Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1889-07-04
CRAWLING MICHIGAN, THURSDAY. JULY A. 1885,

| min Franklin, Roger Sherman and r. n Living
bt0n we're appointed committee TO emb0dy the
resolutions in formal declaration. After two
days OF earnest debate the declaration was
adopted by twelve OF the colonies without a dis
senting voice, New York being still unable to
| vote.
July eth a member OF tho Committee OF Pub
lie Safety read the Declaration TO vast as
| Bembly In the State House yard and at the same
time the famous Liberty Bell was set TO ring
| Ing to proclaim the joyous tidings On the fol-
lowing day the brigades were formed in a hol-
| low square ON the parade ground at New York.
| Washington sat on horseback within the square
1 while one of his aids read the mCmentous docp-
ment. The soldiers received the announcement
| with checrs; there was general rejoicing
| throughout the city, and debtors were released
| from prison to join In the festivities.
Thus, in the face of overwhelming discourage
ments, was the decisive step taken. The Cana
dian expc 4ition, from which much had been ex-
pected, had resulted In disastrous failure. The
colonies wero wholly without resources Eng
land WAS making extensive preparations to
prosecute the war, and there seemed scarcely
ray OF hope in the general gloom. Yet they
were hgh ing for liberty, and no sacrifice was
counted too great In that sacred cause.
When hostilities we're ended and the bond OF
| mutual interest that had held tho colonies to-
gether through seven weary years relaxed, a
peril greater than foreign foes threatened the
new States The articles Of confederation were
faulty, and owing TO the local jealousios of the
different colonies and the limitation OF the pow
ers OF Congress, the Union was threatened with
dissolution-a contingency that must have
generation of statesmen to obviate this danger.
"The country for seven years had been trav-
ersed and wasted by contendtng armies, almost
from end to end. Cities and villages had been
laid in ashes. Habitations had been deserted
aud left TO decay Farms, stripped OF their
fences and deserted by their owners, had for
years produced only weeds. Camp fevers, with
the hardships and privations of war; had
destroyed more than the sword and all alike
had been subtracted from the most effective
and valuable part Of a population always, as
yet, quite Inadequate. Cripples and invalds,
melancholy memontos of the yet recent strug-
gle abounded in every village and township ;
and habits of industry had been unsettled and
destroyed by the anxieties and uncertainties of
war"
When the first census was taken in 1879 the
population of the entire nation was less than
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
numbered 81 600. Philadelphia, with q popula-
tion OF 1885, was the largest city In the coun-
try. The cotton crop OF the same year amounted
to 250OOO pounds. In 1860 1t reached 1000, 600
pounds.
veSShcs SSss 6a t6rYSay y!R6 o9 R9as Of public con:
the Declaration of Independence when the Ilrio
Canal I'm New York was completed. The hrst
railroad was built just half century after the
birth Of the nation. 1t was n rude affair, used
TO transport granite from the quarries of Quincy,
Mass.
Commerce like oil 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 I'm the department of theology
Irving's Works were the first to mako American