certain persons to carry goods to New Orleans in return for their influence in behalf of secession from the Union. The chief of these agents was James Wilkinson, a former officer in the Revolution, but a shrewd and unprincipled adventurer who finally won for himself immortality in that trinity of infamy to which Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr also belong.

The settlers of Tennessee had an additional reason for dissatisfaction in the Indian situation. Between them and the Spanish on the Gulf dwelt several powerful tribes - Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws occupying lands lying largely within the bounds of the United States by the treaty of 1783 with England, although partly within the tract the ownership of which Spain disputed. Fearing the Americans as neighbors and desiring, like the English in the Northwest, to prevent settlement within the Indian lands in order to protect her trade with the natives, Spain encouraged the tribes to resist all encroachments of the Americans and even to exclude traders from the states.

Unfortunately Congress was less competent to deal with the Indians in the Southwest than on the north side of the Ohio, for the claims of the states had not been relinquished and its full powers over Indian relations were confined to those tribes "not members of any state." Negotiations were undertaken with the natives of the Gulf region, but they encountered the opposition of the states claiming jurisdiction and came to little or nothing.

In 1786 Congress made an attempt to come to an understanding with Spain. Three concessions were asked: the recognition of the right of Americans to navigate the Mississippi; the recognition of the thirty-first parallel as the boundary; and a treaty of commerce. But it could offer nothing in return. As the Articles stood it could not close the ports to Spanish vessels nor lay retaliatory duties. At best it could only withdraw the request for one or more of the concessions in the hope of persuading Spain to yield the others.

John Jay, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, opened negotiations when Spain sent Don Diego de Gardoqui as minister to the United States, only to find himself driven to pursue these tactics. At last he decided that the least essential of the three demands was the first. He therefore requested Congress to authorize a treaty by which the United States would abate her claim to the

use of the river for a term of twenty-five or thirty years in return for commercial concessions. A majority of the delegations favored the proposal, but not the necessary two thirds.

This failure is a capital illustration of the insufficiency of the power of Congress over commerce. At every point touching the welfare of the Kentuckians and Tennesseeans Congress seemed powerless. Aggrieved as they felt themselves to be, they did not hesitate to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of union with the eastern states. The matter did not present itself to their minds as a question of treason or disloyalty. Such was one of the fruits of the revolutionary philosophy. The rumor that Jay's proposal had passed Congress caused great excitement. It showed an apparent willingness to sacrifice the West for the advantage of the old states, and brought the secession movement in Kentucky to a climax. The loss of the country south of the Ohio seemed imminent. Washington, referring to the uncertain sentiment of union there, declared that the West was "on a pivot," and that the touch of a feather would turn it either way.1 The test showed that the majority in Kentucky preferred the prospect of early statehood to a precarious independence, but the questions at issue with Spain remained unsettled as an inheritance for the government of Washington.

FINANCIAL FAILURE

While almost every phase of the history of the Confederation shows the inadequacy of the Articles, the financial history of these years is particularly dismal. The Articles laid upon Congress the duty of paying the war debt. Apart from the continental notes, the debt amounted to about $43,000,000. Of this about $8,000,000 had been loaned by France, Holland, and Spain, the first named having supplied more than three fourths of the total obtained abroad.

Much of the domestic debt was represented by certificates issued in payment of soldiers' wages or for army supplies. Many of them had been given to the actual producers of food. Sometimes necessity had led to seizure rather than purchase of grain,

1 Washington advocated a canal joining the Ohio and Potomac rivers, to afford an artificial outlet for the West, believing it would counteract the influence of the masters of the Mississippi.

wagons, horses, and cattle. The original receivers were fortunate if they were able to hold these evidences of debt. In most cases their own needs had compelled them to transfer the certificates to others who had ready cash and could afford to speculate on the chance of payment. Of course it was the depreciation of these securities which caused loss to those who parted with them.

Under the circumstances the domestic debt was the last matter of finance to which Congress could turn its attention. First of all it must obtain funds to meet its own current expenses or cease to function. Next was the interest on the debt, especially the portion owned abroad. After that, if funds had been available, would have come the principal of the foreign debt, and finally the principal of the debt owed to Americans.

To provide for these needs the only resources made available by the Articles were requisitions on the states and new loans. No special provision was made for a revenue to be used in paying the debt. The land cessions, indeed, opened an additional source of income which, by implication, would be applied to this purpose; but so far as the Articles indicated, requisitions were to cover the needs of Congress for all purposes.

The insufficiency of this provision was realized by Congress almost before the Articles went into effect. To remedy it an amendment was submitted to the states, allowing Congress to collect a duty of five per cent on the value of all imports, to be devoted solely to the payment of the principal and interest of the debt. Rhode Island alone refused assent, thus defeating a proposal of the utmost consequence.

Experience soon showed the impossibility of providing for the debt through the use of requisitions. Congress asked for $10,000,000 during the first two years of the Confederation, and the states responded with less than $1,500,000. Requisitions yielded altogether, during the entire period of the Confederation, barely enough to meet current expenses, without paying even interest on the debt.

Congress tried again, in 1783, to secure additional financial powers by a "general revenue amendment," but with even less success than before. The necessity of making some payments on interest led to the borrowing of an additional $2,000,000 from Holland. But most of the interest went unpaid, the arrearage

amounting in 1790 to many millions. Thus the public debt of a rich people increased continuously in time of peace because of the impotence of the government.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER X

Fiske, The Critical Period, tells the story of the years of the Confederation and of the formation and adoption of the Constitution. It is one of the best of Fiske's books. McLaughlin, Confederation and Constitution, covers the same period; it was the first book to present the view now held of the nature of the problem of political organization which the United States faced after the Revolution. McMaster, History of the People of the United States, begins with the Confederation. It stresses the life of the people rather than political history, and while oddly organized is a mine of information. Its eight volumes come down to the Civil War. Schouler, History of the United States under the Constitution, also begins with 1783 and comes through the era of reconstruction after the Civil War. primarily a political history.

It is

Commercial Readjustment. Channing, United States, chap. 13, is an excellent summary. Weeden, Social and Economic History of New England, is very valuable. For the efforts to negotiate commercial treaties, see Foster, A Century of American Diplomacy, and Fish, American Diplomacy.

The Currency Question. A good monograph is needed. Warren, "The Confederation and Shays's Rebellion," in American Historical Review deals with the central episode.

The Growth of the West; The Southwest. The general history of the West during the period is given by Roosevelt, Winning of the West, and Winsor, Westward Movement. Henderson, Conquest of the Old Southwest, and Hinsdale, Old Northwest, are most useful for the two areas dealt with. Briefer accounts are, Skinner, Pioneers of the Old Southwest, and Ogg, Old Northwest.

The story of the cessions of the western lands and congressional measures for surveying and selling them is well set forth by Treat, National Land System. The British policy in the Northwest is illuminated by McLaughlin, “The Western Posts and the British Debts," in American Historical Association Reports. Spanish policy in the Southwest is the theme of Green, The Spanish Conspiracy. The movements for statehood are described by Turner, "Western State-Making in the Revolutionary Era," in American Historical Review.

The Ordinance of 1787. Barrett, Evolution of the Ordinance of 1787. Financial Failure. Dewey, Financial History of the United States, is a useful volume for the student of general American history. Chapter 2 deals with Confederation finance. Bullock, Finances of the United States, 1775-1789, is a special study of value.

CHAPTER XI

THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION

STEPS LEADING TO THE CONVENTION

There was no lack of critics of the Articles of Confederation. To mention only well-known names, Washington, Hamilton, and Madison strove unceasingly to create sentiment in behalf of a more perfect government. Experience was also a faithful teacher. Each failure of Congress, each outbreak of disorder, added its quota of converts to the cause of a stronger general government.

The failure of all attempts at amendment of the Articles, however, was discouraging. It seemed impossible to secure the unanimous consent of the states to any change. Several proposals were made, now by state legislatures, now by members of Congress, again by public writers, for a convention of delegates from all of the states to consider the revision of the Articles, but Congress did not take kindly to the plan, and without its sanction a convention would be extra-legal. Besides, there was little hope that the recommendations of a convention would be accepted by the states.

In the midst of these perplexities Virginia and Maryland were seeking an agreement concerning commerce on Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. In general, interstate trade relations were in confusion, but these two neighbors had partially learned that coöperation is better than competition. In spite of conflicts over boundaries and other disputes they had from time to time in the past entered into agreements of various sorts, now for limiting the tobacco crop, again for joint campaigns against the Indians. Washington and Madison were eager to see the two states adopt a uniform commercial code, and at Washington's invitation, commissioners representing the two met at Mt.