While the surrender at Yorktown virtually ended the struggle, Washington was too wise to disband the army. No more battles took place, but the country remained in an unsettled condition for a long time, and the embers of hate often broke into flame. It is claimed that the last blood shed in the Revolution was that of Captain Wilmot, shot in a skirmish in September, 1782, at Stone Ferry.
TREATY OF PEACE AND ITS TERMS.
It had been agreed by both parties that hostilities should stop, and commissioners were appointed to arrange the terms of peace. The preliminary articles were signed at Versailles, November 30, 1782, but the final treaty was not executed until September 3d of the following year. On April 19, 1783, the eighth anniversary of Lexington, Washington at the headquarters of the army officially declared the war at an end.
By the final treaty, England acknowledged the United States to be free and independent, with Canada as a boundary on the north, the Mississippi River on the west, and Florida, extending westward to the Mississippi, on the south. Spain, which still owned Louisiana west of the Mississippi, now received Florida from Great Britain.
The American army was disbanded, and officers and men went to their homes dissatisfied because they had not been paid for years. Washington presented himself before Congress at Annapolis and resigned his commission. The British evacuated Savannah in July, 1782, Charleston in December, and New York City, their last post, November 25, 1783. The forts north of the Ohio, however, were held by English garrisons for about twelve years longer.
[Ill.u.s.tration: UNITED STATES CAPITOL, WASHINGTON.]
CHAPTER VII.
ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES.
The Method of Government During the Revolution--Impending Anarchy--The State Boundaries--State Cessions of Land--Shays" Rebellion--Adoption of the Const.i.tution--Its Leading Features--The Ordinance of 1787--Formation of Parties--Election of the First President and Vice-President.
War is not only a blight to mankind, but it inflicts wounds that can never heal and brings a train of woe and suffering which lasts for years. The social system is disorganized, industry checked, resources exhausted, and a debt entailed whose burden is felt for generations. The United States had won the priceless boon of independence, but the States were exhausted and in the lowest depths of poverty. They were like those who, having lost everything, are compelled to begin life anew.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A PLANTATION GATEWAY.
(Entrance to the Estate of William Byrd, at Westover, Va.)]
WEAKNESS OF THE GOVERNMENT.
While the war was under way, the States were held together by the one common danger, and the Continental Congress managed the affairs of the Union, but the body was without any authority to govern, and whatever it did in that direction was only what the people permitted. The State governments were tangible, for State const.i.tutions had been formed and the Legislatures received direct authority from the people. When they chose to disobey Congress they did so, and no penalty could be visited upon them. As the end of the war approached, the authority of the respective States increased and that of Congress dwindled until it was but a mere name and shadow.
The Articles of Confederation were agreed upon by Congress in 1777. They defined the respective powers of Congress and were not to go into effect until a majority of the States should agree to them. Within the following two years all yielded their a.s.sent except Maryland, which did so March 1, 1781.
DISPUTE OVER STATE BOUNDARIES.
The cause of this prolonged delay was the dispute over western territory. Few persons suspect the extent of the wrangling over the respective boundaries of the States. When the charters were granted by England, the western boundaries of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland were defined, and consequently they could not ask for an extension of them. New York insisted that she had no western boundary. The remaining six States had their western boundaries named as the Pacific Ocean, which was at a distance that no one dreamed of at the time. They a.s.serted that the transfer of Louisiana to Spain fixed the Mississippi River as the limit in that direction.
Among these claims none was so remarkable as that of Virginia. The most that her sister States asked was that their northern and southern boundaries should run parallel to the westward, but Virginia insisted that her northern boundary extended northwest, which, if allowed, would have given her all of the present States of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Her claim was crossed by those of Ma.s.sachusetts and Connecticut.
The States whose western boundaries had been settled were indignant over the injustice of the claims of the others, for, since the whole thirteen a.s.sisted in wresting the territory from Great Britain, they a.s.serted that all should share it. Some of the States sold lands in the west, whose ownership was disputed by other States, and Maryland, as intimated, refused her a.s.sent to the Articles of Confederation until a.s.sured that these western claims would be abandoned.
HOW THE DISPUTE WAS SETTLED.
It was evident that the only way out of the confusion was by the surrender of these claims, and New York set the example in 1780. In response to the earnest request of Congress, Virginia did the same in 1784, Ma.s.sachusetts in 1785, Connecticut in 1786, South Carolina in 1787, North Carolina in 1790, and Georgia in 1802. The result was that the western boundaries of the States named were fixed as they are to-day, and the United States came into the possession of a large territory. Connecticut held fast to a large strip of land in northeastern Ohio, which is still known as the Western Reserve. The same State, which had settled Wyoming in Pennsylvania, claimed it for a time, but finally gave it up.
It took but a short time to demonstrate the utter worthlessness of the Articles of Confederation. Congress, the central governing power, had no authority to lay taxes, punish crimes, or regulate foreign or domestic commerce. Its whole function was to give advice to the respective States, which, as might be supposed, paid little or no heed to it.
Furthermore, the stronger States made laws inimical to the smaller ones, and Congress was powerless to remedy it. Naturally Great Britain oppressed American commerce, and there was no way of checking it.
The prosperity which most of the people expected to follow peace did not appear. The Continental currency was not worth the paper it was printed on. Even at this late day, when a man uses the expression that an article is "not worth a Continental," it is understood to mean that it has no value at all.
WASHINGTON"S PATRIOTISM.
The condition of no one was more pitiful than that of the heroes who had fought through the Revolution and won our independence. They went to their poverty-smitten homes in rags. While Washington was at his headquarters at Newburgh, in 1783, an anonymous paper was distributed among the troops calling upon them to overthrow the civil governments and obtain their rights by force. They even dared to ask Washington to become their king, but that great man spurned the offer in a manner that prevented it ever being repeated. But his sympathy was aroused, and he finally secured five years" full pay for the officers, and thus averted the danger.
At that time the Northern and Middle States contained about a million and a half of people and the Southern a million. Virginia had 400,000 inhabitants, and was the most populous, with Pennsylvania and Ma.s.sachusetts next, each having 350,000. The present Empire State of New York was one of the weak States, the city containing about 14,000, Boston 20,000, and Philadelphia 40,000. It was estimated that the debt of the respective States was $20,000,000 and of the country $42,000,000.
SHAYS" INSURRECTION.
Rioting and disorder are always sure to follow so deplorable a condition of affairs. Daniel Shays, formerly a captain in the Continental army, headed a mob of 2,000 men in Ma.s.sachusetts, who demanded the stoppage of the collection of taxes and the issuance of a large amount of paper money for general use. When they had dispersed the Supreme Court, sitting at Springfield, General Lincoln was sent with 4,000 troops to put down the rebellion. Lincoln placed the judges in their seats, and then, when the rioters were about to attack him, he gave them a volley.
The rioters scattered and the rebellion ended. Fourteen of the ringleaders were afterward sentenced to death, but were reprieved and finally pardoned.
THE MEETING AT ANNAPOLIS.
Shays" rebellion was one of the best things that could have happened, for it showed the country more clearly than before that it was on the verge of anarchy, and that the remedy must not be delayed. Long before this, Washington comprehended the serious peril of the country, and he was in continual consultation with men whose worth and counsel he valued. The result was that a meeting of commissioners from Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York met at Annapolis in September, 1786. They held an earnest discussion, but as only a minority of the States were represented, nothing positive could be done, and an adjournment was had with a recommendation that each State should send delegates to meet in Philadelphia in May, 1787. The prestige of Washington"s name gave so much weight to the recommendation that at the appointed date all the States were represented except Rhode Island.
The wisdom of Washington was again manifest in a letter which he wrote some months before the meeting of the Const.i.tutional Convention, and which contained the following:
"We have errors to correct. We have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation. Experience has taught us that without the intervention of a coercive power, men will not adopt and carry into execution measures best calculated for their own good. I do not conceive we can exist long as a nation without having lodged somewhere a power that will pervade the whole Union in as energetic a manner as the authority of the State governments extend over the several States.... I am told that even respectable characters speak of a monarchical form of government without horror. From thinking proceeds speaking; thence acting is but a single step. But how irrevocable and tremendous! What a triumph for our enemies to verify their predictions!
What a triumph for the advocates of despotism to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves, and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty are merely ideal and fallacious!"
When the news reached Washington of the disorders in New England, he was greatly troubled. "What stronger evidence can be given," he asked, "of the want of energy in our government than these disorders? If there is not a power in it to check them, what security has a man for his life, liberty, or property? The consequences of a bad or inefficient government are too obvious to be dwelt upon. Thirteen sovereigns pulling against one another, and all tugging at the federal head, will soon bring ruin on the whole; whereas, a liberal and energetic const.i.tution, well checked and well watched to prevent encroachments, might restore us to that degree of respectability and consequence to which we had the fairest prospect of attaining."
THE CONSt.i.tUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1787.
Washington was placed at the head of the delegation from Virginia.
Although he hoped that he would be permitted to spend the rest of his days in the domestic quiet of Mount Vernon, his patriotism would not permit him to decline, even though he saw the certainty that the action would bring him forward once more into public affairs. Only a part of the delegates met in Philadelphia, May 14, 1787, and an adjournment was had from day to day until the 25th, when, a majority being present, the convention organized and unanimously chose Washington as chairman. For four months it sat with closed doors, meeting in the same room in Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and where the chair is still preserved in which Washington sat.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SENATE CHAMBER.]
What an a.s.semblage of great and n.o.ble men, all of whose names have become historical! With the peerless Washington at the head, there were James Madison, afterward President of the United States; Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin West, Edmund Randolph, Robert Morris, Gouverneur Morris, Sherman, Clymer, Read, and d.i.c.kinson. It may well be imagined that among those men the discussions, which were continued several hours daily, were of the most interesting nature.
Inevitably there was a diversity of views, and the arguments at times grew warm, but with such an aggregation of statesmanship and wisdom, the best results were certain. Steadily the wonderful Const.i.tution was moulded into shape, and on the 17th of September was signed by all the delegates except Randolph and Mason, of Virginia, and Gerry, of Ma.s.sachusetts. It was then submitted to Congress, which forwarded it to the respective States for acceptance or rejection--the a.s.sent of nine being necessary to make it operative.
So important a doc.u.ment was sure to elicit earnest discussion and many able men opposed its adoption. At that early day appeared the germs of the present political parties. The problem was as to the right division of power between the national or central government and the respective States. Those who favored the widest lat.i.tude to the States were called Republicans, while their opponents were given the name of Federalists.
The views of the latter predominated in the main, though the Const.i.tution was really a compromise between its supporters and opponents.
The beneficent features of the instrument were so manifest that its adoption soon followed. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire ratified it, and, being the ninth State, its provisions became operative throughout the Union. North Carolina and Rhode Island did not a.s.sent, and the Const.i.tution went into effect without their vote. These two States had issued a good deal of paper money, and disliked the Const.i.tution because it forbade such action. The opposition of the other States was caused by the fear that too much power was conferred upon the central government.
To remove this not wholly unreasonable objection, the first ten amendments were adopted and ratified in 1791.
FEATURES OF THE CONSt.i.tUTION.