The United States of America, part 1 (1783-1830) | Page 2

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 DISPATCHES From the original in
the Department of State.
THE CITY OF WASHINGTON From a drawing made about 1800,
before the site was graded.
WESTERN ARKS AT NEW ORLEANS From Hall's "Etchings in
America."
TAKING POSSESSION OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
WRITTEN LAW OF THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY A law
passed at Vincennes, now Indiana, against gambling..
PRESIDENT JEFFERSON'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS
BLANK COMMISSION FOR PRIVATEER IN WAR OF 1812
DISLOYALTY OF NEW ENGLAND DURING THE WAR
THE PRESIDENT'S TEMPORARY RESIDENCE, 1815
MAP SHOWING ADVANCE OF POPULATION
THE CAPITOL BURNED BY THE BRITISH ARMY From Torrey's
"American Slave Trader."
WASHINGTON IRVING From the etching by Jacques Reich.
JOHN MARSHALL Chief Justice of the United States, 1801-1836.
WESTERN END OF THE GREAT ERIE CANAL Drawn with the
Camera Lucida for Hairs "Etchings of the West."

CHAPTER I
A UNION IN FORM ONLY

When did the sovereign nation of the United States begin? From one
point of view, it was called into existence by the motion for
Independence passed by the Continental Congress on the second day of
July, 1776, when the people of the rebelling British colonies in
America, by action of their representatives, assumed a free and
independent position. But a motion is intangible. It is an act, of which
the announcement is the visible result. "A decent respect to the
opinions of mankind" prompted the Congress on July 4, 1776, to
"declare the causes" which impelled it to separation. This date is
accepted in the popular mind, as well as by official action, as the
beginning of national existence. If recognition by other powers be
assumed as the criterion, the sovereignty began in 1778, when treaties
of alliance and commerce were signed with France. But if the actions
indicated above were incidental steps to the commencement of
sovereignty, if a general recognition by nations be necessary, together
with the consent of the former owner, and a restoration of peace and
order, then the real story of the United States begins on September 3,
1783. This conclusion is reached by considering fact as well as form.
[Illustration: SIGNATURES TO THE DEFINITIVE TREATY OF
1783. Original in the Department of State Washington. D. Hartey was
given power by the King of England and Adams, Franklin, and Jay by
the Congress of the United States. Individual seals were used.]
A few days after that date, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John
Jay wrote from Paris to the president of the Continental Congress at
Philadelphia:
"On the 3d instant, definite treaties were concluded between all the late
belligerent powers except the Dutch, who the day before settled and
signed preliminary articles of peace with Britain. We most sincerely
and cordially congratulate Congress and our country in general on this
happy event; and we hope that the same kind Providence which has led

us through a vigorous war to an honourable peace will enable us to
make a wise and moderate use of that inestimable blessing."
Thus happily ended more than eight years of warfare and almost two
years of negotiation. The disturbed conditions of war gave way rapidly
to the normal condition of peace. The four European powers, which had
been drawn into war by the American cause, adjusted their disturbed
relations. The King of England, at the next opening of Parliament,
acknowledged the loss of a portion of his American possessions. John
Adams with his family crossed from France to England to represent the
new nation. The archives of the republic showed treaties with France,
the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Sweden, soon to be followed by
similar acknowledgments from Prussia and Morocco. A national frame
of government had been adopted by the new power. Peace prevailed
throughout the land. Local government was established in every State.
In external appearance as well as internal form the career of the
independent republic of the United States had most auspiciously begun.
But the course of events was soon to dispel the illusion; to show that it
was a union in form only and not in affection. Conversion from
provincial colonists into liberal-minded unionists was not to be so
easily effected. A feeling of true nationality must await years of growth.
Confidence in each other had not yet replaced fear and suspicion. That
the first attempt to come into a union could have been a success, that a
sacrifice to the god Provincialism could have been avoided, seems in
retrospect impossible.