s--White Servitude--The Western
Frontier--Karly Settlers West of the Mountains--A Hardy Population--
Disappearance of the Colonial French--The Ordinance of 1787--Flood of
Emigration Beyond the Ohio.

Peace with Great Britain left the United States free and independent, but
burdened with the expenses of the war, and agitated by the problems which
independence presented. The soldiers of the Continental Army went back to
their firesides and their fields, and trade began to show signs of
revival. New England's commercial interests had received a serious blow
from the Revolution, while New York city, occupied by the British
throughout the war, the headquarters of the royal forces with their
lavish expenditures, and its commerce protected and convoyed by the
British fleet, was benefited instead of injured by the struggle. The
merchants of New York, whether attached or not at heart to the royalist
cause, put business before patriotism, while the flag of St. George
floated over their city, and urged the British to severer measures
against the "rebels" in order that New York's mercantile interests might
be promoted and safeguarded.[1] Apart from natural advantages, next in
importance to the Erie Canal as a cause of New York's leading commercial
position is the fact that the British were in possession of the city
during the Revolution.

[1] A number of years ago the Hon. William M. Evarts delivered
a speech before the New York Chamber of Commerce in which he
congratulated that body on its patriotism "during the Revolution."
Having been allowed to examine the records of the Chamber for the
revolutionary period, I wrote an article which appeared over my
initials in the New York _Sun_ pointing out that the Chamber, as
shown by its own records, had been ultra-loyal, instead of
patriotic.--_H. M._

There was considerable luxury in city life then as now. "By Revolutionary
times love of dress everywhere prevailed throughout the State of New
York," says Mrs. Alice Morse Earle, "a love of dress which caused great
extravagance and was noted by all travelers."[2] "If there is a town on
the American continent," said the Chevalier de Crevecoeur, "where English
luxury displayed its follies it is in New York." Philadelphia was not far
behind New York in extravagance, notwithstanding Quaker traditions, while
Boston, rich in solid wealth, was more conservative in displaying it, and
retained in