PART IV.-THE BUILDING OF THE NATION. CHAPTER XVIII. THE FORMATIVE PERIOD. NOW OW that the United States of America had a place among the nations of the earth, you would think that the people had only to enjoy their prosperity. With the close of the Revolution and the coming of peace, it would seem that all troubles ought to have been at an end. But the suffering and misery of war do not cease with the furling of banners and the stacking of arms. Commerce was ruined, trade disorganized, and the people were as poor as they could be. The states, although striving for the same object, were really independent of each other. Congress could only ask them to do certain things believed to be for the public good. The states did as they pleased, and generally paid no attention to appeals from congress, sometimes almost piteous. Washington and the chief statesmen saw the need of a strong central government, which, having clearly defined powers, should also have the means of enforcing them. You have been told about the Articles of Confederation agreed to by congress, in 1777. They were ardently supported by Washington, but it was not until March, 1781, that the last state, Maryland, subscribed to them. But they were defective and doomed to failure. They could not meet the wants of the young nation. At the close of the war, the Southern States contained a little more than a million inhabitants, while there was about a million and a half in the Northern and Middle States. Virginia was the most populous, having 400,000, while Pennsylvania and Massachusetts each held 350,000. Though New York City is now the metropolis of the Union, it was not so at the close of the Revolution. You know that it was occupied almost the entire time by the British, who did it great harm. It had less than 14,000 inhabitants, while Boston contained 20,000 and Philadelphia 40,000. England's laws of commerce injured the United States, while the regulations of the states injured each other. There was no public mint, and the states as well as congress issued money. The estimated debt of our country, in the spring of 1783, was $42,000,000, and that of the separate states $20,000,000. The difficulty met by British subjects in collecting debts from Americans gave Great Britain an excuse for not evacuating her posts on our frontiers, as the treaty required her to do. Every thing was so discouraging that many people in England believed that the country after all would drift back to the crown. It was nearly two years after peace was signed that the first American minister was officially received in England. You can understand why Great Britain and the new nation should hesitate about making advances. America did not know how she would be received, and it was natural that England should look upon her as a parent looks upon a rebellious child. But this state of things could not last. On the 24th of February, 1785, congress elected John Adams to the post of envoy to the Court of St. James. Adams at that time was in Paris, and he reached England in the month of May. On the 1st of June he was presented to George III. at St. James's Palace. The sturdy American showed tact and good taste on the delicate occasion. He did not wish to give any address at all; but the master of ceremonies told him that it was usual, and would be expected. Adams could not decline. After assuring his majesty that it was the wish of the United States to cultivate the most friendly and liberal intercourse with his subjects, and expressing the best wishes of his country for his majesty's health, the American minister said: "I think myself more fortunate than all my fellow-citizens, in having the distinguished honor to be the first to stand in your majesty's royal presence in a diplomatic character; and I shall esteem myself the happiest of men if I can be instrumental in recommending my country more and more to your majesty's royal benevolence, and of restoring an entire esteem, confidence and affection, or, in better words, the old goodnature and the old good-humor, between people who, though separated by an ocean, and under different governments, have the same language, a similar religion, and kindred blood. I beg your majesty's permission to add that, although I have sometimes before been intrusted by my country, it was never in my whole life in a manner so agreeable to myself." "Sir," answered the king, "the circumstances of this audience are so extraordinary, the language you have now held is so extremely proper, and the feelings you have discovered are so justly adapted to the occasion, that I must say I not only receive with pleasure the assurance of the friendly dispositions of the United States, but that I am very glad that the choice has fallen upon you to be their minister. I wish you, sir, to believe, and that it may be understood in America, that I have done nothing in the late contest but what I thought myself indispensably bound to do by the duty which I owed to my people. I will be very frank with you. I was the last to consent to the separation; but the separation having been made, and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power. The moment I see such sentiments and language as yours prevail, and a disposition to give to this country the preference, that moment I shall say, let the circumstances of language, religion and blood have their natural and full effect." You would think from reading the words of these two great men that they were ready to embrace each other like brothers, but the language was that of diplomacy and there was no love between Great Britain and the United States. It was natural that there 1786.] THE BARBARY STATES. 191 should be none, for it takes a long time to heal such wounds as were made by the Revolu tion. King George may have felt some admiration for the American minister, whose words were so well-chosen, but he had no love for the rebels across the ocean. His courtiers and ministers were as cold as he, and the situation of Mr. Adams was any thing but pleasant. He saw that most of the English were glad because of the domestic troubles at home, and, as I have said, many believed that the states would ask before long to be again British dependencies. The long war with the Americans should have given the British a better knowledge of our ancestors. Early in 1786 Adams thought he saw signs of a better feeling toward his country in the governing circles. He therefore wrote to Jefferson, the American minister to Paris, asking him to come to London. Jefferson did so, and these two able men agreed on a form of treaty with Great Britain. When they came to submit it, however, England would not accept it. Jefferson says that on their presentation to the king and queen he and Adams were scarcely noticed. The minister of foreign affairs was evasive, and showed that he did not care to have any thing to do with the Americans. At the end of several weeks, Jefferson concluded that he could be of no use in London and went back to his post in Paris. Of course nothing came of the treaty. By this time America had a little commerce on the sea. Among her citizens were many that sent ships wherever there was a prospect of getting trade. Some of their vessels cruised in the Mediterranean, where ships belonging to England, France, Portugal, Spain, and the other leading European powers, were forced by the pirates of the Barbary States to pay tribute. It seems incredible that these powers would submit to this, but most of them were so anxious to make money that they were willing to pay the tribute rather than fight. Of those that suffered in this respect the most angry was the United States. She had no patience with the lack of spirit shown by the others. Jefferson, while in Paris, tried to bring about an association or syndicate of nations for the purpose of ending the payment of tribute. His plan was to begin by severely chastising Algiers, then treat the others in turn in the same manner. Jefferson submitted at Paris his plans to the ministers of the chief powers, for them to propose to their respective governments. Some favored it and others were doubtful. The treaties made with the Barbary States actually recognized the right of these states to tribute, and for three centuries the corsairs of Northern Africa had plundered merchant vessels, and carried off Europeans into slavery. Spain had tried eleven years before to chastise the wild sea-rovers, but had failed; and just before Jefferson moved in the matter, she had made a treaty with Algiers at an expense of three million dollars. As I have said, most of the ministers favored the plan, though distrust of the course of France and England was expressed. The scheme, however, fell through because the United States was unable to give it the necessary support. Congress was willing to join, but all its recommendations to the states to provide the means were unnoticed. You will see from this incident the need of a general government with power to compel obedience to its laws. The poverty caused by the war led to bitter feeling on the part of the poor against the few that were rich. There was fear in many quarters lest the leaders might seize for themselves an unfair share of power, or create hereditary honors. With such widespread discontent, and with such a lack of strength at the head of the government, there was sure to be rioting and disorder. In Massachusetts, Daniel Shays, formerly a captain in the Continental army, headed a mob of two thousand, who |