up their lives for it as cheerfully and triumphantly as the
+martyrs of older times, who sang their hymns of praise even while their
+flesh was withering in the relentless flames. In 1783 the love of union,
+as a sentiment for which men would fight, had scarcely come into
+existence among the people of these states. The souls of the men of
+that day had not been thrilled by the immortal eloquence of Webster, nor
+had they gained the historic experience which gave to Webster's words
+their meaning and their charm. They had not gained control of all the
+fairest part of the continent, with domains stretching more than three
+thousand miles from ocean to ocean, and so situated in geographical
+configuration and commercial relations as to make the very idea of
+disunion absurd, save for men in whose minds fanaticism for the moment
+usurped the place of sound judgment. The men of 1783 dwelt in a long,
+straggling series of republics, fringing the Atlantic coast, bordered on
+the north and south and west by two European powers whose hostility they
+had some reason to dread. But nine years had elapsed since, in the first
+Continental Congress, they had begun to act consistently and
+independently in common, under the severe pressure of a common fear and
+an immediate necessity of action. Even under such circumstances the war
+had languished and come nigh to failure simply through the difficulty of
+insuring concerted action. Had there been such a government that the
+whole power of the thirteen states could have been swiftly and
+vigorously wielded as a unit, the British, fighting at such disadvantage
+as they did, might have been driven to their ships in less than a year.
+The length of the war and its worst hardships had been chiefly due to
+want of organization. Congress had steadily declined in power and in
+respectability; it was much weaker at the end of the war than at the
+beginning; and there was reason to fear that as soon as the common
+pressure was removed the need for concerted action would quite cease to
+be felt, and the scarcely formed Union would break into pieces. There
+was the greater reason for such a fear in that, while no strong
+sentiment had as yet grown up in favour of union, there was an intensely
+powerful sentiment in favour of local self-government. This feeling was
+scarcely less strong as between states like Connecticut and Rhode
+Island, or Maryland and Virginia, than it was between Athens and Megara,
+Argos and Sparta, in the great days of Grecian history. A most wholesome
+feeling it was, and one which needed not so much to be curbed as to be
+guided in the right direction. It was a feeling which was shared by some
+of the foremost Revolutionary leaders, such as Samuel Adams and Richard
+Henry Lee. But unless the most profound and delicate statesmanship
+should be forthcoming, to take this sentiment under its guidance, there
+was much reason to fear that the release from the common adhesion to
+Great Britain would end in setting up thirteen little republics, ripe
+for endless squabbling, like the republics of ancient Greece and
+mediaeval Italy, and ready to become the prey of England and Spain, even
+as Greece became the prey of Macedonia.
+
+[Sidenote: False historic analogies.]
+
+As such a lamentable result was dreaded by Washington, so by statesmen
+in Europe it was generally expected, and by our enemies it was eagerly
+hoped for. Josiah Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, was a far-sighted man in
+many things; but he said, "As to the future grandeur of America, and
+its being a rising empire under one head, whether republican or
+monarchical, it is one of the idlest and most visionary notions that
+ever was conceived even by writers of romance. The mutual antipathies
+and clashing interests of the Americans, their difference of
+governments, habitudes, and manners, indicate that they will have no
+centre of union and no common interest. They never can be united into
+one compact empire under any species of government whatever; a disunited
+people till the end of time, suspicious and distrustful of each other,
+they will be divided and subdivided into little commonwealths or
+principalities, according to natural boundaries, by great bays of the
+sea, and by vast rivers, lakes, and ridges of mountains." Such were the
+views of a liberal-minded philosopher who bore us no ill-will. George
+III. said officially that he hoped the Americans would not suffer from
+the evils which in history had always followed the throwing off of
+monarchical government: which meant, of course, that he hoped they
+_would_ suffer from such evils. He believed we should get into such a
+snarl that the several states, one after another, would repent and beg
+on their knees to be taken back into the British empire. Frederick of
+Prussia, though friendly to the Americans, argued that the mere extent
+of country from Maine to Georgia would suffice either to break up the
+Union, or to make a monarchy necessary. No republic, he said, had ever
+long existed on so great a scale. The Roman republic had been
+transformed into a despotism mainly by the excessive enlargement of its
+area. It was only little states, like Venice, Switzerland, and Holland,
+that could maintain a republican government. Such arguments were common
+enough a century ago, but they overlooked three essential differences
+between the Roman republic and the United States. The Roman republic in
+Caesar's time comprised peoples differing widely in blood, in speech, and
+in degree of civilization; it was perpetually threatened on all its
+frontiers by powerful enemies; and representative assemblies were
+unknown to it. The only free government of which the Roman knew anything
+was that of the primary assembly or town meeting. On the other hand, the
+people of the United States were all English in speech, and mainly
+English in blood. The differences in degree of civilization between such
+states as Massachusetts and North Carolina were considerable, but in
+comparison with such differences as those between Attika and Lusitania
+they might well be called slight. The attacks of savages on the frontier
+were cruel and annoying, but never since the time of King Philip had
+they seemed to threaten the existence of the white man. A very small
+military establishment was quite enough to deal with the Indians. And to
+crown all, the American people were thoroughly familiar with the
+principle of representation, having practised it on a grand scale for
+four centuries in England, and for more than a century in America. The
+governments of the thirteen states were all similar, and the political
+ideas of one were perfectly intelligible to all the others. It was
+essentially fallacious, therefore, to liken the case of the United
+States to that of ancient Rome.
+
+[Sidenote: Influence of railroad and telegraph upon perpetuity of the
+American Union.]
+
+But there was another feature of the case which was quite hidden from
+the men of 1783. Just before the assembling of the first Continental
+Congress James Watt had completed his steam-engine; in the summer of
+1787, while the Federal Convention was sitting at Philadelphia, John
+Fitch launched his first steamboat on the Delaware River; and
+Stephenson's invention of the locomotive was to follow in less than half
+a century. Even with all other conditions favourable, it is doubtful if
+the American Union could have been preserved to the present time without
+the railroad. But for the military aid of railroads our government would
+hardly have succeeded in putting down the rebellion of the southern
+states. In the debates on the Oregon Bill in the United States Senate in
+1843, the idea that we could ever have an interest in so remote a
+country as Oregon was loudly ridiculed by some of the members. It would
+take ten months--said George McDuffie, the very able senator from South
+Carolina--for representatives to get from that territory to the District
+of Columbia and back again. Yet since the building of railroads to the
+Pacific coast, we can go from Boston to the capital of Oregon in much
+less time than it took John Hancock to make the journey from Boston to
+Philadelphia. Railroads and telegraphs have made our vast country, both
+for political and for social purposes, more snug and compact than little
+Switzerland was in the Middle Ages or New England a century ago.
+
+[Sidenote: Difficulty of travelling a hundred years ago.]
+
+At the time of our Revolution the difficulties of travelling formed an
+important social obstacle to the union of the states. In our time the
+persons who pass in a single day between New York and Boston by six or
+seven distinct lines of railroad and steamboat are numbered by
+thousands. In 1783 two stage-coaches were enough for all the travellers,
+and nearly all the freight besides, that went between these two cities,
+except such large freight as went by sea around Cape Cod. The journey
+began at three o'clock in the morning. Horses were changed every twenty
+miles, and if the roads were in good condition some forty miles would be
+made by ten o'clock in the evening. In bad weather, when the passengers
+had to get down and lift the clumsy wheels out of deep ruts, the
+progress was much slower. The loss of life from accidents, in proportion
+to the number of travellers, was much greater than it has ever been on
+the railway. Broad rivers like the Connecticut and Housatonic had no
+bridges. To drive across them in winter, when they were solidly frozen
+over, was easy; and in pleasant summer weather to cross in a row-boat
+was not a dangerous undertaking. But squalls at some seasons and
+floating ice at others were things to be feared. More than one instance
+is recorded where boats were crushed and passengers drowned, or saved
+only by scrambling upon ice-floes. After a week or ten days of
+discomfort and danger the jolted and jaded traveller reached New York.
+Such was a journey in the most highly civilized part of the United
+States. The case was still worse in the South, and it was not so very
+much better in England and France. In one respect the traveller in the
+United States fared better than the traveller in Europe: the danger from
+highwaymen was but slight.
+
+[Sidenote: Local jealousies and antipathies, an inheritance from
+primeval savagery.]
+
+Such being the difficulty of travelling, people never made long journeys
+save for very important reasons. Except in the case of the soldiers,
+most people lived and died without ever having seen any state but their
+own. And as the mails were irregular and uncertain, and the rates of
+postage very high, people heard from one another but seldom. Commercial
+dealings between the different states were inconsiderable. The
+occupation of the people was chiefly agriculture. Cities were few and
+small, and each little district for the most part supported itself.
+Under such circumstances the different parts of the country knew very
+little about each other, and local prejudices were intense. It was not
+simply free Massachusetts and slave-holding South Carolina, or English
+Connecticut and Dutch New York, that misunderstood and ridiculed each
+the other; but even between such neighbouring states as Connecticut and
+Massachusetts, both of them thoroughly English and Puritan, and in all
+their social conditions almost exactly alike, it used often to be said
+that there was no love lost. These unspeakably stupid and contemptible
+local antipathies are inherited by civilized men from that far-off time
+when the clan system prevailed over the face of the earth, and the hand
+of every clan was raised against its neighbours. They are pale and
+evanescent survivals from the universal primitive warfare, and the
+sooner they die out from human society the better for every one. They
+should be stigmatized and frowned down upon every fit occasion, just as
+we frown upon swearing as a symbol of anger and contention. But the only
+thing which can finally destroy them is the widespread and unrestrained
+intercourse of different groups of people in peaceful social and
+commercial relations. The rapidity with which this process is now going
+on is the most encouraging of all the symptoms of our modern
+civilization. But a century ago the progress made in this direction had
+been relatively small, and it was a very critical moment for the
+American people.
+
+[Sidenote: Conservative character of the Revolution.]
+
+The thirteen states, as already observed, had worked in concert for only
+nine years, during which their cooperation had been feeble and halting.
+But the several state governments had been in operation since the first
+settlement of the country, and were regarded with intense loyalty by the
+people of the states. Under the royal governors the local political life
+of each state had been vigorous and often stormy, as befitted
+communities of the sturdy descendants of English freemen. The
+legislative assembly of each state had stoutly defended its liberties
+against the encroachments of the governor. In the eyes of the people it
+was the only power on earth competent to lay taxes upon them, it was as
+supreme in its own sphere as the British Parliament itself, and in
+behalf of this rooted conviction the people had gone to war and won
+their independence from England. During the war the people of all the
+states, except Connecticut and Rhode Island, had carefully remodelled
+their governments, and in the performance of this work had withdrawn
+many of their ablest statesmen from the Continental Congress; but except
+for the expulsion of the royal and proprietary governors, the work had
+in no instance been revolutionary in its character. It was not so much
+that the American people gained an increase of freedom by their
+separation from England, as that they kept the freedom they had always
+enjoyed, that freedom which was the inalienable birthright of
+Englishmen, but which George III. had foolishly sought to impair. The
+American Revolution was therefore in no respect destructive. It was the
+most conservative revolution known to history, thoroughly English in
+conception from beginning to end. It had no likeness whatever to the
+terrible popular convulsion which soon after took place in France. The
+mischievous doctrines of Rousseau had found few readers and fewer
+admirers among the Americans. The principles upon which their revolution
+was conducted were those of Sidney, Harrington, and Locke. In
+remodelling the state governments, as in planning the union of the
+states, the precedents followed and the principles applied were almost
+purely English. We must now pass in review the principal changes wrought
+in the several states, and we shall then be ready to consider the
+general structure of the Confederation, and to describe the remarkable
+series of events which led to the adoption of our Federal Constitution.
+
+[Sidenote: State governments remodelled; assemblies continued from
+colonial times.]
+
+It will be remembered that at the time of the Declaration of
+Independence there were three kinds of government in the colonies.
+Connecticut and Rhode Island had always been true republics, with
+governors and legislative assemblies elected by the people.
+Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland presented the appearance of limited
+hereditary monarchies. Their assemblies were chosen by the people, but
+the lords proprietary appointed their governors, or in some instances
+acted as governors themselves. In Maryland the office of lord
+proprietary was hereditary in the Calvert family; in Delaware and
+Pennsylvania, which, though distinct commonwealths with separate
+legislatures, had the same executive head, it was hereditary in the Penn
+family. The other eight colonies were viceroyalties, with governors
+appointed by the king, while in all alike the people elected the
+legislatures. Accordingly in Connecticut and Rhode Island no change was
+made necessary by the Revolution, beyond the mere omission of the king's
+name from legal documents; and their charters, which dated from the
+middle of the seventeenth century, continued to do duty as state
+constitutions till far into the nineteenth. During the Revolutionary War
+all the other states framed new constitutions, but in most essential
+respects they took the old colonial charters for their model. The
+popular legislative body remained unchanged even in its name. In North
+Carolina its supreme dignity was vindicated in its title of the House of
+Commons; in Virginia it was called the House of Burgesses; in most of
+the states the House of Representatives. The members were chosen each
+year, except in South Carolina, where they served for two years. In the
+New England states they represented the townships, in other states the
+counties. In all the states except Pennsylvania a property qualification
+was required of them.
+
+[Sidenote: Origin of the senates.]
+
+In addition to this House of Representatives all the legislatures except
+those of Pennsylvania and Georgia contained a second or upper house
+known as the Senate. The origin of the senate is to be found in the
+governor's council of colonial times, just as the House of Lords is
+descended from the Witenagemot or council of great barons summoned by
+the Old-English kings. The Americans had been used to having the acts of
+their popular assemblies reviewed by a council, and so they retained
+this revisory body as an upper house. A higher property qualification
+was required than for membership of the lower house, and, except in New
+Hampshire, Massachusetts, and South Carolina, the term of service was
+longer. In Maryland senators sat for five years, in Virginia and New
+York for four years, elsewhere for two years. In some states they were
+chosen by the people, in others by the lower house. In Maryland they
+were chosen by a college of electors, thus affording a precedent for the
+method of electing the chief magistrate of the union under the Federal
+Constitution.
+
+[Sidenote: Governors viewed with suspicion.]
+
+Governors were unpopular in those days. There was too much flavour of
+royalty and high prerogative about them. Except in the two republics of
+Rhode Island and Connecticut, American political history during the
+eighteenth century was chiefly the record of interminable squabbles
+between governors and legislatures, down to the moment when the detested
+agents of royalty were clapped into jail, or took refuge behind the
+bulwarks of a British seventy-four. Accordingly the new constitutions
+were very chary of the powers to be exercised by the governor. In
+Pennsylvania and Delaware, in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the
+governor was at first replaced by an executive council, and the
+president of this council was first magistrate and titular ruler of the
+state. His dignity was imposing enough, but his authority was merely
+that of a chairman. The other states had governors chosen by the
+legislatures, except in New York where the governor was elected by the
+people. No one was eligible to the office of governor who did not
+possess a specified amount of property. In most of the states the
+governor could not be reelected, he had no veto upon the acts of the
+legislature, nor any power of appointing officers. In 1780, in a new
+constitution drawn up by James Bowdoin and the two Adamses,
+Massachusetts led the way in the construction of a more efficient
+executive department. The president was replaced by a governor elected
+annually by the people, and endowed with the power of appointment and a
+suspensory veto. The first governor elected under this constitution was
+John Hancock. In 1783 New Hampshire adopted a similar constitution. In
+1790 Pennsylvania added an upper house to its legislature, and vested
+the executive power in a governor elected by the people for a term of
+three years, and twice reeligible. He was intrusted with the power of
+appointment to offices, with a suspensory veto, and with the royal
+prerogative of reprieving or pardoning criminals. In 1792 similar
+changes were made in Delaware. In 1789 Georgia added the upper house to
+its legislature, and about the same time in several states the
+governor's powers were enlarged.
+
+Thus the various state governments were repetitions on a small scale of
+what was then supposed to be the triplex government of England, with its
+King, Lords, and Commons. The governor answered to the king with his
+dignity curtailed by election for a short period, and by narrowly
+limited prerogatives. The senate answered to the House of Lords, except
+in being a representative and not a hereditary body. It was supposed to
+represent more especially that part of the community which was possessed
+of most wealth and consideration; and in several states the senators
+were apportioned with some reference to the amount of taxes paid by
+different parts of the state. The senate of New York, in direct
+imitation of the House of Lords, was made a supreme court of errors. On
+the other hand, the assembly answered to the House of Commons, save that
+its power was really limited by the senate as the power of the House of
+Commons is not really limited by the House of Lords. But this
+peculiarity of the British Constitution was not well understood a
+century ago; and the misunderstanding, as we shall hereafter see,
+exerted a very serious influence upon the form of our federal
+government, as well as upon the constitutions of the several states.
+
+[Sidenote: The judiciary.]
+
+In all the thirteen states the common law of England remained in force,
+as it does to this day save where modified by statute. British and
+colonial statutes made prior to the Revolution continued also in force
+unless expressly repealed. The system of civil and criminal courts, the
+remedies in common law and equity, the forms of writs, the functions of
+justices of the peace, the courts of probate, all remained substantially
+unchanged. In Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, the judges held
+office for a term of seven years; in all the other states they held
+office for life or during good behaviour. In all the states save Georgia
+they were appointed either by the governor or by the legislature. It was
+Georgia that in 1812 first set the pernicious example of electing judges
+for short terms by the people,[1]--a practice which is responsible for
+much of the degradation that the courts have suffered in many of our
+states, and which will have to be abandoned before a proper
+administration of justice can ever be secured.
+
+[Sidenote: The limited suffrage.]
+
+In bestowing the suffrage, the new constitutions were as conservative as
+in all other respects. The general state of opinion in America at that
+time, with regard to universal suffrage, was far more advanced than the
+general state of opinion in England, but it was less advanced than the
+opinions of such statesmen as Pitt and Shelburne and the Duke of
+Richmond. There was a truly English irregularity in the provisions which
+were made on this subject. In New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
+and South Carolina, all resident freemen who paid taxes could vote. In
+North Carolina all such persons could vote for members of the lower
+house, but in order to vote for senators a freehold of fifty acres was
+required. In Virginia none could vote save those who possessed such a
+freehold of fifty acres. To vote for governor or for senators in New
+York, one must possess a freehold of $250, clear of mortgage, and to
+vote for assemblymen one must either have a freehold of $50, or pay a
+yearly rent of $10. The pettiness of these sums was in keeping with the
+time when two daily coaches sufficed for the traffic between our two
+greatest commercial cities. In Rhode Island an unincumbered freehold
+worth $134 was required; but in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania the eldest
+sons of qualified freemen could vote without payment of taxes. In all
+the other states the possession of a small amount of property, either
+real or personal, varying from $33 to $200, was the necessary
+qualification for voting. Thus slowly and irregularly did the states
+drift toward universal suffrage; but although the impediments in the way
+of voting were more serious than they seem to us in these days when the
+community is more prosperous and money less scarce, they were still not
+very great, and in the opinion of conservative people they barely
+sufficed to exclude from the suffrage such shiftless persons as had no
+visible interest in keeping down the taxes.
+
+[Sidenote: Abolition of primogeniture, entails, and manorial
+privileges.]
+
+At the time of the Revolution the succession to property was regulated
+in New York and the southern states by the English rule of
+primogeniture. The eldest son took all. In New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
+Delaware, and the four New England states, the eldest son took a double
+share. It was Georgia that led the way in decreeing the equal
+distribution of intestate property, both real and personal; and between
+1784 and 1796 the example was followed by all the other states. At the
+same time entails were either definitely abolished, or the obstacles to
+cutting them off were removed. In New York the manorial privileges of
+the great patroons were swept away. In Maryland the old manorial system
+had long been dying a natural death through the encroachments of the
+patriarchal system of slavery. The ownership of all ungranted lands
+within the limits of the thirteen states passed from the crown not to
+the Confederacy, but to the several state governments. In Pennsylvania
+and Maryland such ungranted lands had belonged to the lords proprietary.
+They were now forfeited to the state. The Penn family was indemnified by
+Pennsylvania to the amount of half a million dollars; but Maryland made
+no compensation to the Calverts, inasmuch as their claim was presented
+by an illegitimate descendant of the last Lord Baltimore.
+
+[Sidenote: Steps toward the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade.]
+
+The success of the American Revolution made it possible for the
+different states to take measures for the gradual abolition of slavery
+and the immediate abolition of the foreign slave-trade. On this great
+question the state of public opinion in America was more advanced than
+in England. So great a thinker as Edmund Burke, who devoted much
+thought to the subject, came to the conclusion that slavery was an
+incurable evil, and that there was not the slightest hope that the trade
+in slaves could be stopped. The most that he thought could be done by
+judicious legislation was to mitigate the horrors which the poor negroes
+endured on board ship, or to prevent wives from being sold away from
+their husbands or children from their parents. Such was the outlook to
+one of the greatest political philosophers of modern times just
+eighty-two years before the immortal proclamation of President Lincoln!
+But how vast was the distance between Burke and Bossuet, who had
+declared about eighty years earlier that "to condemn slavery was to
+condemn the Holy Ghost!" It was equally vast between Burke and his
+contemporary Thurlow, who in 1799 poured out the vials of his wrath upon
+"the altogether miserable and contemptible" proposal to abolish the
+slave-trade. George III. agreed with his chancellor, and resisted the
+movement for abolition with all the obstinacy of which his hard and
+narrow nature was capable. In 1769 the Virginia legislature had enacted
+that the further importation of negroes, to be sold into slavery, should
+be prohibited. But George III. commanded the governor to veto this act,
+and it was vetoed. In Jefferson's first-draft of the Declaration of
+Independence, this action of the king was made the occasion of a fierce
+denunciation of slavery, but in deference to the prejudices of South
+Carolina and Georgia the clause was struck out by Congress. When George
+III. and his vetoes had been eliminated from the case, it became
+possible for the states to legislate freely on the subject. In 1776
+negro slaves were held in all the thirteen states, but in all except
+South Carolina and Georgia there was a strong sentiment in favour of
+emancipation. In North Carolina, which contained a large Quaker
+population, and in which estates were small and were often cultivated by
+free labour, the pro-slavery feeling was never so strong as in the
+southernmost states. In Virginia all the foremost statesmen--Washington,
+Jefferson, Lee, Randolph, Henry, Madison, and Mason--were opposed to the
+continuance of slavery; and their opinions were shared by many of the
+largest planters. For tobacco-culture slavery did not seem so
+indispensable as for the raising of rice and indigo; and in Virginia the
+negroes, half-civilized by kindly treatment, were not regarded with
+horror by their masters, like the ill-treated and ferocious blacks of
+South Carolina and Georgia. After 1808 the policy and the sentiments of
+Virginia underwent a marked change. The invention of the cotton-gin,
+taken in connection with the sudden and prodigious development of
+manufactures in England, greatly stimulated the growth of cotton in the
+ever-enlarging area of the Gulf states, and created an immense demand
+for slave-labour, just at the time when the importation of negroes from
+Africa came to an end. The breeding of slaves, to be sold to the
+planters of the Gulf states, then became such a profitable occupation in
+Virginia as entirely to change the popular feeling about slavery. But
+until 1808 Virginia sympathized with the anti-slavery sentiment which
+was growing up in the northern states; and the same was true of
+Maryland. Emancipation was, however, much more easy to accomplish in the
+north, because the number of slaves was small, and economic
+circumstances distinctly favoured free labour. In the work of gradual
+emancipation the little state of Delaware led the way. In its new
+constitution of 1776 the further introduction of slaves was prohibited,
+all restraints upon emancipation having already been removed. In the
+assembly of Virginia in 1778 a bill prohibiting the further introduction
+of slaves was moved and carried by Thomas Jefferson, and the same
+measure was passed in Maryland in 1783, while both these states removed
+all restraints upon emancipation. North Carolina was not ready to go
+quite so far, but in 1786 she sought to discourage the slave-trade by
+putting a duty of L5 per head on all negroes thereafter imported. New
+Jersey followed the example of Maryland and Virginia. Pennsylvania went
+farther. In 1780 its assembly enacted that no more slaves should be
+brought in, and that all children of slaves born after that date should
+be free. The same provisions were made by New Hampshire in its new
+constitution of 1783, and by the assemblies of Connecticut and Rhode
+Island in 1784. New York went farther still, and in 1785 enacted that
+all children of slaves thereafter born should not only be free, but
+should be admitted to vote on the same conditions as other freemen. In
+1788 Virginia, which contained many free negroes, enacted that any
+person convicted of kidnapping or selling into slavery any free person
+should suffer death on the gallows. Summing up all these facts, we see
+that within two years after the independence of the United States had
+been acknowledged by England, while the two southernmost states had done
+nothing to check the growth of slavery, North Carolina had discouraged
+the importation of slaves; Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey
+had stopped such importation and removed all restraint upon
+emancipation; and all the remaining states, except Massachusetts, had
+made gradual emancipation compulsory. Massachusetts had gone still
+farther. Before the Revolution the anti-slavery feeling had been
+stronger there than in any other state, and cases brought into court for
+the purpose of testing the legality of slavery had been decided in
+favour of those who were opposed to the continuance of that barbarous
+institution. In 1777 an American cruiser brought into the port of Salem
+a captured British ship with slaves on board, and these slaves were
+advertised for sale, but on complaint being made before the legislature
+they were set free. The new constitution of 1780 contained a declaration
+of rights which asserted that all men are born free and have an equal
+and inalienable right to defend their lives and liberties, to acquire
+property, and to seek and obtain safety and happiness. The supreme court
+presently decided that this clause worked the abolition of slavery, and
+accordingly Massachusetts was the first of American states, within the
+limits of the Union, to become in the full sense of the words a free
+commonwealth. Of the negro inhabitants, not more than six thousand in
+number, a large proportion had already for a long time enjoyed freedom;
+and all were now admitted to the suffrage on the same terms as other
+citizens.
+
+[Sidenote: Progress toward freedom in religion.]
+
+By the revolutionary legislation of the states some progress was also
+effected in the direction of a more complete religious freedom.
+Pennsylvania and Delaware were the only states in which all Christian
+sects stood socially and politically on an equal footing. In Rhode
+Island all Protestants enjoyed equal privileges, but Catholics were
+debarred from voting. In Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut,
+the old Puritan Congregationalism was the established religion. The
+Congregational church was supported by taxes, and the minister, once
+chosen, kept his place for life or during good behaviour. He could not
+be got rid of unless formally investigated and dismissed by an
+ecclesiastical council. Laws against blasphemy, which were virtually
+laws against heresy, were in force in these three states. In
+Massachusetts, Catholic priests were liable to imprisonment for life.
+Any one who should dare to speculate too freely about the nature of
+Christ, or the philosophy of the plan of salvation, or to express a
+doubt as to the plenary inspiration of every word between the two covers
+of the Bible, was subject to fine and imprisonment. The tithing-man
+still arrested Sabbath-breakers and shut them up in the town-cage in the
+market-place; he stopped all unnecessary riding or driving on Sunday,
+and haled people off to the meeting-house whether they would or not.
+Such restraints upon liberty were still endured by people who had dared
+and suffered so much for liberty's sake. The men of Boston strove hard
+to secure the repeal of these barbarous laws and the disestablishment of
+the Congregational church; but they were outvoted by the delegates from
+the rural towns. The most that could be accomplished was the provision
+that dissenters might escape the church-rate by supporting a church of
+their own. The nineteenth century was to arrive before church and state
+were finally separated in Massachusetts. The new constitution of New
+Hampshire was similarly illiberal, and in Connecticut no change was
+made. Rhode Island nobly distinguished herself by contrast when in 1784
+she extended the franchise to Catholics.
+
+In the six states just mentioned the British government had been
+hindered by charter, and by the overwhelming opposition of the people,
+from seriously trying to establish the Episcopal church. The sure fate
+of any such mad experiment had been well illustrated in the time of
+Andros. In the other seven states there were no such insuperable
+obstacles. The Church of England was maintained with languid
+acquiescence in New York. By the Quakers and Presbyterians of New Jersey
+and North Carolina, as well as in half-Catholic, half-Puritan Maryland,
+its supremacy was unwillingly endured; in the turbulent frontier
+commonwealth of Georgia it was accepted with easy contempt. Only in
+South Carolina and Virginia had the Church of England ever possessed any
+real hold upon the people. The Episcopal clergy of South Carolina, men
+of learning and high character, elected by their own congregations
+instead of being appointed to their livings by a patron, were thoroughly
+independent, and in the late war their powerful influence had been
+mainly exerted in behalf of the patriot cause. Hence, while they
+retained their influence after the close of the war, there was no
+difficulty in disestablishing the church. It felt itself able to stand
+without government support. As soon as the political separation from
+England was effected, the Episcopal church was accordingly separated
+from the state, not only in South Carolina, but in all the states in
+which it had hitherto been upheld by the authority of the British
+government; and in the constitutions of New Jersey, Georgia, and the two
+Carolinas, no less than in those of Delaware and Pennsylvania, it was
+explicitly provided that no man should be obliged to pay any church rate
+or attend any religious service save according to his own free and
+unhampered will.
+
+[Sidenote: Church and state in Virginia.]
+
+The case of Virginia was peculiar. At first the Church of England had
+taken deep root there because of the considerable immigration of members
+of the Cavalier party after the downfall of Charles I. Most of the great
+statesmen of Virginia in the Revolution--such as Washington, Madison,
+Mason, Jefferson, Pendleton, Henry, the Lees, and the Randolphs--were
+descendants of Cavaliers and members of the Church of England. But for a
+long time the Episcopal clergy had been falling into discredit. Many of
+them were appointed by the British government and ordained by the
+Bishop of London, and they were affected by the irreligious
+listlessness and low moral tone of the English church in the eighteenth
+century. The Virginia legislature thought it necessary to pass special
+laws prohibiting these clergymen from drunkenness and riotous living. It
+was said that they spent more time in hunting foxes and betting on
+race-horses than in conducting religious services or visiting the sick;
+and according to Bishop Meade, many dissolute parsons, discarded from
+the church in England as unworthy, were yet thought fit to be presented
+with livings in Virginia. To this general character of the clergy there
+were many exceptions. There were many excellent clergymen, especially
+among the native Virginians, whose appointment depended to some extent
+upon the repute in which they were held by their neighbours. But on the
+whole the system was such as to illustrate all the worst vices of a
+church supported by the temporal power. The Revolution achieved the
+discomfiture of a clergy already thus deservedly discredited. The
+parsons mostly embraced the cause of the crown, but failed to carry
+their congregations with them, and thus they found themselves arrayed in
+hopeless antagonism to popular sentiment in a state which contained
+perhaps fewer Tories in proportion to its population than any other of
+the thirteen.
+
+[Sidenote: Madison and the Religious Freedom Act, 1785.]
+
+At the same time the Episcopal church itself had gradually come to be a
+minority in the commonwealth. For more than half a century Scotch and
+Welsh Presbyterians, German Lutherans, English Quakers, and Baptists,
+had been working their way southward from Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
+and had settled in the fertile country west of the Blue Ridge. Daniel
+Morgan, who had won the most brilliant battle of the Revolution, was one
+of these men, and sturdiness was a chief characteristic of most of them.
+So long as these frontier settlers served as a much-needed bulwark
+against the Indians, the church saw fit to ignore them and let them
+build meeting-houses and carry on religious services as they pleased.
+But when the peril of Indian attack had been thrust westward into the
+Ohio valley, and these dissenting communities had waxed strong and
+prosperous, the ecclesiastical party in the state undertook to lay taxes
+on them for the support of the Church of England, and to compel them to
+receive Episcopal clergymen to preach for them, to bless them in
+marriage, and to bury their dead. The immediate consequence was a revolt
+which not only overthrew the established church in Virginia, but nearly
+effected its ruin. The troubles began in 1768, when the Baptists had
+made their way into the centre of the state, and three of their
+preachers were arrested by the sheriff of Spottsylvania. As the
+indictment was read against these men for "preaching the gospel contrary
+to law," a deep and solemn voice interrupted the proceedings. Patrick
+Henry had come on horseback many a mile over roughest roads to listen to
+the trial, and this phrase, which savoured of the religious despotisms
+of old, was quite too much for him. "May it please your worships," he
+exclaimed, "what did I hear read? Did I hear an expression that these
+men, whom your worships are about to try for misdemeanour, are charged
+with preaching the gospel of the Son of God!" The shamefast silence and
+confusion which ensued was of ill omen for the success of an undertaking
+so unwelcome to the growing liberalism of the time. The zeal of the
+persecuted Baptists was presently reinforced by the learning and the
+dialectic skill of the Presbyterian ministers. Unlike the Puritans of
+New England, the Presbyterians were in favour of the total separation of
+church from state. It was one of their cardinal principles that the
+civil magistrate had no right to interfere in any way with matters of
+religion. By taking this broad ground they secured the powerful aid of
+Thomas Jefferson, and afterwards of Madison and Mason. The controversy
+went on through all the years of the Revolutionary War, while all
+Virginia, from the sea to the mountains, rang with fulminations and
+arguments. In 1776 Jefferson and Mason succeeded in carrying a bill
+which released all dissenters from parish rates and legalized all forms
+of worship. At last in 1785 Madison won the crowning victory in the
+Religious Freedom Act, by which the Church of England was disestablished
+and all parish rates abolished, and still more, all religious tests were
+done away with. In this last respect Virginia came to the front among
+all the American states, as Massachusetts had come to the front in the
+abolition of negro slavery. Nearly all the states still imposed
+religious tests upon civil office-holders, from simply declaring a
+general belief in the infallibleness of the Bible to accepting the
+doctrine of the Trinity. The Virginia statute, which declared that
+"opinion in matters of religion shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or
+affect civil capacities," was translated into French and Italian, and
+was widely read and commented on in Europe.
+
+It is the historian's unpleasant duty to add that the victory thus
+happily won was ungenerously followed up. Theological and political
+odium combined to overwhelm the Episcopal church in Virginia. The
+persecuted became persecutors. It was contended that the property of the
+church, having been largely created by unjustifiable taxation, ought to
+be forfeited. In 1802 its parsonages and glebe lands were sold, its
+parishes wiped out, and its clergy left without a calling. "A reckless
+sensualist," said Dr. Hawks, "administered the morning dram to his
+guests from the silver cup" used in the communion service. But in all
+this there is a manifest historic lesson. That it should have been
+possible thus to deal with the Episcopal church in Virginia shows
+forcibly the moribund condition into which it had been brought through
+dependence upon the extraneous aid of a political sovereignty from which
+the people of Virginia were severing their allegiance. The lesson is
+most vividly enhanced by the contrast with the church of South Carolina
+which, rooted in its own soil, was quite able to stand alone when
+government aid was withdrawn. In Virginia the church in which George
+Washington was reared had so nearly vanished by the year 1830 that Chief
+Justice Marshall said it was folly to dream of reviving so dead a
+thing. Nevertheless, under the noble ministration of its great bishop,
+William Meade, the Episcopal church in Virginia, no longer relying upon
+state aid, but trusting in the divine persuasive power of spiritual
+truth, was even then entering upon a new life and beginning to exercise
+a most wholesome influence.
+
+[Sidenote: Mason Weems and Samuel Seabury.]
+
+[Sidenote: November 14, 1784.]
+
+The separation of the English church in America from the English crown
+was the occasion of a curious difficulty with regard to the ordination
+of bishops. Until after the Revolution there were no bishops of that
+church in America, and between 1783 and 1785 it was not clear how
+candidates for holy orders could receive the necessary consecration. In
+1784 a young divinity student from Maryland, named Mason Weems, who had
+been studying for some time in England, applied to the Bishop of London
+for admission to holy orders, but was rudely refused. Weems then had
+recourse to Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, author of the famous reply to
+Gibbon. Watson treated him kindly and advised him to get a letter of
+recommendation from the governor of Maryland, but after this had been
+obtained he referred him to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who said that
+nothing could be done without the consent of Parliament. As the law
+stood, no one could be admitted into the ranks of the English clergy
+without taking the oath of allegiance and acknowledging the king of
+England as the head of the church. Weems then wrote to John Adams at the
+Hague, and to Franklin at Paris, to see if there were any Protestant
+bishops on the Continent from whom he could obtain consecration. A
+rather amusing diplomatic correspondence ensued, and finally the king of
+Denmark, after taking theological advice, kindly offered the services of
+a Danish bishop, who was to perform the ceremony in Latin. Weems does
+not seem to have availed himself of this permission, probably because
+the question soon reached a more satisfactory solution.[2] About the
+same time the Episcopal church in Connecticut sent one of its ministers,
+Samuel Seabury of New London, to England, to be ordained as bishop. The
+oaths of allegiance and supremacy stood as much in the way of the
+learned and famous minister as in that of the young and obscure student.
+Seabury accordingly appealed to the non-juring Jacobite bishops of the
+Episcopal church of Scotland, and at length was duly ordained at
+Aberdeen as bishop of the diocese of Connecticut. While Seabury was in
+England, the churches in the various states chose delegates to a
+general convention, which framed a constitution for the "Protestant
+Episcopal Church of the United States of America." Advowsons were
+abolished, some parts of the liturgy were dropped, and the tenure of
+ministers, even of bishops, was to be during good behaviour. At the same
+time a friendly letter was sent to the bishops of England, urging them
+to secure, if possible, an act of Parliament whereby American clergymen
+might be ordained without taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy.
+Such an act was obtained without much difficulty, and three American
+bishops were accordingly consecrated in due form. The peculiar
+ordination of Seabury was also recognized as valid by the general
+convention, and thus the Episcopal church in America was fairly started
+on its independent career.
+
+[Sidenote: Francis Asbury and the Methodists.]
+
+This foundation of a separate episcopacy west of the Atlantic was
+accompanied by the further separation of the Methodists as a distinct
+religious society. Although John Wesley regarded the notion of an
+apostolical succession as superstitious, he had made no attempt to
+separate his followers from the national church. He translated the
+titles of "bishop" and "priest" from Greek into Latin and English,
+calling them "superintendent" and "elder," but he did not deny the
+king's headship. Meanwhile during the long period of his preaching there
+had begun to grow up a Methodist church in America. George Whitefield
+had come over and preached in Georgia in 1737, and in Massachusetts in
+1744, where he encountered much opposition on the part of the Puritan
+clergy. But the first Methodist church in America was founded in the
+city of New York in 1766. In 1772 Wesley sent over Francis Asbury, a man
+of shrewd sense and deep religious feeling, to act as his assistant and
+representative in this country. At that time there were not more than a
+thousand Methodists, with six preachers, and all these were in the
+middle and southern colonies; but within five years, largely owing to
+the zeal and eloquence of Asbury, these numbers had increased sevenfold.
+At the end of the war, seeing the American Methodists cut loose from the
+English establishment, Wesley in his own house at Bristol, with the aid
+of two presbyters, proceeded to ordain ministers enough to make a
+presbytery, and thereupon set apart Thomas Coke to be "superintendent"
+or bishop for America. On the same day of November, 1784, on which
+Seabury was consecrated by the non-jurors at Aberdeen, Coke began
+preaching and baptizing in Maryland, in rude chapels built of logs or
+under the shade of forest trees. On Christmas Eve a conference assembled
+at Baltimore, at which Asbury was chosen bishop by some sixty ministers
+present, and ordained by Coke, and the constitution of the Methodist
+church in America was organized. Among the poor white people of the
+southern states, and among the negroes, the new church rapidly obtained
+great sway; and at a somewhat later date it began to assume considerable
+proportions in the north.
+
+[Sidenote: Presbyterians; Roman Catholics.]
+
+Four years after this the Presbyterians, who were most numerous in the
+middle states, organized their government in a general assembly, which
+was also attended by Congregationalist delegates from New England in the
+capacity of simple advisers. The theological difference between these
+two sects was so slight that an alliance grew up between them, and in
+Connecticut some fifty years later their names were often inaccurately
+used as if synonymous. Such a difference seemed to vanish when
+confronted with the newer differences that began to spring up soon after
+the close of the Revolution. The revolt against the doctrine of eternal
+punishment was already beginning in New England, and among the learned
+and thoughtful clergy of Massachusetts the seeds of Unitarianism were
+germinating. The gloomy intolerance of an older time was beginning to
+yield to more enlightened views. In 1789 the first Roman Catholic church
+in New England was dedicated in Boston. So great had been the prejudice
+against this sect that in 1784 there were only 600 Catholics in all New
+England. In the four southernmost states, on the other hand, there were
+2,500; in New York and New Jersey there were 1,700; in Delaware and
+Pennsylvania there were 7,700; in Maryland there were 20,000; while
+among the French settlements along the eastern bank of the Mississippi
+there were supposed to be nearly 12,000. In 1786 John Carroll, a cousin
+of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, was selected by the Pope as his
+apostolic vicar, and was afterward successively made bishop of Baltimore
+and archbishop of the United States. By 1789 all obstacles to the
+Catholic worship had been done away with in all the states.
+
+[Sidenote: Except in the instance of slavery, all these changes were
+favourable to union.]
+
+In this brief survey of the principal changes wrought in the several
+states by the separation from England, one cannot fail to be struck with
+their conservative character. Things proceeded just as they had done
+from time immemorial with the English race. Forms of government were
+modified just far enough to adapt them to the new situation and no
+farther. The abolition of entails, of primogeniture, and of such few
+manorial privileges as existed, were useful reforms of far less sweeping
+character than similar changes would have been in England; and they were
+accordingly effected with ease. Even the abolition of slavery in the
+northern states, where negroes were few in number and chiefly employed
+in domestic service, wrought nothing in the remotest degree resembling a
+social revolution. But nowhere was this constitutionally cautious and
+precedent-loving mode of proceeding more thoroughly exemplified than in
+the measures just related, whereby the Episcopal and Methodist churches
+were separated from the English establishment and placed upon an
+independent footing in the new world. From another point of view it may
+be observed that all these changes, except in the instance of slavery,
+tended to assimilate the states to one another in their political and
+social condition. So far as they went, these changes were favourable to
+union, and this was perhaps especially true in the case of the
+ecclesiastical bodies, which brought citizens of different states into
+cooperation in pursuit of specific ends in common.
+
+At the same time this survey most forcibly reminds us how completely
+the legislation which immediately affected the daily domestic life of
+the citizen was the legislation of the single state in which he lived.
+In the various reforms just passed in review the United States
+government took no part, and could not from the nature of the case. Even
+to-day our national government has no power over such matters, and it is
+to be hoped it never will have. But at the present day our national
+government performs many important functions of common concern, which a
+century ago were scarcely performed at all. The organization of the
+single state was old in principle and well understood by everybody. It
+therefore worked easily, and such changes as those above described were
+brought about with little friction. On the other hand, the principles
+upon which the various relations of the states to each other were to be
+adjusted were not well understood. There was wide disagreement upon the
+subject, and the attempt to compromise between opposing views was not at
+first successful. Hence, in the management of affairs which concerned
+the United States as a nation, we shall not find the central machinery
+working smoothly or quietly. We are about to traverse a period of
+uncertainty and confusion, in which it required all the political
+sagacity and all the good temper of the people to save the half-built
+ship of state from going to pieces on the rocks of civil contention.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP.
+
+
+[Sidenote: The several states have never enjoyed complete sovereignty.]
+
+That some kind of union existed between the states was doubted by no
+one. Ever since the assembling of the first Continental Congress in 1774
+the thirteen commonwealths had acted in concert, and sometimes most
+generously, as when Maryland and South Carolina had joined in the
+Declaration of Independence without any crying grievances of their own,
+from a feeling that the cause of one should be the cause of all. It has
+sometimes been said that the Union was in its origin a league of
+sovereign states, each of which surrendered a specific portion of its
+sovereignty to the federal government for the sake of the common
+welfare. Grave political arguments have been based upon this alleged
+fact, but such an account of the matter is not historically true. There
+never was a time when Massachusetts or Virginia was an absolutely
+sovereign state like Holland or France. Sovereign over their own
+internal affairs they are to-day as they were at the time of the
+Revolution, but there was never a time when they presented themselves
+before other nations as sovereign, or were recognized as such. Under the
+government of England before the Revolution the thirteen commonwealths
+were independent of one another, and were held together, juxtaposed
+rather than united, only through their allegiance to the British crown.
+Had that allegiance been maintained there is no telling how long they
+might have gone on thus disunited; and this, it seems, should be one of
+our chief reasons for rejoicing that the political connection with
+England was dissolved when it was. A permanent redress of grievances,
+and even virtual independence such as Canada now enjoys, we might
+perhaps have gained had we listened to Lord North's proposals after the
+surrender of Burgoyne; but the formation of the Federal Union would
+certainly have been long postponed, and when we realize the grandeur of
+the work which we are now doing in the world through the simple fact of
+such a union, we cannot fail to see that such an issue would have been
+extremely unfortunate. However this may be, it is clear that until the
+connection with England was severed the thirteen commonwealths were not
+united, nor were they sovereign. It is also clear that in the very act
+of severing their connection with England these commonwealths entered
+into some sort of union which was incompatible with their absolute
+sovereignty taken severally. It was not the people of New Hampshire,
+Massachusetts, and so on through the list, that declared their
+independence of Great Britain, but it was the representatives of the
+United States in Congress assembled, and speaking as a single body in
+the name of the whole. Three weeks before this declaration was adopted,
+Congress appointed a committee to draw up the "articles of
+confederation and perpetual union," by which the sovereignty of the
+several states was expressly limited and curtailed in many important
+particulars. This committee had finished its work by the 12th of July,
+but the articles were not adopted by Congress until the autumn of 1777,
+and they were not finally put into operation until the spring of 1781.
+During this inchoate period of union the action of the United States was
+that of a confederation in which some portion of the several
+sovereignties was understood to be surrendered to the whole. It was the
+business of the articles to define the precise nature and extent of this
+surrendered sovereignty which no state by itself ever exercised. In the
+mean time this sovereignty, undefined in nature and extent, was
+exercised, as well as circumstances permitted, by the Continental
+Congress.
+
+[Sidenote: The Continental Congress; its extraordinary character.]
+
+A most remarkable body was this Continental Congress. For the
+vicissitudes through which it passed, there is perhaps no other
+revolutionary body, save the Long Parliament, which can be compared with
+it. For its origin we must look back to the committees of correspondence
+devised by Jonathan Mayhew, Samuel Adams, and Dabney Carr. First
+assembled in 1774 to meet an emergency which was generally believed to
+be only temporary, it continued to sit for nearly seven years before its
+powers were ever clearly defined; and during those seven years it
+exercised some of the highest functions of sovereignty which are
+possible to any governing body. It declared the independence of the
+United States; it contracted an offensive and defensive alliance with
+France; it raised and organized a Continental army; it borrowed large
+sums of money, and pledged what the lenders understood to be the
+national credit for their repayment; it issued an inconvertible paper
+currency, granted letters of marque, and built a navy. All this it did
+in the exercise of what in later times would have been called "implied
+war powers," and its authority rested upon the general acquiescence in
+the purposes for which it acted and in the measures which it adopted.
+Under such circumstances its functions were very inefficiently
+performed. But the articles of confederation, which in 1781 defined its
+powers, served at the same time to limit them; so that for the remaining
+eight years of its existence the Continental Congress grew weaker and
+weaker, until it was swept away to make room for a more efficient
+government.
+
+[Sidenote: The articles of confederation.]
+
+John Dickinson is supposed to have been the principal author of the
+articles of confederation; but as the work of the committee was done in
+secret and has never been reported, the point cannot be determined. In
+November, 1777, Congress sent the articles to the several state
+legislatures, with a circular letter recommending them as containing the
+only plan of union at all likely to be adopted. In the course of the
+next fifteen months the articles were ratified by all the states except
+Maryland, which refused to sign until the states laying claim to the
+northwestern lands, and especially Virginia, should surrender their
+claims to the confederation. We shall by and by see, when we come to
+explain this point in detail, that from this action of Maryland there
+flowed beneficent consequences that were little dreamed of. It was first
+in the great chain of events which led directly to the formation of the
+Federal Union. Having carried her point, Maryland ratified the articles
+on the first day of March, 1781; and thus in the last and most brilliant
+period of the war, while Greene was leading Cornwallis on his fatal
+chase across North Carolina, the confederation proposed at the time of
+the Declaration of Independence was finally consummated.
+
+According to the language of the articles, the states entered into a
+firm league of friendship with each other; and in order to secure and
+perpetuate such friendship, the freemen of each state were entitled to
+all the privileges and immunities of freemen in all the other states.
+Mutual extradition of criminals was established, and in each state full
+faith and credit was to be given to the records, acts, and judicial
+proceedings of every other state. This universal intercitizenship was
+what gave reality to the nascent and feeble Union. In all the common
+business relations of life, the man of New Hampshire could deal with the
+man of Georgia on an equal footing before the law. But this was almost
+the only effectively cohesive provision in the whole instrument.
+Throughout the remainder of the articles its language was largely
+devoted to reconciling the theory that the states were severally
+sovereign with the visible fact that they were already merged to some
+extent in a larger political body. The sovereignty of this larger body
+was vested in the Congress of delegates appointed yearly by the states.
+No state was to be represented by less than two or more than seven
+members; no one could be a delegate for more than three years out of
+every six; and no delegate could hold any salaried office under the
+United States. As in colonial times the states had, to preserve their
+self-government, insisted upon paying their governors and judges,
+instead of allowing them to be paid out of the royal treasury, so now
+the delegates in Congress were paid by their own states. In determining
+questions in Congress, each state had one vote, without regard to
+population; but a bare majority was not enough to carry any important
+measure. Not only for such extraordinary matters as wars and treaties,
+but even for the regular and ordinary business of raising money to carry
+on the government, not a single step could be taken without the consent
+of at least nine of the thirteen states; and this provision well-nigh
+sufficed of itself to block the wheels of federal legislation. The
+Congress assembled each year on the first Monday of November, and could
+not adjourn for a longer period than six months. During its recess the
+continuity of government was preserved by an executive committee,
+consisting of one delegate from each state, and known as the "committee
+of the states." Saving such matters of warfare or treaty as the public
+interest might require to be kept secret, all the proceedings of
+Congress were entered in a journal, to be published monthly; and the
+yeas and nays must be entered should any delegate request it. The
+executive departments of war, finance, and so forth were intrusted at
+first to committees, until experience soon showed the necessity of
+single heads. There was a president of Congress, who, as representing
+the dignity of the United States, was, in a certain sense, the foremost
+person in the country, but he had no more power than any other delegate.
+Of the fourteen presidents between 1774 and 1789, perhaps only Randolph,
+Hancock, and Laurens are popularly remembered in that capacity; Jay, St.
+Clair, Mifflin, and Lee are remembered for other things; Hanson,
+Griffin, and Boudinot are scarcely remembered at all, save by the
+student of American history.
+
+Between the Congress thus constituted and the several state governments
+the attributes of sovereignty were shared in such a way as to produce a
+minimum of result with a maximum of effort. The states were prohibited
+from keeping up any naval or military force, except militia, or from
+entering into any treaty or alliance, either with a foreign power or
+between themselves, without the consent of Congress. No state could
+engage in war except by way of defence against a sudden Indian attack.
+Congress had the sole right of determining on peace and war, of sending
+and receiving ambassadors, of making treaties, of adjudicating all
+disputes between the states, of managing Indian affairs, and of
+regulating the value of coin and fixing the standard of weights and
+measures. Congress took control of the post-office on condition that no
+more revenue should be raised from postage than should suffice to
+discharge the expenses of the service. Congress controlled the army,
+but was provided with no means of raising soldiers save through
+requisitions upon the states, and it could only appoint officers above
+the rank of colonel; the organization of regiments was left entirely in
+the hands of the states. The traditional and wholesome dread of a
+standing army was great, but there was no such deep-seated jealousy of a
+navy, and Congress was accordingly allowed not only to appoint all naval
+officers, but also to establish courts of admiralty.
+
+[Sidenote: The articles failed to create a federal government endowed
+with real sovereignty.]
+
+Several essential attributes of sovereignty were thus withheld from the
+states; and by assuming all debts contracted by Congress prior to the
+adoption of the articles, and solemnly pledging the public faith for
+their payment, it was implicitly declared that the sovereignty here
+accorded to Congress was substantially the same as that which it had
+asserted and exercised ever since the severing of the connection with
+England. The articles simply defined the relations of the states to the
+Confederation as they had already shaped themselves. Indeed, the
+articles, though not finally ratified till 1781, had been known to
+Congress and to the people ever since 1776 as their expected
+constitution, and political action had been shaped in general accordance
+with the theory on which they had been drawn up. They show that
+political action was at no time based on the view of the states as
+absolutely sovereign, but they also show that the share of sovereignty
+accorded to Congress was very inadequate even to the purposes of an
+effective confederation. The position in which they left Congress was
+hardly more than that of the deliberative head of a league. For the
+most fundamental of all the attributes of sovereignty--the power of
+taxation--was not given to Congress. It could neither raise taxes
+through an excise nor through custom-house duties; it could only make
+requisitions upon the thirteen members of the confederacy in proportion
+to the assessed value of their real estate, and it was not provided with
+any means of enforcing these requisitions. On this point the articles
+contained nothing beyond the vague promise of the states to obey. The
+power of levying taxes was thus retained entirely by the states. They
+not only imposed direct taxes, as they do to-day, but they laid duties
+on exports and imports, each according to its own narrow view of its
+local interests. The only restriction upon this was that such
+state-imposed duties must not interfere with the stipulations of any
+foreign treaties such as Congress might make in pursuance of treaties
+already proposed to the courts of France and Spain. Besides all this,
+the states shared with Congress the powers of coining money, of emitting
+bills of credit, and of making their promissory notes a legal tender for
+debts.
+
+Such was the constitution under which the United States had begun to
+drift toward anarchy even before the close of the Revolutionary War, but
+which could only be amended by the unanimous consent of all the thirteen
+states. The historian cannot but regard this difficulty of amendment as
+a fortunate circumstance; for in the troubles which presently arose it
+led the distressed people to seek some other method of relief, and thus
+prepared the way for the Convention of 1787, which destroyed the whole
+vicious scheme, and gave us a form of government under which we have
+just completed a century unparalleled for peace and prosperity. Besides
+this extreme difficulty of amendment, the fatal defects of the
+Confederation were three in number. The first defect was the two thirds
+vote necessary for any important legislation in Congress; under this
+rule any five of the states--as, for example, the four southernmost
+states with Maryland, or the four New England states with New
+Jersey--could defeat the most sorely needed measures. The second defect
+was the impossibility of presenting a united front to foreign countries
+in respect to commerce. The third and greatest defect was the lack of
+any means, on the part of Congress, of enforcing obedience. Not only was
+there no federal executive or judiciary worthy of the name, but the
+central government operated only upon states, and not upon individuals.
+Congress could call for troops and for money in strict conformity with
+the articles; but should any state prove delinquent in furnishing its
+quota, there were no constitutional means of compelling it to obey the
+call. This defect was seen and deplored at the outset by such men as
+Washington and Madison, but the only remedy which at first occurred to
+them was one more likely to kill than to cure. Only six weeks after the
+ratification of the articles, Madison proposed an amendment "to give to
+the United States full authority to employ their force, as well by sea
+as by land, to compel any delinquent state to fulfil its federal
+engagements." Washington approved of this measure, hoping, as he said,
+that "a knowledge that this power was lodged in Congress might be the
+means to prevent its ever being exercised, and the more readily induce
+obedience. Indeed," added Washington, "if Congress were unquestionably
+possessed of the power, nothing should induce the display of it but
+obstinate disobedience and the urgency of the general welfare." Madison
+argued that in the very nature of the Confederation such a right of
+coercion was necessarily implied, though not expressed in the articles,
+and much might have been said in behalf of this opinion. The
+Confederation explicitly declared itself to be perpetual, yet how could
+it perpetuate itself for a dozen years without the right to coerce its
+refractory members? Practically, however, the remedy was one which could
+never have been applied without breaking the Confederation into
+fragments. To use the army or navy in coercing a state meant nothing
+less than civil war. The local yeomanry would have turned out against
+the Continental army with as high a spirit as that with which they
+swarmed about the British enemy at Lexington or King's Mountain. A
+government which could not collect the taxes for its yearly budget
+without firing upon citizens or blockading two or three harbours would
+have been the absurdest political anomaly imaginable. No such idea could
+have entered the mind of a statesman save from the hope that if one
+state should prove refractory, all the others would immediately frown
+upon it and uphold Congress in overawing it. In such case the knowledge
+that Congress had the power would doubtless have been enough to make its
+exercise unnecessary. But in fact this hope was disappointed, for the
+delinquency of each state simply set an example of disobedience for all
+the others to follow; and the amendment, had it been carried, would
+merely have armed Congress with a threat which everybody would have
+laughed at. So manifestly hopeless was the case to Pelatiah Webster that
+as early as May, 1781, he published an able pamphlet, urging the
+necessity for a federal convention for overhauling the whole scheme of
+government from beginning to end.
+
+[Sidenote: Military weakness of the government.]
+
+The military weakness due to this imperfect governmental organization
+may be illustrated by comparing the number of regular troops which
+Congress was able to keep in the field during the Revolutionary War with
+the number maintained by the United States government during the War of
+Secession. A rough estimate, obtained from averages, will suffice to
+show the broad contrast. In 1863, the middle year of the War of
+Secession, the total population of the loyal states was about
+23,491,600, of whom about one fifth, or 4,698,320, were adult males of
+military age. Supposing one adult male out of every five to have been
+under arms at one time, the number would have been 939,664. Now the
+total number of troops enlisted in the northern army during the four
+years of the war, reduced to a uniform standard, was 2,320,272, or an
+average of 580,068 under arms in any single year. In point of fact,
+this average was reached before the middle of the war, and the numbers
+went on increasing, until at the end there were more than a million men
+under arms,--at least one out of every five adult males in the northern
+states. On the other hand, in 1779, the middle year of the Revolutionary
+War, the white population of the United States was about 2,175,000, of
+whom 435,000 were adult males of military age. Supposing one out of
+every five of these to have been under arms at once, the number would
+have been 87,000. Now in the spring of 1777, when the Continental
+Congress was at the highest point of authority which it ever reached,
+when France was willing to lend it money freely, when its paper currency
+was not yet discredited and it could make liberal offers of bounties, a
+demand was made upon the states for 80,000 men, or nearly one fifth of
+the adult male population, to serve for three years or during the war.
+Only 34,820 were obtained. The total number of men in the field in that
+most critical year, including the swarms of militia who came to the
+rescue at Ridgefield and Bennington and Oriskany, and the Pennsylvania
+militia who turned out while their state was invaded, was 68,720. In
+1781, when the credit of Congress was greatly impaired, although
+military activity again rose to a maximum and it was necessary for the
+people to strain every nerve, the total number of men in the field,
+militia and all, was only 29,340, of whom only 13,292 were Continentals;
+and it was left for the genius of Washington and Greene, working with
+desperate energy and most pitiful resources, to save the country. A
+more impressive contrast to the readiness with which the demands of the
+government were met in the War of Secession can hardly be imagined. Had
+the country put forth its strength in 1781 as it did in 1864, an army of
+90,000 men might have overwhelmed Clinton at the north and Cornwallis at
+the south, without asking any favours of the French fleet. Had it put
+forth its full strength in 1777, four years of active warfare might have
+been spared. Mr. Lecky explains this difference by his favourite
+hypothesis that the American Revolution was the work of a few
+ultra-radical leaders, with whom the people were not generally in
+sympathy; and he thinks we could not expect to see great heroism or
+self-sacrifice manifested by a people who went to war over what he calls
+a "money dispute."[3] But there is no reason for supposing that the
+loyalists represented the general sentiment of the country in the
+Revolutionary War any more than the peace party represented the general
+sentiment of the northern states in the War of Secession. There is no
+reason for supposing that the people were less at heart in 1781 in
+fighting for the priceless treasure of self-government than they were in
+1864 when they fought for the maintenance of the pacific principles
+underlying our Federal Union. The differences in the organization of the
+government, and in its power of operating directly upon the people, are
+quite enough to explain the difference between the languid conduct of
+the earlier war and the energetic conduct of the later.
+
+[Sidenote: Extreme difficulty of obtaining a revenue.]
+
+Impossible as Congress found it to fill the quotas of the army, the task
+of raising a revenue by requisitions upon the states was even more
+discouraging. Every state had its own war-debt, and several were
+applicants for foreign loans not easy to obtain, so that none could
+without the greatest difficulty raise a surplus to hand over to
+Congress. The Continental rag-money had ceased to circulate by the end
+of 1780, and our foreign credit was nearly ruined. The French government
+began to complain of the heavy demands which the Americans made upon its
+exchequer, and Vergennes, in sending over a new loan in the fall of
+1782, warned Franklin that no more must be expected. To save American
+credit from destruction, it was at least necessary that the interest on
+the public debt should be paid. For this purpose Congress in 1781 asked
+permission to levy a five per cent. duty on imports. The modest request
+was the signal for a year of angry discussion. Again and again it was
+asked, If taxes could thus be levied by any power outside the state, why
+had we ever opposed the Stamp Act or the tea duties? The question was
+indeed a serious one, and as an instance of reasoning from analogy
+seemed plausible enough. After more than a year Massachusetts consented,
+by a bare majority of two in the House and one in the Senate, reserving
+to herself the right of appointing the collectors. The bill was then
+vetoed by Governor Hancock, though one day too late, and so it was
+saved. But Rhode Island flatly refused her consent, and so did Virginia,
+though Madison earnestly pleaded the cause of the public credit. For
+the current expenses of the government in that same year $9,000,000 were
+needed. It was calculated that $4,000,000 might be raised by a loan, and
+the other $5,000,000 were demanded of the states. At the end of the year
+$422,000 had been collected, not a cent of which came from Georgia, the
+Carolinas, or Delaware. Rhode Island, which paid $38,000, did the best
+of all according to its resources. Of the Continental taxes assessed in
+1783, only one-fifth part had been paid by the middle of 1785. And the
+worst of it was that no one could point to a remedy for this state of
+things, or assign any probable end to it.
+
+[Sidenote: Dread of the army.]
+
+[Sidenote: Supposed scheme for making Washington king.]
+
+Under such circumstances the public credit sank at home as well as
+abroad. Foreign creditors--even France, who had been nothing if not
+generous with her loans--might be made to wait; but there were creditors
+at home who, should they prove ugly, could not be so easily put off. The
+disbandment of the army in the summer of 1783, before the British troops
+had evacuated New York, was hastened by the impossibility of paying the
+soldiers and the dread of what they might do under such provocation.
+Though peace had been officially announced, Hamilton and Livingston
+urged that, for the sake of appearances if for no other reason, the army
+should be kept together so long as the British remained in New York, if
+not until they should have surrendered the western frontier posts. But
+Congress could not pay the army, and was afraid of it,--and not without
+some reason. Discouraged at the length of time which had passed since
+they had received any money, the soldiers had begun to fear lest, now
+that their services were no longer needed, their honest claims would be
+set aside. Among the officers, too, there was grave discontent. In the
+spring of 1778, after the dreadful winter at Valley Forge, several
+officers had thrown up their commissions, and others threatened to do
+likewise. To avert the danger, Washington had urged Congress to promise
+half-pay for life to such officers as should serve to the end of the
+war. It was only with great difficulty that he succeeded in obtaining a
+promise of half-pay for seven years, and even this raised an outcry
+throughout the country, which seemed to dread its natural defenders only
+less than its enemies. In the fall of 1780, however, in the general
+depression which followed upon the disasters at Charleston and Camden,
+the collapse of the paper money, and the discovery of Arnold's treason,
+there was serious danger that the army would fall to pieces. At this
+critical moment Washington had earnestly appealed to Congress, and
+against the strenuous opposition of Samuel Adams had at length extorted
+the promise of half-pay for life. In the spring of 1782, seeing the
+utter inability of Congress to discharge its pecuniary obligations, many
+officers began to doubt whether the promise would ever be kept. It had
+been made before the articles of confederation, which required the
+assent of nine states to any such measure, had been finally ratified. It
+was well known that nine states had never been found to favour the
+measure, and it was now feared that it might be repealed or repudiated,
+so loud was the popular clamour against it. All this comes of
+republican government, said some of the officers; too many cooks spoil
+the broth; a dozen heads are as bad as no head; you do not know whose
+promises to trust; a monarchy, with a good king whom all men can trust,
+would extricate us from these difficulties. In this mood, Colonel Louis
+Nicola, of the Pennsylvania line, a foreigner by birth, addressed a long
+and well-argued letter to Washington, setting forth the troubles of the
+time, and urging him to come forward as a saviour of society, and accept
+the crown at the hands of his faithful soldiers. Nicola was an aged man,
+of excellent character, and in making this suggestion he seemed to be
+acting as spokesman of a certain clique or party among the
+officers,--how numerous is not known. Washington instantly replied that
+Nicola could not have found a person to whom such a scheme could be more
+odious, and he was at a loss to conceive what he had ever done to have
+it supposed that he could for one moment listen to a suggestion so
+fraught with mischief to his country. Lest the affair, becoming known,
+should enhance the popular distrust of the army, Washington said nothing
+about it. But as the year went by, and the outcry against half-pay
+continued, and Congress showed symptoms of a willingness to compromise
+the matter, the discontent of the army increased. Officers and soldiers
+brooded alike over their wrongs. "The army," said General Macdougall,
+"is verging to that state which, we are told, will make a wise man mad."
+The peril of the situation was increased by the well-meant but
+injudicious whisperings of other public creditors, who believed that if
+the army would only take a firm stand and insist upon a grant of
+permanent funds to Congress for liquidating all public debts, the states
+could probably be prevailed upon to make such a grant. Robert Morris,
+the able secretary of finance, held this opinion, and did not believe
+that the states could be brought to terms in any other way. His namesake
+and assistant, Gouverneur Morris, held similar views, and gave
+expression to them in February, 1783, in a letter to General Greene, who
+was still commanding in South Carolina. When Greene received the letter,
+he urged upon the legislature of that state, in most guarded and
+moderate language, the paramount need of granting a revenue to Congress,
+and hinted that the army would not be satisfied with anything less. The
+assembly straightway flew into a rage. "No dictation by a Cromwell!"
+shouted the members. South Carolina had consented to the five per cent.
+impost, but now she revoked it, to show her independence, and Greene's
+eyes were opened at once to the danger of the slightest appearance of
+military intervention in civil affairs.
+
+[Sidenote: The dangerous Newburgh address, March 11, 1783.]
+
+At the same time a violent outbreak in the army at Newburgh was barely
+prevented by the unfailing tact of Washington. A rumour went about the
+camp that it was generally expected the army would not disband until the
+question of pay should be settled, and that the public creditors looked
+to them to make some such demonstration as would overawe the delinquent
+states. General Gates had lately emerged from the retirement in which
+he had been fain to hide himself after Camden, and had rejoined the army
+where there was now such a field for intrigue. An odious aroma of
+impotent malice clings about his memory on this last occasion on which
+the historian needs to notice him. He plotted in secret with officers of
+the staff and others. One of his staff, Major Armstrong, wrote an
+anonymous appeal to the troops, and another, Colonel Barber, caused it
+to be circulated about the camp. It named the next day for a meeting to
+consider grievances. Its language was inflammatory. "My friends!" it
+said, "after seven long years your suffering courage has conducted the
+United States of America through a doubtful and bloody war; and peace
+returns to bless--whom? A country willing to redress your wrongs,
+cherish your worth, and reward your services? Or is it rather a country
+that tramples upon your rights, disdains your cries, and insults your
+distresses? ... If such be your treatment while the swords you wear are
+necessary for the defence of America, what have you to expect when those
+very swords, the instruments and companions of your glory, shall be
+taken from your sides, and no mark of military distinction left but your
+wants, infirmities, and scars? If you have sense enough to discover and
+spirit to oppose tyranny, whatever garb it may assume, awake to your
+situation. If the present moment be lost, your threats hereafter will be
+as empty as your entreaties now. Appeal from the justice to the fears of
+government, and suspect the man who would advise to longer
+forbearance."
+
+Better English has seldom been wasted in a worse cause. Washington, the
+man who was aimed at in the last sentence, got hold of the paper next
+day, just in time, as he said, "to arrest the feet that stood wavering
+on a precipice." The memory of the revolt of the Pennsylvania line,
+which had so alarmed the people in 1781, was still fresh in men's minds;
+and here was an invitation to more wholesale mutiny, which could hardly
+fail to end in bloodshed, and might precipitate the perplexed and
+embarrassed country into civil war. Washington issued a general order,
+recognizing the existence of the manifesto, but overruling it so far as
+to appoint the meeting for a later day, with the senior major-general,
+who happened to be Gates, to preside. This order, which neither
+discipline nor courtesy could disregard, in a measure tied Gates's
+hands, while it gave Washington time to ascertain the extent of the
+disaffection. On the appointed day he suddenly came into the meeting,
+and amid profoundest silence broke forth in a most eloquent and touching
+speech. Sympathizing keenly with the sufferings of his hearers, and
+fully admitting their claims, he appealed to their better feelings, and
+reminded them of the terrible difficulties under which Congress
+laboured, and of the folly of putting themselves in the wrong. He still
+counselled forbearance as the greatest of victories, and with consummate
+skill he characterized the anonymous appeal as undoubtedly the work of
+some crafty emissary of the British, eager to disgrace the army which
+they had not been able to vanquish. All were hushed by that majestic
+presence and those solemn tones. The knowledge that he had refused all
+pay, while enduring more than any other man in the room, gave added
+weight to every word. In proof of the good faith of Congress he began
+reading a letter from one of the members, when, finding his sight dim,
+he paused and took from his pocket the new pair of spectacles which the
+astronomer David Rittenhouse had just sent him. He had never worn
+spectacles in public, and as he put them on he said, in his simple
+manner and with his pleasant smile, "I have grown gray in your service,
+and now find myself growing blind." While all hearts were softened he
+went on reading the letter, and then withdrew, leaving the meeting to
+its deliberations. There was a sudden and mighty revulsion of feeling. A
+motion was reported declaring "unshaken confidence in the justice of
+Congress;" and it was added that "the officers of the American army view
+with abhorrence and reject with disdain the infamous proposals contained
+in a late anonymous address to them." The crestfallen Gates, as
+chairman, had nothing to do but put the question and report it carried
+unanimously; for if any still remained obdurate they no longer dared to
+show it. Washington immediately set forth the urgency of the case in an
+earnest letter to Congress, and one week later the matter was settled by
+an act commuting half-pay for life into a gross sum equal to five years'
+full pay, to be discharged at once by certificates bearing interest at
+six per cent. Such poor paper was all that Congress had to pay with,
+but it was all ultimately redeemed; and while the commutation was
+advantageous to the government, it was at the same time greatly for the
+interest of the officers, while they were looking out for new means of
+livelihood, to have their claims adjusted at once, and to receive
+something which could do duty as a respectable sum of money.
+
+[Sidenote: Congress driven from Philadelphia by mutinous soldiers, June
+21, 1783.]
+
+Nothing, however, could prevent the story of the Newburgh affair from
+being published all over the country, and it greatly added to the
+distrust with which the army was regarded on general principles. What
+might have happened was forcibly suggested by a miserable occurrence in
+June, about two months after the disbanding of the army had begun. Some
+eighty soldiers of the Pennsylvania line, mutinous from discomfort and
+want of pay, broke from their camp at Lancaster and marched down to
+Philadelphia, led by a sergeant or two. They drew up in line before the
+state house, where Congress was assembled, and after passing the grog
+began throwing stones and pointing their muskets at the windows. They
+demanded pay, and threatened, if it were not forthcoming, to seize the
+members of Congress and hold them as hostages, or else to break into the
+bank where the federal deposits were kept. The executive council of
+Pennsylvania sat in the same building, and so the federal government
+appealed to the state government for protection. The appeal was
+fruitless. President Dickinson had a few state militia at his disposal,
+but did not dare to summon them, for fear they should side with the
+rioters. The city government was equally listless, and the townsfolk
+went their ways as if it were none of their business; and so Congress
+fled across the river and on to Princeton, where the college afforded it
+shelter. Thus in a city of thirty-two thousand inhabitants, the largest
+city in the country, the government of the United States, the body which
+had just completed a treaty browbeating England and France, was
+ignominiously turned out-of-doors by a handful of drunken mutineers. The
+affair was laughed at by many, but sensible men keenly felt the
+disgrace, and asked what would be thought in Europe of a government
+which could not even command the services of the police. The army became
+more unpopular than ever, and during the summer and fall many
+town-meetings were held in New England, condemning the Commutation Act.
+Are we not poor enough already, cried the farmers, that we must be taxed
+to support in idle luxury a riotous rabble of soldiery, or create an
+aristocracy of men with gold lace and epaulets, who will presently plot
+against our liberties? The Massachusetts legislature protested; the
+people of Connecticut meditated resistance. A convention was held at
+Middletown in December, at which two thirds of the towns in the state
+were represented, and the best method of overruling Congress was
+discussed. Much high-flown eloquence was wasted, but the convention
+broke up without deciding upon any course of action. The matter had
+become so serious that wise men changed their minds, and disapproved of
+proceedings calculated to throw Congress into contempt. Samuel Adams,
+who had almost violently opposed the grant of half-pay and had been
+dissatisfied with the Commutation Act, now came completely over to the
+other side. Whatever might be thought of the policy of the measures, he
+said, Congress had an undoubted right to adopt them. The army had been
+necessary for the defence of our liberties, and the public faith had
+been pledged to the payment of the soldiers. States were as much bound
+as individuals to fulfil their engagements, and did not the sacred
+Scriptures say of an honest man that, though he sweareth to his own
+hurt, he changeth not? Such plain truths prevailed in the Boston
+town-meeting, which voted that "the commutation is wisely blended with
+the national debt." The agitation in New England presently came to an
+end, and in this matter the course of Congress was upheld.
+
+[Sidenote: Order of the Cincinnati.]
+
+In order fully to understand this extravagant distrust of the army, we
+have to take into account another incident of the summer of 1783, which
+gave rise to a discussion that sent its reverberation all over the
+civilized world. Men of the present generation who in childhood rummaged
+in their grandmothers' cosy garrets cannot fail to have come across
+scores of musty and worm-eaten pamphlets, their yellow pages crowded
+with italics and exclamation points, inveighing in passionate language
+against the wicked and dangerous society of the Cincinnati. Just before
+the army was disbanded, the officers, at the suggestion of General Knox,
+formed themselves into a secret society, for the purpose of keeping up
+their friendly intercourse and cherishing the heroic memories of the
+struggle in which they had taken part. With the fondness for classical
+analogies which characterized that time, they likened themselves to
+Cincinnatus, who was taken from the plough to lead an army, and returned
+to his quiet farm so soon as his warlike duties were over. They were
+modern Cincinnati. A constitution and by-laws were established for the
+order, and Washington was unanimously chosen to be its president. Its
+branches in the several states were to hold meetings each Fourth of
+July, and there was to be a general meeting of the whole society every
+year in the month of May. French officers who had taken part in the war
+were admitted to membership, and the order was to be perpetuated by
+descent through the eldest male representatives of the families of the
+members. It was further provided that a limited membership should from
+time to time be granted, as a distinguished honour, to able and worthy
+citizens, without regard to the memories of the war. A golden American
+eagle attached to a blue ribbon edged with white was the sacred badge of
+the order; and to this emblem especial favour was shown at the French
+court, where the insignia of foreign states were generally, it is said,
+regarded with jealousy. No political purpose was to be subserved by this
+order of the Cincinnati, save in so far as the members pledged to one
+another their determination to promote and cherish the union between the
+states. In its main intent the society was to be a kind of masonic
+brotherhood, charged with the duty of aiding the widows and the orphan
+children of its members in time of need. Innocent as all this was,
+however, the news of the establishment of such a society was greeted
+with a howl of indignation all over the country. It was thought that its
+founders were inspired by a deep-laid political scheme for centralizing
+the government and setting up a hereditary aristocracy. The press teemed
+with invective and ridicule, and the feeling thus expressed by the
+penny-a-liners was shared by able men accustomed to weigh their words.
+Franklin dealt with it in a spirit of banter, and John Adams in a spirit
+of abhorrence; while Samuel Adams pointed out the dangers inherent in
+the principle of hereditary transmission of honours, and in the
+admission of foreigners into a secret association possessed of political
+influence in America. What! cried the men of Massachusetts. Have we
+thrown overboard the effete institutions of Europe, only to have them
+straightway introduced among us again, after this plausible and
+surreptitious fashion? At Cambridge it was thought that the general
+sentiment of the university was in favour of suppressing the order by
+act of legislature. One of the members, who was a candidate for senator
+in the spring of 1784, found it necessary to resign in order to save his
+chances for election. Rhode Island proposed to disfranchise such of her
+citizens as belonged to the order, albeit her most eminent citizen,
+Nathanael Greene, was one of them. AEdanus Burke, a judge of the Supreme
+Court of South Carolina, wrote a violent pamphlet against the society of
+the Cincinnati under the pseudonym of Cassius, the slayer of tyrants;
+and this diatribe, translated and amplified by Mirabeau, awakened dull
+echoes among readers of Rousseau and haters of privilege in all parts of
+Europe. A swarm of brochures in rejoinder and rebutter issued from the
+press, and the nineteenth century had come in before the controversy was
+quite forgotten.
+
+It is easy for us now to smile at this outcry against the Cincinnati as
+much ado about nothing, seeing as we do that in the absence of
+territorial jurisdiction or especial political privileges an order of
+nobility cannot be created by the mere inheritance of empty titles or
+badges. For example, since the great revolution which swept away the
+landlordship and fiscal exemptions of the French nobility, a marquisate
+or a dukedom in France is of scarcely more political importance than a
+doctorate of laws in a New England university. Men were nevertheless not
+to be blamed in 1783 for their hostility toward that ghost of the
+hereditary principle which the Cincinnati sought to introduce. In a free
+industrial society like that of America it had no proper place or
+meaning; and the attempt to set up such a form might well have been
+cited in illustration of the partial reversion toward militancy which
+eight years of warfare had effected. The absurdity of the situation was
+quickly realized by Washington, and he prevailed upon the society, in
+its first annual meeting of May, 1784, to abandon the principle of
+hereditary membership. The agitation was thus allayed, and in the
+presence of graver questions the much-dreaded brotherhood gradually
+ceased to occupy popular attention.
+
+The opposition to the Cincinnati is not fully explained unless we
+consider it in connection with Nicola's letter, the Newburgh address,
+and the flight of Congress to Princeton. The members of the Cincinnati
+were pledged to do whatever they could to promote the union between the
+states; the object of the Newburgh address was to enlist the army in
+behalf of the public creditors, and in some vaguely-imagined fashion to
+force a stronger government upon the country; the letter of Nicola shows
+that at least some of the officers had harboured the notion of a
+monarchy; and the weakness of Congress had been revealed in the most
+startling manner by its flight before a squad of mutineers. It is one of
+the lessons of history that, in the virtual absence of a central
+government for which a need is felt, the want is apt to be supplied by
+the strongest organization in the country, whatever that may happen to
+be. It was in this way that the French army, a few years later, got
+control of the government of France and made its general emperor. In
+1783, if the impotence of Congress were to be as explicitly acknowledged
+as it was implicitly felt, the only national organization left in the
+country was the army, and when this was disbanded it seemed nevertheless
+to prolong its life under a new and dangerous form in the secret
+brotherhood of the Cincinnati. The cession of western lands to the
+confederacy was, moreover, completed at about this time, and one of the
+uses to which the new territory was to be put was the payment of claims
+due to the soldiers. It was distinctly feared, as is shown in a letter
+from Samuel Adams to Elbridge Gerry, that the members of the Cincinnati
+would acquire large tracts of western land under this arrangement, and,
+importing peasants from Germany, would grant farms to them on terms of
+military service and fealty, thus introducing into America the feudal
+system. In order to forestall any such movement, it was provided by
+Congress that in any new states formed out of the western territory no
+person holding a hereditary title should be admitted to citizenship.
+
+[Sidenote: Congress finds itself unable to carry out the provisions of
+the treaty.]
+
+[Sidenote: Persecution of Tories.]
+
+From the weakness of Congress as illustrated in its inability to raise
+money to pay the public debt and meet the current expenses of
+government, and from the popular dread of military usurpation which went
+along with the uneasy consciousness of that weakness, we have now to
+turn to another group of affairs in which the same point is still
+further illustrated and emphasized. We have seen how the commissioners
+of the United States in Paris had succeeded in making a treaty of peace
+with Great Britain on extremely favourable terms. So unpopular was the
+treaty in England, on account of the great concessions made to the
+Americans, that, as we have seen, the fall of Lord Shelburne's ministry
+was occasioned thereby. As an offset to these liberal concessions, of
+which the most considerable was the acknowledgment of the American claim
+to the northwestern territory, our confederate government was pledged to
+do all in its power to effect certain concessions which were demanded by
+England. That the American loyalists, whose property had been
+confiscated by various state governments, should be indemnified for
+their losses was a claim which, whatever Americans might think of it,
+England felt bound in honour to urge. That private debts, due from
+American to British creditors, should be faithfully discharged was the
+plainest dictate of common honesty. Congress, as we have seen, was bound
+by the treaty to recommend to the several states to desist from the
+persecution of Tories, and to give them an opportunity of recovering
+their estates; and it had been further agreed that all private debts
+should be discharged at their full value in sterling money. It now
+turned out that Congress was powerless to carry out the provisions of
+the treaty upon either of these points. The recommendations concerning
+the Tories were greeted with a storm of popular indignation. Since the
+beginning of the war these unfortunate persons had been treated with
+severity both by the legislatures and by the people. Many had been
+banished; others had fled the country, and against these refugees
+various harsh laws had been enacted. Their estates had been confiscated,
+and their return prohibited under penalty of imprisonment or death. Many
+others, who had remained in the country, were objects of suspicion and
+dislike in states where they had not, as in New York and the Carolinas,
+openly aided the enemy or taken part in Indian atrocities. Now, on the
+conclusion of peace, in utter disregard of Congress, fresh measures of
+vengeance were taken against these "fawning spaniels," as they were
+called, these "tools and minions of Britain." An article in the
+"Massachusetts Chronicle" expressed the common feeling: "As Hannibal
+swore never to be at peace with the Romans, so let every Whig swear, by
+his abhorrence of slavery, by liberty and religion, by the shades of
+departed friends who have fallen in battle, by the ghosts of those of
+our brethren who have been destroyed on board of prison-ships and in
+loathsome dungeons, never to be at peace with those fiends the refugees,
+whose thefts, murders, and treasons have filled the cup of woe." Tons of
+pamphlets, issued under the customary Latin pseudonyms, were filled with
+this truculent bombast; and like sentiments were thundered from the
+pulpit by men who had quite forgotten for the moment their duty of
+preaching reconciliation and forgiveness of injuries. Why should not
+these wretches, it was sarcastically asked, be driven at once from the
+country? Of course they could not desire to live under a free government
+which they had been at such pains to destroy. Let them go forthwith to
+his majesty's dominions, and live under the government they preferred.
+It would never do to let them stay here, to plot treason at their
+leisure; in a few years they would get control of all the states, and
+either hand them over to Great Britain again, or set up a Tory despotism
+on American soil. Such was the rubbish that passed current as argument
+with the majority of the people. A small party of moderate Whigs saw its
+absurdity, and urged that the Tories had much better remain at home,
+where they had lost all political influence, than go and found
+unfriendly colonies to the northward. The moderate Whigs were in favour
+of heeding the recommendation of Congress, and acting in accordance
+with the spirit of the treaty; and these humane and sensible views were
+shared by Gadsden and Marion in South Carolina, by Theodore Sedgwick in
+Massachusetts, and by Greene, Hamilton, and Jay. But any man who held
+such opinions, no matter how conspicuous his services had been, ran the
+risk of being accused of Tory sympathies. "Time-serving Whigs" and
+"trimmers" were the strangely inappropriate epithets hurled at men who,
+had they been in the slightest degree time-servers, would have shrunk
+from the thankless task of upholding good sense and humanity in the
+teeth of popular prejudice.
+
+[Sidenote: The Trespass Act of New York, 1784.]
+
+In none of the states did the loyalists receive severer treatment than
+in New York, and for obvious reasons. Throughout the war the frontier
+had been the scene of atrocities such as no other state, save perhaps
+South Carolina, had witnessed. Cherry Valley and Minisink were names of
+horror not easily forgotten, and the fate of Lieutenant Boyd and
+countless other victims called loudly for vengeance. The sins of the
+Butlers and their bloodthirsty followers were visited in robbery and
+insult upon unoffending men, who were like them in nothing but in being
+labelled with the epithet "Tory." During the seven years that the city
+of New York had been occupied by the British army, many of these
+loyalists had found shelter there. The Whig citizens, on the other hand,
+had been driven off the island, to shift as best they might in New
+Jersey, while their comfortable homes were seized and assigned by
+military orders to these very Tories. For seven years the refugee Whigs
+from across the Hudson had looked upon New York with feelings like those
+with which the mediaeval exile from Florence or Pisa was wont to regard
+his native city. They saw in it the home of enemies who had robbed them,
+the prison-house of gallant friends penned up to die of wanton ill-usage
+in foul ships' holds in the harbour. When at last the king's troops left
+the city, it was felt that a great day of reckoning had arrived. In
+September, 1783, two months before the evacuation, more than twelve
+thousand men, women, and children embarked for the Bahamas or for Nova
+Scotia, rather than stay and face the troubles that were coming. Many of
+these were refined and cultivated persons, and not all had been actively
+hostile to the American cause; many had simply accepted British
+protection. Against those who remained in the city the returning Whigs
+now proceeded with great severity. The violent party was dominant in the
+legislature, and George Clinton, the governor, put himself conspicuously
+at its head. A bill was passed disfranchising all such persons as had
+voluntarily stayed in neighbourhoods occupied by the British troops;
+their offence was called misprision of treason. But the council vetoed
+this bill as too wholesale in its operation, for it would have left some
+districts without voters enough to hold an election. An "iron-clad oath"
+was adopted instead, and no one was allowed to vote unless he could
+swear that he had never in anywise abetted the enemy. It was voted that
+no Tory who had left the state should be permitted to return; and a bill
+was passed known as the Trespass Act, whereby all persons who had quit
+their homes by reason of the enemy's presence might recover damages in
+an action of trespass against such persons as had since taken possession
+of the premises. Defendants in such cases were expressly barred from
+pleading a military order in justification of their possession. As there
+was scarcely a building on the island of New York that had not thus
+changed hands during the British occupation, it was easy to foresee what
+confusion must ensue. Everybody whose house had once been, for ever so
+few days, in the hands of a Tory now rushed into court with his action
+of trespass. Damages were rated at most exorbitant figures, and it
+became clear that the misdeeds of the enemy were about to be made the
+excuse for a carnival of spoliation, when all at once the test case of
+Rutgers _v._ Waddington brought upon the scene a sturdy defender of
+order, an advocate who was soon to become one of the foremost personages
+in American history.
+
+[Sidenote: Alexander Hamilton.]
+
+Of all the young men of that day, save perhaps William Pitt, the most
+precocious was Alexander Hamilton. He had already given promise of a
+great career before the breaking out of the war. He was born on the
+island of Nevis, in the West Indies, in 1757. His father belonged to
+that famous Scottish clan from which have come one of the most learned
+metaphysicians and one of the most original mathematicians of modern
+times. His mother was a French lady, of Huguenot descent, and
+biographers have been fond of tracing in his character the various
+qualities of his parents. To the shrewdness and persistence, the
+administrative ability, and the taste for abstract reasoning which we
+are wont to find associated in the highest type of Scottish mind he
+joined a truly French vivacity and grace. His earnestness, sincerity,
+and moral courage were characteristic alike of Puritan and of Huguenot.
+In the course of his short life he exhibited a remarkable
+many-sidedness. So great was his genius for organization that in many
+essential respects the American government is moving to-day along the
+lines which he was the first to mark out. As an economist he shared to
+some extent in the shortcomings of the age which preceded Adam Smith,
+but in the special department of finance he has been equalled by no
+other American statesman save Albert Gallatin. He was a splendid orator
+and brilliant writer, an excellent lawyer, and a clear-headed and
+industrious student of political history. He was also eminent as a
+political leader, although he lacked faith in democratic government, and
+a generous impatience of temperament sometimes led him to prefer short
+and arbitrary by-paths toward desirable ends, which can never be
+securely reached save along the broad but steep and arduous road of
+popular conviction. But with all Hamilton's splendid qualities, nothing
+about him is so remarkable as the early age at which these were
+developed. At the age of fifteen a brilliant newspaper article brought
+him into such repute in the little island of Nevis that he was sent to
+New York to avail himself of the best advantages afforded by the King's
+College, now known as Columbia. He had at first no definite intention
+of becoming an American citizen, but the thrilling events of the time
+appealed strongly to the earnest heart and powerful intelligence of this
+wonderful boy. At a gathering of the people of New York in July, 1774,
+his generous blood warmed, till a resistless impulse brought him on his
+feet to speak to the assembled multitude. It was no company of
+half-drunken idlers that thronged about him, but an assemblage of grave
+and responsible citizens, who looked with some astonishment upon this
+boy of seventeen years, short and slight in stature, yet erect and
+Caesar-like in bearing, with firm set mouth and great, dark, earnest
+eyes. His eloquent speech, full of sense and without a syllable of
+bombast, held his hearers entranced, and from that day Alexander
+Hamilton was a marked man. He began publishing anonymous pamphlets,
+which at first were attributed by some to Jay, and by others to
+Livingston. When their authorship was discovered, the loyalist party
+tried in vain to buy off the formidable youth. He kept up the
+pamphlet-war, in the course of which he wofully defeated Dr. Cooper, the
+Tory president of the college; but shortly afterward he defended the
+doctor's house against an angry mob, until that unpopular gentleman had
+succeeded in making his escape to a British ship. Hamilton served in the
+army throughout the war, for the most part as aid and secretary to
+Washington; but in 1781 he was a colonel in the line, and stormed a
+redoubt at Yorktown with distinguished skill and bravery. He married a
+daughter of Philip Schuyler, began the practice of law, and in 1782, at
+the age of twenty-five, was chosen a delegate to Congress.
+
+[Sidenote: The case of Rutgers _v._ Waddington.]
+
+In 1784, when the Trespass Act threw New York into confusion, Hamilton
+had come to be regarded as one of the most powerful advocates in the
+country. In the test case which now came before the courts he played a
+part of consummate boldness and heroism. Elizabeth Rutgers was a widow,
+who had fled from New York after its capture by General Howe. Her
+confiscated estate had passed into the hands of Joshua Waddington, a
+rich Tory merchant, and she now brought suit under the Trespass Act for
+its recovery. It was a case in which popular sympathy was naturally and
+strongly enlisted in behalf of the poor widow. That she should have been
+turned out of house and home was one of the many gross instances of
+wickedness wrought by the war. On the other hand, the disturbance
+wrought by the enforcement of the Trespass Act was already creating
+fresh wrongs much faster than it was righting old ones; and it is for
+such reasons as this that both in the common law and in the law of
+nations the principle has been firmly established that "the fruits of
+immovables belong to the captor as long as he remains in actual
+possession of them." The Trespass Act contravened this principle, and it
+also contravened the treaty. It moreover placed the state of New York in
+an attitude of defiance toward Congress, which had made the treaty and
+expressly urged upon the states to suspend the legislation against the
+Tories. On large grounds of public policy, therefore, the Trespass Act
+deserved to be set aside by the courts, and when Hamilton was asked to
+serve as counsel for the defendant he accepted the odious task without
+hesitation. There can be no better proof of his forensic ability than
+his winning a verdict, in such a case as this, from a hostile court that
+was largely influenced by the popular excitement. The decision nullified
+the Trespass Act, and forthwith mass meetings of the people and an extra
+session of the legislature condemned this action of the court. Hamilton
+was roundly abused, and his conduct was attributed to unworthy motives.
+But he faced the people as boldly as he had faced the court, and
+published a letter, under the signature of Phocion, setting forth in the
+clearest light the injustice and impolicy of extreme measures against
+the Tories. The popular wrath and disgust at Hamilton's course found
+expression in a letter from one Isaac Ledyard, a hot-headed pot-house
+politician, who signed himself Mentor. A war of pamphlets ensued between
+Mentor and Phocion. It was genius pitted against dulness, reason against
+passion; and reason wielded by genius won the day. The more intelligent
+and respectable citizens reluctantly admitted that Hamilton's arguments
+were unanswerable. A club of boon companions, to which Ledyard belonged,
+made the same admission by the peculiar manner in which it proposed to
+silence him. It was gravely proposed that the members of the club should
+pledge themselves one after another to challenge Hamilton to mortal
+combat, until some one of them should have the good fortune to kill him!
+The scheme met with general favour, but was defeated by the exertions
+of Ledyard himself, whose zeal was not ardent enough to condone
+treachery and murder. The incident well illustrates the intense
+bitterness of political passion at the time, as Hamilton's conduct shows
+him in the light of a most courageous and powerful defender of the
+central government. For nothing was more significant in the verdict
+which he had obtained than its implicit assertion of the rights of the
+United States as against the legislature of a single state.
+
+[Sidenote: Emigration of Tories.]
+
+In spite of the efforts of such men as Hamilton, life was made very
+uncomfortable for the Tories. In some states they were subjected to mob
+violence. Instances of tarring and feathering were not uncommon. The
+legislature of South Carolina was honourably distinguished for the good
+faith with which it endeavoured to enforce the recommendation of
+Congress; but the people, unable to forget the smoking ruins of
+plundered homes, were less lenient. Notices were posted ordering
+prominent loyalists to leave the country; the newspapers teemed with
+savage warnings; and finally, of those who tarried beyond a certain
+time, many were shot or hanged to trees. This extremity of bitterness,
+however, did not long continue. The instances of physical violence were
+mostly confined to the first two or three years after the close of the
+war. In most of the states the confiscating acts were after a while
+repealed, and many of the loyalists were restored to their estates. But
+the emigration which took place between 1783 and 1785 was very large. It
+has been estimated that 100,000 persons, or nearly three per cent. of
+the total white population, quit the country. Those from the southern
+states went mostly to the Bahamas and Florida; while those from the
+north laid the foundation of new British states in New Brunswick and
+Upper Canada. Many of these refugees appealed to the British government
+for indemnification for their losses, and their claims received prompt
+attention. A parliamentary commission was appointed to inquire into the
+matter, and by the year 1790 some $16,000,000 had been distributed among
+about 4,000 sufferers, while many others received grants of crown-lands,
+or half-pay as military officers, or special annuities, or appointments
+in the civil service. On the whole, the compensation which the refugees
+received from Parliament seems to have been much more ample than that
+which the ragged soldiers of our Revolutionary army ever received from
+Congress.
+
+[Sidenote: Congress is unable to enforce payment of debts to British
+creditors. England retaliates by refusing to surrender the western
+posts.]
+
+While the political passions resulting in this forced emigration of
+loyalists were such as naturally arise in the course of a civil war, the
+historian cannot but regret that the United States should have been
+deprived of the services of so many excellent citizens. In nearly all
+such cases of wholesale popular vengeance, it is the wrong individuals
+who suffer. We could well afford to dispense with the border-ruffians
+who abetted the Indians in their carnival of burning and scalping, but
+the refugees of 1784 were for the most part peaceful and unoffending
+families, above the average in education and refinement. The vicarious
+suffering inflicted upon them set nothing right, but simply increased
+the mass of wrong, while to the general interests of the country the
+loss of such people was in every way damaging. The immediate political
+detriment wrought at the time, though it is that which here most nearly
+concerns us, was perhaps the least important. Since Congress was
+manifestly unable to carry out the treaty, an excuse was furnished to
+England for declining to fulfil some of its provisions. In regard to the
+loyalists, indeed, the treaty had recognized that Congress possessed but
+an advisory power; but in the other provision concerning the payment of
+private debts, which in the popular mind was very much mixed up with the
+question of justice to the loyalists, the faith of the United States was
+distinctly pledged. On this point also Congress was powerless to enforce
+the treaty. Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia,
+and South Carolina had all enacted laws obstructing the collection of
+British debts; and in flat defiance of the treaty these statutes
+remained in force until after the downfall of the Confederation. The
+states were aware that such conduct needed an excuse, and one was soon
+forthcoming. Many negroes had left the country with the British fleet:
+some doubtless had sought their freedom; others, perhaps, had been
+kidnapped as booty, and sold to planters in the West Indies. The number
+of these black men carried away by the fleet had been magnified tenfold
+by popular rumour. Complaints had been made to Sir Guy Carleton, but he
+had replied that any negro who came within his lines was presumably a
+freeman, and he could not lend his aid in remanding such persons to
+slavery. Jay, as one of the treaty commissioners, gave it as his opinion
+that Carleton was quite right in this, but he thought that where a loss
+of slaves could be proved, Great Britain was bound to make pecuniary
+compensation to the owners. The matter was wrangled over for several
+years, in the state legislatures, in town and county meetings, at
+dinner-tables, and in bar-rooms, with the general result that, until
+such compensation should be made, the statutes hindering the collection
+of debts would not be repealed. In retaliation for this, Great Britain
+refused to withdraw her garrisons from the western fortresses, which the
+treaty had surrendered to the United States. This measure was very
+keenly felt by the people. As an assertion of superior strength, it was
+peculiarly galling to our weak and divided confederacy, and it also
+wrought us direct practical injury. It encouraged the Indian tribes in
+their depredations on the frontier, and it deprived American merchants
+of an immensely lucrative trade in furs. In the spring of 1787 there
+were advertised for sale in London more than 360,000 skins, worth
+$1,200,000 at the lowest estimate; and had the posts been surrendered
+according to the treaty, all this would have passed through the hands of
+American merchants. The London fur-traders were naturally loth to lose
+their control over this business, and in the language of modern politics
+they brought "pressure" to bear on the government to retain the
+fortresses as long as possible. The American refusal to pay British
+creditors furnished an excellent excuse, while the weakness of Congress
+made any kind of reprisal impossible; and it was not until Washington's
+second term as president, after our national credit had been restored
+and the strength of our new government made manifest, that England
+surrendered this chain of strongholds, commanding the woods and waters
+of our northwestern frontier.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Barbarous superstitions about trade.]
+
+At the close of the eighteenth century the barbarous superstitions of
+the Middle Ages concerning trade between nations still flourished with
+scarcely diminished vitality. The epoch-making work of Adam Smith had
+been published in the same year in which the United States declared
+their independence. The one was the great scientific event, as the other
+was the great political event of the age; but of neither the one nor the
+other were the scope and purport fathomed at the time. Among the
+foremost statesmen, those who, like Shelburne and Gallatin, understood
+the principles of the "Wealth of Nations" were few indeed. The simple
+principle that when two parties trade both must be gainers, or one would
+soon stop trading, was generally lost sight of; and most commercial
+legislation proceeded upon the theory that in trade, as in gambling or
+betting, what the one party gains the other must lose. Hence towns,
+districts, and nations surrounded themselves with walls of legislative
+restrictions intended to keep out the monster Trade, or to admit him
+only on strictest proof that he could do no harm. On this barbarous
+theory, the use of a colony consisted in its being a customer which you
+could compel to trade with yourself, while you could prevent it from
+trading with anybody else; and having secured this point, you could
+cunningly arrange things by legislation so as to throw all the loss upon
+this enforced customer, and keep all the gain to yourself. In the
+seventeenth and eighteenth centuries all the commercial legislation of
+the great colonizing states was based upon this theory of the use of a
+colony. For effectiveness, it shared to some extent the characteristic
+features of legislation for making water run up hill. It retarded
+commercial development all over the world, fostered monopolies, made the
+rich richer and the poor poorer, hindered the interchange of ideas and
+the refinement of manners, and sacrificed millions of human lives in
+misdirected warfare; but what it was intended to do it did not do. The
+sturdy race of smugglers--those despised pioneers of a higher
+civilization--thrived in defiance of kings and parliaments; and as it
+was impossible to carry out such legislation thoroughly without stopping
+trade altogether, colonies and mother countries contrived to increase
+their wealth in spite of it. The colonies, however, understood the
+animus of the theory in so far as it was directed against them, and the
+revolutionary sentiment in America had gained much of its strength from
+the protest against this one-sided justice. In one of its most important
+aspects, the Revolution was a deadly blow aimed at the old system of
+trade restrictions. It was to a certain extent a step in realization of
+the noble doctrines of Adam Smith. But where the scientific thinker
+grasped the whole principle involved in the matter, the practical
+statesmen saw only the special application which seemed to concern them
+for the moment. They all understood that the Revolution had set them
+free to trade with other countries than England, but very few of them
+understood that, whatever countries trade together, the one cannot hope
+to benefit by impoverishing the other.
+
+This point is much better understood in England to-day than in the
+United States; but a century ago there was little to choose between the
+two countries in ignorance of political economy. England had gained
+great wealth and power through trade with her rapidly growing American
+colonies. One of her chief fears, in the event of American independence,
+had been the possible loss of that trade. English merchants feared that
+American commerce, when no longer confined to its old paths by
+legislation, would somehow find its way to France and Holland and Spain
+and other countries, until nothing would be left for England. The
+Revolution worked no such change, however. The principal trade of the
+United States was with England, as before, because England could best
+supply the goods that Americans wanted; and it is such considerations,
+and not acts of Parliament, that determine trade in its natural and
+proper channels. In 1783 Pitt introduced into Parliament a bill which
+would have secured mutual unconditional free trade between the two
+countries; and this was what such men as Franklin, Jefferson, and
+Madison desired. Could this bill have passed, the hard feelings
+occasioned by the war would soon have died out, the commercial progress
+of both countries would have been promoted, and the stupid measures
+which led to a second war within thirty years might have been prevented.
+But the wisdom of Pitt found less favour in Parliament than the dense
+stupidity of Lord Sheffield, who thought that to admit Americans to the
+carrying trade would undermine the naval power of Great Britain. Pitt's
+measure was defeated, and the regulation of commerce with America was
+left to the king in council. Orders were forthwith passed as if upon the
+theory that America poor would be a better customer than America rich.
+
+[Sidenote: Ship-building in New England.]
+
+[Sidenote: British navigation acts and orders in council directed
+against American commerce.]
+
+The carrying trade to the West Indies had been one of the most important
+branches of American industry. The men of New England were famous for
+seamanship, and better and cheaper ships could be built in the seaports
+of Massachusetts than anywhere in Great Britain. An oak vessel could be
+built at Gloucester or Salem for twenty-four dollars per ton; a ship of
+live-oak or American cedar cost not more than thirty-eight dollars per
+ton. On the other hand, fir vessels built on the Baltic cost thirty-five
+dollars per ton, and nowhere in England, France, or Holland could a ship
+be made of oak for less than fifty dollars per ton. Often the cost was
+as high as sixty dollars. It was not strange, therefore, that before the
+war more than one third of the tonnage afloat under the British flag was
+launched from American dock-yards. The war had violently deprived
+England of this enormous advantage, and now she sought to make the
+privation perpetual, in the delusive hope of confining British trade to
+British keels, and in the belief that it was the height of wisdom to
+impoverish the nation which she regarded as her best customer. In July,
+1783, an order in council proclaimed that henceforth all trade between
+the United States and the British West Indies must be carried on in
+British-built ships, owned and navigated by British subjects. A serious
+blow was thus dealt not only at American shipping, but also at the
+interchange of commodities between the states and the islands, which was
+greatly hampered by this restriction. During the whole of the eighteenth
+century the West India sugar trade with the North American colonies and
+with Great Britain had been of immense value to all parties, and all had
+been seriously damaged by the curtailment of it due to the war. Now that
+the artificial state of things created by the war was to be perpetuated
+by legislation, the prospect of repairing the loss seemed indefinitely
+postponed. Moreover, even in trading directly with Great Britain,
+American ships were only allowed to bring in articles produced in the
+particular states of which their owners were citizens,--an enactment
+which seemed to add insult to injury, inasmuch as it directed especial
+attention to the want of union among the thirteen states. Great
+indignation was aroused in America, and reprisals were talked of, but
+efforts were first made to obtain a commercial treaty.
+
+[Sidenote: John Adams tries in vain to negotiate a commercial treaty.]
+
+In 1785 Franklin returned from France, and Jefferson was sent as
+minister in his stead, while John Adams became the first representative
+of the United States at the British court. Adams was at first very
+courteously received by George III., and presently set to work to
+convince Lord Carmarthen, the foreign secretary, of the desirableness of
+unrestricted intercourse between the two countries. But popular opinion
+in England was obstinately set against him. But for the Navigation Act
+and the orders in council, it was said, all ships would by and by come
+to be built in America, and every time a frigate was wanted for the navy
+the Lords of Admiralty would have to send over to Boston or Philadelphia
+and order one. Rather than do such a thing as this, it was thought that
+the British navy should content itself with vessels of inferior
+workmanship and higher cost, built in British dock-yards. Thirty years
+after, England gathered an unexpected fruit of this narrow policy, when,
+to her intense bewilderment, she saw frigate after frigate outsailed and
+defeated in single combat with American antagonists. Owing to her
+exclusive measures, the rapid improvement in American shipbuilding had
+gone on quite beyond her ken, until she was thus rudely awakened to it.
+With similar short-sighted jealousy, it was argued that the American
+share in the whale-fishery and in the Newfoundland fishery should be
+curtailed as much as possible. Spermaceti oil was much needed in
+England: complaints were rife of robbery and murder in the dimly lighted
+streets of London and other great cities. But it was thought that if
+American ships could carry oil to England and salt fish to Jamaica, the
+supply of seamen for the British navy would be diminished; and
+accordingly such privileges must not be granted the Americans unless
+valuable privileges could be granted in return. But the government of
+the United States could grant no privileges because it could impose no
+restrictions. British manufactured goods were needed in America, and
+Congress, which could levy no duties, had no power to keep them out.
+British merchants and manufacturers, it was argued, already enjoyed all
+needful privileges in American ports, and accordingly they asked no
+favours and granted none.
+
+Such were the arguments to which Adams was obliged to listen. The
+popular feeling was so strong that Pitt could not have stemmed it if he
+would. It was in vain that Adams threatened reprisals, and urged that
+the British measures would defeat their own purpose. "The end of the
+Navigation Act," said he, "as expressed in its own preamble, is to
+confine the commerce of the colonies to the mother country; but now we
+are become independent states, instead of confining our trade to Great
+Britain, it will drive it to other countries:" and he suggested that the
+Americans might make a navigation act in their turn, admitting to
+American ports none but American-built ships, owned and commanded by
+Americans. But under the articles of confederation such a threat was
+idle, and the British government knew it to be so. Thirteen separate
+state governments could never be made to adopt any such measure in
+concert. The weakness of Congress had been fatally revealed in its
+inability to protect the loyalists or to enforce the payment of debts,
+and in its failure to raise a revenue for meeting its current expenses.
+A government thus slighted at home was naturally despised abroad.
+England neglected to send a minister to Philadelphia, and while Adams
+was treated politely, his arguments were unheeded. Whether in this
+behaviour Pitt's government was influenced or not by political as well
+as economical reasons, it was certain that a political purpose was
+entertained by the king and approved by many people. There was an
+intention of humiliating the Americans, and it was commonly said that
+under a sufficient weight of commercial distress the states would break
+up their feeble union, and come straggling back, one after another, to
+their old allegiance. The fiery spirit of Adams could ill brook this
+contemptuous treatment of the nation which he represented. Though he
+favoured very liberal commercial relations with the whole world, he
+could see no escape from the present difficulties save in systematic
+retaliation. "I should be sorry," he said, "to adopt a monopoly, but,
+driven to the necessity of it, I would not do things by halves.... If
+monopolies and exclusions are the only arms of defence against
+monopolies and exclusions, I would venture upon them without fear of
+offending Dean Tucker or the ghost of Dr. Quesnay." That is to say,
+certain commercial privileges must be withheld from Great Britain, in
+order to be offered to her in return for reciprocal privileges. It was a
+miserable policy to be forced to adopt, for such restrictions upon trade
+inevitably cut both ways. Like the non-importation agreement of 1768
+and the embargo of 1808, such a policy was open to the objections
+familiarly urged against biting off one's own nose. It was injuring
+one's self in the hope of injuring somebody else. It was perpetuating in
+time of peace the obstacles to commerce generated by a state of war. In
+a certain sense, it was keeping up warfare by commercial instead of
+military methods, and there was danger that it might lead to a renewal
+of armed conflict. Nevertheless, the conduct of the British government
+seemed to Adams to leave no other course open. But such "means of
+preserving ourselves," he said, "can never be secured until Congress
+shall be made supreme in foreign commerce."
+
+[Sidenote: Reprisal impossible; the states impose conflicting duties.]
+
+It was obvious enough that the separate action of the states upon such a
+question was only adding to the general uncertainty and confusion. In
+1785 New York laid a double duty on all goods whatever imported in
+British ships. In the same year Pennsylvania passed the first of the
+long series of American tariff acts, designed to tax the whole community
+for the alleged benefit of a few greedy manufacturers. Massachusetts
+sought to establish committees of correspondence for the purpose of
+entering into a new non-importation agreement, and its legislature
+resolved that "the present powers of the Congress of the United States,
+as contained in the articles of confederation, are not fully adequate to
+the great purposes they were originally designed to effect." The
+Massachusetts delegates in Congress--Gerry, Holton, and King--were
+instructed to recommend a general convention of the states for the
+purpose of revising and amending the articles of confederation; but the
+delegates refused to comply with their instructions, and set forth their
+reasons in a paper which was approved by Samuel Adams, and caused the
+legislature to reconsider its action. It was feared that a call for a
+convention might seem too much like an open expression of a want of
+confidence in Congress, and might thereby weaken it still further
+without accomplishing any good result. For the present, as a temporary
+expedient, Massachusetts took counsel with New Hampshire, and the two
+states passed navigation acts, prohibiting British ships from carrying
+goods out of their harbours, and imposing a fourfold duty upon all such
+goods as they should bring in. A discriminating tonnage duty was also
+laid upon all foreign vessels. Rhode Island soon after adopted similar
+measures. In Congress a scheme for a uniform navigation act, to be
+concurred in and passed by all the thirteen states, was suggested by one
+of the Maryland delegates; but it was opposed by Richard Henry Lee and
+most of the delegates from the far south. The southern states, having no
+ships or seamen of their own, feared that the exclusion of British
+competition might enable northern ship-owners to charge exorbitant rates
+for carrying their rice and tobacco, thus subjecting them to a ruinous
+monopoly; but the gallant Moultrie, then governor of South Carolina,
+taking a broader view of the case, wrote to Bowdoin, governor of
+Massachusetts, asserting the paramount need of harmonious and united
+action. In the Virginia assembly, a hot-headed member, named Thurston,
+declared himself in doubt "whether it would not be better to encourage
+the British rather than the eastern marine;" but the remark was greeted
+with hisses and groans, and the speaker was speedily put down. Amid such
+mutual jealousies and misgivings, during the year 1785 acts were passed
+by ten states granting to Congress the power of regulating commerce for
+the ensuing thirteen years. The three states which refrained from acting
+were Georgia, South Carolina, and Delaware. The acts of the other ten
+were, as might have been expected, a jumble of incongruities. North
+Carolina granted all the power that was asked, but stipulated that when
+all the states should have done likewise their acts should be summed up
+in a new article of confederation. Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and
+Maryland had fixed the date at which the grant was to take effect, while
+Rhode Island provided that it should not expire until after the lapse of
+twenty-five years. The grant by New Hampshire allowed the power to be
+used only in one specified way,--by restricting the duties imposable by
+the several states. The grants of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey,
+and Virginia were not to take effect until all the others should go into
+operation. The only thing which Congress could do with these acts was to
+refer them back to the several legislatures, with a polite request to
+try to reduce them to something like uniformity.
+
+[Sidenote: Commercial war between different states.]
+
+Meanwhile, the different states, with their different tariff and tonnage
+acts, began to make commercial war upon one another. No sooner had the
+other three New England states virtually closed their ports to British
+shipping than Connecticut threw hers wide open, an act which she
+followed up by laying duties upon imports from Massachusetts.
+Pennsylvania discriminated against Delaware, and New Jersey, pillaged at
+once by both her greater neighbours, was compared to a cask tapped at
+both ends. The conduct of New York became especially selfish and
+blameworthy. That rapid growth which was so soon to carry the city and
+the state to a position of primacy in the Union had already begun. After
+the departure of the British the revival of business went on with leaps
+and bounds. The feeling of local patriotism waxed strong, and in no one
+was it more completely manifested than in George Clinton, the
+Revolutionary general, whom the people elected governor for nine
+successive terms. From a humble origin, by dint of shrewdness and
+untiring push, Clinton had come to be for the moment the most powerful
+man in the state of New York. He had come to look upon the state almost
+as if it were his own private manor, and his life was devoted to
+furthering its interests as he understood them. It was his first article
+of faith that New York must be the greatest state in the Union. But his
+conceptions of statesmanship were extremely narrow. In his mind, the
+welfare of New York meant the pulling down and thrusting aside of all
+her neighbours and rivals. He was the vigorous and steadfast advocate of
+every illiberal and exclusive measure, and the most uncompromising
+enemy to a closer union of the states. His great popular strength and
+the commercial importance of the community in which he held sway made
+him at this time the most dangerous man in America. The political
+victories presently to be won by Hamilton, Schuyler, and Livingston,
+without which our grand and pacific federal union could not have been
+brought into being, were victories won by most desperate fighting
+against the dogged opposition of Clinton. Under his guidance, the
+history of New York, during the five years following the peace of 1783,
+was a shameful story of greedy monopoly and sectional hate. Of all the
+thirteen states, none behaved worse except Rhode Island.
+
+A single instance, which occurred early in 1787, may serve as an
+illustration. The city of New York, with its population of 30,000 souls,
+had long been supplied with firewood from Connecticut, and with butter
+and cheese, chickens and garden vegetables, from the thrifty farms of
+New Jersey. This trade, it was observed, carried thousands of dollars
+out of the city and into the pockets of detested Yankees and despised
+Jerseymen. It was ruinous to domestic industry, said the men of New
+York. It must be stopped by those effective remedies of the Sangrado
+school of economic doctors, a navigation act and a protective tariff.
+Acts were accordingly passed, obliging every Yankee sloop which came
+down through Hell Gate, and every Jersey market boat which was rowed
+across from Paulus Hook to Cortlandt Street, to pay entrance fees and
+obtain clearances at the custom-house, just as was done by ships from
+London or Hamburg; and not a cart-load of Connecticut firewood could be
+delivered at the back-door of a country-house in Beekman Street until it
+should have paid a heavy duty. Great and just was the wrath of the
+farmers and lumbermen. The New Jersey legislature made up its mind to
+retaliate. The city of New York had lately bought a small patch of
+ground on Sandy Hook, and had built a light-house there. This
+light-house was the one weak spot in the heel of Achilles where a
+hostile arrow could strike, and New Jersey gave vent to her indignation
+by laying a tax of $1,800 a year on it. Connecticut was equally prompt.
+At a great meeting of business men, held at New London, it was
+unanimously agreed to suspend all commercial intercourse with New York.
+Every merchant signed an agreement, under penalty of $250 for the first
+offence, not to send any goods whatever into the hated state for a
+period of twelve months. By such retaliatory measures, it was hoped that
+New York might be compelled to rescind her odious enactment. But such
+meetings and such resolves bore an ominous likeness to the meetings and
+resolves which in the years before 1775 had heralded a state of war; and
+but for the good work done by the federal convention another five years
+would scarcely have elapsed before shots would have been fired and seeds
+of perennial hatred sown on the shores that look toward Manhattan
+Island.
+
+[Sidenote: Disputes about territory; disasters in the valley of Wyoming,
+1784.]
+
+To these commercial disputes there were added disputes about territory.
+The chronic quarrel between Connecticut and Pennsylvania over the valley
+of Wyoming was decided in the autumn of 1782 by a special federal
+court, appointed in accordance with the articles of confederation. The
+prize was adjudged to Pennsylvania, and the government of Connecticut
+submitted as gracefully as possible. But new troubles were in store for
+the inhabitants of that beautiful region. The traces of the massacre of
+1778 had disappeared, the houses had been rebuilt, new settlers had come
+in, and the pretty villages had taken on their old look of contentment
+and thrift, when in the spring of 1784 there came an accumulation of
+disasters. During a very cold winter great quantities of snow had
+fallen, and lay piled in huge masses on the mountain sides, until in
+March a sudden thaw set in. The Susquehanna rose, and overflowed the
+valley, and great blocks of ice drifted here and there, carrying death
+and destruction with them. Houses, barns, and fences were swept away,
+the cattle were drowned, the fruit trees broken down, the stores of food
+destroyed, and over the whole valley there lay a stratum of gravel and
+pebbles. The people were starving with cold and hunger, and President
+Dickinson urged the legislature to send prompt relief to the sufferers.
+But the hearts of the members were as flint, and their talk was
+incredibly wicked. Not a penny would they give to help the accursed
+Yankees. It served them right. If they had stayed in Connecticut, where
+they belonged, they would have kept out of harm's way. And with a
+blasphemy thinly veiled in phrases of pious unction, the desolation of
+the valley was said to have been contrived by the Deity with the
+express object of punishing these trespassers. But the cruelty of the
+Pennsylvania legislature was not confined to words. A scheme was devised
+for driving out the settlers and partitioning their lands among a
+company of speculators. A force of militia was sent to Wyoming,
+commanded by a truculent creature named Patterson. The ostensible
+purpose was to assist in restoring order in the valley, but the
+behaviour of the soldiers was such as would have disgraced a horde of
+barbarians. They stole what they could find, dealt out blows to the men
+and insults to the women, until their violence was met with violence in
+return. Then Patterson sent a letter to President Dickinson, accusing
+the farmers of sedition, and hinting that extreme measures were
+necessary. Having thus, as he thought, prepared the way, he attacked the
+settlement, turned some five hundred people out-of-doors, and burned
+their houses to the ground. The wretched victims, many of them tender
+women, or infirm old men, or little children, were driven into the
+wilderness at the point of the bayonet, and told to find their way to
+Connecticut without further delay. Heartrending scenes ensued. Many died
+of exhaustion, or furnished food for wolves. But this was more than the
+Pennsylvania legislature had intended. Patterson's zeal had carried him
+too far. He was recalled, and the sheriff of Northumberland County was
+sent, with a posse of men, to protect the settlers. Patterson disobeyed,
+however, and withdrawing his men to a fortified lair in the mountains,
+kept up a guerilla warfare. All the Connecticut men in the neighbouring
+country flew to arms. Men were killed on both sides, and presently
+Patterson was besieged. A regiment of soldiers was then sent from
+Philadelphia, under Colonel Armstrong, who had formerly been on Gates's
+staff, the author of the incendiary Newburgh address. On arriving in the
+valley, Armstrong held a parley with the Connecticut men, and persuaded
+them to lay down their arms; assuring them on his honour that they
+should meet with no ill treatment, and that their enemy, Patterson,
+should be disarmed also. Having thus fallen into this soldier's
+clutches, they were forthwith treated as prisoners. Seventy-six of them
+were handcuffed and sent under guard, some to Easton and some to
+Northumberland, where they were thrown into jail.
+
+Great was the indignation in New England when these deeds were heard of.
+The matter had become very serious. A war between Connecticut and
+Pennsylvania might easily grow out of it. But the danger was averted
+through a very singular feature in the Pennsylvania constitution. In
+order to hold its legislature in check, Pennsylvania had a council of
+censors, which was assembled once in seven years in order to inquire
+whether the state had been properly governed during the interval. Soon
+after the troubles in Wyoming the regular meeting of the censors was
+held, and the conduct of Armstrong and Patterson was unreservedly
+condemned. A hot controversy ensued between the legislature and the
+censors, and as the people set great store by the latter peculiar
+institution, public sympathy was gradually awakened for the sufferers.
+The wickedness of the affair began to dawn upon people's minds, and
+they were ashamed of what had been done. Patterson and Armstrong were
+frowned down, the legislature disavowed their acts, and it was ordered
+that full reparation should be made to the persecuted settlers of
+Wyoming.[4]
+
+[Sidenote: Troubles in the Green Mountains, 1777-84.]
+
+In the Green Mountains and on the upper waters of the Connecticut there
+had been trouble for many years. In the course of the Revolutionary War,
+the fierce dispute between New York and New Hampshire for the possession
+of the Green Mountains came in from time to time to influence most
+curiously the course of events. It was closely connected with the
+intrigues against General Schuyler, and thus more remotely with the
+Conway cabal and the treason of Arnold. About the time of Burgoyne's
+invasion the association of Green Mountain Boys endeavoured to cut the
+Gordian knot by declaring Vermont an independent state, and applying to
+the Continental Congress for admission into the Union. The New York
+delegates in Congress succeeded in defeating this scheme, but the
+Vermont people went on and framed their constitution. Thomas Chittenden,
+a man of rough manners but very considerable ability, a farmer and
+innkeeper, like Israel Putnam, was chosen governor, and held that
+position for many years. New Hampshire thus far had not actively opposed
+these measures, but fresh grounds of quarrel were soon at hand. Several
+towns on the east bank of the Connecticut River wished to escape from
+the jurisdiction of New Hampshire. They preferred to belong to Vermont,
+because it was not within the Union, and accordingly not liable to
+requisitions of taxes from the Continental Congress. It was conveniently
+remembered that by the original grant, in the reign of Charles II., New
+Hampshire extended only sixty miles from the coast. Vermont was at first
+inclined to assent, but finding the scheme unpopular in Congress, and
+not wishing to offend that body, she changed her mind. The towns on both
+banks of the river then tried to organize themselves into a middle
+state,--a sort of Lotharingia on the banks of this New World Rhine,--to
+be called New Connecticut. By this time New Hampshire was aroused, and
+she called attention to the fact that she still believed herself
+entitled to dominion over the whole of Vermont. Massachusetts now began
+to suspect that the upshot of the matter would be the partition of the
+whole disputed territory between New Hampshire and New York, and,
+ransacking her ancient grants and charters, she decided to set up a
+claim on her own part to the southernmost towns in Vermont. Thus goaded
+on all sides, Vermont adopted an aggressive policy. She not only annexed
+the towns east of the Connecticut River, but also asserted sovereignty
+over the towns in New York as far as the Hudson. New York sent troops to
+the threatened frontier, New Hampshire prepared to do likewise, and for
+a moment war seemed inevitable. But here, as in so many other instances,
+Washington appeared as peace-maker, and prevailed upon Governor
+Chittenden to use his influence in getting the dangerous claims
+withdrawn. After the spring of 1784 the outlook was less stormy in the
+Green Mountains. The conflicting claims were allowed to lie dormant, but
+the possibilities of mischief remained, and the Vermont question was not
+finally settled until after the adoption of the Federal Constitution.
+Meanwhile, on the debatable frontier between Vermont and New York the
+embers of hatred smouldered. Barns and houses were set on fire, and
+belated wayfarers were found mysteriously murdered in the depths of the
+forest.
+
+[Sidenote: One nation or thirteen?]
+
+Incidents like these of Wyoming and Vermont seem trivial, perhaps, when
+contrasted with the lurid tales of border warfare in older times between
+half-civilized peoples of mediaeval Europe, as we read them in the pages
+of Froissart and Sir Walter Scott. But their historic lesson is none the
+less clear. Though they lift the curtain but a little way, they show us
+a glimpse of the untold dangers and horrors from which the adoption of
+our Federal Constitution has so thoroughly freed us that we can only
+with some effort realize how narrowly we have escaped them. It is fit
+that they should be borne in mind, that we may duly appreciate the
+significance of the reign of law and order which has been established on
+this continent during the greater part of a century. When reported in
+Europe, such incidents were held to confirm the opinion that the
+American confederacy was going to pieces. With quarrels about trade and
+quarrels about boundaries, we seemed to be treading the old-fashioned
+paths of anarchy, even as they had been trodden in other ages and other
+parts of the world. It was natural that people in Europe should think
+so, because there was no historic precedent to help them in forming a
+different opinion. No one could possibly foresee that within five years
+a number of gentlemen at Philadelphia, containing among themselves a
+greater amount of political sagacity than had ever before been brought
+together within the walls of a single room, would amicably discuss the
+situation and agree upon a new system of government whereby the dangers
+might be once for all averted. Still less could any one foresee that
+these gentlemen would not only agree upon a scheme among themselves, but
+would actually succeed, without serious civil dissension, in making the
+people of thirteen states adopt, defend, and cherish it. History
+afforded no example of such a gigantic act of constructive
+statesmanship. It was, moreover, a strange and apparently fortuitous
+combination of circumstances that were now preparing the way for it and
+making its accomplishment possible. No one could forecast the future.
+When our ministers and agents in Europe raised the question as to making
+commercial treaties, they were disdainfully asked whether European
+powers were expected to deal with thirteen governments or with one. If
+it was answered that the United States constituted a single government
+so far as their relations with foreign powers were concerned, then we
+were forthwith twitted with our failure to keep our engagements with
+England with regard to the loyalists and the collection of private
+debts. Yes, we see, said the European diplomats; the United States are
+one nation to-day and thirteen to-morrow, according as may seem to
+subserve their selfish interests. Jefferson, at Paris, was told again
+and again that it was useless for the French government to enter into
+any agreement with the United States, as there was no certainty that it
+would be fulfilled on our part; and the same things were said all over
+Europe. Toward the close of the war most of the European nations had
+seemed ready to enter into commercial arrangements with the United
+States, but all save Holland speedily lost interest in the subject. John
+Adams had succeeded in making a treaty with Holland in 1782. Frederick
+the Great treated us more civilly than other sovereigns. One of the last
+acts of his life was to conclude a treaty for ten years with the United
+States; asserting the principle that free ships make free goods, taking
+arms and military stores out of the class of contraband, agreeing to
+refrain from privateering even in case of war between the two countries,
+and in other respects showing a liberal and enlightened spirit.
+
+[Sidenote: Failure of American credit; John Adams begging in Holland,
+1784.]
+
+This treaty was concluded in 1786. It scarcely touched the subject of
+international trade in time of peace, but it was valuable as regarded
+the matters it covered, and in the midst of the general failure of
+American diplomacy in Europe it fell pleasantly upon our ears. Our
+diplomacy had failed because our weakness had been proclaimed to the
+world. We were bullied by England, insulted by France and Spain, and
+looked askance at in Holland. The humiliating position in which our
+ministers were placed by the beggarly poverty of Congress was something
+almost beyond credence. It was by no means unusual for the
+superintendent of finance, when hard pushed for money, to draw upon our
+foreign ministers, and then sell the drafts for cash. This was not only
+not unusual; it was an established custom. It was done again and again,
+when there was not the smallest ground for supposing that the minister
+upon whom the draft was made would have any funds wherewith to meet it.
+He must go and beg the money. That was part of his duty as envoy,--to
+solicit loans without security for a government that could not raise
+enough money by taxation to defray its current expenses. It was
+sickening work. Just before John Adams had been appointed minister to
+England, and while he was visiting in London, he suddenly learned that
+drafts upon him had been presented to his bankers in Amsterdam to the
+amount of more than a million florins. Less than half a million florins
+were on hand to meet these demands, and unless something were done at
+once the greater part of this paper would go back to America protested.
+Adams lost not a moment in starting for Holland. In these modern days of
+precision in travel, when we can translate space into time, the distance
+between London and Amsterdam is eleven hours. It was accomplished by
+Adams, after innumerable delays and vexations and no little danger, in
+fifty-four days. The bankers had contrived, by ingenious excuses, to
+keep the drafts from going to protest until the minister's arrival, but
+the gazettes were full of the troubles of Congress and the bickerings
+of the states, and everybody was suspicious. Adams applied in vain to
+the regency of Amsterdam. The promise of the American government was not
+regarded as valid security for a sum equivalent to about three hundred
+thousand dollars. The members of the regency were polite, but
+inexorable. They could not make a loan on such terms; it was
+unbusinesslike and contrary to precedent. Finding them immovable, Adams
+was forced to apply to professional usurers and Jew brokers, from whom,
+after three weeks of perplexity and humiliation, he obtained a loan at
+exorbitant interest, and succeeded in meeting the drafts. It was only
+too plain, as he mournfully confessed, that American credit was dead.
+Such were the trials of our American ministers in Europe in the dark
+days of the League of Friendship. It was not a solitary, but a typical,
+instance. John Jay's experience at the unfriendly court of Spain was
+perhaps even more trying.
+
+[Sidenote: The Barbary pirates.]
+
+European governments might treat us with cold disdain, and European
+bankers might pronounce our securities worthless, but there was one
+quarter of the world from which even worse measure was meted out to us.
+Of all the barbarous communities with which the civilized world has had
+to deal in modern times, perhaps none have made so much trouble as the
+Mussulman states on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. After the
+breaking up of the great Moorish kingdoms of the Middle Ages, this
+region had fallen under the nominal control of the Turkish sultans as
+lords paramount of the orthodox Mohammedan world. Its miserable
+populations became the prey of banditti. Swarms of half-savage
+chieftains settled down upon the land like locusts, and out of such a
+pandemonium of robbery and murder as has scarcely been equalled in
+historic times the pirate states of Morocco and Algiers, Tunis and
+Tripoli, gradually emerged. Of these communities history has not one
+good word to say. In these fair lands, once illustrious for the genius
+and virtues of a Hannibal and the profound philosophy of St. Augustine,
+there grew up some of the most terrible despotisms ever known to the
+world. The things done daily by the robber sovereigns were such as to
+make a civilized imagination recoil with horror. One of these cheerful
+creatures, who reigned in the middle of the eighteenth century, and was
+called Muley Abdallah, especially prided himself on his peculiar skill
+in mounting a horse. Resting his left hand upon the horse's neck, as he
+sprang into the saddle he simultaneously swung the sharp scimiter in his
+right hand so deftly as to cut off the head of the groom who held the
+bridle. From his behaviour in these sportive moods one may judge what he
+was capable of on serious occasions. He was a fair sample of the Barbary
+monarchs. The foreign policy of these wretches was summed up in piracy
+and blackmail. Their corsairs swept the Mediterranean and ventured far
+out upon the ocean, capturing merchant vessels, and murdering or
+enslaving their crews. Of the rich booty, a fixed proportion was paid
+over to the robber sovereign, and the rest was divided among the gang.
+So lucrative was this business that it attracted hardy ruffians from
+all parts of Europe, and the misery they inflicted upon mankind during
+four centuries was beyond calculation. One of their favourite practices
+was the kidnapping of eminent or wealthy persons, in the hope of
+extorting ransom. Cervantes and Vincent de Paul were among the
+celebrated men who thus tasted the horrors of Moorish slavery; but it
+was a calamity that might fall to the lot of any man, or woman, and it
+was but rarely that the victims ever regained their freedom.
+
+[Sidenote: American citizens kidnapped.]
+
+Against these pirates the governments of Europe contended in vain. Swift
+cruisers frequently captured their ships, and from the days of Joan of
+Arc down to the days of Napoleon their skeletons swung from long rows of
+gibbets on all the coasts of Europe, as a terror and a warning. But
+their losses were easily repaired, and sometimes they cruised in fleets
+of seventy or eighty sail, defying the navies of England and France. It
+was not until after England, in Nelson's time, had acquired supremacy in
+the Mediterranean that this dreadful scourge was destroyed. Americans,
+however, have just ground for pride in recollecting that their
+government was foremost in chastising these pirates in their own
+harbours. The exploits of our little navy in the Mediterranean at the
+beginning of the present century form an interesting episode in American
+history, but in the weak days of the Confederation our commerce was
+plundered with impunity, and American citizens were seized and sold into
+slavery in the markets of Algiers and Tripoli. One reason for the long
+survival of this villainy was the low state of humanity among European
+nations. An Englishman's sympathy was but feebly aroused by the plunder
+of Frenchmen, and the bigoted Spaniard looked on with approval so long
+as it was Protestants that were kidnapped and bastinadoed. In 1783 Lord
+Sheffield published a pamphlet on the commerce of the United States, in
+which he shamelessly declared that the Barbary pirates were really
+useful to the great maritime powers, because they tended to keep the
+weaker nations out of their share in the carrying trade. This, he
+thought, was a valuable offset to the Empress Catherine's device of the
+armed neutrality, whereby small nations were protected; and on this
+wicked theory, as Franklin tells us, London merchants had been heard to
+say that "if there were no Algiers, it would be worth England's while to
+build one." It was largely because of such feelings that the great
+states of Europe so long persisted in the craven policy of paying
+blackmail to the robbers, instead of joining in a crusade and destroying
+them.
+
+[Sidenote: Tripoli demands blackmail, Feb. 1786.]
+
+In 1786 Congress felt it necessary to take measures for protecting the
+lives and liberties of American citizens. The person who called himself
+"Emperor" of Morocco at that time was different from most of his kind.
+He had a taste for reading, and had thus caught a glimmering of the
+enlightened liberalism which French philosophers were preaching. He
+wished to be thought a benevolent despot, and with Morocco, accordingly,
+Congress succeeded in making a treaty. But nothing could be done with
+the other pirate states without paying blackmail. Few scenes in our
+history are more amusing, or more irritating, than the interview of John
+Adams with an envoy from Tripoli in London. The oily-tongued barbarian,
+with his soft voice and his bland smile, asseverating that his only
+interest in life was to do good and make other people happy, stands out
+in fine contrast with the blunt, straightforward, and truthful New
+Englander; and their conversation reminds one of the old story of
+Coeur-de-Lion with his curtal-axe and Saladin with the blade that cut
+the silken cushion. Adams felt sure that the fellow was either saint or
+devil, but could not quite tell which. The envoy's love for mankind was
+so great that he could not bear the thought of hostility between the
+Americans and the Barbary States, and he suggested that everything might
+be happily arranged for a million dollars or so. Adams thought it better
+to fight than to pay tribute. It would be cheaper in the end, as well as
+more manly. At the same time, it was better economy to pay a million
+dollars at once than waste many times that sum in war risks and loss of
+trade. But Congress could do neither one thing nor the other. It was too
+poor to build a navy, and too poor to buy off the pirates; and so for
+several years to come American ships were burned and American sailors
+enslaved with utter impunity. With the memory of such wrongs deeply
+graven in his heart, it was natural that John Adams, on becoming
+president of the United States, should bend his energies toward founding
+a strong American navy.
+
+[Sidenote: Congress unable to protect American citizens.]
+
+A government touches the lowest point of ignominy when it confesses its
+inability to protect the lives and property of its citizens. A
+government which has come to this has failed in discharging the primary
+function of government, and forthwith ceases to have any reason for
+existing. In March, 1786, Grayson wrote to Madison that several members
+of Congress thought seriously of recommending a general convention for
+remodelling the government. "I have not made up my mind," says Grayson,
+"whether it would not be better to bear the ills we have than fly to
+those we know not of. I am, however, in no doubt about the weakness of
+the federal government. If it remains much longer in its present state
+of imbecility, we shall be one of the most contemptible nations on the
+face of the earth." "It is clear to me as A, B, C," said Washington,
+"that an extension of federal powers would make us one of the most
+happy, wealthy, respectable, and powerful nations that ever inhabited
+the terrestrial globe. Without them we shall soon be everything which is
+the direct reverse. I predict the worst consequences from a
+half-starved, limping government, always moving upon crutches and
+tottering at every step."
+
+[Sidenote: Financial distress precipitates the political crisis.]
+
+There is no telling how long the wretched state of things which followed
+the Revolution might have continued, had not the crisis been
+precipitated by the wild attempts of the several states to remedy the
+distress of the people by legislation. That financial distress was
+widespread and deep-seated was not to be denied. At the beginning of the
+war the amount of accumulated capital in the country had been very
+small. The great majority of the people did little more than get from
+the annual yield of their farms or plantations enough to meet the
+current expenses of the year. Outside of agriculture the chief resources
+were the carrying trade, the exchange of commodities with England and
+the West Indies, and the cod and whale fisheries; and in these
+occupations many people had grown rich. The war had destroyed all these
+sources of revenue. Imports and exports had alike been stopped, so that
+there was a distressing scarcity of some of the commonest household
+articles. The enemy's navy had kept us from the fisheries. Before the
+war, the dock-yards of Nantucket were ringing with the busy sound of
+adze and hammer, rope-walks covered the island, and two hundred keels
+sailed yearly in quest of spermaceti. At the return of peace, the docks
+were silent and grass grew in the streets. The carrying trade and the
+fisheries began soon to revive, but it was some years before the old
+prosperity was restored. The war had also wrought serious damage to
+agriculture, and in some parts of the country the direct destruction of
+property by the enemy's troops had been very great. To all these causes
+of poverty there was added the hopeless confusion due to an
+inconvertible paper currency. The worst feature of this financial device
+is that it not only impoverishes people, but bemuddles their brains by
+creating a false and fleeting show of prosperity. By violently
+disturbing apparent values, it always brings on an era of wild
+speculation and extravagance in living, followed by sudden collapse and
+protracted suffering. In such crises the poorest people, those who earn
+their bread by the sweat of their brows and have no margin of
+accumulated capital, always suffer the most. Above all men, it is the
+labouring man who needs sound money and steady values. We have seen all
+these points amply illustrated since the War of Secession. After the War
+of Independence, when the margin of accumulated capital was so much
+smaller, the misery was much greater. While the paper money lasted there
+was marked extravagance in living, and complaints were loud against the
+speculators, especially those who operated in bread-stuffs. Washington
+said he would like to hang them all on a gallows higher than that of
+Haman; but they were, after all, but the inevitable products of this
+abnormal state of things, and the more guilty criminals were the
+demagogues who went about preaching the doctrine that the poor man needs
+cheap money. After the collapse of this continental currency in 1780, it
+seemed as if there were no money in the country, and at the peace the
+renewal of trade with England seemed at first to make matters worse. The
+brisk importation of sorely needed manufactured goods, which then began,
+would naturally have been paid for in the south by indigo, rice, and
+tobacco, in the middle states by exports of wheat and furs, and in New
+England by the profits of the fisheries, the shipping, and the West
+India trade. But in the southern and middle states the necessary revival
+of agriculture could not be effected in a moment, and British
+legislation against American shipping and the West India trade fell with
+crippling force upon New England. Consequently, we had little else but
+specie with which to pay for imports, and the country was soon drained
+of what little specie there was. In the absence of a circulating medium
+there was a reversion to the practice of barter, and the revival of
+business was thus further impeded. Whiskey in North Carolina, tobacco in
+Virginia, did duty as measures of value; and Isaiah Thomas, editor of
+the Worcester "Spy," announced that he would receive subscriptions for
+his paper in salt pork.
+
+[Sidenote: State of the coinage.]
+
+It is worth while, in this connection, to observe what this specie was,
+the scarcity of which created so much embarrassment. Until 1785 no
+national coinage was established, and none was issued until 1793.
+English, French, Spanish, and German coins, of various and uncertain
+value, passed from hand to hand. Beside the ninepences and
+fourpence-ha'-pennies, there were bits and half-bits, pistareens,
+picayunes, and fips. Of gold pieces there were the johannes, or joe, the
+doubloon, the moidore, and pistole, with English and French guineas,
+carolins, ducats, and chequins. Of coppers there were English pence and
+halfpence and French sous; and pennies were issued at local mints in
+Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The
+English shilling had everywhere degenerated in value, but differently in
+different localities; and among silver pieces the Spanish dollar, from
+Louisiana and Cuba, had begun to supersede it as a measure of value. In
+New England the shilling had sunk from nearly one fourth to one sixth of
+a dollar; in New York to one eighth; in North Carolina to one tenth. It
+was partly for this reason that in devising a national coinage the more
+uniform dollar was adopted as the unit. At the same time the decimal
+system of division was adopted instead of the cumbrous English system,
+and the result was our present admirably simple currency, which we owe
+to Gouverneur Morris, aided as to some points by Thomas Jefferson.
+During the period of the Confederation, the chaotic state of the
+currency was a serious obstacle to trade, and it afforded endless
+opportunities for fraud and extortion. Clipping and counterfeiting were
+carried to such lengths that every moderately cautious person, in taking
+payment in hard cash, felt it necessary to keep a small pair of scales
+beside him and carefully weigh each coin, after narrowly scrutinizing
+its stamp and deciphering its legend.
+
+[Sidenote: Cost of the war; Robert Morris and his immense services.]
+
+In view of all these complicated impediments to business on the morrow
+of a long and costly war, it was not strange that the whole country was
+in some measure pauperized. The cost of the war, estimated in cash, had
+been about $170,000,000--a huge sum if we consider the circumstances of
+the country at that time. To meet this crushing indebtedness Mr.
+Hildreth reckons the total amount raised by the states, whether by means
+of repudiated paper or of taxes, down to 1784, as not more than
+$30,000,000. No wonder if the issue of such a struggle seemed quite
+hopeless. In many parts of the country, by the year 1786, the payment of
+taxes had come to be regarded as an amiable eccentricity. At one
+moment, early in 1782, there was not a single dollar in the treasury.
+That the government had in any way been able to finish the war, after
+the downfall of its paper money, was due to the gigantic efforts of one
+great man,--Robert Morris, of Pennsylvania. This statesman was born in
+England, but he had come to Philadelphia in his boyhood, and had amassed
+an enormous fortune, which he devoted without stint to the service of
+his adopted country. Though opposed to the Declaration of Independence
+as rash and premature, he had, nevertheless, signed his name to that
+document, and scarcely any one had contributed more to the success of
+the war. It was he who supplied the money which enabled Washington to
+complete the great campaign of Trenton and Princeton. In 1781 he was
+made superintendent of finance, and by dint of every imaginable device
+of hard-pressed ingenuity he contrived to support the brilliant work
+which began at the Cowpens and ended at Yorktown. He established the
+Bank of North America as an instrument by which government loans might
+be negotiated. Sometimes his methods were such as doctors call heroic,
+as when he made sudden drafts upon our ministers in Europe after the
+manner already described. In every dire emergency he was Washington's
+chief reliance, and in his devotion to the common weal he drew upon his
+private resources until he became poor; and in later years--for shame be
+it said--an ungrateful nation allowed one of its noblest and most
+disinterested champions to languish in a debtor's prison. It was of ill
+omen for the fortunes of the weak and disorderly Confederation that in
+1784, after three years of herculean struggle with impossibilities, this
+stout heart and sagacious head could no longer weather the storm. The
+task of creating wealth out of nothing had become too arduous and too
+thankless to be endured. Robert Morris resigned his place, and it was
+taken by a congressional committee of finance, under whose management
+the disorders only hurried to a crisis.
+
+[Sidenote: The craze for paper-money, 1786.]
+
+By 1786, under the universal depression and want of confidence, all
+trade had well-nigh stopped, and political quackery, with its cheap and
+dirty remedies, had full control of the field. In the very face of
+miseries so plainly traceable to the deadly paper currency, it may seem
+strange that people should now have begun to clamour for a renewal of
+the experiment which had worked so much evil. Yet so it was. As starving
+men are said to dream of dainty banquets, so now a craze for fictitious
+wealth in the shape of paper money ran like an epidemic through the
+country. There was a Barmecide feast of economic vagaries; only now it
+was the several states that sought to apply the remedy, each in its own
+way. And when we have threaded the maze of this rash legislation, we
+shall the better understand that clause in our federal constitution
+which forbids the making of laws impairing the obligation of contracts.
+The events of 1786 impressed upon men's minds more forcibly than ever
+the wretched and disorderly condition of the country, and went far
+toward calling into existence the needful popular sentiment in favour of
+an overruling central government.
+
+[Sidenote: Agitation in southern and middle states.]
+
+The disorders assumed very different forms in the different states, and
+brought out a great diversity of opinion as to the causes of the
+distress and the efficacy of the proposed remedies. Only two states out
+of the thirteen--Connecticut and Delaware--escaped the infection, but,
+on the other hand, it was only in seven states that the paper money
+party prevailed in the legislatures. North Carolina issued a large
+amount of paper, and, in order to get it into circulation as quickly as
+possible, the state government proceeded to buy tobacco with it, paying
+double the specie value of the tobacco. As a natural consequence, the
+paper dollar instantly fell to seventy cents, and went on declining. In
+South Carolina an issue was tried somewhat more cautiously, but the
+planters soon refused to take the paper at its face value. Coercive
+measures were then attempted. Planters and merchants were urged to sign
+a pledge not to discriminate between paper and gold, and if any one
+dared refuse the fanatics forthwith attempted to make it hot for him. A
+kind of "Kuklux" society was organized at Charleston, known as the "Hint
+Club." Its purpose was to hint to such people that they had better look
+out. If they did not mend their ways, it was unnecessary to inform them
+more explicitly what they might expect. Houses were combustible then as
+now, and the use of firearms was well understood. In Georgia the
+legislature itself attempted coercion. Paper money was made a legal
+tender in spite of strong opposition, and a law was passed prohibiting
+any planter or merchant from exporting any produce without taking
+affidavit that he had never refused to receive this scrip at its full
+face value. But somehow people found that the more it was sought to keep
+up the paper by dint of threats and forcing acts, the faster its value
+fell. Virginia had issued bills of credit during the campaign of 1781,
+but it was enacted at the same time that they should not be a legal
+tender after the next January. The influence of Washington, Madison, and
+Mason was effectively brought to bear in favour of sound currency, and
+the people of Virginia were but slightly affected by the craze of 1786.
+In the autumn of that year a proposition from two counties for an issue
+of paper was defeated in the legislature by a vote of eighty-five to
+seventeen, and no more was heard of the matter. In Maryland, after a
+very obstinate fight, a rag money bill was carried in the house of
+representatives, but the senate threw it out; and the measure was thus
+postponed until the discussion over the federal constitution superseded
+it in popular interest. Pennsylvania had warily begun in May, 1785, to
+issue a million dollars in bills of credit, which were not made a legal
+tender for the payment of private debts. They were mainly loaned to
+farmers on mortgage, and were received by the state as an equivalent for
+specie in the payment of taxes. By August, 1786, even this carefully
+guarded paper had fallen some twelve cents below par,--not a bad showing
+for such a year as that. New York moved somewhat less cautiously. A
+million dollars were issued in bills of credit receivable for the
+custom-house duties, which were then paid into the state treasury; and
+these bills were made a legal tender for all money received in lawsuits.
+At the same time the New Jersey legislature passed a bill for issuing
+half a million paper dollars, to be a legal tender in all business
+transactions. The bill was vetoed by the governor in council. The aged
+Governor Livingston was greatly respected by the people; and so the mob
+at Elizabethtown, which had duly planted a stake and dragged his effigy
+up to it, refrained from inflicting the last indignities upon the image,
+and burned that of one of the members of the council instead. At the
+next session the governor yielded, and the rag money was issued. But an
+unforeseen difficulty arose. Most of the dealings of New Jersey people
+were in the cities of New York and Philadelphia, and in both cities the
+merchants refused their paper, so that it speedily became worthless.
+
+The business of exchange was thus fast getting into hopeless confusion.
+It has been said of Bradshaw's Railway Guide, the indispensable
+companion of the traveller in England, that no man can study it for an
+hour without qualifying himself for an insane asylum. But Bradshaw is
+pellucid clearness compared with the American tables of exchange in
+1786, with their medley of dollars and shillings, moidores and
+pistareens. The addition of half a dozen different kinds of paper
+created such a labyrinth as no human intellect could explore. No wonder
+that men were counted wise who preferred to take whiskey and pork
+instead. Nobody who had a yard of cloth to sell could tell how much it
+was worth. But even worse than all this was the swift and certain
+renewal of bankruptcy which so many states were preparing for
+themselves.
+
+[Sidenote: Distress in New England.]
+
+Nowhere did the warning come so quickly or so sharply as in New England.
+Connecticut, indeed, as already observed, came off scot-free. She had
+issued a little paper money soon after the battle of Lexington, but had
+stopped it about the time of the surrender of Burgoyne. In 1780 she had
+wisely and summarily adjusted all relations between debtor and creditor,
+and the crisis of 1786 found her people poor enough, no doubt, but able
+to wait for better times and indisposed to adopt violent remedies. It
+was far otherwise in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. These were
+preeminently the maritime states of the Union, and upon them the blows
+aimed by England at American commerce had fallen most severely. It was
+these two maritime states that suffered most from the cutting down of
+the carrying trade and the restriction of intercourse with the West
+Indies. These things worked injury to shipbuilding, to the exports of
+lumber and oil and salted fish, even to the manufacture of Medford rum.
+Nowhere had the normal machinery of business been thrown out of gear so
+extensively as in these two states, and in Rhode Island there was the
+added disturbance due to a prolonged occupation by the enemy's troops.
+Nowhere, perhaps, was there a larger proportion of the population in
+debt, and in these preeminently commercial communities private debts
+were a heavier burden and involved more personal suffering than in the
+somewhat patriarchal system of life in Virginia or South Carolina. In
+the time of which we are now treating, imprisonment for debt was common.
+High-minded but unfortunate men were carried to jail, and herded with
+thieves and ruffians in loathsome dungeons, for the crime of owing a
+hundred dollars which they could not promptly pay. Under such
+circumstances, a commercial disturbance, involving widespread debt,
+entailed an amount of personal suffering and humiliation of which, in
+these kinder days, we can form no adequate conception. It tended to make
+the debtor an outlaw, ready to entertain schemes for the subversion of
+society. In the crisis of 1786, the agitation in Rhode Island and
+Massachusetts reached white heat, and things were done which alarmed the
+whole country. But the course of events was different in the two states.
+In Rhode Island the agitators obtained control of the government, and
+the result was a paroxysm of tyranny. In Massachusetts the agitators
+failed to secure control of the government, and the result was a
+paroxysm of rebellion.
+
+[Sidenote: Rag money victorious in Rhode Island; the "Know Ye"
+measures.]
+
+The debates over paper money in the Rhode Island legislature began in
+1785, but the advocates of a sound currency were victorious. These men
+were roundly abused in the newspapers, and in the next spring election
+most of them lost their seats. The legislature of 1786 showed an
+overwhelming majority in favor of paper money. The farmers from the
+inland towns were unanimous in supporting the measure. They could not
+see the difference between the state making a dollar out of paper and a
+dollar out of silver. The idea that the value did not lie in the
+government stamp they dismissed as an idle crotchet, a wire-drawn
+theory, worthy only of "literary fellows." What they could see was the
+glaring fact that they had no money, hard or soft; and they wanted
+something that would satisfy their creditors and buy new gowns for their
+wives, whose raiment was unquestionably the worse for wear. On the other
+hand, the merchants from seaports like Providence, Newport, and Bristol
+understood the difference between real money and the promissory notes of
+a bankrupt government, but they were in a hopeless minority. Half a
+million dollars were issued in scrip, to be loaned to the farmers on a
+mortgage of their real estate. No one could obtain the scrip without
+giving a mortgage for twice the amount, and it was thought that this
+security would make it as good as gold. But the depreciation began
+instantly. When the worthy farmers went to the store for dry goods or
+sugar, and found the prices rising with dreadful rapidity, they were at
+first astonished, and then enraged. The trouble, as they truly said, was
+with the wicked merchants, who would not take the paper dollars at their
+face value. These men were thus thwarting the government, and must be
+punished. An act was accordingly hurried through the legislature,
+commanding every one to take paper as an equivalent for gold, under
+penalty of five hundred dollars fine and loss of the right of suffrage.
+The merchants in the cities thereupon shut up their shops. During the
+summer of 1786 all business was at a standstill in Newport and
+Providence, except in the bar-rooms. There and about the market-places
+men spent their time angrily discussing politics, and scarcely a day
+passed without street-fights, which at times grew into riots. In the
+country, too, no less than in the cities, the goddess of discord
+reigned. The farmers determined to starve the city people into
+submission, and they entered into an agreement not to send any produce
+into the cities until the merchants should open their shops and begin
+selling their goods for paper at its face value. Not wishing to lose
+their pigs and butter and grain, they tried to dispose of them in Boston
+and New York, and in the coast towns of Connecticut. But in all these
+places their proceedings had awakened such lively disgust that placards
+were posted in the taverns warning purchasers against farm produce from
+Rhode Island. Disappointed in these quarters, the farmers threw away
+their milk, used their corn for fuel, and let their apples rot on the
+ground, rather than supply the detested merchants. Food grew scarce in
+Providence and Newport, and in the latter city a mob of sailors
+attempted unsuccessfully to storm the provision stores. The farmers were
+threatened with armed violence. Town-meetings were held all over the
+state, to discuss the situation, and how long they might have talked to
+no purpose none can say, when all at once the matter was brought into
+court. A cabinet-maker in Newport named Trevett went into a meat-market
+kept by one John Weeden, and selecting a joint of meat, offered paper in
+payment. Weeden refused to take the paper except at a heavy discount.
+Trevett went to bed supperless, and next morning informed against the
+obstinate butcher for disobedience to the forcing act. Should the court
+find him guilty, it would be a good speculation for Trevett, for half of
+the five hundred dollars fine was to go to the informer. Hard-money men
+feared lest the court might prove subservient to the legislature, since
+that body possessed the power of removing the five judges. The case was
+tried in September amid furious excitement. Huge crowds gathered about
+the court-house and far down the street, screaming and cheering like a
+crowd on the night of a presidential election. The judges were
+clear-headed men, not to be browbeaten. They declared the forcing act
+unconstitutional, and dismissed the complaint. Popular wrath then turned
+upon them. A special session of the legislature was convened, four of
+the judges were removed, and a new forcing-act was prepared. This act
+provided that no man could vote at elections or hold any office without
+taking a test oath promising to receive paper money at par. But this was
+going too far. Many soft-money men were not wild enough to support such
+a measure; among the farmers there were some who had grown tired of
+seeing their produce spoiled on their hands; and many of the richest
+merchants had announced their intention of moving out of the state. The
+new forcing act accordingly failed to pass, and presently the old one
+was repealed. The paper dollar had been issued in May; in November it
+passed for sixteen cents.
+
+These outrageous proceedings awakened disgust and alarm among sensible
+people in all the other states, and Rhode Island was everywhere reviled
+and made fun of. One clause of the forcing act had provided that if a
+debtor should offer paper to his creditor and the creditor should refuse
+to take it at par, the debtor might carry his rag money to court and
+deposit it with the judge; and the judge must thereupon issue a
+certificate discharging the debt. The form of certificate began with the
+words "Know Ye," and forthwith the unhappy little state was nicknamed
+Rogues' Island, the home of Know Ye men and Know Ye measures.
+
+[Sidenote: Rag money defeated in Massachusetts; the Shays insurrection,
+Aug. 1786-Feb. 1787.]
+
+While the scorn of the people was thus poured out upon Rhode Island,
+much sympathy was felt for the government of Massachusetts, which was
+called upon thus early to put down armed rebellion. The pressure of debt
+was keenly felt in the rural districts of Massachusetts. It is estimated
+that the private debts in the state amounted to some $7,000,000, and the
+state's arrears to the federal government amounted to some $7,000,000
+more. Adding to these sums the arrears of bounties due to the soldiers,
+and the annual cost of the state, county, and town governments, there
+was reached an aggregate equivalent to a tax of more than $50 on every
+man, woman, and child in this population of 379,000 souls. Upon every
+head of a family the average burden was some $200 at a time when most
+farmers would have thought such a sum yearly a princely income. In those
+days of scarcity most of them did not set eyes on so much as $50 in the
+course of a year, and happy was he who had tucked away two or three
+golden guineas or moidores in an old stocking, and sewed up the treasure
+in his straw mattress or hidden it behind the bricks of the
+chimney-piece. Under such circumstances the payment of debts and taxes
+was out of the question; and as the same state of things made creditors
+clamorous and ugly, the courts were crowded with lawsuits. The lawyers
+usually contrived to get their money by exacting retainers in advance,
+and the practice of champerty was common, whereby the lawyer did his
+work in consideration of a percentage on the sum which was at last
+forcibly collected. Homesteads were sold for the payment of foreclosed
+mortgages, cattle were seized in distrainer, and the farmer himself was
+sent to jail. The smouldering fires of wrath thus kindled found
+expression in curses aimed at lawyers, judges, and merchants. The wicked
+merchants bought foreign goods and drained the state of specie to pay
+for them, while they drank Madeira wine and dressed their wives in fine
+velvets and laces. So said the farmers; and city ladies, far kinder than
+these railers deemed them, formed clubs, of which the members pledged
+themselves to wear homespun,--a poor palliative for the deep-seated ills
+of the time. In such mood were many of the villagers when in the summer
+of 1786 they were overtaken by the craze for paper money. At the meeting
+of the legislature in May, a petition came in from Bristol County,
+praying for an issue of paper. The petitioners admitted that such money
+was sure to deteriorate in value, and they doubted the wisdom of trying
+to keep it up by forcing acts. Instead of this they would have the rate
+of its deterioration regulated by law, so that a dollar might be worth
+ninety cents to-day, and presently seventy cents, and by and by fifty
+cents, and so on till it should go down to zero and be thrown overboard.
+People would thus know what to expect, and it would be all right. The
+delicious _naivete_ of this argument did not prevail with the
+legislature of Massachusetts, and soft money was frowned down by a vote
+of ninety-nine to nineteen. Then a bill was brought in seeking to
+reestablish in legislation the ancient practice of barter, and make
+horses and cows legal tender for debts; and this bill was crushed by
+eighty-nine votes against thirty-five. At the same time this legislature
+passed a bill to strengthen the federal government by a grant of
+supplementary funds to Congress, and thus laid a further burden of taxes
+upon the people.
+
+There was an outburst of popular wrath. A convention at Hatfield in
+August decided that the court of common pleas ought to be abolished,
+that no funds should be granted to Congress, and that paper money should
+be issued at once. Another convention at Lenox denounced such incendiary
+measures, approved of supporting the federal government, and declared
+that no good could come from the issue of paper money. But meanwhile the
+angry farmers had resorted to violence. The legislature, they said, had
+its sittings in Boston, under the influence of wicked lawyers and
+merchants, and thus could not be expected to do the will of the people.
+A cry went up that henceforth the law-makers must sit in some small
+inland town, where jealous eyes might watch their proceedings. Meanwhile
+the lawyers must be dealt with; and at Northampton, Worcester, Great
+Barrington, and Concord the courts were broken up by armed mobs. At
+Concord one Job Shattuck brought several hundred armed men into the town
+and surrounded the court-house, while in a fierce harangue he declared
+that the time had come for wiping out all debts. "Yes," squeaked a nasal
+voice from the crowd,--"yes, Job, we know all about them two farms you
+can't never pay for!" But this repartee did not save the judges, who
+thought it best to flee from the town. At first the legislature deemed
+it wise to take a lenient view of these proceedings, and it even went so
+far as to promise to hold its next session out of Boston. But the
+agitation had reached a point where it could not be stayed. In September
+the supreme court was to sit at Springfield, and Governor Bowdoin sent a
+force of 600 militia under General Shepard to protect it. They were
+confronted by some 600 insurgents, under the leadership of Daniel Shays.
+This man had been a captain in the Continental army, and in his force
+were many of the penniless veterans whom Gates would fain have incited
+to rebellion at Newburgh. Shays seems to have done what he could to
+restrain his men from violence, but he was a poor creature, wanting
+alike in courage and good faith. On the other hand the militia were
+lacking in spirit. After a disorderly parley, with much cursing and
+swearing, they beat a retreat, and the court was prevented from sitting.
+Fresh riots followed at Worcester and Concord. A regiment of cavalry,
+sent out by the governor, scoured Middlesex County, and, after a short
+fight in the woods near Groton, captured Job Shattuck and dispersed his
+men. But this only exasperated the insurgents. They assembled in
+Worcester to the number of 1,200 or more, where they lived for two
+months at free quarters, while Shays organized and drilled them.
+
+[Sidenote: The insurrection suppressed by state troops.]
+
+Meanwhile the habeas corpus act was suspended for eight months, and
+Governor Bowdoin called out an army of 4,400 men, who were placed under
+command of General Lincoln. As the state treasury was nearly empty, some
+wealthy gentlemen in Boston subscribed the money needed for equipping
+these troops, and about the middle of January, 1787, they were collected
+at Worcester. The rebels had behaved shamefully, burning barns and
+seizing all the plunder they could lay hands on. As their numbers
+increased they found their military stores inadequate, and accordingly
+they marched upon Springfield, with the intent to capture the federal
+arsenal there, and provide themselves with muskets and cannon. General
+Shepard held Springfield with 1,200 men, and on the 25th of January
+Shays attacked him with a force of somewhat more than 2,000, hoping to
+crush him and seize the arsenal before Lincoln could come to the rescue.
+But his plan of attack was faulty, and as soon as his men began falling
+under Shepard's fire a panic seized them, and they retreated in disorder
+to Ludlow, and then to Amherst, setting fire to houses and robbing the
+inhabitants. On the approach of Lincoln's army, three days later, Shays
+retreated to Pelham, and planted his forces on two steep hills protected
+at the bottom by huge snowdrifts. Lincoln advanced to Hadley and sought
+to open negotiations with the rebels. They were reminded that a contest
+with the state government was hopeless, and that they had already
+incurred the penalty of death; but if they would now lay down their arms
+and go home, a free pardon could be obtained for them. Shays seemed
+willing to yield, and Saturday, the 3d of February, was appointed for a
+conference between some of the leading rebels and some of the officers.
+But this was only a stratagem. During the conference Shays decamped and
+marched his men through Prescott and North Dana to Petersham. Toward
+nightfall the trick was discovered, and Lincoln set his whole force in
+motion over the mountain ridges of Shutesbury and New Salem. The day had
+been mild, but during the night the thermometer dropped below zero and
+an icy, cutting snow began to fall. There was great suffering during the
+last ten miles, and indeed the whole march of thirty miles in thirteen
+hours over steep and snow-covered roads was a worthy exploit for these
+veterans of the Revolution. Shays and his men had not looked for such a
+display of energy, and as they were getting their breakfast on Sunday
+morning at Petersham they were taken by surprise. A few minutes sufficed
+to scatter them in flight. A hundred and fifty, including Shays himself,
+were taken prisoners. The rest fled in all directions, most of them to
+Athol and Northfield, whence they made their way into Vermont. General
+Lincoln then marched his troops into the mountains of Berkshire, where
+disturbances still continued. On the 26th of February one Captain
+Hamlin, with several hundred insurgents, plundered the town of
+Stockbridge and carried off the leading citizens as hostages. He was
+pursued as far as Sheffield, defeated there in a sharp skirmish, with a
+loss of some thirty in killed and wounded, and his troops scattered.
+This put an end to the insurrection in Massachusetts.
+
+[Sidenote: Conduct of neighbouring states.]
+
+During the autumn similar disturbances had occurred in the states to the
+northward. At Exeter in New Hampshire and at Windsor and Rutland in
+Vermont the courts had been broken up by armed mobs, and at Rutland
+there had been bloodshed. When the Shays rebellion was put down,
+Governor Bowdoin requested the neighbouring states to lend their aid in
+bringing the insurgents to justice, and all complied with the request
+except Vermont and Rhode Island. The legislature of Rhode Island
+sympathized with the rebels, and refused to allow the governor to issue
+a warrant for their arrest. On the other hand, the governor of Vermont
+issued a proclamation out of courtesy toward Massachusetts, but he
+caused it to be understood that this was but an empty form, as the state
+of Vermont could not afford to discourage immigration! A feeling of
+compassion for the insurgents was widely spread in Massachusetts. In
+March the leaders were tried, and fourteen were convicted of treason and
+sentenced to death; but Governor Bowdoin, whose term was about to
+expire, granted a reprieve for a few weeks. At the annual election in
+April the candidates for the governorship were Bowdoin and Hancock, and
+it was generally believed that the latter would be more likely than the
+former to pardon the convicted men. So strong was this feeling that,
+although much gratitude was felt toward Bowdoin, to whose energetic
+measures the prompt suppression of the rebellion was due, Hancock
+obtained a large majority. When the question of a pardon came up for
+discussion, Samuel Adams, who was then president of the senate, was
+strongly opposed to it, and one of his arguments was very
+characteristic. "In monarchies," he said, "the crime of treason and
+rebellion may admit of being pardoned or lightly punished; but the man
+who dares to rebel against the laws of a republic ought to suffer
+death." This was Adams's sensitive point. He wanted the whole world to
+realize that the rule of a republic is a rule of law and order, and that
+liberty does not mean license. But in spite of this view, for which
+there was much to be said, the clemency of the American temperament
+prevailed, and Governor Hancock pardoned all the prisoners.
+
+Nothing in the history of these disturbances is more instructive than
+the light incidentally thrown upon the relations between Congress and
+the state government. Just before the news of the rout at Petersham,
+Samuel Adams had proposed in the senate that the governor should be
+requested to write to Congress and inform that body of what was going on
+in Massachusetts, stating that "although the legislature are firmly
+persuaded that ... in all probability they will be able speedily and
+effectively to suppress the rebellion, yet, if any unforeseen event
+should take place which may frustrate the measures of government, they
+rely upon such support from the United States as is expressly and
+solemnly stipulated by the articles of confederation." A resolution to
+this effect was carried in the senate, but defeated in the house through
+the influence of western county members in sympathy with the insurgents;
+and incredible as it may seem, the argument was freely used that it was
+incompatible with the dignity of Massachusetts to allow United States
+troops to set foot upon her soil. When we reflect that the arsenal at
+Springfield, where the most considerable disturbance occurred, was
+itself federal property, the climax of absurdity might seem to have been
+reached.
+
+[Sidenote: Congress afraid to interfere.]
+
+It was left for Congress itself, however, to cap that climax. The
+progress of the insurrection in the autumn in Vermont, New Hampshire,
+and Massachusetts, as well as the troubles in Rhode Island, had alarmed
+the whole country. It was feared that the insurgents in these states
+might join forces, and in some way kindle a flame that would run through
+the land. Accordingly Congress in October called upon the states for a
+continental force, but did not dare to declare openly what it was to be
+used for. It was thought necessary to say that the troops were wanted
+for an expedition against the northwestern Indians! National humiliation
+could go no further than such a confession, on the part of our central
+government, that it dared not use force in defence of those very
+articles of confederation to which it owed its existence. Things had
+come to such a pass that people of all shades of opinion were beginning
+to agree upon one thing,--that something must be done, and done quickly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Creation of a national domain beyond the Alleghanies.]
+
+While the events we have heretofore contemplated seemed to prophesy the
+speedy dissolution and downfall of the half-formed American Union, a
+series of causes, obscure enough at first, but emerging gradually into
+distinctness and then into prominence, were preparing the way for the
+foundation of a national sovereignty. The growth of this sovereignty
+proceeded stealthily along such ancient lines of precedent as to take
+ready hold of people's minds, although few, if any, understood the full
+purport of what they were doing. Ever since the days when our English
+forefathers dwelt in village communities in the forests of northern
+Germany, the idea of a common land or folkland--a territory belonging to
+the whole community, and upon which new communities might be organized
+by a process analogous to what physiologists call
+cell-multiplication--had been perfectly familiar to everybody. Townships
+budded from village or parish folkland in Maryland and Massachusetts in
+the seventeenth century, just as they had done in England before the
+time of Alfred. The critical period of the Revolution witnessed the
+repetition of this process on a gigantic scale. It witnessed the
+creation of a national territory beyond the Alleghanies,--an enormous
+folkland in which all the thirteen old states had a common interest, and
+upon which new and derivative communities were already beginning to
+organize themselves. Questions about public lands are often regarded as
+the driest of historical deadwood. Discussions about them in newspapers
+and magazines belong to the class of articles which the general reader
+usually skips. Yet there is a great deal of the philosophy of history
+wrapped up in this subject, and it now comes to confront us at a most
+interesting moment; for without studying this creation of a national
+domain between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, we cannot understand
+how our Federal Union came to be formed.
+
+[Sidenote: Conflicting claims to the western territory.]
+
+When England began to contend with France and Spain for the possession
+of North America, she made royal grants of land upon this continent, in
+royal ignorance of its extent and configuration. But until the Seven
+Years' War the eastward and westward partitioning of these grants was of
+little practical consequence; for English dominion was bounded by the
+Alleghanies, and everything beyond was in the hands of the French. In
+that most momentous war the genius of the elder Pitt won the region east
+of the Mississippi for men of English race, while the vast territory of
+Louisiana, beyond, passed under the control of Spain. During the
+Revolutionary War, in a series of romantic expeditions, the state of
+Virginia took military possession of a great part of the wilderness east
+of the Mississippi, founding towns in the Ohio and Cumberland valleys,
+and occupying with garrisons of her state militia the posts at Cahokia,
+Kaskaskia, and Vincennes. We have seen how, through the skill of our
+commissioners at Paris, this noble country was secured for the Americans
+in the treaty of 1783, in spite of the reluctance of France and the
+hostility of Spain. Throughout the Revolutionary War the Americans
+claimed the territory as part of the United States; but when once it
+passed from under the control of Great Britain, into whose hands did it
+go? To whom did it belong? To this question there were various and
+conflicting answers. North Carolina, indeed, had already taken
+possession of what was afterward called Tennessee, and at the beginning
+of the war Virginia had annexed Kentucky. As to these points there could
+be little or no dispute. But with the territory north of the Ohio River
+it was very different. Four states laid claim either to the whole or to
+parts of this territory, and these claims were not simply conflicting,
+but irreconcilable.
+
+[Sidenote: Claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut.]
+
+The charters of Massachusetts and Connecticut were framed at a time when
+people had not got over the notion that this part of the continent was
+not much wider than Mexico, and accordingly these colonies had received
+the royal permission to extend from sea to sea. The existence of a
+foreign colony of Dutchmen in the neighbourhood was a trifle about which
+these documents did not trouble themselves; but when Charles II.
+conquered this colony and bestowed it upon his brother, the province of
+New York became a stubborn fact, which could not be disregarded.
+Massachusetts and Connecticut peaceably settled their boundary line with
+New York, and laid no claims to land within the limits of that state;
+but they still continued to claim what lay beyond it, as far as the
+Mississippi River, where the Spanish dominion now began. The regions
+claimed by Massachusetts have since become the southern halves of the
+states of Michigan and Wisconsin. The region claimed by Connecticut was
+a narrow strip running over the northern portions of Pennsylvania, Ohio,
+Indiana, and Illinois; and we have seen how much trouble was occasioned
+in Pennsylvania by this circumstance.
+
+[Sidenote: Claims of New York.]
+
+But New York laughed to scorn these claims of Connecticut. In the
+seventeenth century all the Algonquin tribes between Lake Erie and the
+Cumberland Mountains had become tributary to the Iroquois; and during
+the hundred years' struggle between France and England for the supremacy
+of this continent the Iroquois had put themselves under the protection
+of England, which thenceforth always treated them as an appurtenance to
+New York. For a hundred years before the Revolution, said New York, she
+had borne the expense of protecting the Iroquois against the French, and
+by various treaties she had become lawful suzerain over the Six Nations
+and their lands and the lands of their Algonquin vassals. On such
+grounds New York claimed pretty much everything north of the Ohio and
+east of the Miami.
+
+[Sidenote: Virginia's claims.]
+
+But according to Virginia, it made little difference what Massachusetts
+and Connecticut and New York thought about the matter, for every acre
+of land, from the Ohio River up to Lake Superior, belonged to her. Was
+not she the lordly "Old Dominion," out of which every one of the states
+had been carved? Even Cape Cod and Cape Ann were said to be in "North
+Virginia," until, in 1614, Captain John Smith invented the name "New
+England." It was a fair presumption that any uncarved territory belonged
+to Virginia; and it was further held that the original charter of 1609
+used language which implicitly covered the northwestern territory,
+though, as Thomas Paine showed, in a pamphlet entitled "Public Good,"
+this was very doubtful. But besides all this, it was Virginia that had
+actually conquered the disputed territory, and held every military post
+in it except those which the British had not surrendered; and who could
+doubt that possession was nine points in the law?
+
+[Sidenote: Maryland's novel and beneficent suggestion, Oct. 15, 1777.]
+
+Of these conflicting claims, those of New York and Virginia were the
+most grasping and the most formidable, because they concerned a region
+into which immigration was beginning rapidly to pour. They were regarded
+with strong disfavour by the small states, Rhode Island, New Jersey,
+Delaware, and Maryland, which were so situated that they never could
+expand in any direction. They looked forward with dread to a future in
+which New York and Virginia might wax powerful enough to tyrannize over
+their smaller neighbours. But of these protesting states it was only
+Maryland that fairly rose to the occasion, and suggested an idea which
+seemed startling at first, but from which mighty and unforeseen
+consequences were soon to follow.[5] It was on the 15th of October,
+1777, just two days before Burgoyne's surrender, that this path-breaking
+idea first found expression in Congress. The articles of confederation
+were then just about to be presented to the several states to be
+ratified, and the question arose as to how the conflicting western
+claims should be settled. A motion was then made that "the United States
+in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power
+to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such states as claim to the
+Mississippi, ... and lay out the land beyond the boundary so ascertained
+into separate and independent states, from time to time, as the numbers
+and circumstances of the people may require." To carry out such a
+motion, it would be necessary for the four claimant states to surrender
+their claims into the hands of the United States, and thus create a
+domain which should be owned by the confederacy in common. So bold a
+step towards centralization found no favour at the time. No other state
+but Maryland voted for it.
+
+[Sidenote: The several states yield their claims in favour of the United
+States, 1780-85.]
+
+But Maryland's course was well considered: she pursued it resolutely,
+and was rewarded with complete success. By February, 1779, all the other
+states had ratified the articles of confederation. In the following May,
+Maryland declared that she would not ratify the articles until she
+should receive some definite assurance that the northwestern territory
+should become the common property of the United States, "subject to be
+parcelled out by Congress into free, convenient, and independent
+governments." The question, thus boldly brought into the foreground, was
+earnestly discussed in Congress and in the state legislatures, until in
+February, 1780, partly through the influence of General Schuyler, New
+York decided to cede all her claims to the western lands. This act of
+New York set things in motion, so that in September Congress recommended
+to all states having western claims to cede them to the United States.
+In October, Congress, still pursuing the Maryland idea, went farther,
+and declared that all such lands as might be ceded should be sold in
+lots to immigrants and the money used for federal purposes, and that in
+due season distinct states should be formed there, to be admitted into
+the Union, with the same rights of sovereignty as the original thirteen
+states. As an inducement to Virginia, it was further provided that any
+state which had incurred expense during the war in defending its western
+possessions should receive compensation. To this general invitation
+Connecticut immediately responded by offering to cede everything to
+which she laid claim, except 3,250,000 acres on the southern shore of
+Lake Erie, which she wished to reserve for educational purposes.
+Washington disapproved of this reservation, but it was accepted by
+Congress, though the business was not completed until 1786. This part
+of the state of Ohio is still commonly spoken of as the "Connecticut
+Reserve." Half a million acres were given to citizens of Connecticut
+whose property had been destroyed in the British raids upon her coast
+towns, and the rest were sold, in 1795, for $1,200,000, in aid of
+schools and colleges.
+
+In January, 1781, Virginia offered to surrender all the territory
+northwest of the Ohio, provided that Congress would guarantee her in the
+possession of Kentucky. This gave rise to a discussion which lasted
+nearly three years, until Virginia withdrew her proviso and made the
+cession absolute. It was accepted by Congress on the 1st of March, 1784,
+and on the 19th of April, in the following year,--the tenth anniversary
+of Lexington,--Massachusetts surrendered her claims; and the whole
+northwestern territory--the area of the great states of Michigan,
+Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio (excepting the Connecticut
+Reserve)--thus became the common property of the half-formed nation.
+Maryland, however, did not wait for this. As soon as New York and
+Virginia had become thoroughly committed to the movement, she ratified
+the articles of confederation, which thus went into operation on the 1st
+of March, 1781.
+
+[Sidenote: Magnanimity of Virginia.]
+
+This acquisition of a common territory speedily led to results not at
+all contemplated in the theory of union upon which the articles of
+confederation were based. It led to "the exercise of national
+sovereignty in the sense of eminent domain," as shown in the ordinances
+of 1784 and 1787, and prepared men's minds for the work of the Federal
+Convention. Great credit is due to Maryland for her resolute course in
+setting in motion this train of events. It aroused fierce indignation at
+the time, as to many people it looked unfriendly to the Union. Some
+hot-heads were even heard to say that if Maryland should persist any
+longer in her refusal to join the confederation, she ought to be
+summarily divided up between the neighbouring states, and her name
+erased from the map. But the brave little state had earned a better fate
+than that of Poland. When we have come to trace out the results of her
+action, we shall see that just as it was Massachusetts that took the
+decisive step in bringing on the Revolutionary War when she threw the
+tea into Boston harbour, so it was Maryland that, by leading the way
+toward the creation of a national domain, laid the corner-stone of our
+Federal Union. Equal credit must be given to Virginia for her
+magnanimity in making the desired surrender. It was New York, indeed,
+that set the praiseworthy example; but New York, after all, surrendered
+only a shadowy claim, whereas Virginia gave up a magnificent and
+princely territory of which she was actually in possession. She might
+have held back and made endless trouble, just as, at the beginning of
+the Revolution, she might have refused to make common cause with
+Massachusetts; but in both instances her leading statesmen showed a
+far-sighted wisdom and a breadth of patriotism for which no words of
+praise can be too strong. In the later instance, as in the earlier,
+Thomas Jefferson played an important part. He, who in after years, as
+president of the United States, was destined, by the purchase of
+Louisiana, to carry our western frontier beyond the Rocky Mountains,
+had, in 1779, done more than any one else to support the romantic
+campaign in which General Clark had taken possession of the country
+between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. He had much to do with the
+generous policy which gave up the greater part of that country for a
+national domain, and on the very day on which the act of cession was
+completed he presented to Congress a remarkable plan for the government
+of the new territory, which was only partially successful because it
+attempted too much, but the results of which were in many ways notable.
+
+[Sidenote: Jefferson proposes a scheme of government for the
+northwestern territory, 1784.]
+
+In this plan, known as the Ordinance of 1784, Jefferson proposed to
+divide the northwestern territory into ten states, or just twice as many
+as have actually grown out of it. In each of these states the settlers
+might establish a local government, under the authority of Congress; and
+when in any one of them the population should come to equal that of the
+least populous of the original states, it might be admitted into the
+Union by the consent of nine states in Congress. The new states were to
+have universal suffrage; they must have republican forms of government;
+they must pay their shares of the federal debt; they must forever remain
+a part of the United States; and after the year 1800 negro slavery must
+be prohibited within their limits. The names of these ten states have
+afforded much amusement to Jefferson's biographers. In those days the
+schoolmaster was abroad in the land after a peculiar fashion. Just as we
+are now in the full tide of that Gothic revival which goes back for its
+beginnings to Sir Walter Scott; as we admire mediaeval things, and try to
+build our houses after old English models, and prefer words of what
+people call "Saxon" origin, and name our children Roland and Herbert, or
+Edith and Winifred, so our great-grandfathers lived in a time of
+classical revival. They were always looking for precedents in Greek and
+Roman history; they were just beginning to try to make their wooden
+houses look like temples, with Doric columns; they preferred words of
+Latin origin; they signed their pamphlets "Brutus" and "Lycurgus," and
+in sober earnest baptized their children as Caesar, or Marcellus, or
+Darius. The map of the United States was just about to bloom forth with
+towns named Ithaca and Syracuse, Corinth and Sparta; and on the Ohio
+River, opposite the mouth of Licking Creek, a city had lately been
+founded, the name of which was truly portentous. "Losantiville" was this
+wonderful compound, in which the initial _L_ stood for "Licking," while
+_os_ signified "mouth," _anti_ "opposite," and _ville_ "town;" and the
+whole read backwards as "Town-opposite-mouth-of-Licking." In 1790
+General St. Clair, then governor of the northwest territory, changed
+this name to Cincinnati, in honor of the military order to which he
+belonged. With such examples in mind, we may see that the names of the
+proposed ten states, from which the failure of Jefferson's ordinance has
+delivered us, illustrated the prevalent taste of the time rather than
+any idiosyncrasy of the man. The proposed names were Sylvania,
+Michigania, Chersonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Illinoia, Saratoga,
+Washington, Polypotamia, and Pelisipia.
+
+[Sidenote: He wishes to prohibit slavery in the national domain.]
+
+It was not the nomenclature that stood in the way of Jefferson's scheme,
+but the wholesale way in which he tried to deal with the slavery
+question. He wished to hem in the probable extension of slavery by an
+impassable barrier, and accordingly he not only provided that it should
+be extinguished in the northwestern territory after the year 1800, but
+at the same time his anti-slavery ardour led him to try to extend the
+national dominion southward. He did his best to persuade the legislature
+of Virginia to crown its work by giving up Kentucky to the United
+States, and he urged that North Carolina and Georgia should also cede
+their western territories. As for South Carolina, she was shut in
+between the two neighbouring states in such wise that her western claims
+were vague and barren. Jefferson would thus have drawn a north-and-south
+line from Lake Erie down to the Spanish border of the Floridas, and west
+of this line he would have had all negro slavery end with the eighteenth
+century. The policy of restricting slavery, so as to let it die a
+natural death within a narrowly confined area,--the policy to sustain
+which Mr. Lincoln was elected president in 1860,--was thus first
+definitely outlined by Jefferson in 1784. It was the policy of
+forbidding slavery in the national territory. Had this policy succeeded
+then, it would have been an ounce of prevention worth many a pound of
+cure. But it failed because of its largeness, because it had too many
+elements to deal with. For the moment, the proposal to exclude slavery
+from the northwestern territory was defeated, because of the two thirds
+vote required in Congress for any important measure. It got only seven
+states in its favour, where it needed nine. This defeat, however, was
+retrieved three years later, when the famous Ordinance of 1787
+prohibited slavery forever from the national territory north of the Ohio
+River. But Jefferson's scheme had not only to deal with the national
+domain as it was, but also to extend that domain southward to Florida;
+and in this it failed. Virginia could not be persuaded to give up
+Kentucky until too late. When Kentucky came into the Union, after the
+adoption of the Federal Constitution, she came as a sovereign state,
+with all her domestic institutions in her own hands. With the western
+districts of North Carolina the case was somewhat different, and the
+story of this region throws a curious light upon the affairs of that
+disorderly time.
+
+[Sidenote: John Sevier, and the state of Franklin, 1784-87.]
+
+In surrendering her western territory, North Carolina showed
+praiseworthy generosity. But the frontier settlers were too numerous to
+be handed about from one dominion to another, without saying something
+about it themselves; and their action complicated the matter, until it
+was too late for Jefferson's scheme to operate upon them. In June, 1784,
+North Carolina ceded the region since known as Tennessee, and allowed
+Congress two years in which to accept the grant. Meanwhile, her own
+authority was to remain supreme there. But the settlers grumbled and
+protested. Some of them were sturdy pioneers of the finest type, but
+along with these there was a lawless population of "white trash,"
+ancestors of the peculiar race of men we find to-day in rural districts
+of Missouri and Arkansas. They were the refuse of North Carolina,
+gradually pushed westward by the advance of an orderly civilization.
+Crime was rife in the settlements, and, in the absence of courts, a
+rough-and-ready justice was administered by vigilance committees. The
+Cherokees, moreover, were troublesome neighbours, and people lived in
+dread of their tomahawks. Petitions had again and again gone up to the
+legislature, urging the establishment of courts and a militia, but had
+passed unheeded, and now it seemed that the state had withdrawn her
+protection entirely. The settlers did not wish to have their country
+made a national domain. If their own state could not protect them, it
+was quite clear to them that Congress could not. What was Congress, any
+way, but a roomful of men whom nobody heeded? So these backwoodsmen held
+a convention in a log-cabin at Jonesborough, and seceded from North
+Carolina. They declared that the three counties between the Bald
+Mountains and the Holston River constituted an independent state, to
+which they gave the name of Franklin; and they went on to frame a
+constitution and elect a legislature with two chambers. For governor
+they chose John Sevier, one of the heroes of King's Mountain, a man of
+Huguenot ancestry, and such dauntless nature that he was generally known
+as the "lion of the border." Having done all this, the seceders, in
+spite of their small respect for Congress, sent a delegate to that
+body, requesting that the new state of Franklin might be admitted into
+the Union. Before this business had been completed, North Carolina
+repealed her act of cession, and warned the backwoodsmen to return to
+their allegiance. This at once split the new state into two factions:
+one party wished to keep on as they had now started, the other wished
+for reunion with North Carolina. In 1786 the one party in each county
+elected members to represent them in the North Carolina legislature,
+while the other party elected members of the legislature of Franklin.
+Everywhere two sets of officers claimed authority, civil dudgeon grew
+very high, and pistols were freely used. The agitation extended into the
+neighbouring counties of Virginia, where some discontented people wished
+to secede and join the state of Franklin. For the next two years there
+was something very like civil war, until the North Carolina party grew
+so strong that Sevier fled, and the state of Franklin ceased to exist.
+Sevier was arrested on a warrant for high treason, but he effected an
+escape, and after men's passions had cooled down his great services and
+strong character brought him again to the front. He sat in the senate of
+North Carolina, and in 1796, when Tennessee became a state in the Union,
+Sevier was her first governor.
+
+These troubles show how impracticable was the attempt to create a
+national domain in any part of the country which contained a
+considerable population. The instinct of self-government was too strong
+to allow it. Any such population would have refused to submit to
+ordinances of Congress. To obey the parent state or to set up for one's
+self,--these were the only alternatives which ordinary men at that time
+could understand. Experience had not yet ripened their minds for
+comprehending a temporary condition of semi-independence, such as exists
+to-day under our territorial governments. The behaviour of these
+Tennessee backwoodsmen was just what might have been expected. The land
+on which they were living was not common land: it had been appropriated;
+it belonged to them, and it was for them to make laws for it. Such is
+the lesson of the short-lived state of Franklin. It was because she
+perceived that similar feelings were at work in Kentucky that Virginia
+did not venture to loosen her grasp upon that state until it was fully
+organized and ready for admission into the Union. It was in no such
+partly settled country that Congress could do such a thing as carve out
+boundaries and prohibit slavery by an act of national sovereignty. There
+remained the magnificent territory north of the Ohio,--an empire in
+itself, as large as the German Empire, with the Netherlands thrown
+in,--in which the collective wisdom of the American people, as
+represented in Congress, might autocratically shape the future; for it
+was still a wilderness, watched by frontier garrisons, and save for the
+Indians and the trappers and a few sleepy old French towns on the
+eastern bank of the Mississippi, there were no signs of human life in
+all its vast solitude. Here, where there was nobody to grumble or
+secede, Congress, in 1787, proceeded to carry out the work which
+Jefferson had outlined three years before.
+
+[Sidenote: Origin of the Ohio company.]
+
+It is interesting to trace the immediate origin of the famous Ordinance
+of 1787. At the close of the war General Rufus Putnam, from the mountain
+village of Rutland in Massachusetts, sent to Congress an outline of a
+plan for colonizing the region between Lake Erie and the Ohio with
+veterans of the army, who were well fitted to protect the border against
+Indian attacks. The land was to be laid out in townships six miles
+square, "with large reservations for the ministry and schools;" and by
+selling it to the soldiers at a merely nominal price, the penniless
+Congress might obtain an income, and at the same time recognize their
+services in the only substantial way that seemed practicable. Washington
+strongly favoured the scheme, but, in order to carry it out, it was
+necessary to wait until the cession of the territory by the various
+claimant states should be completed. After this had been done, a series
+of treaties were made with the Six Nations, as overlords, and their
+vassal tribes, the Wyandots, Chippewas, Ottawas, Delawares, and
+Shawnees, whereby all Indian claims to the lands in question were
+forever renounced. The matter was then formally taken up by Holden
+Parsons of Connecticut, and Rufus Putnam, Manasseh Cutler, Winthrop
+Sargent, and others, of Massachusetts, and a joint-stock company was
+formed for the purchase of lands on the Ohio River. A large number of
+settlers--old soldiers of excellent character, whom the war had
+impoverished--were ready to go and take possession at once; and in its
+petition the Ohio company asked for nothing better than that its
+settlers should be "under the immediate government of Congress in such
+mode and for such time as Congress shall judge proper." Such a proposal,
+affording a means at once of replenishing the treasury and satisfying
+the soldiers, could not but be accepted; and thus were laid the
+foundations of a state destined within a century to equal in population
+and far surpass in wealth the whole Union as it was at that time. It
+became necessary at once to lay down certain general principles of
+government applicable to the northwestern territory; and the result was
+the Ordinance of 1787, which was chiefly the work of Edward Carrington
+and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, and Nathan Dane of Massachusetts, in
+committee, following the outlines of a draft which is supposed to have
+been made by Manasseh Cutler. Jefferson was no longer on the ground,
+having gone on his mission to Paris, but some of the principles of his
+proposed Ordinance of 1784 were adopted.
+
+[Sidenote: The Ordinance of 1787.]
+
+It was provided that the northwestern territory should ultimately be
+carved into states, not exceeding five in number, and any one of these
+might be admitted into the Union as soon as its population should reach
+60,000. In the mean time, the whole territory was to be governed by
+officers appointed by Congress, and required to take an oath of
+allegiance to the United States. Under this government there was to be
+unqualified freedom of religious worship, and no religious tests should
+be required of any public official. Intestate property should descend in
+equal shares to children of both sexes. Public schools were to be
+established. Suffrage was not yet made universal, as a freehold in
+fifty acres was required. No law was ever to be made which should impair
+the obligation of contracts, and it was thoroughly agreed that this
+provision especially covered and prohibited the issue of paper money.
+The future states to be formed from this territory must make their laws
+conform to these fundamental principles, and under no circumstances
+could any one of them ever be separated from the Union. In such wise,
+the theory of peaceful secession was condemned in advance, so far as it
+was possible for the federal government to do so. Jefferson's principle,
+that slavery should not be permitted in the national domain, was also
+adopted so far as the northwest was concerned; and it is interesting to
+observe the names of the states which were present in Congress when this
+clause was added to the ordinance. They were Georgia, the two Carolinas,
+Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts; and the
+vote was unanimous. No one was more active in bringing about this result
+than William Grayson of Virginia, who was earnestly supported by Lee.
+The action of Virginia and North Carolina at that time need not surprise
+us. But the movements in favour of emancipation in these two states, and
+the emancipation actually effected or going on at the north, had already
+made Georgia and South Carolina extremely sensitive about slavery; and
+their action on this occasion can be explained only by supposing that
+they were willing to yield a point in this remote territory, in order by
+and by to be able to insist upon an equivalent in the case of the
+territory lying west of Georgia. Nor would they have yielded at all had
+not a fugitive slave law been enacted, providing that slaves escaping
+beyond the Ohio should be arrested and returned to their owners. These
+arrangements having been made, General St. Clair was appointed governor
+of the territory; surveys were made; land was put up for sale at sixty
+cents per acre, payable in certificates of the public debt; and settlers
+rapidly came in. The westward exodus from New England and Pennsylvania
+now began, and only fourteen years elapsed before Ohio, the first of the
+five states, was admitted into the Union.
+
+[Sidenote: Theory of folkland upon which the ordinance was based.]
+
+"I doubt," says Daniel Webster, "whether one single law of any
+law-giver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct,
+marked, and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787." Nothing could
+have been more emphatically an exercise of national sovereignty; yet, as
+Madison said, while warmly commending the act, Congress did it "without
+the least colour of constitutional authority." The ordinance was never
+submitted to the states for ratification. The articles of confederation
+had never contemplated an occasion for such a peculiar assertion of
+sovereignty. "A great and independent fund of revenue," said Madison,
+"is passing into the hands of a single body of men, who can raise troops
+to an indefinite number, and appropriate money to their support for an
+indefinite period of time.... Yet no blame has been whispered, no alarm
+has been sounded," even by men most zealous for state rights and most
+suspicious of Congress. Within a few months this argument was to be
+cited with telling effect against those who hesitated to accept the
+Federal Constitution because of the great powers which it conferred upon
+the general government. Unless you give a government specific powers,
+commensurate with its objects, it is liable on occasions of public
+necessity to exercise powers which have not been granted. Avoid the
+dreadful dilemma between dissolution and usurpation, urged Madison, by
+clothing the government with powers that are ample but clearly defined.
+In a certain sense, the action of Congress in 1787 was a usurpation of
+authority to meet an emergency which no one had foreseen, as in the
+cases of Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana and Lincoln's emancipation of
+the slaves. Each of these instances marked, in one way or another, a
+brilliant epoch in American history, and in each case the public
+interest was so unmistakable that the people consented and applauded.
+The theory upon which the Ordinance of 1787 was based was one which
+nobody could fail to understand, though perhaps no one would then have
+known just how to put it into words. It was simply the thirteen states,
+through their delegates in Congress, dealing with the unoccupied
+national domain as if it were the common land or folkland of a
+stupendous township.
+
+[Sidenote: Spain, hearing of the secret article in the treaty of 1783,
+loses her temper and threatens to shut up the Mississippi River.]
+
+The vast importance of the lands between the Alleghanies and the
+Mississippi was becoming more apparent every year, as the westward
+movement of population went on. But at this time their value was much
+more clearly seen by the southern than by the northern states. In the
+north the westward emigration was only just beginning to pass the
+Alleghanies; in the south, as we have seen, it had gone beyond them
+several years ago. The southern states, accordingly, took a much sounder
+view than the northern states of the importance to the Union of the free
+navigation of the Mississippi River. The difference was forcibly
+illustrated in the dispute with Spain, which came to a crisis in the
+summer of 1786. It will be remembered that by the treaties which closed
+the Revolutionary War the provinces of East and West Florida were ceded
+by England to Spain. West Florida was the region lying between the
+Appalachicola and the Mississippi rivers, including the southernmost
+portions of the present states of Alabama and Mississippi. By the treaty
+between Great Britain and the United States, the northern boundary of
+this province was described by the thirty-first parallel of latitude;
+but Spain denied the right of these powers to place the boundary so low.
+Her troops still held Natchez, and she maintained that the boundary must
+be placed a hundred miles farther north, starting from the Mississippi
+at the mouth of the Yazoo River, near the present site of Vicksburg. Now
+the treaty between Great Britain and the United States contained a
+secret article, wherein it was provided that if England could contrive
+to keep West Florida, instead of surrendering it to Spain, then the
+boundary should start at the Yazoo. This showed that both England and
+the United States were willing to yield the one to the other a strip of
+territory which both agreed in withholding from Spain. Presently the
+Spanish court got hold of the secret article, and there was great
+indignation. Here was England giving to the Americans a piece of land
+which she knew, and the Americans knew, was recently a part of West
+Florida, and therefore belonged to Spain! Castilian grandees went to bed
+and dreamed of invincible armadas. Congress was promptly informed that,
+until this affair should be set right, the Americans need not expect the
+Spanish government to make any treaty of commerce with them; and
+furthermore, let no American sloop or barge dare to show itself on the
+Mississippi below the Yazoo, under penalty of confiscation. When these
+threats were heard in America, there was great excitement everywhere,
+but it assumed opposite phases in the north and in the south. The
+merchants of New York and Boston cared little more about the Mississippi
+River than about Timbuctoo, but they were extremely anxious to see a
+commercial treaty concluded with Spain. On the other hand, the
+backwoodsmen of Kentucky and the state of Franklin cared nothing for the
+trade on the ocean, but they would not sit still while their corn and
+their pork were confiscated on the way to New Orleans. The people of
+Virginia sympathized with the backwoodsmen, but her great statesmen
+realized the importance of both interests and the danger of a conflict
+between them.
+
+[Sidenote: Gardoqui and Jay.]
+
+[Sidenote: Threats of secession in Kentucky and in New England, 1786.]
+
+The Spanish envoy, Gardoqui, arrived in the summer of 1784, and had many
+interviews with Jay, who was then secretary for foreign affairs.
+Gardoqui set forth that his royal master was graciously pleased to deal
+leniently with the Americans, and would confer one favour upon them, but
+could not confer two. He was ready to enter into a treaty of commerce
+with us, but not until we should have renounced all claim to the
+navigation of the Mississippi River below the Yazoo. Here the Spaniard
+was inexorable. A year of weary argument passed by, and he had not
+budged an inch. At last, in despair, Jay advised Congress, for the sake
+of the commercial treaty, to consent to the closing of the Mississippi,
+but only for twenty-five years. As the rumour of this went abroad among
+the settlements south of the Ohio, there was an outburst of wrath, to
+which an incident that now occurred gave added virulence. A North
+Carolinian trader, named Amis, sailed down the Mississippi with a cargo
+of pots and kettles and barrels of flour. At Natchez his boat and his
+goods were seized by the Spanish officers, and he was left to make his
+way home afoot through several hundred miles of wilderness. The story of
+his wrongs flew from one log-cabin to another, until it reached the
+distant northwestern territory. In the neighbourhood of Vincennes there
+were Spanish traders, and one of them kept a shop in the town. The shop
+was sacked by a band of American soldiers, and an attempt was made to
+incite the Indians to attack the Spaniards. Indignation meetings were
+held in Kentucky. The people threatened to send a force of militia down
+the river and capture Natchez and New Orleans; and a more dangerous
+threat was made. Should the northeastern states desert them and adopt
+Jay's suggestion, they vowed they would secede, and throw themselves
+upon Great Britain for protection. On the other hand, there was great
+agitation in the seaboard towns of Massachusetts. They were disgusted
+with the backwoodsmen for making such a fuss about nothing, and with the
+people of the southern states for aiding and abetting them; and during
+this turbulent summer of 1786, many persons were heard to declare that,
+in case Jay's suggestion should not be adopted, it would be high time
+for the New England states to secede from the Union, and form a
+confederation by themselves. The situation was dangerous in the extreme.
+Had the question been forced to an issue, the southern states would
+never have seen their western territories go and offer themselves to
+Great Britain. Sooner than that, they would have broken away from the
+northern states. But New Jersey and Pennsylvania now came over to the
+southern side, and Rhode Island, moving in her eccentric orbit,
+presently joined them; and thus the treaty was postponed for the
+present, and the danger averted.
+
+[Sidenote: Washington's views on the importance of canals between east
+and west.]
+
+[Sidenote: His far-sighted genius and self-devotion.]
+
+This lamentable dispute was watched by Washington with feelings of
+gravest concern. From an early age he had indulged in prophetic dreams
+of the grandeur of the coming civilization in America, and had looked to
+the country beyond the mountains as the field in which the next
+generation was to find room for expansion. Few had been more efficient
+than he in aiding the great scheme of Pitt for overthrowing the French
+power in America, and he understood better than most men of his time how
+much that scheme implied. In his early journeys in the wilderness he had
+given especial attention to the possibilities of water connection
+between the east and west, and he had bought for himself and surveyed
+many extensive tracts of land beyond the mountains. The subject was a
+favourite one with him, and he looked at it from both a commercial and a
+political point of view. What we most needed, he said in 1770, were easy
+transit lines between east and west, as "the channel of conveyance of
+the extensive and valuable trade of a rising empire." Just before
+resigning his commission in 1783 Washington had explored the route
+through the Mohawk Valley, afterward taken first by the Erie Canal, and
+then by the New York Central Railroad, and had prophesied its commercial
+importance in the present century. Soon after reaching his home at Mount
+Vernon, he turned his attention to the improvement of intercourse with
+the west through the valley of the Potomac. The east and west, he said,
+must be cemented together by interests in common; otherwise they will
+break asunder. Without commercial intercourse they will cease to
+understand each other, and will thus be ripe for disagreement. It is
+easy for mental habits, as well as merchandise, to glide down stream,
+and the connections of the settlers beyond the mountains all centre in
+New Orleans, which is in the hands of a foreign and hostile power. No
+one can tell what complications may arise from this, argued Washington;
+"let us bind these people to us by a chain that can never be broken;"
+and with characteristic energy he set to work at once to establish that
+line of communication that has since grown into the Chesapeake and Ohio
+Canal, and into the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. During the three years
+preceding the meeting of the Federal Convention he was largely occupied
+with this work. In 1785 he became president of a company for extending
+the navigation of the Potomac and James rivers, and the legislature of
+Virginia passed an act vesting him with one hundred and fifty shares in
+the stock of the company, in order to testify their "sense of his
+unexampled merits." But Washington refused the testimonial, and declined
+to take any pay for his services, because he wished to arouse the people
+to the political importance of the undertaking, and felt that his words
+would have more weight if he were known to have no selfish interest in
+it. His sole purpose, as he repeatedly said, was to strengthen the
+spirit of union by cementing the eastern and western regions together.
+At this time he could ill afford to give his services without pay, for
+his long absence in war-time had sadly impaired his estate. But such was
+Washington.
+
+[Sidenote: Maryland confers with Virginia regarding the navigation of
+the Potomac, 1785.]
+
+In order to carry out the enterprise of extending the navigation of the
+Potomac, it became necessary for the two states Virginia and Maryland to
+act in concert; and early in 1785 a joint commission of the two states
+met for consultation at Washington's house at Mount Vernon. A compact
+insuring harmonious cooperation was prepared by the commissioners; and
+then, as Washington's scheme involved the connection of the head waters
+of the Potomac with those of the Ohio, it was found necessary to invite
+Pennsylvania to become a party to the compact. Then Washington took the
+occasion to suggest that Maryland and Virginia, while they were about
+it, should agree upon a uniform system of duties and other commercial
+regulations, and upon a uniform currency; and these suggestions were
+sent, together with the compact, to the legislatures of the two states.
+Great things were destined to come from these modest beginnings. Just as
+in the Yorktown campaign, there had come into existence a multifarious
+assemblage of events, apparently unconnected with one another, and all
+that was needed was the impulse given by Washington's far-sighted genius
+to set them all at work, surging, swelling, and hurrying straight
+forward to a decisive result.
+
+[Sidenote: Madison's motion; a step in advance, 1785.]
+
+Late in 1785, when the Virginia legislature had wrangled itself into
+imbecility over the question of clothing Congress with power over trade,
+Madison hit upon an expedient. He prepared a motion to the effect that
+commissioners from all the states should hold a meeting, and discuss the
+best method of securing a uniform treatment of commercial questions; but
+as he was most conspicuous among the advocates of a more perfect union,
+he was careful not to present the motion himself. Keeping in the
+background, he persuaded another member--John Tyler, father of the
+president of that name, a fierce zealot for state rights--to make the
+motion. The plan, however, was "so little acceptable that it was not
+then persisted in," and the motion was laid on the table. But Madison
+knew what was coming from Maryland, and bided his time. After some weeks
+it was announced that Maryland had adopted the compact made at Mount
+Vernon concerning jurisdiction over the Potomac. Virginia instantly
+replied by adopting it also. Then it was suggested, in the report from
+Maryland, that Delaware, as well as Pennsylvania, ought to be consulted,
+since the scheme should rightly include a canal between the Delaware
+River and the Chesapeake Bay. And why not also consult with these states
+about a uniform system of duties? If two states can agree upon these
+matters, why not four? And still further, said the Maryland
+message,--dropping the weightiest part of the proposal into a
+subordinate clause, just as women are said to put the quintessence of
+their letters into the postscript,--might it not be well enough, if we
+are going to have such a conference, to invite commissioners from all
+the thirteen states to attend it? An informal discussion can hurt
+nobody. The conference of itself can settle nothing; and if four states
+can take part in it, why not thirteen? Here was the golden opportunity.
+The Madison-Tyler motion was taken up from the table and carried.
+Commissioners from all the states were invited to meet on the first
+Monday of September, 1786, at Annapolis,--a safe place, far removed from
+the influence of that dread tyrant, the Congress, and from wicked
+centres of trade, such as New York and Boston. It was the governor of
+Virginia who sent the invitations. It may not amount to much, wrote
+Madison to Monroe, but "the expedient is better than nothing; and, as
+the recommendation of additional powers to Congress is within the
+purview of the commission, it may possibly lead to better consequences
+than at first occur."
+
+[Sidenote: Convention at Annapolis, Sept. 11, 1786.]
+
+[Sidenote: Hamilton's address; a further step in advance.]
+
+The seed dropped by Washington had fallen on fruitful soil. At first it
+was to be just a little meeting of two or three states to talk about the
+Potomac River and some projected canals, and already it had come to be a
+meeting of all the states to discuss some uniform system of legislation
+on the subject of trade. This looked like progress, yet when the
+convention was gathered at Annapolis, on the 11th of September, the
+outlook was most discouraging. Commissioners were there from Virginia,
+Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Massachusetts and New
+Hampshire, Rhode Island and North Carolina, had duly appointed
+commissioners, but they were not there. It is curious to observe that
+Maryland, which had been so earnest in the matter, had nevertheless now
+neglected to appoint commissioners; and no action had been taken by
+Georgia, South Carolina, or Connecticut. With only five states
+represented, the commissioners did not think it worth while to go on
+with their work. But before adjourning they adopted an address, written
+by Alexander Hamilton, and sent it to all the states. All the
+commissioners present had been empowered to consider how far a uniform
+commercial system might be essential to the permanent harmony of the
+states. But New Jersey had taken a step in advance, and instructed her
+delegates "to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial
+regulations _and other important matters_ might be necessary to the
+common interest and permanent harmony of the several states." _And other
+important matters_,--thus again was the weightiest part of the business
+relegated to a subordinate clause. So gingerly was the great
+question--so dreaded, yet so inevitable--approached! This reference to
+"other matters" was pronounced by the commissioners to be a vast
+improvement on the original plan; and Hamilton's address now urged that
+commissioners be appointed by all the states, to meet in convention at
+Philadelphia on the second Monday of the following May, "to devise such
+further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the
+constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the
+Union, and to report to Congress such an act as, when agreed to by them,
+and confirmed by the legislatures of every state, would effectually
+provide for the same." The report of the commissioners was brought
+before Congress in October, in the hope that Congress would earnestly
+recommend to the several states the course of action therein suggested.
+But Nathan Dane and Rufus King of Massachusetts, intent upon
+technicalities, succeeded in preventing this. According to King, a
+convention was an irregular body, which had no right to propose changes
+in the organic law of the land, and the state legislatures could not
+properly confirm the acts of such a body, or take notice of them.
+Congress was the only source from which such proposals could properly
+emanate. These arguments were pleasing to the self-love of Congress, and
+it refused to sanction the plan of the Annapolis commissioners.
+
+[Sidenote: New York defeats the impost amendment.]
+
+In an ordinary season this would perhaps have ended the matter, but the
+winter of 1786-87 was not an ordinary season. All the troubles above
+described seemed to culminate just at this moment. The paper-money craze
+in so many of the states, the shameful deeds of Rhode Island, the riots
+in Vermont and New Hampshire, the Shays rebellion in Massachusetts, the
+dispute with Spain, and the consequent imminent danger of separation
+between north and south had all come together; and the feeling of
+thoughtful men and women throughout the country was one of real
+consternation. The last ounce was now to be put upon the camel's back in
+the failure of the impost amendment. In 1783, when the cessions of
+western lands were creating a national domain, a promising plan had been
+devised for relieving the country of its load of debt, and furnishing
+Congress with money for its current expenses. All the money coming from
+sales of the western folkland was to be applied to reducing and wiping
+out the principal of the public debt. Then the interest of this debt
+must be provided for; and to that end Congress had recommended an
+impost, or system of custom-house duties, upon liquors, sugars, teas,
+coffees, cocoa, molasses, and pepper. This impost was to be kept up for
+twenty-five years only, and the collectors were to be appointed by the
+several states, each for its own ports. Then for the current expenses of
+the government, supplementary funds were needed; and these were to be
+assessed upon the several states, each of which might raise its quota as
+it saw fit. Such was the original plan; but it soon turned out that the
+only available source of revenue was the national domain, which had thus
+been nothing less than the principal thread which had held the Union
+together. As for the impost, it had never been possible to get a
+sufficient number of states to agree upon it, and of the quotas for
+current expenses, as we have seen, very little had found its way to the
+federal treasury. Under these difficulties, it had been proposed that an
+amendment to the articles of confederation should endow Congress with
+the power of levying customs-duties and appointing the collectors; and
+by the summer of 1786, after endless wrangling, twelve states had
+consented to the amendment. But, in order that an amendment should be
+adopted, unanimous consent was necessary. The one delinquent state,
+which thus blocked the wheels of the confederacy, was New York. She had
+her little system of duties all nicely arranged for what seemed to be
+her own interests, and she would not surrender this system to Congress.
+Upon the neighbouring states her tariff system bore hard, and especially
+upon New Jersey. In 1786 this little state flatly refused to pay her
+quota until New York should stop discriminating against her trade.
+Nothing which occurred in that troubled year caused more alarm than
+this, for it could not be denied that such a declaration seemed little
+less than an act of secession on the part of New Jersey. The arguments
+of a congressional committee at last prevailed upon the state to rescind
+her declaration. At the same time there came the final struggle in New
+York over the impost amendment, against which Governor Clinton had
+firmly set his face. There was a fierce fight, in which Hamilton's most
+strenuous efforts succeeded in carrying the amendment in part, but not
+until it had been clogged with a condition that made it useless.
+Congress, it was declared, might have the revenue, but New York must
+appoint the collectors; she was not going to have federal officials
+rummaging about her docks. The legislature well knew that to grant the
+amendment in such wise was not to grant it at all, but simply to reopen
+the whole question. Such was the result. Congress expostulated in vain.
+On the 15th of February, 1787, the matter was reconsidered in the New
+York legislature, and the impost amendment was defeated.
+
+[Sidenote: Sudden changes in popular sentiment.]
+
+Thus, only three months before the Federal Convention was to meet, if
+indeed it was ever to meet, Congress was decisively informed that it
+would not be allowed to take any effectual measures for raising a
+revenue. There now seemed nothing left for Congress to do but adopt the
+recommendation of the Annapolis commissioners, and give its sanction to
+the proposed convention. Madison, however, had not waited for this, but
+had prevailed upon the Virginia legislature to go on and appoint its
+delegates to the convention. The events of the year had worked a change
+in the popular sentiment in Virginia; people were more afraid of
+anarchy, and not quite so much afraid of centralization; and now, under
+Madison's lead, Virginia played her trump card and chose George
+Washington as one of her delegates. As soon as this was known, there was
+an outburst of joy throughout the land. All at once the people began
+everywhere to feel an interest in the proposed convention, and presently
+Massachusetts changed her attitude. Up to this time Massachusetts had
+been as obstinate in her assertion of local independence, and as
+unwilling to strengthen the hands of Congress, as any of the thirteen
+states, except New York and Rhode Island. But the Shays rebellion had
+served as a useful object-lesson. Part of the distress in Massachusetts
+could be traced to the inability of Congress to pay debts which it owed
+to her citizens. It was felt that the time had come when the question of
+a national revenue must be seriously considered. Every week saw fresh
+converts to the party which called for a stronger government. Then came
+the news that Virginia had chosen delegates, and that Washington was one
+of them; then that New Jersey had followed the example; then that
+Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Delaware, had chosen delegates. It was
+time for Massachusetts to act, and Rufus King now brought the matter up
+in Congress. His scruples as to the legality of the proceeding had not
+changed, and accordingly he moved that Congress should of itself propose
+a convention at Philadelphia, identical with the one which the Annapolis
+commissioners had already recommended. The motion was carried, and in
+this way Congress formally approved and adopted what was going on.
+Massachusetts immediately chose delegates, and was followed by New York.
+In April, Georgia and South Carolina followed suit. Connecticut and
+Maryland came on in May, and New Hampshire, somewhat tardily, in June.
+Of the thirteen states, Rhode Island alone refused to take any part in
+the proceedings.
+
+[Sidenote: The Federal Convention meets at Philadelphia, May 14-25,
+1787.]
+
+The convention held its meetings in that plain brick building in
+Philadelphia already immortalized as the place from which the
+Declaration of Independence was published to the world. The work which
+these men were undertaking was to determine whether that Declaration had
+been for the blessing or the injury of America and of mankind. That they
+had succeeded in assembling here at all was somewhat remarkable, when we
+think of the curious medley of incidents that led to it. At no time in
+this distressed period would a frank and abrupt proposal for a
+convention to remodel the government have found favour. Such proposals,
+indeed, had been made, beginning with that of Pelatiah Webster in 1781,
+and they had all failed to break through the crust of a truly English
+conservatism and dread of centralized power. Now, through what some
+might have called a strange chapter of accidents, before the element of
+causal sequence in it all had become so manifest as it is to us to-day,
+this remarkable group of men had been brought together in a single room,
+while even yet but few of them realized how thoroughly and exhaustively
+reconstructive their work was to be. To most of them it was not clear
+whether they were going merely to patch up the articles of
+confederation, or to strike out into a new and very different path.
+There were a few who entertained far-reaching purposes; the rest were
+intelligent critics rather than constructive thinkers; the result was
+surprising to all. It is worth our while to pause for a moment, and
+observe the character and composition of one of the most memorable
+assemblies the world has ever seen. Mr. Gladstone says that just "as the
+British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded
+from progressive history, so the American Constitution is the most
+wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose
+of man."[6] Let us now see who the men were who did this wonderful
+work,--this Iliad, or Parthenon, or Fifth Symphony, of statesmanship. We
+shall not find that they were all great geniuses. Such is never the case
+in such an assembly. There are not enough great geniuses to go around;
+and if there were, it is questionable if the result would be
+satisfactory. In such discussions the points which impress the more
+ordinary and less far-sighted members are sure to have great value;
+especially when we bear in mind that the object of such an assembly is
+not merely to elaborate a plan, but to get the great mass of people,
+including the brick-layers and hod-carriers, to understand it well
+enough to vote for it. An ideally perfect assembly of law-makers will
+therefore contain two or three men of original constructive genius, two
+or three leading spirits eminent for shrewdness and tact, a dozen or
+more excellent critics representing various conflicting interests, and a
+rank and file of thoroughly respectable, commonplace men, unfitted for
+shining in the work of the meeting, but admirably competent to proclaim
+its results and get their friends and neighbours to adopt them. And in
+such an assembly, even if it be such as we call ideally perfect, we must
+allow something for the presence of a few hot-headed and irreconcilable
+members,--men of inflexible mind, who cannot adapt themselves to
+circumstances, and will refuse to play when they see the game going
+against them.
+
+[Sidenote: The men who were assembled.]
+
+All these points are well illustrated in the assemblage of men that
+framed our Federal Constitution. In its composition, this group of men
+left nothing to be desired. In its strength and in its weakness, it was
+an ideally perfect assembly. There were fifty-five men, all of them
+respectable for family and for personal qualities,--men who had been
+well educated, and had done something whereby to earn recognition in
+these troubled times. Twenty-nine were university men, graduates of
+Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, William and Mary, Oxford, Glasgow,
+and Edinburgh. Twenty-six were not university men, and among these were
+Washington and Franklin. Of the illustrious citizens who, for their
+public services, would naturally have been here, John Adams and Thomas
+Jefferson were in Europe; Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry
+Lee disapproved of the convention, and remained at home; and the
+greatest man of Rhode Island, Nathanael Greene, who--one likes to
+think--might have succeeded in bringing his state into the convention,
+had lately died of a sun-stroke, at the early age of forty-four.
+
+[Sidenote: James Madison.]
+
+Of the two most famous men present little need be said. The names of
+Washington and Franklin stood for supreme intelligence and consummate
+tact. Franklin had returned to this country two years before, and was
+now president of Pennsylvania. He was eighty-one years of age, the
+oldest man in the convention, as Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey, aged
+twenty-six, was the youngest. The two most profound and original
+thinkers in the company were but little older than Dayton. Alexander
+Hamilton was thirty, James Madison thirty-six. Among political writers,
+these two men must be ranked in the same order with Aristotle,
+Montesquieu, and Locke; and the "Federalist," their joint production, is
+the greatest treatise on government that has ever been written. John
+Jay, who contributed a few pages to this immortal volume, had not been
+sent to the convention, because New York did not wish to have it
+succeed. Along with Hamilton, New York sent two commonplace men, Robert
+Yates and John Lansing, who were extreme and obstinate Antifederalists;
+and the action of Hamilton, who was thus prevented from carrying the
+vote of his own state for any measure which he might propose, was in
+this way sadly embarrassed. For another reason, Hamilton failed to
+exert as much influence in the convention as one would have expected
+from his profound thought and his brilliant eloquence. Scarcely any of
+these men entertained what we should now call extreme democratic views.
+Scarcely any, perhaps, had that intense faith in the ultimate good sense
+of the people which was the most powerful characteristic of Jefferson.
+But Hamilton went to the other extreme, and expressed his distrust of
+popular government too plainly. His views were too aristocratic and his
+preference for centralization was too pronounced to carry conviction to
+his hearers. The leading part in the convention fell, therefore, to
+James Madison, a young man somewhat less brilliant than Hamilton, but
+superior to him in sobriety and balance of powers. Madison used to be
+called the "Father of the Constitution," and it is true that the
+government under which we live is more his work than that of any other
+one man. From early youth his life had been devoted to the study of
+history and the practice of statesmanship. He was a graduate of
+Princeton College, an earnest student, familiar with all the best
+literature of political science from Aristotle down to his own time, and
+he had given especial attention to the history of federal government in
+ancient Greece, and in Switzerland and Holland. At the age of
+twenty-five he had taken part in the Virginia convention which
+instructed the delegates from that state in Congress to bring forward
+the Declaration of Independence. During the last part of the war he was
+an active and influential member of Congress, where no one equalled or
+approached him for knowledge of English history and constitutional law.
+In 1784 he had returned to the Virginia legislature, and been foremost
+in securing the passage of the great act which gave complete religious
+freedom to the people of that state. No man understood better than he
+the causes of the alarming weakness of the federal government, and of
+the commercial disturbances and popular discontent of the time; nor had
+any one worked more zealously or more adroitly in bringing about the
+meeting of this convention. As he stood here now, a leader in the
+debate, there was nothing grand or imposing in his appearance. He was
+small of stature and slight in frame, like Hamilton, but he had none of
+Hamilton's personal magnetism. His manner was shy and prim, and blushes
+came often to his cheeks. At the same time, he had that rare dignity of
+unconscious simplicity which characterizes the earnest and disinterested
+scholar. He was exceedingly sweet-tempered, generous, and kind, but very
+hard to move from a path which, after long reflection, he had decided to
+be the right one. He looked at politics judicially, and was so little of
+a party man that on several occasions he was accused (quite wrongfully,
+as I hope hereafter to prove) of gross inconsistency. The position of
+leadership, which he won so early and kept so long, he held by sheer
+force of giant intelligence, sleepless industry, and an integrity which
+no man ever doubted. But he was above all things a man of peace. When in
+after years, as president of the United States, he was called upon to
+manage a great war, he was out of place, and his reputation for supreme
+ability was temporarily lowered. Here in the Federal Convention we are
+introduced to him at the noblest and most useful moment of his life.
+
+[Sidenote: Other leading members.]
+
+Of the fifty-five men here assembled, Washington, Franklin, Hamilton,
+and Madison were of the first order of ability. Many others in the room
+were gentlemen of more than ordinary talent and culture. There was John
+Dickinson, who had moved from Pennsylvania into Delaware, and now came
+to defend the equal rights of the smaller states. There was James Wilson
+of Pennsylvania, born and educated in Scotland, one of the most learned
+jurists this country has ever seen. Beside him sat the financier, Robert
+Morris, and his namesake Gouverneur Morris of Morrisania, near the city
+of New York, the originator of our decimal currency, and one of the
+far-sighted projectors of the Erie Canal. Then there was John Rutledge
+of South Carolina, who ever since the Stamp Act Congress had been the
+mainstay of his state; and with him were the two able and gallant
+Pinckneys. Caleb Strong, afterward ten times governor of Massachusetts,
+was a typical Puritan, hard-headed and supremely sensible; his
+colleague, Rufus King, already distinguished for his opposition to negro
+slavery, was a man of brilliant attainments. And there were George
+Wythe, the chancellor of Virginia, and Daniel Carroll of Maryland, who
+had played a prominent part in the events which led to the creation of a
+national domain. Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, afterward chief
+justice of the United States, was one of the ablest lawyers of his
+time; with him were Roger Sherman and William Johnson, the latter a
+Fellow of the Royal Society, and afterward president of Columbia
+College. The New Jersey delegation, consisting of William Livingston,
+David Brearley, William Paterson, and Jonathan Dayton, was a very strong
+one; and as to New Hampshire, it is enough to mention the name of John
+Langdon. Besides all these there were some twenty of less mark, men who
+said little, but listened and voted. And then there were the
+irreconcilables, Yates and Lansing, the two Antifederalists from New
+York; and four men of much greater ability, who took an important part
+in the proceedings, but could not be induced to accept the result. These
+four were Luther Martin of Maryland; George Mason and Edmund Randolph of
+Virginia; and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts.
+
+When these men had assembled in Independence Hall, they chose George
+Washington president of the convention. The doors were locked, and an
+injunction of strict secrecy was put upon every one. The results of
+their work were known in the following September, when the draft of the
+Federal Constitution was published. But just what was said and done in
+this secret conclave was not revealed until fifty years had passed, and
+the aged James Madison, the last survivor of those who sat there, had
+been gathered to his fathers. He kept a journal of the proceedings,
+which was published after his death, and upon the interesting story told
+in that journal we have now to enter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE FEDERAL CONVENTION.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Difficult problem before the convention.]
+
+[Sidenote: Washington's solemn appeal.]
+
+The Federal Convention did wisely in withholding its debates from the
+knowledge of the people. It was felt that discussion would be more
+untrammelled, and that its result ought to go before the country as the
+collective and unanimous voice of the convention. There was likely to be
+wrangling enough among themselves; but should their scheme be unfolded,
+bit by bit, before its parts could be viewed in their mutual relations,
+popular excitement would become intense, there might be riots, and an
+end would be put to that attitude of mental repose so necessary for the
+constructive work that was to be done. It was thought best that the
+scheme should be put forth as a completed whole, and that for several
+years, even, until the new system of government should have had a fair
+trial, the traces of the individual theories and preferences concerned
+in its formation should not be revealed. For it was generally assumed
+that a system of government new in some important respects would be
+proposed by the convention, and while the people awaited the result the
+wildest speculations and rumours were current. A few hoped, and many
+feared, that some scheme of monarchy would be established. Such
+surmises found their way across the ocean, and hopes were expressed in
+England that, should a king be chosen, it might be a younger son of
+George III. It was even hinted, with alarm, that, through gratitude to
+our recent allies, we might be persuaded to offer the crown to some
+member of the royal family of France. No such thoughts were entertained,
+however, by any person present in the convention. Some of the delegates
+came with the design of simply amending the articles of confederation by
+taking away from the states the power of regulating commerce, and
+intrusting this power to Congress. Others felt that if the work were not
+done thoroughly now another chance might never be offered; and these men
+thought it necessary to abolish the confederation, and establish a
+federal republic, in which the general government should act directly
+upon the people. The difficult problem was how to frame a plan of this
+sort which people could be made to understand and adopt. At the very
+outset some of the delegates began to exhibit symptoms of that peculiar
+kind of moral cowardice which is wont to afflict free governments, and
+of which American history furnishes so many instructive examples. It was
+suggested that palliatives and half measures would be far more likely to
+find favour with the people than any thorough-going reform, when
+Washington suddenly interposed with a brief but immortal speech, which
+ought to be blazoned in letters of gold, and posted on the wall of every
+American assembly that shall meet to nominate a candidate, or declare a
+policy, or pass a law, so long as the weakness of human nature shall
+endure. Rising from his president's chair, his tall figure drawn up to
+its full height, he exclaimed in tones unwontedly solemn with suppressed
+emotion, "It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted.
+Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If, to please the
+people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward
+defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the
+honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God."
+
+This outburst of noble eloquence carried conviction to every one, and
+henceforth we do not hear that any attempt was avowedly made to avoid
+the issues as they came up. It was a most wholesome tonic. It braced up
+the convention to high resolves, and impressed upon all the delegates
+that they were in a situation where faltering or trifling was both
+wicked and dangerous. From that moment the mood in which they worked
+caught something from the glorious spirit of Washington. There was need
+of such high purpose, for two plans were presently laid before the
+meeting, which, for a moment, brought out one of the chief elements of
+antagonism existing between the states, and which at first seemed
+irreconcilable. It was the happy compromise which united and harmonised
+these two plans that smoothed the further work of the convention, and
+made it possible for a stable and powerful government to be constructed.
+
+[Sidenote: The root of all the difficulties.]
+
+The first of these plans was known as the Virginia plan. It was agreed
+upon in a committee of the delegates of that state, and was brought
+forward by Edmund Randolph, governor of Virginia, in the name of the
+state, but its chief author was Madison. It struck instantly at the root
+of the difficulties under which the country had been staggering ever
+since the Declaration of Independence. The federal government had
+possessed no means of enforcing obedience to its laws. Its edicts were
+without a sanction; and this was because they operated upon states, and
+not upon individuals. When an individual defies the law, you can lock
+him up in jail, or levy an execution upon his property. The immense
+force of the community is arrayed against him, and he is as helpless as
+a straw on the billows of the ocean. He cannot raise a militia to
+protect himself. But when the law is defied by a state, it is quite
+otherwise. You cannot put a state into jail, nor seize its goods; you
+can only make war on it, and if you try that expedient you find that the
+state is not helpless. Its local pride and prejudices are aroused
+against you, and its militia will turn out in full force to uphold the
+infraction of law. Against this obstinate and exasperated military force
+what superior force can you bring? Under some rare combination of
+circumstances you might get the military force of several of the other
+states; but ordinarily, when what you are trying to do is simply to
+enforce every-day laws, and when you simply represent a distrusted
+general government in conflict with a local government, you cannot do
+this. The other states will sympathize with the delinquent state; they
+will feel that the very same condition of things which leads you to
+attack that state to-day will lead you to attack some other state
+to-morrow. Hence you cannot get any military help, and you are
+powerless.
+
+Such was the case with the Continental Congress. A novel and distrusted
+institution, it was called upon to enforce its laws upon
+long-established communities, full of sturdy independence and obstinate
+local prejudices. It was able to act, though with clumsy slowness, as
+long as there was an enemy in the field who was even more dreaded. But
+as soon as this enemy had been beaten out of sight it could not act at
+all. This had been because it did not represent the American people, but
+only the American states. The vital force which moved it was not the
+resistless force of a whole people, but only a shadowy semblance of
+force, derived from a theoretical consent of thirteen corporate bodies,
+which in their corporate capacity could never be compelled to agree
+about anything under the sun; and unless compelled they would not agree.
+Four years of disturbance in every part of the country, in the course of
+which troops had been called out in several states, and civil war had
+been narrowly averted at least half a dozen times, had proved this
+beyond all cavil. With almost any other people than the Americans civil
+war would have come already. With all the vast future interests that
+were involved in these quarrels looming up before their keen, sagacious
+minds, it was a wonder that they had been kept from coming to blows.
+Such self-restraint had been greatly to their credit. It was the blessed
+fruit of more than a century of government by free discussion, while yet
+these states were colonies, peopled by the very cream of English
+freemen who had fought the decisive battle of civil and religious
+freedom for mankind in that long crisis when the Invincible Armada was
+overwhelmed and the Long Parliament won its triumphs. Such
+self-restraint had this people shown in days of trial, under a vicious
+government adopted in a time of hurry and sore distress. But late events
+had gone far to show that it could not endure.
+
+The words of Randolph's opening speech are worth quoting in this
+connection. "The confederation," he said, "was made in the infancy of
+the science of constitutions, when the inefficiency of requisitions was
+unknown; when no commercial discord had arisen among states; when no
+rebellion like that in Massachusetts had broken out; when foreign debts
+were not urgent; when the havoc of paper money had not been foreseen;
+when treaties had not been violated; and when nothing better could have
+been conceded by states jealous of their sovereignty. But it offered no
+security against foreign invasion, for Congress could neither prevent
+nor conduct a war, nor punish infractions of treaties or of the law of
+nations, nor control particular states from provoking war. The federal
+government has no constitutional power to check a quarrel between
+separate states; nor to suppress a rebellion in any one of them; nor to
+establish a productive impost; nor to counteract the commercial
+regulations of other nations; nor to defend itself against the
+encroachments of the states. From the manner in which it has been
+ratified in many of the states, it cannot be claimed to be paramount to
+the state constitutions; so that there is a prospect of anarchy from the
+inherent laxity of the government. As the remedy, the government to be
+established must have for its basis the republican principle."
+
+[Sidenote: The Virginia plan; a radical cure.]
+
+Having thus tersely stated the whole problem, Randolph went on to
+present the Virginia plan. To make the federal government operate
+directly upon individuals, one provision was absolutely necessary. It
+did not solve the whole problem, but it was an indispensable beginning.
+This was the proposal that there should be a national legislature, in
+which the American _people_ instead of the American states should be
+represented. For the purposes of federal legislation, there must be an
+assembly elected directly by the people, and with its members
+apportioned according to population. There must be such an assembly as
+our present House of Representatives, standing in the same immediate
+relation to the people of the whole country as was sustained by the
+assembly of each separate state to the people of that state. Without
+such direct representation of the whole people in the Federal Congress,
+it would be impossible to achieve one secure step toward the radical
+reform of the weaknesses and vices of the confederation. It was the only
+way in which the vexed question of one nation or thirteen could be made
+to yield a satisfactory answer. At the same time it could not be denied
+that such a proposal was revolutionary in character. It paved the way
+for a national consolidation which might go further than any one could
+foresee, and much further than was desirable. The moribund Congress of
+the Confederation, with its delegates chosen by the state assemblies,
+and casting its vote simply by states, had utterly failed to serve as a
+national legislature. There was a good deal of truth in what John Adams
+once said of it, that it was more a diplomatic than a legislative body.
+It was, indeed, because of this consciously felt diplomatic character
+that it was called a Congress, and not a Parliament. In its lack of
+coercive power it resembled the international congresses of Europe
+rather than the supreme legislature of any country. To substitute
+abruptly for such a body a truly national legislature, based not upon
+states but upon population, was quietly to inaugurate a revolution of no
+less magnitude than that which had lately severed us from Great Britain.
+So bold a step, while all-essential in order to complete that
+revolution, and make its victorious issue fortunate instead of
+disastrous to the American people, was sufficiently revolutionary to
+awaken the fears of many members of the Federal Convention. To the
+familiar state governments which had so long possessed their love and
+allegiance, it was super-adding a new and untried government, which it
+was feared would swallow up the states and everywhere extinguish local
+independence. Nor can it be said that such fears were unreasonable. Our
+federal government has indeed shown a strong tendency to encroach upon
+the province of the state governments, especially since our late Civil
+War. Too much centralization is our danger to-day, as the weakness of
+the federal tie was our danger a century ago. The rule of the
+Federalist party was needed in 1789 as the rule of the Republican party
+was needed in 1861, to put a curb upon the centrifugal tendencies. But
+after Federalism had fairly done its great work, at the beginning of the
+nineteenth century, it was well that the administration of our national
+affairs should pass into the hands of the party to which Thomas
+Jefferson and Samuel Adams belonged, and which Madison, in his calm
+statesmanlike wisdom, had come to join. And now that, in our own day,
+the disruptive forces have been even more thoroughly and effectually
+overcome, it is time for the principles of that party to be reasserted
+with fresh emphasis. If the day should ever arrive (which God forbid!)
+when the people of the different parts of our country shall allow their
+local affairs to be administered by prefects sent from Washington, and
+when the self-government of the states shall have been so far lost as
+that of the departments of France, or even so far as that of the
+counties of England,--on that day the progressive political career of
+the American people will have come to an end, and the hopes that have
+been built upon it for the future happiness and prosperity of mankind
+will be wrecked forever.
+
+I do not think that the historian writing at the present day need fear
+any such direful calamity, for the past century has shown most
+instructively how, in such a society as ours, the sense of political
+dangers slowly makes its way through the whole mass of the people, until
+movements at length are made to avert them, and the pendulum swings in
+the opposite direction. The history of political parties in the United
+States is especially rich in lessons of this sort. Compared with the
+statesmen of the Federal Convention, we are at a great advantage in
+studying this question of national consolidation; and we have no excuse
+for failing to comprehend the attitude of the men who dreaded the
+creation of a national legislature as the entering wedge which would by
+and by rend asunder the structure of our liberties. The great mind of
+Madison was one of the first to entertain distinctly the noble
+conception of two kinds of government operating at one and the same time
+upon the same individuals, harmonious with each other, but each supreme
+in its own sphere. Such is the fundamental conception of our partly
+federal, partly national, government, which appears throughout the
+Virginia plan as well as in the Constitution which grew out of it. It
+was a political conception of a higher order than had ever before been
+entertained; it took a great deal of discussion to make it clear to the
+minds of the delegates generally; and the struggle over this initial
+measure of a national legislature was so bitter as to come near breaking
+up the convention.
+
+In its original shape the Virginia plan went much further toward
+national consolidation than the Constitution as adopted. The reaction
+against the evils of the loose-jointed confederation, which Randolph so
+ably summed up, was extreme. According to the Virginia plan, the
+national legislature was to be composed of two houses, like the
+legislatures of the several states. The members of the lower house
+should be chosen directly by the people; members of the upper house, or
+Senate, should be elected by the lower house out of persons nominated by
+the state legislatures. In both the lower and the upper branches of this
+national legislature the votes were to be the votes of individuals, and
+no longer the votes of states, as in the Continental Congress. Under the
+articles of confederation each state had an equal vote, and two thirds
+were required for every important measure. Under the proposed
+Constitution each state was to have a number of representatives
+proportionate either to its wealth or to the number of its free
+inhabitants, and a bare majority of votes was to suffice to pass all
+measures in the ordinary course of business; and these rules were to
+apply both to the lower house and to the Senate. To adopt such a plan
+would overthrow the equality of the states altogether. It would give
+Virginia, the greatest state, sixteen representatives, where Georgia,
+the smallest state, had but one; and besides, as the votes were no
+longer to be taken by states, individual members could combine in any
+way they pleased, quite irrespective of state lines. It was not strange
+that to many delegates in the convention such a beginning should have
+seemed revolutionary. This impression was deepened when it was further
+proposed not only to clothe this national legislature with original
+powers of legislation in all cases to which the several states are
+incompetent, but also to allow it to set aside at discretion such state
+laws as it might deem unconstitutional. It is interesting to find
+Madison, whose Federalism afterward came to be so moderate, now
+appearing as the earnest defender of this extreme provision, so
+incompatible with state rights. But in Madison's mind at this moment, in
+the actual presence of the anarchy of the confederation, the only
+alternative which seemed to present itself was that of armed coercion.
+"A negative on state laws," he said, "is the mildest expedient that can
+be devised for enforcing a national decree. Should no such precaution be
+engrafted, the only remedy would be coercion. The negative would render
+the use of force unnecessary. This prerogative of the general government
+is the great pervading principle that must control the centrifugal
+tendency of the states, which, without it, will continually fly out of
+their proper orbits, and destroy the order and harmony of the political
+system." But these views were not destined to find favour with the
+convention, which finally left the matter to be much more satisfactorily
+adjusted through the medium of the federal judiciary.
+
+Such were the fundamental provisions of the Virginia plan with regard to
+the national legislature. To carry out the laws, it was proposed that
+there should be a national executive, to be chosen by the national
+legislature for a short term, and ineligible a second time. Whether the
+executive power should be invested in a single person or in several was
+not specified. As will be seen hereafter, this was regarded as an
+extremely delicate point, with which it was thought best not to
+embarrass the Virginia plan at the outset. Passing lightly over this, it
+was urged that, in order to complete the action of the government upon
+individuals, there must be a national judiciary to determine cases
+arising under the Constitution, cases in admiralty, and cases in which
+different states or their citizens appear as parties. The judges were to
+be chosen by the national legislature, to hold office during good
+behaviour.
+
+[Sidenote: First reception of the Virginia plan.]
+
+Such, in its main outlines, was the plan which Randolph laid before the
+convention, in the name of the Virginia delegation. An audacious scheme!
+exclaimed some of the delegates; it was enough to take your breath away.
+If they were going to begin like this, they might as well go home, for
+all discussion would be time wasted. They were not sent there to set on
+foot a revolution, but to amend and strengthen the articles of
+confederation. But this audacious plan simply abolished the
+Confederation in order to substitute for it a consolidated national
+government. Foremost in urging this objection were Yates and Lansing of
+New York, with Luther Martin of Maryland. Dickinson said it was pushing
+things altogether too far, and his colleague, George Read, hinted that
+the delegation from Delaware might feel obliged to withdraw from the
+convention if the election of representatives according to population
+should be adopted. By the tact of Madison and Gouverneur Morris this
+question was postponed for a few days. After some animated discussion,
+the issues became so narrowed and defined that they could be taken up
+one by one. It was first decided that the national legislature should
+consist of two branches. Then came a warm discussion as to whether the
+members of the lower house should be elected directly by the people.
+Curiously enough, in a country where the principle of popular election
+had long since taken such deep root, where the assemblies of the several
+states had been chosen by the people from the very beginning, there was
+some doubt as to whether the same principle could safely be applied to
+the national House of Representatives. Gerry, with his head full of the
+Shays rebellion and the "Know Ye" measures of the neighbouring state,
+thought the people could not be trusted. "The people do not want
+virtue," said he, "but are the dupes of pretended patriots." Roger
+Sherman took a similar view, and was supported by Martin, Rutledge, and
+both the Pinckneys; but the sounder opinion prevailed. On this point
+Hamilton was at one with Mason, Wilson, and Dickinson. The proposed
+assembly, said Mason, was to be, so to speak, our House of Commons, and
+ought to know and sympathize with every part of the community. It ought
+to have at heart the rights and interests of every class of the people,
+and in no other way could this end be so completely attained as by
+popular election. "Yes," added Wilson, "without the confidence of the
+people no government, least of all a republican government, can long
+subsist.... The election of the first branch by the people is not the
+corner-stone only, but the foundation of the fabric." "It is essential
+to the democratic rights of the community," said Hamilton, "that the
+first branch be directly elected by the people." Madison argued
+powerfully on the same side, and the question was finally decided in
+favour of popular election.
+
+[Sidenote: Antagonism between large states and small states.]
+
+[Sidenote: The New Jersey plan; a feeble palliative.]
+
+It was now the 4th of June, when the great question came up which nearly
+wrecked the convention before it was settled, after a whole month of
+stormy debate. This was the question as to how the states should be
+represented in the new Congress. On the Virginia plan, the smaller
+states would be virtually swamped. Unless they could have equal votes,
+without regard to wealth or population, they would be at the mercy of
+the great states. In the division which ensued, the four most populous
+states--Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and North
+Carolina--favoured the Virginia plan; and they succeeded in carrying
+South Carolina with them. Georgia, too, which, though weak at that
+moment, possessed considerable room for expansion, voted upon the same
+side. On the other hand, the states of Connecticut, New Jersey,
+Delaware, and Maryland--which were not only small in area, but were cut
+off from further expansion by their geographical situation--were not
+inclined to give up their equal vote in either branch of the national
+legislature. At this stage of the proceedings the delegation from New
+Hampshire had not yet arrived upon the scene. On several occasions the
+majority of the Maryland delegation went with the larger states, but
+Luther Martin, always opposed to the Virginia plan, usually succeeded in
+dividing the vote of the delegation. Of the New York members, Yates and
+Lansing, here as always, thwarted Hamilton by voting with the smaller
+states. Their policy throughout was one of obstruction. The members from
+Connecticut were disposed to be conciliatory; but New Jersey was
+obstinate and implacable. She knew what it was to be tyrannized over by
+powerful neighbours. The wrongs she had suffered from New York and
+Pennsylvania rankled in the minds of her delegates. Accordingly, in the
+name of the smaller states, William Paterson laid before the convention
+the so-called "New Jersey plan" for the amendment of the articles of
+confederation. This scheme admitted a federal legislature, consisting of
+a single house, an executive in the form of a council to be chosen by
+Congress, and likewise a federal judiciary, with powers less extensive
+than those contemplated by the Virginia plan. It gave to Congress the
+power to regulate foreign and domestic commerce, to levy duties on
+imports, and even to raise internal revenue by means of a Stamp Act. But
+with all this apparent liberality on the surface, the New Jersey plan
+was vicious at bottom. It did not really give Congress the power to act
+immediately upon individuals. The federal legislature which it proposed
+was to represent states, and not individuals, and the states were to
+vote equally, without regard to wealth or population. If things were to
+be left in this shape, there was no security that the powers granted to
+Congress could ever be really exercised. Nay, it was almost certain that
+they could not be put into operation. It was easy enough on paper to
+give Congress the permission to levy duties and regulate commerce, but
+such a permission would amount to nothing unless Congress were armed
+with the power of enforcing its decrees upon individuals. And it could
+in no wise acquire such power unless as the creature of the people, and
+not of the states. The New Jersey plan, therefore, furnished no real
+remedy for the evils which afflicted the country. It was vigorously
+opposed by Hamilton, Madison, Wilson, and King. Hamilton, indeed, took
+this occasion to offer a plan of his own, which, in addition to
+Madison's scheme of a purely national legislature, contained the
+features of a tenure for life or good behaviour, for the executive and
+the members of the upper house. But to most of the delegates this scheme
+seemed too little removed from a monarchy, and Hamilton's brilliant
+speech in its favour, while applauded by many, was supported by none.
+The weighty arguments of Wilson, King, and Madison prevailed, and the
+New Jersey plan lost its original shape when it was decided that
+Congress should consist of two houses. The principle of equal state
+representation, however, remained as a stumbling-block. Paterson,
+supported by his able colleague Brearley, as well as by Martin and the
+two irreconcilables from New York, stoutly maintained that to depart
+from this principle would be to exceed the powers of the convention,
+which assuredly was not intended to remodel the government from
+beginning to end. But Randolph answered, "When the salvation of the
+republic is at stake, it would be treason to our trust not to propose
+what we find necessary;" and Hamilton pithily reminded the delegates
+that as they were there only for the purpose of recommending a scheme
+which would have to be submitted to the states for acceptance, they
+need not be deterred by any false scruples from using their wits to the
+best possible advantage. The debate on the merits of the question was an
+angry one. According to the Virginia plan, said Brearly, the three
+states of Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania will carry
+everything before them. "It was known to him, from facts within New
+Jersey, that where large and small counties were united into a district
+for electing representatives for the district, the large counties always
+carried their point, and consequently the large states would do so....
+Was it fair, on the other hand, that Georgia should have an equal vote
+with Virginia? He would not say it was. What remedy, then? One only:
+that a map of the United States be spread out, that all the existing
+boundaries be erased, and that a new partition of the whole be made into
+thirteen equal parts." "Yes," said Paterson, "a confederacy supposes
+sovereignty in the members composing it, and sovereignty supposes
+equality. If we are to be considered as a nation, all state distinctions
+must be abolished, the whole must be thrown into hotchpot, and when an
+equal division is made then there may be fairly an equality of
+representation." This argument was repeated with a triumphant air, as
+seeming to reduce the Virginia plan to absurdity. Paterson went on to
+say that "there was no more reason that a great individual state,
+contributing much, should have more votes than a small one, contributing
+little, than that a rich individual citizen should have more votes than
+an indigent one. If the ratable property of A was to that of B as forty
+to one, ought A, for that reason, to have forty times as many votes as
+B?... Give the large states an influence in proportion to their
+magnitude, and what will be the consequence? Their ambition will be
+proportionally increased, and the small states will have everything to
+fear. It was once proposed by Galloway [in the first Continental
+Congress] that America should be represented in the British Parliament,
+and then be bound by its laws. America could not have been entitled to
+more than one third of the representatives which would fall to the share
+of Great Britain: would American rights and interests have been safe
+under an authority thus constituted?" Then, warming with the subject, he
+exclaimed, If the great states wish to unite on such a plan, "let them
+unite if they please, but let them remember that they have no authority
+to compel the others to unite.... Shall I submit the welfare of New
+Jersey with five votes in a council where Virginia has sixteen?... I
+will never consent to the proposed plan. I will not only oppose it here,
+but on my return home will do everything in my power to defeat it there.
+Neither my state nor myself will ever submit to tyranny."
+
+Paterson was ably answered by James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, who pointed
+out the absurdity of giving 180,000 men in one part of the country as
+much weight in the national legislature as 750,000 in another part. It
+is unjust, he said. "The gentleman from New Jersey is candid. He
+declares his opinions boldly. I commend him for it. I will be equally
+candid.... I never will confederate on his principles." The convention
+grew nervous and excited over this seemingly irreconcilable antagonism.
+The discussion was kept up with much learning and acuteness by Madison,
+Ellsworth, and Martin, and history was ransacked for testimony from the
+Amphiktyonic Council to Old Sarum, and back again to the Lykian League.
+Madison, rightly reading the future, declared that if once the proposed
+union should be formed, the real danger would come not from the rivalry
+between large and small states, but from the antagonistic interests of
+the slave-holding and non-slaveholding states. Hamilton pointed out that
+in the state of New York five counties had a majority of the
+representatives, and yet the citizens of the other counties were in no
+danger of tyranny, as the laws have an equal operation upon all. Rufus
+King called attention to the fact that the rights of Scotland were
+secure from encroachments, although her representation in Parliament was
+necessarily smaller than that of England. But New Jersey and Delaware,
+mindful of recent grievances, were not to be argued down or soothed.
+Gunning Bedford of Delaware was especially violent. "Pretences to
+support ambition," said he, "are never wanting. The cry is, Where is the
+danger? and it is insisted that although the powers of the general
+government will be increased, yet it will be for the good of the whole;
+and although the three great states form nearly a majority of the people
+of America, they never will injure the lesser states. _Gentlemen, I do
+not trust you._ If you possess the power, the abuse of it could not be
+checked; and what then would prevent you from exercising it to our
+destruction?... Sooner than be ruined, _there are foreign powers who
+will take us by the hand_. I say this not to threaten or intimidate, but
+that we should reflect seriously before we act." This language called
+forth a rebuke from Rufus King. "I am concerned," said he, "for what
+fell from the gentleman from Delaware,--_take a foreign power by the
+hand!_ I am sorry he mentioned it, and I hope he is able to excuse it to
+himself on the score of passion."
+
+[Sidenote: The Connecticut compromise.]
+
+The situation had become dangerous. "The convention," said Martin, "was
+on the verge of dissolution, scarce held together by the strength of a
+hair." When things were looking darkest, Oliver Ellsworth and Roger
+Sherman suggested a compromise. "Yes," said Franklin, "when a joiner
+wishes to fit two boards, he sometimes pares off a bit from both." The
+famous Connecticut compromise led the way to the arrangement which was
+ultimately adopted, according to which the national principle was to
+prevail in the House of Representatives, and the federal principle in
+the Senate. But at first the compromise met with little favour. Neither
+party was willing to give way. "No compromise for us," said Luther
+Martin. "You must give each state an equal suffrage, or our business is
+at an end." "Then we are come to a full stop," said Roger Sherman. "I
+suppose it was never meant that we should break up without doing
+something." When the question as to allowing equality of suffrage to the
+states in the Federal Senate was put to vote, the result was a tie.
+Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland--five
+states--voted in the affirmative; Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
+North Carolina, and South Carolina--five states--voted in the negative;
+the vote of Georgia was divided and lost. It was Abraham Baldwin, a
+native of Connecticut and lately a tutor in Yale College, a recent
+emigrant to Georgia, who thus divided the vote of that state, and
+prevented a decision which would in all probability have broken up the
+convention. His state was the last to vote, and the house was hushed in
+anxious expectation, when this brave and wise young man yielded his
+private conviction to what he saw to be the paramount necessity of
+keeping the convention together. All honour to his memory!
+
+The moral effect of the tie vote was in favour of the Connecticut
+compromise; for no one could doubt that the little states, New Hampshire
+and Rhode Island, had they been represented in the division, would have
+voted upon that side. The matter was referred to a committee as
+impartially constituted as possible, with Elbridge Gerry as chairman;
+and On the 5th of July, after a recess of three days, the committee
+reported in favour of the compromise. Fresh objections on the part of
+the large states were now offered by Wilson and Gouverneur Morris, and
+gloom again overhung the convention. Gerry said that, while he did not
+fully approve of the compromise, he had nevertheless supported it,
+because he felt sure that if nothing were done war and confusion must
+ensue, the old confederation being already virtually at an end. George
+Mason observed that "it could not be more inconvenient for any
+gentleman to remain absent from his private affairs than it was for him;
+but he would bury his bones in that city rather than expose his country
+to the consequences of a dissolution of the convention." Mason's
+subsequent behaviour was hardly in keeping with the promise of this
+brave speech, and in Gerry we shall observe like inconsistency. At
+present a timely speech from Madison soothed the troubled waters; but it
+was only after eleven days of somewhat more tranquil debate that the
+compromise was adopted on the 16th of July. Even then it was but
+narrowly secured. The ayes were Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware,
+Maryland, and North Carolina,--five states; the noes were Pennsylvania,
+Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia,--four states; Gerry and Strong
+against King and Gorham divided the vote of Massachusetts, which was
+thus lost. New York, for reasons presently to be stated, was absent. It
+is accordingly to Elbridge Gerry and Caleb Strong that posterity are
+indebted for here preventing a tie, and thus bringing the vexed question
+to a happy issue.
+
+According to the compromise secured with so much difficulty, it was
+arranged that in the lower house population was to be represented, and
+in the upper house the states, each of which, without regard to size,
+was forever to be entitled to two senators. In the lower house there was
+to be one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants, but at
+Washington's suggestion the number was changed to 30,000, so as to
+increase the house, which then seemed likely to be too small in numbers.
+Some one suggested that with the growth of population that rate would
+make an unwieldy house within a hundred and fifty years from that time,
+whereat Gorham of Massachusetts laughed to scorn the idea that any
+system of government they could devise in that room could possibly last
+a hundred and fifty years. The difficulty has been surmounted by
+enlarging from time to time the basis of representation. It now seemed
+inadvisable that the senators should be chosen by the lower house out of
+persons nominated by the state legislatures; and it was accordingly
+decided that they should be not merely nominated, but elected, by the
+state legislatures. Thus the Senate was made quite independent of the
+lower house. At the same time, the senators were to vote as individuals,
+and thus the old practice of voting by states, except in certain
+peculiar emergencies, was finally done away with.
+
+[Sidenote: It was a decisive victory for Madison's scheme.]
+
+[Sidenote: Irreconcilables go home.]
+
+It is seldom, if ever, that a political compromise leaves things evenly
+balanced. Almost every such arrangement, when once set working, weighs
+down the scales decidedly to the one side or the other. The Connecticut
+compromise was really a decisive victory for Madison and his party,
+although it modified the Virginia plan so considerably. They could well
+afford to defer to the fears and prejudices of the smaller states in the
+structure of the Senate, for by securing a lower house, which
+represented the American people, and not the American states, they won
+the whole battle in so far as the question of radically reforming the
+government was concerned. As soon as the foundation was thus laid for a
+government which should act directly upon individuals, it obviously
+became necessary to abandon the articles of confederation, and work out
+a new constitution in all its details. The plan, as now reported,
+omitted the obnoxious adjective "national," and spoke of the _federal_
+legislature and _federal_ courts. But to the men who were still blindly
+wedded to the old confederation this soothing change of phraseology did
+not conceal their defeat. On the very day that the compromise was
+favourably reported by the committee, Yates and Lansing quit the
+convention in disgust, and went home to New York. After the departure of
+these uncongenial colleagues, Hamilton might have acted with power, had
+he not known too well that the sentiment of his state did not support
+him. As a mere individual he could do but little, and accordingly he
+went home for a while to attend to pressing business, returning just in
+time to take part in the closing scenes. His share in the work of
+framing the Federal Constitution was very small. About the time that
+Hamilton returned, Luther Martin, whose wrath had waxed hotter every
+day, as he saw power after power extended to the federal government, at
+length gave way and went back to Maryland, vowing that he would have
+nothing more to do with such high-handed proceedings.
+
+While the Connecticut compromise thus scattered a few scintillations of
+discontent, and relieved the convention of some of its most discordant
+elements, its general effect was wonderfully harmonizing. The men who
+had opposed the Virginia plan only through their dread of the larger
+states were now more than conciliated. The concession of equal
+representation in the Senate turned out to have been a master stroke of
+diplomacy. As soon as the little states were assured of an equal share
+in the control of one of the two central legislative bodies, they
+suddenly forgot their scruples about thoroughly overhauling the
+government, and none were readier than they to intrust extensive powers
+to the new Congress. Paterson of New Jersey, the fiercest opponent of
+the Virginia plan, became from that time forth to the end of his life
+the most devoted of Federalists.
+
+[Sidenote: Other antagonisms; vague dread of the future west.]
+
+[Sidenote: Antagonism between slave states and free states.]
+
+That first step which proverbially gives the most trouble had now been
+fairly taken. But other compromises were needed before the work of
+construction could properly be carried out. As the antagonism between
+great and small states disappeared from the scene, other antagonisms
+appeared. It is worth noting that just for a moment there was revealed a
+glimmering of jealousy and dread on the part of the eastern states
+toward those of which the foundations were laid in the northwestern
+territory. Many people in New England feared that their children would
+be drawn westward in such numbers as to create immense states beyond the
+Ohio; and thus it was foreseen that the relative political weight of New
+England in the future would be diminished. To a certain extent this
+prediction has been justified by events, but Roger Sherman rightly
+maintained that it afforded no just grounds for dread. King and Gerry
+introduced a most illiberal and mischievous motion, that the total
+number of representatives from new states must never be allowed to
+exceed the total number from the original thirteen. Such an arrangement,
+which would surely have been enough to create that antagonism between
+east and west which it sought to forestall and avoid, was supported by
+Massachusetts and Connecticut, with Delaware and Maryland; but it was
+defeated by the combination of New Jersey with the four states south of
+Maryland. The ground was thus cleared for a very different kind of
+sectional antagonism,--that which, as Madison truly said, would prove
+the most deep-seated and enduring of all,--the antagonism between north
+and south. The first great struggle between the pro-slavery and
+anti-slavery parties began in the Federal Convention, and it resulted in
+the first two of the long series of compromises by which the
+irrepressible conflict was postponed until the north had waxed strong
+enough to confront the dreaded spectre of secession, and, summoning all
+its energies in one stupendous effort, exorcise it forever. From this
+moment down to 1865 we shall continually be made to realize how the
+American people had entered into the shadow of the coming Civil War
+before they had fairly emerged from that of the Revolution; and as we
+pass from scene to scene of the solemn story, we shall learn how to be
+forever grateful for the sudden and final clearing of the air wrought by
+that frightful storm which men not yet old can still so well remember.
+
+The first compromise related to the distribution of representatives
+between north and south. Was representation in the lower house of
+Congress to be proportioned to wealth, or to population; and if the
+latter, were all the inhabitants, or only all the free inhabitants, to
+be counted? It was soon agreed that wealth was difficult to reckon and
+population easy to count; and to an extent sufficient for all ordinary
+purposes, population might serve as an index of wealth. A state with
+500,000 inhabitants would be in most cases richer than one with 400,000.
+In those days, when cities were few and small, this was approximately
+true. In our day it is not at all true. A state with large commercial
+and manufacturing cities is sure to be much richer than a state in which
+the population is chiefly rural. The population of Massachusetts is
+somewhat smaller than that of Indiana; but her aggregate wealth is more
+than double that of Indiana. Disparities like this, which do not trouble
+us to-day, would have troubled the Federal Convention. We no longer
+think it desirable to give political representation to wealth, or to
+anything but persons. We have become thoroughly democratic, but our
+great-grandfathers had not. To them it seemed quite essential that
+wealth should be represented as well as persons; but they got over the
+main difficulty easily, because under the economic conditions of that
+time population could serve roughly as an index to wealth, and it was
+much easier to count noses than to assess the value of farms and stock.
+
+[Sidenote: Were slaves to be reckoned as persons or as chattels?]
+
+But now there was in all the southern states, and in most of the
+northern, a peculiar species of collective existence, which might be
+described either as wealth or as population. As human beings the slaves
+might be described as population, but in the eye of the law they were
+chattels. In the northern states slavery was rapidly disappearing, and
+the property in negroes was so small as to be hardly worth considering;
+while south of Mason and Dixon's line this peculiar kind of property was
+the chief wealth of the states. But clearly, in apportioning
+representation, in sharing political power in the federal assembly, the
+same rule should have been applied impartially to all the states. At
+this point, Pierce Butler and Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina
+insisted that slaves were part of the population, and as such must be
+counted in ascertaining the basis of representation. A fierce and
+complicated dispute ensued. The South Carolina proposal suggested a
+uniform rule, but it was one that would scarcely alter the political
+weight of the north, while it would vastly increase the weight of the
+south; and it would increase it most in just the quarter where slavery
+was most deeply rooted. The power of South Carolina, as a member of the
+Union, would be doubled by such a measure. Hence the northern delegates
+maintained that slaves, as chattels, ought no more to be reckoned as
+part of the population than houses or ships. "Has a man in Virginia,"
+exclaimed Paterson, "a number of votes in proportion to the number of
+his slaves? And if negroes are not represented in the states to which
+they belong, why should they be represented in the general
+government?... If a meeting of the people were to take place in a slave
+state, would the slaves vote? They would not. Why then should they be
+represented in a federal government?" "I can never agree," said
+Gouverneur Morris, "to give such encouragement to the slave-trade as
+would be given by allowing the southern states a representation for
+their negroes.... I would sooner submit myself to a tax for paying for
+all the negroes in the United States than saddle posterity with such a
+constitution."
+
+[Sidenote: The three fifths compromise; a genuine English solution, if
+ever there was one.]
+
+The attitude taken by Virginia was that of peace-maker. On the one hand,
+such men as Washington, Madison, and Mason, who were earnestly hoping to
+see their own state soon freed from the curse of slavery, could not fail
+to perceive that if Virginia were to gain an increase of political
+weight from the existence of that institution, the difficulty of getting
+the state legislature to abolish it would be enhanced. But on the other
+hand, they saw that South Carolina was inexorable, and that her refusal
+to adopt the Constitution for this reason would certainly carry Georgia
+with her, and probably North Carolina, also. Even had South Carolina
+alone been involved, it was not simply a question of forming a Union
+which should either include her or leave her out in the cold. The case
+was much more complicated than that. It was really doubtful if, without
+the cordial assistance of South Carolina, a Union could be formed at
+all. A Federal Constitution had not only to be framed, but it had to be
+presented to the thirteen states for adoption. It was by no means clear
+that enough states would ratify it to enable the experiment of the new
+government to go into operation. New York and Rhode Island were known to
+be bitterly opposed to it; Massachusetts could not be counted on as
+sure; to add South Carolina to this list would be to endanger
+everything. The event justified this caution. We shall hereafter see
+that it was absolutely necessary to satisfy South Carolina, and that but
+for her ratification, coming just at the moment when it did, the work of
+the Federal Convention would probably have been done in vain. It was a
+clear perception of the wonderful complication of interests involved in
+the final appeal to the people that induced the Virginia statesmen to
+take the lead in a compromise. Four years before, in 1783, when Congress
+was endeavouring to apportion the quotas of revenue to be required of
+the several states, a similar dispute had arisen. If taxation were to be
+distributed according to population, it made a great difference whether
+slaves were to be counted as population or not. If slaves were to be
+counted, the southern states would have to pay more than their equitable
+share into the federal treasury; if slaves were not to be counted, it
+was argued at the north that they would be paying less than their
+equitable share. Consequently, at that time the north had been inclined
+to maintain that the slaves were population, while the south had
+preferred to regard them as chattels. Thus we see that in politics, as
+well as in algebra, it makes all the difference in the world whether you
+start with _plus_ or with _minus_. On that occasion Madison had offered
+a successful compromise, in which a slave figured as three fifths of a
+freeman; and Rutledge of South Carolina, who was now present in the
+convention, had supported the measure. Madison now proposed the same
+method of getting over the difficulty about representation, and his
+compromise was adopted. It was agreed that in counting population,
+whether for direct taxation or for representation in the lower house of
+Congress, five slaves should be reckoned as three individuals.
+
+[Sidenote: In other words, it was the best solution attainable under the
+circumstances.]
+
+All this was thoroughly illogical, of course; it left the question
+whether slaves are population or chattels for theorizers to wrangle
+over, and for future events to decide. It was easy for James Wilson to
+show that there was neither rhyme nor reason in it: but he subscribed to
+it, nevertheless, just as the northern abolitionists, Rufus King and
+Gouverneur Morris, joined with Washington and Madison, and with the
+pro-slavery Pinckneys, in subscribing to it, because they all believed
+that without such a compromise the Constitution would not be adopted;
+and in this there can be little doubt that they were right. The evil
+consequences were unquestionably very serious indeed. Henceforth, so
+long as slavery lasted, the vote of a southerner counted for more than
+the vote of a northerner; and just where negroes were most numerous the
+power of their masters became greatest. In South Carolina there soon
+came to be more blacks than whites, and the application of the rule
+therefore went far toward doubling the vote of South Carolina in the
+House of Representatives and in the electoral college. Every five
+slaveholders down there were equal in political weight to not less than
+eight farmers or merchants in the north; and thus this troublesome state
+acquired a power of working mischief out of all proportion to her real
+size. At a later date the operation of the rule in Mississippi was
+similar; and in general it was just the most backward and barbarous
+parts of the Union that were thus favoured at the expense of the most
+civilized parts. Admitting all this, however, it remains undeniable that
+the Constitution saved us from anarchy; and there can be little doubt
+that slavery and every other remnant of barbarism in American society
+would have thriven far more lustily under a state of chronic anarchy
+than was possible under the Constitution. Four years of concentrated
+warfare, animated by an intense and lofty moral purpose, could not hurt
+the character or mar the fortunes of the people, like a century of
+aimless and miscellaneous squabbling over a host of petty local
+interests. The War of Secession was a terrible ordeal to pass through;
+but when one tries to picture what might have happened in this fair land
+without the work of the Federal Convention, the imagination stands
+aghast.
+
+[Sidenote: Compromise between New England and South Carolina as to the
+foreign slave-trade.]
+
+The second great compromise between northern and southern interests
+related to the abolition of the foreign slave-trade and the power of the
+federal government over commerce. All the states except South Carolina
+and Georgia wished to stop the importation of slaves; but the physical
+conditions of rice and indigo culture exhausted the negroes so fast
+that these two states felt that their industries would be dried up at
+the very source if the importation of fresh negroes were to be stopped.
+Cotesworth Pinckney accordingly declared that South Carolina would
+consider a vote to abolish the slave-trade as simply a polite way of
+telling her that she was not wanted in the Union. On the other hand, the
+three New England states present in the convention had made up their
+minds that it would not do to allow the several states any longer to
+regulate commerce each according to its own whim. It was of vital
+importance that this power should be taken from the states and lodged in
+Congress; otherwise, the Union would soon be rent in pieces by
+commercial disputes. The policy of New York had thoroughly impressed
+this lesson upon all the neighbouring states. But none of the southern
+states were in favour of granting this power unreservedly to Congress.
+If a navigation act could be passed by a simple majority in Congress, it
+was feared that the New Englanders would get all the carrying trade into
+their own hands, and then charge ruinous freights for carrying rice,
+indigo, and tobacco to the north and to Europe. On this point,
+accordingly, the southern delegates acted as a unit in insisting that
+Congress should not be empowered to pass navigation acts, except by a
+two thirds vote of both houses. This would have tied the hands of the
+federal government most unfortunately; and the New Englanders,
+enlightened by their own interests, saw it to be so. Here were the
+materials ready for a compromise, or, as the stout abolitionist,
+Gouverneur Morris, truly called it, a "bargain" between New England and
+the far south. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut consented
+to the prolonging of the foreign slave-trade for twenty years, or until
+1808; and in return South Carolina and Georgia consented to the clause
+empowering Congress to pass navigation acts and otherwise regulate
+commerce by a simple majority of votes. At the same time, as a
+concession to rice and indigo, the New Englanders agreed that Congress
+should be forever prohibited from taxing exports; and thus one remnant
+of mediaeval political economy was neatly swept away.
+
+[Sidenote: This last compromise seems to make the adhesion of Virginia
+doubtful.]
+
+This compromise was carried against the sturdy opposition of Virginia.
+The language of George Mason of Virginia is worth quoting, for it was
+such as Theodore Parker might have used. He called the slave-trade "this
+infernal traffic." "Slavery," said he, "discourages arts and
+manufactures. The poor despise labour when performed by slaves. They
+prevent the immigration of whites, who really strengthen and enrich a
+country. They produce the most pernicious effect on manners. Every
+master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of
+Heaven on a country. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the
+next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and
+effects, Providence punishes national sins by national calamities." But
+these prophetic words were powerless against the combination of New
+England with the far south. One thing was now made certain,--that the
+vast influence of Rutledge and the Pinckneys would be thrown
+unreservedly in behalf of the new Constitution. "I will confess," said
+Cotesworth Pinckney, "that I had prejudices against the eastern states
+before I came here, but I have found them as liberal and candid as any
+men whatever." But this compromise, which finally secured South Carolina
+and Georgia, made Virginia for the moment doubtful; for Mason and
+Randolph were so disgusted at the absolute power over commerce conceded
+to Congress that, when the Constitution was finished and engrossed on
+paper, they refused to sign it.
+
+It is difficult to read this or any other episode in our history whereby
+negro slavery was extended and fostered without burning indignation. But
+this is not the proper mood for the historian, whose aim is to interpret
+men's actions by the circumstances of their time, in order to judge
+their motives correctly. In 1787 slavery was the cloud like unto a man's
+hand which portended a deluge, but those who could truly read the signs
+were few. From north to south, slavery had been slowly dying out for
+nearly fifty years. It had become extinct in Massachusetts, it was
+nearly so in all the other northern states, and it had just been forever
+prohibited in the national domain. In Maryland and Virginia there was a
+strong and growing party in favour of abolition. The movement had even
+gathered strength in North Carolina. Only the rice-swamps of the far
+south remained wedded to their idols. It was quite generally believed
+that slavery was destined speedily to expire, to give place to a better
+system of labour, without any great danger or disturbance; and this
+opinion was distinctly set forth by many delegates in the convention.[7]
+Even Charles Pinckney went so far as to express a hope that South
+Carolina, if not too much meddled with, would by and by voluntarily rank
+herself among the emancipating states; but his older cousin declared
+himself bound in candour to acknowledge that there was very little
+likelihood indeed of so desirable an event. Not even these South
+Carolinians ventured to defend slavery on principle. This belief in the
+moribund condition of slavery prevented the convention from realizing
+the actual effect of the concessions which were made. Scarcely any
+cotton was grown at that time, and none was sent to England. The
+industrial revolution about to be wrought by the inventions of Arkwright
+and Hargreaves, Cartwright and Watt and Whitney, could not be foreseen.
+Nor could it be foreseen that presently, when there should thus arise a
+great demand for slaves from Virginia as a breeding-ground, the
+abolitionist party in that state would disappear, leaving her to join
+in the odious struggle for introducing slavery into the national domain.
+Though these things were so soon to happen, the wisest man in 1787 could
+not foresee them. The convention hoped that twenty years would see not
+only the end of the foreign slave-trade, but the restriction and
+diminution of slavery itself. It was in such a mood that they completed
+the compromise by recommending a tariff of ten dollars a head upon all
+negroes imported, while at the same time a clause was added for insuring
+the recovery of fugitive slaves, quite similar to the clause in the
+ordinance for the government of the northwestern territory.
+
+[Sidenote: The foundations of the Constitution were thus laid in
+compromise.]
+
+It was the three great compromises here described that laid the
+foundations of our Federal Constitution. The first compromise, by
+conceding equal representation to the states in the Senate, enlisted the
+small states in favour of the new scheme, and by establishing a national
+system of representation in the lower house, prepared the way for a
+government that could endure. This was Madison's great victory, secured
+by the aid of Sherman and Ellsworth, without which nothing could have
+been effected. The second compromise, at the cost of giving
+disproportionate weight to the slave states, gained their support for
+the more perfect union that was about to be formed. The third
+compromise, at the cost of postponing for twenty years the abolition of
+the foreign slave-trade, secured absolute free-trade between the states,
+with the surrender of all control over commerce into the hands of the
+federal government. After these steps had been taken, the most difficult
+and dangerous part of the road had been travelled; the remainder, though
+extremely important, was accomplished far more easily. It was mainly the
+task of building on the foundations already laid.
+
+[Sidenote: Powers granted to the federal government.]
+
+In the grants to the federal government of powers hitherto reserved to
+the several states, the diversity of opinion among the members of the
+convention was but slight compared to the profound antagonism which had
+been allayed by the three initial compromises. It was admitted, as a
+matter of course, that the federal government alone could coin money,
+fix the standard of weights and measures, establish post-offices and
+post-roads, and grant patents and copyrights. To it alone was naturally
+intrusted the whole business of war and of international relations. It
+could define and punish felonies committed on the high seas; it could
+maintain a navy and issue letters of marque and reprisal; it could
+support an army and provide for calling forth the militia to execute the
+laws of the Union, to suppress insurrections, and to repel invasions.
+But in relation to this question of the army and the militia there was
+some characteristic discussion. It was at first proposed that Congress
+should have the power "to subdue a rebellion in any state on the
+application of its legislature." The Shays rebellion was then fresh in
+the memory of all the delegates, and their arguments simply reflected
+the impression which that unpleasant affair had left upon them. Charles
+Pinckney, Gouverneur Morris, and John Langdon wished to have the power
+given to Congress unconditionally, without waiting for an application
+from the legislature. But Gerry, who had been on the ground, spoke
+sturdily against such a needless infraction of state rights. He was
+utterly opposed, he said, to "letting loose the myrmidons of the United
+States on a state without its own consent. The states will be the best
+judges in such cases. More blood would have been spilt in Massachusetts
+in the late insurrection if the general authority had intermeddled."
+Ellsworth suggested that Congress should use its discretion only in
+cases where the legislature of the state could not meet; but Randolph
+forcibly replied that if Congress is to judge whether a state
+legislature can or cannot meet, the difficulty is in no wise surmounted.
+Gerry's view at last prevailed, and in accordance therewith it was
+decided that the federal power should guarantee to every state a
+republican form of government, and should protect each of them against
+invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (if
+the legislature could not be convened), it should protect them against
+domestic violence. This arrangement did not fully provide against such
+an emergency as that of rival and hostile executives in the same state,
+as under the so-called "carpet-bag" governments which followed after the
+War of Secession, but it was doubtless as sound a provision as any
+general constitution could make.
+
+The federal government was further empowered to borrow money on the
+credit of the United States; and it was declared that all debts
+contracted and engagements entered into before the adoption of this
+constitution should be as valid against the United States under this
+constitution as under the confederation. There was to be no repudiation
+or readjustment of debts on the ground of inability to pay. Congress was
+further empowered to establish a uniform rule of naturalization and a
+uniform law of bankruptcy. But it was prohibited from passing bills of
+attainder or _ex post facto_ laws, or suspending the writ of _habeas
+corpus_, except under the stress of rebellion or invasion. It was
+provided that all duties, imposts, or excises should be uniform
+throughout the United States. The federal government could not give
+preference to one state over another in its commercial regulations. It
+could not tax exports. It could not draw money from the treasury save by
+due process of appropriation, and all bills relating to the raising of
+revenue must originate in the lower house, which directly represented
+the people. Congress was empowered to admit new states into the Union,
+but it was not allowed to interfere with the territorial areas of states
+already existing without the express consent of the local legislatures.
+To insure the independence of the federal government, it was provided
+that senators and representatives should be paid out of the federal
+treasury, and not by their respective states, as had been the case under
+the confederation. Except for such offences as treason, felony, or
+breach of the peace, they should be "privileged from arrest during their
+attendance, at the session of their respective houses, and in going to
+or returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either
+house" they were not to be "questioned in any other place." It was
+further provided that a territory not exceeding ten miles square should
+be ceded to the United States, and set apart as the site of a federal
+city, in which the general government should ever after hold its
+meetings, erect its buildings, and exercise exclusive jurisdiction.
+During the past four years the Continental Congress had skipped about
+from Philadelphia to Princeton, to Annapolis, to Trenton, to New York,
+until it had become a laughing-stock, and the newspapers were full of
+squibs about it. Verily, said one facetious editor, the Lord shall make
+this government like unto a wheel, and keep it rolling back and forth
+betwixt Dan and Beersheba, and grant it no rest this side of Jordan.
+This inconvenience was now to be remedied. Congress was hereafter to
+have a federal police force at its disposal, and was never more to be
+reduced to the humiliation of a fruitless appeal to the protecting arm
+of a state government, as at Philadelphia in the summer of 1783.
+Furthermore, the Continental Congress had of late years commanded so
+little respect, and had offered so few temptations to able men in quest
+of political distinction, that its meetings were often attended by no
+more than eight or ten members. It was actually on the point of dying a
+natural death through sheer lack of public interest in it. To prevent
+any possible continuance of such a disgraceful state of things, it was
+agreed that the Federal Congress should be "authorized to compel the
+attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties
+as each house may provide." Had the political life of the country
+continued to go on as under the confederation, it is very doubtful
+whether such a provision as this would have remedied the evil. But the
+new Federal Congress, drawing its life directly from the people, was
+destined to afford far greater opportunities for a political career than
+were afforded by the feeble body of delegates which preceded it; and a
+penal clause, compelling members to attend its meetings, was hardly
+needed under the new circumstances which arose.
+
+[Sidenote: Powers denied to the states.]
+
+[Sidenote: Emphatic condemnation of paper money.]
+
+While the powers of the federal government were thus carefully defined,
+at the same time several powers were expressly denied to the states. No
+state was allowed, without explicit authority from Congress, to lay any
+tonnage or custom-house duties, "keep troops or ships of war in time of
+peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state or with a
+foreign power, or engage in war unless actually invaded, or in such
+imminent danger as will not admit of delays." The following clause
+provided against a recurrence of some of the worst evils which had been
+felt under the "league of friendship:" "No state shall enter into any
+treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and
+reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and
+silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder,
+_ex post facto_ law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or
+grant any title of nobility." Henceforth there was to be no repetition
+of such disgraceful scenes as had lately been witnessed in Rhode
+Island. So far as the state legislatures were concerned, paper money was
+to be ruled out forever. But how was it with the federal government? By
+the articles of confederation the United States were allowed to issue
+bills of credit, and make them a tender in payment of debts. In the
+Federal Convention the committee of detail suggested that this
+permission might remain under the new constitution; but the suggestion
+was almost unanimously condemned. All the ablest men in the convention
+spoke emphatically against it. Gouverneur Morris urged that the federal
+government, no less than the state governments, should be expressly
+prohibited from issuing bills of credit, or in any wise making its
+promissory notes a legal tender. He went over the history of the past
+ten years; he called attention to the obstinacy with which the wretched
+device had been resorted to again and again, after its evils had been
+thrust before everybody's eyes; and he proved himself a true prophet
+when he said that if the United States should ever again have a great
+war to conduct, people would have forgotten all about these things, and
+would call for fresh issues of inconvertible paper, with similar
+disastrous results. Now was the time to stop it once for all. "Yes,"
+echoed Roger Sherman, "this is the favourable crisis for crushing paper
+money." "This is the time," said his colleague, Ellsworth, "to shut and
+bar the door against paper money, which can in no case be necessary.
+Give the government credit, and other resources will offer. The power
+may do harm, never good." There was no way, he added, in which powerful
+friends could so soon be gained for the new constitution as by
+withholding this power from the government. James Wilson took the same
+view. "It will have the most salutary influence on the credit of the
+United States," said he, "to remove the possibility of paper money."
+"Rather than grant the power to Congress," said John Langdon, "I would
+reject the whole plan." "The words which grant this power," said George
+Read of Delaware, "if not struck out, will be as alarming as the mark of
+the Beast, in the Apocalypse." On none of the subjects that came up for
+discussion during that summer was the convention more nearly unanimous
+than in its condemnation of paper money. The only delegate who ventured
+to speak in its favour was Mercer of Maryland. What Hamilton would have
+said, if he had been present that day, we may judge from his vigorous
+words published some time before. The power to emit an inconvertible
+paper as a sign of value ought never hereafter to be used; for in its
+very nature, said he, it is "pregnant with abuses, and liable to be made
+the engine of imposition and fraud, holding out temptations equally
+pernicious to the integrity of government and to the morals of the
+people." Paterson called it "sanctifying iniquity by law." The same
+views were entertained by Washington and Madison. There were a few
+delegates, however, who thought it unsafe to fetter Congress absolutely.
+To use Luther Martin's expression, they did not set themselves up to be
+"wise beyond every event." George Mason said he "had a mortal hatred to
+paper money, yet, as he could not foresee all emergencies, he was
+unwilling to tie the hands of the legislature. The late war," he
+thought, "could not have been carried on had such a prohibition
+existed." Randolph spoke to the same effect. It was finally decided, by
+the vote of nine states against New Jersey and Maryland, that the power
+to issue inconvertible paper should not be granted to the federal
+government. An express prohibition, such as had been adopted for the
+separate states, was thought unnecessary. It was supposed that it was
+enough to withhold the power, since the federal government would not
+venture to exercise it unless expressly permitted in the Constitution.
+"Thus," says Madison, in his narrative of the proceedings, "the pretext
+for a paper currency, and particularly for making the bills a tender,
+either for public or private debts, was cut off." Nothing could be more
+clearly expressed than this. As Mr. Justice Field observes, in his able
+dissenting opinion in the recent case of Juilliard _vs._ Greenman, "if
+there be anything in the history of the Constitution which can be
+established with moral certainty, it is that the framers of that
+instrument intended to prohibit the issue of legal-tender notes both by
+the general government and by the states, and thus prevent interference
+with the contracts of private parties." Such has been the opinion of our
+ablest constitutional jurists, Marshall, Webster, Story, Curtis, and
+Nelson. There can be little doubt that, according to all sound
+principles of interpretation, the Legal Tender Act of 1862 was passed in
+flagrant violation of the Constitution. Could Ellsworth and Morris,
+Langdon and Madison, have foreseen the possibility of such extraordinary
+judgments as have lately emanated from the Supreme Court of the United
+States, they would doubtless have insisted upon the express prohibition,
+instead of leaving it to posterity to root out the plague, as it will
+apparently some time have to do, by the cumbrous process of an amendment
+to the Constitution.
+
+The work of the convention, as thus far considered, related to the
+legislative department of the new government. While these discussions
+were going on, much attention had been paid, from time to time, to the
+characteristics of the proposed federal executive. The debates on this
+question, though long kept up, were far less acrimonious than the
+debates on representation and the power of Congress over trade, because
+here there was no obvious clashing of local interests. But for this very
+reason the convention had no longer so clear a chart to steer by. On the
+question of the slave-trade, the Pinckneys knew accurately just what
+South Carolina wanted, how much it would do to claim, and how far it
+would be necessary to yield. As to the regulation of commerce by a bare
+majority of votes in Congress, King and Sherman on the one hand, Mason
+and Randolph on the other, were able to pursue a thoroughly definite
+course of action in behalf of what were supposed to be the special
+interests of New England or of Virginia. Consequently, the debates kept
+close to the point; the controversy was keen, and sometimes, as we have
+seen, angry.
+
+[Sidenote: Debates as to the federal executive.]
+
+It was very different with the question as to the federal executive.
+Upon this point the discussions were guided rather by general
+speculations as to what would be most likely to work well, and
+accordingly they wandered far and wide. Some of the delegates seemed to
+think we should sooner or later come to adopt a hereditary monarchy, and
+that the chief thing to be done was to postpone the event as long as
+possible. Many wild ideas were broached: such, for example, as a
+triple-headed executive, to represent the eastern, middle, and southern
+states, somewhat as associated Roman emperors at times administered
+affairs in the different portions of an undivided empire. The Virginia
+plan had not stated whether its proposed executive was to be single or
+plural, because the Virginia delegates could not agree. Madison wished
+it to be single, to insure greater efficiency, but to Randolph and Mason
+a tyranny seemed to lurk in such an arrangement. When James Wilson and
+Charles Pinckney suggested that the executive power should be intrusted
+into the hands of one man, a profound silence fell upon the convention.
+No one spoke for several minutes, until Washington, from the chair,
+asked if he should put the question. Franklin then got up, and said it
+was an interesting subject, and he should like to hear what the members
+had to say; and so the ball was set rolling. Rutledge said there was no
+need of their being so shy. A man might frankly express his opinions,
+and afterwards change them if he saw good reason for so doing. For his
+part, he was in favour of vesting the executive power in a single
+person, to secure efficiency of administration and concentration of
+responsibility; but he would not give him the power to declare war and
+make peace. Sherman then made the far-reaching suggestion, that the
+executive magistracy was really "nothing more than an institution for
+carrying the will of the legislature into effect; that the person or
+persons ought to be appointed by and accountable to the legislature
+only, which was the depository of the supreme will of the society. As
+they were the best judges of the business which ought to be done by the
+executive department, ... he wished the number might not be fixed, but
+that the legislature should be at liberty to appoint one or more, as
+experience might dictate." It would greatly have astonished the
+convention had they been told that this suggestion of Sherman's was a
+move in the very same line of development which the British government
+had been following for more than half a century; yet such, as we shall
+presently see, was the case. Had this point been understood then as we
+understand it now, the proceedings of the convention could not have
+failed to be profoundly affected by it. As it was, the suggestion did
+not receive due attention, and the stream of discussion was turned into
+a very different channel. Wilson argued powerfully in favour of a single
+chief magistrate, and this view finally prevailed.
+
+[Sidenote: There should be a president, but how should he be elected.]
+
+After it had been decided that there should be one man set in so high a
+position, there was endless discussion as to whether he should be
+elected by the people or by Congress, and whether he should serve for
+one, or two, or three, or four, or ten, or fifteen years. "Better call
+it twenty," said Rufus King, sarcastically; "it is the average reign of
+princes." Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris would have had him chosen for
+life, subject to removal for misbehaviour; but the preference for a
+short term of service was soon manifest. As to the method of election,
+opinions oscillated back and forth for several weeks. Wilson said "he
+was almost unwilling to declare the mode which he wished to take place,
+being apprehensive that it might appear chimerical. He would say,
+however, at least, that in theory he was for an election by the people.
+Experience, particularly in New York and Massachusetts, showed that an
+election of the first magistrate by the people at large was both a
+convenient and a successful mode. The objects of choice in such cases
+must be persons whose merits have general notoriety." Mason, Rutledge,
+and Strong agreed with Sherman that the executive should be chosen by
+the legislature; but Washington, Madison, Gerry, and Gouverneur Morris
+strongly disapproved of this. Morris argued that an election by the
+national legislature would be the work of intrigue and corruption, like
+the election of the king of Poland by a diet of nobles; but Mason
+declared, on the other hand, that "to refer the choice of a proper
+character for a chief magistrate to the people would be as unnatural as
+to refer a trial of colours to a blind man." A decision was first
+reached against an election by Congress, because it was thought that if
+the chief magistrate should prove himself thoroughly competent he ought
+to be reeligible; but if reeligible he would be exposed to the
+temptation of truckling to the most powerful party or cabal in Congress,
+in order to secure his reelection. It did not occur to any one to
+suggest that under ordinary circumstances the executive ought to follow
+the policy of the most powerful party in Congress, and that he might at
+the same time preserve all needful independence by being clothed with
+the power of dissolving Congress and making an appeal to the people in a
+new election. It is interesting to consider what might have come of such
+a suggestion, following upon the heels of that made by Roger Sherman. As
+we shall presently see, it would have immeasurably simplified the
+machinery of our government, besides making the executive what it ought
+to be, the arm of the legislature, instead of a separate and coordinate
+power. Upon this point the minds of nearly all the members were so far
+under the sway of an incorrect theory that such an idea occurred to none
+of them. It was decided that the chief magistrate ought to be
+reeligible, and therefore should not be elected by Congress.
+
+[Sidenote: Suggestion of an electoral college.]
+
+An immediate choice by the people, however, did not meet with general
+favour. To obviate the difficulty, Ellsworth and King suggested the
+device of an electoral college, in which the electors should be chosen
+by the state legislatures, and should hold a meeting at the federal city
+for the sole purpose of deciding upon a chief magistrate. It was then
+objected that it would be difficult to find competent men who would be
+willing to undertake a long journey simply for such a purpose. The
+objection was felt to be a very grave one, and so the convention
+returned to the plan of an election by Congress, and again confronted
+the difficulty of the chief magistrate's intriguing to secure his
+reelection. Wilson thought to do away with this difficulty by
+introducing the element of blind chance, as in some of the states of
+ancient Greece, and choosing the executive by a board of electors taken
+from Congress by lot; but the suggestion found little support. Dickinson
+thought it would be well if the people of each state were to choose its
+best citizen,--in modern parlance, its "favourite son;" then out of
+these thirteen names a chief magistrate might be chosen, either by
+Congress or by a special board of electors. At length, on the 26th of
+July, at the motion of Mason, the convention resolved that there should
+be a national executive, to consist of a single person, to be chosen by
+the national legislature for the term of seven years, and to be
+ineligible for a second term. He was to be styled President of the
+United States of America.
+
+This decision remained until the very end of August, when the whole
+question was reopened by a motion of Rutledge that the two houses of
+Congress, in electing the president, should proceed by "joint ballot."
+The object of this motion was to prevent either house from exerting a
+negative on the choice of the other. It was carried in spite of the
+opposition of some of the smaller states, which might hope to exercise a
+greater relative influence upon the choice of presidents, if the Senate
+were to vote separately. At this point the fears of Gouverneur Morris,
+that an election by Congress would result in boundless intrigue, were
+revived; and in a powerful speech he persuaded the convention to return
+to the device of the electoral college, which might be made equal in
+number and similar in composition to the two houses of Congress sitting
+together. It need not be required of the electors, after all, that they
+should make a long journey to the seat of the federal government. They
+might meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two
+persons, one of whom must be an inhabitant of a different state. By this
+provision it was hoped to diminish the chances for extreme sectional
+partiality. A list of these votes might be sent under seal to the
+presiding officer of the Senate, to be counted. Should no candidate turn
+out to have a majority of the votes, the Senate might choose a president
+from the five highest candidates on the list. The candidate having the
+next highest number of votes might be declared vice-president, and
+preserve the visible continuity of the government in case of the death
+of the president during his term of office. By these changes the method
+of electing the president, as finally decided upon, was nearly
+completed. But Mason, Randolph, Gerry, King, and Wilson were not
+satisfied with the provision that the Senate might choose the president
+in case of a failure of choice on the part of the electoral college:
+they preferred to give this power to the House of Representatives. It
+was thought that the Senate would be likely to prove an aristocratic
+body, somewhat removed from the people in its sympathies, and there was
+a dread of intrusting to it too many important functions. Mason thought
+that the sway of an aristocracy would be worse than an absolute
+monarchy; and if the Senate might every now and then elect the
+president, there would be a risk that the dignity of his office might
+degenerate, until he should become a mere creature of the Senate. On the
+other hand, the small states, in order to have an equal voice with the
+large ones, in such an emergency as the failure of choice by the
+electoral college, wished to keep the eventual choice in the hands of
+the Senate. Among the delegates from the small states, only Langdon and
+Dickinson at first supported the change, and only New Hampshire voted
+for it. At length Sherman proposed a compromise, which was carried. It
+was agreed that the eventual choice should be given to the House of
+Representatives, and not to the Senate, but that in exercising this
+function the vote in the House of Representatives should be taken by
+states. Thus the humours of the delegates from the small states, and of
+those who dreaded the accumulation of powers into the hands of an
+oligarchy, were alike gratified. This arrangement was finally adopted by
+the votes of ten states against Delaware.
+
+But in spite of all the minute and anxious care that was taken in
+guarding this point, the contingency of an election being thus thrown
+into the hands of the national legislature was not regarded as likely
+often to occur. In point of fact, it has hitherto happened only twice in
+the century, in the elections of 1800 and of 1824. It was recognized
+that the work would ordinarily be done through the machinery of the
+electoral college, and that thus the fear of intrigue between the
+president and Congress, as it had originally been felt by the
+convention, might be set aside. To make assurance doubly sure, it was
+provided that "no person shall be appointed an elector who is a member
+of the legislature of the United States, or who holds any office of
+profit or trust under the United States." It then appeared that the
+arguments which had been alleged against the eligibility of the
+president for a second term had lost their force; and he was accordingly
+made reeligible, while his term of service was reduced from seven years
+to four.
+
+[Sidenote: How to count the votes.]
+
+The scheme had thus arrived substantially at its present shape, except
+that the counting of the electoral vote still remained in the hands of
+the Senate. On the 6th of September this provision was altered, and it
+was decided that "the president of the Senate shall, in the presence of
+the Senate and the House of Representatives, open all the certificates,
+and the votes shall then be counted." The object of this provision was
+to take the office of counting away from the Senate alone, and give it
+to Congress as a whole; and while doing so, to guard against the failure
+of an election through the disagreement of the two houses. The method of
+counting was not prescribed, for it was thought that it might safely be
+left to joint rules established by the two houses of Congress
+themselves, after analogies supplied by the experience of the several
+state legislatures. The case of double returns, sent in by rival
+governments in the same state, was not contemplated by the convention;
+and thus the door was left open for a danger considerably greater than
+many of those over which the delegates were agitated. It may safely be
+said, however, that not even the wildest license of interpretation can
+find any support for the ridiculous doctrine suggested by some persons
+blinded by political passion in 1877, that the business of counting the
+votes and deciding upon the validity of returns belongs to the president
+of the Senate. No such idea was for a moment entertained by the
+convention. Any such idea is completely negatived by their action of the
+6th of September. The express purpose of the final arrangement made on
+that day was to admit the House of Representatives to active
+participation in the office of determining who should have been elected
+president. It was expressly declared that this work was too important to
+be left to the Senate alone. What, then, would the convention have said
+to the preposterous notion that this work might safely be left to the
+presiding officer of the Senate? The convention were keenly alive to any
+imaginable grant of authority that might enable the Senate to grow into
+an oligarchy. What would they have said to the proposal to create a
+monocrat _ad hoc_, an official permanently endowed by virtue of his
+office with the function of king-maker?
+
+[Sidenote: The convention foresaw imaginary dangers, but not the real
+ones.]
+
+In this connection it is worth our while to observe that in no respect
+has the actual working of the Constitution departed so far from the
+intentions of its framers as in the case of their provisions concerning
+the executive. Against a host of possible dangers they guarded most
+elaborately, but the dangers and inconveniences against which we have
+actually had to contend they did not foresee. It will be observed that
+Wilson's proposal for a direct election of the president by the people
+found little favour in the convention. The schemes that were seriously
+considered oscillated back and forth between an election by the national
+legislature and an election by a special college of electors. The
+electors might be chosen by a popular vote, or by the state
+legislatures, or in any such wise as each state might see fit to
+determine for itself. In point of fact, electors were chosen by the
+legislature in New Jersey till 1816; in Connecticut till 1820; in New
+York, Delaware, and Vermont, and with one exception in Georgia, till
+1824; in South Carolina till 1868. Massachusetts adopted various plans,
+and did not finally settle down to an election by the people until 1828.
+Now there were several reasons why the Federal Convention was afraid to
+trust the choice of the president directly to the people. One was that
+very old objection, the fear of the machinations of demagogues, since
+people were supposed to be so easily fooled. As already observed, the
+democratic sentiment in the convention was such as we should now call
+weak. Another reason shows vividly how wide the world seemed in those
+days of slow coaches and mail-bags carried on horseback. It was feared
+that people would not have sufficient data wherewith to judge of the
+merits of public men in states remote from their own. The electors, as
+eminent men exceptionally well informed, and screened from the sophisms
+of demagogues, might hold little conventions and select the best
+possible candidates, using in every case their own unfettered judgment.
+
+In this connection the words of Hamilton are worth quoting. In the
+sixty-eighth number of the "Federalist" he says: "The mode of
+appointment of the chief magistrate of the United States is almost the
+only part of the system which has escaped without severe censure, or
+which has received the slightest mark of approbation from its opponents.
+The most plausible of these who has appeared in print has even deigned
+to admit that the election of the president is well guarded.... It was
+desirable that the sense of the people should operate in the choice of
+the person to whom so important a trust was to be confided.... It was
+equally desirable that the immediate election should be made by men
+capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting
+under circumstances favourable to deliberation and to a judicious
+combination of all the reasons and inducements that were proper to
+govern their choice. A small number of persons, selected by their
+fellow-citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess
+the information and discernment requisite to so complicated an
+investigation.... It was also peculiarly desirable to afford as little
+opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder. This evil was not least
+to be dreaded in the election of a magistrate who was to have so
+important an agency in the administration of the government."
+
+[Sidenote: Actual working of the electoral scheme.]
+
+Such was the theory as set forth by a thinker endowed with rare ability
+to follow out in imagination the results of any course of political
+action. It is needless to say that the actual working of the scheme has
+been very different from what was expected. In our very first great
+struggle of parties, in 1800, the electors divided upon party lines,
+with little heed to the "complicated investigation" for which they were
+supposed to be chosen. Quite naturally, for the work of electing a
+candidate presupposes a state of mind very different from that of serene
+deliberation. In 1800 the electors acted simply as automata recording
+the victory of their party, and so it has been ever since. In our own
+time presidents and vice-presidents are nominated, not without elaborate
+intrigue, by special conventions quite unknown to the Constitution; the
+people cast their votes for the two or three pairs of candidates thus
+presented, and the electoral college simply registers the results. The
+system is thus fully exposed to all the dangers which our forefathers
+dreaded from the frequent election of a chief magistrate by the people.
+Owing to the great good-sense and good-nature of the American people,
+the system does not work so badly as might be expected. It has, indeed,
+worked immeasurably better than any one would have ventured to predict.
+It is nevertheless open to grave objections. It compels a change of
+administration at stated astronomical periods, whether any change of
+policy is called for or not; it stirs up the whole country every fourth
+year with a furious excitement that is often largely factitious; and
+twice within the century, in 1801 and again in 1877, it has brought us
+to the verge of the most foolish and hopeless species of civil war, in
+view of that thoroughly monarchical kind of accident, a disputed
+succession.[8]
+
+[Sidenote: The convention supposed itself to be copying from the British
+Constitution.]
+
+The most curious and instructive point concerning the peculiar executive
+devised for the United States by the Federal Convention is the fact that
+the delegates proceeded upon a thoroughly false theory of what they were
+doing. As already observed, in this part of its discussions the
+convention had not the clearly outlined chart of local interests to
+steer by. It indulged in general speculations and looked about for
+precedents; and there was one precedent which American statesmen then
+always had before their eyes, whether they were distinctly aware of it
+or not. In creating an executive department, the members of the
+convention were really trying to copy the only constitution of which
+they had any direct experience, and which most of them agreed in
+thinking the most efficient working constitution in existence,--as
+indeed it was. They were trying to copy the British Constitution,
+modifying it to suit their republican ideas: but curiously enough, what
+they copied in creating the office of president was not the real English
+executive or prime minister, but the fictitious English executive, the
+sovereign. And this was associated in their minds with another profound
+misconception, which influenced all this part of their work. They
+thought that to keep the legislative and executive offices distinct and
+separate was the very palladium of liberty; and they all took it for
+granted, without a moment's question, that the British Constitution did
+this thing. England, they thought, is governed by King, Lords, and
+Commons, and the supreme power is nicely divided between the three, so
+that neither one can get the whole of it, and that is the safeguard of
+English liberty. So they arranged President, Senate, and Representatives
+to correspond, and sedulously sought to divide supreme power between the
+three, so that they might operate as checks upon each other. If either
+one should ever succeed in acquiring the whole sovereignty, then they
+thought there would be an end of American liberty.
+
+[Sidenote: Influence of Montesquieu and Blackstone.]
+
+Now in the earlier part of the work of the Federal Convention, in
+dealing with the legislative department, the delegates were on firm
+ground, because they were dealing with things of which they knew
+something by experience; but in all this careful separation of the
+executive power from the legislative they went wide of the mark, because
+they were following a theory which did not truly describe things as they
+really existed. And that was because the English Constitution was, and
+still is, covered up with a thick husk of legal fictions which long ago
+ceased to have any vitality. Blackstone, the great authority of the
+eighteenth century, set forth this theory of the division of power
+between King, Lords, and Commons with clearness and force, and nobody
+then understood English history minutely or thoroughly enough to see its
+fallaciousness. Montesquieu also, the ablest and most elegant political
+writer of the age, with whose works most of the statesmen in the Federal
+Convention were familiar, gave a similar description of the English
+Constitution, and generalized from it as the ideal constitution for a
+free people. But Montesquieu and Blackstone, in their treatment of this
+point, had their eyes upon the legal fictions, and were blind to the
+real machinery which was working under them. They gave elegant
+expression to what the late Mr. Bagehot called the "literary theory" of
+the English Constitution. But the real thing differed essentially from
+the "literary theory" even in their day. In our own time the divergence
+has become so conspicuous that it would not now be possible for
+well-informed writers to make the mistake of Montesquieu and Blackstone.
+In our time it has come to be perfectly obvious that so far from the
+English Constitution separating the executive power from the
+legislative, this is precisely what it does not do. In Great Britain the
+supreme power is all lodged in a single body, the House of Commons. The
+sovereign has come to be purely a legal fiction, and the House of Lords
+maintains itself only by submitting to the Commons. The House of Commons
+is absolutely supreme, and, as we shall presently see, it really both
+appoints and dismisses the executive. The English executive, or chief
+magistrate, is ordinarily the first lord of the treasury, and is
+commonly styled the prime minister. He is chairman of the most
+important committee of the House of Commons, and his cabinet consists of
+the chairmen of other committees.
+
+[Sidenote: What our government would be if it were really like that of
+Great Britain.]
+
+To make this perfectly clear, let us see what our machinery of
+government would be, if it were really like the English. The presence or
+absence of the crowned head makes no essential difference; it is only a
+kind of ornamental cupola. Suppose for a moment the presidency
+abolished, or reduced to the political nullity of the crown in England;
+and postpone for a moment the consideration of the Senate. Suppose that
+in our House of Representatives the committee of ways and means had two
+chairmen,--an upper chairman who looks after all sorts of business, and
+a lower chairman who attends especially to the finances. This upper
+chairman, we will say, corresponds to the first lord of the treasury,
+while the lower one corresponds to the chancellor of the exchequer.
+Sometimes, when the upper chairman is a great financier, and capable of
+enormous labour, he will fill both places at once, as Mr. Gladstone was
+lately first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. The
+chairmen of the other committees on foreign, military, and naval affairs
+will answer to the English secretaries of state for foreign affairs and
+for war, the first lord of the admiralty, and so on. This group of
+chairmen, headed by the upper chairman of the ways and means, will then
+answer to the English cabinet, with its prime minister. To complete the
+parallel, let us suppose that, after a new House of Representatives is
+elected, it chooses this prime minister, and he appoints the other
+chairmen who are to make up his cabinet. Suppose, too, that he initiates
+all legislation, and executes all laws, and stays in office three weeks
+or thirty years, or as long as he can get a majority of the house to
+vote for his measures. If he loses his majority, he can either resign or
+dissolve the house, and order a new election, thus appealing directly to
+the people. If the new house gives him a majority, he stays in office;
+if it shows a majority against him, he steps down into the house, and
+becomes, perhaps, the leader of the opposition.
+
+Now if this were the form of our government, it would correspond in all
+essential features to that of England. The likeness is liable to be
+obscured by the fact that in England it is the queen who is supposed to
+appoint the prime minister; but that is simply a part of the antiquated
+"literary theory" of the English Constitution. In reality the queen only
+acts as mistress of the ceremonies. Whatever she may wish, the prime
+minister must be the man who can command the best working majority in
+the house. This is not only tested by the first vote that is taken, but
+it is almost invariably known beforehand so well that if the queen
+offers the place to the wrong man he refuses to take it. Should he be so
+foolish as to take it, he is sure to be overthrown at the first test
+vote, and then the right man comes in. Thus in 1880 the queen's manifest
+preference for Lord Granville or Lord Hartington made no sort of
+difference. Mr. Gladstone was as much chosen by the House of Commons as
+if the members had sat in their seats and balloted for him. If the crown
+were to be abolished to-morrow, and the house were henceforth, on the
+resignation of a prime minister, to elect a new one to serve as long as
+he could command a majority, it would not be doing essentially otherwise
+than it does now. The house then dismisses its minister when it rejects
+one of his important measures. But while thus appointed and dismissed by
+the house, he is in no wise its slave; for by the power of dissolution
+he has the right to appeal to the country, and let the general election
+decide the issue. The obvious advantages of this system are that it
+makes anything like a deadlock between the legislature and the executive
+impossible; and it insures a concentration of responsibility. The prime
+minister's bills cannot be disregarded, like the president's messages;
+and thus, too, the house is kept in hand, and cannot degenerate into a
+debating club.[9]
+
+[Sidenote: In the British government, the executive department is not
+separated from the legislative.]
+
+A system so delicate and subtle, yet so strong and efficient, as this
+could no more have been invented by the wisest of statesmen than a
+chemist could make albumen by taking its elements and mixing them
+together. In its practical working it is a much simpler system than
+ours, and still its principal features are not such as would be likely
+to occur to men who had not had some actual experience of them. It is
+the peculiar outgrowth of English history. As we can now see, its chief
+characteristic is its not separating the executive power from the
+legislative. As a member of Parliament, the prime minister introduces
+the legislation which he is himself expected to carry into effect. Nor
+does the English system even keep the judiciary entirely separate, for
+the lord chancellor not only presides over the House of Lords, but sits
+in the cabinet as the prime minister's legal adviser. It is somewhat as
+if the chief justice of the United States were _ex officio_ president of
+the Senate and attorney-general; though here the resemblance is somewhat
+superficial. Our Senate, although it does not represent landed
+aristocracy or the church, but the federal character of our government,
+has still a superficial resemblance to the House of Lords. It passes on
+all bills that come up from the lower house, and can originate bills on
+most matters, but not for raising revenue. Its function as a high court
+of impeachment, with the chief justice for its presiding officer, was
+directly copied from the House of Lords. But here the resemblance ends.
+The House of Lords has no such veto upon the House of Commons as our
+Senate has upon the House of Representatives. Between our upper and
+lower houses a serious deadlock is possible; but the House of Lords can
+only reject a bill until it sees that the House of Commons is determined
+to have it carried. It can only enter a protest. If it is obstinate and
+tries to do more, the House of Commons, through its prime minister, can
+create enough new peers to change the vote,--a power so formidable in
+its effects upon the social position of the peerage that it does not
+need to be used. The knowledge that it exists is enough to bring the
+House of Lords to terms.
+
+[Sidenote: Circumstances which obscured the true aspect of the case a
+century ago.]
+
+These features of the English Constitution are so prominent since the
+reform of Parliament in 1832 as to be generally recognized. They have
+been gradually becoming its essential features ever since the Revolution
+of 1688. Before that time the crown had really been the executive, and
+there had really been a separation between the executive and legislative
+branches of the government, which on several occasions, and notably in
+the middle of the seventeenth century, had led to armed strife. What the
+Revolution of 1688 really decided was that henceforth in England the
+executive was to be the mighty arm of the legislature, and not a
+separate and rival power. It ended whatever of reality there was in the
+old system of King, Lords, and Commons, and by the time of Sir Robert
+Walpole the system of cabinet government had become fairly established;
+but men still continued to use the phrases and formulas bequeathed from
+former ages, so that the meaning of the changes going on under their
+very eyes was obscured. There was also a great historical incident,
+after Walpole's time, which served further to obscure the meaning of
+these changes, especially to Americans. From 1760 to 1784, by means of
+the rotten borough system of elections and the peculiar attitude of
+political parties, the king contrived to make his will felt in the
+House of Commons to such an extent that it became possible to speak of
+the personal government of George III. The work of the Revolution of
+1688 was not really completed till the election of 1784 which made Pitt
+the ruler of England, and its fruits cannot be said to have been fully
+secured till 1832. Now as our Revolutionary War was brought on by the
+attempts of George III. to establish his personal government, and as it
+was actually he rather than Lord North who ruled England during that
+war, it was not strange that Americans, even of the highest education,
+should have failed to discover the transformation which the past century
+had wrought in the framework of the English government. Nay, more,
+during this century the king had seemed even more of a real institution
+to the Americans than to the British. He had seemed to them the only
+link which bound the different parts of the empire together. Throughout
+the struggles which culminated in the War of Independence, it had been
+the favourite American theory that while the colonial assemblies and the
+British Parliament were sovereign each in its own sphere, all alike owed
+allegiance to the king as visible head of the empire. To people who had
+been in the habit of setting forth and defending such a theory, it was
+impossible that the crown should seem so much a legal fiction as it had
+really come to be in England. It is very instructive to note that while
+the members of the Federal Convention thoroughly understood the
+antiquated theory of the English Constitution as set forth by
+Blackstone, they drew very few illustrations from the modern working of
+Parliament, with which they had not had sufficient opportunities of
+becoming familiar. In particular they seemed quite unconscious of the
+vast significance of a dissolution of Parliament, although a dissolution
+had occurred only three years before under such circumstances as to work
+a revolution in British politics without a breath of disturbance. The
+only sort of dissolution with which they were familiar was that in which
+Dunmore or Bernard used to send the colonial assemblies home about their
+business whenever they grew too refractory. Had the significance of a
+dissolution, in the British sense, been understood by the convention,
+the pregnant suggestion of Roger Sherman, above mentioned, could not
+have failed to give a different turn to the whole series of debates on
+the executive branch of the government. Had our Constitution been framed
+a few years later, this point would have had a better chance of being
+understood. As it was, in trying to modify the English system so as to
+adapt it to our own uses, it was the archaic monarchical feature, and
+not the modern ministerial feature, upon which we seized. The president,
+in our system, irremovable by the national legislature, does not answer
+to the modern prime minister, but to the old-fashioned king, with powers
+for mischief curtailed by election for short terms.
+
+[Sidenote: The American cabinet is analogous not to the British cabinet,
+but to the privy council.]
+
+The close parallelism between the office of president and that of king
+in the minds of the framers of the Constitution was instructively shown
+in the debates on the advisableness of restraining the president's
+action by a privy council. Gerry and Sherman urged that there was need
+of such a council, in order to keep watch over the president. It was
+suggested that the privy council should consist of "the president of the
+Senate, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the chief justice
+of the supreme court, and the principal officer in each of five
+departments as they shall from time to time be established; their duty
+shall be to advise him in matters which he shall lay before them, but
+their advice shall not conclude him, or affect his responsibility." The
+plan for such a council found favour with Franklin, Madison, Wilson,
+Dickinson, and Mason, but did not satisfy the convention. When it was
+voted down Mason used strong language. "In rejecting a council to the
+president," said he, "we are about to try an experiment on which the
+most despotic government has never ventured; the Grand Seignior himself
+has his Divan." It was this failure to provide a council which led the
+convention to give to the Senate a share in some of the executive
+functions of the president, such as the making of treaties, the
+appointment of ambassadors, consuls, judges of the supreme court, and
+other officers of the United States whose appointment was not otherwise
+provided for. As it was objected to the office of vice-president that he
+seemed to have nothing provided for him to do, he was disposed of by
+making him president of the Senate. No cabinet was created by the
+Constitution, but since then the heads of various executive departments,
+appointed by the president, have come to constitute what is called his
+cabinet. Since, however, the members of it do not belong to Congress,
+and can neither initiate nor guide legislation, they really constitute a
+privy council rather than a cabinet in the modern sense, thus furnishing
+another illustration of the analogy between the president and the
+archaic sovereign.
+
+[Sidenote: The federal judiciary.]
+
+Concerning the structure of the federal judiciary little need be said
+here. It was framed with very little disagreement among the delegates.
+The work was chiefly done in committee by Ellsworth, Wilson, Randolph,
+and Rutledge, and the result did not differ essentially from the scheme
+laid down in the Virginia plan. It was indeed the indispensable
+completion of the work which was begun by the creation of a national
+House of Representatives. To make a federal government immediately
+operative upon individual citizens, it must of course be armed with
+federal courts to try and federal officers to execute judgment in all
+cases in which individual citizens were amenable to the national law.
+But for this system of United States courts extended throughout the
+states and supreme within its own sphere, the federal constitution could
+never have been put into practical working order. In another respect the
+federal judiciary was the most remarkable and original of all the
+creations of that wonderful convention. It was charged with the duty of
+interpreting, in accordance with the general principles of common law,
+the Federal Constitution itself. This is the most noble as it is the
+most distinctive feature in the government of the United States. It
+constitutes a difference between the American and British systems more
+fundamental than the separation of the executive from the legislative
+department. In Great Britain the unwritten constitution is administered
+by the omnipotent House of Commons; whatever statute is enacted by
+Parliament must stand until some future Parliament may see fit to repeal
+it. But an act passed by both houses of Congress, and signed by the
+president, may still be set aside as unconstitutional by the supreme
+court of the United States in its judgments upon individual cases
+brought before it. It was thus that the practical working of our Federal
+Constitution during the first thirty years of the nineteenth century was
+swayed to so great an extent by the profound and luminous decisions of
+Chief Justice Marshall, that he must be assigned a foremost place among
+the founders of our Federal Union. This intrusting to the judiciary the
+whole interpretation of the fundamental instrument of government is the
+most peculiarly American feature of the work done by the convention, and
+to the stability of such a federation as ours, covering as it does the
+greater part of a huge continent, it was absolutely indispensable.
+
+Thus, at length, was realized the sublime conception of a nation in
+which every citizen lives under two complete and well-rounded systems of
+laws,--the state law and the federal law,--each with its legislature,
+its executive, and its judiciary moving one within the other,
+noiselessly and without friction. It was one of the longest reaches of
+constructive statesmanship ever known in the world. There never was
+anything quite like it before, and in Europe it needs much explanation
+to-day even for educated statesmen who have never seen its workings. Yet
+to Americans it has become so much a matter of course that they, too,
+sometimes need to be told how much it signifies. In 1787 it was the
+substitution of law for violence between states that were partly
+sovereign. In some future still grander convention we trust the same
+thing will be done between states that have been wholly sovereign,
+whereby peace may gain and violence be diminished over other lands than
+this which has set the example.
+
+Great as was the work which the Federal Convention had now accomplished,
+none of the members supposed it to be complete. After some discussion,
+it was decided that Congress might at any time, by a two thirds vote in
+both houses, propose amendments to the constitution, or on the
+application of the legislatures of two thirds of the states might call a
+convention for proposing amendments; and such amendments should become
+part of the constitution as soon as ratified by three fourths of the
+states, either through their legislatures or through special conventions
+summoned for the purpose. The design of this elaborate arrangement was
+to guard against hasty or ill-considered changes in the fundamental
+instrument of government; and its effectiveness has been such that an
+amendment has come to be impossible save as the result of intense
+conviction on the part of a vast majority of the whole American people.
+
+Finally it was decided that the Federal Constitution, as now completed,
+should be presented to the Continental Congress, and then referred to
+special conventions in all the states for ratification; and that when
+nine states, or two thirds of the whole number, should have ratified, it
+should at once go into operation as between such ratifying states.
+
+[Sidenote: Signing the Constitution.]
+
+When the great document was at last drafted by Gouverneur Morris, and
+was all ready for the signatures, the aged Franklin produced a paper,
+which was read for him, as his voice was weak. Some parts of this
+Constitution, he said, he did not approve, but he was astonished to find
+it so nearly perfect. Whatever opinion he had of its errors he would
+sacrifice to the public good, and he hoped that every member of the
+convention who still had objections would on this occasion doubt a
+little of his own infallibility, and for the sake of unanimity put his
+name to this instrument. Hamilton added his plea. A few members, he
+said, by refusing to sign, might do infinite mischief. No man's ideas
+could be more remote from the plan than his were known to be; but was it
+possible for a true patriot to deliberate between anarchy and
+convulsion, on the one side, and the chance of good to be expected from
+this plan, on the other? From these appeals, as well as from
+Washington's solemn warning at the outset, we see how distinctly it was
+realized that the country was on the verge of civil war. Most of the
+members felt so, but to some the new government seemed far too strong,
+and there were three who dreaded despotism even more than anarchy.
+Mason, Randolph, and Gerry refused to sign, though Randolph sought to
+qualify his refusal by explaining that he could not yet make up his
+mind whether to oppose or defend the Constitution, when it should be
+laid before the people of Virginia. He wished to reserve to himself full
+liberty of action in the matter. That Mason and Gerry, valuable as their
+services had been in the making of the Constitution, would now go home
+and vigorously oppose it, there was no doubt. Of the delegates who were
+present on the last day of the convention, all but these three signed
+the Constitution. In the signatures the twelve states which had taken
+part in the work were all represented, Hamilton signing alone for New
+York.
+
+Thus after four months of anxious toil, through the whole of a scorching
+Philadelphia summer, after earnest but sometimes bitter discussion, in
+which more than once the meeting had seemed on the point of breaking up,
+a colossal work had at last been accomplished, the results of which were
+most powerfully to affect the whole future career of the human race so
+long as it shall dwell upon the earth. In spite of the high-wrought
+intensity of feeling which had been now and then displayed, grave
+decorum had ruled the proceedings; and now, though few were really
+satisfied, the approach to unanimity was remarkable. When all was over,
+it is said that many of the members seemed awe-struck. Washington sat
+with head bowed in solemn meditation. The scene was ended by a
+characteristic bit of homely pleasantry from Franklin. Thirty-three
+years ago, in the days of George II., before the first mutterings of the
+Revolution had been heard, and when the French dominion in America was
+still untouched, before the banishment of the Acadians or the rout of
+Braddock, while Washington was still surveying lands in the wilderness,
+while Madison was playing in the nursery and Hamilton was not yet born,
+Franklin had endeavoured to bring together the thirteen colonies in a
+federal union. Of the famous Albany plan of 1754, the first complete
+outline of a federal constitution for America that ever was made, he was
+the principal if not the sole author. When he signed his name to the
+Declaration of Independence in this very room, his years had rounded the
+full period of threescore and ten. Eleven years more had passed, and he
+had been spared to see the noble aim of his life accomplished. There was
+still, no doubt, a chance of failure, but hope now reigned in the old
+man's breast. On the back of the president's quaint black armchair there
+was emblazoned a half-sun, brilliant with its gilded rays. As the
+meeting was breaking up and Washington arose, Franklin pointed to the
+chair, and made it the text for prophecy. "As I have been sitting here
+all these weeks," said he, "I have often wondered whether yonder sun is
+rising or setting. But now I know that it is a rising sun!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+CROWNING THE WORK.
+
+
+[Sidenote: The new Constitution is laid before Congress and submitted
+forthwith to the several states for ratification.]
+
+It was on the 17th of September, 1787, that the Federal Convention broke
+up. For most of the delegates there was a long and tedious journey home
+before they could meet their fellow-citizens and explain what had been
+done at Philadelphia during this anxious summer. Not so, however, with
+Benjamin Franklin and the Pennsylvania delegation. At eleven o'clock on
+the next morning, radiant with delight at seeing one of the most
+cherished purposes of his life so nearly accomplished, the venerable
+philosopher, attended by his seven colleagues, presented to the
+legislature of Pennsylvania a copy of the Federal Constitution, and in a
+brief but pithy speech, characterized by his usual homely wisdom, begged
+for it their most favourable consideration. His words fell upon willing
+ears, for nowhere was the disgust at the prevailing anarchy greater than
+in Philadelphia. But still it was not quite in order for the assembly to
+act upon the matter until word should come from the Continental
+Congress. Since its ignominious flight to Princeton, four years ago,
+that migratory body had not honoured Philadelphia with its presence. It
+had once flitted as far south as Annapolis, but at length had chosen for
+its abiding-place the city of New York, where it was now in session. To
+Congress the new Constitution must be submitted before it was in order
+for the several states to take action upon it. On the 20th of September
+the draft of the Constitution was laid before Congress, accompanied by a
+letter from Washington. The forces of the opposition were promptly
+mustered. At their head was Richard Henry Lee, who eleven years ago had
+moved in Congress the Declaration of Independence. He was ably supported
+by Nathan Dane of Massachusetts, and the delegation from New York were
+unanimous in their determination to obstruct any movement toward a
+closer union of the states. Their tactics were vigorous, but the
+majority in Congress were against them, especially after the return of
+Madison from Philadelphia. Madison, aided by Edward Carrington and young
+Henry Lee, the famous leader of light horse, succeeded in every division
+in carrying the vote of Virginia in favour of the Constitution and
+against the obstructive measures of the elder Lee. The objection was
+first raised that the new Constitution would put an end to the
+Continental Congress, and that in recommending it to the states for
+consideration Congress would be virtually asking them to terminate its
+own existence. Was it right or proper for Congress thus to have a hand
+in signing its own death-warrant? But this flimsy argument was quickly
+overturned. Seven months before Congress had recognized the necessity
+for calling the convention together; whatever need for its work existed
+then, there was the same need now; and by refusing to take due
+cognizance of it Congress would simply stultify itself. The opposition
+then tried to clog the measure by proposing amendments, but they were
+outgeneralled, and after eight days' discussion it was voted that the
+new Constitution, together with Washington's letter, "be transmitted to
+the several legislatures, in order to be submitted to a convention of
+delegates in each state by the people thereof, in conformity to the
+resolves of the convention."
+
+[Sidenote: First American parties, Federalists and Antifederalists.]
+
+The submission of the Constitution to the people of the states was the
+signal for the first formation of political parties on a truly national
+issue. During the war there had indeed been Whigs and Tories, but their
+strife had not been like the ordinary strife of political parties; it
+was actual warfare. Irredeemably discredited from the outset, the Tories
+had been overridden and outlawed from one end of the Union to the other.
+They had never been able to hold up their heads as a party in
+opposition. Since the close of the war there had been local parties in
+the various states, divided on issues of hard and soft money, or the
+impost, or state rights, and these issues had coincided in many of the
+states. During the autumn of 1787 all these elements were segregated
+into two great political parties, whose character and views are
+sufficiently described by their names. Those who supported the new
+Constitution were henceforth known as Federalists; those who were
+opposed to strengthening the bond between the states were called
+Antifederalists. It was fit that their name should have this merely
+negative significance, for their policy at this time was purely a policy
+of negation and obstruction. Care must be taken not to confound them
+with the Democratic-Republicans, or _strict constructionists_, who
+appear in opposition to the Federalists soon after the adoption of the
+Constitution. The earlier short-lived party furnished a great part of
+its material to the later one, but the attitude of the strict
+constructionists under the Constitution was very different from that of
+the Antifederalists. Madison, the second Republican president, was now
+the most energetic of Federalists; and Jefferson, soon to become the
+founder of the Democratic-Republican party, wrote from Paris, saying,
+"The Constitution is a good canvas, on which some strokes only want
+retouching." He found the same fault with it that was found by many of
+the ablest and most patriotic men in the country,--that it failed to
+include a bill of rights; but at the same time he declared that while he
+was not of the party of Federalists, he was much further from that of
+the Antifederalists. The Federal Convention he characterized as "an
+assembly of demi-gods."
+
+[Sidenote: The contest in Pennsylvania.]
+
+The first contest over the new Constitution came in Pennsylvania. The
+Federalists in that state were numerous, but their opponents had one
+point in their favour which they did not fail to make the most of. The
+constitution of Pennsylvania was peculiar. Its legislature consisted of
+a single house, and its president was chosen by that house. Therefore,
+said the Antifederalists, if we approve of a federal constitution which
+provides for a legislature of two houses and chooses a president by the
+device of an electoral college, we virtually condemn the state
+constitution under which we live. This cry was raised with no little
+effect. But some of the strongest immediate causes of opposition to the
+new Constitution were wanting in Pennsylvania. The friends of paper
+money were few there, and the objections to the control of the central
+government over commerce were weaker than in many of the other states.
+The Antifederalists were strongest in the mountain districts west of the
+Susquehanna, where the somewhat lawless population looked askance at any
+plan that savoured of a stronger government and a more regular
+collection of revenue. In the eastern counties, and especially in
+Philadelphia, the Federalists could count upon a heavy majority.
+
+[Sidenote: How to make a quorum.]
+
+The contest began in the legislature on the 28th of September, the very
+day on which Congress decided to submit the Constitution to the states,
+and before the news of the action had reached Philadelphia. The zeal of
+the Federalists was so intense that they could wait no longer, and they
+hurried the event with a high-handed vigour that was not altogether
+seemly. The assembly was on the eve of breaking up, and a new election
+was to be held on the first Tuesday of November. The Antifederalists
+hoped to make a stirring campaign, and secure such a majority in the new
+legislature as to prevent the Constitution from being laid before the
+people. But their game was frustrated by George Clymer, who had sat in
+the Federal Convention, and now most unexpectedly moved that a state
+convention be called to consider the proposed form of government. Great
+was the wrath of the Antifederalists. Mr. Clymer was quite out of order,
+they said. Congress had not yet sent them the Constitution; and besides,
+no such motion could be made without notice given beforehand, nor could
+it be voted on till it had passed three readings. Parliamentary usage
+was doubtless on the side of the Antifederalists, but the majority were
+clamorous, and overwhelmed them with cries of "Question, question!" The
+question was then put, and carried, by 43 votes against 19, and the
+house adjourned till four o'clock. Before going to their dinners the 19
+held an indignation meeting, at which it was decided that they would
+foil these outrageous proceedings by staying away. It took 47 to make a
+quorum, and without these malcontents the assembly numbered but 45. When
+the house was called to order after dinner, it was found there were but
+45 members present. The sergeant-at-arms was sent to summon the
+delinquents, but they defied him, and so it became necessary to adjourn
+till next morning. It was now the turn of the Federalists to uncork the
+vials of wrath. The affair was discussed in the taverns till after
+midnight, the 19 were abused without stint, and soon after breakfast,
+next morning, two of them were visited by a crowd of men, who broke into
+their lodgings and dragged them off to the state house, where they were
+forcibly held down in their seats, growling and muttering curses. This
+made a quorum, and a state convention was immediately appointed for the
+20th of November. Before these proceedings were concluded, an
+express-rider brought the news from New York that Congress had submitted
+the Constitution to the judgment of the states.
+
+And now there ensued such a war of pamphlets, broadsides, caricatures,
+squibs, and stump-speeches, as had never yet been seen in America. Cato
+and Aristides, Cincinnatus and Plain Truth, were out in full force. What
+was the matter with the old confederation? asked the Antifederalists.
+Had it not conducted a glorious and triumphant war? Had it not set us
+free from the oppression of England? That there was some trouble now in
+the country could not be denied, but all would be right if people would
+only curb their extravagance, wear homespun clothes, and obey the laws.
+There was government enough in the country already. This Philadelphia
+convention ought to be distrusted. Some of its members, such as John
+Dickinson and Robert Morris, had opposed the Declaration of
+Independence. Pretty men these, to be offering us a new government! You
+might be sure there was a British cloven foot in it somewhere. Their
+convention had sat four months with closed doors, as if they were afraid
+to let people know what they were about. Nobody could tell what secret
+conspiracies against American liberty might not have been hatched in all
+that time. One thing was sure: the convention had squabbled. Some
+members had gone home in a huff; others had refused to sign a document
+fraught with untold evils to the country. And now came James Wilson,
+making speeches in behalf of this precious Constitution, and trying to
+pull the wool over people's eyes and persuade them to adopt it. Who was
+James Wilson, any way? A Scotchman, a countryman of Lord Bute, a born
+aristocrat, a snob, a patrician, Jimmy, James de Caledonia. Beware of
+any form of government defended by such a man. And as to the other
+members of the convention, there was Roger Sherman, who had signed the
+articles of confederation, and was now trying to undo his own work. What
+confidence could be placed in a man who did not know his own mind any
+better than that? Then there were Hamilton and Madison, mere boys; and
+Franklin, an old dotard, a man in his second childhood. And as to
+Washington, he was doubtless a good soldier, but what did he know about
+politics? So said the more moderate of the malcontents, hesitating for
+the moment to speak disrespectfully of such a man; but presently their
+zeal got the better of them, and in a paper signed "Centinel" it was
+boldly declared that Washington was a born fool!
+
+[Sidenote: Delaware ratifies the Constitution, Dec. 6, 1787;
+Pennsylvania, Dec. 12; New Jersey, Dec. 18.]
+
+From the style and temper of these arguments one clearly sees that the
+Antifederalists in Pennsylvania felt from the beginning that the day was
+going against them. Sixteen of the men who had seceded from the
+assembly, headed by Robert Whitehill of Carlisle, issued a manifesto
+setting forth the ill-treatment they had received, and sounding an alarm
+against the dangers of tyranny to which the new Constitution was already
+exposing them. They were assisted by Richard Henry Lee, who published a
+series of papers entitled "Letters from the Federal Farmer," and
+scattered thousands of copies through the state of Pennsylvania. He did
+not deny that the government needed reforming, but in the proposed plan
+he saw the seeds of aristocracy and of centralization. The chief
+objections to the Constitution were that it created a national
+legislature in which the vote was to be by individuals, and not by
+states; that it granted to this body an unlimited power of taxation;
+that it gave too much power to the federal judiciary; that it provided
+for paying the salaries of members of Congress out of the federal
+treasury, and would thus make them independent of their own states; that
+it required an oath of allegiance to the federal government; and
+finally, that it did not include a bill of rights. These objections were
+very elaborately set forth by the leading Antifederalists in the state
+convention; but the logic and eloquence of James Wilson bore down all
+opposition. The Antifederalists resorted to filibustering. Five days, it
+is said, were used up in settling the meanings of the two words
+"annihilation" and "consolidation." In this way the convention was kept
+sitting for nearly three weeks, when news came from "the Delaware
+state," as it used then to be called in Pennsylvania. The concession of
+an equal representation in the federal Senate had removed the only
+ground of opposition in Delaware, and the Federalists had everything
+their own way there. In a convention assembled at Dover, on the 6th of
+December, the Constitution was ratified without a single dissenting
+voice. Thus did this little state lead the way in the good work. The
+news was received with exultation by the Federalists at Philadelphia,
+and on the 12th Pennsylvania ratified the Constitution by a two thirds
+vote of 46 to 23. The next day all business was quite at a standstill,
+while the town gave itself up to processions and merry-making. The
+convention of New Jersey had assembled at Trenton on the 11th, and one
+week later, on the 18th, it ratified the Constitution unanimously.
+
+A most auspicious beginning had thus been made. Three states, one third
+of the whole number required, had ratified almost at the same moment.
+Two of these, moreover, were small states, which at the beginning of the
+Federal Convention had been obstinately opposed to any fundamental
+change in the government. It was just here that the Federalists were now
+strongest. The Connecticut compromise had wrought with telling effect,
+not only in the convention, but upon the people of the states. When the
+news from Trenton was received in Pennsylvania, there was great
+rejoicing in the eastern counties, while beyond the Susquehanna there
+were threats of armed rebellion. On the day after Christmas, as the
+Federalists of Carlisle were about to light a bonfire on the common and
+fire a salute, they were driven off the field by a mob armed with
+bludgeons, their rickety old cannon was spiked, and an almanac for the
+new year, containing a copy of the Constitution, was duly cursed, and
+then burned. Next day the Federalists, armed with muskets, came back,
+and went through their ceremonies. Their opponents did not venture to
+molest them; but after they had dispersed, an Antifederalist
+demonstration was made, and effigies of James Wilson and Thomas McKean,
+another prominent Federalist, were dragged to the common, and there
+burned at the stake.
+
+[Sidenote: Georgia ratifies, Jan. 2, 1788; Connecticut, Jan. 9. The
+outlook in Massachusetts.]
+
+The action of Delaware and New Jersey had shown that the Antifederalists
+could not build any hopes upon the antagonism between large and small
+states. It was thought, however, that the southern states would unite in
+opposing the Constitution from their dread of becoming commercially
+subjected to New England. But the compromise on the slave-trade had
+broken through this opposition. On the 2d of January, 1788, the
+Constitution was ratified in Georgia without a word of dissent. One week
+later Connecticut ratified by a vote of 128 to 40, after a session of
+only five days. The hopes of the Antifederalists now rested upon
+Massachusetts, where the state convention assembled on the 9th of
+January, the same day on which that of Connecticut broke up. Should
+Massachusetts refuse to ratify, there would be no hope for the
+Constitution. Even should nine states adopt it without her, no one
+supposed a Federal Union feasible from which so great a state should be
+excluded. Her action, too, would have a marked effect upon other states.
+It could not be denied that the outlook in Massachusetts was far from
+encouraging. The embers of the Shays rebellion still smouldered there,
+and in the mountain counties of Worcester and Berkshire were heard loud
+murmurs of discontent. Laws impairing the obligation of contracts were
+just what these hard-pressed farmers desired, and by the proposed
+Constitution all such laws were forever prohibited. The people of the
+district of Maine, which had formed part of Massachusetts for nearly a
+century, were anxious to set up an independent government for
+themselves; and they feared that if they were to enter into the new and
+closer Federal Union as part of that state, they might hereafter find it
+impossible to detach themselves. For this reason half of the Maine
+delegates were opposed to the Constitution. In none of the thirteen
+states, moreover, was there a more intense devotion to state rights than
+in Massachusetts. Nowhere had local self-government reached a higher
+degree of efficiency; nowhere had the town meeting flourished with such
+vigour. It was especially characteristic of men trained in the town
+meeting to look with suspicion upon all delegated power, upon all
+authority that was to be exercised from a distance. They believed it to
+be all important that people should manage their own affairs, instead of
+having them managed by other people; and so far had this principle been
+carried that the towns of Massachusetts were like little
+semi-independent republics, and the state was like a league of such
+republics, whose representatives, sitting in the state legislature, were
+like delegates strictly bound by instructions rather than untrammelled
+members of a deliberative body. To men trained in such a school, it
+would naturally seem that the new Constitution delegated altogether too
+much power to a governing body which must necessarily be remote from
+most of its constituents. It was feared that some sort of tyranny might
+grow out of this, and such fears were entertained by men who were not in
+the slightest degree infected with Shaysism, as the political disease of
+the inland counties was then called. Such fears were entertained by one
+of the greatest citizens that Massachusetts has ever produced, the man
+who has been well described as preeminently "the man of the town
+meeting,"--Samuel Adams. The limitations of this great man, as well as
+his powers, were those which belonged to him as chief among the men of
+English race who have swayed society through the medium of the ancient
+folk mote. At this time he was believed by many to be hostile to the new
+Constitution, and his influence in Massachusetts was still greater than
+that of any other man. Besides this, it was thought that the governor,
+John Hancock, was half-hearted in his support of the Constitution, and
+it was in everybody's mouth that Elbridge Gerry had refused to set his
+name to that document because he felt sure it would create a tyranny.
+
+Such symptoms encouraged the Antifederalists in the hope that
+Massachusetts would reject the Constitution and ruin the plans of the
+"visionary young men"--as Richard Henry Lee called them--who had swayed
+the Federal Convention. But there were strong forces at work in the
+opposite direction. In Boston and all the large coast towns, even those
+of the Maine district, the dominant feeling was Federalist. All
+well-to-do people had been alarmed by the Shays insurrection, and
+merchants, shipwrights, and artisans of every sort were convinced that
+there was no prosperity in store for them until the federal government
+should have control over commerce, and be enabled to make its strength
+felt on the seas and in Europe. In these views Samuel Adams shared so
+thoroughly that his attitude toward the Constitution at this moment was
+really that of a waverer rather than an opponent. Amid balancing
+considerations he found it for some time hard to make up his mind.
+
+In the convention which met on the 9th of January there sat Gorham,
+Strong, and King, who had taken part in the Federal Convention. There
+were also Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin; the revolutionary generals,
+Heath and Lincoln; and the rising statesmen, Sedgwick, Parsons, and
+Fisher Ames, whose eloquence was soon to become so famous. There were
+twenty-four clergymen, of various denominations,--men of sound
+scholarship, and several of them eminent for worldly wisdom and
+liberality of temper. Governor Hancock presided, gorgeous in crimson
+velvet and finest laces, while about the room sat many browned and
+weather-beaten farmers, among whom were at least eighteen who hardly a
+year ago had marched over the pine-clad mountain ridges of Petersham,
+under the banner of the rebel Shays. It was a wholesome no less than a
+generous policy that let these men come in and freely speak their minds.
+The air was thus the sooner cleared of discontent; the disease was thus
+the more likely to heal itself. In all there were three hundred and
+fifty-five delegates present,--a much larger number than took part in
+any of the other state conventions. The people of all parts of
+Massachusetts were very thoroughly represented, as befitted the state
+which was preeminent in the active political life of its town meetings,
+and the work done here was in some respects decisive in its effect upon
+the adoption of the Constitution.
+
+[Sidenote: Debates in the Massachusetts convention.]
+
+The convention began by overhauling that document from beginning to end,
+discussing it clause by clause with somewhat wearisome minuteness. Some
+of the objections seem odd to us at this time, with our larger
+experience. It was several days before the minds of the country members
+could be reconciled to the election of representatives for so long a
+period as two years. They had not been wont to delegate power to anybody
+for so long a time, not even to their selectmen, whom they had always
+under their eyes. How much more dangerous was it likely to prove if
+delegated authority were to be exercised for so long a period at some
+distant federal city, such as the Constitution contemplated! There was a
+vague dread that in some indescribable way the new Congress might
+contrive to make its sittings perpetual, and thus become a tyrannical
+oligarchy, which might tax the people without their consent. And then as
+to this federal city, there were some who did not like the idea. A
+district ten miles square! Was not that a great space to give up to the
+uncontrolled discretion of the federal government, wherein it could
+wreak its tyrannical will without let or hindrance? One of the delegates
+thought he could be reconciled to the new Constitution if this district
+could only be narrowed down to one mile square. And then there was the
+power granted to Congress to maintain a standing army, of which the
+president was to be _ex officio_ commander-in-chief. Did not this open
+the door for a Cromwell? It was to be a standing army for at least two
+years, since this was the shortest period between elections. Why, even
+the British Parliament, since 1688, did not keep up a standing army for
+more than one year at a time, but renewed its existence annually under
+what was termed the Mutiny Act. But what need of a standing army at all?
+Would it not be sure to provoke needless disorders? Had they already
+forgotten the Boston Massacre, in spite of all the orations that had
+been delivered in the Old South Meeting-House? A militia, organized
+under the town-meeting system, was surely all-sufficient. Such a militia
+had won glorious triumphs at Lexington and Bennington; and at King's
+Mountain, had not an army of militia surrounded and captured an army of
+regulars led by one of England's most skilful officers? What more could
+you ask? Clearly this plan for a standing army foreboded tyranny. Upon
+this point Mr. Nason, from the Maine district, had his say, in tones of
+inimitable bombast. "Had I the voice of Jove," said he, "I would
+proclaim it throughout the world; and had I an arm like Jove, I would
+hurl from the globe those villains that would dare attempt to establish
+in our country a standing army!"
+
+[Sidenote: Liberal attitude of the clergy.]
+
+Next came the complaint that the Constitution did not recognize the
+existence of God, and provided no religious tests for candidates for
+federal offices. But, strange to say, this objection did not come from
+the clergy. It was urged by some of the country members, but the
+ministers in the convention were nearly unanimous in opposing it. There
+had been a remarkable change of sentiment among the clergy of this
+state, which had begun its existence as a theocracy, in which none but
+church members could vote or hold office. The seeds of modern liberalism
+had been planted in their minds. When Amos Singletary of Sutton declared
+it to be scandalous that a Papist or an infidel should be as eligible to
+office as a Christian,--a remark which naively assumed that Roman
+Catholics were not Christians,--the Rev. Daniel Shute of Hingham replied
+that no conceivable advantage could result from a religious test. Yes,
+said the Rev. Philip Payson of Chelsea, "human tribunals for the
+consciences of men are impious encroachments upon the prerogatives of
+God. A religious test, as a qualification for office, would have been a
+great blemish." "In reason and in the Holy Scripture," said the Rev.
+Isaac Backus of Middleborough, "religion is ever a matter between God
+and the individual; the imposing of religious tests hath been the
+greatest engine of tyranny in the world." With this liberal stand firmly
+taken by the ministers, the religious objection was speedily overruled.
+
+Then the clause which allows Congress to regulate the times, places, and
+manner of holding federal elections was severely criticised. It was
+feared that Congress would take advantage of this provision to destroy
+the freedom of elections. It was further objected that members of
+Congress, being paid their salaries from the federal treasury, would
+become too independent of their constituents. Federal collectors of
+revenue, moreover, would not be so likely to act with moderation and
+justice as collectors appointed by the state. Then it was very doubtful
+whether the people could support the expense of an elaborate federal
+government. They were already scarcely able to pay their town, county,
+and state taxes; was it to be supposed they could bear the additional
+burden with which federal taxation would load them? Then the compromise
+on the slave-trade was fiercely attacked. They did not wish to have a
+hand in licensing this nefarious traffic for twenty years. But it was
+urged, on the other hand, that by prohibiting the foreign slave-trade
+after 1808 the Constitution was really dealing a death-blow to slavery;
+and this opinion prevailed.
+
+During the whole course of the discussion, observed the Rev. Samuel West
+of New Bedford, it seemed to be taken for granted that the federal
+government was going to be put into the hands of crafty knaves. "I
+wish," said he, "that the gentlemen who have started so many _possible_
+objections would try to show us that what they so much deprecate is
+_probable_.... Because power _may_ be abused, shall we be reduced to
+anarchy? What hinders our state legislatures from abusing their
+powers?... May we not rationally suppose that the persons we shall
+choose to administer the government will be, in general, good men?"
+General Thompson said he was surprised to hear such an argument from a
+clergyman, who was professionally bound to maintain that all men were
+totally depraved. For his part he believed they were so, and he could
+prove it from the Old Testament. "I would not trust them," echoed
+Abraham White of Bristol, "though every one of them should be a Moses."
+
+[Sidenote: Speech of a Berkshire farmer.]
+
+The feeling of distrust was strongest among the farmers from the
+mountain districts. As Rufus King said, they objected, not so much to
+the Constitution as to the men who made it and the men who sang its
+praises. They hated lawyers, and were jealous of wealthy merchants.
+"These lawyers," said Amos Singletary, "and men of learning, and moneyed
+men that talk so finely and gloss over matters so smoothly, to make us
+poor illiterate people swallow the pill, expect to get into Congress
+themselves. They mean to be managers of the Constitution. They mean to
+get all the money into their hands, and then they will swallow up us
+little folk, like the great Leviathan, Mr. President; yes, just as the
+whale swallowed up Jonah." Here a more liberal-minded farmer, Jonathan
+Smith of Lanesborough, rose to reply with references to the Shays
+rebellion, which presently called forth cries of "Order!" from some of
+the members. Samuel Adams said the gentleman was quite in order,--let
+him go on in his own way. "I am a plain man," said Mr. Smith, "and am
+not used to speak in public, but I am going to show the effects of
+anarchy, that you may see why I wish for good government. Last winter
+people took up arms, and then, if you went to speak to them, you had the
+musket of death presented to your breast. They would rob you of your
+property, threaten to burn your houses, oblige you to be on your guard
+night and day. Alarms spread from town to town, families were broken up;
+the tender mother would cry, 'Oh, my son is among them! What shall I do
+for my child?' Some were taken captive; children taken out of their
+schools and carried away.... How dreadful was this! Our distress was so
+great that we should have been glad to snatch at anything that looked
+like a government.... Now, Mr. President, when I saw this Constitution,
+I found that it was a cure for these disorders. I got a copy of it, and
+read it over and over.... I did not go to any lawyer, to ask his
+opinion; we have no lawyer in our town, and we do well enough without.
+My honourable old daddy there [pointing to Mr. Singletary] won't think
+that I expect to be a Congressman, and swallow up the liberties of the
+people. I never had any post, nor do I want one. But I don't think the
+worse of the Constitution because lawyers, and men of learning, and
+moneyed men are fond of it. I am not of such a jealous make. They that
+are honest men themselves are not apt to suspect other people....
+Brother farmers, let us suppose a case, now. Suppose you had a farm of
+50 acres, and your title was disputed, and there was a farm of 5,000
+acres joined to you that belonged to a man of learning, and his title
+was involved in the same difficulty: would you not be glad to have him
+for your friend, rather than to stand alone in the dispute? Well, the
+case is the same. These lawyers, these moneyed men, these men of
+learning, are all embarked in the same cause with us, and we must all
+sink or swim together. Shall we throw the Constitution overboard because
+it does not please us all alike? Suppose two or three of you had been at
+the pains to break up a piece of rough land and sow it with wheat: would
+you let it lie waste because you could not agree what sort of a fence to
+make? Would it not be better to put up a fence that did not please every
+one's fancy, rather than keep disputing about it until the wild beasts
+came in and devoured the crop? Some gentlemen say, Don't be in a hurry;
+take time to consider. I say, There is a time to sow and a time to reap.
+We sowed our seed when we sent men to the Federal Convention, now is the
+time to reap the fruit of our labour; and if we do not do it now, I am
+afraid we shall never have another opportunity."
+
+[Sidenote: Attitude of Samuel Adams.]
+
+It may be doubted whether all the eloquence of Fisher Ames could have
+stated the case more forcibly than it was put by this plain farmer from
+the Berkshire hills. Upon Ames, with King, Parsons, Bowdoin, and Strong,
+fell the principal work in defending the Constitution. For the first two
+weeks, Samuel Adams scarcely opened his mouth, but listened with anxious
+care to everything that was said on either side. The convention was so
+evenly divided that there could be no doubt that his single voice would
+decide the result. Every one eagerly awaited his opinion. In the debate
+on the two years' term of members of Congress, he had asked Caleb
+Strong the reason why the Federal Convention had decided upon so long a
+term; and when it was explained as a necessary compromise between the
+views of so many delegates, he replied, "I am satisfied." "Will Mr.
+Adams kindly say that again?" asked one of the members. "I am
+satisfied," he repeated; and not another word was said on the subject in
+all those weeks. So profound was the faith of this intelligent and
+skeptical and independent people in the sound judgment and unswerving
+integrity of the Father of the Revolution! As the weeks went by, and the
+issue seemed still dubious, the workingmen of Boston, shipwrights and
+brass-founders and other mechanics, decided to express their opinion in
+a way that they knew Samuel Adams would heed. They held a meeting at the
+Green Dragon tavern, passed resolutions in favour of the Constitution,
+and appointed a committee, with Paul Revere at its head, to make known
+these resolutions to the great popular leader. When Adams had read the
+paper, he asked of Paul Revere, "How many mechanics were at the Green
+Dragon when these resolutions passed?" "More, sir, than the Green Dragon
+could hold." "And where were the rest, Mr. Revere?" "In the streets,
+sir." "And how many were in the streets?" "More, sir, than there are
+stars in the sky."
+
+[Sidenote: Washington's fruitful suggestion.]
+
+Between Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson there were several points of
+resemblance, the chief of which was an intense faith in the sound common
+sense of the mass of the people. This faith was one of the strongest
+attributes of both these great men. It has usually been supposed that
+it was this incident of the meeting at the Green Dragon that determined
+Adams's final attitude in the state convention. Unquestionably, such a
+demonstration must have had great weight with him. But at the same time
+the affair was taking such a turn as would have decided him, even
+without the aid of this famous mass-meeting. The long delay in the
+decision of the Massachusetts convention had carried the excitement to
+fever heat throughout the country. Not only were people from New
+Hampshire and New York and naughty Rhode Island waiting anxiously about
+Boston to catch every crumb of news they could get, but intrigues were
+going on, as far south as Virginia, to influence the result. On the 21st
+of January the "Boston Gazette" came out with a warning, headed by
+enormous capitals with three exclamation-points: "_Bribery and
+Corruption!!!_ The most diabolical plan is on foot to corrupt the
+members of the convention who oppose the adoption of the new
+Constitution. Large sums of money have been brought from a neighbouring
+state for that purpose, contributed by the wealthy. If so, is it not
+probable there may be collections for the same accursed purpose nearer
+home?" No adequate investigation ever determined whether this charge was
+true or not. We may hope that it was ill-founded; but our general
+knowledge of human nature must compel us to admit that there was
+probably a grain of truth in it. But what was undeniable was that
+Richard Henry Lee wrote a letter to Gerry, urging that Massachusetts
+should not adopt the Constitution without insisting upon sundry
+amendments; and in order to consider these amendments, it was suggested
+that there should be another Federal Convention. At this anxious crisis,
+Washington suddenly threw himself into the breach with that infallible
+judgment of his which always saw the way to victory. "If another Federal
+Convention is attempted," said Washington, "its members will be more
+discordant, and will agree upon no general plan. The Constitution is the
+best that can be obtained at this time.... The Constitution or disunion
+are before us to choose from. If the Constitution is our choice, a
+constitutional door is open for amendments, and they may be adopted in a
+peaceable manner, without tumult or disorder."
+
+[Sidenote: Massachusetts ratifies, proposing amendments, Feb. 6, 1788.]
+
+When this advice of Washington's reached Boston, it set in motion a
+train of events which soon solved the difficulty, both for Massachusetts
+and for the other states which had not yet made up their mind. Chief
+among the objections to the Constitution had been the fact that it did
+not contain a bill of rights. It did not guarantee religious liberty,
+freedom of speech and of the press, or the right of the people
+peacefully to assemble and petition the government for a redress of
+grievances. It did not provide against the quartering of soldiers upon
+the people in time of peace. It did not provide against general
+search-warrants, nor did it securely prescribe the methods by which
+individuals should be held to answer for criminal offences. It did not
+even provide that nobody should be burned at the stake or stretched on
+the rack, for holding peculiar opinions about the nature of God or the
+origin of evil. That such objections to the Constitution seem strange to
+us to-day is partly due to the determined attitude of the men who, amid
+all the troubles of the time, would not consent to any arrangement from
+which such safeguards to free thinking and free living should be
+omitted. The friends of the Constitution in Boston now proposed that the
+convention, while adopting it, should suggest sundry amendments
+containing the essential provisions of a bill of rights. It was not
+intended that the ratification should be conditional. Under the
+circumstances, a conditional ratification might prove as disastrous as
+rejection. It might lead to a second Federal Convention, in which the
+good work already accomplished might be undone. The ratification was to
+be absolute, and the amendments were offered in the hope that action
+would be taken upon them as soon as the new government should go into
+operation. There could be little doubt that the suggestion would be
+heeded, not only from the importance of Massachusetts in the Union, but
+also from the fact that Virginia and other states would be sure to
+follow her example in suggesting such amendments. This forecast proved
+quite correct, and it was in this way that the first ten amendments
+originated, which were acted on by Congress in 1790, and became part of
+the Constitution in 1791. As soon as this plan had been matured, Hancock
+proposed it to the convention; the hearty support of Adams was
+immediately insured, and within a week from that time, on the 6th of
+February, the Constitution was ratified by the narrow majority of 187
+votes against 168. On that same day Jefferson, in Paris, wrote to
+Madison: "I wish with all my soul that the nine first conventions may
+accept the new Constitution, to secure to us the good it contains; but I
+equally wish that the four latest, whichever they may be, may refuse to
+accede to it till a declaration of rights be annexed; but no objection
+to the new form must produce a schism in our Union." But as soon as he
+heard of the action of Massachusetts, he approved it as preferable to
+his own idea, and he wrote home urging Virginia to follow the example.
+
+Massachusetts was thus the sixth state to ratify the Constitution. On
+that day the name of the Long Lane by the meeting-house where the
+convention had sat was changed to Federal Street. The Boston people,
+said Henry Knox, had quite lost their senses with joy. The two counties
+of Worcester and Berkshire had given but 14 yeas against 59 nays, but
+the farmers went home declaring that they should cheerfully abide by the
+decision of the majority. Not a murmur was heard from any one.
+
+[Sidenote: Maryland ratifies, April 28.]
+
+[Sidenote: Debates in the South Carolina legislature.]
+
+[Sidenote: South Carolina ratifies, May 23.]
+
+About the time that the Massachusetts convention broke up, that of New
+Hampshire assembled at Exeter; but after a brief discussion it was
+decided to adjourn until June, in order to see how the other states
+would act. On the 21st of April the Maryland convention assembled at
+Annapolis. All the winter Patrick Henry had been busily at work, with
+the hope of inducing the southern states to establish a separate
+confederacy; but he had made little headway anywhere, and none at all in
+Maryland, where his influence was completely counteracted by that of
+Washington. Above all things, said Washington, do not let the convention
+adjourn till the matter is decided, for the Antifederalists are taking
+no end of comfort from the postponement in New Hampshire. Their glee was
+short-lived, however. Some of Maryland's strongest men, such as Luther
+Martin and Samuel Chase, were Antifederalists; but their efforts were of
+no avail. After a session of five days the Constitution was ratified by
+a vote of 63 to 11. Whatever damage New Hampshire might have done was
+thus more than made good. The eyes of the whole country were now turned
+upon the eighth state, South Carolina. Her convention was to meet at
+Charleston on the 12th of May, the anniversary of the day on which
+General Lincoln had surrendered that city to Sir Henry Clinton; but
+there had been a decisive preliminary struggle in the legislature in
+January. The most active of the Antifederalists was Rawlins Lowndes, who
+had opposed the Declaration of Independence. Lowndes was betrayed into
+silliness. "We are now," said he, "under a most excellent
+constitution,--a blessing from Heaven, that has stood the test of time
+[!!], and given us liberty and independence; yet we are impatient to
+pull down that fabric which we raised at the expense of our blood." This
+was not very convincing to the assembly, most of the members knowing
+full well that the fabric had not stood the test of time, but had
+already tumbled in by reason of its vicious construction. A more
+effective plea was that which referred to the slave-trade. "What cause
+is there," said Lowndes, "for jealousy of our importing negroes? Why
+confine us to twenty years? Why limit us at all? This trade can be
+justified on the principles of religion and humanity. They do not like
+our having slaves because they have none themselves, and therefore want
+to exclude us from this great advantage." Cotesworth Pinckney replied:
+"By this settlement we have secured an unlimited importation of negroes
+for twenty years. The general government can never emancipate them, for
+no such authority is granted, and it is admitted on all hands that the
+general government has no powers but what are expressly granted by the
+Constitution. We have obtained a right to recover our slaves in whatever
+part of the country they may take refuge, which is a right we had not
+before. In short, considering all circumstances, we have made the best
+terms in our power for the security of this species of property. We
+would have made better if we could; but, on the whole, I do not think
+them bad." Perhaps Pinckney would not have assumed exactly this tone at
+Philadelphia, but at Charleston the argument was convincing. Lowndes
+then sounded the alarm that the New England states would monopolize the
+carrying-trade and charge ruinous freights, and he drew a harrowing
+picture of warehouses packed to bursting with rice and indigo spoiling
+because the owners could not afford to pay the Yankee skippers' prices
+for carrying their goods to market. But Pinckney rejoined that a Yankee
+shipmaster in quest of cargoes would not be likely to ruin his own
+chances for getting them, and he called attention to the great
+usefulness of the eastern merchant marine as affording material for a
+navy, and thus contributing to the defence of the country. Finally
+Lowndes put in a plea for paper money, but with little success. The
+result of the debate set the matter so clearly before the people that a
+great majority of Federalists were elected to the convention. Among them
+were Gadsden, the Rutledges and the Pinckneys, Moultrie, and William
+Washington, who had become a citizen of the state from which he had
+helped to expel the British invader. The Antifederalists were largely
+represented by men from the upland counties, belonging to a population
+in which there was considerable likeness all along the Appalachian chain
+of mountains, from Pennsylvania to the southern extremity of the range.
+There were among them many "moonshiners," as they were
+called,--distillers of illicit whiskey,--and they did not relish the
+idea of a federal excise. At their head was Thomas Sumter, a convert to
+Patrick Henry's scheme for a southern confederacy. Their policy was one
+of delay and obstruction, but it availed them little, for on the 23d of
+May, after a session of eleven days, South Carolina ratified the
+Constitution by a vote of 149 against 73.
+
+[Sidenote: Important effect upon Virginia.]
+
+[Sidenote: Debates in the Virginia Convention.]
+
+[Sidenote: Madison and Marshall prevail and Virginia ratifies, June 25.]
+
+The sound policy of the Federal Convention in adopting the odious
+compromise over the slave-trade was now about to bear fruit. In Virginia
+there had grown up a party which favoured the establishment of a
+separate southern confederacy. By the action of South Carolina all such
+schemes were now nipped in the bud. Of the states south of Mason and
+Dixon's line, three had now ratified the Constitution, so that any
+separate confederacy could now consist only of Virginia and North
+Carolina. The reason for this short-lived separatist feeling in Virginia
+was to be found in the complications which had grown out of the attempt
+of Spain to close the Mississippi River. It will be remembered that only
+two years before Jay had actually recommended to Congress that the right
+to navigate the lower Mississippi be surrendered for twenty-five years,
+in exchange for a favourable commercial treaty with Spain. The New
+England states, caring nothing for the distant Mississippi, supported
+this measure in Congress; and this narrow and selfish policy naturally
+created alarm in Virginia, which, in her district of Kentucky, touched
+upon the great river. Thus to the vague dread of the southern states in
+general, in the event of New England's controlling the commercial policy
+of the government, there was added, in Virginia's case, a specific fear.
+If the New England people were thus ready to barter away the vital
+interests of a remote part of the country, what might they not do? Would
+they ever stop at anything so long as they could go on building up their
+commerce? This feeling strongly influenced Patrick Henry in his desire
+for a separate confederacy; and we have seen how Randolph and Mason, in
+the Federal Convention, were so disturbed at the power given to
+Congress to regulate commerce by a simple majority of votes that they
+refused to set their names to the Constitution. They alleged further
+reasons for their refusal, but this was the chief one. They wanted a two
+thirds vote to be required, in order that the south might retain the
+means of protecting itself. Under these circumstances the opposition to
+the Constitution was very strong, and but for the action of South
+Carolina the party in favour of a separate confederacy might have been
+capable of doing much mischief. As it was, since that party had actively
+intrigued both in South Carolina and Maryland, the ratification of the
+Constitution by both these states was a direct rebuff. It quite
+demoralized the advocates of secession. The paper-money men, moreover,
+were handicapped by the fact that two of the most powerful
+Antifederalists, Mason and Lee, were determined opponents of a paper
+currency, so that this subject had to be dropped or very gingerly dealt
+with. The strength of the Antifederalists, though impaired by these
+causes, was still very great. The contest was waged with all the more
+intensity of feeling because, since eight states had now adopted the
+Constitution, the verdict of Virginia would be decisive. The convention
+met at Richmond on the 2d of June, and Edmund Pendleton was chosen
+president. Foremost among the Antifederalists was Patrick Henry, whose
+eloquence was now as zealously employed against the new government as it
+had been in bygone days against the usurpations of Great Britain. He was
+supported by Mason, Lee, and Grayson, as well as by Benjamin Harrison
+and John Tyler, the fathers of two future presidents; and he could count
+on the votes of most of the delegates from the midland counties, from
+the south bank of the James River, and from Kentucky. But the united
+talents of the opposition had no chance of success in a conflict with
+the genius and tact of Madison, who at one moment crushed, at another
+conciliated, his opponent, but always won the day. To Madison, more than
+any other man, the Federalist victory was due. But he was ably seconded
+by Governor Randolph, whom he began by winning over from the opposite
+party, and by the favourite general and eloquent speaker, "Light-Horse
+Harry." Conspicuous in the ranks of Federalists, and unsurpassed in
+debate, was a tall and gaunt young man, with beaming countenance, eyes
+of piercing brilliancy, and an indescribable kingliness of bearing, who
+was by and by to become chief justice of the United States, and by his
+masterly and far-reaching decisions to win a place side by side with
+Madison and Hamilton among the founders of our national government. John
+Marshall, second to none among all the illustrious jurists of the
+English race, was then, at the age of thirty-three, the foremost lawyer
+in Virginia. He had already served for several terms in the state
+legislature, but his national career began in this convention, where his
+arguments with those of Madison, reinforcing each other, bore down all
+opposition. The details of the controversy were much the same as in the
+states already passed in review, save in so far as coloured by the
+peculiar circumstances of Virginia. After more than three weeks of
+debate, on the 25th of June, the question was put to vote, and the
+Constitution was ratified by the narrow majority of 89 against 79.
+Amendments were offered, after the example of Massachusetts, which had
+already been followed by South Carolina and the minority in Maryland;
+and, as in Massachusetts, the defeated Antifederalists announced their
+intention to abide loyally by the result.
+
+[Sidenote: New Hampshire had already ratified, June 21.]
+
+The discussion had lasted so long that Virginia lost the distinction of
+being the ninth state to ratify the Constitution. That honour had been
+reserved for New Hampshire, whose convention had met on the anniversary
+of Bunker Hill, and after a four days' session, on the 21st of June, had
+given its consent to the new government by a vote of 57 against 46. The
+couriers from Virginia and those from New Hampshire, as they spurred
+their horses over long miles of dusty road, could shout to each other
+the joyous news in passing. Though the ratification of New Hampshire had
+secured the necessary ninth state, yet the action of Virginia was not
+the less significant and decisive. Virginia was at that time, and for a
+quarter of a century afterward, the most populous state in the Union,
+and one of the greatest in influence. Even with the needed nine states
+all in hand, it is clear that the new government could not have gone
+into successful operation with the leading state, the home of Washington
+himself, left out in the cold. The New Roof, as men were then fond of
+calling the Federal Constitution, must speedily have fallen in without
+this indispensable prop. When it was known that Virginia had ratified,
+it was felt that the victory was won, and the success of the new scheme
+assured. The 4th of July, 1788, witnessed such loud rejoicings as have
+perhaps never been seen before or since on American soil. In
+Philadelphia there was a procession miles in length, in which every
+trade was represented, and wagons laden with implements of industry or
+emblematic devices alternated with bands of music and gorgeous banners.
+There figured the New Roof, supported by thirteen columns, and there was
+to be seen the Ship of State, the good ship Constitution, made out of
+the barge which Paul Jones had taken from the shattered and
+blood-stained Serapis, after his terrible fight. As for the old scow
+Confederacy, Imbecility master, it was proclaimed she had foundered at
+sea, and "the sloop Anarchy, when last heard from, was ashore on Union
+Rocks." All over the country there were processions and bonfires, and in
+some towns there were riots. In Providence the Federalists prepared a
+barbecue of oxen roasted whole, but a mob of farmers, led by three
+members of the state legislature, attempted to disperse them, and were
+with some difficulty pacified. In Albany the Antifederalists publicly
+burned the Constitution, whereupon a party of Federalists brought out
+another copy of it, and nailed it to the top of a pole, which they
+planted defiantly amid the ashes of the fire their opponents had made.
+Out of these proceedings there grew a riot, in which knives were drawn,
+stones were thrown, and blood was shed.
+
+[Sidenote: The struggle in New York.]
+
+[Sidenote: The "Federalist."]
+
+Such incidents might have served to remind one that the end had not yet
+come. The difficulties were not yet surmounted, and the rejoicing was in
+some respects premature. It was now settled that the new government was
+to go into operation, but how it was going to be able to get along
+without the adhesion of New York it was not easy to see. It is true that
+New York then ranked only as fifth among the states in population, but
+commercially and militarily she was the centre of the Union. She not
+only touched at once on the ocean and the lakes, but she separated New
+England from the rest of the country. It was rightly felt that the Union
+could never be cemented without this central state. So strongly were
+people impressed with this feeling that some went so far as to threaten
+violence. It was said that if New York did not come into the Union
+peacefully and of her own accord, she should be conquered and dragged
+in. That she would come in peacefully seemed at first very improbable.
+When the state convention assembled at Poughkeepsie, on the 17th of
+June, more than two thirds of its members were avowed Antifederalists.
+At their head was the governor, George Clinton, hard-headed and
+resolute, the bitterest hater of the Constitution that could be found
+anywhere in the thirteen states. Foremost among his supporters were
+Yates and Lansing, with Melanchthon Smith, a man familiar with political
+history, and one of the ablest debaters in the country. On the
+Federalist side were such eminent men as Livingston and Jay; but the
+herculean task of vanquishing this great hostile majority, and
+converting it by sheer dint of argument into a majority on the right
+side, fell chiefly upon the shoulders of one man. But for Alexander
+Hamilton the decision of New York would unquestionably have been adverse
+to the Constitution. Nay, more, it is very improbable that, but for him,
+the good work would have made such progress as it had in the other
+states. To get the people to adopt the Constitution, it was above all
+things needful that its practical working should be expounded, in
+language such as every one could understand, by some writer endowed in
+the highest degree with political intelligence and foresight. Upon their
+return from the Federal Convention, Yates and Lansing had done all in
+their power to bring its proceedings into ill-repute. Pamphlets and
+broadsides were scattered right and left. The Constitution was called
+the "triple-headed monster," and declared to be "as deep and wicked a
+conspiracy as ever was invented in the darkest ages against the
+liberties of a free people." It soon occurred to Hamilton that it would
+be well worth while to explain the meaning of all parts of the
+Constitution in a series of short, incisive essays. He communicated his
+plan to Madison and Jay, who joined him in the work, and the result was
+the "Federalist," perhaps the most famous of American books, and
+undoubtedly the most profound and suggestive treatise on government that
+has ever been written. Of the eighty-five numbers originally published
+in the "Independent Gazetteer," under the common signature of "Publius,"
+Jay wrote five, Madison twenty-nine, and Hamilton fifty-one. Jay's
+papers related chiefly to diplomatic points, with which his experience
+abroad had fitted him to deal. The first number was written by Hamilton
+in the cabin of a sloop on the Hudson, in October, 1787; and they
+continued to appear, sometimes as often as three or four in a week,
+through the winter and spring. Madison would have contributed a larger
+share than he did had he not been called early in March to Virginia to
+fight the battle of the Constitution in that state. The essays were
+widely and eagerly read, and probably accomplished more toward insuring
+the adoption of the Constitution than anything else that was said or
+done in that eventful year. They were hastily written,--struck out at
+white heat by men full of their subject. Doubtless the authors did not
+realize the grandeur of the literary work they were doing, and among the
+men of the time there were few who foresaw the immortal fame which these
+essays were to earn. It is said of one of the senators in the first
+Congress that he made the memorandum, "Get the 'Federalist,' if I can,
+without buying it. It isn't worth it." But for all posterity the
+"Federalist" must remain the most authoritative commentary upon the
+Constitution that can be found; for it is the joint work of the
+principal author of that Constitution and of its most brilliant
+advocate.
+
+In nothing could the flexibleness of Hamilton's intellect, or the
+genuineness of his patriotism, have been more finely shown than in the
+hearty zeal and transcendent ability with which he now wrote in defence
+of a plan of government so different from what he would himself have
+proposed. He made Madison's thoughts his own, until he set them forth
+with even greater force than Madison himself could command. Yet no
+arguments could possibly be less chargeable with partisanship than the
+arguments of the "Federalist." The judgment is as dispassionate as could
+be shown in a philosophical treatise. The tone is one of grave and lofty
+eloquence, apt to move even to tears the reader who is fully alive to
+the stupendous issues that were involved in the discussion. Hamilton was
+supremely endowed with the faculty of imagining, with all the
+circumstantial minuteness of concrete reality, political situations
+different from those directly before him; and he put this rare power to
+noble use in tracing out the natural and legitimate working of such a
+Constitution as that which the Federal Convention had framed.
+
+[Sidenote: Hamilton wins the victory, and New York ratifies, July 26.]
+
+When it came to defending the Constitution before the hostile convention
+at Poughkeepsie, he had before him as arduous a task as ever fell to the
+lot of a parliamentary debater. It was a case where political management
+was out of the question. The opposition were too numerous to be
+silenced, or cajoled, or bargained with. They must be converted. With an
+eloquence scarcely equalled before or since in America until Webster's
+voice was heard, Hamilton argued week after week, till at last
+Melanchthon Smith, the foremost debater of Clinton's party, broke away,
+and came to the Federalist side. It was like crushing the centre of a
+hostile army. After this the Antifederalist forces were confused and
+easily routed. The decisive struggle was over the question whether New
+York could ratify the Constitution conditionally, reserving to herself
+the right to withdraw from the Union in case the amendments upon which
+she had set her heart should not be adopted. Upon this point Hamilton
+reinforced himself with the advice of Madison, who had just returned to
+New York. Could a state once adopt the Constitution, and then withdraw
+from the Union if not satisfied? Madison's reply was prompt and
+decisive. No, such a thing could never be done. A state which had once
+ratified was in the federal bond forever. The Constitution could not
+provide for nor contemplate its own overthrow. There could be no such
+thing as a constitutional right of secession. When Melanchthon Smith
+deserted the Antifederalists on this point, the victory was won, and on
+the 26th of July, New York ratified the Constitution by the bare
+majority of 30 votes against 27. Rejoicings were now renewed throughout
+the country. In the city of New York there was an immense parade, and as
+the emblematic federal ship was drawn through the streets, with
+Hamilton's name emblazoned on her side, it was doubtless the proudest
+moment of the young statesman's life.
+
+[Sidenote: The laggard states, North Carolina and Rhode Island.]
+
+New York, however, dogged her acceptance by proposing, a few days
+afterward, that a second Federal Convention be called for considering
+the amendments suggested by the various states. The proposal was
+supported by the Virginia legislature, but Massachusetts and
+Pennsylvania opposed it, as having a dangerous tendency to reopen the
+whole discussion and unsettle everything. The proposal fell to the
+ground. People were weary of the long dispute, and turned their
+attention to electing representatives to the first Congress. With the
+adhesion of New York all serious anxiety came to an end. The new
+government could be put in operation without waiting for North Carolina
+and Rhode Island to make up their minds. The North Carolina convention
+met on the 21st of July, and adjourned on the 1st of August without
+coming to any decision. The same objections were raised as in Virginia;
+and besides, the paper-money party was here much stronger than in the
+neighbouring state. In Rhode Island paper money was the chief
+difficulty; that state did not even take the trouble to call a
+convention. It was not until the 21st of November, 1789, after
+Washington's government had been several months in operation, that North
+Carolina joined the Federal Union. Rhode Island did not join till the
+29th of May, 1790. If she had waited but a few months longer, Vermont,
+the first state not of the original thirteen, would have come in before
+her.
+
+The autumn of 1788 was a season of busy but peaceful electioneering.
+That remarkable body, the Continental Congress, in putting an end to its
+troubled existence, decreed that presidential electors should be chosen
+on the first Wednesday of January, 1789, that the electors should meet
+and cast their votes for president on the first Wednesday in February,
+and that the Senate and House of Representatives should assemble on the
+first Wednesday in March. This latter day fell, in 1789, on the 4th of
+the month, and accordingly, three years afterward, Congress took it for
+a precedent, and decreed that thereafter each new administration should
+begin on the 4th of March. It was further decided, after some warm
+debate, that until the site for the proposed federal city could be
+selected and built upon, the seat of the new government should be the
+city of New York.
+
+[Sidenote: First presidential election, Jan. 7, 1789.]
+
+In accordance with these decrees, presidential elections were held on
+the first Wednesday in January. The Antifederalists were still potent
+for mischief in New York, with the result that, just as that state had
+not joined in the Declaration of Independence until after it had been
+proclaimed to the world, and just as she refused to adopt the Federal
+Constitution until after more than the requisite number of states had
+ratified it, so now she failed to choose electors, and had nothing to do
+with the vote that made Washington our first president. The other ten
+states that had ratified the Constitution all chose electors. But things
+moved slowly and cumbrously at this first assembling of the new
+government. The House of Representatives did not succeed in getting a
+quorum together until the 1st of April. On the 6th, the Senate chose
+John Langdon for its president, and the two houses in concert counted
+the electoral votes. There were 69 in all, and every one of the 69 was
+found to be for George Washington of Virginia. For the second name on
+the list there was nothing like such unanimity. It was to be expected
+that the other name would be that of a citizen of Massachusetts, as the
+other leading state in the Union. The two foremost citizens of
+Massachusetts bore the same name, and were cousins. There would have
+been most striking poetic justice in coupling with the name of
+Washington that of Samuel Adams, since these two men had been
+indisputably foremost in the work of achieving the independence of the
+United States. But for the hesitancy of Samuel Adams in indorsing the
+Federal Constitution, he would very likely have been our first
+vice-president and our second president. But the wave of federalism had
+now begun to sweep strongly over Massachusetts, carrying everything
+before it, and none but the most ardent Federalists had a chance to meet
+in the electoral college. Voices were raised in behalf of Samuel Adams.
+While we honour the American Fabius, it was said, let us not forget the
+American Cato. It was urged by some, with much truth, that but for his
+wise and cautious action in the Massachusetts convention, the good ship
+Constitution would have been fatally wrecked upon the reefs of Shaysism.
+His course had not been that of an obstructionist, like that of his old
+friends Henry and Lee and Gerry; but at the critical moment--one of the
+most critical in all that wonderful crisis--he had thrown his vast
+influence, with decisive effect, upon the right side. All this is plain
+enough to the historian of to-day. But in the political fervour of the
+election of 1789, the fact most clearly visible to men was that Samuel
+Adams had hesitated, and perhaps made things wait. These points came out
+most distinctly on the issue of his election to the Federal Congress,
+in which he was defeated by the youthful Fisher Ames, whose eloquence in
+the state convention had been so conspicuous and useful; but they serve
+to explain thoroughly why he was not put upon the presidential list
+along with Washington. His cousin, John Adams, had just returned from
+his mission to England, weary and disgusted with the scanty respect
+which he had been able to secure for a feeble league of states that
+could not make good its own promises. His services during the Revolution
+had been of the most splendid sort: and after Washington, he was the
+second choice of the electoral college, receiving 34 votes, while John
+Jay of New York, his nearest competitor, received only 9. John Adams was
+accordingly declared vice-president.
+
+[Sidenote: Inauguration of Washington, April 30.]
+
+On the 14th of April Washington was informed of his election, and on the
+next day but one he bid adieu again to his beloved home at Mount Vernon,
+where he had hoped to pass the remainder of his days in that rural peace
+and quiet for which no one yearns like the man who is burdened with
+greatness and fame unsought for. The position to which he was summoned
+was one of unparalleled splendour,--how splendid we can now realize much
+better than he, and our grandchildren will realize it better than
+we,--the position of first ruler of what was soon to become at once the
+strongest and the most peace-loving people upon the face of the earth.
+As he journeyed toward New York, his thoughts must have been busy with
+the arduous problems of the time. Already, doubtless, he had marked out
+the two great men, Jefferson and Hamilton, for his chief advisers: the
+one to place us in a proper attitude before the mocking nations of
+Europe; the other to restore our shattered credit, and enlist the
+moneyed interests of all the states in the success of the Federal Union.
+Washington's temperament was a hopeful one, as befitted a man of his
+strength and dash. But in his most hopeful mood he could hardly have
+dared to count upon such a sudden and wonderful demonstration of
+national strength as was about to ensue upon the heroic financial
+measures of Hamilton. His meditations on this journey we may well
+believe to have been solemn and anxious enough. But if he could gather
+added courage from the often-declared trust of his fellow-countrymen,
+there was no lack of such comfort for him. At every town through which
+he passed, fresh evidences of it were gathered, but at one point on the
+route his strong nature was especially wrought upon. At Trenton, as he
+crossed the bridge over the Assunpink Creek, where twelve years ago, at
+the darkest moment of the Revolution, he had outwitted Cornwallis in the
+most skilful of stratagems, and turned threatening defeat into glorious
+victory,--at this spot, so fraught with thrilling associations, he was
+met by a party of maidens dressed in white, who strewed his path with
+sweet spring flowers, while triumphal arches in softest green bore
+inscriptions declaring that he who had watched over the safety of the
+mothers could well be trusted to protect the daughters. On the 23d he
+arrived in New York, and was entertained at dinner by Governor Clinton.
+One week later, on the 30th, came the inauguration. It was one of those
+magnificent days of clearest sunshine that sometimes make one feel in
+April as if summer had come. At noon of that day Washington went from
+his lodgings, attended by a military escort, to Federal Hall, at the
+corner of Wall and Nassau streets, where his statue has lately been
+erected. The city was ablaze with excitement. A sea of upturned eager
+faces surrounded the spot, and as the hero appeared thousands of cocked
+hats were waved, while ladies fluttered their white handkerchiefs.
+Washington came forth clad in a suit of dark brown cloth of American
+make, with white silk hose and shoes decorated with silver buckles,
+while at his side hung a dress-sword. For a moment all were hushed in
+deepest silence, while the secretary of the Senate held forth the Bible
+upon a velvet cushion, and Chancellor Livingston administered the oath
+of office. Then, before Washington had as yet raised his head,
+Livingston shouted,--and from all the vast company came answering
+shouts,--"Long live George Washington, President of the United States!"
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.
+
+
+The bibliography of the period covered in this book is most copiously
+and thoroughly treated in the seventh volume of Winsor's _Narrative and
+Critical History of America_, Boston, 1888. For the benefit of the
+reader who may not have ready access to that vast storehouse of
+information, the following brief notes may be of service.
+
+The best account of the peace negotiations is to be found in chapter ii.
+of Winsor's volume just cited, written by Hon. John Jay, who had already
+discussed the subject quite thoroughly in his _Address before the New
+York Historical Society on its Seventy-Ninth Anniversary_, Nov. 27,
+1883. Of the highest value are Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice's _Life of Lord
+Shelburne_, 3 vols., London, 1875-76, and Adolphe de Circourt, _Histoire
+de l'action commune de la France et de l'Amerique, etc._, tome iii.,
+_Documents originaux inedits_, Paris, 1876. See also Sparks, _Diplomatic
+Correspondence of the American Revolution_, 12 vols., Boston, 1829-30;
+Trescot's _Diplomacy of the American Revolution_, N.Y., 1852; Lyman's
+_Diplomacy of the United States_, Boston, 1826; Elliot's _American
+Diplomatic Code_, 2 vols., Washington, 1834; Chalmers's _Collection of
+Treaties_, 2 vols., London, 1790; Lord Stanhope's _History of England_,
+vol. vii., London, 1853; Lecky's _History of England_, vol. iv., London,
+1882; Lord John Russell's _Memorials of Fox_, 4 vols., London, 1853-57;
+Albemarle's _Rockingham and his Contemporaries_, 2 vols., London, 1852;
+Walpole's _Last Journals_, 2 vols., London, 1859; Force's _American
+Archives_, 4th series, 6 vols., Washington, 1839-46; John Adams's
+_Works_, 10 vols., Boston, 1850-56; Rives's _Life of Madison_, 3 vols.,
+Boston, 1859-68; Madison's _Letters and other Writings_, 4 vols.,
+Phila., 1865; the lives of Franklin, by Bigelow and Parton; the lives
+of Jay, by Jay, Flanders, and Whitelocke; Morse's _John Adams_, Boston,
+1885; _Correspondence of George III. with Lord North_, 2 vols., London,
+1867; Wharton's _Digest of International Law_, Washington, 1887,
+_Appendix_ to vol. iii.; Hale's _Franklin in France_, 2 vols., Boston,
+1888. The view of the treaty set forth in 1830 by Sparks, according to
+which Jay and Adams were quite mistaken in their suspicions of the
+French court, we may now regard as disposed of by the evidence presented
+by Circourt and Fitzmaurice. It has led many writers astray, and even
+with all the lights which Mr. Bancroft has had, the account in the last
+revision of his _History of the United States_, vol. v., N.Y., 1886,
+though in some respects one of the best to be found in the general
+histories, still leaves much to be desired.
+
+The general condition of the United States under the articles of
+confederation is well sketched in the sixth volume of Bancroft's final
+revision, and in Curtis's _History of the Constitution_, 2 vols., N.Y.,
+1861. An excellent summary is given in the first volume of Schouler's
+_History of the United States under the Constitution_, of which vols,
+i.-iii. (Washington, 1882-85) have appeared. Mr. Schouler's book is
+suggestive and stimulating. The work most rich in details is Professor
+McMaster's _History of the People of the United States_, of which the
+first volume rather more than covers the period 1783-89. The author is
+especially deserving of praise for the diligence with which he has
+searched the newspapers and obscure pamphlets of the period. He has thus
+given much fresh life to the narrative, besides throwing valuable light
+upon the thoughts and feelings of the men who lived under the "league of
+friendship." I take pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to
+Professor McMaster for several interesting illustrative details, chiefly
+in my third, fourth, and seventh chapters. At the same time one is
+sorely puzzled at some of his omissions, as in the account of the
+Federal Convention, in which one finds no allusion whatever to the
+all-important question of the representation of slaves, or to the
+compromise by which New England secured to Congress full power to
+regulate commerce by yielding to Georgia and South Carolina in the
+matter of the African slave-trade. So the discussion as to the national
+executive is carried on till July 26th, when it was decided that the
+president should be chosen by Congress for a single term of seven years;
+then the subject is dropped, and the reader is left to suppose that such
+was the final arrangement. Instances of what seems like carelessness are
+sufficiently numerous to make the book in some places an unsafe guide to
+the general reader, but in spite of such defects, which a careful
+revision might remedy, its value is great. Further general information
+as to the period of the Confederation may be found in Morse's admirable
+_Life of Alexander Hamilton_, 3d ed., 2 vols., Boston, 1882; J.C.
+Hamilton's _Republic of the United States_, 7 vols., Boston, 1879;
+Frothingham's _Rise of the Republic_, Boston, 1872, chapter xii.; Von
+Holst's _Constitutional History_, 5 vols., Chicago, 1877-85, chapter i.;
+Pitkin's _History of the United States_, 2 vols., New Haven, 1828, vol.
+ii.; Marshall's _Life of Washington_, 5 vols., Phila., 1805-07;
+_Journals of Congress_, 13 vols., Phila., 1800; _Secret Journals of
+Congress_, 4 vols., Boston, 1820-21.
+
+On the loyalists and their treatment, the able essay by Rev. G.E. Ellis,
+in Winsor's seventh volume, is especially rich in bibliographical
+references. See also Sabine's _Loyalists of the American Revolution_, 2
+vols., Boston, 1864; Ryerson's _Loyalists of America_, 2 vols., Toronto,
+1880; Jones's _New York during the Revolution_, 2 vols., N.Y., 1879.
+Although chiefly concerned with events earlier than 1780, the _Journal
+and Letters of Samuel Curwen_, 4th ed., Boston, 1864, and especially the
+_Diary and Letters of Thomas Hutchinson_, 2 vols., Boston, 1884-86, are
+valuable in this connection.
+
+For the financial troubles the most convenient general survey is to be
+found in A.S. Bolles's _Financial History of the United States_,
+1774-1789, N.Y., 1879; Sparks's _Life of Gouverneur Morris_, 3 vols.,
+Boston, 1832; Pelatiah Webster's _Political Essays_, Phila., 1791;
+Phillips's _Colonial and Continental Paper Currency_, 2 vols., Roxbury,
+1865-66; Varnum's _Case of Trevett v. Weeden_, Providence, 1787;
+Arnold's _History of Rhode Island_, 2 vols., N.Y., 1859-60. The best
+account of the Shays rebellion is G.R. Minot's _History of the
+Insurrections in Massachusetts_, Worcester, 1788; see also Barry's
+_History of Massachusetts_, 3 vols., Boston, 1855-57; Austin's _Life of
+Gerry_, 2 vols., Boston, 1828-29. A new and interesting account of the
+northwestern cessions and the Ordinance of 1787 is B.A. Hinsdale's _Old
+Northwest_, N.Y., 1888; see also Dunn's _Indiana_, Boston, 1888;
+Cutler's _Life, Journal, and Correspondence of Manasseh Cutler_, 2
+vols., Cincinnati, 1887.
+
+In the _Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political
+Science_, the following articles bear especially upon subjects here
+treated and are worthy of careful study: II., v., vi., H.C. Adams,
+_Taxation in the United States_, 1789-1816; III., i., H.B. Adams,
+_Maryland's Influence upon Land Cessions to the United States_; III.,
+ix., x., Davis, _American Constitutions_; IV., v., Jameson's
+_Introduction to the Constitutional and Political History of the
+Individual States_; IV., vii.-ix., Shoshuke Sato's _History of the Land
+Question in the United States_.
+
+For the proceedings of the Federal Convention in framing the
+Constitution, and of the several state conventions in ratifying it, the
+great treasure-house of authoritative information is Elliot's _Debates
+in the Conventions_, 5 vols., originally published under the sanction of
+Congress in 1830-45; new reprint, Phila., 1888. The contents of the
+volumes are as follows:--
+
+     I. Sundry preliminary papers, relating to the ante-revolutionary
+     period, and the period of the Confederation; journal of the Federal
+     Convention; Yates's minutes of the proceedings; the official
+     letters of Martin, Yates, Lansing, Randolph, Mason, and Gerry, in
+     explanation of their several courses; Jay's address to the people
+     of New York; and other illustrative papers.
+
+     II, III., IV. Proceedings of the several state conventions; with
+     other documents, including the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of
+     1798, and data relating thereto.
+
+     V. Madison's journal of debates in the Congress of the
+     Confederation, Nov. 4, 1782-June 21, 1783, and Feb. 19-April 25,
+     1787; Madison's journal of the Federal Convention; letters from
+     Madison to Washington, Jefferson, and Randolph, Sept. 1787-Nov.
+     1788; and other papers.
+
+The best edition of the "Federalist" is by H.C. Lodge, N.Y., 1888. See
+also Story's _Commentaries on the Constitution_, 4th ed., 3 vols.,
+Boston, 1873; the works of Daniel Webster, 6 vols., Boston, 1851; Hurd's
+_Theory of our National Existence_, Boston, 1881. The above works
+expound the Constitution as not a league between sovereign states but a
+fundamental law ordained by the people of the United States. The
+opposite view is presented in _The Republic of Republics_, by P.C. Centz
+[Plain Common Sense, pseudonym of B.J. Sage of New Orleans], Boston,
+1881; the works of Calhoun, 6 vols., N.Y., 1853-55; A.H. Stephens's _War
+between the States_, 2 vols., Phila., 1868; Jefferson Davis's _Rise and
+Fall of the Confederate Government_, 2 vols., N.Y., 1881.
+
+Several volumes of the "American Statesmen" contain interesting accounts
+of discussions in the various conventions, as Tyler's _Patrick Henry_,
+Hosmer's _Samuel Adams_, Lodge's _Hamilton_, Magruder's _Marshall_,
+Roosevelt's _Morris_. Gay's _Madison_ falls far below the general
+standard of this excellent and popular series. No satisfactory biography
+of Madison has yet been written, though the voluminous work of W.C.
+Rives contains much good material. For judicial interpretations of the
+Constitution one may consult B.R. Curtis's _Digest of Decisions_,
+1790-1854; Flanders's _Lives of the Chief Justices_, Phila., 1858;
+Marshall's _Writings on the Federal Constitution_, ed. Perkins, Boston,
+1839; see also Pomeroy's _Constitutional Law_, N.Y., 1868; Wharton's
+_Commentaries_, Phila., 1884; Von Holst's _Calhoun_, Boston, 1882;
+Tyler's _Letters and Times of the Tylers_, 2 vols., Richmond, 1884-85.
+Among critical and theoretical works, Fisher's _Trial of the
+Constitution_, Phila., 1862, and Lockwood's _Abolition of the
+Presidency_, N.Y., 1884, are variously suggestive; Woodrow Wilson's
+_Congressional Government_, Boston, 1885, is a work of rare ability,
+pointing out the divergence which has arisen between the literary theory
+of our government and its practical working. Walter Bagehot's _English
+Constitution_, revised ed., Boston, 1873, had already, in a most
+profound and masterly fashion, exhibited the divergence between the
+literary theory and the actual working of the British government. Some
+points of weakness in the British system are touched in Albert
+Stickney's _True Republic_, N.Y., 1879; see also his _Democratic
+Government_, N.Y., 1885. The constitutional history of England is
+presented, in its earlier stages, with prodigious learning, by Dr.
+Stubbs, 3 vols., London, 1873-78, and in its later stages by Hallam, 2
+vols., London, 1842, and Sir Erskine May, 2 vols., Boston, 1862-63; see
+also Freeman's _Growth of the English Constitution_, London, 1872;
+_Comparative Politics_, London, 1873; _Some Impressions of the United
+States_, London, 1883; Rudolph Gneist, _History of the English
+Constitution_, 2 vols., London, 1886; J.S. Mill, _Representative
+Government_, N.Y., 1862; Sir H. Maine, _Popular Government_, N.Y., 1886;
+S.R. Gardiner's _Introduction to the Study of English History_, London,
+1881. In this connection I may refer to my own book, _American Political
+Ideas_, N.Y., 1885; and my articles, "Great Britain," "House of Lords,"
+and "House of Commons," in Lalor's _Cyclopaedia of Political Science_, 3
+vols., Chicago, 1882-84. It is always pleasant to refer to that
+cyclopaedia, because it contains the numerous articles on American
+history by Prof. Alexander Johnston. One must stop somewhere, and I will
+conclude by saying that I do not know where one can find anything more
+richly suggestive than Professor Johnston's articles.
+
+
+
+
+MEMBERS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION.
+
+
+The names of those who for various reasons were absent when the
+Constitution was signed are given in italics; the names of those who
+were present, but refused to sign, are given in small capitals.
+
+  New Hampshire     John Langdon.
+                    Nicholas Gilman.
+  Massachusetts     ELBRIDGE GERRY.
+                    Nathaniel Gorham.
+                    Rufus King.
+                    _Caleb Strong._
+  Connecticut       William Samuel Johnson.
+                    Roger Sherman.
+                    _Oliver Ellsworth._
+  New York          _Robert Yates._
+                    Alexander Hamilton.
+                    _John Lansing._
+  New Jersey        William Livingston.
+                    David Brearley.
+                    _William Churchill Houston._
+                    William Paterson.
+                    Jonathan Dayton.
+  Pennsylvania      Benjamin Franklin.
+                    Thomas Mifflin.
+                    Robert Morris.
+                    George Clymer.
+                    Thomas Fitzsimmons.
+                    Jared Ingersoll.
+                    James Wilson.
+                    Gouverneur Morris.
+
+  Delaware          George Read.
+                    Gunning Bedford.
+                    John Dickinson.
+                    Richard Bassett.
+                    Jacob Broom.
+  Maryland          James McHenry.
+                    Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer.
+                    Daniel Carroll.
+                    _John Francis Mercer._
+                    _Luther Martin._
+  Virginia          George Washington.
+                    EDMUND RANDOLPH.
+                    John Blair.
+                    James Madison.
+                    GEORGE MASON.
+                    _George Wythe._
+                    _James McClurg._
+  North Carolina    _Alexander Martin._
+                    _William Richardson Davie._
+                    William Blount.
+                    Richard Dobbs Spaight.
+                    Hugh Williamson.
+  South Carolina    John Rutledge.
+                    Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
+                    Charles Pinckney.
+                    Pierce Butler.
+  Georgia           William Few.
+                    Abraham Baldwin.
+                    _William Pierce._
+                    _William Houstoun._
+
+Of those who signed their names to the Federal Constitution, the six
+following were signers of the Declaration of Independence:--
+
+  Roger Sherman,
+  Benjamin Franklin,
+  Robert Morris,
+  George Clymer,
+  James Wilson,
+  George Read.
+
+The ten following were appointed as delegates to the Federal
+Convention, but never took their seats:--
+
+  New Hampshire     John Pickering.
+                    Benjamin West.
+  Massachusetts     Francis Dana.
+  New Jersey        John Nelson.
+                    Abraham Clark.
+  Virginia          Patrick Henry (declined).
+  North Carolina    Richard Caswell (resigned).
+                    Willie Jones (declined).
+  Georgia           George Walton.
+                    Nathaniel Pendleton.
+
+No delegates were appointed by Rhode Island. In a letter addressed to
+"the Honourable the Chairman of the General Convention," and dated
+"Providence, May 11, 1787," several leading citizens of Rhode Island
+expressed their regret that their state should not be represented on so
+momentous an occasion. At the same time, says the letter, "the result of
+your deliberations ... we still hope may finally be approved and adopted
+by this state, for which we pledge our influence and best exertions."
+The letter was signed by John Brown, Joseph Nightingale, Levi Hall,
+Philip Allen, Paul Allen, Jabez Bowen, Nicholas Brown, John Jinkes,
+Welcome Arnold, William Russell, Jeremiah Olney, William Barton, and
+Thomas Lloyd Halsey. The letter was presented to the Convention on May
+28th by Gouverneur Morris, and, "being read, was ordered to lie on the
+table for further consideration." See Elliot's _Debates_, v. 125.
+
+The Constitution was ratified by the thirteen states, as follows:--
+
+   1. Delaware         Dec. 6, 1787.
+   2. Pennsylvania     Dec. 12, 1787.
+   3. New Jersey       Dec. 18, 1787.
+   4. Georgia          Jan. 2, 1788.
+   5. Connecticut      Jan. 9, 1788.
+   6. Massachusetts    Feb. 6, 1788.
+   7. Maryland         April 28, 1788.
+   8. South Carolina   May 23, 1788.
+   9. New Hampshire    June 21, 1788.
+  10. Virginia         June 25, 1788.
+  11. New York         July 26, 1788.
+  12. North Carolina   Nov. 21, 1789.
+  13. Rhode Island     May 29, 1790.
+
+
+PRESIDENTS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
+
+   1. Peyton Randolph of Virginia        Sept. 5, 1774.
+   2. Henry Middleton of South Carolina  Oct. 22, 1774.
+      Peyton Randolph                    May 10, 1775.
+   3. John Hancock of Massachusetts      May 24, 1775.
+   4. Henry Laurens of South Carolina    Nov. 1, 1777.
+   5. John Jay of New York               Dec. 10, 1778.
+   6. Samuel Huntington of Connecticut   Sept. 28, 1779.
+   7. Thomas McKean of Delaware          July 10, 1781.
+   8. John Hanson of Maryland            Nov. 5, 1781.
+   9. Elias Boudinot of New Jersey       Nov. 4, 1782.
+  10. Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania     Nov. 3, 1783.
+  11. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia      Nov. 30, 1784.
+  12. Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts  June 6, 1786.
+  13. Arthur St. Clair of Pennsylvania   Feb. 2, 1787.
+  14. Cyrus Griffin of Virginia          Jan. 22, 1788.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+Acadians, 205.
+
+Adams, Herbert B., 192.
+
+Adams, John, arrives in Paris, 22;
+  his indignation at the pusillanimous instructions from Congress, 36;
+  condemns the Cincinnati, 116;
+  tries in vain to negotiate commercial treaty with Great Britain, 139-141;
+  negotiates a treaty with Holland, 155;
+  obtains a loan there, 156, 157;
+  his interview with the envoy from Tripoli, 161;
+  absent from the United States at the time of the Federal Convention, 223;
+  elected vice-president of the United States, 348.
+
+Adams, Samuel, his devotion to local self-government, 57, 318;
+  his committees of correspondence, 92;
+  opposes Washington's proposal for pensioning officers, 106;
+  but at length supports the Commutation Act, 114;
+  condemns the Cincinnati, 116, 118;
+  approves the conduct of the Massachusetts delegates, 143;
+  opposes pardoning the ringleaders in the Shays insurrection, 184;
+  not a delegate to the Federal Convention, 225;
+  "the man of the town meeting," 318;
+  in the Massachusetts convention, 324, 326-328;
+  why not selected for the vice-presidency, 347.
+
+Albany, riot in, 339.
+
+Amendments to Constitution, 302, 330, 338.
+
+Ames, Fisher, 319, 326, 348.
+
+Amis, North Carolinian trader, 210.
+
+Amphiktyonic council, 249.
+
+Annapolis convention, 216.
+
+Antagonisms between large and small states, 244-252;
+  between east and west, 255;
+  between north and south, 256-267.
+
+Antifederalist party, 309;
+  in Pennsylvania, 310;
+  in Massachusetts, 317, 324;
+  in South Carolina, 334;
+  in Virginia, 335-337;
+  in New York, 340, 341, 346.
+
+Antipathies between states, 62.
+
+Aranda, Count, his prophecy, 19.
+
+Aristides, pseudonym, 312.
+
+Aristocracy, 283.
+
+Aristotle, 225.
+
+Arkwright, Sir Richard, 267.
+
+Armada, the Invincible, 235.
+
+Armstrong, John, 109, 150.
+
+Army, dread of, 105, 321.
+
+Arnold, Benedict, 28, 106, 151.
+
+Asbury, Francis, 85.
+
+Ashburton, Lord, 5.
+
+Ashburton treaty, 26.
+
+Assemblies, 65.
+
+Assunpink Creek, 349.
+
+Augustine, 158.
+
+
+Backus, Rev. Isaac, 322.
+
+Bagehot, Walter, 291.
+
+Baldwin, Abraham, 251.
+
+Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 213.
+
+Baptists persecuted in Virginia, 80.
+
+Barbary pirates, 157-161.
+
+Barre, Isaac, 41.
+
+Bedford, Gunning, 249.
+
+Bennington, 321.
+
+Bernard, Sir Francis, 298.
+
+Biennial elections, 327.
+
+Bill of rights demanded, 329.
+
+Blackstone, Sir William, 290, 291, 297.
+
+Bossuet on slavery, 72.
+
+Boston Gazette, quoted, 328.
+
+Boundaries of United States as settled by the treaty, 25.
+
+Bowdoin, James, 143, 180-184, 319, 324.
+
+Boyd, Lieutenant, 122.
+
+Braddock, Edward, 305.
+
+Bradshaw's Railway Guide, 171.
+
+Brearley, David, 229, 246.
+
+Bribery, charges of, 328.
+
+British army departs, 51.
+
+British Constitution compared with American, 290-298.
+
+Buff and blue colours, 2.
+
+Burgesses, House of, in Virginia, 65.
+
+Burke, AEdanus, 116.
+
+Burke, Edmund, his sympathy with the Americans, 2;
+  could not see the need for parliamentary reform, 6;
+  his invective against Shelburne, 17;
+  on the slave-trade, 72.
+
+Butler, Pierce, 258.
+
+
+Cabinet, the president's, 299.
+
+Cabinet government, growth of, in England, 296.
+
+Camden, Lord, 5.
+
+Canada, Franklin suggests that it should be ceded to the United
+  States, 9, 14.
+
+Carleton, Sir Guy, 50, 131.
+
+Carlisle, Pa., disturbances at, 315.
+
+Carpet-bag governments, 270.
+
+Carr, Dabney, 92.
+
+Carrington, Edward, 204, 307.
+
+Carroll, Daniel, 228.
+
+Carrying trade, 163, 263.
+
+Cartwright, Edmund, 267.
+
+Catalonian rebels indemnified, 29.
+
+Catholics in the United States, 87.
+
+Cato, pseudonym, 312.
+
+Cavendish, Lord John, 5, 16.
+
+Censors, council of, in Pennsylvania, 150.
+
+Centinel, pseudonym, 313.
+
+Cervantes, Miguel de, 159.
+
+Charles II., 29.
+
+Chase, Samuel, 322.
+
+Chatham, Lord, 188.
+
+Cherry Valley, 122.
+
+Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 213.
+
+Chittenden, Thomas, 121.
+
+Cincinnati, order of the, 114-118.
+
+Cincinnati, the city, original name of, 197.
+
+Cincinnatus, pseudonym, 312.
+
+Clan system, 62.
+
+Clergymen in the Massachusetts convention, 319;
+  their liberal spirit, 322.
+
+Cleveland, Grover, his tariff message, 294.
+
+Clinton, George, favours persecution of Tories, 123;
+  an enemy to closer union of the states, 145;
+  defeats impost amendment, 220;
+  opposes the Constitution, 340;
+  entertains President Washington at dinner, 350.
+
+Clinton, Sir Henry, 322.
+
+Clymer, George, 311.
+
+Coalition ministry, 38-46.
+
+Coeur-de-Lion and Saladin, 161.
+
+Coinage, 165.
+
+Coke, Thomas, 86.
+
+Columbia College, 125.
+
+Commerce, control of, given to Congress, 263.
+
+Common law in the United States, 69.
+
+Commons, House of, in England, 68, 290-298;
+  in North Carolina, 65.
+
+Compromises of the Federal Constitution, 250-267.
+
+Confederation, articles of, 92-98.
+
+Congress, Continental, its instructions to the commissioners at Paris, 35;
+  its weakness, 56, 98, 102-113, 234;
+  its anomalous character, 92;
+  its presidents, 96;
+  driven from Philadelphia by drunken soldiers, 112;
+  flees to Princeton, 113;
+  unable to enforce the provisions of the treaty, 119-131, 154;
+  unable to regulate commerce, 140-144;
+  afraid to interfere openly in the Shays rebellion, 185;
+  passes ordinance for government of northwestern territory, 203-206;
+  refuses to recommend a convention for reforming the government, 218;
+  reconsiders its refusal, 221;
+  in some respects a diplomatic rather than a legislative body, 237;
+  its migrations, 271, 306;
+  debates on the Constitution, 307;
+  submits it to the states, 308;
+  comes to an end, 345.
+
+Congress, Federal, powers granted to, 270;
+  choice of president by, 282-284;
+  counting electoral votes in, 284, 285, 289.
+
+Connecticut, government of, 65;
+  quarrels with New York and Pennsylvania, 146-151;
+  keeps almost entirely clear of paper money, 172;
+  western claims of, 189, 194;
+  ratifies the Constitution, 316.
+
+Connecticut compromise, the, 250-255.
+
+Conservative character of the American Revolution, 64.
+
+Constitution, emblematic federal ship, 339, 344.
+
+Convention, the Federal, 154, 222-305.
+
+Conway, Gen. Henry, 5.
+
+Cooper, Dr. Myles, 126.
+
+Cornwallis, Lord, 22, 51, 349.
+
+Council, privy, 299.
+
+Cowardice of American politicians, 231.
+
+Crawford, William, 51.
+
+Curtis, B.R., 276.
+
+Cutler, Manasseh, 203.
+
+
+Dane, Nathan, 204, 217, 307.
+
+Dayton, Jonathan, 225, 229.
+
+Debt, imprisonment for, 173.
+
+Debts to British creditors, 27, 131.
+
+Delaware, government of, 65;
+  ratifies the Constitution, 314.
+
+Democratic-Republican party, 309.
+
+Dickinson, John, 93, 112, 228, 242, 243, 281, 283, 299, 312.
+
+Dissolution of Parliament, 298.
+
+Dollar, the Spanish, 165.
+
+Dunmore, Lord, 298.
+
+
+Election by lot, 281;
+  first presidential, 346-348.
+
+Electoral college in Maryland, 66;
+  device adopted for choosing the president, 281-287;
+  its practical working, 288.
+
+Elliot, Sir Gilbert, 3.
+
+Ellsworth, Oliver, 228, 249, 250, 267, 269, 274, 276, 280, 300.
+
+Embargo acts, 142.
+
+Eminent domain, 194.
+
+Episcopal church, 77-85.
+
+Erie Canal, 212, 228.
+
+Executive, federal, 241, 277;
+  length of term, 279;
+  how elected, 279-285;
+  corresponds to sovereign, not to prime minister, 290, 299.
+
+Exports not to be taxed, 264, 270.
+
+
+"Federal," the word preferred to "national," 254.
+
+Federal city under federal jurisdiction, 271, 320.
+
+"Federal Farmer" (letters by R.H. Lee), 314.
+
+Federal Street in Boston, 331.
+
+"Federalist," the, 235, 341-343.
+
+Federalist party, 238, 309.
+
+Field, S.J., 275.
+
+Fisheries, question of, 20, 26, 37, 139, 163.
+
+Fitzherbert, Alleyne, 22, 45.
+
+Florida surrendered by Great Britain to Spain, 37;
+  disputes about boundary of, 208.
+
+Folkland, 187, 207.
+
+Fox, C.J., his sympathy with the Americans, 2;
+  quarrels with Shelburne, 6, 14;
+  resigns, 15;
+  waywardness of his early career, 16;
+  coalition with North, 38-42;
+  mistake in opposing a dissolution, 48.
+
+France, treaty of 1783 with Great Britain, 37.
+
+Franklin, Benjamin, negotiates with Oswald, 9;
+  overruled by Jay and Adams, 23;
+  his arguments against compensating the loyalists, 30;
+  ridicules the Cincinnati, 116;
+  returns from France, 138;
+  in the Federal Convention, 225, 250, 277, 299, 303, 305;
+  lays the Constitution before the Pennsylvania legislature, 306;
+  called a dotard by the Antifederalists, 313.
+
+Franklin, state of, 200, 209.
+
+Frederick the Great, on republics, 58.
+
+Free trade, 4, 134-139.
+
+French army embarks at Boston, 51.
+
+Froissart, 153.
+
+Frontier posts to be surrendered by Great Britain, 51;
+  why not surrendered, 152.
+
+Fugitive slaves, 206, 267, 333.
+
+Fur trade, 132, 164.
+
+
+Gadsden, C., 122, 334.
+
+Gallatin, A., 125, 134.
+
+Galloway, Joseph, 248.
+
+Gardoqui, Diego, 209.
+
+Gates, Horatio, 108-111, 180.
+
+George III. threatens to abdicate, 3;
+  his disgust at the coalition, 44;
+  rebuked by House of Commons, 46;
+  his personal government overthrown, 48;
+  hopes the Americans will repent of their folly, 58, 141;
+  resists the movement for abolishing slave-trade, 72;
+  his personal government, 297.
+
+Georgia takes the lead in making the judiciary elective, 69;
+  abandons that evil practice, 69;
+  issues paper money, 169;
+  ratifies the Constitution, 316.
+
+Germaine, Lord George, 39.
+
+Gerry, Elbridge, 118, 229, 243, 251, 252, 256, 269, 279, 282, 298, 303,
+  304, 328, 347.
+
+Gibbon, Edward, 38, 39.
+
+Gibraltar, 17, 36.
+
+Gladstone, W.E., 223, 292, 294.
+
+Gorham, Nathaniel, 252, 253, 319.
+
+Governors, colonial, unpopularity of, 67.
+
+Gower, Lord, 44.
+
+Grafton, Duke of, 5.
+
+Grantham, Lord, 17.
+
+Granville, Lord, 293.
+
+Grasse, Count, defeated by Rodney, 12, 13.
+
+Grayson, William, 162, 205, 337.
+
+Green Dragon tavern, 327.
+
+Greene, Nathanael, 94, 102, 108, 116, 122, 225.
+
+Grenville, Thomas, 11.
+
+Guadaloupe, 36.
+
+Guilford, Earl of, 44.
+
+
+Half-pay controversy, 106.
+
+Hamilton, Alexander, his early life, 124-126;
+  attacks the Trespass Act, 128;
+  calls for a federal convention, 217;
+  advocates the impost amendment, 220;
+  in the Federal Convention, 225, 226, 243, 244, 246, 249, 254, 279, 303,
+    304;
+  on inconvertible paper, 274;
+  on the electoral college, 287;
+  called a boy by the Antifederalists, 313;
+  authorship of the "Federalist," 341-343;
+  supports the Constitution in the New York convention, 343, 344;
+  his financial measures, 349.
+
+Hancock, John, 104, 184, 318, 319, 330.
+
+Hannibal, 158.
+
+Hargreaves, James, 267.
+
+Harrington, James, 64.
+
+Harrison, Benjamin, 337.
+
+Hartington, Lord, 293.
+
+Hartley, David, 45.
+
+Hawks, F.L., 82.
+
+Heath, Gen. William, 319.
+
+Henry, Patrick, 80, 225, 331, 335, 336, 347.
+
+Hint Club, 169.
+
+
+Impost amendment, 218-240.
+
+India bill, 46.
+
+Insurrections, suppression of, 269.
+
+Intercitizenship, 94.
+
+Iroquois league, 190.
+
+Irreconcilables in the Federal Convention, 225, 242, 244, 246, 254.
+
+Isolation of states a century ago, 62.
+
+
+Jay, John, thwarts Vergennes, 21, 35;
+  tries to establish free trade between United States and Great Britain,
+    26;
+  condemns persecution of Tories, 122;
+  on compensation for slaves, 132;
+  consents to the closing of the Mississippi River for twenty-five years,
+    210;
+  why not sent as delegate to Federal Convention, 225;
+  supports the Constitution in New York convention, 340;
+  contributes articles to the "Federalist," 341;
+  receives nine electoral votes for the vice-presidency, 348.
+
+Jefferson, Thomas, opposed to slavery, 72;
+  favours religious freedom, 81;
+  minister to France, 138, 155;
+  assists Gouverneur Morris in arranging our decimal currency, 166;
+  his plan for the government of the northwestern territory, 196;
+  wishes to prohibit slavery in the national domain, 198, 205;
+  his purchase of Louisiana, 207;
+  absent from United States at the time of the Federal Convention, 225;
+  his faith in the people, 226, 337;
+  his opinion of the Constitution, 309;
+  approves the action of the Massachusetts convention, 331.
+
+Johnson, W.S., 229.
+
+Johnston, Alexander, 223.
+
+Jones, Paul, 339.
+
+Jonesborough, convention at, 200.
+
+Judiciary, elective, 69;
+  federal, 242, 300, 301.
+
+Juilliard _vs._ Greenman, 275.
+
+
+Kentucky, 18, 189, 199, 202, 209, 210.
+
+Keppel, Lord, 5, 16, 45.
+
+King, Rufus, 217, 221, 228, 246, 249, 250, 256, 261, 276, 279, 282, 324,
+  326.
+
+King's Mountain, 28, 200, 321.
+
+Kings, election of, in Poland, 279.
+
+Know Ye men and Know Ye measures, 177, 243.
+
+Knox, Henry, 114.
+
+
+Lafayette, 50, 54.
+
+Langdon, John, 229, 269, 274, 276, 283, 346.
+
+Lansing, John, 225, 242, 244, 246, 254, 340, 341.
+
+Laurens, Henry, 2, 22.
+
+Lecky, W., 103.
+
+Ledyard, Isaac, 128.
+
+Lee, Henry, 307, 337.
+
+Lee, Richard Henry, 57, 143, 204, 205, 225, 307, 313, 318, 328, 336, 337,
+  347.
+
+"Letters from a Federal Farmer," by R.H. Lee, 314.
+
+Lexington, 50, 321.
+
+Lincoln, Abraham, 72, 198, 207.
+
+Lincoln, Benjamin, 181-183, 319, 332.
+
+Livingston, Robert, 36, 340, 350.
+
+Livingston, William, 171, 229.
+
+Locke, John, 64, 225.
+
+Long Lane becomes Federal Street, 331.
+
+Long Parliament, 92, 235.
+
+Lords, House of, 66, 68;
+  contrasted with Senate, 295.
+
+Lowndes, Rawlins, 332-334.
+
+Loyalists, compensation of, 28-33;
+  persecution of, 120-130;
+  did not form, in any proper sense of the word, an opposition party, 308.
+
+Luzerne, Chevalier de, 35, 54.
+
+Lykian League, 249.
+
+
+Macdougall, Alexander, 107.
+
+McDuffle, George, 60.
+
+McKean, Thomas, 316.
+
+McMaster, J.B., 151.
+
+Madison, James, and the Religious Freedom Act, 81;
+  on right of coercion, 100;
+  advocates five per cent. impost, 104;
+  on the ordinance of 1787, 206;
+  moves that a convention be held to secure a uniform commercial policy,
+    214;
+  succeeds in getting delegates appointed, 220;
+  his character and appearance, 226, 227;
+  his journal of the proceedings, 229;
+  chief author of the Virginia plan, 233, 267;
+  one of the first to arrive at the fundamental conception of our partly
+    federal and partly national government, 239;
+  approves at first of giving Congress the power to annul state laws, 241;
+  opposes the New Jersey plan, 246;
+  declares that the real antagonism is between slave states and free
+    states, 249, 256;
+  author of the three fifths compromise, 260, 261;
+  condemns paper money, 275;
+  disapproves of election of the executive by the legislature, 279;
+  approves of a privy council, 299;
+  supports the Constitution in Congress, 307;
+  called a boy by the Antifederalists, 313;
+  supports the Constitution in the Virginia convention, 337;
+  part author of the "Federalist," 341, 342;
+  denies that there can be a constitutional right of secession, 344.
+
+Maine as part of Massachusetts, 317.
+
+Manchester, Duke of, 45.
+
+Marbois, Francois de Barbe, 22, 35.
+
+Marion, Francis, 122.
+
+Marshall, John, 82, 276, 301, 337.
+
+Martin, Luther, 229, 242-244, 246, 249, 250, 254, 275, 322.
+
+Maryland, government of, 65;
+  insists upon cession of northwestern lands, 93, 192, 195;
+  paper money in, 170;
+  message to Virginia, 215;
+  ratifies the Constitution, 332.
+
+Mason, George, 229, 243, 252, 264, 265, 275, 276, 277, 279, 281, 282, 283,
+  299, 303, 304, 335, 337.
+
+Massachusetts, government of, 67;
+  abolishes slavery, 75;
+  religious bigotry, 76;
+  on the five per cent. duty, 104;
+  tries to propose a convention for increasing the powers of Congress, 142;
+  lays claim to a small part of Vermont, 152;
+  paper money in, 172-179;
+  western claims of, 189;
+  changes her attitude, 221;
+  local self-government in, 317;
+  debates on the Constitution, 320-330;
+  ratifies it, suggesting amendments, 331.
+
+Massachusetts Chronicle, quoted, 120.
+
+Massacre, Boston, 321.
+
+Mayhew, Jonathan, 92.
+
+Meade, William, 79, 83.
+
+Mentor and Phocion, 128.
+
+Mercer, J.F., 274.
+
+Methodists, 85.
+
+Middletown convention, 113.
+
+Mifflin, Thomas, 52.
+
+Minisink, 122.
+
+Mirabeau, Count de, 116.
+
+Mississippi River, attempt to close it, 209-211, 335;
+  valley of the, 18, 188.
+
+Monroe, James, 216.
+
+Montesquieu, C., 225, 291.
+
+Moonshiners, 334.
+
+Morris, Gouverneur, 108, 166, 228, 242, 251, 261, 264, 269, 273, 276, 279,
+  282, 303.
+
+Morris, Robert, 108, 167, 228, 312.
+
+Moultrie, William, 143, 334.
+
+Muley Abdallah, 158.
+
+Mutiny act, 321.
+
+
+Names of persons and places, fashions in, 197.
+
+Nantucket, 163.
+
+Nason, Samuel, 321.
+
+Naval eminence of New England, 20, 139.
+
+Navigation acts, 138-143, 164.
+
+Negroes carried away by British fleet, 131.
+
+Nelson, Samuel, 276.
+
+New Connecticut, 152.
+
+New Hampshire lays claim to Vermont, 151-153;
+  riots in, 183;
+  hesitates to ratify the Constitution, 331;
+  ratifies it, 338.
+
+New Jersey quarrels with New York, 146;
+  paper money in, 171;
+  opposes the attempt to close the Mississippi, 211;
+  instructs her delegates to the Annapolis convention, 217;
+  her plan for amending the articles of confederation, 245;
+  ratifies the Constitution, 315.
+
+New Roof, 338.
+
+New York passes navigation and tariff acts directed against neighbouring
+    states, 146;
+  lays claim to Vermont, 151-153;
+  paper money in, 170;
+  western claims of, 190, 193;
+  defeats the impost amendment, 218-220;
+  debates on the Constitution, 340-344;
+  ratifies it, 344;
+  asks for a second convention, 344;
+  fails to choose electors, 346.
+
+New York Central Railroad, 212.
+
+Newburgh address, 108-112, 118.
+
+Nicola, Louis, his letter to Washington, 107, 118.
+
+Non-importation agreement, 142.
+
+North, Frederick, Lord, fall of his ministry, 1;
+  coalition with Fox, 38-42;
+  his blindness, 41;
+  his proposals after Saratoga, 91;
+  his subservience to the king, 297.
+
+North Carolina issues paper money, 169;
+  cedes her western lands to the United States, 199;
+  repeals the act of cession, 201;
+  delays her ratification of the Constitution, 345.
+
+
+Ohio, 203-206.
+
+Old Sarum, 249.
+
+Old South Church, 321.
+
+Onslow, George, 2.
+
+Ordinance of 1787, 199, 203-206.
+
+Oregon, 60.
+
+Oswald, Richard, 9-14, 22-26, 32, 45.
+
+
+Paine, Thomas, 50, 55, 191.
+
+Paper currency, 163-179, 205, 218, 273-276.
+
+Parker, Theodore, 264.
+
+Parsons, Samuel Holden, 203.
+
+Parsons, Theophilus, 319, 324.
+
+Parties, formation of, 308.
+
+Paterson, William, 229, 245-248, 255, 258, 274.
+
+Patterson, militia officer in Wyoming, 149.
+
+Payson, Rev. Philip, 322.
+
+Pendleton, Edmund, 336.
+
+Pennsylvania, government of, 65;
+  first tariff act, 142;
+  quarrels with Connecticut, 148-150;
+  paper money in, 170;
+  opposes the closing of the Mississippi, 211;
+  contest over the Constitution, 309-314;
+  ratifies it, 315.
+
+Petersham, scene of Shays's defeat, 182, 319.
+
+Philadelphia, Congress driven from, 112;
+  Federal Convention meets at, 222;
+  unparliamentary proceedings in legislature, 311;
+  celebrates ratification by ten states, 339.
+
+Phocion and Mentor, 128.
+
+Pinckney, Charles, 228, 243, 261, 265, 266, 269, 276, 277, 334.
+
+Pinckney, Cotesworth, 228, 243, 258, 261, 263, 265, 266, 276, 333, 334.
+
+Pitt, Thomas, 44.
+
+Pitt, William, chancellor of exchequer, 16;
+  denounces the coalition, 39;
+  defends the treaty, 43;
+  refuses to form a ministry, 44;
+  character, 47;
+  prime minister, 47;
+  wins a great political victory, 48;
+  favours free trade with the United States, 136.
+
+Polish kings, election of, 279.
+
+Population as an index of wealth, 257.
+
+Portland, Duke of, 16, 45.
+
+Potomac, navigation of, 213-216.
+
+Poughkeepsie, convention at, 340-344.
+
+Powers granted to federal government, 268.
+
+Presbyterians, 81, 86.
+
+Presidents of Continental Congress, 96.
+
+Prevost's march against Charleston, 27.
+
+Prime minister contrasted with president, 292-294.
+
+Primogeniture, abolition of, 71.
+
+Proprietary governments, 65, 71.
+
+Providence, R.I., barbecue and mob at, 339.
+
+Public lands, 188.
+
+Putnam, Israel, 151.
+
+Putnam, Rufus, 203.
+
+
+Quebec act, 18.
+
+Quesnay, Francois, 141.
+
+Quorum, how to make a, 311.
+
+
+Railroads, political influence of, 60.
+
+Randolph, Edmund, 229, 233, 235, 239, 242, 246, 265, 269, 275, 276, 277,
+  282, 300, 303, 335, 337.
+
+Rayneval, Gerard de, 21.
+
+Read, George, 242, 274.
+
+Reform, parliamentary, 6.
+
+Religious freedom, progress in, 76-87.
+
+Religious tests opposed by Massachusetts clergymen, 322.
+
+Representation of slaves, 258-262.
+
+Representatives, House of, 236, 252.
+
+Republican party, 238.
+
+Republics, old notion that they must be small in area, 59.
+
+Reserve, Connecticut's western, 194.
+
+Revenue bills, 270.
+
+Revere, Paul, 327.
+
+Revolution, American, its conservative character, 64;
+  the French, 64, 118.
+
+Rhode Island, government of, 65;
+  extends franchise to Catholics, 77;
+  on the five per cent. duty, 104;
+  paper money in, 172-177;
+  opposes the closing of the Mississippi, 211;
+  does not send delegates to Philadelphia, 222;
+  delays her ratification of the Constitution, 345.
+
+Richmond, Duke of, 2, 16.
+
+Rittenhouse, David, 111.
+
+Rockingham, Marquis of, 4;
+  instability of his ministry, 5;
+  its excellent work, 7;
+  his death, 15.
+
+Rodney's victory over Grasse, 12, 13.
+
+Roman republic not like the United States, 59.
+
+Rousseau, J.J., 64, 117.
+
+Rutgers, Elizabeth, 127.
+
+Rutledge, John, 228, 243, 261, 265, 278, 279, 281, 300, 334.
+
+
+St. Clair, Arthur, 197, 206.
+
+Saladin and Coeur-de-Lion, 161.
+
+Sandy Hook light-house, 147.
+
+Sargent, Winthrop, 203.
+
+Schuyler, Philip, 126, 146, 151, 193.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, 153.
+
+Scottish representation in Parliament, 249.
+
+Seabury, Samuel, 84.
+
+Secession, threats of, 211, 218;
+  no constitutional right of, 344.
+
+Secrecy of the debates in Federal Convention, 230.
+
+Sedgwick, Theodore, 122, 319.
+
+Self-government, 57, 63, 88.
+
+Senate, federal, made independent of lower house, 253;
+  contrasted with House of Lords, 295.
+
+Senates, origin of, 66.
+
+Seven Years' War, 13, 188.
+
+Sevier, John, 200.
+
+Shattuck, Job, 180.
+
+Shays rebellion, 180-182, 218, 243, 316, 319, 325.
+
+Sheffield, Lord, protectionist, 137;
+  on the Barbary pirates, 160.
+
+Shelburne, William, Earl of, his character, 4;
+  his memorandum on proposed cession of Canada, 11;
+  prime minister, 16;
+  approached by Rayneval and Vaughan, 22;
+  misjudged by Fox, 40;
+  defends the treaty, 43;
+  resigns, 44;
+  his conduct justified by his enemies, 45;
+  understood the principles of free trade, 4, 134.
+
+Shepard, William, 180, 181.
+
+Sherman, Roger, 229, 243, 250, 255, 267, 274, 276, 279, 283, 299, 313;
+  his suggestion as to relations of the executive to the legislature, 278,
+    280, 298.
+
+Shillings, 165.
+
+Ship-building in New England, 137-139.
+
+Shute, Rev. Daniel, 322.
+
+Sidney, Algernon, 64.
+
+Singletary, Amos, 322, 324, 325.
+
+Six Nations, 190, 203.
+
+Slave-trade, foreign, permitted for twenty years, 264, 323, 333.
+
+Slavery in the several states, 72-75, 266;
+  prohibited in northwestern territory, 205;
+  discussions about it in Federal Convention, 257-267;
+  condemned by George Mason, 264.
+
+Slaves, representation of, 258-262;
+  numbers of, in the several states, 266.
+
+Small states converted to federalism by the Connecticut compromise, 255,
+  315.
+
+Smith, Adam, 125, 134, 135.
+
+Smith, Capt. John, 191.
+
+Smith, Jonathan, 324-326.
+
+Smith, Melanchthon, 340, 343, 344.
+
+Smugglers, 135.
+
+South Carolina, Episcopal church in, 78, 82;
+  revokes five per cent. impost, 108;
+  issues paper money, 169;
+  absolute need of conciliating her, 259, 260;
+  makes bargain with New England states, 262-267;
+  debates on the Constitution, 332-334;
+  ratifies it, 334.
+
+Sovereignty never belonged to separate states, 90.
+
+Spain, treaty of 1783 with Great Britain, 36;
+  attempts to close Mississippi River, 208-211, 218, 335.
+
+Spanish dollar, why it superseded English pound as unit of value in
+  America, 166.
+
+Spermaceti oil, 139, 163.
+
+Springfield arsenal, 181, 185.
+
+States, powers denied to, 272.
+
+Stormont, Lord, 45.
+
+Story, Joseph, 276.
+
+Strachey, Sir Henry, 22.
+
+Strong, Caleb, 228, 252, 279, 324, 327.
+
+Succession disputed, 289.
+
+Suffrage, limitations upon, 70.
+
+Sugar trade, 138.
+
+
+Temple, Lord, 44, 46.
+
+Tennessee, 18, 189, 199.
+
+Thayendanegea, 50.
+
+Thomas, Isaiah, 165.
+
+Thompson, Gen., in Massachusetts convention, 324.
+
+Thurlow, Lord, 5.
+
+Thurston, member of Virginia legislature, 144.
+
+Tithing-men in New England, 76.
+
+Tobacco as currency in Virginia, 165.
+
+Tories, American; see Loyalists.
+
+Tories, British, 42.
+
+Townshend, Thomas, 17.
+
+Trade, barbarous superstitions about, 134.
+
+Travelling, difficulties of, a century ago, 61.
+
+Treaty of 1783, difficulties in the way of, 8;
+  strange character of, 24;
+  provisions of, 25-33;
+  a great diplomatic victory for the Americans, 34, 189;
+  secret article relating to Florida boundary, 33, 208;
+  adopted, 45;
+  news arrives in America, 50;
+  Congress unable to carry out its provisions, 119-132, 154.
+
+Trespass Act in New York. 123-128.
+
+Trevett _vs._ Weeden, 176.
+
+Tucker, Josiah, 58, 141.
+
+Tyler, John, the elder, 214, 337.
+
+
+Union, sentiment of, 55.
+
+Unitarianism, 86.
+
+University men in Federal Convention, 224.
+
+
+Vaughan, Benjamin, 22, 35.
+
+Vergennes, Count de, 12;
+  wishes to satisfy Spain at the expense of the United States, 18-21;
+  thwarted by Jay, 22;
+  accuses the Americans of bad faith, 33;
+  tired of sending loans, 104.
+
+Vermont, troubles in, 151-153;
+  riots in connection with the Shays rebellion, 183.
+
+Vice-presidency, 282.
+
+Victoria, Queen, 293.
+
+Vincennes, riot in, 210.
+
+Violence of political invective, 39.
+
+Virginia, church and state in, 78-85;
+  on five per cent. impost, 104;
+  paper money in, 170;
+  takes possession of northwestern territory, 188-191;
+  cedes it to the United States, 194;
+  plan for new federal government, 233-242;
+  its reception by the convention, 242;
+  compromise as to representation of slaves, 259-262;
+  resents the compromise between South Carolina and the New England
+    states, 265;
+  debates on the Constitution, 335-337;
+  ratifies it, 337.
+
+"Visionary young men," i.e., Hamilton, Madison, Gouverneur Morris,
+  etc., 318.
+
+
+Waddington, Joshua, 127.
+
+Walpole, Horace, 16.
+
+Walpole, Sir Robert, 296.
+
+War, the Civil, 55, 256, 262;
+  contrast with Revolutionary, 101-103;
+  cost of Revolutionary, 166.
+
+Washington, George, marches from Yorktown to the Hudson River, 51;
+  disbands the army, 51;
+  resigns his command, 52;
+  goes home to Mount Vernon, 53;
+  his "legacy" to the American people, 54;
+  on the right of coercion, 100;
+  urges half-pay for retired officers, 106;
+  supposed scheme for making him king, 107;
+  his masterly speech at Newburgh, 110;
+  president of the Cincinnati, 115;
+  on the weakness of the confederation, 162;
+  wishes to hang speculators in bread-stuffs, 164;
+  disapproves of Connecticut's reservation of a tract of western land, 193;
+  approves of Ohio Company, 203;
+  his views on the need for canals between east and west, 212;
+  important meeting held at his house, 214;
+  is chosen delegate to the Federal Convention, 221;
+  president of the convention, 229;
+  his solemn warning, 231, 303;
+  his suggestion as to the basis of representation, 252;
+  asks if he shall put the question on the motion of Wilson and Pinckney,
+    277;
+  disapproves of electing executive by the legislature, 279;
+  sends draft of the Constitution to Congress, 307;
+  called a fool by the Antifederalists, 313;
+  approves of amendments, but opposes a second convention, 329;
+  unanimously chosen president of the United States, 346;
+  his journey to New York, 349;
+  his inauguration, 350.
+
+Washington, William, 334.
+
+Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, 83.
+
+Watt, James, 60, 267.
+
+Wayne, Anthony, 50.
+
+Wealth as a basis of representation, 257.
+
+Webster, Daniel, 56, 206, 276.
+
+Webster, Pelatiah, 101, 222.
+
+Weems, Mason, 83.
+
+Wesley, John, 85.
+
+West, Rev. Samuel, 322.
+
+West India trade, 138, 164.
+
+Whigs, British, sympathize with revolutionary party in America, 2.
+
+Whiskey as currency in North Carolina, 165.
+
+White, Abraham, 324.
+
+Whitefield, George, 85.
+
+Whitehill, Robert, 313.
+
+Whitney, Eli, 267.
+
+William the Silent, 55.
+
+Wilson, James, 228, 243, 246, 248, 251, 261, 274, 277, 279, 281, 282, 299,
+  300, 312, 313, 316.
+
+Witenagemot, 66.
+
+Worcester Spy, 165.
+
+Wraxall's Memoirs, 2.
+
+Wyoming, troubles in, 148-150.
+
+Wythe, George, 228.
+
+
+Yates, Robert, 225, 242, 244, 246, 254, 340, 341.
+
+Yazoo boundary, 33, 208.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] In recent years Georgia has been one of the first states to abandon
+this bad practice.
+
+[2] I suppose it was this same Mason Weems that was afterward known in
+Virginia as Parson Weems, of Pohick parish, near Mount Vernon. See
+_Magazine of American History_, iii. 465-472; v. 85-90. At first an
+eccentric preacher, Parson Weems became an itinerant violin-player and
+book-peddler, and author of that edifying work, _The Life of George
+Washington, with Curious Anecdotes equally Honourable to Himself and
+Exemplary to his Young Countrymen_. On the title-page the author
+describes himself as "formerly rector of Mount Vernon Parish,"--which
+Bishop Meade calls preposterous. The book is a farrago of absurdities,
+reminding one, alike in its text and its illustrations, of an overgrown
+English chap-book of the olden time. It has had an enormous sale, and
+has very likely contributed more than any other single book toward
+forming the popular notion of Washington. It seems to have been this
+fiddling parson that first gave currency to the everlasting story of the
+cherry-tree and the little hatchet.
+
+[3] _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_, iii. 447.
+
+[4] A very interesting account of these troubles may be found in the
+first volume of Professor McMaster's _History of the People of the
+United States_.
+
+[5] This subject has been treated in a masterly manner by Mr. H.B.
+Adams, in an essay on Maryland's Influence upon Land Cessions to the
+United States, published in the Third Series of the admirable _Johns
+Hopkins University Studies in History and Politics_. I am indebted to
+Mr. Adams for many valuable suggestions.
+
+[6] It would be in the highest degree erroneous, however, to suppose
+that the Constitution of the United States is not, as much as any other,
+an instance of evolution from precedents. See, in this connection, the
+very able article by Prof. Alexander Johnston, _New Princeton Review_,
+Sept., 1887, pp. 175-190.
+
+[7] The slave-population of the United States, according to the census
+of 1700, was thus distributed among the states:--
+
+_North._
+
+New Hampshire          158
+Vermont                 17
+Massachusetts           --
+Rhode Island           952
+Connecticut          2,759
+New York            21,324
+New Jersey          11,423
+Pennsylvania         3,737
+                    ------
+                   40,370
+
+_South._
+
+Delaware             8,887
+Maryland           103,036
+Virginia           293,427
+North Carolina     100,572
+South Carolina     107,094
+Georgia             29,264
+Kentucky            11,830
+Tennessee            3,417
+                   -------
+                  657,527
+
+Total              697,897.
+
+[8] Since this was written, this last and most serious danger would seem
+to have been removed by the acts of 1886 and 1887 regulating the
+presidential succession and the counting of electoral votes.
+
+[9] The history of President Cleveland's tariff message of 1887,
+however, shows that, where a wise and courageous president calls
+attention to a living issue, his party, alike in Congress and in the
+country, is in a measure compelled to follow his lead.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Critical Period of American History, by
+John Fiske
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRITICAL PERIOD AMERICAN HISTORY ***
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