The United States of America, part 1 (1783-1830)

The United States of America, part 1 (1783-1830)

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Title: The United States of America
Part I
Author: Ediwn Erle Sparks
Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6665] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on January 10, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-LATIN-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PART I ***

Anne Soulard, Paul Wenker, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN TWO PARTS
PART I 1783-1830
BY EDWIN ERLE SPARKS, PH. D.

PREFACE

The story of the United States has frequently been told. It has been told in the spirit of boasting, as a marvel of local accomplishment. It has been told in the spirit of reverence, as the work of a chosen people under a special dispensation of Providence. Its glory has been ascribed now to one political party and now to another. Its success has been attributed to various statesmen and to different sections.
The Union has been viewed from one point as originally the creature of the States, whose powers it afterward ungratefully usurped and whose intent it wilfully perverted to its own aggrandisement. It has been regarded from another viewpoint as something inherent in the soil of a new world, manifest in various colonial functions, and brought fully to life and supremacy at the time of separation from England. An effort is made in this narrative to find truth in a medium ground; to trace the gradual evolution of a confederated republic under the laws of necessity; to acknowledge that radical departures have been made from first ideals as a result of progress; to take into constant consideration the underlying forces of heredity and environment. It will be necessary to omit many of the details commonly found in a history of the United States for the sake of considering only those centralising or decentralising factors which have aided or hindered the unification of the States. In brief, an attempt is made in these two volumes to tell the story of the United States; to show how the phrase "The United States is" has been slowly and unconsciously evolved in the process of time from the early practice of saying "The United States are."

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I. A UNION IN FORM ONLY
II. THE PROBLEMS OF THE BACK LANDS
III. THE CARE OF THE PUBLIC LANDS
IV. FAILURE OF THE CONFEDERACY
V. REFORMING THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
VI. ADOPTING A NATIONAL CONSTITUTION
VII. BEGINNING AN EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT
VIII. SUMMONING THE GENII OF THE IMPLIED POWERS
IX. NATIONAL CENTRALISATION
X. FIRST LESSONS IN NATIONAL OBEDIENCE
XI. NATIONAL PARTIES ON FOREIGN ISSUES
XII. SUPPRESSING THE FRENCH SYMPATHISERS
XIII. THE FIRST STATE PROTESTS
XIV. THE ADVENT OF DEMOCRACY
XV. STRICT CONSTRUCTION AN IMPOSSIBILITY
XVI. AMERICAN NEUTRALITY LOST IN WAR
XVII. TRANSFER OF PARTY POLICIES
XVIII. SECTIONAL DISCORD OVER TERRITORY
XIX. ANNOUNCEMENT OF NATIONAL INDIVIDUALITY
XX. FULL FRUITS OF AMERICANISM

ILLUSTRATIONS
SIGNATURES TO THE DEFINITE TREATY OF 1783 Original in the Department of State.
TITLE-PAGE OF A COPY OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION This copy was printed in 1777.
THE OLD BLOCKHOUSE AT MACKINAC, 1780
MAP SHOWING WESTERN LAND
MAP SHOWING THE PROPOSED WESTERN STATES From Morse's American Gazetteer.
NATHAN DANE'S DRAFT OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY CLAUSE IN THE ORDINANCE OF 1787
DR. CUTLER'S CHURCH AND PARSONAGE AT IPSWICH HAMLET, 1787 The place from which the first company started for the Ohio, December 3, 1787.
A PETITION FROM CONGRESS TO THE STATES
SIGNATURES TO AN ADDRESS OF THE INHABITANTS OF PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Now in the archives of the Department of State.
SIGNATURES OF DELEGATES TO ANNAPOLIS CONVENTION
MANASSEH CUTLER
COPY OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION IN PARALLEL COLUMNS The foot-notes show that it is an Anti-Federal print.
FIRST DRAFT OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
LAST PAGE OF THE MINUTES OF THE OLD CONGRESS Preserved in the archives of the Department of State.
HEADING OF THE FIRST LAW PASSED UNDER THE CONSTITUTION
FEDERAL HALL, NEW YORK CITY
THE PRESIDENTIAL MANSION, FRANKLIN SQUARE, NEW YORK CITY, 1789
CERTIFICATE OF DEBT AGAINST THE UNITED STATES From the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.
A HALF-PAGE OF THE X Y Z