Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-07-05

s1n, FRANKLIN, Roger Sherman end R. r. I,iv;r,
resolnt;neaa appointed Il committee to embody the
dan a " Ssohs IN formal declaration After two
$50. y, ehrnest debate the declaration vas
senI;,s oy twelve Of the colonies without dis
vnt teine voice, New York being still unable to
liz o say SIN member OF the Committee of Pub
ss, Tatety read the Declaration to vast as
t;ma IN the State House yard, and at the same
inc to .rs famous Liberty Bell was set to ring
io1;mgp d5ocialm the Joyous tidings. On the fol-
low wins Gay the brigades were formed in hol
Wa !uare on the parade ground at New York.
wh;1a NY, sat on horseback within the square
W. ~. ol 1 OF MS aids read the 1nGmentous docu.
u;tL Inc soldiers received the announcement
t m,.m tensers; there was general rejoicing
frn,,' the city. and debtors were released
IN mn, PRISON TO Join in the festivities.
Illus, IN the face of overwhelming discourage
men Mients, was the decisive step taken The Cana
nlan expedition, from which much had been ex-
ni snd were wholly without resources Eng
,ssnu was making extensive preparations to
prosecute the war. and there seemed scarcely q
were - nope in the general gloom Yet they
counted MN too great in that sacred cause
Mnen hostilities were ended and the bond of
mHtuai interest that had held the colonies to-
g ..;I through seven weary years relaxed, a
pelal greater than foreign foes threatened the
new states. The articles of confederation were
idHagi1y, and owing to the local ealousies Of the
s!s OF congress. the Union was threatened with
uissolnt1on-a contingency that must have
proved fatal: It required the best skill of that
generation OF statesmen to obvate this danger
The country for seven years had been tray-
ersed and wasted by contendiEg armies, almost
from end to end. Cities and villages had been
lad IN ashes Eabitations had been deserted
ana LETT to decay. Farms, stripped of their
years produced only, weeds. Camp fevers, with
the hardships and privations of war, had
destroyed more than the sword and oil alike
had been subtracted from the most effective
and valuable part Of q population always, as
melancholy melnentos of the yet recent strug-
gle, abounded in every village and township
aud habits OF industry had been unsettled and
destroyed by the anNe.ies and uncertainties of
war."
When the first census was taken in 1870 the
population OF the entire nation was less than
-four millions. That Of the Northwest Terri
tory, from which the States of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan. and Wisconsin have since
been formed, was SO small that no returns were
made. The population south of the Ohio River
ton OF 1885, was the largest city in the coun-
try. The cotton crop OF the same year amounted
to 1000 pounds. In 1860 it reached 00O 600 COZ
pounds.
veyance for forty nine years after the signing of
the Declaration of Independence, when the Erie
Canal in New York was completed The first
railroad was built just half century after the
birth Of the nation. 1t was rude affair, used
to transport granite from the quarries Of Quincy
Mass.
Commerce. like all branches Of industry was
just struggling for foothold. In 1870 the total
exports from all ports Of the United States
amounted to but twenty million dollars, and
small rude affairs, and few in number. During
the colonial period literature gained no promi-
nence except in the department of theology
lrvinSs Works were the first TO make American