should even supersede Washington himself; but his northern laurels soon wilted in the South. Cornwallis met him at Camden, routed him with a loss of 1000 men, and drove him into North Carolina. By the close of the summer, the only American force in South Carolina was the little band under General Marion. Cornwallis, feeling assured that his communications with Charleston were safe, followed Gates' beaten army into North Carolina, towards the middle of September. On the 7th of October, a strong detachment of his army was totally defeated, with a loss of 1200 men, by the militia of North Carolina, at King's Mountain. This was a severe blow to him, and checked his advance. At the same time Marion and Pickens renewed their warfare in South Carolina so actively, and rendered Cornwallis' communications with the sea so uncertain, that he withdrew towards Charleston.

In the North, the British commander vainly endeavored to draw Washington into a general engagement, in which he felt confident that his vast preponderance of numbers would give him the victory. Washington warily avoided being caught in the trap; and on the 23d of June, General Greene inflicted such a stinging defeat upon a British force at Springfield, N. J., that Clinton withdrew to New York, and remained there for the rest of the year. After the battle of Camden, General Greene was sent to the Carolinas, to take command of Gates' army.

On the 10th of July, 1780, a French fleet and 6000 troops, all under the Count de Rochambeau, reached Newport, Rhode Island. In September, during the absence of Washington at Hartford, Conn., whither he had gone to arrange a plan of operations with the French officers, it was discovered that General Benedict Arnold, one of the most brilliant officers of the Continental army, had agreed to deliver into the hands of the British the important fortress of West Point, which he commanded at that time. The plot was promptly frustrated, and the traitor escaped, but Major André, a British officer who had concluded the arrangement with him, and whose capture had revealed the plot, was hanged as a spy.

Towards the close of the year, Great Britain having discovered that Holland and the United States were secretly negotiating a treaty of alliance, declared war against the Dutch. The war against America, however, still continued unpopular with the English people.

The campaign of 1781 opened with the brilliant victory at the Cowpens, in South Carolina, won over the British under Colonel

Tarleton by General Morgan, on the 17th of January. On the 15th of March the battle of Guilford Court House was fought in North Carolina, and resulted in a partial victory for the British. In September, 1781, the royal forces were terribly beaten in the bloody battle of Eutaw Springs, in South Carolina, and compelled to retire to the sea coast, to which they were confined until the close of the war. Meanwhile, Cornwallis, after the battle of Guilford Court House, had advanced into Virginia, driving before him the handful of forces under Lafayette, Wayne, and Steuben, which sought to oppose his march. He occupied himself chiefly while in Virginia in destroying private property, and at length, in August, 1781, in obedience to orders from Sir Henry Clinton, to occupy a strong defensive position in Virginia, intrenched himself at Yorktown, near the entrance of the York River into Chesapeake Bay. This movement led to an immediate change in the plan of operations which had been resolved upon by Washington, whose army had been reënforced on the Hudson by the French troops under Count de Rochambeau. It had been his intention to attack the British in New York with his combined force, aided by the French fleet, but Cornwallis' situation offered such a tempting opportunity that he at once resolved to transfer his army to Virginia. Skilfully deceiving Sir Henry Clinton into the belief that New York was the threatened point, and thus preventing him from sending assistance to Cornwallis, Washington moved rapidly to Virginia, and arrived before the British works at Yorktown, with an army 12,000 strong, on the 28th of September, 1781. The enemy's position was at once invested by land, and the French fleet cut off all hope of escape by water. The siege was prosecuted with vigor, and on the 19th of October, Cornwallis surrendered his whole army, which consisted of 7000 well equipped troops.

This victory virtually closed the war. It produced the wildest joy in America, and compelled a change of Ministers in England. Lord North and his Cabinet retired from office on the 20th of March, 1782, and the new administration, perceiving the hopelessness of the struggle, resolved to discontinue the war. Orders were sent to the British commanders in America to desist from further hostilities, and on the 11th of July, 1782, Savannah was evacuated by the royal troops, which event was followed by the evacuation of Charleston on the 14th of December. A preliminary treaty of peace was signed at Paris on the 30th of November, 1782, and a formal treaty on the 3d of September, 1783. By this formal treaty Great Britain acknow

ledged her former Colonies to be free, sovereign, and independent States, and withdrew her troops from New York on the 25th of November, 1783.

The great war was now over, and the new Republic took its place in the family of nations; but it was terribly weakened by its efforts. Its finances were in the most pitiful condition, and it had not the money to pay the troops it was about to disband, and who were really suffering for want of funds. Considerable trouble arose on this account, and it required all the great influence of Washington to allay the discontent. The army was disbanded immediately after the close of the war, and on the 23rd of December, 1783, Washington resigned his commission into the hands of Congress, and retired to his home at Mount Vernon.

It was found that the Articles of Confederation were inadequate to the necessities of the Republic, and a new Constitution was adopted by the States after much deliberation. It went into operation on the 4th of March, 1789. The city of New York was designated as the seat of Government. Washington was unanimously chosen the first President of the Republic, with John Adams as Vice-President, He went into office on the 30th of April, 1789. The first measures of his administration greatly restored the confidence of the people in the Government. Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, inaugurated a series of financial reforms, which were eminently beneficial. The debts of the old Confederated Government and the debts of the States themselves, were all assumed by the United States; a bank of the United States (which went into operation in February 1794) was incorporated, and a national Mint was established at Philadelphia. An Indian war in the West was firmly and vigorously prosecuted to a successful termination, and the neutrality of the Republic with regard to the various parties of the great Revolution in France, faithfully maintained.

Washington and Adams were reëlected in 1792. The principal events of the second term were the firmness with which the President met the efforts of the French Republic to embroil the United States in another war with England; the demand for the recall of M. Genet, the French Minister, which was at length complied with; the British Treaty of 1794 (commonly known as Jay's Treaty), which was so warmly discussed by the Federalist and Republican parties in this country; the outrageous decrees by which the French Government sought to cripple American commerce in revenge for the supposed

partiality of our Government for England; the admission into the Union of the States of Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), and Tennessee (1796); and the Whiskey Insurrection, in 1794, which was a formidable outbreak in Western Pennsylvania against an odious excise law. Washington promptly suppressed it.

Washington was urgently importuned to be a candidate for another term, but declined, although it was sure that there would be no opposition to him. In September, 1796, he issued a "Farewell Address" to his countrymen, warning them of the evils to which their new system was exposed, and urging them to adhere firmly to the principles of the Constitution as their only hope of liberty and happiness.

The third Presidental election occurred in 1796, and was marked by a display of bitterness between the opposing parties never surpassed in the subsequent history of the Republic. The Federalists presented John Adams as their candidate, while the Republicans advocated the claims of Thomas Jefferson. Adams received the highest number of votes, and Jefferson the next. By the terms of the Constitution as it then existed, Jefferson was declared the Vice-President. President Adams was opposed with considerable bitterness by his political enemies throughout his whole term. The administration of the Navy was removed from the War Department in 1798, and a Navy Department established. On the 15th of May, 1797, the President convened Congress in extra session to consider the relations of this country with France. The French Directory had been pursuing for some years a systematic course of outrage towards the ships and citizens of the United States, and had carried this to such an extent as to leave little doubt that it was their deliberate intention to destroy American commerce. Three envoys were sent to France by President Adams, with authority to adjust all differences between the two countries. The Directory refused to receive them, but they were given to understand that the payment of a large sum of money by their Government would greatly tend towards securing proper treatment for our vessels; and it was plainly intimated that if the American Government refused to pay this bribe, it would have to go to war for its obstinacy. When this message was delivered to the Commissioners, one of their number, Charles C. Pinckney, returned this memorable and patriotic reply, in which his associates heartily joined: "War be it then; millions for defence, but not a cent for tribute." The French Government then informed Mr. Gerry, who was a Republican, that he could remain in France, but ordered Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall to quit the country.

Great indignation prevailed throughout the Union, when these insults to the American Commissioners became known. The Government at once took measures to raise an army and navy adequate to the struggle which seemed imminent. Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief, with the rank of Lieutenant-General, and hostilities. actually began at sea, where the cruisers of the Republic won several brilliant successes over French ships of war.

The energy and determination thus manifested by the United States had a happy effect in France, and the war was finally averted by the accession of Napoleon to the dignity of First Consul. The new ruler of France intimated his willingness to reopen the negotiations with America, and a treaty of peace and amity between the two countries was definitely concluded, on the 30th of September, 1800.

During the existence of hostilities with France, two laws were enacted by Congress, which are generally known as the "Alien and Sedition Laws." They empowered the President to send out of the country such aliens as should be found conspiring against the peace and safety of the Republic, and to restrict the liberty of speech and of the press. It was true beyond all doubt, as the Government claimed in defence of its course, that the country was overrun with English and French agents, who were here for the express purpose of embroiling the United States in the quarrels in progress in the Old World, and that the press, which was controlled mainly by European adventurers, had become so corrupt and licentious as to be highly dangerous to the peace of the country. Nevertheless, these Acts aroused such a strong opposition throughout the States, that the Federalists were overwhelmingly defeated in the next Presidential election. During President Adams' term, the seat of Government was removed to Washington City.

In the fourth contest for the Presidency, the votes of the Republican party were equally divided between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Each received 73 electoral votes. This threw the election into the House of Representatives, where Jefferson was chosen President and Burr Vice-President. This circumstance also occasioned an amendment to the Constitution (adopted finally in 1804), requiring the electors to vote separately, as at present, for President and Vice-President. Mr. Jefferson entered upon his office in March, 1801, and soon after began to remove the Federalist office-holders under the Government, appointed by his predecessor, and to fill their places with Republicans, or Democrats as they now began to call themselves. He justified his