Part 15 (1/2)
70. GEOGRAPHY OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1789.
[Sidenote: Boundary questions.]
What were the physical, social, and political conditions under which the new government was to be established? In 1789 the exterior boundaries of the country were loosely defined by treaty (-- 46), but were not yet marked out, and there were several serious controversies. From the mouth of the St, Croix River to the head of the Connecticut the boundary was in confusion, and no progress had been made towards settling it. The water- line through the St. Lawrence and the Lakes was still unadjusted. It was found that the headwaters of the Mississippi lay to the south of the Lake of the Woods, so that there was a gap on the northwest. On the south Spain disputed the right of Great Britain to establish the boundary, insisted that her own undoubted settlements lay within the territory claimed by the United States, and declined to grant the free navigation of the lower Mississippi to the sea. Still more humiliating was the presence of British garrisons at Fort Niagara, Detroit, and other points within the undisputed boundaries of the United States.
[Sidenote: Interior boundaries.]
The interior boundaries of the country were in a like unsettled condition.
Neither North Carolina nor Georgia had yielded up their western claims (-- 52). Vermont had not yet been recognized by New York as outside of her jurisdiction, and the Western Reserve lay along the southern sh.o.r.e of Lake Erie as an outlying part of Connecticut. No territorial government had been established for the Northwest territory, although settlement had begun to pour in. The southern territory was in complete confusion: Kentucky and the Tennessee valley were practically independent communities; and Georgia claimed the whole region south of them.
71. THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1789.
[Sidenote: Population.]
A census taken in 1790 gives us the number of inhabitants as a little under 4,000,000. Of these, 750,000--nearly one-fifth of the whole population--were negroes. Of the 3,170,000 whites, the ancestors of eight- tenths were probably English, and most of the others spoke English and were a h.o.m.ogeneous part of the community. Counting by sections, the States north of Maryland had a population of 1,968,000, and those south of Pennsylvania had 1,925,000; the States which were to be permanently slave- holding contained, therefore, a population about equal to that of New England and the Middle States. Only a small part of this population was to be found west of the mountains. Settlement was working into central New York, southwest Pennsylvania, the neighboring parts of Virginia, and the upper waters of the Tennessee; but the only considerable western community was in Kentucky. These distant settlers had an important influence on the Union, since they lay within easy reach of the Spanish settlements, and occasionally threatened to withdraw.
[Sidenote: Intellectual life.]
The intellectual life of the people was little developed. Schools had not sensibly improved since colonial times. The graduating cla.s.ses of all the colleges in 1789 count up to about 170. There were but two schools of medicine in the country, and no regular school of law. In one department of literature alone were the Americans eminent: the state papers of public men such as Was.h.i.+ngton, Hamilton, and Jefferson are written with the force and directness of the best school of English. Poetry there was; its character may be judged by a single quotation from Barlow's ”Vision of Columbus,” a favorite epic, published in 1787:--
”There stood stern Putnam, seamed with many a scar, The veteran honours of an earlier war; Undaunted Stirling, dreadful to his foes, And Gates and Sullivan to vengeance rose; While brave McDougall, steady and sedate, Stretched the nerved arm to ope the scene of fate.”
[Sidenote: Economic conditions.]
In economic conditions the United States were little more advanced than had been the colonies. The country abounded in natural resources: timber clad the whole Appalachian range, and spread far into the Mississippi valley; the virgin soil, and particularly the rich and untouched prairies of the West, were an acc.u.mulation of unmeasured wealth. Yet it was little easier to get from the sea to Lake Erie or to the Ohio than it had been forty years before. It seemed impossible that a country could be held together when it was so large that a courier might be two months on his way from the seat of government to the most distant frontier; and Jefferson predicted that it would be a thousand years before the country would be thickly settled as far west as the Mississippi. The chief resource of the country was agriculture; almost every State raised its own food, and there were considerable exports, particularly of wheat and flour. Manufactures were chiefly imported from England, the only widely known American industry being the distilling of New England rum. The chief source of wealth was still commerce; in 1790 the exports and imports were about twenty million dollars each, or five dollars per head of the population. The movement of vessels to foreign ports was tolerably free, but the vexatious restrictions and taxes imposed by England tended to throw an undue part of the profit into the hands of the English merchants.
Business of every kind was much hampered by the want of bank capital and by the state of the currency.
72. POLITICAL METHODS IN 1789.
[Sidenote: Current political theories.]
The chief intellectual interest of the people was in politics. The State and the national const.i.tutions both protected freedom of speech, and Americans were accustomed freely to discuss public men and public measures. Public opinion was, however, created by a comparatively small number of persons,--the leading planters of the South, merchants and great families in the Middle States, the gentlemen and clergy in New England.
Already two different schools of political thought had appeared. The one is typified by John Adams's elaborate work, ”The Defence of the American Const.i.tutions,” published in 1787. ”The rich, the well-born, and the able,” he says, ”... must be separated from the ma.s.s and placed by themselves in a senate.” The leading spirit in the other school was Thomas Jefferson. He wrote in 1787: ”I am persuaded that the good sense of the people will always be found the best army. They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves.” The accepted principle of republican government was nevertheless that there should be a limited number of voters, following the lead of experienced statesmen of a higher social cla.s.s.
[Sidenote: Political methods.]
A few symptoms of a change in political methods were visible. In 1788 a nominating convention was held in Harrisburg; this method of selecting candidates by representatives of the voters of their party was rapidly extended. In 1789 the secret Columbian Order, or Tammany Society, was formed in New York. At first benevolent and literary, the correspondent of the Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, by 1800 it had become a political organization and was controlling local elections. In several States, and particularly in New York, factions had grown up about leading families of public men; in a few years they became political machines subject to the direction of a few leaders. Buying of votes was almost unknown, but there was much disorder at elections.
[Sidenote: Respect for authority.]
In many respects both the State and national governments were weak. The legislatures had, during the Revolution, been accustomed to ride roughshod over the minority, and they were still inclined to grant charters and privileges only to party friends; Federalist legislatures would charter only Federalist banks. Americans enjoyed their individual liberty, but resented the use of force either for collecting taxes or for upholding the authority of government; and the States were not accustomed unhesitatingly to accept the action of Congress. On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon respect for law was recovering from the shock of the Revolution. There was a strong feeling of loyalty to the State governments, and the beginning of national interest and patriotism. By common consent the new Const.i.tution was put quietly into effect by those who expected its success.
73. ORGANIZATION OF CONGRESS (1789).
[Sidenote: First congressional election.]