Alas! those natural, and generous, and patriotic, and hopeful emotions were fallacious. They were born of a beautiful theory, but derived no real sustenance from sober facts. They were the poetry of that hour of triumph, entrancing the spirit and kindling the imagination. They gave unbounded pleasure to a disenthralled people. But there were wise and thoughtful men among them who had communed with the teachers of the Past, and sought knowledge in the vigorous school of the Present. They diligently studied the prose chapters of the great volume of current history spread out before them, and were not so jubilant. They reverently thanked God for what had been accomplished, adored him for the many interpositions of his providence in their behalf, and rejoiced because of the glorious results of the struggle thus far. But they clearly perceived that the peace established by the decrees of high contracting parties would prove to be only a lull in the great contest – a truce soon to be broken, not, perhaps, by the trumpet calling armed men to the field, but by the stern behests of the inexorable necessities of the new-born republic. The revolution was accomplished, and the political separation from Great Britain was complete, but absolute independence was not achieved.

The experience of two years wrought a wonderful change in the public mind. The wisdom of the few prophetic sages who warned the people of dangers became painfully apparent. The Americans were no longer the legal subjects of a monarch beyond the seas, yet the power and influence of Great Britain were felt like a chilling, overshadowing cloud. In the presence of her puissance in all that constitutes the material strength and vigor of a nation, they felt their weakness; and from many a patriot heart came a sigh to the lips, and found expression there in the bitter words of deep humiliation – We are free, but not independent.

Why not? Had not a solemn treaty and the word of an honest king acknowledged the states to be free and independent?

This was all very kind, and yet the Americans were not independent.

Why not? Had not the representative of their independent sovereignty been appointed by the Congress to reside as the agent of the republic in the British capital, and been received with cordiality?

This reception was significant, and this declaration of his majesty was explicit and sincere. Yet the Americans were not independent.

Such is a general statement of reasons why the United States were not independent of Great Britain after their total political separation from her. These gave to Dr. Franklin and others the consciousness of the incompleteness of the struggle commenced in 1775. When a compatriot remarked that the war for independence was successfully closed, Franklin wisely replied, "Say, rather, the war of the Revolution. The war for independence is yet to be fought."

I have remarked that our fathers had not formed a NATION on the return of peace, and in that fact was the inherent weakness of their government, and the spring of all the hopes of the royalists for their speedy return to colonial dependency. To illustrate this, let us take a rapid survey of events from the ratification of the Treaty of Peace in the autumn of 1784, to the formation of the National Constitution in the autumn of 1787.

The League now assumed a national attitude, and the powers of the Confederacy were speedily tested. The bright visions of material prosperity that gladdened the hearts of the Americans at the close of the war soon faded, and others more sombre appeared when the financial and commercial condition of the forming republic was contemplated with candor. A debt of seventy millions of dollars lay upon the shoulders of a wasted people. About forty-four millions of that amount was owing by the Federal government (almost ten millions of it in Europe), and the remainder by the individual states. These debts had been incurred in carrying on the war. Even while issuing their paper money in abundance, the Congress had commenced borrowing; and when, in 1780, their bills of credit became worthless, borrowing was the chief monetary resource of the government. This, of course, could not go on long without involving the republic in embarrassments and accomplishing its final ruin. The restoration of the public credit or the downfall of the infant republic was the alternative presented to the American people.

This first important effort of the Congress to assume the functions of sovereignty was a signal failure, and the beginning of a series of failures. It excited a jealousy between the state and general governments, and exposed the utter impotency of the latter, whose vitality depended upon the will of thirteen distinct legislative bodies, each tenacious of its own peculiar rights and interests, and miserly in its delegation of power. It was speedily made manifest that the public credit must be utterly destroyed by the inevitable repudiation of the public debt.

The League were equally unfortunate in their attempts to establish commercial relations with other governments, and especially with that of Great Britain. The Liberal ministry, under the Earl of Shelburne when the preliminary Treaty of Peace was signed, devised generous measures toward the Americans. Encouraged by a lively hope thereby engendered, American commerce began to revive. William Pitt, son of the eminent Earl of Chatham, then at the age of only twenty-four years, was Chancellor of the Exchequer. With a clear perception of the value to Great Britain of friendly relations between that government and the new republic, he introduced a bill into Parliament for the regulation of commerce between the two countries, by which trade with the British West India Islands and other colonial possessions of the crown was thrown open to the enterprise of the merchants of the United States.

But Mr. Adams could accomplish little. Indeed his mission was almost fruitless. He found the temper of the British people, from the peasant up to the monarch, cold, if not positively hostile, toward the United States. He was never insulted, yet the chilliness of the social atmosphere, and the studied neglect of his official representations, often excited hot indignation in his bosom. But his government was so weak and powerless that he was compelled to bite his lips in silence. When he proposed to have the navigation and trade between all the dominions of the British crown and all the territories of the United States placed upon a basis of perfect and liberal reciprocity, the offer was not only rejected with scorn, but the minister was given to understand that no other would be entertained by the British government. When he recommended his own government to pass countervailing navigation laws for the benefit of American commerce, he was met with the fact that it possessed no power to do so. At length, believing his mission to be useless, and the British government steadily refusing to send a minister to the United States, he asked and received permission to return home.

Patriots – men who had labored for the establishment of a wise government for a free people – were heart-sick. "Illiberality, jealousy, and local policy mix too much in all our public councils for the good government of the Union," wrote Washington. "The Confederation appears to me to be little better than a shadow without the substance, and Congress a nugatory body, their ordinances being little attended to. To me it is a solecism in politics; indeed, it is one of the most extraordinary things in nature, that we should confederate as a nation, and yet be afraid to give the rulers of that nation (who are the creatures of our own making, appointed for a limited and short duration, and who are amenable for every action, and may be recalled at any moment, and are subject to all the evils they may be instrumental in producing) sufficient powers to order and direct the affairs of the same. By such policy as this the wheels of government are clogged, and our brightest prospects, and that high expectation which was entertained of us by the wondering world, are turned into astonishment; and from the high ground on which we stood we are descending into the vale of confusion and darkness.

On the 4th of July, 1776, a Congress of representatives of thirteen colonies met in the great room of the State House in Philadelphia, since known as Independence Hall, and declared those colonies free and independent states. On Monday, the 14th of May, 1787, a Congress of representatives of the same colonies, then become free and independent states, assembled in the same hall for the purpose of establishing the validity and power of that declaration, by dissolving the inefficient political League of the states, and constituting the inhabitants of all the states one great and indissoluble nation.

WILLIAM JACKSON.

The Convention was marked by long and warm debates, and with dignity suited to the occasion. The most prominent speakers were King, Gerry, and Gorham, of Massachusetts; Hamilton and Lansing, of New York; Ellsworth, Johnson, and Sherman, of Connecticut; Paterson, of New Jersey; Franklin, Wilson, and Morris, of Pennsylvania; Dickinson, of Delaware; Martin, of Maryland; Randolph, Mason, and Madison, of Virginia; Williamson, of North Carolina, and the Pinckneys, of South Carolina.

In the performance of that act, as in the former, there was some hesitation on the part of a few. There had been serious differences of opinion during the whole session – so serious that at times there seemed a probability that the Convention would be an utter failure. There were still serious differences of opinion when the instrument was adopted, and delicate questions arose about signing it. A large majority of the members wished it to go forth to the people, not only as the act of the Convention collectively, but with the individual sanction and signature of each delegate. This was the desire of Dr. Franklin, and, with pleasant words, he endeavored to allay all irritation and bring about such a result. It was finally agreed, on the suggestion of Gouverneur Morris, that it might be signed, without implying personal sanction, in these closing words: "Done by consent of the states present. In testimony whereof, we have subscribed," etc.

Hamilton patriotically seconded the efforts of Franklin, notwithstanding the instrument did not have his approval, because it did not give power enough to the national government. "No man’s ideas," he said, "are more remote from the plan than my own; but is it possible to deliberate between anarchy and confusion on one side, and the chance of good on the other?"

SIGNATURES TO THE CONSTITUTION.

With the birth of the nation on the 4th of March, 1789, the Continental Congress, the representative of the League, expired. Its history is one of the most remarkable on record. It was first an almost spontaneous gathering of patriotic men, chosen by their fellow-citizens in a time of great perplexity, to consult upon the public good. They represented different provinces extending a thousand miles along the Atlantic coast, with interests as diversified as the climate and geography. With boldness unequaled and faith unexampled, they snatched the sceptre of rule over a vast dominion from imperial England, of whose monarch they were subjects, and assumed the functions of sovereignty by creating armies, issuing bills of credit, declaring the provinces free and independent states, negotiating treaties with foreign governments, and, finally, after eight long years of struggle, wringing from their former sovereign his acknowledgment of the independence of the states which they represented. The career of the Congress was meteor-like, and astonished the world with its brilliancy. It was also short. Like a half-developed giant exhausted by mighty efforts, it first exhibited lassitude, then decrepitude, and at last hopeless decay. Poor and weak, its services forgotten by those who should have been grateful for them, it lost the respect of all mankind, and died of political marasmus.

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ENDNOTES.

1 Before the British left Fort George they nailed their colors to the summit of the flag-staff, knocked off the cleets, and "slushed" the pole from top to bottom, to prevent its being climbed. Van Arsdale (who died in 1836) ascended by nailing on cleets, and applying sand to the greased flag-staff. In this way he reached the top, hauled down the British flag, and placed that of the United States in its position. It is believed by some that the nailing of the flag there by the British had a higher significance than was visible in the outward act, namely, a compliance with orders from the imperial government not to strike the flag, as in a formal surrender, but to leave it flying, in token of the claim of Great Britain to the absolute proprietorship of the country then abandoned. It was believed that the absence of British authority in the United States would be only temporary.

2 The passage from New York Harbor to the sea, between Long Island and Staten Island.

3 See Article I. of the Treaty of Peace between the United States and Great Britain, signed at Paris on the 3d of September, 1783, by David Hartley in behalf of Great Britain, and Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay for the United States.

4 This acknowledgment was wrung from the king. He had long detested the very name of every thing American; and this feeling was strengthened by his intense personal hatred of Dr. Franklin, whose coolness and adroitness had given him the distinction of Arch-rebel. The king carried his prejudices so far that Sir John Pringle was driven to resign his place as President of the Royal Society in this wise: The king urgently requested the society to publish, with the authority of its name, a contradiction of a scientific opinion of the rebellious Franklin. Pringle replied that it was not in his power to reverse the order of nature, and resigned. The pliant Sir Joseph Banks, with the practice of a true courtier, advocated the opinion which was patronized by his majesty, and was appointed President of the Royal Society. See Wright’s England under the House of Hanover, ii., 63.

5 "Even the chimney-sweepers on the streets," said Pitt, in a speech in the House of Commons in 1763, "talk boastingly of their subjects in America."

7 The advocates of the mischievous political doctrine known as supreme state sovereignty, whose fundamental dogma is that the states then forming the inchoate republic were absolutely independent sovereignties, have cited this naming of the several states in that treaty in support of their views. The states were independent commonwealths, but not sovereignties. That term implies no superior. The colonies and states had never been in that exalted position. They were dependencies of Great Britain until the Declaration of Independence was promulgated, when they immediately assumed the position of equals in a National League, acknowledging the general government which they thus established as the supreme controlling power, having a broad signet for the common use, bearing the words, "Seal of the United States," as its insignia of authority.

When a treaty of peace was to be negotiated, the states did not each choose a commissioner for the purpose, but these agents were appointed by the General Congress, as representatives of the nationality of the Confederation, without reference to any particular states. And when, a few years later, the people ("We the PEOPLE" is the phrase) formed and ratified a National Constitution, they disowned all independent state sovereignty, and reserved to the states only municipal rights, the exercise of which should not be in contravention of the organic law of the land.

* For a history (with illustrations) of this first Great Seal of the United States, see a paper in Harper’s Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 178, written by the author of this work.

8 Journal of Congress, February 12, 1783. The last clause was necessary, because only preliminary articles of peace had been signed, and the war might continue.

9 The following was the proposed apportionment: New Hampshire, $52,708; Massachusetts, $224,427; Rhode Island, $32,318; Connecticut, $132,091; New York, $128,243; New Jersey, $83,358; Pennsylvania, $205,189; Delaware, $22,443; Maryland, $141,517; Virginia, $256,487; North Carolina, $109,006; South Carolina, $96,183; Georgia, $16,030.

10 The resolutions of Congress, and the proceedings of the several State Legislatures, with remarks thereon by "A Republican," were published in the New York Gazetteer, and afterward in pamphlet form, in the autumn of 1786, by Carroll & Patterson, 32 Maiden Lane, New York.

WAR.

In one, entitled "War," Fox and Burke, in characteristic attitudes, are seen thundering against the massive Lord North. In another compartment, called "Neither Peace nor War," the three orators are, in the same attitudes, attacking the preliminary Treaty of Peace with the United States. Under them are the words "The Astonishing Coalition." Another caricature was called "The Loves of the Fox and the Badger; or, The Coalition Wedding." This popular caricature was a burlesque pictorial history of the sudden friendship between Fox and North. The latter was commonly known in political circles as "the badger." In another print Fox and North were represented under one coat, standing on a pedestal, and called "The State Idol." This the king (who detested the whole affair) was expected to worship. In another, the two are seen approaching Britannia (or the people) to claim her sanction. She rejects them, and their attention is directed to a gallows and block in the distance as their proper destination.

BRITANNIA AROUSED.

The coalition finally became unpopular, and Gillray, in a caricature entitled "Britannia Aroused; or, The Coalition Monsters Destroyed," represents her in a fury, grasping one of the leaders by the neck and the other by the leg, and hurling them from her as enemies to liberty. I have copied from Wright’s England under the House of Hanover the most forcible portions of the two caricatures named.

12 Silas Deane had been an active supporter of the American cause, and was sent to France, as an agent of the Continental Congress, early in 1776. In the autumn of that year he was associated with Dr. Franklin and Arthur Lee as commissioners to the French Court. Deane’s unfitness for his station was soon made apparent, and he was recalled at the close of 1777. He went to England at the close of the war, and there vented his spleen against his countrymen.

Joseph Galloway was a Pennsylvanian, who espoused the republican cause, and was a member of the first Congress in 1774, but soon afterward abandoned his countrymen and went to England. He first joined the royal army in New York, and did not leave the country until 1778. He was a ready writer, and wrote much against the American cause in England, where he died in 1803.

Peter Oliver was past middle life when the Revolution broke out. He was appointed Chief Justice of Massachusetts in 1769, when his brother-in-law, Hutchinson, became governor of that province. He was impeached by the Massachusetts Assembly in 1774, and soon afterward went to England, where he died in 1791, aged 79 years.

13 "It will not be an easy matter," he said (and he no doubt spoke the language of the English people in general), "to bring the American states to act as a nation; they are not to be feared as such by us. It will be a long time before they can engage or will concur in any material expenses. A stamp act, a tea act, or such act that can never again occur, would alone unite them. Their climate, their staples, their manners are different; their interests opposite; and that which is beneficial to one is destructive to the other. We might as reasonably dread the effects of combinations among the German as among the American states, and deprecate the resolves of the Diet as those of the Congress. In short, every circumstance proves that it will be extreme folly to enter into any engagements by which we may not wish to be bound hereafter. It is impossible to name any material advantage the American states will or can give us in return more than what we of course shall have. No treaty can be made with the American states that can be binding on the whole of them. The Act of Confederation does not enable Congress to form more than general treaties." – SHEFFIELD’S Observations on the Commerce of the American States, London, 1783.

14 The estimation in which the League was held by the British government may be inferred by an inquiry of the Duke of Dorset, in reply to a letter from Messrs. Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson, on the subject of a commercial treaty, in March, 1785. His grace inquired "whether they were commissioned by Congress or their respective states, for it appeared to him that each state was determined to manage its own matters in its own way." It could not be expected that England would be in haste to form any important commercial relations with a government so uncertain in its character, for a league of independent governments was liable to dissolution at any moment.

15 July, 1783. The British Privy Council consists of an indefinite number of gentlemen, chosen by the sovereign, and having no direct connection with the Cabinet ministers. The sovereign may, under the advice of this council, issue orders or proclamations, which, if not contrary to existing laws, are binding upon the subjects. These are for temporary purposes, and are called Orders in Council.

16 See Journal of Congress, April 30, 1784.

* See Article VII. of the treaty.

18 See Ramsey’s History of Tennessee; Harper’s Magazine for March, 1862.

19 See Lossing’s Field-Book of the Revolution.

20 See Williamson’s History of Maine.

21 See Coolidge and Mansfield’s History of New Hampshire.

22 See Bradford’s History of Massachusetts; Harper’s Magazine for April, 1862.

23 The idea was prevalent, at the close of the war, that the United States ought to be an exclusively agricultural nation, and that the old policy of purchasing all fabrics in Europe, to be paid for by the productions of the soil, would be the wiser one. Acting upon the belief that this would be the policy of the new government, the merchants imported largely, and, there being very little duty to be paid, domestic manufactures could not compete with those of Great Britain. The fallacy of the idea that exports would pay for the imports was soon made manifest, and almost universal bankruptcy occurred among the importing merchants. The imports from Great Britain during the years 1784 and 1785 amounted in value to $30,000,000, while the exports thither did not exceed $9,000,000.

24 Letter to James Warren, October 7, 1785.

On the 1st of April, 1783, Hamilton, in a debate in Congress, expressed an earnest desire for a general Convention, and the subject was much talked of among the members of Congress in 1784. In the same year Thomas Paine and Pelatiah Webster wrote on that subject. In the spring of 1784, Noah Webster, the lexicographer, in a pamphlet which he says he "took the pains to carry in person to General Washington," suggested a "new system of government, which should act, not on the states, but directly on individuals, and vest in Congress full power to carry its laws into effect." This pamphlet is entitled, "Sketches of American Policy." Thus thinking men all lamented the weakness of the general government, and foresaw the dangers of the doctrine of supreme state sovereignty, which has wrought so much mischief in our day.

* See The Works of Alexander Hamilton, i., 150.

26 The following are the names of the representatives: New York – Alexander Hamilton, Egbert Benson; New Jersey – Abraham Clarke, William C. Houston; Pennsylvania – Tenche Coxe, James Schureman; Delaware – George Read, John Dickinson, Richard Bassett; Virginia – Edmund Randolph, James Madison, Jr., St. George Tucker.

27 This action of the Congress took place on the 21st of February, 1781. The resolution (which was submitted by the delegates from Massachusetts) was as follows:

"Resolved, That in the opinion of Congress it is expedient that, on the second Monday in May next, a Convention of Delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several states, be held at Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting to Congress and the several Legislatures such alterations and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the states, render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union."

28 William Jackson was an eminent patriot, and one of Washington’s most intimate personal friends. He entered the Continental army at the age of sixteen years, and served his country faithfully during the whole war for independence. He became an aid to the commander-in-chief, with the rank of major. In 1781 he accompanied his friend, Colonel John Laurens, on a diplomatic mission to France. At the close of the war he visited Europe, and on his return was appointed, on the nomination of Washington, secretary to the Convention that formed the National Constitution. His private record of the proceedings and debates is in the hands of his family. He became the private secretary of President Washington, and accompanied him on his tour through the Southern States in 1791. He held the office of surveyor of the port of Philadelphia and inspector of customs there until removed, for political causes, by Mr. Jefferson. He then started a daily newspaper, called "The Political and Commercial Register."

JACKSON’S MONUMENT.

Major Jackson lived a life of unsullied honor, and at his death was buried in Christ Church yard, on Fifth Street, Philadelphia. A plain slab about three feet high marks the spot, and bears the following inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Major William Jackson: born March the 9th, 1759; departed this life December the 17th, 1828. Also to Elizabeth Willing, his relict: born March the 27th, 1768; departed this life August the 5th, 1858." Mrs. Jackson was ninety years of age at the time of her death.

29 Edmund Randolph was a son of an attorney general of Virginia before the Revolution. He was an eminent lawyer, and a warm patriot throughout the old war for Independence. He was a member of the Continental Congress from 1779 until 1782. He was active in the Convention that formed the Constitution. He was elected Governor of Virginia in 1788, and Washington chose him for his first attorney general of the United States in 1789. He was secretary of state in 1794, but, in consequence of being engaged in an intrigue with the French minister, he retired from public life. He died in December, 1813.

30 Rhode Island was not represented in the Convention. Ignorant and unprincipled men happened to control the Assembly of the state at that time, and they refused to elect delegates to the Convention. But some of the best and most influential men in Rhode Island joined in sending a letter to the Convention, in which they expressed their cordial sympathy with the objects of the movement, and promised their acquiescence in whatsoever measures the majority might adopt. The following were the names of the delegates from the several states:

New Hampshire. – John Langdon, John Pickering, Nicholas Gilman, and Benjamin West.

Massachusetts. – Francis Dana, Elbridge Gerry, Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King, and Caleb Strong.

Connecticut. – William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman, and Oliver Ellsworth.

New York.—Robert Yates, John Lansing, Jr., and Alexander Hamilton.

New Jersey. – David Brearley, William Churchill Houston, William Paterson, John Neilson, William Livingston, Abraham Clark, and Jonathan Dayton.

Pennsylvania. – Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, Thomas Fitzsimmons, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and Benjamin Franklin.

Delaware. – George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, and Jacob Brown.

Maryland. – James M‘Henry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll, John Francis Mercer, and Luther Martin.

Virginia. – George Washington, Patrick Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, Jr., George Mason, and George Wythe. Patrick Henry having declined his appointment, James M‘Clure was nominated to supply his place.

North Carolina. – Richard Caswell, Alexander Martin, William Richardson Davie, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and Willie Jones. Richard Caswell having resigned, William Blount was appointed as deputy In his place. Willie Jones having also declined his appointment, his place was supplied by Hugh Williamson.

South Carolina. – John Rutledge, Charles Pinckney, Charles C. Pinckney, and Pierce Butler.

Georgia. – William Few, Abraham Baldwin, William Pierce, George Walton, William Houston, and Nathaniel Pendleton.

31 "The Assemblies did not adopt it," said Franklin, "as they all thought there was too much prerogative in it; and in England it was judged to have too much of the democratic."

32 Curtis’s History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States.

* Gouverneur Morris was born near the Westchester shore of the Harlem River, New York, at the close of January, 1752. He was educated at King’s (now Columbia) College, in the city of New York, studied law under the eminent William Smith, of that city, and was licensed to practice in 1771. He was an active patriot during the war, serving in the Continental Congress, on committees of safety, etc. He resided some time in Philadelphia. He was sent abroad on a diplomatic mission, and resided for a while in Paris. He afterward went to London on public business, and was finally appointed minister plenipotentiary at the French Court. He returned to America in 1798, was elected to the Senate of the United States, and was active in public and private life until his death in 1816.

34 For a full account in detail of all the proceedings in relation to the Constitution see the History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, with Notices of its Principal Framers, by George Ticknor Curtis, in two volumes: New York, Harper & Brothers.

35 George Mason was Washington’s neighbor and early personal friend. He was a statesman of the first order among those of his associates in Virginia, and a thorough republican. He was the framer of the Constitution of Virginia, and was active in the Convention that formed the National Constitution. He was so imbued with the state pride for which Virginians have always been noted, that he would not agree to that Constitution because it did not recognize individual state sovereignty – the very rock on which the new republic was then in danger of being wrecked. In conjunction with Patrick Henry, he opposed its adoption in the Virginia Convention, professing to believe that it would be the instrument for converting the government into a monarchy. He died at his seat on the Potomac (Gunston Hall) in the autumn of 1792, at the age of sixty-seven years.

36 We shall have occasion to consider the public character of Mr. Gerry hereafter. He was Vice-President of the United States in 1812.

38 The essays of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay were published under the general title of The Federalist. It was originally designed to comprise the series within twenty, or, at most, twenty-five numbers, but they extended to eighty-five. Of these Hamilton wrote sixty-five. The first number, written by Hamilton in the cabin of a Hudson River sloop, was published on the 27th of October, 1787, a little more than a month after the adjournment of the National convention. They were published four times a week in a New York daily paper. Of these essays Washington wrote to Hamilton in August, 1788: "When the transient circumstances and fugitive performances which attend this crisis shall have disappeared, that work [The Federalist] will merit the notice of posterity, because in it are candidly and ably discussed the principles of freedom and the topics of government, which will be always interesting to mankind, so long as they shall be connected in civil society."

39 That state was Rhode Island, which held out until the spring of 1790. The people in the several states ratified the Constitution in the following order: Delaware, December 7, 1787; Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787; New Jersey, December 18, 1787; Georgia, January 2, 1788; Connecticut, January 9, 1788; Massachusetts, February 6, 1788; Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1788; New Hampshire, June 21, 1788; Virginia, June 26, 1788; New York, July 26, 1788; North Carolina, November 21, 1788: Rhode Island, May 29, 1790. During the recess of Congress, in the autumn of 1789, President Washington visited the New England States. As Rhode Island yet remained a kind of foreign state, he avoided it.

The opposition in several other states was very powerful, for various reasons, and the Constitution and the friends of the Constitution were assailed with the most outrageous misrepresentations. Of the opponents in Virginia Washington wrote: "Their strength, as well as those of the same class in other states, seems to lie in misrepresentation, and a desire to inflame the passions and alarm the fears by noisy declamation, rather than to convince the understanding by sound arguments, or fair and impartial statements. Baffled in their attacks upon the Constitution, they have attempted to vilify and debase the characters who formed it, but I trust they will not succeed."

The papers, by Colonel Byrd (who was a member of the Colonial Council), above referred to, afford a glimpse of the sense of superiority to all the other colonists entertained by the leading families in Virginia, which was always the bane of progress and national feeling, and made large numbers of the politicians of that state disunionists from the beginning. In these papers the New Englanders were spoken of as "a puritanical sect, with pharisaical peculiarities in their worship and behavior." Trade was an unfit calling, and a trade eluding laws, though pronounced void, was justly regarded as demoralizing. Such, they charged, was much of the trade of the Eastern provinces. The dwellers of New York had not more favor. The Dutch were also traders – a "slippery people" – intruders on Virginia – encroachers and reformers. New Jersey, in a religious aspect, was not less obnoxious, peopled by "a swarm of Scots Quakers, who were not tolerated to exercise the gifts of the spirit in their own country;" by "Anabaptists," too, and some "Swedes." The merits of Penn were equivocal – he was not immaculate; but, though "Quakers had flocked to Pennsylvania in shoals," they had the virtues of "dilligence and frugality," and the "prudence" which became non-combatants. Maryland was a commodious retreat for Papists, for whom "England was too hot," and to whom, as a neighbor, Virginia was a little cold. The Carolinas, left "derelict by the French and Sapaniards," were the regions of pines and serpents – dismal in their swamps, and deadly in their malaria. "Thus, in the eyes of her favored few," says a late writer, "Virginia was the paradise of the New World." For a farther illustration of this subject, see History of the Republic of the United States of America, as traced in the Writings of Alexander Hamilton and his Contemporaries, by John C. Hamilton.

* See Byrd’s Westover Papers.

41 When inspired with his transatlantic mission, Bishop Berkeley wrote his six "Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America," In which he predicted the rising greatness of the New World, and employed the oft-quoted line,

"Westward the course of empire takes its way.

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