Qass. Bock- COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT / THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY BY JOHN FISKE ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS MAPS FACSIMILES CONTEMPORARY VIEWS PRINTS AND OTHER HISTORIC MATERIALS ^^^f^c^'-'<^ ZyC^ Ai-'^^i-ty (T^ THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY 1783 -1789 BY JOHN'FISKE I am uneasy and apprehensive more so than during the war Jav to Washington, June 27, /7S6 CAMBRIDGE 5^rinteD at t||e Ulitjcrsfitie ^re^^ MDCCCXCVIII TWO COPIES RECEIVED COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY JOHN FISKE 1897, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (iJCtoo J^un&reb anD iFtftg Copie? printrti TO MY DEAR CLASSMATES, FRANCIS LEE HIGGINSON AND CHARLES CABOT JACKSON, / DEDICATE THIS BOOK PREFACE The principle of illustration followed in the present work is the same that was adopted in the case of " The American Revolution," to which this is in effect a third and concluding volume. No illustrations have been admitted, save such as seem to possess real historical value. For help of various sorts I have especially to thank Mr. Wilberforce Fames, of the Lenox Library, in New York. To many ladies and gentlemen who have kindly assisted me I have made specific acknowledgments in my annotated list of illustrations. The text of this edition has been carefully revised, and in some places important additions or changes have been made. Cambridge, October i8, 1897. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION This book contains the substance of the course of lec- tures 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 Ckib in New York in March, 1886. In its. present shape it may serve as a sketch of the poHtical history of the United States from the end of the Revolutionary War to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. It makes no preten- sions to completeness, either as a summary of the events of that period or as a discussion of the political questions in- volved 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. Tres- cot's " Diplomatic History of the Administrations of Wash- ington 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 X PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 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 signifi- cant only in the ratio of their potency as causes ; as we dis- cern 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 signifi- cance 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, wast- ing their strength and lowering their moral tone by per- petual warfare, like the states of ancient Greece, or by per- petual 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 nar- rative 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 construc- tive 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 opin- ion is here quoted on page 240. 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 mea- sure of that decisiveness is to be found in the completeness PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xi 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 Fall of Lord North's ministry .... Sympathy between British Whigs and the revolutionary party in America ........ It weakened the Whig party in England Character of Lord Shelburne ..... Political instability of the Rockingham ministry Obstacles in the way of a treaty of peace Oswald talks with Franklin .... Grenville has an interview with Vergennes . Effects of Rodney's victory .... Misunderstanding between Fox and Shelburne Fall of the Rockingham ministry Shelburne becomes prime minister Defeat of the Spaniards and French at Gibraltar French policy opposed to American interests The valley of the Mississippi ; Aranda's prophecy The Newfoundland fisheries ..... Jay detects the schemes of Vergennes And sends Dr. Vaughan to visit Shelburne . John Adams arrives in Paris and joins with Jay in insisting upon a separate negotiation with England .... The separate American treaty, as agreed upon : 1. Boundaries 2. Fisheries ; commercial intercourse .... 3. Private debts 4. Compensation of loyalists . . . . Secret article relating to the Yazoo boundary Vergennes does not like the way in which it has been done On the part of the Americans it was a great diplomatic victory Which the commissioners won by disregarding the instructions of Congress and acting on their own responsibility PAGB I 4 6,7 8 9-11 12 14 14 IS 16 17 17 18 20 21 21 21-23 24 25 26 27-31 31 32 32 34 xiv CONTENTS The Spanish treaty 34 The French treaty 35 Coalition of Fox with North 36-41 They attack the American treaty in Parliament .... 41 And compel Shelburne to resign 41,42 Which leaves England without a government, while for several weeks the king is too angry to appoint ministers . , -43 Until at length he succumbs to the coalition, which presently adopts and ratifies the American treaty ..... 44 The coalition ministry is wrecked upon Fox's India Bill . . 44, 46 Constitutional crisis ends in the overwhelming victory of Pitt in the elections of May, 1784 46,47 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 52 Washington resigns his command 53 And goes home to Mount Vernon 54 His "legacy" to the American people 55 The next five years were the most critical years in American his- tory 56 Absence of a sentiment of union, and consequent danger of an- archy 56, 57 European statesmen, whether hostile or friendly, had little faith in the stability of the Union 58, 59 False historic analogies 60 Influence of railroad and telegraph upon the perpetuity of the Union 62 Difficulty of travelling a hundred years ago .... 63 Local jealousies and antipathies, an inheritance from primeval savagery 64 Conservative character of the American Revolution ... 66 State governments remodelled; assemblies continued from colo- nial times 67 Origin of the senates in the governor's council of assistants . 68 Governors viewed with suspicion 68 Analogies with British institutions 70 The judiciary 71 Restrictions upon suffrage 72 CONTENTS XV Abolition of primogeniture, entails, and manorial privileges . 73 Steps toward the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade . 74-77 Progress toward religious freedom 78) 79 Church and state in Virginia 80 Persecution of dissenters 81 Madison and the Religious Freedom Act 82 Temporary overthrow of the church 83 Difficulties in regard to ordination ; the case of Mason Weems . 84 Ordination of Samuel Seabury by non-jurors at Aberdeen . 85 Francis Asbury and the Methodists 87 Presbyterians and Congregationalists 88 Roman Catholics 88, 89 Except in the instance of slavery, all the changes described in this chapter were favourable to the union of the states ... 90 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 . . 90, 91 • CHAPTER III THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP The several states have never enjoyed complete sovereignty . 92 But in the very act of severing their connection with Great Britain, they entered into some sort of union 94 Anomalous character of the Continental Congress . . 95 The articles of confederation ; they sought to establish a " league of friendship " between the states 96-100 But failed to create a federal government endowed with real sovereignty 101-104 Military weakness of the government .... 104-106 Extreme difficulty of obtaining a revenue . . . . 108, 109 Congress, being unable to pay the army, was afraid of it . . 109 Supposed scheme for making Washington king . . . .112 Greene's experience in South Carolina 113 Gates's staff officers and the Newburgh address . . . .114 The danger averted by Washington 115, 116 Congress driven from Philadelphia by mutinous soldiers . .118 The Commutation Act denounced in New England . . . 119 Order of the Cincinnati 120-124 Reasons for the dread which it inspired 125 Congress finds itself unable to carry out the provisions of the treaty with Great Britain . 126 Persecution of the loyalists 127,128 xvi CONTENTS It was especially severe in New York 128 Trespass Act of 1784 directed against the loyalists . . .130 Character and early career of Alexander Hamilton . . 130-132 The case of Rutgers v. Waddington 132-134 Wholesale emigration of Tories 135 Congress unable to enforce payment of debts to British creditors 137 England retaliates by refusing to surrender the fortresses on the northwestern frontier 137 CHAPTER IV DRIFTING TOWARD AXARCHY The barbarous superstitions of the Middle Ages concerning trade were still rife in the eighteenth century 139 The old theory of the uses of a colony 139 Pitt's unsuccessful attempt to secure free trade between Great Britain and the United States 141 Ship-building in New England 142 British navigation acts and orders in council directed against American commerce 142 John Adams tried in vain to negotiate a commercial treaty with Great Britain 143, 144 And could see no escape from the difficulties except in systematic reprisal 145 But any such reprisal was impracticable, for the several states im- posed conflicting duties 146 Attempts to give Congress the power of regulating commerce were unsuccessful 147, 148 And the several states began to make commercial war upon one another 149 Attempts of New York to oppress New Jersey and Connecticut 150 RetaHatory measures of the two latter states . . . .152 The quarrel between Connecticut and Pennsylvania over the pos- session of the valley of Wyoming 152-156 The quarrel between New York and New Hampshire over the possession of the Green Mountains 157,158 Failure of American diplomacy because European states could not tell whether they were dealing with one nation or with thirteen 160, 161 Failure of American credit ; John Adams begging in Holland 161, 162 The Barbary pirates 163 American citizens kidnapped and sold into slavery . . .166 Lord Sheffield's outrageous pamphlet 166 CONTENTS Tripoli's demand for blackmail . , 167 ^ Congress unable to protect American citizens .... 167 Financial distress after the Revolutionary War . . . 1 68-1 71 State of the coinage 172 Cost of the war in money . 174 Robert Morris and his immense services 174 The craze for paper money 177 Agitation in the southern and middle states . . . 178-182 Distress in New England 182 Imprisonment for debt 185 Rag-money victorious in Rhode Island ; the " Know Ye " mea- sures 186-190 Rag-money defeated in Massachusetts ; the Shays insurrec- tion 190-196 The insurrection suppressed by state troops .... 197 Conduct of the neighbouring states 198 The rebels pardoned 200 Timidity of Congress 201, 202 CHAPTER V GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY Creation of a national domain beyond the Alleghanies Conflicting claims to the western territory . Claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut Claims of New York Virginia's claims ....... Maryland's novel and beneficent suggestion . 203, 204 204 . 205 205 . 206 206, 207 The several states yield their claims in favour of the United States 207, 208 Magnanimity of Virginia 209 Jefferson proposes a scheme of government for the northwestern territory 210 Names of the proposed ten states 212 Jefferson wishes to prohibit slavery in the national domain . .212 North Carolina's cession of western lands 213 John Sevier and the state of Franklin 214, 215 The northwestern territory 216 Origin of the Ohio company 217 The Ordinance of 1787 218-221 Theory of folk-land upon which the ordinance was based . . 222 Spain, hearing of the secret article in the treaty of 1783, loses her temper and threatens to shut up the Mississippi River . 223-225 xviii CONTENTS Gardoqui and Jay 225 Threats of secession in Kentucky and New England . . 226 Washington's views on the political importance of canals between east and west 228 His far-sighted genius and self-devotion 229 Maryland confers with Virginia regarding the navigation of the Potomac 229 The Madison-Tyler motion in the Virginia legislature . 230, 231 Convention at Annapolis, Sept. II, 1786 232 Hamilton's address calling for a convention at Philadelphia 232, 233 The impost amendment defeated by the action of New York; last ounce upon the camel's back 235-237 Sudden changes in popular sentiment 238 The Federal Convention meets at Philadelphia, May, 1787 239, 240 Mr. Gladstone's opinion of the work of the convention . . 240 The men who were assembled there 241-243 Character of James Madison 244, 245 The other leading members 246 Washington chosen president of the convention .... 247 CHAPTER VI THE FEDERAL CONVENTION Why the proceedings of the convention were kept secret for so many years 249 Difficulty of the problem to be solved .... 249, 250 Symptoms of cowardice repressed by Washington's impassioned speech 250 The root of all the difficulties; the edicts of the federal govern- ment had operated only upon states, not upon individuals, and therefore could not be enforced without danger of war . 251-254 The Virginia plan, of which Madison was the chief author, of- fered a radical cure . 254, 255 And was felt to be revolutionary in its character . . 256-258 Fundamental features of the Virginia plan .... 258, 260 How it was at first received 260 The House of Representatives must be directly elected by the people 261,262 Question as to the representation of states brings out the antag- onism between large and small states 262 William Paterson presents the New Jersey plan ; not a radical cure, but a feeble palliative 263, 264 Struggle between the Virginia and New Jersey plans . 264-267 CONTENTS xix 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 oppo- sition 270,271 But is at length adopted 272 And proves a decisive victory for Madison and his methods . 273 A few irreconcilable members go home in dudgeon . . 273, 274 But the small states, having been propitiated, are suddenly con- verted to Federalism, and make the victory complete . . 274 Vague dread of the future west 275 The struggle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery parties began in the convention, and was quieted by two compromises . . 276 Should representation be proportioned to wealth or to popula- tion? 276 Were slaves to be reckoned as persons or as chattels ? . . 277 Attitude of the Virginia statesmen 278 It was absolutely necessary to satisfy South Carolina . 279, 280 The three fifths compromise, suggested by Madison, was a gen- uine EngUsh solution, if ever there was one .... 280 There was neither rhyme nor reason in it, but for all that, it was the best solution attainable at the time 281 The next compromise was between New England and South Carolina as to the foreign slave-trade and the power of the fed- eral government over commerce . 282 George Mason calls the slave-trade an " infernal traffic " . . 284 And the compromise offends and alarms Virginia .... 284 Belief in the moribund condition of slavery .... 288 The foundations of the Constitution were laid in compromise . 289 Powers granted to the federal government 290 Use of federal troops in suppressing insurrections . . . 290 Various federal powers 292, 293 Provision for a federal city under federal jurisdiction . . . 293 The Federal Congress might compel the attendance of members 293 Powers denied to the several states 294 Should the federal government be allowed to make its promissory notes a legal tender in payment of debts? powerful speech of Gouverneur Morris 294 Emphatic and unmistakable condemnation of paper money by all the leading delegates 295 The convention refused to grant to the federal government the power of issuing inconvertible paper, but did not think an ex- press prohibition necessary 296 If they could have foreseen some recent judgments of the su- preme court, they would doubtless have made the prohibition explicit and absolute 207 XX CONTENTS Debates as to the federal executive 298 Sherman's suggestion as to the true relation of the executive to the legislature 298 There was to be a single chief magistrate, but how should he be chosen ? 299 Objections to an election by Congress 300 Ellsworth and King suggest the device of an electoral college, which is at first rejected 300 But afterwards adopted 303 Provisions for an election by Congress in the case of a failure of choice by the electoral college 303 Provisions for counting the electoral votes .... 304 It was not intended to leave anything to be decided by the presi- dent of the Senate 305 The convention foresaw imaginary dangers, but not the real ones 306 Hamilton's opinion of the electoral scheme . . . 307, 308 How it has actually worked 308 In this part of its work the convention tried to copy from the British Constitution 310 In which they supposed the legislative and executive departments to be distinct and separate 310 Here they were misled by Montesquieu and Blackstone . . 311 What our government would be if it were really like that of Great Britain 312-315 In the British government the executive department is not sepa- rated from the legislative 315 Circumstances which obscured the true aspect of the case a cen- tury ago 316-318 Veto power and independence of the executive . . . 318-320 The American cabinet is analogous, not to the British cabinet, but to the privy council 320 The federal judiciary, and its remarkable character . . 321 322 Provisions for amending the Constitution 323 The document is signed by all but three of the delegates present 324 And the convention breaks up 324 With a pleasant remark from Franklin 325 CONTENTS CHAPTER VII CROWNING THE WORK Franklin lays the Constitution before the legislature of Pennsyl- vania 327 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 327 First American parties, Federalists and Antifederalists . . 329 The contest in Pennsylvania 329, 330 How to make a quorum 332 A war of pamphlets and newspaper squibs . . . 332, 333 Ending in the ratification of the Constitution by Delaware, Penn- sylvania, and New Jersey 334 Rejoicings and mutterings 335 Georgia and Connecticut ratify 336 The outlook in Massachusetts ...... 336, 338 The Massachusetts convention meets 339 And overhauls the Constitution clause by clause .... 341 On the subject of an army Mr. Nason waxes eloquent . . 342 The clergymen oppose a religious test 342 And Rev. Samuel West argues on the assumption that all men are not totally depraved 343 Feeling of distrust in the mountain districts .... 344 Timely speech of a Berkshire farmer 344, 345 Attitude of Samuel Adams 346, 348 Meeting of mechanics at the Green Dragon 348 Charges of bribery 349 Washington's fruitful suggestion 350 Massachusetts ratifies, but proposes amendments . . . 351 The Long Lane has a turning and becomes Federal Street . . 354 New Hampshire hesitates, but Maryland ratifies, and all eyes are turned upon South Carolina 354, 355 Objections of Rawlins Lowndes answered by Cotesworth Pinck- ney 356 South Carolina ratifies the Constitution 357 Important effect upon Virginia, where thoughts of a southern confederacy had been entertained 357, 358 Madison and Marshall prevail in the Virginia convention, and it ratifies the Constitution 360 New Hampshire had ratified four days before .... 361 Rejoicings at Philadelphia; riots at Providence and Albany . 362 The struggle in New York 362 xxii CONTENTS Origin of the " Federalist " 364, 365 Hamilton wins the victory, and New York ratifies . . . 368 All serious anxiety is now at an end ; the laggard states, North Carolina and Rhode Island 369 First presidential election, Januaiy 7, 1789; Washington is unani- mously chosen 370 Why Samuel Adams was not selected for vice-president . . 371 Selection of John Adams 372 Washington's journey to New York, April 16-23 • • • 373 His inauguration 374 Bibliographical Note 377 Members of the Federal Convention .... 383 Presidents of the Continental Congress . . . 386 Index 387 NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS. All the maps, except where otherwise specified, have been rnade from tny draivings or tender my direction. The abbreviatioti {Emmet : Lenox} signifies that the illustration is taken from the collection of Dr. Thotnas Addis Emmet, which is now in the Lenox Library, New York. James Madison {photogravure) Frontispiece From the original painting by Gilbert Stuart, at Bowdoin College. Auto- graph from Lenox Library, New York. N Guy Vaux: Overthrow of Lord North's Ministry ... 3 From Caricatures of James Gillray, Political Series, vol. i., one of the books of my old friend, the late Samuel Jones Tilden, now in Lenox Library. In the foreground the jackass, George III., sits dozing, crowned with a dunce-cap, while above him hangs the riband of the Garter, containing a crown borne on a donkey's back. The sceptre is in a bag lying on the floor, and under the throne is a keg marked Gunpowder. Charles Fox as Guy Fawkes (= Vaux = Fox), with vulpine face, is coming through the door, lantern in hand, while on his right the Duke of Richmond carries a fagot of sticks, and on his left the Earl of Shelburne brings in another keg of powder. Between Shelburne and Fox we see the face of Dunning, afterward Lord Ashburton ; while behind Dunning appears Edmund Burke in spectacles. The wall of the anteroom is decorated with a figure of Catiline. Earl of Shelburne 5 From a mezzotint in the Letters of Junius, London, iSoi. Autograph from Correspondence of the Earl of Chatham, vol. iii. Charles James Fox 7 From National Portraits, vol. v., after an original painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, in the possession of Lord Denman. Autograph from MS. collec- tion in Library of Boston Athenaeum. Thomas Grenville 11 From National Portraits, vol. vi., after an original painting by John Hopner, in the possession of Hon. G. M. Fortescue. Autograph from the same book. Rodney Triumphant 13 From the Gillray Caricatures, Lenox Library. I have never seen any description of this very interesting satirical print. Wright, in his learned work on the caricature history of the House of Han- xxiv NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS over, makes no mention of it, though he describes others of less importance relating to the same event. Much history is concentrated in the picture. The battle of Sainte-Marie-Galante (or of the Saints), April 12, 1782, is called by Captain Mahan " the greatest naval battle in its results that had been fought in a century." (Jnfluetice of Sea Power on History, p. 4S5.) The victor, Sir George Rodney, was a Tory and had been appointed to his command by Lord North's ministry ; he was personally objectionable to the Whigs, who condemned him severely (and in my opinion justly) for his high- handed behaviour at St. Eustatius, Feb. 3, 1781. (See my American Revo- lution, illustrated edition, vol. ii. p. 163.) On the other hand, a favourite Whig admiral was Hon. Augustus Keppel, son of the Earl of Albemarle. On July 27, 1778, Admiral Keppel chased a French fleet off Ushant but failed to bring on a decisive action, though some broadsides were exchanged. A Tory subordinate, Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser, charged Keppel with neg- lect of duty, and recriminations went on until both Keppel and Palliser were tried by court-martial and both were honourably acquitted. As the net result, Keppel was petted by the Whig statesmen, idolized by the London populace, ridiculed by the Tories, and furiously hated by the King. He became a member of Lord Rockingham's cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty, March 30, 1782, and was raised to the peerage as Viscount Keppel, April 27. On May I, before the news of Rodney's great victory had reached England, the ministry sent Admiral Pigot to the West Indies to supersede him, with a cold and almost insulting letter of recall. On May 18 came the news of the victory, and Lord North in Parliament said to the ministers : " You have conquered, but you have conquered with the arms of Philip ! " In the foreground of the picture Rodney is treading upon the French flag, while Admiral de Grasse is surrendering his sword. Behind Grasse stand a party of woe-begone Frenchmen ; behind Rodney are his hilarious jack tars bringing ashore boxes of louis d'or, etc., while a boat in the near back- ground shows the British ensign floating above the fleurs-de-lis. Over Rod- ney's head a viscount's coronet is descending " from Jove " the giver of vic- tory. A dilapidated building on the left does duty for the Admiralty office, and on its front is a hatchment, the symbol of mourning, enclosing an in- verted ship and rusty axe, and bearing the inscription "27th July, Gloria," referring to the date when KeppePs glory died off Ushant. Before the build- ing Lord North and the Earl of Sandwich, who had been his First Lord of the Admiralty, are walking jubilant ; North exclaims, " Ha, ha, ha, behold Augus- tus the 27th ! " while Sandwich adds, " Ha, ha, ha, new measures — send a pig [Pigot] to supersede a Lion ! " In the left foreground stand a very disgusted trio. Fox exclaims, " Damn the French for coming in his way, say I," and Keppel responds, " 'T is the last fleet he shall have the opportunity of beat- ing, however ! " The third figure can hardly be any other than the prime minister, Lord Rockingham, though it does not look much like him. His comment is, " This is more than we expected, more than we wished." The discomfited ministers sent an express to prevent Admiral Pigot from sailing, but he had already started. The viscount's coronet never descended upon Rodney's head. He was raised to the peerage, but only as a baron, and was given a pension of £2,000 a year ; the least the ministry could do in deference to public opinion. Count Araxda 19 From Blasoti de Espaua : Libro de Oro de sje Nobleza, tom. i. Autograph NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxv from a MS. in the National Library at Madrid, through the kindness of Hon. Hannis Taylor, U. S. minister at the Court of Spain. Boundaries of the United States, Canada, and the Span- ish Possessions, according to the Proposals of the Court of France in 1782 {coloured map) .... facing 20 From Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice's Life of the Earl of Shclburne. John Adams 23 From the portrait by C. W. Peale, in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. Autograph from the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. Boundary Monument on the St. Croix 25 After a plate in Bouchette's British Domifiioits in North America, Lon- don, 1832. John Jay {photogravure) facing 26 From the original portrait by Stuart, in Bedford House, the homestead of the Jays, at Katonah, N. Y. Autograph from Tuckerman's William Jay. Benjamin Franklin 29 From Geschichte der Kriege in iind aiisser Europa, Theil xi. Niirnberg, 1778. ^ Count Vergennes {photogravure) facing 30 From the frontispiece to Doniol, Histoire dc la Participation de la France h V Etablissement des Efats-Unis d^Amcriqtte, Paris, i8S6, 5 vols., 4to, vol. i. ; an engraving by Vangelisti, from the original painting by Antoine Francois Callet. Autograph from the same book. Robert R. Livingston 33 After a portrait by J. Vanderlyn in the National Portrait Gallery. Auto- graph from the same book. Edward Gibbon 35 From the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, in the possession of the Earl of Sheffield. Autograph from his Autobiography. Lord North as Ignavia 37 From Wright's House of Hanover, London, 1842. The Lord of the Vineyard 39 From the Gillray Caricatures, Lenox Library. The Duke of Portland is handing the bunch of grapes to Fox and North, exclaiming, " Take it between ye." But Reynard appears to be getting the lion's share. Isaac Barre 41 From a print published October 31, 1782, by J. Walker, 44 Paternoster Row, London ; now in Lenox Library. Autograph from Memorial History of Boston. The American Peace Commissioners {photogravure) facing 42 After the unfinished painting by Benjamin West, in the possession of xxvi NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS Lord Belper; from a photograph bequeathed by Charles Sumner to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The figures, from the left of the picture to the right, are Jay, Adams, Franklin, Laurens, and Franklin's grandson, William Temple Franklin, who looks nearly as old as his grandfather. Facsimile Signatures of the Treaty of Peace .... 43 From the Magazi7ie of American History, vol. x. p. 384, after the original document in the Department of State at Washington. George III 45 From an engraving in National Portraits, after the original painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Autograph from Lossing's Field-Book of the Revo- lution. William Pitt 47 From an engraving in National Portraits, after the original painting by Gainsborough. Autograph from MS. collection in Library of Boston Athe- naeum. Thomas Paine 51 From a small octavo print in Lenox Library, marked " Peel pinx., Angus sculps." Autograph from Appleton's Cyclopmiia of American Biography. Fraunces's Tavern, New York 52 From Valentine's New York City Ma7mal, 1S54. This house, on the corner of Broad and Pearl streets, is said to be the oldest now standing in the city. It was built in 1700 by Etienne De Lancey, on land given him by his father-in-law, Stephanus Van Cortlandt. In 1762 it was sold by Oliver De Lancey to Samuel Fraunces, a French mulatto, commonly called Black Sam, who used it for a tavern, with the sign " Queen's Head," in honour of Queen Charlotte. It was an admirably kept tavern, much in vogue for din- ners, soirees, club-meetings, etc. Black Sam was a credit to his profession. Thomas Mifflin 53 From the original painting by C. W. Peale, in Independence Hall. Auto- graph from Appleton's Cyclofcedia of American Biography. Mount Vernon 55 From a photograph. The house was built about 1740 by Augustine Wash- ington, whose son Lawrence named the estate after Admiral Vernon, under whom he had served in the expedition against Cartagena. On Lawrence's death, in 1753, it passed to his brother George. Washington resigning his Commission at Annapolis {photo- gravure) facing ^d From the original painting by Trumbull in the Art Gallery of Yale Uni- versity. Facsimile of the Proclamation by Congress, Jan. 14, 1784 58, 59 Reduced from a broadside in the possession of the Massachusetts His- torical Society. NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxvii Autograph of John Fitch 60 From Watson's Annals of Philadelphia. Fitch's First Steamboat, Perseverance 6r From Reminiscences of an Old Ne-v Yorker (Emmet : Lenox). Old Stage-Coach 63 From Basil Hall's Forty Sketches in North America, London, 1829. Washington's Coach and Four 65 From a photograph (Emmet : Lenox). Fitch's Steamboat of 1790 67 From Reminiscences of an Old New Yorker (Emmet : Lenox). View of North Side of Wall Street, 1785 69 From the same. Merchants' Exchange, New York, i 752-1 799 71 From the same. Edmund Burke 73 From an engraving in National Portraits, after the original painting by John Opie, in the possession of Countess Delaware. Autograph from Burke's Works, vol. i. Lord Thurlow 75 From an engraving by S. W. Reynolds, after the original painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Autograph from the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. George Washington {photogravure) facing 78 From a painting by C. W. Peale, by the kind permission of its present owner, Mrs. Joseph Harrison, of Philadelphia. Autograph from Washing- ton's signature to a bill of exchange. PoHiCK Parish Church 83 From a drawing in Virginia State Library Samuel Seabury, Bishop of Connecticut 85 From an engraving by Ritchie after the original portrait by T. S. Duche. Autograph from Beardsley's Life and Correspondence of Bishop Seabury. Francis Asbury 87 From Strickland's Life and Times of Francis Asbury. Autograph from the same. John Carroll, Archbishop of Baltimore 89 From an engraving in O'Shea's Lives of the Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States, after the original painting by Stuart. Autograph from J. G. Shea's Catholic Chtcrch in Colonial Days. The American Rattlesnake 93 From the Gillray Caricatures, Lenox Library. The original print was published April 12, 1782. The serpent is exclaiming (observe the rhyme): — xxviii NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS " Two British armies I have thus Burgoyned, And room for more I 've got behind ! " A placard held up by the tail announces •■ an apartment to let for military gentlemen." John Dickinson g^ From the original painting by C. W. Peale, in Independence Hall. Auto- graph from Winsor's America. Thomas McKean gy From an engraving by P. B. Welch, in National Portrait Gallery, after the original painting by Gilbert Stuart. Autograph from the same book. John Hanson gg From the original painting by C. W. Peale, in Independence Hall. Auto- graph from the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. Elias Boudinot loo From a steel engraving by St. Memin in 179S; frontispiece to Boudinot's Life of Elias Boudinot. Autograph from National Poj-trait Gallery. Nathaniel Gorham 103 From an etching by Rosenthal, with autograph (Emmet: Lenox). Cyrus Griffin 105 From a painting in Independence Hall, after an original miniature by Sully in 1801. Autograph from MS. collection of Hon. Melien Chamberlain. Facsimile of Continental Budget for 1786 107 Photographed from MS. Reports of the Board of Treasury : A (Emmet : Lenox). Plan of the City of New York, 1776 no, in From Reminiscences of an Old New Yorker (Emmet: Lenox). Horatio Gates n5 From a pencil sketch by Trumbull, reproduced in the Mount Vernon edi- tion of Irving's Life of Waslmigton. Autograph from MS. collection in Library of Boston Athenjeum. George Washington 117 From an etching by Rosenthal, after an original painting by Wright, in 17S4 (Emmet: Lenox). Rear View of Independence Hali 119 From a photograph, showing its present appearance. Old View of Middletown from the Hartford Road . . 121 From Barber's Connecticut Historical Collections. Badge of the Cincinnati 122 From a drawing after a cut in Magazine of American History, vol. x. p. 190. Facsimile of Title-page of ^danus Burke's Pamphlet . 123 Photographed from the original in the Library of Harvard University. NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxix Alexander UAWi-LTo-a {pkotogmvure) facing 126 Photographed from the Houdon bust, by ki-nd permission of its owner, Hon. Nicholas Fish, of New York. Autograph from MS. collection in Library of Boston AthenKum. Stone Bridge where Broadway now crosses Canal oTREET , 120 From Reminiscences of an Old New Yorker (Emmet : Lenox). Lispenard's Meadows from Site of Broadway and Broome Street i^i From the same. Alexander Hamilton 13- From the original painting by Trumbull in the New York Chamber of Commerce, by kind permission of Alexander E. Orr, Esq., its president. Facsimile of a Continental Lottery Ticket 141 (Emmet : Lenox). Independence Hall and New Theatre, Philadelphia, 1785 143 After a print in Dr. Emmet's illustrations of the Federal Convention (Emmet : Lenox). View from Battery, New York 145 After a sketch in Drayton's Tour tlnough ihc Norfhcrn and Eastern States of America, Charleston, 1794. The ship in the picture is the French frigate Ambuscade, which had lately brought Citizen Genet to America. George Clinton i4cj After a miniature by Ramage. Room in Fraunces's Tavern 147 From Appleton's Journal, vol. xi. Bird's-Eye View of Wyoming Valley 151 After an engraving kindly lent by Dr. F. C. Johnson, of Wyoming Com- memoration Society, Wilkes-Barre. Connecticut Settlements in Pennsylvania 153 Abridged, and slightly modified, from the large map in Hoyfs Brief of a Title in the Seventeen Townshifs in the County of Luzerne, Harrisburg, 1879. John Armstrong 155 From an engraving, with autograph, in Dr. Emmefs illustrations of the Annapolis Convention (Emmet: Lenox), after an original portrait by J. W. Jarvis. Thomas Chittenden 159 From Walton's Records of the Council of Safety and Governor and Cottncil of the State of Vermont, Autograph from the same. XXX NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS John Adams 163 From Geschiedenis van het Geschil tiisschen Groot-Britannie en Amerika., Amsterdam, 17S2. Facsimile Title-page of the History of the Reign of MuLEY Ismail 165 Photographed from the copy in my library. Autograph of William Grayson 168 Yrova. Annapolis Convention (Emmet: Lenox). I have been unable to find any portrait of Grayson. Foreign Coins formerly in Circulation in the United States 169 These coins are all represented in " life size." The pistole, pistareen, guinea, and doubloon are from Taylor's Gold and Silver Coin Examiner, New York, 1846. The ducat and carolin are from Dye's Coin Chart Man- ual, New York, 1855. ^^^^ shilling, half joe, crown, moidore, and Spanish dollar are from The Delineated Coin Chart, Cincinnati, 1857. Isaiah Thomas 171 From the portrait by Greenwood, in the possession of the American Antiquarian Society, at \Vorcester. The autograph is from a MS. kindly lent by Mr. E. M. Barton, librarian of the Society. Facsimile Page of the Massachusetts Spy 173 From the original, in possession of the American Antiquarian Society. Robert Morris {photogravure) facing \'j\ From the original portrait by Stuart, through the kind permission of the owner, C. F. M. Stark, Esq., of Winchester, Mass. Autograph from the Declaration of Independence. Specimens of Continental Currency 175, 176 These and all the following specimens of paper currency are culled from Dr. Emmet's superb collection in the Lenox Library. Scales for weighing Coins 177 Photographed from the original, in my library. The box and scales were used by my great-great-grandfather, Bezaleel Fiske, who was town-clerk of Middletown, Conn., from 1777 to 1797. My great-grandfather, John Fiske, who succeeded him as town-clerk, held the office until his death m 1S47. I have seen him weigh coins with these scales, but no doubt the occasions for such testing had become infrequent. Specimen of Massachusetts Currency 179 Specimen of Connecticut Currency 180 Specimens of New York Currency 183, 184 Specimen of Pennsylvania Currency 187 Specimen of Maryland Currency 188 Facsimile of a "Know Ye" Certificate 191 From a photograph kindly furnished by Amos Perry, Esq., of the Rhode NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxxi Island Historical Society. The extracts are from the United States Chro7i- icle^ August 10, 17S6. Specimen of South Carolina Currency 193 Genuine and Counterfeit Continental Notes .... 194 Old Street View in Worcester 195 From Barber's Massachusetts Historical Collections. House in Petersham where Shays was captured . . . 197 a typical New England farmhouse, spacious and comfortable. For many years it was the homestead of my venerable friend, Deacon Cephas Willard, a descendant of Simon Willard (see my Beginnings of New England, p. 216), and member of a family which has given two presidents to Harvard. The house has recently been pulled down ; but before that happened it was photographed by William Simes, Esq., to whose kindness 1 am indebted for the opportunity to produce this woodcut. Governor Bowdoin's Proclamation 199 Reduced from a copy in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society. James Bowdoin 201 From an original miniature by Copley, through the kindness of the owner, Robert C. Winthrop, Esq. Autograph from Winsor's America. Thomas Jefferson {phoiograviire) facing 204 From an old copy, in my possession, of the original crayon portrait by St. Memin. Autograph from the Declaration of Independence. The Beginnings of Ohio {coloured map) facing 208 In making this map my chief authority was Whittlesey's Tract br, West- ern Reserve aiid Northern Ohio Historical Society. Jefferson's Proposed States in the Northwest, 1784 . .211 Abridged from the map in Winsor's America, vii. 529. My abridgment seems to have cut off " Sylvania," west of Lake Superior. State of Franklin, lyS/^-di^ {coloured map) .... facing 212 I have never seen, nor found any one who has seen, a map of this short- lived state ; and have, therefore, done the best I could, subject to correction. John Sevier 215 After an original portrait by C. W. Peale, presented in 1891 by Sevier's granddaughter, Mrs. Eliza Sevier Donald, to the Tennessee Historical Society at Nashville. Autograph from Kirke's Rear Guard of the Revolu- tion. RuFus Putnam 217 From an engraving by S. HoUyer, in Matthews's History of Washington County, Ohio. Autograph from the same book. RuFus Putnam's House at Rutland, Mass 218 From a drawing made after a photograph. xxxii NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS Manasseh Cutler 219 From Life, Journals, and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, Cm- cinnati, 1888. Autograph from the same. Manasseh Cutler's Birthplace at Killixgly, Conn. . . 220 From a photograph kindly lent by Miss Ellen Larned, of Thompson, Conn. Wolf Creek Mills, Ohio, 1789 222 From the American Pioneer, March, i S43. Campus Martius, Marietta, Ohio 223 From the same, March, 1842. Plan of Campus Martius 225 From Columbian Magazine, November, 17S8. Diego de Gardoqui 227 From Bowen's Washington Centennial, 18S9. Autograph from a MS. in the National Library at Madrid, through the kindness of Hon. Hannis Taylor. Spanish Claim in the Southwest {coloured map) . facing 228 John Tyler, the Elder 231 From an original painting by James Worrell, in the Virginia State Library at Richmond. Autograph from Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolntion. Annapolis State House 233 From Atuiapolis Co7ivention (Emmet : Lenox). Nathan Dane 234 From an etching by Rosenthal, with autograph, in Annapolis Convention (Emmet : Lenox). Facsimile of President Dickinson's Letter to the Gov- ernor OF Massachusetts 235 From AitnapoUs Convention (Emmet : Leno.x). Rufus King 237 From the original miniature by Trumbull — painted in 1 792 — in the Art Gallery of Yale University. Autograph from Annapolis Convention (Em- met : Lenox) . Old Rear View of Independence Hall 239 From Etting's History of Independence Hall. Jonathan Dayton 241 From Rosenthal's etching, with autograph, in Federal Convention (Era- met : Lenox). John Lansing 243 From the same. \ NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxxiii James Madison 245 From the original painting by C. \V. Peale, in the possession of the Long Island Historical Society, at Brooklyn. William Samuel Johnson 247 From Rosenthal's etching in Federal Convention (Emmet : Lenox), after the original painting by Stuart. Autograph from the same collection. James Madison {photogravure) facing 248 From Reminiscences of an Old New Yorker (Emmet : Lenox), after a drawing made by James Longacre at Montpelier in 1S33, when Madison was in his eighty-third year. The autograph is from a MS. collection in Library of Boston Athenaeum. George Washington, President of the Convention . .251 Photographed from a miniature painted from life by Archibald Robertson in 1 791. The negative was kindly lent by Clarence Winthrop Bowen, Esq. William Jackson, Secretary of the Convention .... 253 From Rosenthal's etching in Federal Convention (Emmet : Lenox), after the original painting by Trumbull. Autograph from the same collection. Edmund Randolph 255 From a portrait by Fisher, in the Virginia State Library, at Richmond. Autograph from MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. George Wythe 257 From the painting by Weir, in Independence Hall, after an original by Trumbull. Autograph from the Declaration of Independence. William Livingston 261 From Rosenthal's etching, with autograph, in Federal Conveyition (Em- met: Lenox). William Paterson 263 From the same collection. Arms and Autograph of David Brearley 265 From the same. I have not been able to find any portrait of Brearley. Gunning Bedford 267 From the same. Oliver Ellsavorth 268 From the engraving by Mackenzie, in National Portrait Gallery, after an original painting by James Herring. Autograph from the same book. Abraham Baldwin 269 From an engraving by J. B. Forrest, after an original sketch by Robert Fulton, the steamboat inventor. Autograph from National Portrait Gallery. Elbridge Gerry 271 From an engraving by J. B. Longacre, after an original painting by Van- derlyn. Autograph from Winsor's America. xxxiv NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS Gerry's House at Cambridge 273 From an old print. The house was built between 1763 and 1767 by Thomas Oliver, the last Royal Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, who left it in 1774, never to return. It was afterwards for many years tlie home of Elbridge Gerry, whose successor was Rev. Charles Lowell, father of James Russell Lowell. In this house the poet was born and died. The beautiful elms, which have given to the estate the name Elmwood, do not show in this picture, and most of them have probably grown up within the present cen- tury. Luther Martin • . . . . 275 From a painting (after an unknown original) by Tiffany, in Independence Hall. Autograph from Federal Convention (Emmet : Lenox). Autograph of Robert Yates 276 From the same collection. Pierce Butler 278 From Rosenthal's etching, with autograph, in the same collection. John Rutledge 279 From an ambrotype of a portrait by Trumbull, kindly lent by Mrs. B. H. Rutledge, of Charleston. Autograph from National Portrait Gallery. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney 283 From Rosenthal's etching, after an original painting by Trumbull, in Fed- eral Convention (Emmet : Lenox). Autograph from the same collection. George Mason (^photogravure) facing 284 From a painting by Herbert Walsh, in Independence Hall, after the origi- nal by Stuart. Autograph from Anna/>olis Convention (Emmet : Lenox). Charles Pinckney 285 From Rosenthal's etching in Federal Convention (Emmet : Lenox). Facsimile of a Letter written by Charles Pinckney 286, 287 From the same collection. GuNSTON Hall, Virginia : Mason's Home 289 From A7inapolis Convention (Emmet : Lenox). John Langdon 291 From Rosenthal's etching, after an original painting by Trumbull, in Fed- eral Convention (Emmet : Lenox). Autograph from the same collection. George Read 295 From a painting by Sully, in Independence Hall, after the original by Stuart. Autograph from Federal Convention (Emmet : Lenox). Roger Sherman {photogravure) facing 298 From a painting by Hicks, in Independence Hall, after the original by Earle. Autograph from the Declaration of Independence. NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxxv Daniel Carroll 301 From Rosenthal's etching in Federal Convention (Emmet : Lenox). Auto- , graph from signatures to the Constitution of the United States. William Blount 303 From Rosenthal's etching, with autograph, in Annajiolis Convetition (Emmet: Lenox). Hugh Williamson 305 From an engraving by Thomson — after the original painting by Trum- bull — in Retniniscetices of an Old New Yorker {¥.va.m&\.: Lenox). Auto- graph from signatures to the Constitution. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS 307 From Rosenthal's etching, after a painting by Sully, in Federal Conven- tion (Emmet : Lenox). Autograph from the same collection. John Blair 309 From Rosenthal's etching, in the same, with autograph. Caleb Strong • .... 311 From the same, after an original painting by Stuart. Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer 313 From the same, after an original painting by Trumbull. Autograph of William Pierce 315 From the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. Facsimile of Signatures to the Constitution 322 From a photograph of the original document, kindly lent by Andrew H. Allen, Esq., from the Bureau of Rolls, Department of State, at Washington. The President's Armchair 325 From Etting's History of Independence Hall. Benjamin Franklin {photograzmre) facing 328 From an original portrait by C. W. Peale, in the possession of the Penn- sylvania Historical Society. It was painted in 1790, when Franklin was eighty-four years old. The autograph is from the Declaration of Independ- ence. George Clymer 331 After the original painting by C. W. Peale, in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Autograph from Annapolis Convention (Emmet : Lenox). James Wilson {photogravitrc) facing 332 From a painting by Wharton, in Independence Hall, after an original miniature by James Peale. Autograph from Federal Convention (Emmet : Lenox). Boston in 1790 335 Facsimile of a print in Massachusetts Magazine^ November, 1790. " The point of view is in Governor Hancock's grounds ; the Common, with the xxxvi NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS great elm, is in the middle distance, the south part of the town with the Neck- are beyond, and in the further parts are Dorchester Heights." See Winsor's America, vii. 32S. One is impressed, as in the picture of Elmwood on page 273, with the absence of trees. The host of noble elms, which to-day make Boston Common as bosky as Kensington Gardens, have apparently all grown within a century. John Hancock 337 From An Impartial History of the War in At?terica, London, 17S0. Theophilus Parsons 339 From an engraving by Schiff, in the Memoir by his son, Theophilus Par- sons, after an original painting by Stuart. Autograph from a MS. Register in the Library of Harvard University. Fisher Ames 340 From the original miniature painted by Trumbull in 1792, now in the Art Gallery of Yale University. Autograph from the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. Silhouette of Rev. Samuel West 343 For the silhouette and autograph I am indebted to the kindness of Mrs. Alice G. West, of Worcester. The portrait undeniably has a matronly ex- pression, like the familiar portrait of Samuel Sewall ; but the excellent parson was masculine enough in theology and politics, and could strike out from the shoulder with effect. Tomb of Jonathan Smith, at Lanesborough 345 From a photograph kindly furnished by J. A. Royce, Esq., of Lanes- borough. I have been unable to find any portrait of Mr. Smith. Autograph of Jonathan Smith 346 Facsimile of his signature, as a selectman of Lanesborough. to a document kindly lent me by his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Jane H. Mills, of Amherst. Samuel Adams 347 From An Impatiial History of the War in America, London, 17S0. Sign of Green Dragon Tavern 348 From E. H. Goss's Life of Colonel Paul Revere. Paul Revere 349 After an original painting by Stuart. Autograph from MS. collection in Library of Boston Athenaeum. Governor Hancock's Letter to the President of Con- gress 352, 353 Photographed from the original document in Federal Convention (Em- met : Lenox). Federal Street Meeting-House, Boston 354 From Gannett's Memorial of the Federal-Street Meeting-House, Boston, i860. NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxxvii Benjamin Harrison 357 From a portrait after Trumbull, in Independence Hall. Autograph from the Declaration of Independence. Edmund Pendleton 359 From a painting by Sully, in the Virginia State Library, copied from a miniature. Autograph from the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamber- lain. John Marshall (^photogravure) facing 360 Photographed from a miniature by St. Memin, in the possession of Miss Anne Harvie, of Richmond, a daughter of the only daughter of Chief Justice Marshall. The negative was kindly lent by Mrs. Sallie Marshall Hardy, of Louisville, Ky. Autograph from MS. collection in the Library of the Bos- ton Athenaeum. The Ninth Pillar erected 361 From the Boston Independent Chronicle, June zb, 1788, in the Library of the Boston Athenaeum. George Clinton 363 From an engraving in Bowen's Waskitigton Centennial, after the por- trait by Ames. An Old View of Poughkeepsie 364 From Reminiscences of an Old New Yorker (Emmet : Lenox). Alexander Hamilton 365 From an engraving in Bowen's Washington Centennial, after the minia- ture said to have been made for Prince Talleyrand by James Sharpless. Melancton Smith 367 Photographed from a pencil sketch in Annapolis Convention (Emmet : Lenox), where no information about it is given. The autograph is from the same collection. Parade in New York in honour of the Adoption of the Constitution 369 From a contemporary print in Federal Convention (Emmet : Lenox). Washington's Letter to Jabez Bowen, of Rhode Island 370 Photographed from the original document in Federal Convention (Em- met : Lenox). Washington's Triumphal Journey to New York .... 372 a picture by George Cruikshank, from Refniniscences of an Old New Yorker (Emmet : Lenox). Inauguration of Washington 374 A picture by Felix Darley, from the same. THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY CHAPTER I RESULTS OF YORKTOWN 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 that date, the treaty which established the independence of the United States was successfully nego- tiated at Paris ; and at the same time, as part of the series of events which resulted in the treaty, there went on in Eng- land 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 some- times 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 Rich- mond, 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." between^^ Wraxall says that the celebrated buff and blue wh-gs and colours of the Whig party were adopted by Fox ^^ revoiu- in imitation of the Continental uniform ; but his party in unsupported statement is open to question. It is certain, however, that in the House of Commons the Whigs 2 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i 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 .'' " 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 quar- rels of the moment, they preferred to have freedom guaran- teed, 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 com- prehend 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 It weak- was the chicf source of the weakness of the Whig WMgt'n party. Sir Gilbert Elliot said, with truth, that if England ^^g 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 ac- crued 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 V?B ' ^^'"^n P^ ^^P, 0M MM£.Mk^&U^^^^<-^ paid no heed to this crooked advice, and there is nothing to show that he had the least desire to intriofue ac^ainst 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 12 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i 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 fol- lows : "I. By way of reparation. — Answer. No reparation can be heard of. 2. To prevent fiittire ivars. — Answer. It is to be hoped that some more friendly method will be found. 3. As a fund of iiideinnification 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. While Oswald submitted these answers to Franklin, Gren- ville had his interview with Vergennes, and told him that, ^jjjg if England recognized the independence of the has an United States, she should expect France to restore with Ver- the islands of the West Indies which she had taken gennes from England. W^hy 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 besides. In this mood he returned a haughty answer to Grenville. He re- minded him that nations often went to war for a specified object, and yet seized twice as much if favoured by for- tune ; 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 14 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i 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 inde- pendence 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, Eng- land must treat directly with America. Grenville was disappointed and chagrined by this answer, and the ministry miade 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 Ver- gennes at his word, though not in the sense in which he meant it, and, by granting all that the Americans could rea- sonably desire, to detach them from the French alliance as soon as possible. On the i8th of May there came the news Effects of ^^ ^^^ stupendous victory of Rodney over Grasse, Rodney's and all England rang with jubilee. Again it had victory , , i ■!->•• i i mi 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. Accord- ingly, 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 1782 RESULTS OF YORKTOWN 15 France, the French minister suspected foul play, and turned a cold shoulder to Grenville. For the same reason, Gren- ville 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 Can- ada, 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 Frank- lin'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 pur- poses 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, per- haps 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 depart- ment. 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 p^jj ^^ ^j^^ might treat as with a foreign power. The motion Rocking- T 1 1 1 1 1 li'i'^ minis- was lost, and rox announced that he should re- try, juiy i, sign his office. His resignation would probably "^ ^ of itself have broken up the ministry, but, by a curious i6 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i 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. The Old Whigs now found some difificulty in choosing a leader. Burke was the greatest statesman in the party, but he had not the qualities of a party leader, and his connec- tions were not sufficiently aristocratic. Fox was distrusted by many people for his gross vices, and because of his way- wardness 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 defend- ing 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 ob- served, " It is very entertaining that two or three great fam- ilies 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 Port- land his prime minister, the king replied that he had already ^, „ offered that position to Lord Shelburne. Here- shelburne ^ . . prime min- upon Fox and Cavcndish resigned, but Richmond remained in office, thus virtually breaking his con- nection 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 1782 RESULTS OF YORKTOWN 17 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 com- pared the new prime minister with Borgia and Catiline. And so Parliament was adjourned on the nth of July, and did not meet again until December. 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 quar- ter. Now England, though defeated in America, was victo- rious 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 fortu- nate 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 satisfy- ing Spain at the expense of the United States ; and he did this the more willingly as he had no love for p^^^ ^ the Americans, and did not wish to see them be- policy op- come too powerful. France had strictly kept her American 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 accom- plished by depriving her of her thirteen colonies. The immense territory extending from the Alleghany Mountains to the Mississippi River, and from the border of i8 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i 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 south- ern boundary of Canada to be the Ohio River. At present the whole territory, from Lake Superior down to the south- ern 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 The valley thousand pionecrs from North Carolina and Vir- of the Mis- ginia had already settled beyond the mountains, sissippi; •' . -^ . ,, . Aranda's and the white population was rapidly increasing, propiecy -pj^jg 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 pop- ulation 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 Ver- gennes, and France, as well as Spain, sought to prevent the growth of the dreaded colossus. To this end Vergennes 178: RESULTS OF YORKTOWN 19 maintained that the Americans ought to recognize the Que- bec 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, follow- ing that stream about as far as the site of Nashville, thence (l^(^'r.9e9ance was unwilling to give further assistance, and the mat- ter was settled by England's surrendering East Florida, and allowing the Spaniards to keep West Florida and Minorca, which were already in their hands. 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 The restored St. Lucia and ceded Tobago to France. French The French were allowed to fortify Dunkirk, and ^^^ ^ received some slight concessions in India and Africa ; they n retained their share in the Newfoundland fisheries, and re- covered 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 inflict- 36 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i ing 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. 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 reck- oned 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 stran- gest coalitions ever known in the history of politics. Coalition *^ ^ ^ of Fox No Statesman ever attacked another more fero- ciously 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 pri- vate 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 1783 RESULTS OF YORKTOWN 37 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 mon- strous. It injured Fox extremely in the opinion of the country, and it in- jured 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 ap- pear, 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 Germain, 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 tur- pitude, the object of his furious tirade cosily dropped off to LORD NORTH AS IGNAVIA 38 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i sleep. Gibbon, who was the friend of both statesmen, ex- pressly 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 suffi- ciently 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 par- ties. 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 ex- traordinary 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 ^•^- \-,^i^- THE LORD OF THE VINEYARD 40 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i his old age he became blind, he bore his 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 dif- ferences, 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 bhndness, 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 that which 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 para- mount 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 1783 RESULTS OF YORKTOWN 41 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 disap- proval by and by made it easy for the king to overthrow it. 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 ^ ,, , Fall of been made. The treaty was also very unpopular sheiburne's • 1 T^ > I'll • 1 Ti ministry with l' OX s party, and with the nation at large. It was thought that too much territory had been conceded to 42 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i 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 ac- cepting 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 cam- paign, 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 indefi- nitely 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 amend- ment 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 pub- lic 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. For more than five weeks, while the treasury was nearly empty, and the question of peace or war still hung in the 1783 RESULTS OF YORKTOWN 43 balance, England was without a regular government, while the angry king went hunting for some one who would con- sent to be his prime minister. He was determined not to submit to the coalition. He was naturally enraged The king's 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 ^^^^ FACSIMILE SIGNATURES OF THE TREATY OF PEACE 44 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i perhaps Thomas Pitt, cousin of Wilham, might be wilhng 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 colo- nies. 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 nego- tiate a mutually advantageous commercial treaty with America also unfortunately came to nothing. The is adopted^ definitive treaty which was finally signed on the the^coali-^^ 3d of September, 1783, was an exact transcript of tion minis- ^^ie trcatv which Shelburne had made, and for try, which -' _ presently 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 sign- ing 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 46 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i 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 concen- tration 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, ac- cordingly, 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 i8th of December, George turned the ministers out of office. 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 ConstitU- 1 r • r 1 T- > ^• • 1 tionai crisis, the favountc of the people. Fox s political reiDuta- theowr" tion was eclipsed, and North's was destroyed, by vktor^of their unseemly alliance. People were sick of the Pitt, May, whole statc of things which had accompanied the American war. Pitt, who had only come into Parliament in 1780, was free from these unpleasant associa- tions. 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 1783 RESULTS OF YORKTOWN 47 dear to the people. His position, however, on taking supreme office at the instance of a king who had just com- mitted an outrageous breach of the constitution, was ex- tremely 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 chan- cellor 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 48 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, i 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 elec- tion which followed, i6o members of the coalition lost their seats, and Pitt obtained the greatest majority that has ever been given to an English minister. Thus was completed the political revolution in England which was set on foot by the American victory at York- town. 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 Overthrow dircct appeal to the people, and all its advantages iii/s^""^^^ accrued to the people, and not to George III. system of j^^g ingenious system of weak and divided minis- personal ° _ -' government trics, with himsclf for balauce-whecl, was destroyed. For the next seventeen years the real ruler of England was not George III., but William Pitt, who, with his great popu- lar 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 legiti- mate 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 Ameri- can 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 over- 1784 RESULTS OF YORKTOWN 49 throw of the coahtion. 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 "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 pro- claim 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 Caro- lina 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 Washing- ton'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 Amer- icans on the Hudson ; but in December the French army marched to Boston, and there embarked for France. After 1783 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 51 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 direc- tions, in little groups of four or five, depending largely for their subsistence on the hospitality of the farm-houses along ^Jl>. oj/n^ 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 52 THE CRITICAL PERIOD CHAP. II FRAUNCES's TAVERN, NEW YORK the country was at peace. On the 3d of November the T^ , army was formally disbanded, and on the 25th of Departure j J ' -> of the Brit- that month Sir Guy Carleton's army embarked from Nov.'^25f^' New York. Small British garrisons still remained ''^^ in the frontier posts of Ogdensburg, Oswego, Niag- ara, Erie, Sandusky, Detroit, and Mackinaw, but it was understood that these places were to be promptly surren- dered to the United States. On the 4th of December a barge waited at the South Ferry in New York to carry Gen- eral Wa.shington 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. 1783 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 53 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 manu- script, 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 per- sonal 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 -^yj^gi^i^g. up his command, and requested as an "indulgence" *-■-., ""-'o-- Co COS ^^•-t :M0 »Q "^^ S = J! -3 ^- ?■ S C S < ' CD " fj'-'^ill P -J s 111 is-giiri^llj I: ="il|lHl "^1 c ^ -sj-s^ Jirsi^'i.-ls'^Sf'^'SJ^s^'t-i^^clE-E^IM^o.si Q „^ ii! e . „ ^ ., c^ , ^i'i-s!KIII-ii=-!ll=li'!'i^^Hi-^ls^il.i S 0^ Iflflli iJiliijiililiiil|jii|ijiHIi!iS = Ei S ™s-5 t >:." S^ S--" |i'5'|>5 ^ o-s |C a I > ^j j g-j^c I =i° ; S^ I "I i - * « ^i i-"^ c^ |l'ii-£|||§2l|l|41t||ll||!l'll J^^gSi^Is||| ^ s€aa^ !^ sj ll |i 1 1 i = i slal '-S 5 !«•■ - i'sf = t : X :f o ■| S'«>2-^^ J•£J!a~ «illl||: 111"" fl-sli^EiS: 'isi-sf t i3!i "lllslirfilfillll^l:!!!!^ P 2 -a to rt 0) *J 2; X said, '' As to the future grandeur of America, and its being a rising empire under one head, whether republican or mo- narchical, 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 com- mon interest. They never can be united into one compact empire under any species of government whatever ; a dis- 6o THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii united 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 bound- aries, 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 ivould 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 histoHc transformed into a despotism mainly by the exces- anaiogies ^.^^ enlargement of its area. It w^as 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 com- prised peoples dif- fering widely in blood, in speech, and in degree of civilization ; it was perpetually threat- ened on all its frontiers by powerful enemies ; and repre- sentative 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 I7S3 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 61 civilization between such states as Massachusetts and North CaroHna were considerable, but in comparison with such dif- ferences as those between Attika and Lusitania they might well be called slight. The attacks of savages on the fron- tier were cruel and annoying, but never since the time of King Philip had they seemed to threaten the existence of the John Fitch's First Jlani Fersevtrance ajf .(em on the Delawaj'c Pini 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 more than five centuries in England and America. The gov- ernments of the thirteen states were all similar, and the polit- ical 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. 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 i 'j?)'j, 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 62 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii doubtful if the American Union could have been preserved to the present time without the railroad. But for the mili- tary aid of railroads our government would hardly have suc- ceeded in putting down the rebellion of the southern states. In the debates on the Oregon Bill in the United of railroad Statcs Senate in 1843, the idea that we could ever Iraptfupon have an interest in so remote a country as Oregon orthe*"'^^ was loudly ridiculed by some of the members. It American would take tcu mouths — Said George McDuffie, Union r r> i ^ the very able senator from South Carolma — 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. 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 rail- road 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 Difficulty ten o'clock in the evening. In bad weather, when a hundVd ^ ^^^ passcngcrs had to get down and lift the clumsy years ago 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, 1783 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 63 when they were sohdly 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 : there was less danger from highwaymen. OLD STAGE-COACH 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. Commer- cial dealings between the different states were inconsider- 64 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii able. 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 little about each other, and local prejudices were intense. It was not simply free Local jeai- Massachusetts and slave-holding South Carolina, ousies and or English Connecticut and Dutch New York, that antipathies, '^ an inherit- misuudcrstood and ridiculed each the other ; but primeval even between such neighbouring states as Con- savagery nccticut and Massachusetts, both of them thor- oughly 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 /.rogress made in this direction had been relatively small, and it was a very critical moment for the American people. 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 govern- ments 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 'frf* ■•.'« , ?'* 66 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii 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 Conserva- of their ablest statesmen from the Continental ter^of thT*^' Congress ; but except for the expulsion of the royal Revolution ^^d 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 free- dom 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, thor- oughly 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 and Locke. In remodelling the state governments, as in plan- ning 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. It will be remembered that at the time of the Declaration of Independence there were three kinds of government in 1783 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 67 the colonies. Connecticut and Rhode Island had always been true republics, with governors and legislative assemblies elected by the people. Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Mary- land presented the appearance of limited hereditary mon- archies. 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 sepa- rate 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 legisla- tures. Accordingly, in Connecticut and Rhode Island no State gov- ernments remodelled; assemblies continued from colo- nial times fitch's steamboat of 1790 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 seven- teenth 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 ; 68 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii 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. In addition to this House of Representatives all the legis- latures except those of Pennsylvania and Georgia contained Origin of a sccond or upper house known as the Senate, the senates ^he 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 pop- ular 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 Mary- land 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. 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 Connecti- cut, 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 Governors rcfugc behind the bulwarks of a British seventy- wTth^^is- four. Accordingly, the new constitutions were picion vej-y chary of the powers to be exercised by the governor. In Pennsylvania and Delaware, in New Hamp- 783 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 69 VIEW OF NORTH SIDE OF WALL STREET, NEW YORK, 1 7S5 shire 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 pro- perty. In most of the states the governor could not be re- elected, he had no veto upon the acts of the legislature, nor any power of appointing officers. In 1780, in a new consti- tution 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 Han- cock. In 1783 New Hampshire adopted a similar constitu- tion. 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 70 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii reeligible. He was intrusted with the power of appointment to offices, with a suspensory veto, and with the royal pre- rogative of reprieving or pardoning criminals. In 1792 simi- lar 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 Com- mons. 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 limited by the senate to a much greater degree than the power of the House of Commons is limited by the House of Lords. But this peculiarity of the British Constitution was not well understood a century ago ; and the misunderstand- ing, as we shall hereafter see, exerted a serious influence upon the form of our federal government, as well as upon the constitutions of the several states. 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 ; 1783 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 71 in all the other states they held office for life or during good behaviour. In all the states save Georgia they The were appointed either by the governor or by the Judiciary legislature. It was Georgia that in 1812 first set the per- nicious example of electing judges for short terms by the people,^ — 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. merchants' exchange, new YORK, 1752-99 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 opin- ^ In recent years Georgia has been one of the first states to abandon this bad practice. 72 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap. ll ions of such statesmen as Pitt and Shelburne and the Duke of Richmond. There was a truly EngHsh irregularity in the provisions which were made on this subject. In New Hamp- shire, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and South Carolina, all resi- dent freemen who paid taxes could vote. In North The . '■ limited Carolina all such persons could vote for members " of the lower house, but in order to vote for sena- tors 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 pay- ment 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 uni- versal 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. 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 Eng- land 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 1783 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 73 states. At the same time entails were either definitely abol ished, or the obstacles to cutting them off were removed. In New York the manorial privileges of the great patroons were swept away. In Ma- ryland the old manorial system had long: been manorial . ■' ^ privileges dymg a natural death through the encroachments of the patriarchal system of slavery. The ownership of all Abolition of primo- geniture, entails, and 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 ille- gitimate descendant of the last Lord Baltimore. 74 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii The success of the American Revohition made it possible for the different states to take measures for the gradual abolition of slavery and the immediate abolition of the for- eign 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 w!^rd^h°e slightest hopc that the trade in slaves could be si^ver'°and Stopped. The most that he thought could be done the slave- 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 his contemporary Thurlow, who in 1799 poured out the vials of his wrath upon "the altogether misera- ble 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. instructed 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 1783 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 75 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, Jef- ferson, Lee, Randolph, Henry, Madison, and Mason — were ' l;||\'v;;.^;l!l;|'lN'';|l!!';li''^''^'|lv^||i!| ii mil I I rn 'I" H'"|\ ^^^"^^a 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- 76 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, n civilized by kindly treatment, were not regarded with dread 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 Eng- land, 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 importa- tion 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 1 808 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 consti- tution of 1776 the further introduction of slaves was pro- hibited, all restraints upon emancipation having already been removed. In the assembly of Virginia in 1778 a bill pro- hibiting 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 1 786 she sought to discour- age the slave-trade by putting a duty of ^5 per head on all negroes thereafter imported. New Jersey followed the ex- ample 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 assembhes of Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784. New York went farther still, and in 1785 enacted that all children 1783 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS ']^ of slaves thereafter born should not only be free, but should be admitted to vote on the same conditions as other free- men. 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 gal- lows. 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 emancipa- tion ; and all the remaining states, except Massachusetts, had made gradual emancipation compulsory. Massachusetts had gone still farther. Before the Revolution the anti-sla- very feeling had been very strong there, 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 num- ber, 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. By the revolutionary legislation of the states some pro- gress was also effected in the direction of a more complete 78 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii religious freedom. Pennsylvania and Delaware were the Progress Only statcs in which all Christian sects stood so- freldomin cially and politically on an equal footing. In religion Rhodc Island all Protestants enjoyed equal privi- leges, but Catholics were debarred from voting. ^ In Massa- chusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, the old Puritan Congregationalism was the established religion. The Con- gregational 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 ex- press 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 ^ This exclusion of Catliolics was contrary to tlie views of Roger Williams and to the spirit of the Rhode Island charter, if not to its letter also. It was effected, nobody knows just how, by the interpola- tion of a disabling clause in the " Act declaring the rights and privi- leges of his Majesty's subjects within this colony," which ends with the words, " and that all men [professing Christianity and] of competent estates, and of civil conversation, who acknowledge and are obedient to the civil magistrate, though of different judgment in religious affairs [Roman Catholics excepted], shall be admitted freemen, and shall have liberty to choose and be chosen ofificers in the colony, both military and civil." The first interpolation excludes Jews, as the second excludes Catholics, whereas Williams in his noble scheme of Christian fellow- ship included both Jews and Catholics. These interpolations were certainly made at some time between 1684 and 1705; probably about 1699. They are undoubtedly a symptom of the anti-Catholic wave of feeling which followed the accession of William and Mary, when Cath- olic Jacobites were likely to be disloyal. They were repealed in 1783. See Greene's History of Rhode Islatid, ii. 490-494. 1783 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 79 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 1783 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 Epis- copal 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 8o THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii 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. The case of Virginia was peculiar. At first the Church of England had taken deep root there because of the consid- erable 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 Church and •' •' state in vir- 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 conduct- ing 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 charac- ter of the clergy there were many exceptions. There were many excellent clergymen, especially among the native Vir- ginians, 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. 1783 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 81 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 congrega- tions 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 popula- tion than any other of the thirteen. At the same time the Episcopal church itself had gradu- ally come to be a minority in the commonwealth. For more than half a century Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, German Lutherans, English Quakers, and Baptists, had been work- ing 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 ecclesi- astical 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 inter- rupted the proceedings. Patrick Henry had come on horse- back 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 82 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii 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 which ensued was of ill omen for the success of an under- taking 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, these Scotch-Irish Presbyterians were in favour of the total sepa- ration 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, while Jefferson was in France, Madison won for him the crowning victory in the passage of his Religious Jefferson's P'rccdom Act, by which the Church of England FreSom "^^^ disestablished and all parish rates abolished. Act, 17S5 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 vic- tory thus happily won was ungenerously followed up. The- 1/85 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 83 ological and political odium combined to overwhelm the Episcopal church in Virginia. The persecuted became per- secutors. 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 POHICK PARISH CHURCH were sold, its parishes wiped out, and its clergy left without a calling. "A reckless sensualist," said Dr. Hawks, "ad- ministered 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 pos- sible 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 84 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii enhanced by the contrast with the church of South CaroHna 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 Mar- shall 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. 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 conse- Mason _ -' ... Weems cratiou. In 1784 a young divinity student from uei Sea- Virginia, 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 1784 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 85 services of a Danish bishop, who was to perform the cere- mony in Latin. Weems does not seem to have availed him- self of this permission, probably because the question soon reached a more satisfactory solution.^ About the same time the Episcopal church in Connecticut sent one of its ministers, Samuel Seabury of New London, to England, to ^ It was this same Mason Weems that was afterward known in Vir- ginia 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 Honotirable 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, ahke in its text and its illustrations, of an overgrown English chap-book of the olden time. It has had an enor- mous 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. 86 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii be ordained as bishop. The oaths of allegiance and suprem- acy stood as much in the way of the learned and famous minister as in that of the young and obscure student. Sea- November bury accordingly appealed to the non-juring Jaco- 14, 17S4 ]3ite 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 Eng- land, 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. This foundation of a separate episcopacy west of the At- lantic 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 fol- lowers from the national church. He translated the titles of " bishop " and " priest " from Greek into Latin and Eng- lish, 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 Metho- dist 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 1784 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS ^7 1772 Wesley sent over Francis Asbury, a man of shrewd sense and deep religious feeling, to act as his Francis assistant and representative in this country. At uie^Metho^ that time there were not more than a thousand ^^^^ Methodists, with sLx 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 yi''^~-&-. <:-<,-*«' had increased sevenfold. At the end of the war, seeing the American Methodists cut loose from the English establish- ment, 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 conse- crated by the non-jurors at Aberdeen, Coke began preach- ing and baptizing in Maryland, in rude chapels built of logs 88 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii or under the shade of forest trees. On Christmas Eve a conference assembled at Baltmiore, 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. 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 Congre- gationalist 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 outside of New England their names have come to be inaccurately used as if synonymous. ^ Such a dif- ference seemed to vanish when confronted with the newer Presby- differences that began to spring up soon after the Roman closc of the Rcvolution. The revolt against the Catholics doctriue of eternal punishment was already begin- ning in New England, and among the learned and thought- ful 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 1 784 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 succes- ^ Even in Connecticut I have heard Congregationalists called Pres- byterians, but never in Massachusetts. 1784 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS sively made bishop of Baltimore and archbishop of the United States. By 1789 all obstacles to the Catholic wor- ship had been done away with in all the states. In this brief survey of the principal changes wrought in the several states by the separation from England, one 'M?W '"■'^^i^V ^^'^'^'M*, cannot fail to be struck with their conservative character. Things proceeded just as they had done from time imme- morial with the English race. Forms of government were modified just far enough to adapt them to the new situation 90 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, ii 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 estab- lishment and placed upon an independent footing in the new Except world. From another point of view it may be ob- instance scrvcd that all these changes, except in the in- of slavery, stancc of slavcry, tended to assimilate the states to 3II these changes onc another in their political and social condition, fllo^urabie So far as they went, these changes were favour- to union ^^^g |.Q ^^nion, and this was perhaps especially true in the case of the ecclesiastical bodies, which brought citi- zens 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 impor- tant 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 17S4 THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS 91 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 manage- ment 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 politi- cal 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 That some kind of union existed between the states was doubted by no one. Ever since the assembhng 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 Decla- ration 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 had 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 thir- teen commonwealths were independent of one another, and were held together, juxtaposed rather than united, erafsTaTes Only through their allegiance to the British crown. en[o^yer^' Had that allegiance been maintained there is no complete telling how long they might have gone on thus sovereignty ° o j <=> o disunited ; and this, it seems, should be one ot our chief reasons for rejoicing that the political connection with England was dissolved when it was. A permanent re- dress of grievances, and even virtual independence such as :m 94 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, hi 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 must believe that such an issue would have been unfortunate. However this may be, it is clear that until the connection with Eng- land 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. It was not the segments of the snake, but the creature in its integrity, that captured two British armies. Three weeks before the Declaration of Independence 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 com- mittee 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 under- stood 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 exer- cised. In the mean time this sovereignty, undefined in nature and extent, was exercised, as well as circumstances permitted, by the Continental Congress. 1774-89 THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP 95 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 The Conti- nental Congress ; its extraor- dinary character g^^^^i^M^^ 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 96 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, hi of sovereignty which are possible to any governing body. It declared the independence of the United States ; it con- tracted 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 pur- poses 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 exist- ence the Continental Congress grew weaker and weaker, until it was swept away to make room for a more efficient government. John Dickinson is supposed to have been the principal author of the articles of confederation; but as the 1 he arti- cles of con- work of the committee was done in secret and has never been reported, the point cannot be deter- mined. In November, 1777, Congress sent the articles to the several state legislatures, with a circular letter recom- mending 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 benefi- cent consequences that were little dreamed of. It was first in the great chain of events which led directly to the forma- tion of the Federal Union. Having carried her point, Mary- land ratified the articles on the first day of March, 1781 ; and thus in the last and most brilliant period of the war, 1774-89 THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP 97 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 extra- dition 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, 98 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, m 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 politi- cal 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, in- sisted 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 con- tinuity of government was preserved by an executive com- mittee, consisting of one delegate from each state, and known as the " committee of the states." Saving such mat- ters 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 1774-^ THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP 99 the necessity of single heads. There was a president of Con- gress, 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 remem- bered for other things ; Hanson, Griffin, Gorham, and Bou- dinot 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 keep- THE CRITICAL PERIOD CHAP. Ill ing 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 Con- gress. 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 W 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 pro- vided with no means of raising soldiers save through requi- sitions upon the states, and it could only appoint officers 1774-89 THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP loi 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. N Several essential attributes of sovereignty were thus with- held from the states ; and by assuming all debts contracted by Congress prior to the adoption of the articles, and sol- emnly 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 connec- tion 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 1 78 1, 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 jhearti- fundamental of all the attributes of sovereignty — ^'^^ H^^^ '^ J to create a the power of taxation — was not given to Congress, federal It could neither raise taxes through an excise nor ment en- through custom-house duties ; it could only make re°aTso^e'r-^ requisitions upon the thirteen members of the con- ®'snty federacy 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 I02 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, hi 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 for- eign 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 w^as 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 pre- sently arose it led the distressed people to seek some other method of relief, and thus prepared the way for the Conven- tion 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 de- fects 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 Mary- land, 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 con- stitutional means of compelling it to obey the call. This 1774-89 THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP 103 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 ^y^^^S^^^^a-yfCa/yn/ authority to employ their force, as well by sea as by land, to compel any delinquent state to fulfil its federal engage- ments." 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 exer- cised, and the more readily induce obedience. Indeed," added Washington, " if Congress were unquestionably pos- sessed 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 im- 104 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, hi plied, 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 break- ing 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 Con- tinental 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 blockad- ing 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 imme- diately 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 dis- obedience 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 mani- festly 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. The military weakness due to this imperfect governmental Miiitar Organization may be illustrated by comparing the weakness number of regular troops which Congress was able govern- 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 esti- mate, obtained from averages, will suffice to show the broad contrast. In 1863, the middle year of the War of Seces- I774-S9 THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP 105 sion, 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 num- ber 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 io6 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, in under arms at once, the number would have been 87,000. Now m the spring of 1777, when the Contmental Congress was at the highest point of authority which it ever reached, when France was wilHng 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 popu- lation, 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 impres- sive 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 1 78 1 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." ^ But there is no reason for supposing that the loyalists represented the general senti- ment of the country in the Revolutionary War any more ' History of England in the Eighteenth Century, iii. 447. ISS®^,-**-" N U.1 '.• c \- -,... ■: v' ■s. <^ ^ ) r. \ \ '- 1 vr \ t;^" i o^i -.■; \ ■v^ 1 s ■ J V V \ v .V i '. \: ■s ^• ■ \ ^ \ 1 j i \ V \ V \~ >^ v. \^. m ■^ . V \ V '' . >.. Cs, p^' »- "^ - •, -■ w^ c- ^^ \ ii ; iiK \ •\ *!> \ ^ '^ '':^ X -^ Vj X *■ ^ \"-." ft ^ ^ X X i 4 io8 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iii 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 1 78 1, in fighting for the priceless treasure of self-government, than they were in 1864, when they fought for the mainte- nance 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 con- duct of the earlier war and the energetic conduct of the later. 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 Extreme difficulty raisc a surplus to hand over to Congress. obTalni'if °a '^^^ Continental rag money had ceased to circu- revenue \^iq 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 Massa- chusetts 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 I774-S9 THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP 109 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 govern- ment 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 accord- ing 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. 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 dis- bandment 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 rea- son, the army should be kept together so long as the British remained in New York, if not until they should have sur- rendered the western frontier posts. But Congress could not pay the army, and was afraid of it, — and not Dread of without some reason. Discouraged at the length ^^^^'■"^y 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 dis- content. In the spring of 1778, after the dreadful winter at Valley Forge, several officers had thrown up their commis- sions, and others threatened to do likewise. To avert the .X PL.W.^- ti-:aim .\\s 1 kom site of Broadway and broumi mklli 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 short- comings 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 convincing orator and brilliant writer, an excellent lawyer, and a clear-headed and industrious student of political his- tory. He was also eminent as a political leader, although he lacked faith in democratic government, and a generous impa- tience 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 more remarkable than the early age at which these were developed. At the age of fifteen an able 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 132 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, hi 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 citi- zens, 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 strong and clean-cut 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 woe- fully 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 shijD. 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 distin- guished 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. 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 bold and manly part. Elizabeth Rutgers was a widow, who had fled from New York after its capture by General Howe. Her The case of Confiscated estate had passed into the hands of Wadding^' Joshua Waddiugtou, 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. ALEXANDER HAMILTON 134 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, hi 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 creat- ing 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 their 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 nulli- fied 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 poli- tician, 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 respect- able citizens reluctantly admitted that Hamilton's arguments were unanswerable. A club of boon companions, to which 1784 THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP 135 Ledyard belonged, made the same admission by the pecuHar manner in which it undertook to silence him. It was gravely proposed that the members of the club should pledge them- selves 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 mur- der. The incident well illustrates the intense bitterness of political passion at the time, as Hamilton's conduct shows him in the light of a courageous and powerful defender of the central government. For nothing was more significant in the verdict which he had obtained than its implicit asser- tion of the rights of the United States as against the legis- lature of a single state. 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 recommen- dation 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. Emigration But the emigration which took place between 1783 °f Tones 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 136 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iii 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 offi- cers, or special annuities, or appointments in the civil ser- vice. 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 Revolu- tionary army ever received from Congress. 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 most nearly concerns this moment of our story, was probably 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 pro- visions. 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 1784 THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP 137 United States was distinctly pledged. On this point, also, Congress was powerless to enforce the treaty. Massachu- setts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina had all enacted laws obstructing con-rress the collection of British debts ; and in fiat defiance ^^ unable to entorce of the treaty these statutes remained in force payment until after the downfall of the Confederation. The British states were aware that such conduct needed an Engf^nd' excuse, and one was soon forthcoming. Many retaliates '^ _ _ ^ by retusing negroes had left the country with the British tosurren-'^ . der the fleet : some doubtless had sought their freedom ; western others, perhaps, had been kidnapped as booty, and p°^^^ 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 years in the state legis- latures, in town and county meetings, at dinner-tables, and in taverns, with the general result that, until such compen- sation 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 northwestern 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 a lucrative trade in furs. ^ These were Ogdensburgh, Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, and Macki- naw, with a few others of less importance. 138 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, hi In the spring of 1787 there were advertised for sale in Lon- don 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 probably have passed through the hands of American merchants. The London fur traders were naturally unwilling to lose their control over this busi- ness, and in the language of modern politics they brought " pressure " to bear on government to retain the fortresses as long as possible. The American refusal to pay British creditors furnished a plausible 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 Great Britain sur- rendered this chain of strongholds commanding the woods and waters of our northwestern frontier. CHAPTER IV DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 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 prin- ciples of the "Wealth of Nations " were few indeed. The simple principle that when two parties trade both Barbarous must be gainers, or one would soon stop trading, tionTabout 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 strict- est 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 seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries all the commercial legisla- tion of the great colonizing states was based upon this theory of the use of a colony. For effectiveness, it shared to some I40 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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 de- spised 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 alto- gether, colonies and mother countries contrived to increase their wealth in spite of it. The colonies, however, under- stood 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 real- ization 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. 1783 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 141 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 mea- sures which led to a second war within thirty years might ,. ytg^i^SMi^rU y^ ^'^•" V IliS TICKET etitiiles the Bearer to receive | I ^.v *; T "'*' ^ ' ">^ Prize as cay be dra'Vvn againii it* Num- v ! i^ \^ iccor-dun^ to a Refoluucv. of CONGICESi, ; FACSIMILE OF A CONTINENTAL LOTTERY TICKET have been prevented. But the wisdom of Pitt found less favour in Parliament than the dense stupidity of Lord Shef- field, 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. 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 142 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv Massachusetts than anywhere in Great Britain. An oak , .,, vessel could be built at Gloucester or Salem for Shipbuild- ing in New twcnty-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 Eng- land, PVance, 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 advan- tage, 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 impov- erish the nation which she regarded as her best customer. In July, 1783, an order in council proclaimed that hence- forth 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 inter- change of commodities between the states and the islands, which was greatly hampered by this restriction. During the British whole of the eighteenth century the West India acts^and°'^ sugar trade with the North American colonies and orders in with Great Britain had been of immense value to all council . 1 11 1 1 1 -11 directed partics, and all had been seriously damaged by the American Curtailment of it due to the war. Now that the commerce 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 trad- ing 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 espe- cial attention to the want of union among the thirteen states. Great indignation was aroused in America, and re- 1785 DRIFTINC; TOWARD ANARCHY U3 //: IH 1, 1 •^ , :i^ Www^ •f; •:- ^. ■^. 1 t: ' ' ■ E, - • \ INDEPENDENCE HALL AND NEW THEATRE, PHILADELPHIA, 17S5 prisals were talked of, but efforts were first made to obtain 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 Phila- delphia 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. John Adams tries in vain to negotiate a commer- cial treaty 144 'i^HE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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 an- tagonists. 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 Newfound- land fishery should be curtailed as much as possible. Sper- maceti 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 manu- facturers, it was argued, already enjoyed all needful privi- leges 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 Naviga- tion 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 con- fining 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 1785 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 145 VIEW FROM BATTERY, NEW VuUK 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 natu- rally despised abroad. Great Britain 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 politi- cal 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 suffi- cient 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 146 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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 re- taliation. " I should be sorry," he said, "to adopt a monop- oly, 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 com- mercial 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 i ^68 and the embargo of 1 808, 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." It was obvious enough that the separate action of the states upon such a question was only adding to the general Reprisal Uncertainty and confusion. In 1785 New York impossi- laid a double duty on all goods whatever imported states im- in British ships. In the same year Pennsylvania flicdng" passed the first of the infamous series of American duties tariff acts, designed to tax the whole community for the benefit of a few greedy manufacturers. Massachu- setts sought to establish committees of correspondence for the purpose of entering into a new non-importation agree- ment, and its legislature resolved that " the present powers of the Congress of the United States, as contained in the 1785 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 147 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 com- ply with their instructions, and set forth their reasons in a paper which was approved by Samuel Adams, and caused ROOM IN FRAUNCES'S TAVERN 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 sug- gested 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 ( 148 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv of their own, feared that the exclusion of British competi- tion 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, assert- ing the paramount need of harmonious and united action. In the Virginia assembly, a hot - headed member. Rev, Charles Thruston, known as " the warrior parson," declared himself in doubt " whether it would not be better to encour- age the British rather than the eastern marine ; " but the remark was greeted with hisses and groans. 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 incongrui- ties. 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. 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 1785 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 149 Connecticut threw hers wide open, an act which she fol- lowed up by laying duties upon imports from commercial Massachusetts. Pennsylvania discriminated against differenT^" 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 ^^ (o^/^^^yt^^^ 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 fully manifested than in George Clin- ton, the Revolutionary general, whom the people elected governor for six successive terms. He was a kinsman of Sir Henry Clinton, the British general ; both were descended from Earls of Lincoln. By dint of shrewdness and untiring I50 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv push, George 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 ex- tremely narrow. In his mind, the welfare of New York meant the pulling down and thrusting aside of all her neigh- bours 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 opposi- tion 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 fire- wood 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 152 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv market boat which was rowed across from Pauhis 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 ^i,8oo a year on it. Connecticut was equally prompt. At a great meet- ing of business men, held at New London, it was unani- mously 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. To these commercial disputes there were added disputes about territory. The chronic quarrel between Connecticut and Pennsylvania over the valley of Wyoming was decided Disputes '^^ th^ autumn of 1782 by a special federal court, about terri- appointed in accordance with the articles of con- tory ; dis- -^ ^ asters in federation. The prize was adjudged to Pennsylva- Wyoming° nia, and the government of Connecticut submitted ^'^^'^ as gracefully as possible. But new troubles were in store for the inhabitants of that beautiful region. The CONNECTICUT SETTXEMHENTS PENNSYLVANIA. SCALE OF MILES. 154 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv traces of the massacre of 1 778 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 accumula- tion 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 Wyo- ming, 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 Dickin- son, accusing the farmers of sedition, and hinting that extreme measures were necessary. Having thus, as he thought, prepared the way, he attacked the settlement. 1784 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 155 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 exhaus- tion, or furnished food for wolves. But this was more than the Pennsylvania legislature had intended. Patterson's zeal - ^Xj ^yr^/^y^l. 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 regi- 156 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv ment 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 arriv- ing in the valley, Armstrong held a parley with the Con- necticut 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 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 gov- erned 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 legisla- ture 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. In the Green Mountains and on the upper waters of the ^ See Chapman's History of Wyoming^ Wilkes-Barrd, 1830; Miner's History of IVyoffiittg, Philadelphia, 1845 ; Stone's Poetry and Histoty of Wyoming^ New York, 1844; Hoyt's Seventee7i Towns/tips in the County of Luzerne, Harrisburg, 1879. 1777-84 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 157 Connecticut there had been trouble for many years. In the course of the Revokitionary 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 con- nected 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 asso- ciation of Green Mountain Boys endeavoured to cut the Gordian knot by declaring Vermont an independent state, and applying to the Continental Congress for ad- Troubles mission into the Union. The New York delegates '" ^^^ Green m Congress succeeded in defeating this scheme, Mountains, but the Vermont people went on and framed their ^^^^~ "^ constitution. Thomas Chittenden, a man of little education 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 Con- necticut 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 Con- gress. 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 Con- gress, 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 Lotha- ringia on the banks of this New World Rhine, — to be called New Connecticut. By this time New Hampshire 1 I have noticed that to readers unfamiliar with the early history of New England, the mention of these occupations is misleading. Both Putnam and Chittenden were gentlemen of eminently respectable an- cestry. 158 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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 pre- pared to do likewise, and for a moment war seemed inevita- ble. But here, as in so many other instances, Washington appeared as peacemaker, and prevailed upon Governor Chit- tenden 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. Mean- while, 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 mysteri- ously murdered in the depths of the forest. ' 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 Frois- sart 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 ^ The story of the Vermont difficulties has been well summed up by Hildreth, Hisfoiy of the ignited States, vol. iii. pp. 407-410. See, also, Benton, The Vennotit Settlers and the New York Land Speculators, Minneapolis, 1894. 1784 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 159 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 his- toric precedent to help "them in forming a different opinion. No one could possibly foresee that within five years a num- ber of gentlemen at Philadelphia, containing among them- selves an amount of political sagacity such as has seldom i6o THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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 them- selves, 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 so large an act of constructive statesmanship. It was, more- over, a strange and apparently fortuitous combination of cir- cumstances 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 One nation <^isdainfully askcd whether European powers were or thir- expcctcd to deal with thirteen governments or with teen ? 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 Eng- land 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 use- less 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 com- mercial 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 sov- ereigns. 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 1784 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 161 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. 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 Eu- rope 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 humili- ating 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 superin- tendent 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 cus- tom. 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 American sickening work. Just before John Adams had j^in ' been appointed minister to England, and while he ^ggiJf^in was visiting in London, he suddenly learned that Holland, 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 pro- tested. 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, \ l62 THE CRITICAL TERIOD chap, iv after innumerable delays and vexations and no little danger, in three weeks. The bankers had contrived, by ingenious excuses, to keep the drafts from going to protest until the minister's arrival, but the g-azettes were full of the troubles of Congress and the bickerings of the states, and everybody \\-as suspicious, Adams applied in vain to the regency of Amsterdam. The promise of the American government was not reg~arded 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 con- trary 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 \N-as 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 t\-pical, instance. John Jay's experience at the unfriendly court of Spain ^^■as perhaps even more trying. European governments might treat us with cold disdain, and European bankers might pronounce our securities worthless, but there ^^•as one quarter of the world from which even worse measure was meted out to us. Of all the bar- barous 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 stof}- is told in John Adams's J/Vrvcj. vol. \-iii. pp. 153-191. In a letter c;Uled forth by the affair. Franklin thus hits the nail on the head : '• I hope these mischievous events will at length convince our people of the truth of what I long since wrote to them, that t/iefouHJa- tiifH ofcretiit aifroad must be laid at horm. When the States have not faith enough in a Congress of their own choosing to trust it with money for the payment of their common debt, how can they expect that that Congress should meet with credit when it wants to borrow more money for their use from strangers." Franklin to John Adams., Passy, 5 Feb., 1784- '7 ^'4 \)\'\\li:i(, iOWAKJj ANARCHY 163 the Me^literranean, After the breaking up of the great Moorish kingdr;m« of the Middle Age«, thi» region had fallen under the nominal control of the Turkish sultans as lords paramount of the orthodox Mohammedan world. Its miser- JOHN A/MMS able populations became the prey of banditti. Swarms of half-savage chieftains settled down upon the land The Bar- like IfKjusts, and out of such a pandemonium of •^•"'y p""^*^-* rf>bl)ery 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 ol \\n- most terrible despotisms ever known to the world. I'he things done daily by the robber sovereigns were such as to make a civilized imagination recoil with horror. One i64 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv of these cheerful creatures, who reigned at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and was called Muley Ismail, 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 Bar- bary 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, cap- turing 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 be- yond 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. Against these pirates the governments of Europe con- tended 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 Mediterra- nean that this dreadful scourge was destroyed. Americans, 1 See Busnot, History of the Reign of Muley Ismail^ London, 171 5, P- 35- I HISTORY O F T H E Reign oiMuleylfmael, THE Prefent King of Morocco^ Fex,^ Tafilet^ Sous^ &c. Of the Revolt and Tragical End of feveral of his Sons, and of his Wives. Of the horrid Executions of many of his Offi- cers and Subje^s* Of his Genius, Policy, and Arbitrary Govern- ment. Of the cruel Perjecution of the Chriftian Slaves in his Dominions : With an Account of three Voyages to Miquen/z, zxvX'Ceuta^ in order to Ranfbm them. By F. Dominic K BusNOT, one of the Commiflaries for the Redemption ^ of Captives in the Dominions oi Morocco. Tranjlatedffrom thi Original 'French Motpy] fir fi Printed at Ko2Ln, this frefent TeoTy^ iji^.' LONDON: Printed for J,BELL,zt the Croft Keys and £Wie in CornlM-^ ajid ^. B 4 K F. it, at tlie Bla ck Boy in Pater'Nofier-Ro jr. 1715. FACSIMILE TITLE-PAGE OF THE HISTORY OF THE REUiN OF MULEY ISMAEL i66 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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 Medi- terranean 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 American ... . citizens with impunity, and American citizens were seized 1 nappe ^^^ ^^^^ .^^^ 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. In 1786 Congress felt it necessary to take measures for protecting the lives and liberties of American citizens. The person who was grotesquely called " Emperor " of Morocco at that time was different from most of his kind. He had a taste for reading, and had thus caught a glimmer- ing 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 1786 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 167 in our history are more amusing, or more irritating, than the interview of John Adams with an envoy from TripoU 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 Tripoli could not quite tell which. The envoy's love for ti^a'ckmln mankind was so great that he could not bear the ^^^^i- '786 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 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. 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 coneress this has failed in discharging the primary function unable to of government, and forthwith ceases to have any American reason for existing. In March, i y^iG, Grayson wrote to Madison that several members of Congress thought seriously of recommending a general convention for remod- elling the government. " I have not made up my mind," says Grayson, " whether it would not be better to bear the i68 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv ills we have than fly to those we know not of. I am, how- ever, in no doubt about the weakness of the federal gov- ernment. 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 every- thing which is the direct reverse. I predict the worst con- sequences from a half-starved, limping government, always moving upon crutches and tottering at every step." —- - 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 Fin n i 1 legislation. That financial distress was widespread distress and dcep-seatcd was not to be denied. At the thrpoiiticd 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 agricul- ture the chief resources were the carrying trade, the ex- change 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 SPANISH DOLLAR $1.00 FOREIGN COINS FORMERLY IN CIRCULATION IN THE UNITED STATES I70 THE CRITICAL PERIOD CHAP, iv 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 pro- sperity 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 mar- gin 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 1786 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 171 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. Conse- quently, 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 172 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv of value ; and Isaiah Thomas, editor of the Worcester " Spy," announced that he would receive subscriptions for his paper in salt pork. It is worth while, in this connection, to observe what this specie was, the scarcity of which created so much embarrass- ment. 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 state of the ^^nd to hand. Beside the ninepences and four- coinage pence-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 half- pence 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 opportuni- ties 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 decipher- ing its legend. ^■'fi*i^ ^ "...!&> u. lomass ptafccWcttvjit^ ;*^_ Or, The ^onrftn- ' ' 'i ' . ~ . "AnXaSCtjie Kt.'> M! MAX vs t.s r ;» iX-kK Vol XV,] T H I. R S O A »', J ISAIAH THOMAS, i i !?■■ - - FACSIMILE PAGE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS SPY 174 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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. Cost of the The cost of the war, estimated in cash, had been at'^MorHs about $ 1 70,000,000 — a huge sum if we consider fmm^n^ the circumstauces of the country at that time. services 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 Penn- sylvania. This statesman was born in England, but he had come to Philadelphia in his boyhood, and had amassed a large 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, neverthe- less, signed his name to that document, and scarcely any one had contributed more to the success of the war.^ It was he who raised the money which enabled Washington to complete the great campaign of Trenton and Princeton. In 1 78 1 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 ^ Probably the winning of independence was due more to Morris than to any other man except Washington. Copious data for studying his career are collected in Sumner's The Financier atid Finances of the American Revolution, New York, 189 [, 2 vols. '^f^^ 'l^TT-t,/^ .lira' .ihcicof '.n GW. "NT.^ r 'iiiv^y. according u ^^^. tlic l-U-f.-iu'-ii'ns o'V thJ-^ij;!*!! ''^,'^'k^yl'm^ W' Obverse ^^mmmsmm^^^?^^^^^^(^mm^^^^k^^^?^'-- '~,c3te6i,^tie6 \ • 9 ^\^~?:.^. «^? ^ Reverse SPECIMEN OF CONTINENTAL CURRENCY By ■ ' ■«MX c;/'7.v ::*%:. i^ "iv-* >.¥- . ^■^'^ »«v^A /|M>^.'vy'f9f %Kl(. SPECIMEN OF CONTINENTAL CURRENCY 1786 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 177 upon our ministers in Europe after the manner already de- scribed. In every dire emergency he was Washington's chief reliance. 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 com- mittee of finance, under whose management the disorders only hurried to a crisis. By 1786, under the universal de- pression 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 ban- quets, so now a craze for fictitious wealth in the The craze shape of paper money ran like an epidemic through mon^y^^'^ the country. There was a Barmecide feast of ^786 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 con- stitution 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 o SCALES FOR WEIGHING COINS 178 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv disorderly condition of the country, and went far toward call- ing into existence the needful popular sentiment in favour of an overruling central government. The disorders assumed very different forms in the differ- ent 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 — Connecti- cut 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 to- bacco. As a natural consequence, the paper dollar instantly fell to seventy cents, and went on declining. In South Agitation Carolina an issue was tried somewhat more cau- !md°mMdie tiously, but the planters soon refused to take the states 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 fire- arms 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 prohibit- ing 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 I I KtZ'Cfse SPECIMEN OF MASSACHUSETTS CURRENCY Obverse Keverse SPFXIMEN OF CONNECTICUT CURRENCY 1786 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY i8i legal tender after the next January. The influence of Wash- ington, 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 dis- cussion 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 issu- ing 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 re- spected 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 mer- chants refused their paper, so that it speedily became worth- less. i82 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv The business of exchange was thus fast getting into hope- less confusion. It has been said of Bradshaw's Railway- Guide, the indispensable companion of the traveller in Eng- land, that no man can study it for an hour without qualifying himself for a lunatic 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 intel- lect 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. 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 Distress in New 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 ship- building, 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 occupa- tion by the enemy's troops. Nowhere, perhaps, was there a f¥m M.X)CC.LlrtTrj, X^W Reverse SPECIMEN OF NEW YORK CURRENCY ':f^^^€y'^^'$'^f€'i'''!r' tr ij.j \ ait'C tr. 'itJ^ '»- }\L*llU ,'. o» iHc J iOV'.l ' '..1 ;l^t .i;£Ss. «&<&«'> SPECIMEN OF NEW YORK CURRENCY 1786 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 185 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, impris- onment for debt was common. High-minded but unfortu- nate 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. The debates over paper money in the Rhode Island legis- lature 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 over- whelming majority in favour 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 gold. 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 credit- ors and buy new gowns for their wives, whose raiment was i86 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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 aston- ished, and then enraged. The trouble, as they truly said, was with the wicked merchants, who would not money vie- take the paper dollars at their face value. These Rhode Is- """^^^ wcrc thus thwarting the government, and land; the must be puuishcd. An act was accordingly hur- Ye"mea- ried 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 dis- cord 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 warn- ing purchasers against farm produce from Rhode Island. :-:^m r T -^ ' V-f >^. rk^:\\! (''/■iv; Jieverse SPECIMEN OF PENNSYLVANIA CURRENCY r^^ r :r :iY do \ '. ■ S Bill ^J I, enticle the 1 a^V L A ^' , aeid ar ir..; > - ■) •■.-cev'-'e i/ SPECIMEN OF MARYLAND CURRENCY 1786 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 189 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 dis- count. 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 hun- dred 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 de- clared the forcing act unconstitutional, and dismissed the complaint. Popular wrath then turned upon them. A spe- cial 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 I90 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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 everywhere, and Rhode Island was ruthlessly 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 de- posit it with the judge; and the judge must thereupon issue a certificate discharging the debt. The form of cer- tificate 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. While scorn was thus poured out upon Rhode Island, much sympathy was felt for the government of Massachu- setts, 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 Rag money '■ defeated in ^7,000,000, and the State's arrears to the federal setts; the government amounted to some ^7,000,000 more. smTect\on Adding to thcse sums the arrears of bounties due Aug. 17S6- to the soldiers, and the annual cost of the state, Feb. 1787 ' 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 cir- cumstances the payment of debts and taxes was out of the question ; and as the same state of things made creditors 1786 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 191 clamorous and ugly, the courts were crowded with lawsuits. The lawyers usually contrived to get their money by exact- ing 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 col- lected. Homesteads were sold for the payment of fore- closed mortgages, cattle were seized in distrainer, and the 10 an whom u niav conc-rn '' IV WarwiCK, m ths County of Kent, on th^WJ Day of July, at my Dwelling-Houie ^t WarwkH lodged vuh me th. Sam of Eighty-niue Pm,ndii Four Shillings and Ei^Ht Pence, lawful Mone. be.ng m full.of a judgn.l-nt of Court, w U S' Kadand obt^ bed ag.inft the faid f^mc Arnod* /->, r>» * - ^-' J at tne Inrenor Court of Coiiimoa Pleas, hdd it Prmlri^r,^, - Vv V lai> • Th-^r ^^. r • V ^^^^^'^'^nce m December fpeds .omphed ;vu:, the La^v refpcding the Paper- i Currency; and .hacthe {^id .indre^ Comftocic j hath beea ie^^Uy and duly notified thereof.-As 1 Wuncis my Hand at\Vamic:k. the Bth of Auguit, i ^1^^'- ^ i i I. I A M ■ G R E H K S , j . C. P]ea5. ^ . 1^ ' <^'''-'J^" :-f Rhode- liayct J-iy, at nty Dv.ciiiRg.Houftt at Nyrth- Kinj:;Ilov/t!, ]odged with Hit; the Sinn c■^' '"'"• ••'"■-.- two Pouiids Fi\ e Shillir;)rs and Five Pi-- 1 lAonay, due- to Pacdou Tillin^haft, ..1 .. . , .. Greenv.ich, in the Cou»uy of Lent, Yeoaian, xvx lull of thr Principal and Intereft of a certain Moju gage Deed, payable the iotn Day of Marth ' 1>S2 ; and that the faid ^Samuel BjficJ hath io all Rcipcds complied with the Law rtfpcCu^ Paper- C«J-reucy j and that M>r;ia:u p;;rcrn: 'P; haJl hath bevTi du!y,n&ti,4]. ' my Haad* ;» Nofih-iS;!?; FACSIMILE OF A " KNOW YE CERTIFICATE 192 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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 pre- vail 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 legisla- tion 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 govern- ment 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 incen- diary measures, approved of supporting the federal govern- *\.>;- ib'Siit- ^f)/ SPECIMEN OF SOUTH CAROLINA CURRENCY pEMOffigilpgiMilg fp'l3| '-^-''^^^^^ "^^'^^ ^^^^ entitles •C;'^: //.^ '''- ''''*^"^'~"' ""'-^K t^e Bearer tore I®! N ¥ ^^ ^ J2 !'^e ^^fi£^ thereof in XL "DOJit^mS, .^JS'^!/^*^ cording to aCe^/ij- M^^^ r/^.^ paifed by ^'^'A- Sept. s^f.f, ijTj^ra. as miimimB'' -.ENUINE CONTINENTAL NOTE «fflJ«IIl^B^;®mES This Bill tntitlesg the Be a re f to r? fiO'« paricd by Son ^L N 1 tKl 111 1 cii.N 1 IMiM AL NOTH 1786 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 195 OLD STREET VIEW IN WORCESTER ment, 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 sit- tings 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 sev- eral 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 repar- tee 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 196 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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 Shat- tuck 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. 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 equip- ping 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, 1787 DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY 197 setting fire to houses and robbing the inhabitants. On the approach of Lincoln's army, three days later, Shays The insur- retreated to Pelham, and planted his forces on two p^ressed^b^ steep hills protected at the bottom by huge snow- state troops drifts. 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 <1 1 V HOUSE IN PETERSHAM WHERE SHAYS WAS CAPTURED 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 con- ference between some of the leading rebels and some of the officers. But this was only a stratagem. During the confer- ence 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 thermome- ter dropped below zero and an icy, cutting snow began to fall. There was great suffering during the last ten miles, igS THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, iv 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 direc- tions, 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. 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 Conduct of -i-> 1 . 11 -1 neighbour- put down, Govcmor Bowdom requested the neigh- ing s a es ijouring 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 proclama- tion 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 Commonwealth of Maflachufetts. By His EXCELLENCY JamesBowdoin,Efq. GOVERNOUR of the COMMONWEALTH of MASSACHUSETTS. A Proclamation* WHEREAS by an Aft pafled the fixteenth ofFebruary inftanl, entitled, " An Adl defcribing the difqualifications. to which perfbca fliall befubjefted, which have been, or may be guilty of Trealbn, or giv- ing aid or fupport to the prefent Rebellion, and to whom a pardon may be ex- tended." the General Court have eftabliflied and made known the conditions and difqualifications, upon which pardon and indemnity to certain cfftnders, defcribed in tfie faid Aft, lliall be offered and given ; and have authorized and empowered the Governour, in the name of the General Cqurt, to promife to fuch offenders fuch conditional pardon and indemnity : I HAVE thought fit, by virtue of the authority vcfted in me by the faid A (3:. to iflue this Proclamation, hereby prrmifing pardon dnd indemnity to all offenders within the dcfcription aiorefaid, who are citizens of this State ; under fuch refhidlions. conditions and difqualifications, as are mentioned in the faid Adl . provided they comply with the terms and condi- tions thereof, on or before the twenty-firft day of March next. G I y E N at the Council Chamber in Bo/lon, this Seventeenth Day of February, in the Tear iif our LORD One Thoufind Seven Hundred and Eif^hty Seven, and in the Eleventh Tear <(ftht Independence of the UvlieJ States oj AMERICA. J;A-M ES BOWDOIN. By H~^ ^ r ^^."'^ W E 's T E R N 1 R E S /^ R V E j "" ■"'. 1 7 8 6 - 1\8^ 4^ / V 1 R G I / ^pvS/ '"'-'^ / !/■/'/ B U N / i-Xiiii^™'"''" '784-1 lui N A T 01 7 Y M bus j-- UNITED STATES ILITARY BOUNTY 17 9 6 j/ ( 2 \ '^ ^ f i CO ( fv / 1 •? -~ / ^ y la/fietta ■'1T88 1 A R Y Y illicoth 17y(i 9 . ..-'-^ 1/ OHIO '"^y^ company/ 1787 c^ / ) ^ \-^ ■V J /" J VIRGINIA K E 1 '■" "■'"■ "■ N T U c K Y \ 1777-85 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 209 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 Conven- tion. 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 surren- der. 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 pos- session. She might have held back and made imity of 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 presi- dent of the United States, was destined, by the purchase of Louisiana and the exploration of Oregon, to carry our western frontier beyond the Rocky Mountains, had, in 1779, 2IO THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v done more than any one else to support the romantic cam- paign 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 govern- ment of the new territory, which was only partially success- ful because it attempted too much, but the results of which were in many ways notable. 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 proposes a whcu in any one of them the population should government comc to cqual that of the least populous of the for the original states, it might be admitted into the Union northwest- *=> ' t> em terri- by the conscut 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 1 800 negro slavery must be prohibited within their limits. The names of these ten states have afforded much amusement to Jef- ferson'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 mediae- 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 1784 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY JEFFERSON'S PROPOSED STATES IN THE NORTHWEST, 17S4 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 won- 212 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v derful compound, in which the initial L stood for " Licking," while OS signified "mouth," anti "opposite," and ville "town;" and the whole read neatly 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. 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 to prohibit extinguished in the northwestern territory after fnThe^ the year 1800, but at the same time his anti-slav- nationai ej-y ardour led him to try to extend the national domain ■' i tt t i i • i dommion southward. He did his best to persuade the legislature of Virginia to crown its work b}^ giving up Kentucky to the United States, and he urged that North Carolina and Georgia should also cede their western terri- tories. 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 Lincoln was elected president in i860, — 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 1784 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 213 ounce of prevention worth many a pound of cure. But it failed because of its largeness, because it had too many ele- ments to deal with. For the moment, the proposal to exclude slavery from the northwestern territory was defeated. It got only six states in its favour, where it needed seven.^ 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 south- ward 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. 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 Ten- nessee, 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 ^ " Ten states were present. The 4 Eastern states, N. York, and Penns., were for the clause. Jersey would have been for it, but there were but two members, one of whom was sick in his chambers. South Carolina, Maryland, and ! Virginia ! voted against it. N. Carolina was divided, as would have been Virginia, had not one of its delegates been sick in bed." Jefferson to Madison, April 25, 1784. 214 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v in rural districts of Missouri and Arkansas, They were the refuse of North Carohna, 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 estab- lishment of courts and a militia, but had passed unheeded, and now it seemed that the state had withdrawn her pro- tection 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 counties between the Bald Mountains and the Clinch River consti- tuted an independent state, to which they gave the name of hn Se Franklin ; ^ and they went on to frame a constitu- vier, and tiou and clcct a legislature with two chambers. Franklin, For govcmor they chose John Sevier, one of the ^^ ■^" heroes of King's Mountain, a man of Huguenot ancestry, and such dauntless nature that he has been some- times called 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. ^ The name was given in honour of Benjamin Franklin. An attempt was made to modify it to Frankland (i. e. " land of the free "), but this was voted down. It is often referred to, however, as the state of Frankland. 1786 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 215 In 1786 the one party in each county elected members to represent them in the North CaroHna 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 €^xu> Virginia, where some discontented people wished to secede and join the state of Franklin. For the next two years there was something like civil war, until the North Carolina party grew so strong that Sevier fled, and the state of Frank- lin ceased to exist. Sevier was arrested on a warrant for high treason, but he effected an escape, and after men's pas- sions had cooled down his great services and strong charac- ter brought him again to the front. He sat in the senate of North Carolina, and in 1 796, when Tennessee became a state in the Union, Sevier was her first governor. 2i6 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v 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 pfovernments. The behaviour of these Tennessee back- woodsmen 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 Ameri- can 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. 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 1787 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 217 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 reserva- . tions for the ministry and schools ; " and by selling the Ohio it to the soldiers at a merely nominal price, the '^""^p^"^ penniless Congress might obtain an income, and at the same time recognize their services in the only substantial ^Inxyuy (^d^^nA^TA^ 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 Sbc Nations, as over- lords, 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 2l8 THE CRITICAL PERIOD CHAP. V of Connecticut, and Rufus Putnam, Manasseh Cutler, Win- throp 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 RUFUS Putnam's house at Rutland, mass. 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 sup- posed to have been made by Manasseh Cutler. Jefferson was no longer on the ground, having gone on his mission 1787 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 219 to Paris, but some of the principles of his proposed Ordi- nance of 1784 were adopted. It was provided that the northwestern territory should ultimately be carved into states, not exceeding five in num- ber, 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 nance of 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 220 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v 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 MANASSEH CUTLER'S BIRTHPLACE IN CONNECTICUT domain, was also adopted so far as the northwest was con- cerned ; 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 1787 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 221 more active in bringing about this result than William Grayson of Virginia, who was earnestly supported by Lee. The action of Virginia and North Carolinia at that time need not surprise us. But the movements in favour of emancipation in these two states, and the emancipation actu- ally 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 escap- ing 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. "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 emphat- ically 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," 222 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v even by men most zealous for state rights and most suspi- cious 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 Theory of of the slavcs. Each of these instances marked, in u^poiTwhich one way or another, a brilliant epoch in American l'^L°Jf,L history, and in each case the public interest was based 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, WOLF CREEK MILLS, OHIO, I789 1787 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 223 CAMPUS MARTIUS, MARIETTA, OHIO 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. 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 before. 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 illus- trated 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 Appalachi- cola and the Mississippi rivers, including the southernmost portions of the present states of Alabama and Mississippi, 224 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v with a bit of Louisiana. By the treaty between Great Brit- Spain, ^^^ ^^^ th^ United States, the northern boundary thfselref ^^ ^^^^ provincc was described by the thirty-first article in parallel of latitude ; but Spain denied the right of the treaty . i , i i of 17S3, these powers to place the boundary so low. Her tem^rlnd troops Still held Natchcz, and she maintained that to?hut"u ^^^ boundary must be placed a hundred miles far- the Missis- ther north, starting from the Mississippi at the sippi River , 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 boun- dary should start at the Yazoo. This showed that both Eng- land and the United States were willing to yield the one to the other a strip of territory which both agreed in withhold- ing 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 lately 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 1784 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 225 r u P IJ G II 4 ^ ■ ' // ^ Kxpiauations. k ifo/rhT.'u:,- yrySr//;,-,. /.', /^l'J'rr?ctlje Inch. p r Orleans. The people of Virginia sympathized with the backwoodsmen, but her great statesmen realized the impor- tance of both interests and the danger of a conflict between them. The Spanish envoy, Gardoqui, arrived in the summer of 1784, and had many interviews wich Jay, who was then secretary for foreign affairs. Gardoqui set forth Gardoqui that his royal master was graciously pleased to deal ^^^ J^^ leniently with the Americans, and would confer one favour upon them, but could not confer two. He was ready to 226 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v 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 set- tlements south of the Ohio, there was an outburst of wrath, to which an incident that now occurred gave added viru- lence. 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 wilder- ness. 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 Span- iards. 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 danger- ous 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 protec- Threats of ^^°^- ^^ ^^^ Other hand, there was great agitation secession [^i the scaboard towns of Massachusetts. They 111 Ken- _ _ •' tucky and wcrc disgustcd with the backwoodsmen for making England, such a fuss about nothing, and with the people of '^ the southern states for aiding and abetting them ; and during the 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. 1786 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 227 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 south- ern 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. 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 coun- 228 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v try 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 under- stood better than most men of his time how much that scheme imphed. In his early journeys in the wilderness he had given especial attention to the possibilities of water con- nection 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 1 770, were Washing- ^'^'^y transit lines between east and west, as "the ton's views channel of conveyance of the extensive and valu- on the ini- •' ^ portance of able trade of a rising empire. ' Just before re- tween east Signing liis commissiou in 1783, Washington had and west 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 commer- cial 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 val- ley 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 Or- leans, 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 com- munication 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 Fed- ! 17S5 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 229 eral 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 legisla- ture 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 Wash- ington refused the testimonial, and declined to take ^.^^ ^^^. any pay for his services, because he wished to sighted 1 1 1 1- • 1 • r 1 genius and arouse the people to the political importance of the seif-devo- 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 Wash- ington. 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 ; Maryland and early in 1785 a joint commission of the two ^"h^^yir- states met for consultation at Washington's house ginia re- • • -I • garding tlie at Mount Vernon. A compact insuring harmoni- navigation .... 1 1 ii . . of the Po- ous cooperation was prepared by the commission- tomac, ers ; and then, as Washington's scheme involved ^''^5 the connection of the head waters of the Potomac with those of the Ohio, it was found necessary to invite Pennsyl- vania 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 sys- tem of duties and other commercial regulations, and upon a uniform currency ; and these suggestions were sent, to- gether 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 230 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v 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. Late in 1785, when the Virginia legislature had wrangled itself into imbecility over the question of clothing Congress Madison's with powcr ovcr trade, Madison hit upon an expe- ^epTnid- dient. He prepared a motion to the effect that vance, 17S5 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 con- spicuous among the advocates of a more perfect union, he was careful not to present the motion himself. It was made by another member — John Tyler, father of the president of that name, a sturdy champion of state rights, but on this particular question agreeing with Madison. ^ The plan, how- ever, was " so little acceptable that it was not then persisted in," and the motion was laid on the table. But 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 con- sulted, 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 mat- ters, 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 confer- ence, 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 ^ See L. G. Tyler, Letters and Times of the Tylers, Richmond, 1884, i. 125-134. 1786 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 231 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 icked centres of trade, such as New York and Boston. t 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 recom- 232 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v mendation of additional powers to Congress is within the purview of the commission, it may possibly lead to better consequences than at first occur." 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 pro- jected canals, and already it had come to be a meeting of all the states to discuss some uniform system of legislation on Convention the subjcct of trade. This looked Hke progress, Us^ept'^" yet when the convention was gathered in the 11,1786 State House at Annapolis, on the nth of Septem- ber, the outlook was most discouraging. Commissioners from Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York were present. Massachusetts and New Hamp- shire, 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 commis- sioners ; 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 em- powered 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 har- mony of the several states." And other important matters, — thus again was the weightiest part of the business rele gated to a subordinate clause. So gingerly was the gre question — so dreaded, yet so inevitable — approache This reference to " other matters " was pronounced by th' commissioners to be a vast improvement on the original plan; and Hamilton's address now urged that commissioners 1786 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 233 INVAI'OMS S I A 1 I. Ill H:M' be appointed by all the states, to meet in convention at Philadelphia on the second Monday of the follow- „ ., ^ , ^ . . Hamilton's ing May, " to devise such further provisions as address ; shall appear to them necessary to render the con- step^n '^ stitution 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 234 THE CRITICAL PERIOD CHAP. V 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 sanc- tion the plan of the Annapolis commissioners. In an ordinary season this would perhaps have ended the -■^ v yL^-^^^ ^Oy^n^^ matter, but the winter of 1786-87 was not an ordinary season. All the troubles above described seemed to cul- minate 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 Hamsphire, 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 1786 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 235 ^, g^i-t^va/ta^^ Js4Ut<.i^^^ /M <\'},l'' 04 / _ Ci /•/'>-i /■;^ XCO^^f^^ . -y / > t •'-?•- PRESIDENT DICKINSON'S LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS the failure of the impost amendment. In 1783, when the cessions of western lands were creating a national New York domain, a promising plan had been devised for impost relieving the country of its load of debt, and fur- amendment nishing 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 236 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v public debt. Then the interest of this debt must be pro- vided 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 wran- gling, 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 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 decla- ration seemed little less than an act of secession on the part of New Jersey. The arguments of a congressional com- mittee at last prevailed upon the state to rescind her decla- ration. At the same time there came the final struggle in 1787 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 237 New York over the impost amendment, against which Gov- ernor 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 JUjJtAy^ ^-rytf 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. 238 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v 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 recom- mendation 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 conven- tion. 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 Sudden soon as this was known, there was an outburst of popufar'" joy throughout the land. All at once the people sentiment began everywhere to feel an interest in the pro- posed convention, and presently Massachusetts changed her attitude. Up to this time Massachusetts had been as obsti- nate 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 gov- ernment. 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 Pennsyl- vania, 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 conven- tion at Philadelphia, identical with the one which the Annap- 178; GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 239 olis commissioners had already recommended. The motion was carried, and in this way Congress formally approved and adopted what was going on. Massachusetts immedi- ately chose delegates, and was followed by New York. In April, Georgia and South Carolina followed suit. Connecti- cut and Maryland came on in May, and New Hampshire, OLD REAR VIEW OE li\ DEl'ENUENCE HALL somewhat tardily, in June. Of the thirteen states, Rhode Island alone refused to take any part in the proceedings. 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 ^j^^ p^^. undertaking was to determine whether that Decla- erai Con- ^ vention ration had been for the blessing or the injury of meets at America and of mankind. That they had sue- piua, May ceeded in assembling here at all was somewhat ''^"^^' '^ ^ remarkable, when we think of the curious medley of inci- 240 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v dents 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 pro- posals, 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 pur- poses ; the rest were intelligent critics rather than construc- tive 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 has said that just "as the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded from progressive history, so the Ameri- can Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." 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. It is in that very fact that its excellence largely consists. Let us now see who the men were who did this wonder- ful 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 satis- factory. In such discussions the points which impress the more ordinary and less far-sighted members are sure to have 1787 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 241 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 there- fore contain two or three men of original constructive genius, two or three leading spirits eminent for shrewdness ^.^,^^^7^^^. ^^^ty^^^ and tact, a dozen or more excellent critics representing vari- ous 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 pre- 242 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v sence of a few hot-headed and irreconcilable members, — men of inflexible mind, who cannot adapt themselves to cir- cumstances, and will refuse to play when they see the game going against them. All these points are well illustrated in the assemblage of men that framed our Federal Constitution. In its composi- tion, this group of men left nothing to be desired. In its strength and in its weakness, it was an ideally perfect assem- Th men ^^^^ '^^^^^ wcrc fifty-fivc men, all of them respect- who were able for family and for personal qualities, — men who had been well educated, and had done some- thing whereby to earn recognition in those 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 Rich- ard 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. 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 Madi- son thirty-six. Among political writers, these two men may be ranked in the same order with Aristotle, Montesquieu, and Locke ; and the " Federalist," their joint production, is one of the greatest treatises on government ever written. 1787 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY H3 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 Antifederal- ists; and the action of Hamilton, who was thus prevented ^^^ -^^^i^ 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 influ- ence 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 244 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v went to the other extreme, and expressed his distrust of popular government too plainly. His views were too aristo- cratic and his preference for centralization was too pro- nounced to carry conviction to his hearers. The leading part in the convention fell, therefore, to James Madison, a young man somewhat less brilliant than James Hamilton, but superior to him in sobriety and Madison balance of powers. Madison used to be called the " Father of the Constitution," and it is true that the govern- ment 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 charac- 1787 (^rERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 245 terizes 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 of gross inconsist- ency. The position of leadership, which he won so early JAMES MADISON and kept so long, he held by sheer force of giant intelli- gence, 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 tern- 246 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v porarily lowered. Here in the Federal Convention we are introduced to him at the noblest and most useful moment of his life. Of the fifty-five men here assembled, Washington, Frank- lin, 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 leading Dickinsou, who had moved from Pennsylvania into Delaware, and now came to defend the equal rights of the smaller states. There was James Wilson of Pennsyl- vania, 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 origi- nator 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 Puri- tan, hard-headed and 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 learned chancellor of Virginia, and Daniel Car- roll 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, consist- ing of William Livingston, David Brearley, William Paterson, and Jonathan Dayton, was a 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 1787 GERMS OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 247 two Antifederalists from New York ; and four men of much greater ability, who took an important part in the proceed- ings, 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. ^.^'''p^ 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 24^ THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, v survivor of those who sat there, had been gathered to his fathers. He kept a journal of the proceedings, which was pubHshed after his death, and upon the interesting story told in that journal we have now to enter. CHAPTER VI THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 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 unani- mous 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 gov- ernment should have had a fair trial, the traces of the indi- vidual theories and preferences concerned in its formation should not be revealed. For it was generally as- Difficult sumed that a system of government new in some befc^reThe important respects would be proposed by the con- convention vention, 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 estab- lished. 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 250 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi design of simply amending the articles of confederation by taking away from the states the power of regulating com- merce, 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 fed- eral 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 outset, before the conven- tion had been called to order, some of the delegates began to exhibit symptoms of that peculiar kind of moral coward- ice which is wont to afflict free governments, and of which American history furnishes so many instructive examples. In an informal discussion 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. Washing- In toucs unwoutcdly solemn he exclaimed, " It is solemn ^°^ probablc that no plan we propose will be appeal 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 noble outburst 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 whole- some 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 Wash- 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 251 ington. 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 antago- nism existing between the states, and which at first seemed irreconcilable. It was the happy compromise which united and harmonized these two plans that smoothed the further work of the convention, and made it possible for a stable and powerful government to be constructed. The first of these plans was known as the Virginia plan. GEORGE WASHINGTON It was agreed upon in a committee of the delegates of that state, and was brought forward by Edmund Randolph, gov- ernor 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 of all the sanction ; and this was because they operated upon states, and not upon individuals. When an individual 252 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi defies the law, you can lock him up in jail, or levy an execu- tion upon his property. The immense force of the commu- nity 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 combina- tion 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 states ; 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, de- rived 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 com- pelled they would not agree. Four years of disturbance in 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 253 every part of the country, in the course of which troops had been called out in several states, and civil war had been nar- rowly 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 over- whelmed and the Long Parliament won its triumphs. Such self-restraint had this people shown in days of trial, under a 254 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi vicious government adopted in a time of hurry and sore dis- tress. But late events had gone far to show that it could not endure. The words of Randolph's opening speech are worth quot- ing 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 com- mercial 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 vio- lated ; 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 constitu- tional 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 com- mercial 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." 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 The vir- was absolutcly necessary. It did not solve the a'radicar ' wholc problem, but it was an indispensable begin- cure ning. 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 appor- 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 255 tioned 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 ^.•£.^A^ state to the people of that state. Without such direct re- presentation 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 confedera- tion. 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 256 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi ..one could foresee, and much further than was desirable. The moribund Congress of the Confederation, with its dele- gates 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 con- sciously felt diplomatic character that it was called a Con- gress, 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 inaugu- rate 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 superadding 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, espe- cially 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 tenden- cies. 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 thatj 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 257 in our own day, the disruptive forces have been even more thoroughly and effectually overcome, it is time for the prin- ciples 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 closely limited as that of the counties of England, — on that day the political career of the Ameri- can people will have been robbed of its most interesting and valuable features, and the usefulness of this nation will be lamentably impaired. 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 258 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi 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 consoli- dation ; 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 legis- lature was to be composed of two houses, like the legisla- tures 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 Con- gress. Under the articles of confederation each state had an equal vote, and two thirds were required for many of the 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 259 most important measures. Under the proposed Constitution each state was to have a number of representatives propor- tionate either to its wealth or to the number of its free in- habitants, 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 great- est 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 th^/ earnest de- fender of this extreme provision, soipcompatible with state rights. But in Madison's mind at this moment, in the actual presence of the anarchy of the confederation, the only alter- native which seemed to present itself was that of armed coercion. " A negative on state laws," he said, " is the mild- est 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 con- trol 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 ad- justed through the medium of the federal judiciary. 26o THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi 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 execu- tive, 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. Pass- ing lightly over this, it was urged that, in order to complete the action of the government ujoon 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. Such, in its main outlines, was the plan which Randolph First recep- laid before the convention, in the name of the v°^g°nia^^ Virginia delegation. An audacious scheme ! ex- P^^" claimed 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 con- federation. 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 alto- gether 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 accord- ing to population should be adopted. By the tact of Madi- son 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 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 261 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 ^^c/' cJi^^y^^ 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 neighbour- ing 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 Dickin- son. The proposed assembly, said Mason, was to be, so 262 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi 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 cor- ner-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 elec- tion. 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 Antag- ^^^ ^^^ Congress. On the Virginia plan, the onism be- smaller states would be virtually swamped. Unless tween large -^ ^ states and 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, Pennsyl- vania, 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 geographi- cal 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 ^?;fe^ 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 263 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 mem- bers 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 -j.]^^ j^^^^ confederation. This scheme admitted a federal Jfsey plan ; legislature, consisting of a single house, an execu- a feeble tive in the form of a council to be chosen by Con- ^^ '^ '^'^ gress, and likewise a federal judiciary, with powers less extensive than those contemplated by the Virginia plan. 264 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi It gave to Congress the power to regulate foreign and do- mestic 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 permis- sion to levy duties and regulate commerce, but such a per- mission would amount to nothing unless Congress were armed with the power of enforcing its decrees upon indi- viduals. 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. Hamil- ton, 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 repre- sentation, however, remained as a stumbling-block. Pater- son, 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 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 265 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 Vir- ginia plan, said Brearley, the three states of Virginia, Mas- sachusetts, 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 represen- tatives 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 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 sup- poses sovereignty in the members composing it, and sover- eignty 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 representa- Georgia / 266 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi tion." This argument was repeated with a triumphant air, as seeming to reduce the Virginia plan to absurdity. Pater- son 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 pro- portion to their magnitude, and what will be the conse- quence ? 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 Con- gress] 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 repre- sentatives 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 Penn- sylvania, 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 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 267 was kept up with much learning and acuteness by Madison, Ellsworth, and Martin, and history was ransacked for testi- mony 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 slaveholding 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. 268 THE CRITICAL PERIOD 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 PH!^ UO^ou^rry^ 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 v.ot trust yon. If you possess the power, the abuse of it could not be checked ; and what then would prevent you from exer- cising it to our destruction ? . . . Sooner than be ruined, tJiere are foreign powers %vJio will take ns by the hand. I say this not to threaten or intimidate, but that we should reflect seriously before we act." This language called forth 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 269 a rebuke from Rufus King. " I am concerned," said he, " for what fell from the gentleman from Delaware, — take a foreign pozver 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." 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 sug- gested 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 270 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi to the arrangement which was ultimately adopted, according to which the national principle was to prevail in the The Con- ^^ ^^ ^ . nirii necticut House of Representatives, and the lederal prin- compromise ^.^^^ .^ ^^^ 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, Pennsylva- nia, 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 Con- necticut 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 con- stituted as possible, with Elbridge Gerry as chairman ; and on the 5th of July, after a recess of three days, the com- mittee reported in favour of the compromise. Fresh objec- tions 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 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 271 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 ^%^^W/5^/-^ •-^^^?*-?*^ 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 conven- tion." Mason's subsequent course was not quite in keeping with the promise of this brave speech, and in Gerry we shall observe a similar divergence. At present a timely speech from Madison soothed the troubled waters ; but it was only 272 THL CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi after eleven days of somewhat more tranquil debate that the compromise was adopted on the i6th 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 Caro- lina, 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 prevent- ing a tie, and thus bringing the vexed question to a happy issue. According to the compromise secured with so much diffi- culty, 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 Washing- ton'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 sur- mounted by enlarging from time to time the basis of repre- sentation. It now seemed inadvisable that the senators should be chosen by the lower house out of persons nomi- nated 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. ^ It is seldom, if ever, that a political compromise leaves 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 273 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 Sen- j^ ^^^ ^ ate, for by securing a lower house, which repre- J^'^^'^J''^^^^ sented the American people, and not the American Madison's states, they won the whole battle in so far as the question of radically reforming the government was con- cerned. As soon as the foundation was thus laid for a GERRY'S HOUSE AT CAMBRIDGE government which should act directly upon individuals, it obviously became necessary to abandon the articles of con- federation, 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 3.nd 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 uncon- 274 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi genial 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 Irreconcua- . *^ bies go 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 mas- ter 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 oppo- nent of the Virginia plan, became from that time forth to the end of his life the most devoted of Federalists. 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 pro- tagonisms ; pcrly be Carried out. As the antagonism between dread of great and small states disappeared from the scene, the future other antagonisms appeared. It is worth noting that just for a moment there was revealed a glim- mering of jealousy and dread on the part of the eastern states toward those of which the foundations were laid in 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 275 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 K^yHjCi^L^iZZi^ 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 276 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi 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 Massachu- setts 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, nism be- and it rcsulted in the first two of the long series states and of compromiscs by which their repressible 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, exor- cise it forever. From this moment down to 1865 we shall continu- ally be made to realize how the American peo- ple 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 repre- sentatives 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 ty^^. 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 277 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 manu- facturing 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 Indi- ana. 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 popula- tion 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. ^ But now there w^as 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 . . Were slaves population. As human bemgs the slaves might be to be reek- described as population, but in the eye of the law sons or as'' they were chattels. In the northern states slavery <^'^^"^'s'' 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 Cotes- worth 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 com- plicated dispute ensued. The South Carolina proposal sug- gested a uniform rule, but it was one that would scarcely 278 THE CRITICAL PERIOD CHAP. VI 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 main- tained that slaves, as chattels, ought no more to be reckoned as part of the population than houses or ships. " Has a man in Virginia," ex- claimed Paterson, " a number of votes in pro- portion to the number of his slaves .-' And if ne- groes 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 encourage- ment 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." The attitude taken by Virginia was that of peacemaker. 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 per- ceive that if Virginia were to gain an increase of political 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 279 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 v/^^cJ^ 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 28o THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi 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 endan- ger 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 Conven- tion 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 appor- tion 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 phis or with minus. On that occasion Madison had offered a successful compromise, in which a slave figured as three fifths rtfths com- of a freeman ; and Rutledge of South Carolina, who a genuitie was uow prcscut in the convention, had supported S'ftion if ^^^ measure. Madison now proposed the same ever there mcthod of getting ovcr the difficulty about repre- was one . sentation, and his compromise was adopted. It was agreed that in counting population, whether for direct taxa- tion or for representation in the lower house of Congress, five slaves should be reckoned as three individuals. 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 281 All this was thoroughly illogical, of course ; it left the question whether slaves are population or chattels for theo- rizers 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, neverthe- less, 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 conse- quences were unquestionably very serious indeed. Hence- forth, 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. Admit- ting all this, however, it remains undeniable that the Constitution saved us from anarchy ; and there words, it can be little doubt that slavery and every other bTstsdu- remnant of barbarism in American society would *'o" attain- ■' able under have thriven far more lustily under a state of thecircum- chronic anarchy than was possible under the Con- stitution. Four years of concentrated warfare, animated by an intense and lofty moral purpose, could not hurt the char- acter or mar the fortunes of the people, like a century of aimless and miscellaneous squabbling over a host of petty 282 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi 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. The second great compromise between northern and Compro- southern interests related to the abolition of the niisebe- foreign slave-trade and the power of the federal tween New o i England government over commerce. All the states ex- and South ® r- ■, ^ ■,• i/- • ■ ■, ^ Carolina ccpt South Carolma and Lreorgia wished to stop foreign'^ the importation of slaves ; but the physical con- siave-trade ^jj^-^Qj^g Qf j-i^e and indigo culture exhausted the negroes so fast that these two states felt that their indus- tries 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 tell- ing 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 neigh- bouring 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 Con- gress, 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 regulate commerce, except by a two thirds vote of both houses. The New Englanders insisted that such a restriction would tie the hands of the federal government most unfortunately. But if a tariff act 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 283 could be passed by a simple majority, it was feared that we should come to see — well, just what we have come to see ; the shameful system of wholesale robbery upon which Con- gress had entered by 1828, and which during the last thirty years has been growing ever more cynical, ruthless, and base. 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 1 808 ; and in return South Carolina and Georgia consented to the clause empowering Congress to pass navi- 284 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi gation 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. 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 manufac- compro- tures. The poor despise labour when performed tTmak^™^ ^y slaves. They prevent the immigration of the adhe- whites, who really strengthen and enrich a coun- sion of y o Virginia try. They produce the most pernicious effect on doubtful -^ . <- 1 -1 manners. h,very 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 pow- erless 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 i^^^ 1 78; THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 285 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 ,-*^ -ii^' • i really like our Housc of Representatives the committee of that of 1 1 1 i 1 • Great ways and means had two chairmen, — an upper Britain 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 for- eign, 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 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 313 then answer to the English cabmet, 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. 314 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi 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 minis- ter ; 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 com- mand 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. Glad- stone 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 concentra- tion of responsibility. The prime minister's bills cannot be disregarded, like the president's messages ; and thus, too. 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 315 the house is kept in hand, and cannot degenerate into a debating club.^ A system so delicate and subtle, yet so strong and effi- cient, 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 prac- tical 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 , , In the separating the executive power from the legislative. British As a member of Parliament, the prime minister mTnt"the introduces the legislation which he is himself ex- department pected to carry into effect. Nor does the English '^ not sepa- '■ •' ... . rated irom system even keep the judiciary entirely separate, the legisia- for the lord chancellor not only presides over the House of Lords, but sits in the cabinet as the prime minis- ter'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 resem- /"^ the framework of the English government. Nay, more, during this century the king had seemed even more of a real insti- tution 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 assem- blies 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 impossi- ble 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 dissolu- 3i8 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi tion with which they were famihar was that in which Dun- more 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 elec- tion for short terms. Among the ancient royal powers wielded by the American president, perhaps the most important is his limited power of veto. An act passed by the two houses of Congress is not in force until he has signed it, or else has allowed ten days to elapse without expressing his disapproval of it. If he refuse to sign a bill, it requires a two thirds majority in both houses to jDass it over his refusal. This gives the president a very considerable check upon the national legis- lature. The English sovereign once possessed a veto power without such specific limitations, but has long since practi- cally lost it altogether. The last use of it was in 1707, when Queen Anne vetoed a Scotch militia bill. George HI, regarded the veto power as one of his prerogatives, but he never ventured so far as to exercise it. In our time Mr. Bagehot writes that the queen must sign her own death- warrant if the two houses agree in sending it up to her.^ The American constitution is in this respect essentially less democratic and more monarchical than the British. ^ Bagehot, The English Constitution^ p. 122; Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History, p. 70G. 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 319 The independence of the executive magistrate, and his prerogative of veto, are a fundamental part of the American system of government. The position of the state governors is in these respects analogous to that of the president. Probably this system is better adapted to the needs of our country than the more democratic British system. One of the most serious of the dangers which beset democratic government, especially where it is conducted on a great scale, is the danger that the majority for the time being will use its power tyrannically and unscrupulously, as it is always tempted to do. Against such unbridled democracy we have striven to guard ourselves by various constitutional checks and balances. Our written constitutions and our supreme courts are important safeguards, and another great safe- guard is the independence of our executives. But if our executive departments were mere committees of the legisla- ture, like the English cabinet, this independence could not be maintained ; and the loss of it would probably entail upon us greater evils than those which now flow from want of leadership in our legislatures.^ In contrasting presidential with cabinet government, Mr. Bagehot has instructively pointed to the evils attending the long antagonism between President Johnson and Congress. If Johnson's position had been like that of an English prime minister, he would have had to resign at the beginning of the struggle. As it was, his irremovableness goaded Con- gress to such desperation that it tried to make a very ques- tionable use of the process of impeachment. This example .seems to show the superiority of the English system. A contrary inference, however, is suggested by the autumn elections of 1862. There was a notable diminution of the Republican vote, though not enough to give the Democrats a majority in Congress. Supposing the Democrats to have ^ In two admirable essays on " Cabinet Responsibility and the Con- stitution," and " Democracy and the Constitution," Mr. Lawrence Lowell has shown the merits of the American system. Lowell, Essays on Government, Boston, 1890, pp. 20-117. 320 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi gained a majority, if Mr. Lincoln had been Prime Minister instead of President, it would have been necessary for him to resign. In that critical moment of a great war, the bare pos- sibility of a sudden change of leaders and policy would have been an evil, and the irremovableness of the executive was an element of strength on the side of the government. The phenomena with which history deals are so compli- cated that one can seldom arrive at positive conclusions by citing real or hypothetical examples. But there is one respect in which daily experience is teaching Americans to set a high value upon the independence of the executive. That independence, I repeat, is needed as a check upon the irresponsible tyranny of the legislature. Two centuries ago the legislature was needed as a check upon the monarch. To-day the tyranny which we have chiefly to dread, and under which we chiefly suffer, is the tyranny of Demos, " the many-headed king ; " and when we are choosing a president or a governor one of the most important questions we can ask is whether the candidate is clear-headed enough and bold enough to protect us from the knavery and folly of our representatives. Such are the vicissitudes of peril through which society must pass on its way toward that liberty of which eternal vigilance is the price ! 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, can cabinet It was suggested that the privy council should con- gourno't to sist of " the president of the Senate, the speaker of cabinet 'but ^^^ Housc of Representatives, the chief justice of to the privy the suprcmc 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 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 321 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 gov- ernment 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 dis- posed of by making him president of the Senate. No cabi- net 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. Concerning the structure of the federal judiciary little need be said here. It was framed with very little The federal disagreement among the delegates. The work was J^'^^'^'^y 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 322 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi 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 dif- ference between the American and British systems more fundamental than the separation of the executive from the legislative department. In Great Britain the unwritten con- stitution is administered by the omnipotent House of Com- mons ; 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 pecul- iarly 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 fed- eral law, — each with its legislature, its executive, and its judiciary moving one within the other, noiselessly and with- out friction. It was one of the longest reaches of construc- tive statesmanship ever known in the world. There never was anything quite like it before, and in Europe it needs Jl 3jIt1\ ... . . ....... ........ .. A \ ■ .■//■ Uv, y>f, M'^^y .,': ooue "^ir^ ^^^/M ^^>Vi^^ VII. ;^. j5^ /^/y^. ^yy.yr.'yy^/^zv^J ^. yji'/^ vv^ . -/^ ■J/ ^ — ^^ 1.3: 11 a //r/^ I 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 323 much explanation to-day even for educated statesmen who have never actually beheld 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 legislature 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 convic- tion 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. When the great document was at last drafted by Gouver- neur 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. 324 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi he did not approve, but he was astonished to find it so nearly perfect. Whatever opinion he had of its errors he Signing the '■ i i t Constitu- 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 mem- bers, 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 Washing- ton'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 govern- ment seemed far too strong, and there were three who dreaded despotism even more than anarchy. Mason, Ran- dolph, 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 Consti- tution, 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 conven- tion, 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 some- times bitter discussion, in which more than once the meet- ing had seemed on the point of breaking up, a colossal work had at last been accomplished, the results of which were powerfully to affect the whole future career of the human 1787 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 325 THE president's ARMCHAIR race. 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 acquiescent unanimity was re- markable. When all was over, it is said that many of the members seemed awestruck. 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 Brad- dock, 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 326 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vi 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, bril- liant 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 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 Phil- adelphia 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 Pennsyl- vania a copy of the Federal Constitution, and in a brief but pithy speech, characterized by his usual homely wisdom, begged for it their 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 Con- gress. 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 An- napolis, but at length had chosen for its abiding-place the city of New York, where it was now in session. The new To Congress the new Constitution must be sub- ^onfs'iaid mitted before it was in order for the several states ^^^ore Con- gress and to take action upon it. On the 20th of Septem- submitted ber the draft of the Constitution was laid before to the sev- Congress, accompanied by a letter from Washing- forVatlfka- ton. The forces of the opposition were promptly ^'°" mustered. At their head was Richard Henry Lee, who 328 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 vig- orous, 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 Con- stitution would put an end to the Continental Congress, and that in recommending it to the states for consideration Con- gress 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 con- vention 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 con- formity to the resolves of the convention." 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 war- fare. 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 i 1787 CROWNING THE WORK 329 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 segre- gated into two great political parties, whose charac- ter and views are sufficiently described by their American names. Those who supported the new Constitu- Federalists tion were henceforth known as Federalists ; those ?"/ ^"'!" ' federalists who were opposed to strengthening the bond be- tween 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 Constitu- tion 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." The first contest over the new Constitution came in Penn- sylvania. The Federalists in that state were numerous, but their opponents had one point in their favour The con- which they did not fail to make the most of. The p^nngyi. constitution of Pennsylvania was peculiar. Its leg- '^^"^^ islature consisted of a single house, and its president was 330 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 espe- cially in Philadelphia, the Federalists could count upon a heavy majority. The contest began in the legislature on the 28th of Sep- tember, 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 Federal- ists 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 break- ing up, and a new election was to be held on the first Tues- day 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. Parliamen- 1787 CROWNING THE WORK 33' tary 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 ^v_^^l^<^^^>-;^ adjourned till four o'clock. Before going to their dinners the nineteen held an indignation meeting, at which it was decided that they would foil these outrageous proceedings by staying away. It took forty-seven to make a quorum, and without these malcontents the assembly numbered but forty- five. When the house was called to order after dinner, it was found there were but forty-five members present. The 332 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 nineteen were How to . . ° make a abuscd without stiut, 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 pro- ceedings were concluded, an express-rider brought the news from New York that Congress had submitted the Constitu- tion to the judgment of the states. And now there ensued such a war of pamphlets, broad- sides, caricatures, squibs, and stump-speeches as had never 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 Antifederal- ists. 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 dis- trusted. Some of its members, such as John Dickinson and Robert Morris, had opposed the Declaration of Inde- pendence. Pretty men these, to be offering us a new gov- ernment ! 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 con- spiracies against American liberty might not have been hatched in all that time. One thing was sure : the conven- tion had squabbled. Some members had gone home in a ^^^^^zy M 1787 CROWNING THE WORK 333 huif ; 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 Scotch- man, 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 Sher- man, 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 Madi- son, 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 ! 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 Rich- ard 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 pro- posed plan he saw the seeds of aristocracy and of centraliza- tion. 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 334 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 govern- ment ; and finally, that it did not include a bill of rights. These objections were very elaborately set forth by the lead- ing 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 repre- ^ , sentation in the federal Senate had removed the Delaware ratifies the only ground of opposition in Delaware, and the tion, Dec. Federalists had everything their own way there. Penn^syiva- ^^ ^ convcution asscmblcd at Dover, on the 6th of nia, Dec. December, the Constitution was ratified without a 12 ; New Jersey, single disscntiug 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 I2th 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 proces- sions and merrymaking. The convention of New Jersey had assembled at Trenton on the nth, and one week later, on the 1 8th, 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 Conven- tion 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 1787 CROWNING THE WORK 335 BOSTON IN 1790 upon the people of the states. When the news from Tren- ton 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 Christ- mas, as the Federalists of Carlisle were about to light a bon- fire 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, con- taining a copy of the Constitution, was duly cursed, and then burned. Next day the Federalists, armed with mus- kets, 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. 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 commer- 336 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii cially subjected to New England. But the compromise on the slave-trade had broken through this opposition. raS^ On the 2d of January, 1788, the Constitution was 1788^ Con- ratified in Georgia without a word of dissent. One necticut, week later Connecticut ratified by a vote of 128 to Jan. 9 •' 40, after a session of only five days. The hopes of the Antifederalists now rested upon Massa- chusetts, 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 The out- no hope for the Constitution. Even should nine MasslTchu- states adopt it without her, no one supposed a setts 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 themseh^es. 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 meet- ing flourished with such vigour. It was especially charac- teristic of men trained in the town meeting to look with sus- picion 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. JOHN HANCOCK, Ef^, PRESIDENT ^^^(5^ AMimicAN Congress. 338 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii instead of having them managed by other people ; and so far had this principle been carried that the towns of Massa- chusetts were like little semi-independent republics, and the state was like a league of such republics, whose representa- tives, 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 constitu- ents. 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 Con- vention. But there were strong forces at work in the oppo- site direction. In Boston and all the large coast towns, even those of the Maine district, the dominant feeling was Feder- alist. All well-to-do people had been alarmed by the Shays 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 339 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 340 THE CRITICAL PERIOD CHAP. VII (^^^ix^ y^ on^^V^ 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 weatherbeaten 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 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 341 thoroughly represented, as befitted the state which was pre- eminent 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. The convention began by overhauling that document from beginning to end, discussing it clause by clause with some- what wearisome minuteness. Some of the objections seem odd to us at this time, with our larger experience. Debates in It was several days before the minds of the coun- chusettf^' try members could be reconciled to the election of convention 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 dis- trict 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 Crom- well } 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 342 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 sys- tem, was surely all-sufficient. Such a militia had won glori- ous triumphs at Lexington and Bennington ; and at King's Mountain, had not an army of militia surrounded and cap- tured 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 stand- ing army ! " 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. titude of There had been a remarkable change of sentiment ergy ^^Q^ig the clcrgy 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 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 343 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 elec- tions. It was further objected that members of Congress, being paid their salaries from the federal treasury, would become too independent of their constituents. Federal col- lectors 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 govern- ment. They were already scarcely able to pay their town, county, and state tax- es ; was it to be supposed they could bear the addi- tional burden with which federal taxation would load them ? Then the compro- mise on the slave-trade was fiercely attacked. They did not wish to have a hand in licensing this nefarious traf- fic 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, ^c^^^^^^^9f^^^ 344" THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii " 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 way 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 ad- minister 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." 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 Speech of => -^ ^ a Berkshire 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 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 345 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. TOMB OF JONATHAN SMITH 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 Con- gressman, 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 346 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 learn- ing, 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." 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 Attitude of , , , . , • , • i • Samuel 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 sin- gle voice would decide the result. Every one eagerly CROWNING THE WORK 347 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 com- One ^/^Delegate s /^?nA P?vvm^ecfl^[x^^Acmise.x TS -Eat. 348 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii promise 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 work- ingmen of Boston, shipwrights and brass - founders and other mechanics, decided to express -.— «.-,«»^ their opinion in a way that they |^'|C|ffj' * (^ knew Samuel Adams would heed. They held a meeting at SIGN OF GREEN DRAGON TAVERN ^he Grecu Dragou tavern, passed resolutions in favour of the Con- stitution, and appointed a committee, with Paul Revere at its head, to make known these resolutions to the great pop- ular 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." 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 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 349 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 2ist of January the " Boston Gazette" came out with a warning, headed by enormous capitals with three exclama- tion-points : " Bribery and Corruption ! ! ! The most diabol- ical 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 3SO THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 may have been 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, Wash- Washing- ington suddenly threw himself into the breach with lu"s^ugges- that infallible judgment of his which always saw tion ^hg ^y^y ^Q victory. " If another Federal Conven- tion 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." 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 peace- fully 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 pro- vide 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 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 351 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 Bos- ton 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 circum- stances, a conditional ratification might prove as disastrous as rejection. It might lead to a second Federal Conven- tion, 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 sug- gestion would be heeded, not only from the importance of Massachusetts in the Union, but also from the fact that Vir- ginia 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 pro- posed 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 Madi- setts rati- son : " I wish with all my soul that the nine first posin^g°' conventions may accept the new Constitution, to amend- -' 1^ ' ments, secure to us the good it contains ; but I equally Feb. 6, 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 \. N •> \ \ N.^ y N \ ■ S N: \ "; \.' \, ^ X • 5 ^ "^v N- \ V .^ X v; \^ \ \ \ ■V sX ^ X "\ 5 ^». V - \; s. ^ '^ \. :^' '.^ t t N v^ :^ \^ \s ^' K- V V [^ A \' '\'' >< i^ ^5 .^ \ N ^" !' J V \- ''■'"s St ^. 'i \V , l'"^' ^ \> L V !, s' ;; ■-■ ■,■ \ \: iA V^ \ X^ ^ \ ^'vl- ? - ^: . V '^; ►. "^, \ ; Vj V ■< A- ;5 ^ l\ :\ N^ V ^: \ . ^ ^^ 'J V \ V'; / '■X; Cn . "^"^ >f ;\^ v-. ^ V \ t ^: \ '^ \ •v , \ !."■ \ V >■■ ^ ' \^ , \ ■ '.■^ ' ^ ' i ■■ \ >; ^'V, ! v< \t V ^: ^ ^ "n .'■^ '\ - ^ "" ■^ X,^ .^ ' ^. . \^ ^^^ ^ % \i K X: t \ "' v !t ■ ;^ ^«. ^ . r- X^ 5 ^ - •V . ^ -^•■^ ;- - \ \ : .V ..'v \.^., \ \, ■• V V. ^ >> '.^ ^ :; v^ ( ^. \ iv^ • ,v \ v^ 354 THE CRITICAL PERIOD CHAP. VII 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 Con- stitution. 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, FEDERAL STREET CHURCH, BOSTON 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. 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 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 355 of April the Maryland convention assembled at Annapolis ; and Washington expressed a hope that it would not adjourn without coming to a decision, for the Antifederalists were gloating over the postponement in New Hampshire. Their glee was short-lived, however. Some of Maryland's strong- est men, such as Luther Martin and Samuel Chase, Maryland were Antifederalists ; but their efforts were of no ratifies, avail. After a session of five days the Constitu- ^"^ tion 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 prelim- inary 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 fab- ric 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 re- ferred 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 Debates in and humanity. They do not like our having slaves c^a^rcfnna^ because they have none themselves, and therefore legislature 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 356 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 ex- pressly 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 get- ting 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 suc- cess. 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 Wash- ington, 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, 1 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 357 a convert to the 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 south Car- eleven days. South Carolina ratified the Consti- fieT^iay'a- tution by a vote of 149 against 73. The astute policy of the Federal Convention in adopting the odious compromise over the slave-trade was now about />? e^^ t^a^r^y^fO^ c:^ to bear fruit. In Virginia there was a nascent sentiment in favour of establishing a separate southern confederacy. By the action of South Carolina all such possible 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 effect upon 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 358 THE CRITICAL PERIOD ' chap, vii 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 felt by 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 opposition to the Constitution ; ^ and we have seen how Randolph and Mason, in the Federal Convention, were so disturbed at the power given to Congress to regu- late 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 protect- ing 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 in South Carolina and Maryland, the ratification of the Constitution by both these states was a direct rebuff. It quite demoralized the advo- cates of secession. The paper-money men, moreover, were - There were some who suspected Henry of working in favour of the scheme for a separate southern confederacy. See Madison's Works, i. 388 ; Bancroft's History of the Constitution, ii. 465. But clearly he did not go so far as this. See Elliott's Debates, iii. 57, 63, 161 ; Henry's Patrick Henry, ii. 332; Tyler's Patrick Henry, 288. 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 359 handicapped by the fact that two of the most powerful AntifederaUsts, 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 Antifed- eralists, 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 V <^^dirruuS^r.o[£e4Trn Edmund Pendleton was chosen president. Foremost among the Antifederalists was Patrick Henry, whose elo- Debates in quence was now as zealously employed against the g'jnja con- new government as it had been in bygone days vention against the usurpations of Great Britain. He was supported by George Mason, as well as by Benjamin Harrison and John Tyler, the fathers of two future presidents, and James Monroe, who was to be president himself ; and he could I' 360 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 unsur- passed 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 mas- terly 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, Madison ^^^^ ^^^ national career began in this convention, and Mar- where his arguments with those of Madison, rein- shall pre- '^ vail and forcing cach other, bore down all opposition. The radfieTf details of the controversy were much the same as June 25 jj^ ^j^g 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 rati- fied 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 Antifed- eralists announced their intention to abide loyally by the result. 1 1 There was much that was sound and wise in the Antifederalism of such men as Mason, Henry, and Tyler. Their dread of creating a 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 361 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 Hamp- ^^^ shire, whose convention had met on the anniversary Hampshire of Bunker Hill, and after_a four days' session, on ra^iffedr ^ the^2jst of June, had given its consent to the new J""^^' 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 FROM THE INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE, liOSTON, JUNE 26, 1788 each other the joyous news in passing. Though the ratifica- tion 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 gov- ernment 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 call- ing the Federal Constitution, must speedily have fallen in tyranny was almost prophetic of the base uses to which the doctrine of " implied powers " was to be put, when under the specious phrases of " internal improvements " and " protection to native industry " it inaug- urated the gigantic system of corruption and spohation which we have so long meekly endured. 362 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 Phila- delphia there was a procession miles in length, in which every trade was represented, and wagons laden with imple- ments 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 An- archy, 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 legisla- ture, attempted to disperse them, and were with some dif- ficulty 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. Such incidents might have served to remind one that the end had not yet come. The difficulties were not yet sur- mounted, 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 gieln^New to scc. It is true that New York then ranked only ^"""^ as fifth among the states in population, but com- mercially and militarily she was the centre of the Union. 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 363 She not only touched at once on the ocean and the lakes, but she separated New England from the rest of the coun- try. 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 \\ GEORGE CLINTON 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 364 THE CRITICAL PERIOD CHAP. VII states. Foremost among his supporters were Yates and Lansing, with Melancton Smith, a man familiar with politi- cal history, and one of the ablest debaters in the country. On the Federalist side were such eminent men as Living- AN OLD VIEW OF POUGHKEEPSIE ston 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 under- stand, by some writer endowed in a high degree with polit- 1788 CROWNING THE WORK 365 ical 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. Pam- phlets 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 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 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 surely one of the most profound and suggestive treatises on government that have ever been written. Of the eighty-five The " Fed- numbers originally published in the " Independent ^'"^''** " Gazetteer," under the common signature of " Publius," Jay 366 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vn 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 con- tributed a larger share than he did had he not been called early in March to Virginia to fight the battle of the Consti- tution 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 writ- ten, — 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 is n'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 force not inferior to Madison's. Yet no arguments ' Attempts have been repeatedly made to claim for Hamilton a dozen or more of the numbers written by Madison ; but there is no good ground for such a claim. The arguments of Mr. E. G. Bourne, in American Historical Review, i. 443-460, 682-685, seem finally deci- sive. See, also, the excellent note in Bancroft's History of the United States, New York, 1886, vi. 452. CROWNING THE WORK 367 could possibly be less chargeable with partisanship than the arguments of the " Federalist." The judgment is as dis- passionate as could be shown in a philosophical treatise. The tone is one of grave and lofty eloquence, apt to move C)^^^:^^ij^^2-y^^^^^ even to tears the reader who is fully alive to the stupen- dous issues that were involved in the discussion. Hamil- ton 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. 368 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 Melancton Smith, the foremost debater of Clinton's party, broke away, and came over 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 Constitu- tion 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 wins the Constitution could not provide for nor contem- Ind°New platc its own overthrow. There could be no such York rati- thing: as 3. Constitutional right of secession. When f5esjuly26 ^ ° Melancton 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 through- out the country. In the city of New York there was an immense parade, and as the emblematic federal ship — the Ship of State — was drawn through the streets, with Ham- ilton's name emblazoned on the vehicle that supported her, it was doubtless the proudest moment of the young states- man's life. New York, however, clogged her acceptance by propos- CROWNING THE WORK 369 ing, 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, PARADE IN NEW YORK IN HONOUR OF THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTI- TUTION, 17SS as having a dangerous tendency to reopen the whole dis- cussion 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 Con- gress. 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 Caro- lina convention met on the 21st of July, and ad- journed on the I St 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 The lag- gard states. North Carolina and Rhode Island 370 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii was not until the 21st of November, 1789, after Washing- ton'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, de- creed 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 Wednes- day in February, and that the Senate and House of Re- presentatives 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. In accordance with these decrees, presidential elections were held on the first Wednesday in January. The Anti- First presi- federalists were still potent for mischief in New ieciSn, York, with the result that, just as that state had Jan. 7, 1789 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 ist of April. On the 6th, the Senate M A,^ h4 \i i i X 'J ^' ^^ J - -^ V V, N \, o. V vi w \ V <,- \v ^^ \' ^L % <.\ \ cr- \ •-, ^' 1789 CROWNING THE WORK 371 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 ex- pected 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 Wash- ington 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 Feder- aHsts 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 Massachu- setts 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 elec- tion of 1789, the fact most clearly visible to men was that Samuel Adahis 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 ; 372 THE CRITICAL PERIOD CHAP. VII WASHINGTON'S TKIUMTHAI. JOURNEY TO NEW YORK 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. 1789 CROWNING THE WORK 373 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 bur- dened with greatness and fame unsought for. The position to which he was summoned was one of unparalleled splen- dour, — 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 pro- blems 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 demon- stration of national strength as was about to ensue upon the heroic financial measures of Hamilton. His medita- tions 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-country- men, 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 out- witted 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 374 THE CRITICAL PERIOD chap, vii 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 pro- tect 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 inaugiira- ^^osQ magnificent days of clearest sunshine that wrsMng- sometimes make one feel in April as if summer ton, April 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, INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON where his statue has lately been erected. The city was ablaze with excitement. A sea of upturned eager faces sur- rounded 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 1789 CROWNING THE WORK 375 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 tiie period covered in this book is very copi- ously and thoroughly treated in the seventh volume of Winsor's Narra- tive and Critical History of North America, Boston, 1888. For the benefit of the reader who may not have ready access to that vast store- house 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 V action commune de la France et de VAmerique, etc., tome iii., Documents originanx inedits, Paris, 1876. See also Sparks, Diplo- matic Correspondence of the American Revolution, 12 vols., Boston, 1829-30; Trescot's Diplomacy of the American Revolution, N. Y., 1852; hymTin^s Diplomacy of the United States, Boston, 1826; Elliot's American Diplomatic Code, 2 vols., Washington, 1834; Chalmer's Col- lection of Treaties, 2 vols., London, 1790; Lord Stanhope's History oj England, vol. vii., London, 1853 ; Lecky's History of England,^ o\. 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 fournals, 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 fohn Adams, Bos- ton, 1885 ; Correspondence of Geojge 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 pre- sented by Circourt and Fitzmaurice. It has led many writers astray, and even with all the lights which Mr. Bancroft has had, the account in 378 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE the last revision of his History of the United States, \o\. v., N. Y., 1886, though in some respects one of the best to be found in the general his- tories, 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., 1 861. An excellent summary is given in the first volume of Schouler's History of the United States tinder the Constitution, of which vols. i.-v. (revised ed., N. Y., 1894) have appeared. Mr. Schouler's book is sug- gestive and stimulating. The work most rich in details is Professor i\Ic Master's History of the People of the United States, of which the first volume rather more than covers the period 1 783-89. 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 valu- able 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. Further general information as to the period of the Confed- eration may be found in Morse's admirable Life of Alexander Hamil- ton, 3d ed., 2 vols., Boston, 1882; Sumner's Alexander Hamilton, N. Y., 1890; J. C. Hamilton's Republic of the United States, 7 vols., Boston, 1879 ; Frothingham's Rise of the Republic, Boston, 1872, chap- ter xii.; Von Hoist's Constitutional History, 8 vols., Chicago, 1877-92, 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; fournals of Congress, 13 vols., Phila., iSoo; Secret fotirnals of Con- gress, 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 Revohition, 2 vols., Boston, 1864; Ryerson's Loyalists of America, 2 vols., Toronto, 1880; Jones's Ne7a York during the Revolution, 2 vols., N. Y., 1879. Although chiefly concerned with events earlier than 1780, i\\t fournal and Letters of Samuel Curiven, 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, 1 774-1 789, N. Y., 1879; Sumner's The Financier and the Finances of the American Revolution, 2 vols., N. Y., 1891 ; Sparks's Life of Gou- verneur Morris, 3 vols., Boston, 1832; Pelatiah Webster's Political Essays, Phila., 1791 ; Phillips's Colonial and Continental Paper Cur. rency, 2 vols., Roxbury, 1865-66; Varnum's Case of Trevett v. Weeden, BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 379 Providence, 1787; Arnold's History of Rhode Island, 2 vols., 4th ed., Providence, 1894. The best account of the Shays rebellion is G. R. Minot's History of the Insurrecfiofis in Massachusetts, Worcester, 1788 : see also Barry's History of Massachusetts, 3 vols., Boston, 1855-57; Austin's Life of Gerry, 1 vols., Boston, 1828-29. A new and interest- ing 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; CxiXltx's Life, fotirnal, and Correspondence of Manasseh Cutler, 2 vols., Cincinnati, 1887; Poole's The Ordinance of lySy, Cam- bridge, 1876. In i\\Q.fohns 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 hitroduction to the Consti- tutional and Political History of the Individual States j IV., vii.-ix., Shoshuke Sato's History of the Land Question in the United States ; VIII., i., ii., A. W. Small, The Beginnings of American Nationality ; IX., i. ii., Willoughby's Government and Administration of the United States. For the proceedings of the Federal Convention in framing the Con- stitution, 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 Con- gress in 1830-45; new reprint, Phila., 1888. The contents of the volumes are as follows : — I. Sundry preliminaiy 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 ofificial 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; Madi- son's journal of the Federal Convention ; letters from Madison to Washington, Jefferson, and Randolph, Sept. 178 7-Nov. 1788; and other papers. The best edition of the " Federalist " is by H. C. Lodge, N. Y., 1888. See also Story's Coin/nentaries on the Constitution, 4th ed., 3 vols., Boston, 1873; the works of Daniel Webster, 6 vols., Boston, 1851; 38o BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 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 Repub- lics, by P. C. Centz [Plain Common Sense, pseudonym of B. J. Sage of New Orleans], Boston, 188 1 ; the works of Calhoun, 6 vols., N. Y., 1853-55; A. H. Stephens's War between the States, 2 vols., Phila., 1 868 ; Jefferson Davis's Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, 2 vols., N. Y., 1881. Bledsoe, Is Davis a Traitor ; or was Secession a Constitutional Right previous to the War of 1861 ? Baltimore, 1866. 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 Hafnilton, 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 inter- pretations of the Constitution one may consult B. R. Curtis's Digest of Decisions, 1 790-1 854; Flanders's Lives of the Chief fustices, 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 Hoist's Calhoun, Boston, 1882. Among critical and theoretical works, Fisher's Trial of the Con- stitution, 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 govern- ment and its practical working. Walter Bagehot's E?iglish Constitu- tion, revised ed., Boston, 1873, had already, in a 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 Tnce Republic, N. Y., 1879; ^^'^ his Democratic Government, N. Y., 1885 ; see also A. L. Lowell's Essays oti Government, Boston, 1890. 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 S. R. Gardiner's Introduction to the Sttidy of Eng- lish History, London, 1881 ; Freeman's Growth of the English Con- stitiction, 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 Governrncnt, N. Y., 1862 ; Sir H. Maine, Popidar Gov- ernment, N. Y., 1886; Tocqueville's Democracy in America, 2 vols., BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 381 Cambridge, 1863; Bryce's American Comf/tonwealth, 2 vols., N. Y., 1888; Lecky's Democracy and Liberty, 2 vols., N. Y., 1876. See also Stevens's Sources of the Constitution of the United States, N. Y., 1894; Fisher's Evolution of the Constitution of the United States, Phila., 1897 ; Jameson, Essays in the Cotistitutional History of the United States, Boston, 1889 ; Cooley (and others). Constitutional Histo7y of the United States as seeii in the Development of A merican Law, N. Y., 1889; Curry, TJie Southern States of the American Union, N. Y., 1894; Stanwood's History of Presidential Elections, Boston, 1888; Miss Follett, The Speaker of the House of Represefitatives, N. Y., 1896; Harding, The Contest over the Ratif cation of the Federal Constittition iti Massachusetts, N. Y., 1896; Houston's Critical Study of Nullif cation in South Carolina, N. Y., 1896. Much detailed information may be found in Henry's Life, Corre- spondence, and Speeches of Patrick Henry, 3 vols., N. Y., 1891 ; Lee's Life of Richard Henry Lee, 2 vols., Phila., 1825 ; Madison's Papers, etc., ed. Gilpin, 3 vols., N. Y., 1S41 ; Tyler's Letters and Times of the Tylers, vols, i., ii., Richmond, 1884-85, vol. iii., Williamsburg, 1897; Conway's Edmtind Randolph, N. Y., 1888; Conway's Life of Thomas Paine, 2 vols., N. Y., 1892; Grigsby's History of the Virginia Federal Convention (Va. Hist. Soc. Coll., N. S., ix., x.); Miss Rowland's Life, Correspondence, and Speeches of George Mason, 2 vols., N. Y., 1892; Miss Rowland's Life of Charles Cari'oll of Carrollton, 2 vols., N. Y., 1897; McRee's Life of fames Lredell, 2 vols., N. Y. 1857; Stillt^'s Life and Times of fohn Dickitison, Phila., 1891 ; McMaster and Stone, Pennsylvania and the Federal Cotistitutioti, Phila., 1888; Miss Boudi- not's Life of E lias Boudinot, 2 vols., Boston, 1896; Miss Morris's Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, 2 vols., N. Y., 1888 ; King's Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, vols, i.-iv. issued, N. Y., 1894-97, two more to come ; Jay's Correspo)idence and Public Papers, 4 vols., N. Y., 1890-93 ; Wells's Life of Samiiel Adams, 3 vols., Bos- ton, 1865; Austin's Life of Gerry, 2 vols., Boston, 1828-29; Parsons's Memoir of Theophilus Parsons, Boston, 1859; Belknap's Minutes of the Convention of lySS (Ma^s. Hist. Soc. Proc, 1858); Federal Con- vention of Massachusetts. Debates, Resolutions, etc., Boston, 1788; Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonivealth of Massachusetts held in the year 1788, Boston, 1856; Staples, Rhode Ls land in the Continetital Congress, Providence, 1870; Walker, New Hampshire Federal Convention, Boston, 1888; Ford, Patnphlets on the Constitution, Brooklyn, 1892. A monograph of profound interest and indispensable to a correct understanding of the subject is Libby, The Geographical Distribution of the Vote of the Thirteen States on the Federal Constitution, Madi- son, Wis., 1894. 382 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE I may also mention my own books, American Political Ideas, N. Y., 1885; Civil Government in the United States, Boston, 1890; and my articles, " Great Britain," " House of Lords," and "House of Com- mons," in Lalor's Cyclopcedia of Political Science, 3 vols., Chicago, 1882-84. That cyclopaedia contains also numerous articles on Ameri- can history by the late 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 those articles of Professor Johnston, in whose premature death our country has sus- tained an irreparable loss. MEMBERS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION The names of those who for various reasons were absent when the Constitution was signed are given in itahcs ; the names of those who were present, but refused to sign, are given in small capitals. New Hampshire John Langdon. Nicholas Oilman. Massachusetts Elbridge Gerry. Nathaniel Gorham. Rufus King. Caleb Strong. Connecticut William Samuel Johnson. Roger Sherman. Oliver Ellsivorth. New York Robert Yates. Alexander Hamilton. Johjt 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. 384 MEMBERS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION JoJi7i Francis Mercer. Luther Martin. Virginia George Washington. Edmund Randolph. John Blair. James Madison. George Mason. George Wythe. James McCliirg. North Carolina Alexander Martin. William Richardson Datne. 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 Houston. 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. And the five following were signers of the Articles of Confedera- tion : — Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Gouverneur Morris, John Dickinson, Daniel Carroll. The ten following were appointed as delegates to the Federal Conven- tion, but never took their seats : — New Hampshire John Pickering. Benjamin West. Massachusetts Francis Dana, MEMBERS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 385 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 it, 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. 386 PRESIDENTS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 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. i, 1777. ^5. John Jay of New York Dec. 10, 1778. J 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. t, 10. Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania Nov. 3, 17S3. J II. 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, 17S8. INDEX INDEX Adams, Herbert, B., 206. Adams, John, arrives in Paris, 21 ; his indig- nation at the pusillanimous instructions from Congress, 34 ; condemns the Cincinnati, 124; tries in vain to negotiate commercial treaty with Great Britain, 143-146; negoti- ates a treaty with Holland, 160 ; obtains a loan there, 161, 162 ; his interview with the envoy from Tripoli, 167; absent from the United States at the time of the Federal Convention, 242 ; elected vice-president of the United States, 372; portraits, 23, 42, 163. Adams, Samuel, his devotion to local self-gov- ernment, S7, 338 ; his committees of corre- spondence, 95 ; opposes Washington's pro- posal for pensioning officers, 112; but at length supports the Commutation Act, iig; condemns the Cincinnati, 124 ; approves the conduct of the Massachusetts delegates, 147; opposes pardoning the ringleaders in the Shays insurrection, 200; not a delegate to the Federal Convention, 242; " the man of the town meeting," 33S ; in the Massachu- setts convention, 344, 346, 348 ; why not se- lected for the vice-presidency, 371 ; por- trait, 347. Albany, riot in, 362. Amendments to Constitution, 323, 351, 361. Ames, Fisher, 339, 346, 371 ; portrait, 340. Amis, North Carolinian trader, 226. Amphiktyonic council, 267. Annapolis convention, 232 ; view of state house, 233. Antagonisms between large and small states, 262-272; between east and west, 274; be- tween north and south, 276-288. Antifederalist party, 329; in Pennsylvania, 330; in Massachusetts, 336, 337, 344; in South Carolina, 357 ; in Virginia, 357-360 ; in New York, 362, 364, 370. Antipathies between states, 64. Aranda, Count, his prophecy, 18 ; portrait, ig. Aristides, pseudonym, 332. Aristocracy, 302. Aristotle, 242. Arkwright, Sir Richard, 28S. Armada, the Invincible, 253. Armchair, view and story of, 325. Armstrong, John, 114, 156; portrait, 155. Army, dread of, loq, 341, 342. Arnold, Benedict, 27, 112, 157. Asbury, Francis, portrait, 87. Ashburton, Lord, 6. Ashburton treaty, 25. Assemblies, 67. Assunpink Creek, 373. Augustine, 163. Backus, Rev. Isaac, 342. Bagehot, Walter, 311. Baldwin, Abraham, 270; portrait, 269. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 228. Baptists persecuted in Virginia, 81. Barbary pirates, 162-167 Barre, Isaac, 40; portrait, 41. Battery, New York, view from, 145. Bedford, Gunning, 268 ; portrait, 267. Bennington, 342. Bernard, Sir Francis, 318. Biennial elections, 346. Bill of rights demanded, 351. Blackstone, Sir William, 310, 311, 317. Blair, John, portrait, 309. Blount, William, portrait, 303. Boston in 1790, view of, 335. Boston Gazette, quoted, 349. Boudinot, Elias, portrait, 100. Boundaries of United States as settled by the treaty, 24. Bowdoin, James, 148, 196-201, 339, 346; por- trait, 201 ; facsimile of proclamation, 199. Bowen, Jabez, Washnigton's letter to, 370. Boyd, Lieutenant, 128. Braddock, Edward, 325. Bradshaw's Railway Guide, 1S2. Brearley, David, 246, 264 ; arms and auto- graph, 265. Bribery, charges of, 349. British army departs, 50. British Constitution compared with American, 310-318. Budget for 1786, facsimile of, 107. Buff and blue colours, i. Burgesses, House of, in Virginia, 6S. Burke, .(Edanus, 124 ; facsimile title-page of his pamphlet, 123. Burke, Edmund, his sympathy with the Ameri- cans, 2 ; could not see the need for parlia- mentary reform, 6 ; his invective against Shelburne, 17 ; on the slave-trade, 74 ; por- trat, 73. Butler, Pierce, 277; portrait, 278. Cabinet, the president's, 320. Cabinet government, growth of, in England, 316. Camden, Lord, 6. Campus Martins, Marietta, 223, 225. Canada, Franklin suggests that it should be ceded to the United States, g, 15. Carleton, Sir Guy, 50, 137. Carlisle, Pa., disturbances at, 335. Carpet-bag governments, 291. Carr, Dabney, 95. Carrington, Edward, 218, 328. Carroll, Daniel, 246; portrait, 301. Carroll, John, archbishop, portrait, 89. Carrying trade, 168, 282. Cartwright, Edmund, 288. Catalonian rebels indemnified, 28. Catholics in the United States, 88. Cato, pseudonym, 332. Cavendish, Lord John, 6, 16. 390 INDEX Censors, council of, in Pennsylvania, 136. Ceniinel, pseudonym, 333. Cervantes, Miguel de, 164. Charles II., 28. Chase, Samuel, 355. Chatham, Lord, 4. Cherry Valley, 128. Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 228. Chittenden, Thomas, 157; portrait, 159. Cincinnati, order of the, 120-125; badge of, 122. Cincinnati, the city, original name of, 212. Cincinnatus, pseudonym, 332. Clan system, 64. Clergymen in the Massachusetts convention, 339 ; their liberal spirit, 342. Cleveland, Grover, his tanff message, 315. Clinton, George, favours persecution of Tories, 129 ; an enemy to closer union of the states, 150; defeats impost amendment, 237; op- poses the Constitution, 363 ; entertains Presi- dent Washington at dinner, 374; portraits, 149. 363- Clinton, Sir Henry, 149. Clymer, George, 330; portrait, 331. Coalition ministry, 36-44. CcEur-de-Lion and Saladin, 167. Coinage, 172. Coins in circulation, specimens of, 169; scales for weighing, 177. Coke, Thomas, 87. Columbia College, 131. Commerce, control of, given to Congress, 282. Common law in the United States, 70. Commons, House of, in England, 70, 310-317; in North Carolina, 67. Compromises of the Federal Constitution, 269- 289. Confederation, articles of, 94-102. Congress, Continental, its instructions to the commissioners at Paris, 34; its weakness, 57, loi, 102, 106-118, 252; its anomalous char- acter, 95 ; its presidents, 99 ; driven from Philadelphia by drunken soldiers, 118; flees to Princeton, 118 ; unable to enforce the pro- visions of the treaty, 126-136, 160 ; unable to regulate commerce, 144-148 ; afraid to inter- fere openly in the Shays rebellion, 201 ; passes ordinance for government of north- western territory, 216-221; refuses to recom- mend a convention for reforming the govern- ment, 234; reconsiders its refusal, 238; in some respects a diplomatic rather than a leg- islative body, 256; its migrations, 293, 327; debates on the Constitution, 328 ; submits it to the states, 32S ; comes to an end, 370. Congress, Federal, powers granted to, 292; choice of president by, 301-304 ; counting electoral votes in, 304, 305, 309. Connecticut, government of, 67 ; quarrels with New York and Pennsylvania, 150-157 ; keeps almost entirely clear of paper money, 182 ; western claims of, 205, 208 ; ratifies the Con- stitution, 336. Connecticut compromise, the, 269-274. Connecticut settlements in Pennsylvania, map, '53- Conservative character of the American Revo- lution, 66. Constitution, emblematic federal ship, 362, 369- Convention, the Federal, 160, 239-326. Conway, Gen. Henry, 6. Cooper, Dr. Myles, 132. Cornvvallis, Lord, 21, 50, 373. Council, privy, 320. Cowardice of American politicians, 250. Cravvford, William, 50. Curtis, B. R., 297. Cutler, Manasseh, 218; portrait, 219; view of his birthplace, 220. Dane, Nathan, 21S, 233, 328; portrait, 234. Dayton, Jonathan, 241, 246; portrait, 241. Debt, imprisonment for, 185. Debts to British creditors, 26, 137. Delaware, government of, 67 ; ratifies the Con- stitution, 334. Democratic-Republican party, 329. Dickinson, John, 96, 118, 246, 260, 26t, 301, 303, 321, 332; portrait, 95; facsimile of let- ter by, 235. Dissolution of Parliament, 317. Dollar, the Spanish, 172. Dunmore, Lord, 318. Election by lot, 301 ; first presidential, 370- 372- Electoral college in Marj'land, 68 ; device adopted for choosing the president, 300-308 ; its practical working, 308. Elliot, Sir Gilbert, 2. Ellsworth, Oliver, 246, 267, 269, 289, 291, 295, 297, 300, 321 ; portrait, 268. Embargo acts, 146. Eminent domain, 209. Episcopal church, 79-86. Erie Canal, 228, 246. Executive, federal, 260, 298 ; length of term, 299 ; how elected, 299-305 ; corresponds to sovereign, not to prime minister, 310, 320. Exports not to be taxed, 284, 292. " Federal," the word preferred to " national," 273- Federal city under federal jurisdiction, 293, 341. " Federal Farmer" (letters by R. H. Lee), 333. Federal Street in Boston, 354 ; view of the meeting-house, 354. " Federalist," the, 242, 365, 366. Federalist party, 256, 329. Field, S. J., 296. Fisheries, question of, 20, 25, 35, 144, 168. Fitch, John, autograph, 60 ; his steamboats, 61, 67. Fitzherbert, Alleyne, 21. 44. Florida surrendered by Great Britain to Spain, 35 ; disputes about boundary of, 224. Folkland, 203, 222. Fox, C. J., his sympathy with the Americans, I ; quarrels with Shelbume, 6, 14 ; resigns, 15; waywardness of his early career, 16; co- alition with North, 36-41 ; mistake in oppos- ing a dissolution, 47; portrait of, 7; carica- tures of, 3, 13, 39. France, treaty of 1783 with Great Britain, 35. Franklin, Benjamin, negotiates with Oswald, 9; overruled by Jay and Adams, 22; his arguments against compensating the loyal- ists, 28; ridicules the Cincinnati, 122; re- turns from France, 143 ; in the Federal Con- vention, 242, 269, 298, 321, 323, 325 ; lays the Constitution before the Pennsylvania legis- lature, 327 ; called a dotard by the Antifeder- alists, 333 ; portraits, 29, 42, 328. Franklin, W. T., portrait, 42. Franklin, state of, 214, 224 ; map, 212 Fraunces's Tavern, 52. Frederick the Great, on republics, 60. Free trade, 4, 139-144. INDEX 391 French army embarks at Boston, 50. I Independence Hall, views of, 119, 143, 239 Froissart isS ' India bill, 46. Frontier 'post's to be surrendered by Great Insurrections, suppression of, 290. Britain,'52; why not surrendered, 157. Fugitive slaves, 221, 288, 356. Fur trade, 137, 171. Gadsden, C, 128, 356. Gallatin, A., 131, 139- Galloway, Joseph, 266. Gardoqui, Diego, 225 ; portrait, 227. Gates, Horatio, 114-116, ig6 ; portrait, 115. George III. threatens to abdicate, 4; his dis- gust at the coalition, 43 ; rebuked by House of Commons, 46; his personal government overthrown, 4S ; hopes the Americans will repent of their folly, 60, 145; resists the movement for abolishing slave-trade, 74 ; his personal government, 317; portrait of, 45; caricature of, 3. . ,. . Georgia takes the lead in making the judiciary elective, 71; abandonsthat evil practice, 71; issues paper money, 178; ratifies the Con- stitution, 336. Germain, Lord George, 37. Gerry, Elbridge, 125, 247, 261, 270, 272, 275, 290, 299, 302, 320, 324, 350. 37' ; portrait, 271 ; view of his house at Cambridge, 273. Gibbon, Edward, 36, 38; portrait, 35. Gibraltar, 17, 34- Gladstone, W. E., 240, 312, 314. Gorham, Nathaniel, 272, 339,; portrait, 103. Governors, colonial, unpopularity of, 68. Gower, Lord, 43. Grafton, Duke of, 6. Grantham, Lord, 16. Granville, Lord, 314. Grasse, Count, defeated by Rodney, 12, 14. Grayson, William, 167, 221; autograph, 168. Green Dragon tavern, 348. Greene, Nathanael, 97, 106, 113, 124. 128,242. Grenville, Thomas, 10; portrait, 11. Griffin, Cyrus, portrait, 105. Guadaloupe, 34. Guilford, Earl of, 43. . Gunston Hall, Va., view of, 2S9. „--— "^ Guy Vaux, satirical print, 3. ^ Half-pay controversy, 112. Hamilton, Alexander, his early life, 130--132; attacks the Trespass Act, 134; calls for a federal convention, 233 ; advocates the im- post amendment, 237 ; in the Federal Con- vention, 242, 244, 261, 263, 265, 267, 274, 299, 324; on inconvertible paper, 295; on the electoral college, 307 ; called a boy by the Antifederalists, 333; authorship of the " Federahst," 365-367; supports the Con- stitution in the New York convention, 367, 368; his financial measures, 373; portraits, 126, 133, 365 ; bearer of ship of state, 369. Hancock, John, 108, 200, 338, 340, 351; PC""- trait, 337 ; facsimile of letter by, 352, 353- Hannibal, 163. Hanson, John, portrait, 99. Hargreaves, James, 288. Harrison, Benjamin, 359; portrait, 357. Hartington, Lord, 314. Hartley, David, 44. Hawks, F. L., 83. Heath, Gen. William, 339- Henry, Patrick, 80, 242, 358, 359, 37'. Hint Club, 178. Intercitizenship, 97. Iroquois league, 205. Irreconcilables in the Federal Convention, 243, 260, 262, 264, 274. Isolation of states a century ago, 64. Impost amendment, 235-259. Jackson, William, portrait, 253. Jay, John, thwarts Veigennes, 20, 2i, 34 ; tries to establish free trade between United States and Great Britain, 26; condemns persecu- tion of Tories, 128; on compensation for slaves, 137; consents to the closing of the Mississippi River for twenty-five years 226 ; why not sent as delegate to Federal Conven- tion, 243 ; supports the Constitution in New York convention, 364; contributes articles to the " Federalist," 365 ". receives nine elec- toral votes for the vice-presidency, 372 ; por- traits, 26, 42. Jefferson, Thomas, opposed to slavery, 74; favours religious freedom, 82 ; minister to France, 143, 160; assists Gouverneur Morris in arranging our decimal currency, 172 ; his plan for the government of the northwestern territory, 210; wishes to prohibit slavery in the national domain, 212, 220; his purchase of Louisiana, 222 ; absent from United States at the time of the Federal Convention, 242 ; his faith in the people, 243, 348; his opin- ion of the Constitution, 329 ; approves the ac- tion of the Massachusetts convention, 351 ; portrait, 204 ; map of his proposed states, 211. Jenifer, D., portrait, 313- Johnson, W. S., 246; portrait, 247- Jones, Paul, 362. Jonesljorough, convention at, 214. Judiciary, elective, 71; federal, 260, 321, 322. Juilliard vs. Greenman, 296. Kentucky, 18, 204, 213, 216, 224, 226. Keppel, Lord, 6, 16, 44. -King, Rufus, 233. 238, 246, 264, 267, 269, 275, 281, 297, 299, 302, 344, 346 ; portrait, 237. King's Mountain, 27, 214, 342. Kings, election of, in Poland, 299. Know Ye certificate, facsimile of, 191. Know Ye men and Know Ye measures, igo, 261. Knox, Henry, 120. Lafayette, 50, 54. Langdon, John, 246, 290, 291, 295, 297, 303, 371 ; portrait, 291. Lansing, John, 243, 246, 260, 263, 273, 364, 365; portrait, 243. Laurens, Henry, .2,21; portrait, 42. Lecky, W., 106. Ledyard, Isaac, 135. Lee, Henry, 328, 360. Lee, Richard Henry, 57, 147, 218, 221, 242, 327, 333. 338, 350, 359, 371- ., , p „ " Letters from a federal Farmer, by R. H. Lee, 333- Lexington, 50, 342. Lincoln, Abraham, 74, 212, 222. Lincoln, Benjamin, 196, 198, 339, 355. Livingston, Robert, 34, 364, 375 ; portrait, 33. Livingston, William, 181, 246; portrait, 261. Locke, John, 66, 242. Long Lane becomes Federal Street, 354. 392 INDEX Long Parliament, 95, 253. Lords, House of, 6S, 70; contrasted with Sen- ate, 315. Lottery ticket, facsimile of, 141. Lowndes, Rawlins, 355, 356. Loyalists, compensation of, 27-31 ; persecution of, 126-136 ; did not form, in any proper sense of the word, an opposition party, 329. Luzerne, Chevalier de, 34, 54. Lykian League, 267. Macdougall, Alexander, 113. McDuffie, George, 62. McKean, Thomas, 335 ; portrait, 97. Madison, James, and the Religious Freedom Act, 82 ; on right of coercion, 103 ; advocates five percent, impost, io8; on the ordinance of 1787, 221 ; moves that a convention be held to secure a uniform commercial policy, 230; succeeds in getting delegates appointed, 238 ; his character and appearance, 244, 245 ; his journal of the proceedings, 248 ; chief author of the Virginia plan, 251, 289; one of the first to arrive at the fundamental concep- tion of our partly federal and partly national government, 25S ; approves at first of giving Congress the power to annul state laws, 259 ; opposes the New Jersey plan, 264 ; declares that the real antagonism is between slave states and free states, 267,276 ; author of the three fifths compromise, 280 ; condemns paper money, 296 ; disapproves of election of the executive by the legislature, 299 : ap- proves of a privy council, 321 ; supports the Constitution in Congress, 328 ; called a boy by the Antifederalists, 333; supports the Constitution in the Virghiia convention, 360 ; part author of the " Federalist," 365, 366; denies that there can be a constitutional right of secession, 368 ; portraits ol,/roniispiece, 245, 248. Maine as part of Massachusetts, 336. Manchester, Duke of, 44. Marbois, Frangois de Barbe, 21, 34. Marion, Francis, 128. Marshall, John, 84, 297, 322, 360; portrait, 360. Martin, Luther, 247, 260-262, 264, 267, 269, 274, 296, 355 ; portrait, 275. Maryland, government of, 67; insists upon cession of northwestern lands, 96, 207, 209; paper money in, 181 ; message to Virginia, 230; ratifies the Constitution, 355. Mason, George, 247, 261, 271, 283, 284, 296- 29<3i 30.It 3027 321, 324, 357> 359; portrait, 284 ; view of his house, 2S9. Massachusetts, government of, 69 ; abolishes slavery, 77 ; religious bigotry, 78 ; on the five per cent, duty, loS ; tries to propose a convention for increasing the powers of Congress, 146 ; lays claim to a small part of Vermont, 158; paper money in, 182-192; western claims of, 204; changes her attitude, 238 ; local self-government in, 336 ; debates on the Constitution, 340-351 ; ratifies it, suggesting amendments, 351. " Massachusetts Chronicle," quoted, 127. " Massachusetts Spy," facsimile page of, 173. Massacre, Boston, 342. Mayhew, Jonathan, 95. Meade, William, 80, 84. Mentor and Phocion, 134. Mercer, J. F., 295. Merchants' Exchange, New York, 71. Methodists, 86. Middletown convention, 1 18 ; old view from Hartford road, 121. Mifflin, Thomas, portrait, 53. Minisink, 128. Mirabeau, Count de, 124. Mississippi River, attempt to close it, 224- 226, 357 ; valley of the, 17, 204. Monroe, James, 231. Montesquieu, C, 242 311. Moonshiners, 356. Morris, Gouverneur, 113, 172, 246, 260, 270, 281, 283, 290, 294, 297, 299, 301, 323; por- trait, 307. Morris, Robert, 113, 174, 246, 332; portrait, 174. Moultrie, William, 148, 356. Mount Vernon, view of, 55. Muley, Ismail, 164 ; facsimile title-page of his- tory of his reign, 165. Mutiny act, 341. Names of persons and places, fashions in, 210- 212. Nantucket, 170. Nason, Samuel, 342. Naval eminence of New England, 20, 143. Navigation acts, 142-148, 171. Negroes carried away by British fleet, 137. Nelson, Samuel, 297. New Connecticut, 157. New Hampshire lays claim to Vermont, 157, 158; riots in, 198; hesitates to ratify the Constitution, 355 ; ratifies it, 361. New Jersey quarrels with New York, 152 ; paper money in, 181 ; opposes the attempt to close the Mississippi, 227 ; instructs her delegates to the Annapolis convention, 232 ; her plan for amending the articles of confed- eration, 264; ratifies the Constitution, 334. New Roof, 361. New York passes navigation and tariff acts directed against neighbouring states, 150; lays claim to Vermont, 157, 15S; paper money in, 181 ; western claims of, 206-208; defeats the impost amendment, 235-237 ; debates on the Constitution, 362-368; rati- fies it, 368; asks for a second convention, 369 ; fails to choose electors, 370. New York, plan of the city, no, in. New York Central Railroad, 228. Newburgh address, 113, 117, 125- Nicola, Louis, his letter to Washington, 112, 125. Ninth Pillar erected, 361. Non-importation agreement, 146. North, Frederick, Lord, fall of his ministry, 1 ; coalition with Fox, 36-40 ; his blindness, 40 ; his proposals after Saratoga, 94 ; his subservience to the king, 317; caricatures of, 37. 39- North Carolina issues paper money, 178 ; cedes her western lands to the United States, 213 ; repeals the act of cession, 214; delays her ratification of the Constitution, 369- Ohio, 217-221. Old Sarum, 267. Old South Church, 342. Onslow, George, 2 Ordinance of 1787, 213, 216-221. Oregon, 62. Oswald, Richard, 9-12, 15, 21-25, 31, 44. Paine, Thomas, 50, 56, 206; portrait, 51. INDEX 393 Paper currency, 170-195, 220, 234, 294-297; specimens of, 175-194. Parade in New York, 369. Parker, Theodore, 284. Parsons, Samuel Holden, 217. Parsons, Theophilus, 339, 346 ; portrait, 339. Parties, formation of, 328. Paterson, William, 246, 263-266, 274, 278, 296 ; portrait, 263. Patterson, militia officer in Wyoming, 154. Payson, Rev. Philip, 342. Pendleton, Edmund, portrait, 359. Pennsylvania, government of, 67 ; first tariff act, 146; quarrels with Connecticut, 152- 156; paper money in, 181 ; opposes the clos- ing of the Mississippi, 227 ; contest over the Constitution, 329-334 ; ratifies it, 334. Petersham, scene of Shay's defeat, 197, 340 ; view of house where he was captured, 197. Philadelphia, Congress driven from, 118; Federal Convention meets at, 239; unpar- liamentary proceedings in legislature, 330; celebrates ratification by ten states, 362. Phocion and Mentor, 134. Pierce, William, autograph, 315. PinckneVi Charles, 246, 261, 281, 284,288, 290, 297,298,356; portrait, 285 ; facsimile of let- ter by, 286, 287. Pinckney, Cotesworth, 246, 261, 277, 281, 2S2, 284, 288, 297, 355, 356; portrait, 283. Pitt, Thomas, 42. Pitt, William, chancellor of exchequer, 16 ; denounces the coalition, 37 ; defends the treaty, 42 ; refuses to form a ministry, 42 ; character, 46, 47 ; prime minister, 47 ; wins a great political victory, 48 ; favours free trade with the United States, 141 ; portrait, 47.- Pohick parish church, 83. Polish kings, election of, 299. Population as an index of wealth, 276. Portland, Duke of, 16, 44. Potomac, navigation of, 229-232. Poughkeepsie, convention at, 363-36S ; old view of, 364. Powers granted to federal government, 290. Presbyterians. 82, 88. Presidents of Continental Congress, 99. Prevost's march against Charleston, 26. Prime minister contrasted with president, 312- 314- Primogeniture, abolition 01, 73. Proprietary governments, 67, 73. Providence, R. I., barbecue and mob at, 362. Public lands, 203. Putnam, Israel, 157. Putnam, Rufus, 216; portrait, 217; his house at Rutland, 218. Quebec act, 18. Quesnay, Francois, 146. Quorum, how to make a, 332. Railroads, political influence of, 62. Randolph, Edmund, 247, 251, 254, 258, 260, 265, 284, 291, 296, 298, 302, 321, 324,358, 360; portrait, 255. Rattlesnake, the American, a satirical print, 93 Rayneval, Gdrard de, 21. Read, George, 260, 295 ; portrait, 295. Reform, parliamentary, 6. Religious freedom, progress in, 78-88. Religious tests opposed by Massachusetts clergymen, 342. Representation of slaves, 277-282. Representatives, House of, 255, 272. Republican party, 256. Republics, old notion that they must be small in area, 60. Reserve, Connecticut's western, 208. Revenue bills, 292. Revere, Paul, 348; portrait, 349. Revolution, American, its conservative char- acter, 66; the French, 66, 125. Rhode Island, government of, 67 ; extends franchise to Catholics, 79 ; on the five per cent, duty, 109; paper money in, 182-190; opposes the closing of the Mississippi, 227 ; does not send delegates to Philadelphia, 239 ; delays her ratification of the Constitu- tion, 369. Richmond, Duke of, 1, 16. Rittenhouse, David, 116. Rockingham, Marquis of, 4; instability of his ministry, 5 ; its excellent work, 7 ; his death, 16. Rodney's victory over Grasse, 14 ; satirical print, 13. Roman republic not like the United States, 60. Rousseau, J. J., 66, 124. Rutgers, Elizabeth, 132. Rutledge, John, 246, 261, 280,284,298,299, 301, 321, 356; portrait, 279. St. Clair, Arthur, 212, 221. St. Croix boundary monument, 25. Saladin and Coeur-de-Lion, 167. Sandy Hook light-house, 152. Sargent, Winlhrop, 218. Scales for weighing coins, 177. Schuyler, Philip, 132, 150, 157, 207. Scott, Sir Walter, 158. Scottish representation in Parliament, 267. Seabury, Samuel, portrait, 85. Secession, threats of, 226, 234 ; no constitu- tional right of, 36S. Secrecy of the debates in Federal Convention, 249. Sedgwick, Theodore, 128, 339. Self-government, 57, 64, 90. Senate, feceral, made independent of lower house, 272 ; contrasted with House of Lords, 315- Senates, origni of, 68. Seven Years' War, 14, 204. Sevier, John, 214; portrait, 215. Shattucic, Job, 195. Shays rebellion, 196, 197, 234, 261, 336, 340, 344- . . Sheffield, Lord, protectionist, 141 ; on the Barbary pirates, 166. Shelburne, William, Earl of, his character, 4; his memorandum on proposed cession of Canada, 11; prime minister, 16; approached by Rayneval and Vaughan, 21 ; misjudged by Fox, 38 ; defends the treaty, 42; resigns, 42 ; his conduct justified by his enemies, 44 ; understood the principles of free trade, 4, 139; portrait of, 5. Shepard, William, 196. Sherman, Roger, 246, 261, 269, 275, 289, 295, 297, 299, 303, 320, 333 ; his suggestion as to relations of the executive to the legislature, 29g, 300, 318; portrait, 298. Shillings, 172. Ship-building in New England, 141-144. Shute, Rev. Daniel, 342. Sidney, Algernon, 66. 394 INDEX Signatures to the Constitution, facsimile of, 322. Singletary, Amos, 342, 344, 345. Six Nations, 205, 217. Slave-trade, foreign, permitted for twenty years, 283, 343. 355- Slavery in the several states, 74-77,288; pro- hibited in northwestern territory, 221 ; dis- cussions about it in Federal Convention, 277-290 ; condemned by George Mason, 284. Slaves, representation of, 277-281 ; numbers of, in the several states, 2S8. Small states converted to federalism by the Connecticut compromise, 274, 3:^4. Smith, Adam, 131, 139, 140. Smith, Capt. John, 206. Smith, Jonathan, 344-346; view of his tomb, 345 ; autograph, 346. Smith, Melancton, 364, 368 ; portrait, 367. Smugglers, 140. South Carolina, Episcopal church in, 79, 84 ; revokes five per cent, impost, 1 13 ; issues paper money, 178; absolute need of concili- ating her, 279, 280 ; makes bargain with New England states, 282-2S8 ; debates on the Con- stitution, 355-357 ; ratifies it, 357. Sovereignty never belonged to separate states, Spain, treaty of 1783 with Great Britain, 34; attempts to close Mississippi River, 223,226, 234, 357- . . Spanish claim in southwest, map of, 228. Spanish dollar, why it superseded English pound as unit of value in America, 172. Spermaceti oil, 144, 170. Springfield arsenal, 196, 201. Stage-coach, picture of, 63. States, powers denied to, 293. Stormont, Lord, 44. Story, Joseph, 297. Strachey, Sir Henry, 21. Strong, Caleb, 246, 272 , 299, 346 ; portrait, 311. Succession disputed, 309. Suffrage, limitations upon, 72. Sugar trade, 142. Temple, Lord, 43, 46. Tennessee, 18, 204, 213. Thayendanegea, 50. Thomas, Isaiah, 172; portrait, 171. Thompson, Gen., in Massachusetts convention, 344- Thurlow, Lord, 6; portrait, 75. Thurston, member of Virginia legislature, 148. Tithing-men in New England, 7S. Tobacco as currency in Virginia, 171. Tories, American ; see Loyalists. Tories, British, 40. Townshend, Thomas, 16. Trade, barbarous superstitions about, 139. Travelling, difficulties of, a century ago, 62. Treaty of 1783, difficulties in the way of, 8; strange character of, 22; provisions of, 24- 3 1 ; a great diplomatic victory for the Ameri- cans, 32, 204; secret article relating to Flor- ida boundary, 31, 223; adopted, 44; news arrives in America, 50 ; Congress unable to carry out its provisions, 126-138, 160. Trespass Act in New York, 130-134. Trevett vs. Weeden, 189. Tucker, Josiah, 58, 146. Tyler, John, the elder, 230, 359; portrait, 231. Union, sentiment of, 56. Unitarianism, SS. University men in Federal Convention, 242. Vaughan, Benjamin, 21, 33. Vergennes, Count de, 12 ; wishes to satisfy Spain at the expense of the United States, 17-20; thwarted by Jay, 21; accuses the Americans of bad faith, 31 ; tired of sending loans, 108 ; portrait, 30. Vermont, troubles in, 156-158 ; riots in connec- tion with the Shays rebellion, 198. Vice-presidency, 302. Victoria, Queen, 314. Vincennes, riot in, 226. Violence of political invective, 37. Virginia, church and state in, 79-84 ; on five per cent, impost, 109; paper money in, 178 ; takes possession of northwestern territory, 204-206 ; cedes it to the United States, 260 ; plan for new federal government, 251-260; its reception by the convention, 260 ; compro- mise as to representation of slaves, 278-281 ; resents compromise between South Carolina and the New England states, 284; debates on the Constitution, 357-360; ratifies it, 360. " Visionary young men," i.e., Hamilton, Mad- ison, Gouverneur Morris, etc., 338. Waddington, Joshua, 132. Wall Street, old view in, 69. Walpole, Horace, 16. Walpole, bir Robert, 316. War, the Civil, 56, 276, 2S2; contrast with Revolutionary, 104-108 ; cost of Revolution- ary, 174. Washington, George, marches from Vorktown to the Hudson River, 50 ; disbands the army, 51 ; resigns his command, 53 ; goes home to Mount Vernon, 54; his "legacy"' to the American people, 55; on the right of coer- cion, 100 ; urges half-pay for retired officers, 112 ; supposed scheme for making him king, 112 ; his masterly speech at Newburgh, 115; president of the Cincinnati, 120; on the weak- ness of the confederation, 16S ; wishes to hang speculators in breadstuffs, 170; disap- proves of Connecticut's reservation of a tract of western land, 20S ; approves of Ohio Com- pany, 217 ; his views on the need for canals between east and west, 228 ; important meet- ing held at his house, 229; is chosen delegate to the Federal Convention, 238 ; president of the convention, 247 ; his solemn warning, 250, 324 ; his suggestion as to the basis of rep- resentation, 272 ; asks if he shall put the ques- tion on the motion of Wilson and Pinckney, 298 ; disapproves of electing executive by the legislature, 299; sends draft of the Constitu- tion to Congress, 327 ; called a fool by the Antifederalists, 333; approves of amend- ments, but opposes a second convention, 350; unanimously chosen president of the United States, 370; his journey to New York, 374 ; his inauguration, 374; Trumbull's picture of his resignation, 56; his coach and four, 65; portraits, 78, 117, 251 ; Cruikshank's picture of his triumphal journey, 372; Darley's pic- ture of his inauguration, 374 ; facsimile of letter by, 370. Washington, William, 356. Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, 84. Watt, James, 61, 288. Wayne, Anthony, 50. Wealth as a basis of representation, 276. Webster, Daniel, 56, 221, 297. .RBM^-'26 INDEX 395 Webster, Pelatiah, 104, 240. Weems, Mason, 84. Wesley, John, 86. West, Rev. Samuel, 343 ; silhouette, 343. West India trade, 142, 171. Whigs, British, sympathize with revolutionary party in America, 2. Whiskey as currency in North Carolina, 171. White, Abraham, 344. Whitefield, George, 86. Whitehill, Robert, 333. Whitney, Eli, 288. Williamson, Hugh, portrait, 303. Wilson, James, 246, 261, 264, 266, 270, 281, 295, 298, 299, 301, 302, 321, 333, 335; por- trait, 332. Witenagemot, 68. Wolf Creek Mills, Ohio, 222. Worcester, street view in, 195. Worcester Spy, 172. Wraxall's Memoirs, i. Wyoming, troubles in, 132-156; bird's-eye view of, 151. Wythe, George, 246 ; portrait, 257. Yates, Robert, 243, 260, 263, 273, 364, 365; autograph, 276. Yazoo boundary, 31, 224. ' I. CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, V. S. A. 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