GENERAL ACCOUNTS.--Joseph Story, _Commentaries_, §§ 218-271; R. Hildreth, _United States_, III, 374-481; T. Pitkin, II. 9-36, 154-218; H. Von Hoist, _United States_, I. 1-46; Geo. Tucker, _United States_, I. 291-347; Justin Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History_, VII. ch. iii.; J. T. Morse, _Franklin_, 216-420; Abiel Holmes, _Annals of America_, II. 353-371; J. Schouler, _United States_, I. 1-30; Bryant and Gay, _Popular History_, IV. 79-99; F. A. Walker _Making of a Nation_, ch. 1; Edward Channing, _United States 1761-1865_. ch. iv. SPECIAL HISTORIES.--G. T. Curtis _Constitutional History_, chs. v.-xiv. (_History of the Constitution_ I. 214-347); George Bancroft, _United States_ (last revision), VI. 5-194, _History of the Constitution_, I. 1- 266; John Fiske, _Critical Period_, 1-186; J. B. McMaster, _United States_, I. 103-416; J. F. Jameson _Essays on the Constitution_; T. Pitkin, _United States_, I. 283-422, II. 223; William B. Weeden, _New England_, II. chs. xxii., xxiii.; W. G. Sumner, _Financier and Finances_, II. chs. xvi.-xxvii.; B. A. Hinsdale, _Old Northwest_, chs. ix.-xvi.; H. B. Adams, _Maryland's Influence_; W. Hill, _First Stages of the Tariff Policy_; S. Sato, _Public Land Question_; Theodore Roosevelt. _Winning of the West_, III. CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTS.--_Journals of Congress_; _Secret Journals_; Madison's notes in H. D. Gilpin, _Papers of James Madison_, and in _Elliot's Debates_, V.; letters of Washington, Madison, John Jay, Hamilton, and Franklin, in their works; Thomas Paine, _Public Good_; Noah Webster, _Sketches of American Policy_; Pelatiah Webster, _Dissertation on the Political Union_; Brissot de Warville's _Examen Critique_ [1784], and _Nouveau Voyage_ [1788], (also in translation); Thomas Jefferson, _Notes on Virginia_.--Reprints in _American History told by Contemporaries_, II., _American History Leaflets_, Nos. 20, 22, 28. 49. THE UNITED STATES IN 1781. [Sidenote: Army.] [Sidenote: Territory.] The task thrown upon Congress in 1781 would have tried the strongest government in existence. An army of more than ten thousand men was under arms, and must be kept up until peace was formally declared, and then must be paid off. The territorial claims of the States and of the Union were still in confusion. Virginia roused the suspicion of the small States by making the promised cession in terms which Congress could not accept, and the other States had made no motion towards yielding their claims. Relations with the Indians were still confused. Superintendents of Indian affairs had been appointed, and in 1778 a treaty was negotiated with the Creeks; but the States, particularly Pennsylvania and Georgia, continued to make their own arrangements with Indian tribes. [Sidenote: Finances.] [Sidenote: Commerce.] [Sidenote: General weakness.]