was right, for otherwise the achievement of independence would seem to have been attributed to the United States alone. But France and England were now at peace; and after their reconciliation Washington, the happiest of warriors, as he ungirded the sword, would not recall that they had been at war. The business of the day being over, Washington set out for Mount Vernon, and on Christmas eve, after an absence of nearly nine years, he crossed the threshold of his own home; but not to find rest there, for the doom of greatness was upon him. CHAPTER II. VIRGINIA STATESMEN LEAD TOWARD A BETTER UNION. 1784. Or many causes promoting union, four above others exercised a steady and commanding influence. The new republic as one nation must have power to regulate its foreign commerce; to colonize its large domain; to provide an adequate revenue; and to establish justice in domestic trade by prohibiting the separate states from impairing the obligation of contracts. Each of these four causes was of vital importance; but the necessity for regulating commerce gave the immediate impulse to a more perfect constitution. Happily, the British order in council of the second of July 1783 restricted to British subjects and ships the carrying of American produce from American ports to any British West India island, and the carrying of the produce of those islands to any port in America. "This proclamation," wrote John Adams to Secretary Livingston, "is issued in full confidence that the United States cannot agree to act as one nation. They will soon see the necessity of measures to counteract their enemies. If there is not sufficient authority to draw together the minds, affections, and forces of the states in their common foreign concerns, we shall be the sport of transatlantic politicians, who hate liberty and every country that enjoys it." * Letters of Adams and one of like tenor from Franklin having been fully considered, congress, on the twenty-ninth of September 1783, agreed that the United States could become respectable only by more energy in government; but, as usual, * Diplomatic Correspondence, vii., 81, 100. they only referred "the important subject under deliberation" to a special committee,* which, having Arthur Lee for one of its members, in due time reported that "as the several states are sovereign and independent, and possess the power of acting as may to them seem best, congress will not attempt to point out the path. The mode for joint efforts will suggest itself to the good sense of America." + The states could not successfully defend themselves against the policy of Great Britain by separate legislation, because it was not the interest of any one of them to exclude British vessels from their harbors unless the like measure should be adopted by every other; and a union of thirteen distinct powers would encounter the very difficulty which had so often proved insuperable. But, while every increase of the power of congress in domestic affairs roused jealousies between the states, the selfish design of a foreign government to repress their industry drew them together against a common adver sary. The complete cession of the North-west and the grant of the desired impost were the offerings of Virginia to the general welfare. Simultaneously her legislature, on the fourth of December, took cognizance of the aggressions on equal commerce. The Virginians owned not much shipping, and had no special interest in the West India trade; but the British prohibitory policy offended their pride and their sense of honor, and, as in the war they had looked upon "union as the rock of their political salvation," so they again "rang the bell" to call the other states to council. They complained of " disposition in Great Britain to gain partial advantages, injurious to the rights of free commerce and repugnant to the principles of reciprocal interest and convenience which form the only permanent foundation of friendly intercourse;" and on the ninth unanimously consented to empower congress to adopt the most effectual mode of counteracting restrictions on American navigation so long as they should be continued. The Secret Journals of Congress, iii., 398–400. + Reports of committees on increasing the powers of congress, p. 95. MS. Joseph Jones to Jefferson, 21 and 29 December 1783. # Journal of House of Delegates, 50; Iening, xi., 313. a governor, by direction, communicated the act to the executive authority of the other states, requesting their immediate adoption of similar measures;" and he sent to the delegates of his own state in congress a report of what had been done. This is the first in the series of measures through which Virginia marshalled the United States on their way to a better union. In the fourth congress Jefferson carried forward the work of Madison with alacrity. The two cherished for each other the closest and the most honorable friendship, agreeing in efforts to bind the states more closely in all that related to the common welfare. In their copious correspondence they opened their minds to each other with frankness and independence. The delegates of Rhode Island insisted that the counterac tion of the British navigation acts must be intrusted to each separate state; but they stood alone, Roger Sherman voting against them, and so dividing Connecticut. Then the proposal of the cominittee of which Jefferson was a member and of which all but Gerry were from the South, that congress, with the assent of nine states, might exercise prohibitory powers over foreign commerce for the term of fifteen years, was adopted without opposition.† Keeping in mind that, while the articles of confederation did not directly confer on congress the regulation of commerce by enactments, they granted the amplest authority to frame commercial treaties, Jefferson prepared a plan for intercourse with powers of Europe from Britain to the Ottoman Porte, and with the Barbary states. His draft of instructions described "the United States as one nation upon the principles of the federal constitution." # In a document of the preceding congress mention had been made of "the federal government," and Rhode Island had forthwith moved to substitute the word union, conceding that there was a union of the states, but not a government; but the motion had been supported by * Journal of House of Delegates for 22 December 1783. Governor Harrison to the governor of Massachusetts, 25 December 1783. MS. + Journals of Congress, iv., 392, 393. Jefferson to John Q. Adams, 30 March 1826. Jefferson, vii., 436. #Secret Journals of Congress, iii., 453. no other state, and by no individuals outside of Rhode Island except Holten and Arthur Lee. This time Sherman and his colleague, James Wadsworth, placed Connecticut by the side of Rhode Island. They were joined only by Arthur Lee, and congress, on the twenty-sixth of March, adopting the words of Jefferson, by the vote of eight states to two, of nineteen individuals to five, decided that in treaties and all cases arising under them the United States form "one nation." * On the principles according to which commercial treaties should be framed America was unanimous. In October 1783 congress had proposed the most perfect equality and reciprocity. † Jefferson, while he would accept a system of reciprocity, reported as the choice of America that there should be no navigation laws; no distinction between metropolitan and colonial ports; an equal right for each party to carry its own products in its own ships into all ports of the other and to take away its products, freely if possible, if not, paying no other duties than are paid by the most favored nation. In time of war there should be an abandonment of privateering; the least possible interference with industry on land; the inviolability of fishermen; the strictest limitation of contraband; free commerce between neutrals and belligerents in articles not contraband; no paper blockades; in short, free trade and a humane international code. These instructions congress accepted, and, to give them effect, Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson were, on the seventh of May, commissioned for two years, with the consent of any two of them, to negotiate treaties of ten or fifteen years' duration. ‡ The foreign commercial system of the nation was to be blended with the domestic intercourse of the states. Highways by water and land from Virginia to the West would advance its welfare and strengthen the union. Jefferson opened the subject to Madison,# who, in reply, explained the necessity of a mutual appointment of commissioners by Maryland and Virginia for regulating the navigation of the Potomac. "The *Secret Journals of Congress for 26 March 1784, iii., 452–454. Secret Journals of Congress, iii., 412, 413. Secret Journals of Congress, iii., 484, 485, and 491–499. * Jefferson to Madison, Annapolis, 20 February 1784. VOL. VI.-8 |