Union and Democracy | Page 2

1802 between 134
and 135
The Yazoo-Georgia Land Controversy 168
The Tonnage of the United States, 1807 185
Vote on the Embargo, December 21, 1807 between 190 and 191
Vote on the Declaration of War, June 4, 1812 between 208 and 209
Land Sales and Land Offices To 1821 248

The Cotton Crop in the United States, 1801-34 250
The West As an Economic Section in 1820 253
Treaty With Spain, 1819 263
Distribution of Slaves in 1820 270
Vote on the Missouri Compromise, March 2, 1820 278
Russian Claims in North America 293
Distribution of Population, 1820 299
States Admitted To the Union Between 1812 and 1821 306
Vote on the Tariff Bill, April 16, 1824 between 310 and 311
Presidential Election of 1824 between 314 and 315
Vote on the Tariff Bill, April 22, 1828 between 328 and 329
Canals in the United States About 1825 341
Highways of the United States About 1825 344

UNION AND DEMOCRACY

[Map: The United States in 1783]

UNION AND DEMOCRACY
CHAPTER I
THE ORDEAL OF THE CONFEDERATION

It was characteristic of the people of the United States that once assured
of their political independence they should face their economic future
with buoyant expectations. As colonizers of a new world they were
confident in their own strength. When once the shackles of the British
mercantile system were shaken off, they did not doubt their ability to
compete for the markets of the world. Even Washington, who had
fewer illusions than most of his contemporaries, told his fellow citizens
of America that they were "placed in the most enviable condition, as
sole lords and proprietors of a vast tract of continent, comprehending
all the various soils and climates of the world, and abounding with all
the necessaries and conveniences of life." Independence was the magic
word which the common man believed would open wide the gates of
prosperity. Yet within a year after the ratification of the Peace of Paris,
American society was in the throes of a severe industrial depression.
Contrary to the accepted view, the latter years of the war were not years
of penury and want among the people. Outside of those regions of
Virginia and the Carolinas, which were devastated by the marching and
countermarching of the combatants, the people were living in
comparative comfort. North of the Potomac, indeed, there was even a
tendency to speculation in business and extravagance in living.
Throughout the war farmers had found a ready market for their produce
within the lines of the British and French armies. The temporary
suspension of commerce had encouraged many forms of productive
industry. As the war continued, venturesome skippers eluded British
men-of-war and found their way to European or Dutch West India ports,
bringing home rich cargoes in exchange for tobacco, flour, and rice.
The prizes brought in by privateers added largely to the stock of
desirable and attractive merchandise in the shops of Boston,
Philadelphia, and Charleston. If such prosperity could follow in the
wake of war, what commercial gains might not be expected in the
piping times of peace? In anticipation of immediate returns, merchants
drew heavily upon their foreign creditors and stocked their shops with
imported commodities. Southern planters indulged similar expectations
and bought land and slaves on credit, regardless of the price. "A rage
for running in debt became epidemical," wrote a contemporary
observer. "Individuals were for getting rich by a coup de main; a good

bargain--a happy speculation--was almost every man's object and
pursuit."
During the hard times of 1785-86 these golden dreams vanished.
Instead of sharing as the people of an independent nation in the trade
and commerce of the world, American shippers found themselves no
better off than they were as dependents of Great Britain. Orders in
council at once closed the ports of the British West Indies to all staple
products which were not carried in British bottoms. Certain
commodities,--fish, pork, and beef,--which might compete with the
products of British dependencies, were excluded altogether. The policy
of France and Spain was scarcely less illiberal. The effect was
immediate. Cut off from their natural markets, American shipowners
were forced either to leave their vessels to rot at their wharves or to
seek new markets. For months there seemed to be no other alternative.
At the same time the new industries which had sprung up during the
war had to meet the shock of foreign competition, as the British
manufacturer dumped on American wharves the accumulated stock of
his warehouses. The plight of the small farmer and of the large planter
was much the same; for both had incurred debts in expectation of
continued prosperity.
Everywhere people complained of hard times. Discouragement and
ill-humor displaced the buoyant optimism with which peace had been
heralded. "What is independence?" asked a writer