Show thumbnail history of the united states by JOHN BACH mcmaster within a ear from the day when the shot hear round the world a fired at concord all semblance of alle glance to great anta n disappeared the continental army v as in ex st ence washington was commander in chief buni er hill had been fought the colonial legislatures had been replaced by provincial congresses or provincial conventions and the royal governors by committees of safety when matters had gone as far as this the continental congress advised the colonies to establish civil govern ment of their own creation took into consideration the resolution of lee declaring the colonies sovereign free and independent states and appointed a committee to write a declaration of independence and another to frame a plan of government tor the united states july 4 the declaration was adopted and between 1776 and 1784 eleven states framed and put in operation written constitutions and so turned themselves from colonies into states rhode island till 1842 and connecticut till 1818 continued to use their old colonial charters in july of 17 6 congress took up the articles of federation or plan ot gov for the united states and in 1777 sent them to the states for ap but disputes over the owner ship of lands west of the mountains delayed their acceptance till 1781 from the first the plan was a failure congress had no power to lay a tax of any sort nor regulate trade with foreign countries nor between states the states issued paper money regu foreign trade each in its own way without regard to the regulations of others and by this lack of unit ormi ty produced the financial commercial and industrial distress which wrecked the confederation business condi eions made an abandonment of the articles necessary and in 1787 our present constitution was framed at philadelphia eleven states promptly ratified and in april 1789 washing ton was inaugurated at new york in 1790 philadelphia became the seat of government and in 1800 washing ton the financial legislation of the first and second congresses split the people into two political parties the feder alises who supported washington with adams hamilton jay pickering and king for leaders and the anti federalists or republicans who op I 1 posed the administration under the lead of jefferson madison monroe and gallatin scarcely had the parties been organized on domestic issues whan france declared war on great britain and opened her west indies to neutral trade and our coun try entered upon a long period of tor eign complication washington is sued a proclamation of neutrality 1793 and our merchants rushed to the french west indies but great britain seized their ships and the anti federalists attempted to force congress to retaliate lest this should bring on war washington sent jay to london to negotiate our first commercial treaty with great brit ain this treaty offended france who rejected our new minister demanded tribute and so insulted us that an army of volunteers was raised coast defenses erected the navy depart ment created and a naval war waged from from 1801 to 1803 there was peace in europe and during these years our trade declined a wave of population swept westward ohio was admitted as a state jeffer son was elected president louisiana was purchased from france and war renewed in europe As nearly all western europe soon became tributary to napoleon our country became the great neutral ocean carrier an immense trade was developed which great britain at tacked with orders in council and na with decrees nothing was left but fight tor our neutral rights or abandon the sea jefferson chose the latter and began retaliation by a tern of trade restrictions which ended with war in 1812 the loss of our neutral trade and the war brought on a period of busl ness reorganization depression hard times and caused such distress that hundreds of thousands of people left the seaboard and hurried to the tar west of that time As a consequence between 1816 and 1821 indiana hilll nois alabama mississippi and mis bourl entered the union as states the foreign issues which distracted the people from to 1815 were soon replaced by others of domestic origin and during this period of tran s tion the federalist party disappeared from 1817 to 1821 there was but one rational party and so harmonious vaa it that in 1820 monroe was the only presidential candidate this harmony as due to lack of national issues but it could not last and in 1824 four party chiefs adams clay craw ford and jackson contended tor the presidency and threw the elec alon into the house of Re presenta alves in 1825 the great events from 1816 to 1825 were the purchase of florida and the settlement of our boundary from the gulf of mexico to the pacific 1819 the establishment of the forty ninth parallel from lake of the woods to the rocky mountains as part of the northern boundary 1818 the mis sour compromise 1820 announcement of the monroe doctrine 1823 and the rise of the west the issues growing into importance were the removal of the indians from the southern states the use of the public lands and the money derived from their sale the building of roads and canals at federal expense tariff for protection and a sound currency on these the two parts of the old republican party took sides and became rival parties known after 1834 as whigs and democrats between 1825 and 1845 the indus trial development of our country was extraordinary manufactures flour dished canals were dug railroads were introduced the national debt was paid a surplus revenue was and distributed among the states trades unions were formed and the ten hour day secured nullification was put down wild speculation produced the panic of 1837 the struggle with slavery commenced in earnest in texas annexation of texas led to war with mexico and a further expansion of our territory the effort to provide new mexico and utah with territorial governments brought on the tree soil struggle and the compromise of 1850 the kansas nebraska contest produced the free soil and republican parties and made slavery the ruling political issue to 1860 out of the war for the union came four classes of issues our claims on great britain for damages caused by cruisers fitted out in her ports abolition of slavery and the thirteenth fourteenth and fit amendments the reconstruction acts and the great bonded and floating debt while these issues were in process of settlement our country again entered a period ot great industrial agricultural and min ing development the pacific railroads were built the middle west and the northwest were settled great corpora alons came into existence and finan cial industrial labor and commercial problems became the issues of the day the acquisition of hawaii and the results of the spanish war expand ed our territory to the doors of china and gave us new problems in govern ment new york world because a man regrets the mis takes of his youth it follow that he isn t going to make greater ones |