THE CRITICAL PERIOD AMERICAN HISTORY 1783–1789 By John Fiske "I am uneasy and apprehensive, more so than during the war." Jay to Washington, June 27, 1786. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. RESULTS OF YORKTOWN. PAGE Fall of Lord North's ministry 1 Sympathy between British Whigs and the revolutionary party in America 2 It weakened the Whig party in England 3 Character of Lord Shelburne 4 Political instability of the Rockingham ministry 5, 6 Obstacles in the way of a treaty of peace 7, 8 Oswald talks with Franklin 9–11 Grenville has an interview with Vergennes 12 Effects of Rodney's victory 13 Misunderstanding between Fox and Shelburne 14 Fall of the Rockingham ministry 15 Shelburne becomes prime minister 16 Defeat of the Spaniards and French at Gibraltar 17 French policy opposed to American interests 18 The valley of the Mississippi; Aranda's prophecy 19 The Newfoundland fisheries 20 Jay detects the schemes of Vergennes 21 And sends Dr Vaughan to visit Shelburne 22 John Adams arrives in Paris and joins with Jay in insisting upon a separate negotiation with England 23, 24 The separate American treaty, as agreed upon: 1. Boundaries 25 2. Fisheries; commercial intercourse 26 3. Private debts 27 4. Compensation of loyalists 28–32 Secret article relating to the Yazoo boundary 33 Vergennes does not like the way in which it has been done 33 On the part of the Americans it was a great diplomatic victory 34 Which the commissioners won by disregarding the instructions of Congress and acting on their own responsibility 35 The Spanish treaty 36 The French treaty 37 Coalition of Fox with North 38–42 They attack the American treaty in Parliament 43 And compel Shelburne to resign 44 Which leaves England without a government, while for several weeks the king is too angry to appoint ministers 44 Until at length he succumbs to the coalition, which presently adopts and ratifies the American treaty 45 The coalition ministry is wrecked upon Fox's India Bill 46 Constitutional crisis ends in the overwhelming victory of Pitt in the elections of May, 1784 47 And this, although apparently a triumph for the king, was really a death-blow to his system of personal government 48, 49 CHAPTER II. THE THIRTEEN COMMONWEALTHS. Cessation of hostilities in America 50 Departure of the British troops 51 Washington resigns his command 52 And goes home to Mount Vernon 53 His "legacy" to the American people 54 The next five years were the most critical years in American history 55 Absence of a sentiment of union, and consequent danger of anarchy 56, 57 European statesmen, whether hostile or friendly, had little faith in the stability of the Union 58 False historic analogies 59 Influence of railroad and telegraph upon the perpetuity of the Union 60 Difficulty of travelling a hundred years ago 61 Local jealousies and antipathies, an inheritance from primeval savagery 62, 63 Conservative character of the American Revolution 64 State governments remodelled; assemblies continued from colonial times 65