Chapter 3

THE LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP.

The several states have never enjoyed complete sovereignty 90

But in the very act of severing their connection with Great Britain, they entered into some sort of union 91

Anomalous character of the Continental Congress 92

The articles of confederation; they sought to establish a "league of friendship" between the states 93-97

But failed to create a federal government endowed with real sovereignty 98-100

Military weakness of the government 101-103

Extreme difficulty of obtaining a revenue 104, 105

Congress, being unable to pay the army, was afraid of it 106

Supposed scheme for making Washington king 107

Greene's experience in South Carolina 108

Gates's staff officers and the Newburgh address 109

The danger averted by Washington 110, 111

Congress driven from Philadelphia by mutinous soldiers 112

The Commutation Act denounced in New England 113

Order of the Cincinnati 114-117

Reasons for the dread which it inspired 118

Congress finds itself unable to carry out the provisions of the treaty with Great Britain 119

Persecution of the loyalists 120, 121

It was especially severe in New York 122

Trespass Act of 1784 directed against the loyalists 123

Character and early career of Alexander Hamilton 124-126

The case of Rutgers _v._ Waddington 127, 128

Wholesale emigration of Tories 129, 130

Congress unable to enforce payment of debts to British creditors 131

England retaliates by refusing to surrender the fortresses on the northwestern frontier 132, 133