FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130  
131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   >>   >|  
ontempt." CHAPTER IV. Differences between Great Britain and the United States.... Mr. Adams appointed minister to Great Britain.... Discontents excited by the commercial regulations of Britain.... Parties in the United States.... The convention at Annapolis.... Virginia appoints deputies to a convention at Philadelphia.... General Washington chosen one of them.... Insurrection at Massachusetts.... Convention at Philadelphia.... A form of government submitted to the respective states, as ratified by eleven of them.... Correspondence of General Washington respecting the chief magistracy.... He is elected president.... Meeting of the first congress. {1783 to 1787} While the friends of the national government were making these unavailing efforts to invest it with a revenue which might enable it to preserve the national faith, many causes concurred to prepare the public mind for some great and radical change in the political system of America. [Sidenote: Misunderstandings between Great Britain and the United States.] Scarcely had the war of the revolution terminated, when the United States and Great Britain reciprocally charged each other with violations of the treaty of peace. On the construction of that part of the seventh article which stipulates against the "destruction or carrying away of any negroes, or other property of the American inhabitants," a serious difference of opinion prevailed which could not be easily accommodated. As men seldom allow much weight to the reasoning of an adversary, the construction put upon that article by the cabinet of London was generally treated in America as a mere evasion; and the removal of the negroes who had joined the British army on the faith of a proclamation offering them freedom, was considered as a flagrant breach of faith. In addition to this circumstance, the troops of his Britannic Majesty still retained possession of the posts on the American side of the great lakes. As those posts gave their possessors a decided influence over the warlike tribes of Indians in their neighbourhood, this was a subject to which the United States were peculiarly sensible. On the other hand, the United States were charged with infringing the fourth, fifth, and sixth articles, which contain agreements respecting the payment of debts, the confiscation of property, and prosecution of individuals for the part tak
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130  
131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
States
 

United

 

Britain

 
property
 

respecting

 

national

 

article

 

negroes

 

American

 

construction


America

 
government
 

charged

 
Philadelphia
 
General
 

convention

 

Washington

 

weight

 

reasoning

 

seldom


infringing

 

London

 

cabinet

 

fourth

 

adversary

 
articles
 

difference

 

opinion

 

prevailed

 

confiscation


prosecution

 

individuals

 
inhabitants
 

accommodated

 

generally

 

easily

 

payment

 

agreements

 

Majesty

 

retained


Britannic
 
Indians
 

circumstance

 

troops

 

possession

 
tribes
 

influence

 
decided
 
warlike
 

addition