a. Committee of secret correspondence, 36. b. Commissioner from the Confederation, 36. 4. Overtures from England, 39. 5. Financial operations. a. During the war, 49, 58. b. The debt created, 58. c. Mode of payment adopted, 59. 6. The treaty of peace, 56. 7. The claim against the country afterward. b. On the part of Spain, 61. VIII. THE MEN OF AMERICA. 1. Leaders in state. a. Benjamin Franklin, 5, 8, 17, 36, 56, 65. b. James Otis, 12. c. Patrick Henry, 14. d. Samuel Adams, 18, 19. e. Thomas Jefferson, 33. f. John Hancock, 33. g. John Adams, 24, 56, 63. h. John Jay, 65. i. Alexander Hamilton, 64, 65. j. James Madison, 64, 65. 2. Leaders in battle. a. George Washington, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 37, 39, 41, 43, 46-48, 54, 55, 57, 58, 64. b. Joseph Warren, 25. c. Ethan Allen, 27. d. William Moultrie, 30. e. israel Putnam, 25, 39. f. Nathan Hale, 40. g. John Stark, 43. h. Philip Schuyler, 42, 44. i. Horatio Gates, 44, 46, 52. 1. John Paul Jones, 51. 3. The plain people, 23, 26, 46. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. King George III. came to the throne... Writs of Assistance argued by James Otis. Passage of the Stamp Act... Convention of the colonies. Repeal of the Stamp Act... Parliament passed an act establishing military garrisons. The Boston Massacre .... . . . Removal of troops from Boston Destruction of tea in Boston Harbor. ..... 1760 .1761 March, 1765 . October, 1765 March, 1766 .1767 March 5, 1770 March 10, 11, 1770 .Dec. 16, 1773 ....June 1, 1774 . September, 1774 Provincial Congress of Massachusetts met in Concord.....October, 1774 Boston Port Bill went into operation. First Continental Congress met Fight at Lexington and Concord ..... Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point Second Continental Congress met. . . . Washington appointed commander-in-chief. Battle of Bunker Hill...... Washington took command of the American army Falmouth burned by the British Montreal captured by Montgomery Union flag hoisted. April 19, 1775 May 10, 12, 1775 May 10, 1757 June 15, 1775 June 17, 1775 ..July 3, 1775 Oct. 17, 1775 Nov. 12, 1775 .Dec. 31, 1775 Jan. 1, 1776 South Carolina adopted a State constitution. The colonies advised to set up State governments. Attack on Fort Sullivan Declaration of Independence adopted Battle of Long Island... Battle of White Plains Fort Washington abandoned Battle of Trenton Battle of Princeton.. Flag of stars and stripes adopted by Congress. Capture of Ticonderoga by Burgoyne.... Howe's fleet left New York. Battle of Oriskany Battle of Bennington. Battle of Brandywine. Battle of Germantown March 17, 1776 March, 1776 May 16, 1776 .June 28, 1776 July 4, 1776 .Aug. 27, 1776 .Oct. 28, 1776 . Nov. 16, 1776 .Dec. 26, 1776 .Jan. 3, 1777 . June 14, 1777 July 6, 1777 July 23, 1777 Aug. 6, 1777 .Aug. 16, 1777 .Sept. 11, 1777 ..Oct. 4, 1777 Surrender of Burgoyne Ratification of treaty with France British left Philadelphia ..... Battle of Monmouth Court House Arrival of French fleet ... Savannah taken by the British Capture of Stony Point by the Americans. Fight between the Bon Homme Richard and Serapis Capture of Charleston by the British. Battle of Camden.. Arnold's treason Execution of André Battle of Cowpens.. Meeting of Congress under Articles of Confederation Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown Savannah evacuated by the British. Charleston evacuated by the British. Treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States signed at Paris New York evacuated by the British Shays's Rebellion... Northwest Territory organized. Constitutional Convention met .Oct. 17, 1777 . May 4, 1778 June 18, 1778 June 28, 1778 July, 1778 .Dec. 29, 1778 ..July 16, 1779 .Sept. 23, 1779 May 12, 1780 Aug. 16, 1780 .September, 1780 . Oct. 2, 1780 Jan. 17, 1781 March 2, 1781 Oct. 19, 1781 .July 11, 1782 Dec. 14, 1782 Sept. 3, 1783 Nov. 25, 1783 1786-1787 ..1787 May 14, 1787 Constitution ratified by Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey...1787 Constitution ratified by eight other States.. 1788 CHAPTER VII. THE NEW UNION. 67. The Beginning of the New Government. While the convention was forming the Constitution, the Congress of the Confederation was in session in New York. It continued to be the government of the country till the new government could go into operation. It fixed the seat of government temporarily in New York, and in that city the Congress of the United States met, March 4, 1789. It was a small body, consisting at first of twenty-two senators and fifty-nine representatives. Meanwhile the presidential electors met and voted for President. There could be no doubt who was the first man of the nation. George Washington was unanimously chosen President, and on April 30 he took the oath of office, in Federal Hall on Wall Street, New York. "He was dressed," an eyewitness tells us, "in deep brown, with metal buttons with an eagle on them, white stockings, a bag (that is, a bag wig), and sword." John Adams was chosen Vice President, and took his place as president of the Senate. 68. The Cabinet. - Under the old Confederation there had been three executive departments, controlled by Congress: Foreign Affairs, War, and Finance. In the new Union these departments were made a part of the executive department, and the President appointed Thomas Jefferson at the head of the first, with the title of Secretary of State; he appointed Henry Knox, who was a general in the army, Secretary of War, and Alexander Hamilton Secretary of the Treasury. Edmund Randolph also was appointed to be Attorney General. This was the beginning of what we now know as the Cabinet, that is, the President's council; and it is a good illustration of how political organization grows and is not made. The Constitution is silent about a Cabinet, and yet the President's Cabinet to-day, with its eight members, is a very important part of the administration. Jefferson and Hamilton. — Two of the members of Washington's Cabinet were men who had a marked influence on history. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, was a man of scholarly tastes and attainments. It was he who afterward organized the University of Virginia. He had been minister to France, and there had seen the beginning of the French Revolution. He had a deep faith in the final judgment of the whole people, and combined in an extraordinary degree the qualities of an idealist and of a man of practical, plain sense. Alexander Hamilton was thirteen years younger than Jefferson. He was but twenty-two years old when he wrote a letter to the superintendent of finance which showed that he had already clear and strong opinions as to the proper mode of managing the finances of the government. Hamilton was opposed to Jefferson in many of his theories. He distrusted the people, and thought government should be in the hands of a few able and influential men.1 69. The Supreme Court. In addition to the legislative department, consisting of Congress, and of the executive department, consisting of the President, there was a third department of government organized, the judiciary. The Constitution had provided for a Supreme Court. Washington appointed John Jay Chief Justice, and Congress proceeded to extend the system. of courts by which cases could first be tried in inferior courts, and only the most important questions carried up to the Supreme Court. By far the greatest power held by the Supreme Court is that of passing upon the constitutionality of acts of Congress 1 As Secretary of the Treasury he organized the work so well that the office is to-day administered on the lines he laid down. |