the independence of the United States. The king was willing to have peace with his colonies; he was ready to yield the points which were in dispute when the war broke out, but he was very loath to grant independence.

The American commissioners who had been sent to Paris were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay. They declared that they would consider no treaty until independence was acknowledged. The king was obliged to yield. Then one question after another was raised. The question of boundary was one; the English wished to keep the Ohio Valley and part of Maine. The property of the Tories had been confiscated; England wished it restored. The right to fish off the Banks of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia was a valuable right; England tried to exclude New England fishermen.

These and other questions caused delay. The delay was increased by the efforts of France and Spain to postpone the final settlement until they should get what they wanted from Great Britain. At last, however, the wisdom and patience of the American commissioners were rewarded, and the treaty of peace between England and the United States was signed in Paris, September 3, 1783.

57. The Breaking up of the Army. - The English government had already withdrawn its troops from Savannah and Charleston in 1782. On the 25th of November, 1783, the British army evacuated New York. Washington and his officers, and George Clinton, governor of the State of New York, marched into the town with a few companies of soldiers. General Washington had made a farewell address to his army at Newburgh, on the Hudson, where he had been in camp for nearly two years. Now he parted, with Dec. 4. deep feeling, from the officers who had been close to him through all the years of the war Then he returned his commission to Congress, which was sitting at AnnapDec. 23. olis, and went back, a private citizen, to his estate. at Mt. Vernon, in Virginia.

The army had been breaking up all through the summer,

and now it was entirely disbanded. The officers and soldiers who had homes returned to them; but many had no homes. They wandered destitute for weeks and months about the country. Every where they found the people restless and uncertain of what was to come.

QUESTIONS.

How did the affairs in America affect politics in England? What course did the king pursue to secure soldiers? What special advantage did England have in attacking the colonies? What was the first point of attack? Narrate the events connected with the battle of Long Island. Tell the story of Nathan Hale. What followed the battle of Long Island? Describe the operations in New Jersey. Tell how Washington encouraged the people. What was the British plan for the Northern campaign? Narrate the capture of Ticonderoga; the battle of Oriskany; the battle of Bennington. What were Washington's movements at this time? Narrate the events leading up to and including the battle of Saratoga. What effect did the defeat of Burgoyne have on the country? What effect abroad? What course did Louis XVI. pursue? What resulted in England? Where did the army go into winter quarters? What was the condition of the Confederation? What was the Conway Cabal? Describe the state of the army at Valley Forge. Describe the movement ending with the battle of Monmouth Court House. Narrate the events of the summer of 1778. What efforts did the British make to regain the South? What was the financial condition of the country? Describe the operations on the frontier. Narrate Wayne's exploit. Tell the story of John Paul Jones. What took place in the South in 1780? Tell the story of Arnold's treachery and André's execution. Narrate the events of Greene's movements in the South. Describe the strategy by which Cornwallis was shut up in Yorktown. Tell the event of the surrender of Cornwallis. Who were the American commissioners in Paris? What was the state of things in England? What questions were involved in the treaty? When was the Treaty of Paris signed? What events followed the treaty ?

SEARCH QUESTIONS.

Was General Lee a traitor? Name successive military operations on Lake Champlain from Champlain down. What did the British do with themselves in Philadelphia ? Where did Congress sit when the British held Philadelphia? What was the origin of the word "cabal"? Describe

the circumstances connected with the death of the Earl of Chatham. How did the word "Cornwallis" later come into popular use? What serious disturbance at Newburgh was quieted by the influence of Washington? Who governed the Americans during the Revolution? Who said "Howe has not taken Philadelphia, so much as Philadelphia has taken Howe," and why was it said?

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT.

COMPOSITIONS:

A comparison of Nathan Hale and Major André.

A detailed account of the Conway Cabal.

The story of the capture of Stony Point.

The story of Jane McCrea.

Arnold before and Arnold after his treason.

DEBATES:

Resolved, That without the French alliance independence could not have been won.

Resolved, That the cause of human freedom would have been advanced if the United States could have remained a part of the British empire. Resolved, That Americans should have secured their independence without recourse to war.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION.

Quo'rum. Such a number of persons at a meeting as is necessary, under its rules, to transact business. It is the first word of a

Latin sentence, indicating this, and means "of whom." Ratify (rǎt'i-fy). To give assent

to.

-The war was over, and

58. The Debt created by the War. there were thirteen States in America, independent of Great Britain. They were held together by the Articles of Confederation, and the common business of the country was in the hands of the United States in Congress assembled. The chief business was to provide for the payment of the debt incurred in the war. This debt, to say nothing of the interest on it, was about forty million dollars.

Congress had been raising money in three ways. It had asked the separate States to provide money; it had borrowed from friendly European countries; and it had issued its own notes, or promises to pay. The States could raise money by taxation, but Congress had no power to tax. Yet the States, too, with the exception of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Virginia, issued their own paper money and relied mainly on that. The States gave Congress not more than

one sixth of what was asked for. After the alliance with France, it was possible to borrow money abroad, and about eight millions was obtained in that way; but when the interest was due, it was necessary to borrow more money to pay that. As for the paper money issued by Congress, the Continental currency, it was like all other promises to pay, good only when the promisor has something to pay with; and, as we have seen, it fell very low in value as money. It took all

the skill and most of the private wealth of Robert Morris,1 the Superintendent of Finance and a noble patriot, to provide means for carrying on the war. The debt most pressing was about five million dollars due the army. Congress had been shamefully neglectful of this debt, and it had required all

treaty of peace, Great Britain gave up to the United States the territory between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. Now this territory was pretty well covered with claims which the separate colonies, now States, had set up over it; but the claims had been on paper, and any colonizing had been by person and not by the States; the boundaries of the several claims were very indefinite. It was now proposed that the different States should give up to the Confederation their title to these Western lands; and this they did, although Georgia did not give up hers until as late as 1801.

The Northwest Territory. Congress used this great property in land to pay the debts of the Confederation. It gave lands to officers and soldiers in payment of their claims against the

1 Morris was born in Liverpool, January 20, 1734, and came to this country, when a boy of thirteen, with his father. He was placed in the counting-house of Charles Willing, a wealthy Philadelphia merchant. He rose to a partnership, and when the Revolution came, threw his influence upon the patriot side at the jeopardy of his property. When the new government went into operation, he was offered the post of Secretary of the Treasury, but advised Washington to appoint Hamilton. He died May 8, 1806.