The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1889-07-03

MIN Franklin Rog or Sherman aud r. r. Living
ston were appointed committee TO embody the
I resolutions In formal declaration. After two
days or earnest debate tho declaration was
adopted by twelve Of the colonies without q dis
senting voice. New York being still unable TO
F, vote.
July sth a member OF the Committee of Pub
| lie Safety read the Declaration to vast AS
sembly in the State House yard aud at the same
ing Go proclaim tho joyous tidings. On the fol-
lowing day the brigades were formed I'm hol-
low square on the para ie ground At New YORK,
Washington sat on horseback within the square
while one of his aids read tho lnomentous docu-
ment. The soldiers received the announcement
with ch aers; there was general rejoicing
Throughout the city and debtors We're released
from prisOn 10 Join in the festivities.
| Thus in tho face Of overwhelming discourage
ments, was the decisive step taken. The Cana
dian expedition, from which much had been ex-
pected had resulted I'm disastrous failure. The
,colonies we're wholly without resources Eng
land was making extensive preparations TO
prosecute the war, and there seemed scarcely a
ray OF hope i'm the general gloom. Yet they
We're fghl ling for liberty and no sacrifice was
counted too great in that sacred cause.
Whom hostilities were ended aud the bond OF
mutual interest that had held the 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 20 the local jealousies OF the
different colonies and the limitation OF the pow
ers OF Congress, the Union was threatened with
dissolution-a contingency that must have
proved fatal IL required the best skill OF that
generation Of statesmen To obyiate this danger.
THE country for seven years had been trav-
or sed and wasted by contending armies almost
from end To end. Cities and Villages had been
laid in ashes. Habitations had been deserted
and left 10 decay Farms, stripped OF their
fences and deserted by their owners had for
years produced only weeds. Camp feVers, with
tho hardships and priyations OF war, had
destroyed more than the sword and all alike
had been subtracted from the most effective
aud valuable part Of population always as
vet, quite Inadequate. Cripples and inValids,
melancholy mementos 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 I'm lido the
population of the entire nation less than
four millions. Thai OF the Northwest Terri
tory from which the States OF Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan. and Wisconsin have since
been formed was small that no returns were
made. The population south of the Ohio River
numbered $1,000 Philadelphia with popula-
tiOn OF 43525, was the largest city in the coun-
try. The cotton crop OF the same year amounted
TO 100000 pounds. In 1860 it reached 600 900 900
pounds.
Stages formed the only mode OF public con-
veyance for forty-nine years after the signing OF
tho 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 a rude affair used
20 transport granite from the quarries OF Quincy,
Mass.
Commerce. like all branches OF industry, was
Just struggling for foOthold. In 1890 the total
exports from all ports OF the United States
amounted 20 but twenty million dollars, and
small, rude affairs. and few in number During
the colonial period literature gained no prOmi-
uerce except in the department of theology.
Iryings Works were the first 70 make American