The critical period of American history : 1783-1789

200 Pages·1896·0.586 MB·English

by  Fiske, John

The Critical Period of
American History 1783-1789

John Fiske

“I am uneasy and apprehensive,
more so than during the war”

Jay to Washington, June 27, 1786.

To My Dear Classmates,
Francis Lee Higginson
and
Charles Cabot Jackson,
I Dedicate this Book.

Boston & New York
Houghton, Mifflin & Company
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1896
Preface

This book contains the substance of the course of lectures given in the Old
South Meeting-House in Boston in December, 1884, at the Washington
University in St Louis in May, 1885, and in the theatre of the University
Club in New York in march, 1886. In its present shape it may serve as a
sketch of the political history of the United States from the end of the
revolutionary war to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. It makes no
pretensions to completeness, either as a summary of the events of that
period or as a discussion of the political questions involved in them. I
have aimed especially at grouping facts in such a way as to bring out and
emphasize their casual sequence, and it is accordingly hoped that the
book may prove useful to the student of American history.

My title was suggested by the fact of Thomas Paine’s stopping the
publication of the “Crisis,” on hearing the news of the treaty of 1783, with
the remark, “The times that tried men’s souls are over.” Commenting
upon this, on page 55 of the present work, I observed that so far from the
crisis being over in 1783, the next five years were to be [begin page vi] the
most critical time of all. I had not seen Mr. Truscott’s “Diplomatic History
of the Administrations of Washington and Adams,” on page 9 of which he
used almost the same words: “It must not be supposed that the treaty of
peace secured the national life. Indeed, it would be more correct to say
that the most critical period of the country’s history embraced the time
between 1783 and the adoption of the Constitution in 1788.”

That period was pre-eminently the turning-point in the development of
political society in the western hemisphere. Though small in their mere
dimensions, the events here summarized were in a remarkable degree
germinal events, fraught with more tremendous alternatives of future
welfare or misery for mankind than it is easy for the imagination to grasp.
As we now stand upon the threshold of that mighty future, in the light of
which all events of the past are clearly destined to seem dwindled in
dimensions and significant only in the ratio of their potency of causes; as
we discern how large a part of that future must be the outcome of the
creative work, for good or ill, of men of English speech; we are put into the
proper mood for estimating the significance of the causes which
determined a century ago that the continent of North America should be
dominated by a single powerful and pacific federal nation instead of being
parcelled out among forty or fifty small communities, wasting their
strength and lowering their moral [begin page vii] tone by perpetual
warfare, like the states of ancient Greece, or by perpetual preparation for
warfare, like the nations of modern Europe. In my book entitled
“American Political Ideas, viewed from the standpoint of Universal
History,” I have tried to indicate the pacific influence likely to be exerted
upon the world by the creation and maintenance of such a political
structure as out Federal Union. the present narrative may serve as a
commentary upon what I had in mind on page 133 of that book, in
speaking of the work of our Federal Convention as “the finest specimen of
constructive statesmanship that the world has ever seen.” On such a point
it is pleasant to find one’s self in accord with a statesman so wise and
noble as Mr. Gladstone, whose opinions is here quoted on page 233.

To some persons it may seem as if the years 1861-65 were of more
cardinal importance that the years 1783-89. Our civil war was indeed an
event of prodigious magnitude, as measured by any standard that history
affords; and there can be little doubt as to its decisiveness. The measure
of that decisiveness is to be found in the completeness of the reconciliation
that has already, despite the feeble walls of unscrupulous place-hunters
and unteachable bigots, cemented the Federal Union so powerfully that all
likelihood of its disruption may be said to have disappeared forever. when
we consider this wonderful harmony which so soon [begin page viii] has
followed the deadly struggle, we may well believe to be the index of such a
stride toward the ultimate pacification of mankind as was never made
before. But it was the work done in the years 1783-89 that created a
federal union capable of enduring the storm and stress of the years 1861-
65. It was in the earlier crisis that the pliant twig was bent; and as it was
bent, so has it grown; until it has become a goodly and a sturdy tree.
Cambridge, October 10, 1888.
Contents

Page

Preface

Chapter 1 – Results of Yorktown

Fall of Lord North’s ministry. 1
Sympathy between British Whigs and the revolutionary 2
party in America.
It Weakened the Whig party in England. 3
Character of Lord Shelburne 4
Political Instability of the Rockingham Ministry. 5,6
Obstacles in the way of a treaty of peace. 7,8
Oswald talks with Franklin. 9-11
Grenville has an interview with Vergennes. 12
Effects of Rodney’s Victory 13
Misunderstanding between Fox & Shelbourne 14
Fall of the Rockingham Ministry 15
Shelbourne becomes prime Minister. 16
Defeat of the Spaniards and French at Gibraltar 17
French policy opposed to American Interests. 18
The Valley of the Mississippi; Aranda’s policy. 19
The Newfoundland fisheries. 20
Jay detects the schemes of Vergennes 21
And sends Dr. Vaughn to visit Shelbourne 22
John Adams arrives in Paris and joins with Jay
in insisting upon a separate negotiation with England 23,24
The separate American treaty, as agreed upon:
1. Boundaries. 25
2. Fisheries; commercial intercourse. 26
3. Private debts. 27
4. Compensation of loyalists. 28-32
Secret article relating to the Yazoo boundary. 33
Vergennes does not like the way 33
in which it has been done.
On the part of the Americans 34
it was a great diplomatic victory.
Which commissioners won by disregarding
the instructions of Congress and acting 35
on their own responsibility.
The Spanish treaty. 36
The French treaty. 37
Coalition of Fox with North. 38-42
They attack the American treaty in Parliament. 43
And compel Shelbourne to resign. 44
Which leaves England without a government, while for
several weeks the king is too angry to appoint 44
ministers.
Until at length he succumbs to the coalition, which
presently adopts and ratifies the American treaty. 45
The coalition ministry is wrecked upon Fox’s India Bill. 46
Constitutional crisis ends in the overwhelming victory 47
of Pitt in the elections of May, 1784.
And this, although apparently a triumph for the King,
was really a death-blow to his system of personal 48,49
government.

Chapter 2 – The Thirteen Commonwealths

Cessation of hostilities in America. 50
Departure of the British troops. 51
Washington resigns his command. 52
And goes home to Mount Vernon. 53
His “legacy” to the American people. 54
The next five years were the most critical years 55
in American history.
Absence of a sentiment of union, 56, 57
and subsequent danger of anarchy.
European statesmen, whether hostile or friendly,
had little faith in the stability of the union. 58
False historic analogies. 59
Influence of railroad and telegraph 60
upon the perpetuity of the union.
Difficulty of travelling a hundred years ago. 61
Local jealousies and antipathies,
and inheritance from primal savagery. 62,63
State governments remodelled;
assemblies continues from colonial times. 65
Origin of the senates in the governor’s 66
council of assistants
Governors viewed with suspicion. 67
Analogies with British institutions. 68
The Judiciary. 69
Restrictions upon suffrage. 70
Abolition of primogeniture, entail, 71
and manorial privileges.
Steps toward the abolition of slavery and the slave trade 72-75
Progress towards religious freedom 76,77
Church and State in Virginia. 78,79
Persecution of dissenters. 80
Madison and the Religious freedom act. 81
Temporary overthrow of the Church. 82
Difficulties in regard to ordination; 83
the case of Mason Weems.
Ordination of Samuel Seabury 84
by non-jurors at Aberdeen.
Francis Asbury and the Methodists. 85
Presbyterians and Congregationalists 86
Roman Catholics. 87
Except in the instance of slavery, all the changes
described in this chapter were favourable 88
to the union of the states.
But while the state governments, in all these changes,
are seen working smoothly, we have next to observe,
by contrast, the clumsiness and inefficiency 89
of the federal government.

Chapter 3 – The League of Friendship

The several states have never enjoyed 90
complete sovereignty.
But it is in the very act of severing their connection with
Great Britain, they entered into some sort of union. 91
Anomalous character of the Continental Congress. 92
The Articles of Confederation; they sought to establish
a “league of friendship” between the States. 93-97
But failed to create a federal government endowed with
real sovereignty. 98-111
Military weakness of the government. 101-103
Extreme difficulty of obtaining a revenue. 104, 105
Congress, being unable to pay the army was afraid of it. 106
Supposed scheme for making Washington King. 107
Greene’s experience in South Carolina. 108
Gate’s staff officers and the Newburgh address 109
Danger averted by Washington 110, 111
Congress driven from Philadelphia by mutinous 112
soldiers.
The Commutation Act denounced in New England. 113
Order of the Cincinnati 114-117
Reasons for the dread which it inspired. 118
Congress finds itself unable to carry out
the provisions of the treaty with Great Britain. 119
Persecution of the loyalists. 120, 121
It was specially severe in New York. 122
Trespass Act of 1784 directed against the loyalists. 123
Character and early career of Alexander Hamilton. 124-126
The case of Rutgers v Waddington. 127, 128
Wholesale emigration of Tories. 129, 130
Congress unable to enforce payment of debts 131
to British creditors.
England retaliates by refusing to surrender
the fortresses on the north-western frontier. 132, 133
Chapter 4 – Drifting Towards Anarchy

The barbarous superstitions of the Middle Ages
concerning trade were still rife 134
in the eighteenth century.
The old theory of the uses of a colony. 135
Pitt’s unsuccessful attempt to secure free trade
between Great Britain and the United States. 136
Ship-building in New England 137
British navigation acts and orders-in-council
directed against American commerce. 138
John Adams tried in vain to negotiate
a commercial treaty with Great Britain. 139, 140
And could see no escape from the difficulties
except in systematic reprisal. 141
But any such reprisal was impracticable,
for the several States imposed conflicting duties. 142
Attempts to give Congress the power of
regulating commerce were unsuccessful. 143, 144
And the several States began to make
commercial war upon one another. 145
Attempts of New York to oppress 146
New Jersey and Connecticut.
Retaliatory measures of the two latter states. 147
The quarrel between Connecticut and Pennsylvania
over the possession of the valley of Wyoming. 148-150
The quarrel between New York and new Hampshire
over the possession of the green Mountains. 151-153
Failure of American diplomacy because
European states could not tell whether
they were dealing with one nation or with thirteen. 154, 155
Failure of American credit; 156, 157
John Adams begging in Holland.
The Barbary Pirates. 158
American citizens kidnapped and sold into slavery. 159
Lord Sheffield’s outrageous pamphlet. 160
Tripoli’s demand for blackmail. 161
Congress unable to protect American citizens. 162
Financial distress after the Revolutionary war. 163, 164
State of the coinage. 165
Cost of the war in money. 166
Robert Morris and his immense services. 167
The craze for paper money. 168
Agitation in the southern and middle States. 169-171
Distress in New England 172
Imprisonment for debt. 173
Rag-money victorious in Rhode Island; 174-176
the “Know Ye” measures.

Rag-money defeated in Massachusetts: 177-181
the Shays insurrection.
The insurrection suppressed by state troops. 182
Conduct of the neighbouring states. 183
The rebels pardoned. 184
Timidity of Congress. 185, 186

Chapter 5 – Germs of National Sovereignty

Creation of a national domain behind the Alleghanies. 187, 188
Conflicting claims to the western territory. 189
Claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut. 189, 190
Claims of New York. 190
Virginia’s claims. 191
Maryland’s novel and beneficent suggestion. 192
The several states yield their claims
in favour of the United States. 193, 194
Magnanimity of Virginia. 195
Jefferson proposes a scheme of government
for the north-western territory. 196
Names of the proposed ten states. 197
Jefferson wishes to prohibit slavery 198
in the national domain.
North Carolina’s cession of western lands 199
John Sevier and the state of Franklin. 200, 201
The north-western territory 202
Origin of the Ohio Company. 203
The Ordinance of 1787. 204-206
Theory of folk-land upon which was based Spain,
hearing of the secret article in the treaty of 1783,
loses her temper and threatens to shut up the 208, 209
Mississippi River.
Gardoqui and Jay. 210
Threats of secession in Kentucky and new England. 211
Washington’s views on the political importance of
canals between the east and west. 212
His far-sighted genius and self devotion. 213
Maryland confers with Virginia regarding
the navigation of the Potomac. 214
The Madison-Tyler motion in the Virginia legislature. 215
Convention at Annapolis, Sept. 11, 1786. 216
Hamilton’s address calling for a convention 217
at Philadelphia.
The impost amendment defeated by the action
of New York; last ounce upon the camers back. 218 - 220
Sudden changes in popular sentiment. 221
The Federal Convention meets at Philadelphia, 222
May, 1787.
Mr. Gladstone’s opinion of the work of the convention. 223
The Men who were assembled there 224, 225
Character of James Madison. 226, 227
The other leading members. 228
Washington chosen president of the convention. 229

Chapter 6 – The Federal Convention

Why the proceedings of the convention were 230
kept secret for so many years.
Difficulty of the problem to be solved. 231
Symptoms of cowardice repressed
by Washington’s impassioned speech. 232
The root of all the difficulties; the edicts of the federal
government had operated only upon states,
not upon individuals, and therefore could not 233 - 235
be enforced without danger of war.
The Virginia plan, of which Madison was
the chief author, offered a radical cure. 236
And was felt to be revolutionary in its character. 237, 239
Fundamental features of the Virginia plan. 240, 241
How it was first received. 242
The House of Representatives must be
directly elected by the people. 243
Question as to the representation of states brings out
the antagonism between large and small states. 244
William Paterson presents the New Jersey plan; not a
radical cure, but a feeble palliative. 245
Struggle between the Virginia and New Jersey plans. 246 – 249
The Connecticut compromise, according to which the
national principle is to prevail in the House of
Representatives, and the federal principle in the
Senate, meets at first with fierce opposition. 250, 251
But at is length adopted. 252
And proves a decisive victory for Madison and his 253
methods.
A few irreconcilable members go home in dudgeon. 254
But the small states, having been propitiated, are
suddenly converted to Federalism, and make the 255
victory complete.
Vague dread of the future west. 255
The struggle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery
parties began in the convention, and was quieted by 256
two compromises.
Should representation be proportioned to wealth or to 257
population.
Were slaves to be reckoned as persons or as chattels? 258
Attitude of the Virginia statesmen. 259
It was absolutely necessary to satisfy South Carolina. 260
The three-fifths compromise, suggested by Madison,
was a genuine English solution, if ever there was one. 261
There was neither rhyme nor reason in it, but for all
that, it was the best solution attainable at the time. 262
The next compromise was between New England and
South Carolina as to the foreign slave-trade and the
power of the federal government over commerce. 263
George Madison calls the slave-trade 264
an “infernal traffic”.
And the compromise offends and alarms Virginia. 265
Belief in the moribund condition of slavery. 266
The foundations of the Constitution were 267
laid in compromise.
Powers granted to the federal government. 268
Use of federal troops in suppressing insurrections. 269
Various federal powers. 270
Provision for a federal city under federal jurisdiction. 271
The Federal Congress might compel
the attendance of members. 272
Powers denied to the states. 272
Should the federal government be allowed to make its
promissory notes a legal tender in payment of debts?
powerful speech by Gouvernor Morris. 273
Emphatic and unmistakable condemnation 274
of paper money by all the leading delegates.
The convention refused to grant to the federal
government the power of issuing inconvertible paper,
but it did not think an express prohibition necessary. 275
If they could have foreseen some recent judgements
of the supreme court, they would doubtless
have made the prohibition explicit and absolute. 276
Debates as to the federal executive. 277
Sherman’s suggestion as to the true relation
of the executive to the legislature. 278
There was to be a single chief magistrate,
but how should he be chosen? 279
Objections to an election by Congress. 280
Ellsworth and King suggest the device
of an electoral college, which is at first rejected. 281
But afterwards adopted. 282
Provisions for an election by Congress in the case
of a failure of choice by the electoral college. 283
Provisions for counting the electoral votes. 284
It was not intended to leave anything to be decided
by the President of the Senate. 285
The Convention foresaw imaginary dangers,