At the close of the year 1780 this paper was worth but two cents on the dollar; later, ten dollars in currency equaled but one cent in specie.

"Not worth a continental," became a byword in the colonies-paper money having fallen into such contempt. Washington naively remarked that it took a wagon-load of money to buy a wagon-load of provisions. "In Boston, corn sold for $150 a bushel, butter for $12 a pound, tea $90, sugar $10, beef $8, coffee $12, and a barrel of flour for $1,575. Samuel Adams paid $2,000 for a hat and suit of clothes."

"Continental currency" became a joke in the colonies. A barber in Philadelphia papered his shop with it, and a wag in that city caught a stray dog, and, bedaubing him with tar, stuck bills of various denominations all over him, and paraded him in the streets. Before the close of 1780 the currency had ceased to circulate, public credit was gone, and trade was at a standstill-and yet the American army had been paid in just such money. The country was in need of a financier to save it from bankruptcy.

273. Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance.-"That the government had in any way been able to finish the war, after the downfall of its paper currency, in 1780, was due to the gigantic efforts of one great man-Robert Morris of Pennsylvania." Made superintendent of finance in 1781, Morris at once set about to organize the finances on a sound basis. Recognizing the peril the country was in, he grandly arose to the occasion, using his own private means to keep the army supplied and the country from bankruptcy.

He had long served on the congressional committee, which had to provide for the raising of money. It was he who had raised money for Washington's Trenton campaign and who had contributed largely from his own private funds to relieve the sufferings of the army at Valley Forge. Taking advantage of his own unlimited credit, he now procured the establishment of the Bank of North America (1781), through which loans might be negotiated; and successfully

carried the war forward from the campaign beginning at the Cowpens to the final struggle at Yorktown.

France had made numerous loans to the colonies, and in 1781 she made another loan. Morris, a few months later, secured, through the efforts of John Adams, minister to Holland, a loan from that country. Both these loans came into the country in the form of specie, which enabled the superintendent of finance to conduct the financial affairs of the government in terms of specie, and to keep paper money out of circulation.

By his sound business methods he was able to reduce the expenses of the army, and when the war closed he reduced the expenditures of the government to the very lowest scale. In spite of opposition in congress, he introduced a system of taxation which bore fruit. Under him, American credit rapidly rose both at home and abroad. As the financier of the Revolution, he rendered a service to his country which cannot be estimated-without which neither Greene's campaign in the south, nor Washington's campaign against Yorktown, nor the successful disbanding of the army could have been accomplished. He recognized the weakness of the government under the Articles of Confederation, and, seeing that congress could not carry out the reforms which he contemplated, he resigned his position at the close of the year 1784.

CHAPTER VIII

THE GROWTH OF THE CONSTITUTION

274. Steps in the Development of the Constitution.Numerous steps have marked the development of the constitution and the movement toward union.

The United Colonies of New England in 1643; Franklin's Plan of Union proposed at Albany in 1754; the Stamp Act Congress in 1765; the First Continental Congress in 1774; the Second Continental Congress in 1775; the Declaration of Independence in 1776; the adoption of new state constitutions by the several states from 1776 to 1780; the Articles of Confederation in 1781; the Annapolis Trade Convention in 1786; and finally the Constitutional Convention in 1787are all important steps in the growth of the constitution.

275. Government During the Revolution.-The First Continental Congress was not a governing body. It was called together to demand of the king and parliament a redress of grievances. The Second met primarily, to consider the answer of the king to this address. By force of circumstances, however, the Second Continental Congress immediately assumed the power of a governing body, and continued as such from May 10, 1775, until March 2, 1789. Two days later the First National Congress convened in Federal Hall, New York City, which since 1785 had been the seat of government.

276. The States Adopt New Constitutions.-During the progress of the Revolution all the states declared their independence of King George, and, on the advice of Congress, all, excepting Rhode Island and Connecticut (their liberal charters sufficing), adopted new constitutions.