end of that time Cornwallis, finding escape impossible and receiving no aid from Clinton, surrendered his army of seven

thousand men. On October 19, 1781, the captive army marched from the works and Cornwallis delivered up his sword.1

"It is All Over."-The struggle for independence was over. America was free. When Lord North, the British prime minister, heard the news, he cried, wildly, "O God, it is all over!" Soon

66

SIEGE OF YORKTOWN.

after he resigned his office, and the peace party came into power.

The War at an End.-The capture of Yorktown practically ended the war. Clinton, learning too late that he had been overreached by Washington, sent a force of seven thousand men by sea to reinforce Cornwallis. They reached Cape Charles five days after the surrender. No further conflicts took place. In March, 1782, Parliament resolved to close hostilities. Savannah was evacuated in July and Charleston in December. New York was held for nearly a year longer, the negotiations for peace not being completed. The treaty of peace, which was negotiated for the United

1 The tidings of the surrender filled the whole land with joy. Midnight had passed when the gladsome news reached Philadelphia, but the watchman's stirring cry, "Past two o'clock and Cornwallis is taken!" soon filled the streets with joyful crowds. So intense was the feeling of delight that it is said the old doorkeeper of Congress died of joy. In the afternoon Congress marched in solemn procession to the Lutheran church to return thanks to God for the victory.

States by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay, was finally signed at Paris, September 3, 1783, and on November 25 the British sailed away from New York and Washington marched in amid the joyful plaudits of the

people. Soon after he resigned his commission and reached home at Mount Vernon in time to spend there a joyful Christmas.

Boundaries of the Nation.-By the treaty it was decided that the territory of the new nation should extend from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River. Great Britain retained Canada and gave back Florida to Spain. The vast region west of the Mississippi was held by Spain. The United States had no Gulf coast, Florida extending by a strip of land fifty miles wide to join Louisiana, so that on all the south and west lay Spanish territory.

5. THE BIRTH OF A NATION.

Concentration of the People.-At the opening of the Revolution the population of the colonies is supposed to have been more than two million five hundred thousand. And, fortunately for the Americans, this population was concentrated within the narrow space between the mountains and the sea. Had access to the west been easy, and the population been thinly spread over this vast territory, independence could not have been gained at that period. As it was, the mountains had proved

DANIEL BOONE.

an almost impassable barrier. It was only a few years before the Revolution that Daniel Boone made his way into Kentucky, and the conquest of that virgin territory began. About the same time the settlement of Tennessee commenced. Some settlers had made their way into the Ohio region. But practically the Revolution was over before the settlement of the great West fairly began. Condition of the Country after the War.-Though the country had peace after the surrender at Yorktown, it was otherwise in a desperate strait. Its commerce was destroyed, its money was worthless, its trade and manufactures were neglected. Towns and villages had been ruined and crops destroyed. The soldiers earnestly petitioned Congress for their pay, but received no redress; Congress was helpless; the treasury was empty.' Washington was invited by some

1 During the war Robert Morris, an Englishman by birth, but a member of the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration, worked as effectively in one way for American independence as did Washington

ambitious spirits to make himself king, a proposition which he indignantly rejected. Violent measures to obtain redress for their wrongs were proposed by some officers, but Washington quieted them by wise advice, and on April 19, 1783, the eighth anniversary of Lexington, the soldiers were allowed to go home on furlough. The army was formally disbanded in November.

Soldiers in Mutiny; Taxes not Paid.-During the following June a band of drunken soldiers in Philadelphia became so violent in their demands for their pay that Congress in alarm fled from the city. As for the taxes, they were not paid. Of those assessed on the States in 1783 only one-fifth had been paid in 1785. Congress could only ask for money. It could not enforce its payment. The Articles of Confederation. gress had named the new nation The ica, its union was a very feeble one.

In truth, though ConUnited States of Amer"Articles of Confeder

and Franklin in other ways. He was a merchant and banker of Philadelphia, and a strong friend of Washington. Just after the battle of Trenton, Washington wrote to him that he must have fifty thousand dollars in hard cash, or he would lose a large number of men whose terms were out. Morris went around among his friends before daybreak, raised the sum needed, and sent it to Washington. Without his aid in later years the war could not have been carried on. Some money had been borrowed in Europe, but Congress depended mainly on paper money, which by the summer of 1780 had become almost worthless. It took one hundred and fifty dollars in this currency to buy a bushel of corn, and two thousand dollars for a suit of clothes. During the winter of 1780-81, Morris sent the army several thousand barrels of flour, and issued his own notes for one million four hundred thousand dollars to aid the army in its final campaigns. Washington could not have made his march to Yorktown without the assistance of this earnest patriot. It is greatly to the discredit of the United States that this noble-hearted citizen, who lost his fortune in his old age, was permitted to be sent to prison for debt.

ation and Perpetual Union" had been adopted in 1777, and been finally ratified by the agreement of all the States in March, 1781. But the Confederation was not a union. Each State claimed to be a sovereign commonwealth, and little power was given to the central government.

The weak point in the Articles of Confederation was that they gave Congress no power to lay taxes or to demand soldiers. It could only ask the States for men and money, and wait till they were ready to give them. It could make treaties, but could not enforce them; could borrow money, but could not repay it; could make war, but could not enlist a soldier. In short, it could recommend, but had to depend upon the States to act.

State Jealousy.-The States proposed to remain independent. They were jealous of each other and of Congress. There was a heavy war debt, but they failed to raise money for its payment. "We are," said Washington, "one nation to day and thirteen to-morrow." That clearly expressed it. There was no actual union. It was doubtful whether in the end there would be one strong nation or thirteen weak ones.

Shays's Rebellion.-The trouble in raising money was largely due to the poverty of the people, many of whom were so loaded with debt as to be unable to pay taxes. This was particularly the case in Massachusetts, whose farmers had been made poor by the war, and many of whom were now hard pressed by their creditors. In the end they became desperate. In August, 1786, nearly two thousand of them rose in rebellion, led by Daniel Shays, who had been a captain in the war.

They surrounded the court-houses and put a stop to all actions for debt; then they went on to burn and plunder, finally attacking the arsenal at Springfield. A strong force