The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-01-26
PERIOD OF NATIONAL PERIL
PAPER BY REV. F. B. SANFORD RE-
 TORE THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Close of the Revolution-The Causes
 Leading to the Formation of the Con-
 stitution-C -Conneeticut's Contribution
 How the States Expanded.
 At the regular meeting of the New Haven Historical society last evening the Rev. E. B. Sanford, D. D., read an interesting paper on the Critical Peri cd of American History. The paper, in part, follows:
 Emerson in one of his essays, speak ing of individual life, says: Every day Is a dooms day. Tn like manner it may be said that every period is criti- cal in the life of a nation. The years, however, that intervened between the close of the war for independence and the adoption of the constitution were SC eventful in their influence at the formative stage of our national history that they have aptly found designa- tion as the critical period of American history.
 Tt was two years after the surren- der at Yorktown before the treaty of peace was signed at Paris. The nego- tiations on the part of the United States were conducted with consum- mate ability by Franklin, John Adams and Jay. The situation was one of complications and demanded the most astute diplomatic skill.
 ''In the progress of the war for our independence England had become in- volved in a struggle that was almost worldwide. Peace on her part was to be made not only with America, but with France, Spain and Holland.
 "All of these nations were on a sharp lookout for their interests, which clash ed at various points.
 But the American commissioners found themselves abundantly qualified to execute their difficult task. They did their work thoroughly and with a foresight that outwitted any efforts to hem the American people within nar- row limits along the Atlantic coast.
 Spain was bitterly opposed to any arrangement that extended the control of the states into the territory beyond the Alleghanies. To allow this would threaten their dreams of empire in the valley and beyond.
 
 only in alliance with this country, but sympathized with Spain in the desire to confine the territory of the United States to the Atlantic coast. They feared the growth of a nation that had no limit set to it's expansion
 '"The representative of Spain, in a letter to the king, prophesied that the Americans will soon take possession of o+% Spain and France have carried out their plans Canada would have been bounded on the south by the Ohio and west by the Mississippi while the Spanish possessions, including Florida and a strip along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi, would have controlled all the territory of the United States west of that great river. The section of country south of the Ohio and between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi was to be under the protection of Spain on the west of a certain line and of the United States on the east.
 "The way appeared by which the commissioners opened secret negotia- tions with England that effectively ruined the plans of the French minis ter, Ver-Zehn, who was working in the interest of Spain.
 Tn the final result the treaty with England was not concluded until France had given her consent, but it's terms had been worked out in a way Ver-Zehn little expected. He profited, but he knew full we'll that he had been outwitted in game of his own sug- gestion.
 Several questions that had also in- volved much discussion were also sat- isfactorily settled by this treaty. But peace, while.i it ended the clash of arms on bloody battlefelds, did not bring public quietude. Things went from bad to worse.
 'The bond which united the colonies in their struggle was fitly termed The League of Friendship It represented no vital organic unity by which dele gated power could assert itself in &C., tion and legislation for the common good of all.
 With the dawning of peace the states naturally became more engross- ed in the development and care of af fairs and more jealous of local author ity. The responses to the requests of COilSI toS WClC oO l1lC6 dlcll llcSlcCL- fdl that in very brief time it placed matters of national responsibility in a humiliating and even dangerous posi- tion. There were symptoms of an omi- nous drift toward anarchy and the dissolution of the union.
 What was the influence that finally stayed the drift toward anarchy and disunion and created the ship of state that now so wonderfully moves on it's way through the sunshine and storms of the centuries of marvellous achieve ment?
 "The student of history in the light of facts that are now in his possession clearly perceives that the paramount factor which both compelled and di- rected in the formation of the federal union was the possession of the nation al domain between the A1leghanies and the Mississippi. The control and divi- sion of this vast territory gave rise to questions in the decision of which lay the seeds of our national life. This western territory originally was held by the different colonies and the small CT states now objected to their holding all this territory. Finally the states ceded their claims to the national gov ernment and the whole vast territory