The Critical Period of American History

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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