Departure of the British.

Weakness of the General Government.

Like Cincinnatus, the-patriotic Roman,' Washington laid down the cares of state, and returned to his farm on the banks of the Potomac. Already the last hostile foot had departed [November 25, 1783], and his country was free.

6. When the war was ended, and the common danger past, the Americans found themselves without a sufficient bond of union, in the form of organic law, to entitle them to the character of a nation. The Articles of Confederation' allowed the exercise of so much independent power by the several States, and so little by the Congress or national legislature, that no system of taxation, for the payment of the heavy public debt, or for carrying on the Government, could be put in practice; and the States, all impoverished by the war, found it difficult to collect taxes for their individual uses. Congress could only recommend certain measures to the several States; they could not demand any action for the public good.

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7. Thoughtful men saw the dangers to which the young Republic was exposed by this loose system of government-this

1. A little while before the final disbanding of the army, many of the officers, then at Newburg, on the Hudson, met [June 19, 1783], and formed an association, which they named the SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. The chief objects of the society were to promote cordial friendship and indissoluble union among themselves; to commemorate, by frequent reunions, the great struggle they had just passed through; to use their best endeavors for the promotion of human liberty; to cherish good feeling between the respective States; and to extend benevolent aid to those of the society whose circumstances might require it. The order of the society consists of a gold eagle, suspended upon a ribbon, on the breast of which is a medallion with a device representing Cincinnatus receiving the Roman senators.

2. Verse 2, page 150.

3. According to an estimate made by the register of the Treasury in 1790, the entire cost of the war for independence was at least one hundred and thirty millions of dollars, exclusive of vast sums lost by individuals and the several States. The Treasury payments amounted to almost ninety-three millions, chiefly in Continental bills. The foreign debt amounted to eight millions of dollars; and the domestic debt, due chiefly to the officers and soldiers of the Revolution, was more than thirty millions of dollars.

4. This effort produced great excitement in many of the States; and in Massachusetts, in 1786, the people openly rebelled. The insurrection became so formidable, that an armed force of several thousand men was required to suppress it. The insurgents were led by Daniel Shay, and it is known in history as Shay's Rebellion.

ORDER.

In the convention which framed the National Constitution, no subject created more earnest debate than a proposition for the General Government to assume the debts of the States contracted in providing means for carrying on the war. The debts of the several States were unequal. Those of Massachusetts and South Carolina amounted to more than ten millions and a half of dollars, while the debts of all the other States did not extend, in the aggregate, to fifteen millions. This assumption was finally made, to the amount of $21,500,000.

QUESTIONS.-6. What great want did the Americans feel? What have you to say of the weakness of the leagues of States?

Important conventions.

A National Constitution.

Birth of the Nation.

mere league of States-and earnestly sought a remedy. A better system of commercial regulations was demanded; and in September, 1786, delegates from six States met in convention at Annapolis, in Maryland, to consider the matter. They did more. They suggested the propriety of holding another convention, for the purpose of amending the Articles of Confederation,' so as to give greater powers to the General Government. Accordingly, in May, 1787, representatives from all the States but Rhode Island, met in convention in the State House in Philadelphia,' with Washington as president.

8. It was soon perceived that the Articles of Confederation were too faulty for amendment. They were cast aside, and the convention set about making a new instrument. All agreed that a greater centralization of power was essential to the existence of the Republic, and that what was called independent State sovereignty, as displayed under the Articles of Confederation, was so dangerous to national life, that it must be made subordinate to the sovereignty of the General Government. With this central idea they proceeded, and formed the National Constitution [September, 1787] under which we live."

9. This Constitution was submitted for consideration to conventions of the people in the several States, in which it was discussed with warmth and ability. It was finally ratified by these conventions in nine States (the requisite number); and, on the 4th of March, 1789, the Continental Congress expired, and the National Constitution became the organic law of the Republic. Thus was consummated the last and most important act in the war for independence. Then the Nation was born. Then the Republic of THE UNITED STATES commenced its glorious career.

2 Verse 9, page 142.

1. Verse 2, page 150. 3. The Constitution was submitted to Congress [September 28, 1787], then in session, and that body sent copies of it to the several State Legislatures, in order that it might be considered in conventions of the people.

4. Hitherto the Government of Great Britain had refused to acknowledge the new Republic as a sovereignty, because its action was controlled by the legislatures of thirteen independent States; now the people had invested the General Government with supremacy in national affairs, and for the first time Great Britain sent an embassador to represent its Sovereignty at the seat of the Government of the Republic.

QUESTIONS.-7. What did thoughtful men do? What can you tell of two conventions to form a more perfect government? 8. What did the last convention perceive and consider? What did that convention do? 9. What was done with the National Constitution then adopted? What did the people do? What was the glorious result?

CHAPTER VI.

THE NATION.

SECTION I.

WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION [1789-1797].

1. WHEN the National Constitution' had received the approbation of the people, and was made the supreme law of the land, General Washington was chosen, by the unanimous vote of the electors, the first President or chief magistrate of the Republic, and John Adams was made Vice-President. On the 30th of April, 1789, Washington stood upon the street gallery of the old City Hall, New York, and there, in the presence of a vast concourse of people, took the oath of office, which was administered by Chancellor Livingston."

1. This instrument, in language and general arrangement, is the work of Gouverneur Morris, into whose hands the convention of 1787 placed the crude materials which had been adopted at various times during the session. Gouverneur Morris was born near New York, in 1752. He was a lawyer, and active in public life. In 1792 he was appointed minister to France, and after his return he was a legislator for many years. He died in 1816.

2. These are men elected by the people in the various States, to meet and choose a President and VicePresident of the United States. Their number is equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the several States are entitled. So the people do not vote directly for the chief magistrate. Formerly, the man who received the highest number of votes was declared to be President, and he who received the next highest number was proclaimed Vice-President. Now these are voted for as distinct candidates for separate offices.

GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.

3. One of the committee (verse 10, page 143) to draft the Declaration of Independence. He was born in New York in 1747, became a lawyer, and was always an active public man. He was minister to France in 1801, when he purchased Louisiana for the United States. He died in 1813.

QUESTIONS.-1. What can you tell about the choice of the first President of the United States? When and where did he take the oath of office?

The new Government in motion.

2. The first session of Congress was chiefly devoted to the organization of the new Government, and the arrangement of measures for the future prosperity of the Republic. The public finances and a system of reve nues first engaged their attention. Three Executive Departments were created; namely, Treasury, War, and Foreign Affairs, the heads of which were to be styled Secretaries, instead of Ministers, as in Europe.

These the President might appoint or dismiss with the concurrence of the Senate of the United States. They were to constitute a cabinet council, always ready for consultation with the President on public affairs, and bound to give him their opinions in writing, when required. A national judiciary was established, consisting of a Supreme Court, having a Chief Justice and five associates; also, circuit and district courts, which had jurisdiction over certain specified cases.

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3. The Congress adjourned on the 29th of September [1789], and Washington, having appointed his cabinet council, made a brief tour in New England, to make himself better acquainted with the people and their resources. The second session of Congress began early in January, 1790, when Mr. Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, made able reports on the monetary affairs

1. John Jay was appointed Chief Justice; John Rutledge (verse 3, page 174), of South Carolina; James Wilson, of Pennsylvania; William Cushing, of Massachusetts; Robert H. Harrison, of Maryland; and John Blair, of Virginia, were appointed Associate Justices.

2. Alexander Hamilton was appointed Secretary of the Treasury; Henry Kx, Secretary of War; and Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Jefferso as then United States minister at the court of France, and did not enter upon his duties until March, 1790. The office of Secretary of the Navy was not created until the presidency of Mr. Adams. Naval affairs were under the control of the Secretary of War.

QUESTIONS.-2. What chiefly engaged the attention of Congress at their first session? What can you tell about the Executive Departments? What about a national judiciary? 3. What can you tell about the adjournment of Congress, the President's tour, and the second session?

Financial measures.

Growth of the Republic.

National bank and mint.

of the nation. On his recommendation the National Government assumed the public debt incurred during the Revolution,' and also the debts of the several States, contracted during that period." A wise revenue system, proposed by Hamilton,was adopted; and an act was passed, making a territory, ten miles square, on the Potomac river, which was named the District of Columbia, the permanent seat of the National Government, after the lapse of ten years from that date.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON.

During

4. Since the organization of the Government, the people of North Carolina and Rhode Island, in conventions assembled, had adopted the Constitution; and, during the third session of the first Congress, which commenced in December, 1790, Vermont was admitted [February, 1791] to the Union as a State. that session the foundations of public credit and national prosperity were formally laid. Settlements were rapidly spreading beyond the Alleghany mountains," where two immense Territories had been established, and the subject of further territorial organization was pressed upon the attention of Congress. That body, in accordance with the recommendation of Hamilton, authorized the creation of a national bank,' and the establishment of a mint, for national coinage.

1. Note 3, page 193.

2. The Government assumed the payment of State debts to the amount of $21,000,000. 3. Verse 9, page 194.

4. Vermont was originally called the New Hampshire Grants, and was claimed by both New York and New Hampshire. In 1777, the people met in convention, and proclaimed the Territory an independent State. After purchasing the claims of New York for $30,000, it was admitted into the Union.

5. The first census, or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States, was completed in 1791. The number of all sexes and color was 3,929,000. The number of slaves was 695,000.

6. One, embracing the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, was established in July, 1787, by the name of the North-western Territory, and the domain of Tennessee was constituted the Territory South-west of the Ohio, in March, 1790.

7. At that time the whole banking capital in the United States was only $2,000,000, invested in the Bank of North America at Philadelphia, established by Robert Morris (verse 2, page 181) in 1781, the Bank of New York, in New York city, and the Bank of Massachusetts, in Boston. The Bank of the United States began its operations in corporate form, in Februs, 1794, with a capital of $10,000,000.

8. The first mint went into operation in 1792, in Philadelphia, and remained the sole issuer of coin, in the United States, until 1835, when a branch was established in each of the States of Georgia, North Carolina, and Louisiana.

QUESTIONS. 3. What financial measures were adopted? What provision was made for a permanent seat of government? 4. What States joined the Union? What have you to say about the public credit and new settlements? What about a national bank and mint?