Washington prevented an outbreak. The situation is well told in the words of young Alexander Hamilton. an officer on Washington's staff: "We begin to hate the country for its neglect of us; the country begins to hate us for our oppression of them. Congress have long been jealous of us; we have lost all confidence in them."

2. By being unable to protect commerce. England closed her West India ports against our merchants and placed a high duty on American articles sent to England, but Congress could not strike back by taxing English goods. The result was a great decline in shipbuilding and commerce after the war ended.

A PINE-TREE
SHILLING
In circulation

during the Rev

olutionary War

Neither could Congress make laws to regulate the trade between the states. Many of the states taxed the goods brought in from neighboring states. New York taxed the farmers of Connecticut and New Jersey, while they in turn "boycotted" New York City. This condition of business not only made people dissatisfied with the Confederation, but also made them long for a stronger union.

3. By being too weak to preserve order. Congress could not even protect itself from insult. Near the close of the war several hundred unpaid soldiers marched into Philadelphia and threatened to use force against Congress. Congress, with no one to defend it, was driven over to Princeton, New Jersey.

On account of business distress in all parts of the country many persons found it impossible to pay their taxes and debts. Many soldiers had spent years in war to the utter neglect of their families and trades. They were now poor, but debts and taxes had to be paid. So the sheriff often came and sold their property.

In Massachusetts several hundred people rose in rebellion, under the leadership of Daniel Shays, to break up the courts, and to compel the state to give them relief. During the winter of 1786-87 the state troops were called out under General Lincoln, and Shays and his men were dispersed or captured. Congress was too weak to do anything, and people were frightened intc the belief that the Confederation was about to end in anarchy. Many prominent men who before had opposed a firmer government now demanded one.

255. What Washington Did for a Stronger Government. From the beginning a few men saw that the Confederation was doomed to fail.

During the war Washington again and again urged the states to give Congress more power. Just before retiring to private life he sent a "Circular Letter" to the governors, declaring that it was the duty of every true patriot to insist "that there should be lodged somewhere a supreme power to regulate and govern the general concerns of the confederated republic; that whatever measures have a tendency to dissolve the union ought to be considered hostile to the liberty and independence of America."

For the next three or four years Washington was constantly writing and speaking in favor of a firmer union. To his friend, Governor Harrison, he wrote (1784): "An extension of federal powers would make us one of the most wealthy, happy, and powerful nations (on) the globe. I predict the worst consequences from a half-starving, limping government, tottering at every step." To John Jay (1786): "I do not conceive that we can exist long as a nation without a power which will pervade the whole Union. I am told that even

respectable (persons) speak of a (monarchy) without horror."

256. Influence of Hamilton, Madison, and Others. By his pen Alexander Hamilton stood next to Washington in educating the people to accept a stronger national government. In 1780 he

wrote a famous letter on the defects of the government and the remedy for them. He also published a series of papers to influence public opinion, and declared that we must have a vigorous government "if we mean to succeed in the contest and be happy hereafter."

Among the foremost men in the battle for a better government was also James Madison of Virginia. In Congress, in his own state legislature, and in private, he was untiring in his efforts till success crowned his labor.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

From the portrait painted by John
Trumbull, now in the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

influence joined in the call

Many other men of great for a new government, but the majority were slow to move in the matter. Two other influences were working in the same direction, namely, the beginning of a national land system and the Ordinance of 1787.

257. Beginning of a National Land System. We have seen how the pioneers in Kentucky and Tennessee, and the little army of George Rogers Clark, won the Mississippi as our western boundary (§§ 233-234). According to their old charters, several states claimed the vast unsettled region thus gained. But after much discussion they patriotically surrendered their claims to Congress on two conditions:

1. That the land be "disposed of for the common benefit of the United States."

That this region be "formed into distinct republican states."

This was the first territory the United States owned, and in 1785 Congress opened up parts of it to settlers by surveying and marking it off into sections, townships, and ranges. The possession of western lands by the Confederation helped to hold it together till stronger bonds of union could be forged. The sale of these lands seemed about the only means of paying the war debt.

Connecticut kept a tract of land running along the southern shore of Lake Erie, called the "Western Reserve." Virginia still retained Kentucky and made two reservations north of the Ohio-one between the Miami and Scioto rivers, to pay her Revolutionary soldiers, and another in what is now southern Indiana, called "Clark's Grant," as a reward for the men of Clark's expedition.

258. The Ordinance of the Northwest Territory (1787). Thomas Jefferson a slave holder, introduced into Congress a plan for the government of the territory just given over to the United States. According to this plan slavery was to be prohibited in this region after 1800. The vote in Congress defeated it, but it is proof of the breadth of Jefferson's mind and may be regarded as the forerunner of the Ordinance of 1787. The Northwest Territory included what is now Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. This region was the gift of Virginia to the nation. Congress passed the Ordinance for its government largely because old soldiers from New England wanted to settle here. It is a famous document becauseI. It laid the foundation for the government of our territories.

2. It prohibited negro slavery in the Northwest Territory.

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY

Opened by act of Congress under the "Ordinance of 1787"

3. It bestowed religious freedom on all the settlers in this region.

4. It provided that schools and "the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

The making of this "ordinance" was one of the wisest and one of the last acts of the Congress of the Confederation. It gave the whole country a common interest in the Northwest Territory.