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FOLLOWING the exultation of victory came a period of uncertainty and apprehension. Financially the country was in a state of utter collapse. The result of the war was a foreign debt of eight millions, and a domestic debt of thirty millions of dollars. The army was unpaid and mutinous; only the tact and energy of Washington prevented an outbreak. The Articles of Confederation, ratified March 1st, 1781, were insufficient to the emergencies which arose on every hand. Congress could obtain no revenue except by requisition from the States; it had no power to lay a tax or to enforce payment from the States. It had no common executive, and was really less a governmental power than a consulting body. A condition bordering on anarchy reigned throughout the States. The legislatures of States having seaports taxed the people of other States for trading with foreign ports through them. Some even taxed imports from sister States. All the States neglected the requisitions of Congress, and New Jersey actually refused payment altogether. It was becoming alarmingly evident that the central government must be strengthened, and new methods of administration adopted, or the confederacy would go to pieces.

All the States except Rhode Island appointed delegates to a general Convention to be held in Philadelphia in May, 1787, for the purpose of “devising such further provisions as may be necessary to render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of the Union.” The members were the wisest and most honorable men in America. The venerable Franklin, now eighty-one years of age, George Washington, a long list of Revolutionary heroes, and eight signers of the Declaration of Independence were among the distinguished delegates. The Convention was occupied for nearly four months. The proceedings were secret; the journal being intrusted to the care of Washington, who deposited it in the State Department. This journal was afterward printed. Notes of several members were published in 1840, and from these we have nearly a complete view of the process by which the Constitution was formed.

The antagonisms of the States were many and bitter. Chief among them was the slavery question. So hot discussions on this point became that for a fortnight the Convention was on the verge of dissolution, and even Washington despaired of a favorable issue to the proceedings, and almost repented of having had anything to do with the Convention. At this time Franklin made his characteristic speech on the wide diversity of opinion, in which he said that when a broad table is to be made, and the edges of the planks do not fit, the artisan takes a little from both and makes a good joint. In like manner here, both sides must part with some of their demands in order to join in an accommodating position. With the agreement to compromise, the work went more rapidly, and on the 12th of September the completed Constitution was ordered printed. The signing, and the ratification by States of the Constitution followed.

The first Congress assembled in New York on the 4th of March, 1789. Delegates arrived from all the States excepting Rhode Island and North Carolina. On opening the votes of the electors, it was ascertained that George Washington was elected President of the United States, and John Adams, having the next highest number of votes, was declared Vice-President. On the 23d of April the President-elect arrived in New York, and on the 30th was inaugurated. After a laborious session Congress adjourned to meet on the first Monday in January.

The national government was received with powerful opposition by a considerable proportion of voters, and two political parties were thus formed at the very outset. The friends of the Constitution were called Federalists, and the opposing party were styled anti-Federalists. In November of this year North Carolina adopted the Constitution, and was admitted as a State, and Rhode Island followed next year. In 1790 the location of the Capital was decided upon, and its removal to the Potomac designated to take place in the year 1800; in the meantime, the seat of government was to be established at Philadelphia. A census was taken, which showed the population of the United States to be 3,929,326, of which 695,655 were slaves. In 1791 the opposition to the Federal party grew stronger, when the State debts were assumed by Congress, and Hamilton broached the scheme of a National bank. Jefferson, who had been first Secretary of the State, headed the opposing party, who adopted the name of Republicans, and denounced the Hamilton party as Monarchists, and declared against the tendency to centralization of power. The Federal party continued in the majority, however, and Washington and Adams were re-elected in 1792. In the elections of 1800 the Republicans were victorious; Jefferson became President and Aaron Burr Vice-President. The two men received an equal number of votes, and Congress had to decide between them. For many years the “State Rights” Republican-Democratic party continued in power.

The most important event of the early part of the nineteenth century was the purchase of Louisiana from the French. This enormous territory had been lost to England after the French and Indian war; it embraced the whole Mississippi Valley, and extended indefinitely westward. In 1762 it was transferred to Spain, although open possession was not given until 1769. In 1763 Great Britain had obtained, by treaty, that portion lying east of the Mississippi. In 1783, of course, this came into possession of the United States. All the territory west, and on the east from the 31st parallel to the Gulf, remained in the hands of Spain. The importance of having the free use of the river as a channel of transportation to the sea was early felt. This necessity was intensified as settlements increased and the Spanish authorities began to manifest a hostile policy. In 1800 Spain gave back to France the province of Louisiana. It was some time before the transaction became known, but the moment it was made public Jefferson saw that our troubles with France were not an end. The day she took possession the old friendship, long strained, would come to an end, and war seemed near, for in 1802 came the news that an expedition was preparing to cross to Louisiana. Meanwhile the navigation of the river was closed to American citizens; all trade was forbidden them, and the right of deposit at New Orleans was taken away. Protected by this right, traders of Kentucky and Ohio had been accustomed to float tobacco, flour, etc., down the river and store them in warehouses to await the arrival of sloops or scows to carry them to their ports. By the treaty of 1795 some convenient place must always be open for these goods, and when New Orleans was closed there was no other place. Jefferson’s plan was to buy so much territory on the east hank of the river as would settle forever the question of the use of its mouth. Although vigorously opposed by the Federalists in Congress, who wished to declare war against Spain, Jefferson’s proposal was acted upon, and James Monroe was sent over to act with the ministers to France and Spain in the matter of the purchase. Talleyrand hindered the matter as much as possible, and Livingston finally was obliged to break over the bonds of diplomatic etiquette and address himself directly to the First Consul. Napoleon agreed to sell, not part but all; the first price asked was one hundred and twenty-five million francs, and the final price agreed upon was eighty millions. Jefferson, although only authorized to spend two million dollars, accepted the treaty, summoned Congress, and urged it to perfect the purchase. Fifteen million dollars seemed an enormous sum for the people to assume to pay, and the old Federalists fought the measure hotly, but in the end the treaty was ratified by Congress. On November 10th the act creating the eleven million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of stock called for by the first Convention was passed, and in December, 1803, the United States took possession of Louisiana.

The immense territory thus acquired was an unexplored and unknown region to the Americans of that day. Only such scraps of information as came from hunters and trappers, and the wild tales of the Indians had reached the officials. And such tales! There were Indians of gigantic stature; a mountain of salt one hundred and eighty miles in length, all brilliant white in the sun, not a tree on it, and saline streams flowing from its base. There were prairies too rich for anything but grass, soil so fertile that things grew for the planting. In 1804 a party of explorers under Lewis and Clark was sent out by the government; they followed the Missouri to its source, crossed the mountains to the Pacific, and traversed all that region now known as Oregon.

The commerce of America now began to increase with remarkable rapidity, and complications arising with other countries obliged the United States to protect her commerce by engaging in two wars, one with Tripoli and one with England. France and England were engaged in that mighty struggle which followed the events of the French Revolution. Seriously in need of men and unable to buy them from the German Duchies as she had done in her war with the colonies, England began that system of impressment of seamen which finally became so intolerable that war was necessary. The evil was one of long standing. As far back as 1796 application was made in London for the release of two hundred and seventy seamen thus seized within a year. The people of the United States were roused to a state of indignation. Measures for fitting out a suitable naval armament were taken, and a policy of aggression decided upon.

The war with Britain, however, was preceded by a three years’ war with the piratical power of Tripoli, which with the other Barbary States of North Africa, had for many years made the Mediterranean unsafe for commerce. The weaker mercantile nations of Europe, after vainly endeavoring to suppress these outrages, had consented to pay an annual tribute for the security of their vessels. The United States did the same for a time, but having grown weary of this course declared war against Tripoli. The contest ended in 1804, and resulted in the partial suppression of the piracies. It needed a second struggle in 1815 to induce Algiers and Tunis to give up all claims to tribute from the United