Resource Center OLLibrary
|
150 |
|
written by Alexander Hamilton -- who during the
war had been the confidential aid of Washington, James Madison,
and John Jay.
5. Early in the summer of 1788 it had
received the assent of the requisite number of states. The rest
soon gave
in their adhesion to it.1 George Washington was the
unanimous choice of both parties for the first president
under the new constitution, and John Adams was elected
vice-president.2
CHAPTER IV.
CONDITION, AT THE CLOSE OF THIS PERIOD, OF WHAT
IS
NOW THE UNITED STATES.
1. The
boundaries of the United States at the close of this Period
have already been given,3 and most of the original
thirteen states had taken their present limits.
New Hampshire,4 for a long
time claiming jurisdiction over Vermont,5 had yielded
her claim to New York, and taken the Connecticut as her western
boundary. Massachusetts6 still exercised
jurisdiction over Maine,7 but had arranged her western
boundary with New York as at present, accepting, in satisfaction
of the claim under her charter to territory farther west, the
proprietorship of vast tracts of land in Western New York.
Rhode Island8 and Connecticut8
had boundaries essentially the same as at present, the latter
retaining, of all her claims under her charter, only a portion of
territory on Lake Erie, known as the "Connecticut Reserve," which
now constitutes the north-eastern part of Ohio9. New
York8 claimed Vermont. New
Jersey,8 Pennsylvania,10
Delaware,10 and Maryland,10
had boundaries as now. Virginia10 included
Kentucky,5 and North Carolina,10
Tennessee.11 South Carolina10 had her
present limits, and Georgia12 claimed as much of
the present Alabama13 and Mississippi13 as
then belonged to the United States.
1 The States ratified the new constitution in the following order: --
|
Delaware, |
December 7, 1787. |
South Carolina, |
May 23 1789. |
|
|
Pennsylvania, |
December 12,1787. |
New Hampshire, |
June 21, 1788. |
|
|
New Jersey, |
December 18. 1787. |
Virginia, |
June 26, 1788. |
|
|
Georgia, |
January 2, 1788. |
New York, |
July 26,1788. |
|
|
Connecticut, |
June 9,1788. |
North Carolina, |
November 21, 1789. |
|
|
Massachusetts, |
February 6, 1788. |
Rhode Island, |
May 29,1790. |
|
|
Maryland, |
April 28,1788. |
2 See Appendix, p. ¶ ¶ 2, 2, 3, See. 1, Art. II., Const. U. S., and p. 16, Art. XII., Amendments Const. U. S.
|
3 See p. 146, ¶ 38. |
4 See p. 75. |
5 See p. 160. |
6 See p 76. |
|
7 See p. 190. |
8 See p. 77. |
9 See p. 165. |
10 See p 78. |
|
11 See p. 163. |
12 See p. 79. |
13 See p. 190. |
QUESTIONS. -- 5. When had the new constitution received the assent of the requisite number of states? Who was the first president under this constitution? Vice-president? Chap. IV. 1. What of the limits of most of the original states at the close of this Period? -- What is said of New Hampshire? Massachusetts? Rhode Island and Connecticut? New York? New Jersey? Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland? Virginia? North Carolina? South Carolina? Georgia?
|
|
151 |
2. The territory north
of the Ohio, claimed by different States, had been ceded to the
United States, 
and,
by an ordinance of Congress in 1787, it was organized into a
territory, called the North-west Territory. This vast
region was secured to freedom by the ordinance which declared that
"there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the
said territory, otherwise than in punishment of
crimes."1 Territory since annexed to the United
States remained in general in the same condition as at the close
of the last Period.
3. The population of the United
States at the close of this Period was nearly four millions.
During the war there had been but little
gain in the number of the inhabitants. Immigration nearly ceased.
Many men had fallen in battle. Many Tories had left the country.
After the close of the war the states began again to increase in
population.
4. At the
commencement of the Revolution the colonists of America were
husbandmen, merchants, mechanics, and fishermen, who were occupied
in the ordinary ditties of their respective callings, and were
sober, honest, and industrious. But when the struggle for
independence began, new fields for exertion were opened, and a
great change was suddenly wrought in the American people. Many who
were before only known in the humble sphere of peaceful
occupations, soon shone forth in the cabinet or in the field. The
war, too, did much to wear away local peculiarities and
prejudices. But the Revolution introduced, at the same time,
greater looseness of manners and morals. An army always
carries deep vices in its train, and communicates its corruption
to society around it. Besides this, the failure of public credit
so far put it out of the power of individuals to perform private
engagements, that the breach of them became common, and at length
was scarcely disgraceful. That high sense of integrity, which had
existed before, was thus exchanged for more loose and slippery
notions of honesty and honor. The peace of 1783, however, tended,
in a measure, to restore things to their former state. Those sober
habits, for which the country was previously distinguished, began
to return; business assumed a more regular and equitable
character, and the tumultuous passions roused by the war
subsided.
1 This famous anti-slavery proviso was borrowed from a plan submitted to congress three years before by Jefferson, for the government not only of the Worth-west Territory, but of other territory south of the Ohio and between the present western boundaries of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia and the Mississippi River. The anti-slavery proviso was struck out; otherwise Jefferson's plan was adopted. Four slave states -- Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi -- were afterwards formed from the territory south of the Ohio.
QUESTIONS. -- 2. What was the North-west Territory? How was this vast region secured to freedom? What of territory since annexed to the United States? 3. What was the population of the United States at the close of this Period? -- What of gain in population during the war? After the close of the war? 4. What is said of the colonists at the commencement of the Revolution? What changes in occupation were brought about by the war? In local peculiarities and prejudices? In manners and morals? How was the high sense of integrity, which existed before the war impaired? What effect did peace have on manners and morals?
|
152 |
|
5. Slavery,
although in opposition to the rights of man for which the
war had been waged, and in violation of the principles enunciated
in the Declaration of Independence, by which the revolt had been
justified to the world, remained undisturbed in all the states
till near the close of the war. Before the close of the Period,
however, all the states, except South Carolina and Georgia, had
prohibited the further importation of slaves, and the New England
States and Pennsylvania had adopted measures for the final
extinction of slavery -- an example followed, not many years
later, by New York and New Jersey. Indeed, the wisest and best men
of the time, north and south, looked forward with confidence and
hope to the speedy abolition of an institution so repugnant to the
principles of Christianity, and so fraught with danger to society,
religion, and the state. Unfortunately, however, the system became
riveted on the states east of the Mississippi, and south of
Delaware Bay, Mason and Dixon's line,1 and the
Ohio.
6. Religion. --
The frequent intercourse between different parts of the
country, promoted by the Revolutionary War, had softened sectarian
asperities, and nearly worn away the spirit of intolerance. But
for these advantages the Revolution brought with it great
disadvantages to religion in general. The atheistical philosophy,
which had spread over France, was thickly sown in the American
army by the French, and tended to produce a serious declension in
the tone of religious feelings among the American people. -- In
addition to this, religious institutions, during the war, were
much neglected; churches were demolished, or converted into
barracks; public worship was often suspended. After the war,
infidelity began to lose ground, and the cause of religion to
revive. Methodism was introduced into the United States during
this Period. It increased rapidly, especially in the Middle
States.
7. Education suffered, in common
with other kindred interests. In several colleges the course of
instruction was suspended; the hall was exchanged for the camp,
and the gown for the sword and epaulet. After the war, interest in
education revived, and before the end of the Period several
colleges and other institutions of learning were established in
different sections of the country. This Period added much that is
valuable to the political and other literature of our
language.
8. During the war,
the commerce of the United States was suppressed, but it
revived on the return of peace; the greater part of the shipping
belonging to the country was destroyed by the enemy, or perished
by a natural process of decay. Our coasts were so lined with
British cruisers, as to render navigation too hazardous to be
pursued to any considerable extent. For the two years immediately
following the close
1 See p. 61, note 4.
QUESTIONS. -- 5. What is said of slavery? Before the close of the war what states had prohibited the further introduction of slaves? What states had adopted measures for the extinction of slavery? What others soon followed their example? To what did the wisest and best men look forward? Upon what states did slavery become riveted? 6. How did the war affect sectarianism and intolerance? What disadvantages to religion had the war brought? What is said of religious institutions? Of Methodism? 7. What of education during and after the war? 8. What of commerce?
|
|
153 |
of the Revolution, the imports from England alone amounted to
thirty millions of dollars, while the exports of the United States
to that country were only between eight and nine millions.
9. Arts and manufactures
made considerable progress in the United States during this
Period. Cut off by the war from foreign sources of supply, the
people of the United States had been obliged to look to their own
industry and ingenuity to furnish articles needed in the struggle
and for the usual occupations of life. On the return of peace,
many branches of manufacture had become so firmly established that
they held their ground, even against the excessive importations
that immediately followed.
10. Agriculture was
greatly interrupted, during the war, by the withdrawing of
laborers to the camp, and by the distractions which disturbed all
the occupations of society. But within a few years after peace was
established, the exports of products raised in the United States
were again considerable. Attention began to be paid to the culture
of cotton, in the Southern States, about the year 1783, and it
soon became a staple of that part of the country. About the same
time, agricultural societies began to be formed in the United
States.
QUESTIONS.--9. What is said of arts and manufactures? 10. What of agriculture?
|
154 |
|
CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW.
(The figures in and at the end of the paragraphs in the Chronological Review refer to the Pages upon which the events are mentioned.]
1764. Parliament first declared its intention
of raising a revenue from America, 102.
1765. The Stamp Act was passed by Parliament,
102.
The Colonial
Congress met in New York, 104.
1767 A tax was imposed upon tea, and several
other articles, 106.
1770 The affray known as the Boston Massacre
took place, 107.
1773. Committees of Correspondence and Inquiry
were appointed, 108.
The tea was thrown
into Boston harbor, 108.
1774. The Boston Port Bill was enacted, 108.
The first
Continental Congress met at Philadelphia, 109.
1775. (April 19.) The first blood of the
Revolutionary War was shed at Lexington, 111.
Royal authority
terminated throughout the colonies, 114; Congress assumed the
authority of a general government, 115; Washington was appointed
commander-in-chief, 115.
The battle of
Bunker Hill was fought, 114.
1776. The British were driven from Boston, 117;
and an attack on Charleston, South Carolina, was gallantly
repulsed, 118.
Congress adopted
the Declaration of Independence (July 4), 119.
The Americans were
defeated on Long Island, 120; evacuated New York, and fought an
indecisive battle at White Plains -- Washington retreated through
New Jersey, 121; took a thousand prisoners at Trenton, 122.
1777. The army with Washington routed the enemy
at Princeton, 123; was defeated at the Brandywine, left
Philadelphia to be occupied by the British, and was repulsed by
them at Germantown, 125.
In the north, the
enemy were defeated at Bennington, 127; and their army, under
Burgoyne, surrendered at Saratoga, after two severe battles,
128.
Congress sent out
for adoption the Articles of Confederation, 128.
1778. France entered into treaties of alliance
and commerce with the United States, 130.
The Americans were
victorious at Monmouth Court-House, 131; the British took
Savannah, 133.
1779. The Americans were defeated at Brier
Creek, 134; the British at Stony Point, 135; and John Paul Jones
captured two English frigates in one of the most desperate naval
combats on record, 136.
General Sullivan
led an army into Western New York, to chastise the Indians, who
had joined with the British and Tories, 136.
1780. Charleston, South Carolina, surrendered to
the British, 137; the Americans were defeated at Camden, and the
British at King's Mountain, 138.
Arnold plotted to
betray WSest Point to the enemy, 139.
|
|
155 |
1781. General Greene conducted his celebrated
campaign in the Carolinas, 141; the Americans gaining a victory at
the Cowpens, 141; being defeated at Guilford Court-House, 142; and
engaging the enemy in a hard-fought but indecisive battle at Eutaw
Springs, 143.
Washington, aided by the French Beet and army,
captured the British army and fleet at Yorktown (October 19)--the
last important event of the war, 145.
1783. The treaty of peace was signed at Paris,
147.
1788. The new Constitution, prepared the year
before, received the assent of the number of states required in
order to go into effect, 150.
CONTEMPORARY CHRONOLOGY.
1763. Great improvement in pottery, by
Wedgwood, in England.
1768-74. Turkey wages war with Russia for
violating Turkish territory in pursuing the Poles.
1769. Machine for spinning by rollers invented
by Arkwright. The next year Hargreaves receives a patent for the
spinning-jenny.
1772. First partition of Poland between Russia,
Prussia, and Austria. The second partition occurred in 1793, and
the final partition in 1795.
1773. The Order of Jesuits abolished by Pope
Clement XIV.
1774. Louis XVI. king of France. He was beheaded
in 1793.
1778. Sandwich Islands discovered by Captain
Cook.
1780. Armed neutrality between Russia, Sweden,
and Denmark, for the protection of neutral flags against the right
of search claimed by England. The league soon comprehended nearly
the whole of Europe.
The Gordon or "No
Popery" riots in London.
Hyder Ali conquers
the Carnatic, and soon after is conquered by Sir Eyre Coote.
1782. Watt, after making many improvements in
the steam engine, invents a double-acting or rotalive engine.
1783. First ministry of William Pitt, the
younger.
1785. Power-loom invented by Cartwright.
1787-92. War between Turkey and Russia --
disastrous to the former.
Austria takes part
in the war as an ally of Russia.
Among the eminent men who closed their career during this Period were,
|
Hogarth, |
|
Wm. Pitt, Earl of Chatham, |
|
|
Swedenborg, |
|
Blackstone, |
|
|
Goldsmith, |
|
Metastasio, |
|
|
Robert Lord Clive, |
|
D'Alembert, |
|
|
Hume, |
|
Euler, |
|
|
Linnaeus, |
|
Samuel Johnson, |
|
|
Rousseau, |
|
Gluck, |
|
|
Voltaire, |
|
Buffon, |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
© 1999, 2000, 2001 for NEGenWeb Project by Ted & Carole Miller