The American Nation: a History from Original
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Please do not assume that a book's appearance in 'The Builder' library means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. The Webmaster Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/americannationhi10hartuoft THE AMERICAN NATION A HISTORY FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES BY ASSOCIATED SCHOLARS EDITED BY ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, LL.D. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY ADVISED BY VARIOUS HISTORICAL SOCIETIES THE AMERICAN NATION A HISTORY LIST OF AUTHORS AND TITLES Group I Foundations of the Nation Vol. I European Background of American History, by Edward Potts Cheyney, A.M., Prof. European Hist., Univ. of Pa. " 2 Basis of American History, by Liv- ingston Farrand, LL.D., President Univ. of Colo. " 3 Spain in America, by the late Ed- ward Gaylord Bourne, Ph.D., for- merly Prof. Hist., Yale Univ. " 4 England in America, by Lyon Gar- diner Tyler, LL.D., President Will- iam and Mary College. " 5 Colonial Self - Government, by Charles McLean Andrews, Ph.D., Prof. Am. History, Yale University. Group II Transformation into a Nation Vol. 6 Provincial America, by Evarts Bou- tell Greene, Ph.D., Prof. Hist, and Dean of College, Univ. of 111. " 7 France in America, by the late Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL.D., for- merly Sec. Wisconsin State Hist. Soc. Vol. 8 Preliminaries of the Revolution, by George Elliott Howard, Ph.D., Prof. Polit. Science Univ. of Neb. " 9 The American Revolution, by Claude Halstead Van Tyne, Ph.D., Head Prof. Hist. Univ. of Michigan. 11 io The Confederation and the Consti- tution, by Andrew Cunningham McLaughlin, A.M., Head Prof. Hist., Univ. of Chicago. Group III Development of the Nation Vol. II The Federalist System, by John Spencer Bassett, Ph.D., Prof. Am. Hist., Smith College. " 12 The Jeffersonian System, by Ed- ward Channing, Ph.D., Prof. An- cient and Modern Hist., Harvard Univ. " 13 Rise of American Nationality, by Kendric Charles Babcock, Ph.D., Dean Col. Arts and Sciences, Univ. of Illinois. " 14 Rise of the New West, by Frederick Jackson Turner, Ph.D., Prof. Hist., Harvard University. " 15 Jacksonian Democracy, by William MacDonald, LL.D., Prof. Govern- ment, Univ. of California. Group IV Trial of Nationality Vol. 16 Slavery and Abolition, by Albert Bushnell Hart, LL.D., Prof. Gov- ernment, Harvard Univ. Vol. 17 Westward Extension, by the late George Pierce Garrison, Ph.D., for- merly Prof. Hist., Univ. of Texas. " 18 Parties and Slavery, by Theodore Clarke Smith, Ph.D., Prof. Am. Hist., Williams College. " 19 Causes of the Civil War, by Rear- Admiral French Ensor Chadwick, U.S.N., retired former Pres. of Naval War College. " 20 The Appeal to Arms, by James Kendall Hosmer, LL.D., formerly Librarian Minneapolis Pub. Lib. " 21 Outcome of the Civil War, by James Kendall Hosmer, LL.D. Group V National Expansion Vol. 22 Reconstruction, Political and Eco- nomic, by William Archibald Dun- ning, Ph.D., Prof. Hist, and Politi- cal Philosophy, Columbia Univ. 23 National Development, by Edwin Erie Sparks, Ph.D., Pres. Pa. State College. 24 National Problems, by Davis R. Dewey, Ph.D., Professor of Eco- nomics, Mass. Inst, of Technology. 25 America as a World Power, by John H. Latane\ Ph.D., Prof. Am. Hist., John Hopkins University. 26 National Ideals Historically Traced, byAlbertBushnellHart, LL.D., Prof. Government, Harvard University. 27 National Progress — 1907-1917, by Frederic Austin Ogg, Ph.D., Prof. Political Science, Univ. of Wisconsin. 28 Index to the Series, by David May- dole Matteson, A.M., Harvard College Library. COMMITTERS ORIGINALLY APPOINTED TO ADVISE AND CONSULT WITH THE EDITOR The Massachusetts Historical Society Charles Francis Adams, LL.D., President Samuel A. Green, M.D., Vice-President James Ford Rhodes, LL.D., 2d Vice-President Edward Charming, Ph.D., Prof. History Harvard University Worthington C. Ford, Chief cf Division of MSS. f Library of Congress The Wisconsin Historical Society Reuben G. Thwaites, LL.D., Secretary and Super- intendent Frederick J. Turner, Ph.D., Prof, of American His- tory, Wisconsin University James D. Butler, LL.D., formerly Prof. Wisconsin University William W. Wight, President Henry E. Legler, Curator The Virginia Historical Society William Gordon McCabe, Litt D., President Lyon G. Tyler, LL.D., Pres. of William and Mary College Judge David C. Richardson J. A. C. Chandler, Professor Richmond College Edward Wilson James The Texas Historical Society Judge John Henninger Reagan, President George P. Garrison, Ph.D., Prof, of History, Univer- sity of Texas Judge C. W. Raines Jv.dge Zachary T. Fullmore JAMES MADISON 01 mm$miiitfy THE AMERICAN NATION : A HISTORY III VOLUMB 10 THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION i 783-1 789 BY ANDREW CUNNINGHAM McLAUGHLIN, LL.B. PROFESSOR OP AMERICAN HISTORY IN UNIVERSITY MICHIGAN WITH MAPS NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 178 v./o Copyright, 1905, by Harper & Brothers. Copyright, 1933, by Andrew Cunningham McLaughlin. Printed in the United States of America B-N TO THE MEMORY OP MY FATHER AND MOTHER CONTENTS CHAP. PAGB Editor's Introduction xv Author's Preface xvii i. The End of the Revolution (i 781-1782) . 3 11. The Treaty of Paris (1 782-1 784) .... 18 in. The Problem of Imperial Organization (1775-1787) 35 iv. Poverty and Peril (1781-1783) ..... 53 v. Commercial and Financial Conditions (1783- 1786) 71 vi. Diplomatic Relations (1 783-1 788) .... 89 vii. Founding a Colonial System (1 783-1 787) . 108 viii. Founding of New Commonwealths (1787- 1788) 123 ix. Paper Money (1781-1788) 138 x. Shays's Rebellion (1 786-1 787) 154 xi. Proposals to Alter the Articles of Con- federation (1781-1786) 168 xii. Plan for a National Government (1787) . 184 xiii. Shall the Confederation be Patched Up? (1787) 201 xiv. The Great Compromise (1787) 221 xv. The Law of the Land (1787) 236 xiii XIV CONTENTS CHAP PAGE XVI. Further Compromises and the Conclusion of the Convention's Work (1787) . 253 xvii. The Constitution before the People (1787-1788) 277 xviii. For Better or for Worse (1788) . 298 xix. Critical Essay on Authorities . 318 Index 337 MAPS Division of the West Proposed by France Sept. 6, 1782 (in colors) facing id North America (1783) (in colors) .... 40 State Claims to Western Lands (1783- 1802) (in colors) " 108 Proposed Division of Western Lands (April 23, 1784) 116 The West (1 783-1 789) " 134 Distribution of Votes in Ratification of the Constitution, Middle and Southern States (1787-1788). 278 Distribution of Votes in Ratification of the Constitution, New England (1 787-1 790) 300 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION TO the years from 1783 to 1789, Fiske has given the name of "The Critical Period of American History"; yet it seems doubtful whether it was really a time of such danger of national dissolution as people then and since have supposed. Certainly the trend of this volume is to show a more orderly, logical, and inevitable march of events than has commonly been described. The volume articulates very closely with Van Tyne's American Revolution (vol. IX.), taking as a starting-point the defeat of the king's friends in Parliament in the spring of 1782 ; at the other end the volume leaves for Bassett's Federalist System (vol. XL), the statutes and pre- cedents by which the Constitution was set in motion. The volume naturally falls into four parts: or- ganization; the government of the Confederation; the constitutional convention; and ratification. In chapters i. and ii., the peace negotiations are de- scribed in some detail. Chapter iii., on Imperial Organization, is a luminous discussion of the possi- bilities of national government in view of the char- acter and political aptitude of the people; it is logically the culmination of the discussions of the XV XVI EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION two previous volumes, and the starting-point for the author's later deductions.