A Brief History of the United States5. Travel was slow and tiresome, because there were no railroads, steamboats, or automobiles.
6. Occupations were far fewer than now, wages lower, and hours of labor longer. Slavery had been abolished, or was being gradually stopped, in New England and Pennsylvania, but existed in all the other states; and in the South nearly all the labor was done by slaves.
7. New Englanders were engaged in farming, fishing, lumbering, and commerce; the Middle States produced much wheat and flour, and also lumber; the South chiefly tobacco, rice, and tar, pitch, and turpentine.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The states ratified the Const.i.tution on the dates given below:--
1. Delaware......... Dec. 7, 1787 2. Pennsylvania..... Dec. 12,1787 3. New Jersey....... Dec. 18, 1787 4. Georgia.......... Jan. 2, 1788 5. Connecticut...... Jan. 9, 1788 6. Ma.s.sachusetts.... Feb. 7, 1788 7. Maryland......... April 28, 1788 8. South Carolina... May 23, 1788 9. New Hampshire.... June 21, 1788 10. Virginia........ June 26, 1788 11. New York........ July 26, 1788 12. North Carolina.. Nov. 21, 1789 13. Rhode Island.... May 29, 1790
[2] In New Jersey any "person" having a freehold (real estate owned outright or for life) worth 50 might vote. In New York each voter had to have a freehold of 20, or pay 40 shillings house rent and his taxes. In Ma.s.sachusetts he had to have an estate of 60, or an income of 3 from his estate.
[3] In Maryland 50 acres; in South Carolina 50 acres or a town lot; in Georgia 10 of taxable property.
[4] When Congress was forced to a.s.sume the conduct of the war, money was needed to pay the troops. But the Congress then had no authority to tax either the colonies or the people, so (in 1775-81) it issued bills of credit, or Continental money, of various denominations. A loan office was also established in each state, and the people were asked to loan Congress money and receive in return loan-office certificates bearing interest and payable in three years. But little money came from this source; and the people refused to take the bills of credit at their face value. The states then made them legal tender, that is, made them lawful money for the payment of debts. But as they became more and more plentiful, prices of everything paid for in Continental money rose higher and higher. From an old bill of January, 1781, it appears that in Philadelphia a pair of boots cost $600 in paper dollars; six yards of chintz, $900; eight yards of binding, $400; a skein of silk, $10; and b.u.t.ter, $20 a pound. In Boston at the same time sugar was $10 a pound; beef, $8; and flour, $1575 a barrel.
To say of anything that it was "not worth a continental" was to say that it was utterly worthless.
[5] In New England it was valued at six shillings; in New York at eight; in Pennsylvania at seven and six pence; in South Carolina and Georgia at four shillings and eight pence.
[6] The hour gla.s.s consisted of two small gla.s.s bulbs joined by a small gla.s.s tube. In one bulb was as much fine sand as in the course of an hour could run through the tube into the other bulb. At auctions when ships or real estate were for sale it was common to measure time by burning an inch or more of candle; that is, the bidding would go on till a certain length of candle was consumed.
[7] The _Ma.s.sachusetts Magazine_ was ill.u.s.trated with occasional engravings of cities and scenery; but it was not what we know as an ill.u.s.trated magazine. Read a description of the newspapers of this time in McMaster's _History of the People of the U. S._, Vol. I, pp. 35-38.
[8] Franklin is still the most popular of colonial writers. His autobiography, his _Way to Wealth_, and many of his essays are still republished and widely read. The poetry of Philip Freneau, of John Trumbull, and Francis Hopkinson is still read by many; but it was in political writing that our countrymen excelled. No people have ever produced a finer body of political literature than that called forth by the Revolution. Read McMaster's _History of the People of the U. S._, Vol. I, pp. 74-80.
[9] Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Columbia, Brown, and Dartmouth. In a lottery "drawn" in 1797 for the benefit of Brown University, 9000 tickets were sold at $6 each--a total of $54,000.
Of this, $8000 was kept by the university, and $46,000 distributed in 3328 prizes--2000 at $9 each, 1000 at $12 each, and the rest from $20 to $4000.
[10] In the convention which framed the Const.i.tution twenty of the fifty- five men were college graduates. Five were graduates of Princeton, three of Harvard, three of Yale, three of William and Mary, two of Pennsylvania, one of King's (now Columbia), and one each of Oxford, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.
[11] The writings of men who were not college graduates--Washington, Franklin, d.i.c.kinson, and many others--speak well for the character of the early schools.
[12] The journey from Boston to New York by land consumed six days, but may now be made in less than six hours. New York was a two days' journey from Philadelphia, but the distance may now be traversed in two hours.
[13] One pair of horses usually dragged the stage eighteen miles, when a fresh team was put on, and if no accident happened, the traveler would reach an inn about ten at night. After a frugal meal he would betake himself to bed, for at three the next morning, even if it rained or snowed, he had to make ready, by the light of a horn lantern or a farthing candle, for another ride of eighteen hours.
[14] In 1777 Vermont forbade the slavery of men and women. In 1780 Pennsylvania pa.s.sed a gradual abolition act. Ma.s.sachusetts by her const.i.tution declared "All men are born free and equal," which her courts held prohibited slavery. New Hampshire in her const.i.tution made a similar declaration with a like result. In 1784 Connecticut and Rhode Island adopted gradual abolition laws, providing that children born of a slave parent after a certain date should be free when they reached a certain age, and that their children were never to be slaves. These were states where slaves had never been much in demand, and where the industries of the people did not depend on slave labor.
[15] The departure of a fleet of canoes from Quebec or Montreal was a fine sight. The trading canoe of bark was forty-five feet long, and carried four tons of goods. The crew of eight men, with their hats gaudy with plumes and tinsel, their brilliant handkerchiefs tied around their throats, their bright-colored shirts, flaming belts, and gayly worked moccasins, formed a picture that can not be described. When the axes, powder, shot, dry goods, and provisions were packed in the canoes, when each voyager had hung his votive offering in the chapel of his patron saint, a boatman of experience stepped into the bow and another into the stern of each canoe, the crew took places between them, and at the word the fleet glided up the St. Lawrence on its way to the Ottawa, and thence on to Sault Ste. Marie, to Grand Portage (near the northeast corner of what is now Minnesota), or to Mackinaw.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE NEW GOVERNMENT
FIRST ACTS OF CONGRESS.--During Washington's first term of office as President (1789-93), the time of Congress was largely taken up with the pa.s.sage of laws necessary to put the new government in operation, and to carry out the plan of the Const.i.tution.
[Ill.u.s.tration: DESK USED BY WASHINGTON WHILE PRESIDENT. In the possession of the Pennsylvania Historical Society.]
Departments of State, Treasury, and War were established; a Supreme Court was organized with a Chief Justice [1] and five a.s.sociates; three Circuits (one for each of the three groups of states, Eastern, Middle, and Southern) and thirteen District Courts (one for each state) were created, and provision was made for all the machinery of justice; and twelve amendments to the Const.i.tution were sent out to the states, of which ten were ratified by the requisite number of states and became a part of the Const.i.tution. [2]
At the second session of Congress provision was made, in the Funding Measure, for the a.s.sumption of the Continental and state debts incurred during the war for independence. [3] The District of Columbia as the permanent seat of government was located on the banks of the Potomac, [4]
and the temporary seat of government was moved from New York to Philadelphia, there to remain for ten years.
NEW STATES.--The states of North Carolina and Rhode Island, having at last ratified the Const.i.tution, sent representatives and senators to share in the work of Congress during this session.
The quarrel between New York and Vermont having been settled, Vermont was admitted in 1791; and Virginia having given her consent, the people of Kentucky were authorized to form a state const.i.tution, and Kentucky entered the Union in 1792. [5]
THE NATIONAL BANK AND THE CURRENCY.--The funding of the debt (proposed by Hamilton) was the first great financial measure adopted by Congress. [6]
The second (1791) was the charter of the Bank of the United States with power to establish branches in the states and to issue bank notes to be used as money. The third (1792) was the law providing for a national coinage and authorizing the establishment of a United States mint for making the coin. [7] It was ordered that whoever would bring gold or silver to the mint should receive for it the same weight of coins. This was free coinage of gold and silver, and made our standard of money bimetallic, or of two metals; for a debtor could choose which kind of money he would pay.
[Ill.u.s.tration: HAMILTON'S TOMB, NEW YORK CITY.]
THE REVENUE LAWS.--Other financial measures of Washington's first term were the tariff law, which levied duties on imported goods, wares, and merchandise, the excise or whisky tax, and the law fixing rates of postage on letters. [8]
THE RISE OF PARTIES.--As to the justice and wisdom of the acts of Congress the people were divided in their opinions. Those who approved and supported the administration were called Federalists, and had for leaders Washington, John Adams, Hamilton, Robert Morris, John Jay, and Rufus King; those who opposed the administration were the Anti-Federalists, or Republicans, whose great leaders were Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Gerry, Gallatin, and Randolph.
The Republicans had opposed the funding and a.s.sumption measures, the national bank, and the excise. They complained that the national debt was too large, that the salaries of the President, Congressmen, and officials were too high, and that the taxes were too heavy; and they accused the Federalists of a fondness for monarchy and aristocracy.
Washington opened each session of Congress with a speech just as the king opened Parliament, and each branch of Congress presented an answer just as the Lords and Commons did to the king. n.o.body could go to the President's reception without a card of invitation. The judges of the Supreme Court wore gowns as did English judges. The Senate held its daily sessions in secret, and shut out reporters and the people. All this the Anti- Federalists held to be unrepublican.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LADY WASHINGTON'S RECEPTION. From an old print.]
THE ELECTION OF 1792.--When the time came, in 1792, to elect a successor to Washington, there were thus two political parties. Both parties supported Washington for President; but the Republicans tried hard, though in vain, to defeat Adams for Vice President.
OPPOSITION TO THE GOVERNMENT by no means ended with the formation of parties and votes at the polls. The a.s.sembly of Virginia condemned the a.s.sumption of the state debts. North Carolina denounced a.s.sumption and the excise law. In Maryland a resolution declaring a.s.sumption dangerous to the rights of the states was lost by the casting vote of the Speaker. The right of Congress to tax pleasure carriages was tested in the Supreme Court, which declared the tax const.i.tutional. When that court decided (1793) that a citizen of one state might sue another state, Virginia, Connecticut, and Ma.s.sachusetts called for a const.i.tutional amendment to prevent this, and the Eleventh Amendment was proposed by Congress (1794) and declared in force in 1798. The tax on whisky caused an insurrection in Pennsylvania.
THE WHISKY INSURRECTION.--The farmers around Pittsburg were largely engaged in distilling whisky, refused to pay the tax, and drove off the collectors. Congress thereupon (1794) enacted a law to enforce the collection, but when the marshal arrested some of the offenders, the people rose, drove him away, and by force of arms prevented the execution of the law. Washington then called for troops from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, and these marching across the state by a mere show of force brought the people to obedience. Leaders of the insurrection were arrested, tried, and convicted of treason, but were pardoned by Washington. [9]
THE INDIAN WAR.--Still farther west, meantime, a great battle had been fought with the Indians. The succession of boats loaded with emigrants floating down the Ohio, and the arrivals of settlers north of the river at Marietta, Gallipolis, and Cincinnati, had greatly excited the Indians. The coming of the whites meant the destruction of game and of fur-bearing animals, and the pushing westward of the Indians. This the red men determined to resist, and did so by attacking boats and killing emigrants, and in January, 1790, they marched down on the settlement called Big Bottom (northwest of Marietta) and swept it from the face of the earth.
Washington sent fifteen hundred troops from Kentucky and Pennsylvania against the Indians in the autumn of 1790. Led by Colonel Harmar, the troops burned some Indian supplies and villages, but accomplished nothing save to enrage the Indians yet more. Washington thereupon put General St.
Clair in command, and in the autumn of 1791 St. Clair set off to build a chain of forts from Cincinnati to Lake Michigan; but the Indians surprised him and cut his army to pieces.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TERRITORY CEDED BY THE TREATY OF GREENVILLE.]
Anthony Wayne was next placed in command, and two years were spent in careful preparation before he began his march across what is now the state of Ohio. At the Falls of the Maumee (August, 1794) he met and beat the Indians so soundly that a year later, by the treaty of Greenville, a lasting peace was made with the ten great nations of the Northwest.
NEUTRALITY.--Washington's second term of office was a stormy time in foreign as well as in domestic affairs. In February, 1793, the French Republic declared war on Great Britain, and so brought up the question, Which side shall the United States take? Washington said neither side, and issued a proclamation of neutrality, warning the people not to commit hostile acts in favor of either Great Britain or France. The Republicans (and many who were Federalists) grew angry at this and roundly abused the President. France, they said, is an old friend; Great Britain, our old enemy. France helped win independence and loaned us money and sent us troops and ships; Great Britain attempted to enslave us. We were bound to France by a treaty of alliance and a treaty of commerce; we were bound to Great Britain by no treaty of any kind. To be neutral, then, was to be ungrateful to France. [10] As a result the Federalists were called the British party, and they, in turn, called the Republicans the French party or Democrats.
[Ill.u.s.tration: WASHINGTON'S COACH.]
GREAT BRITAIN SEIZES OUR SHIPS.--To preserve neutrality under such conditions would have been hard enough, but Great Britain made it harder still by seizing American merchant ships that were carrying lumber, fish, flour, and provisions to the French West Indies. [11]