Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1961-11-04

(American money! which then
prevailed. Immense quantities
of British and French goods
were soon imported. The
staid and sober habits of our
ancestors, with their plain
home-manufactured clothing,
were suddenly laid aside, and
European goods of fine quality
adopted in their stead. Fine
ruffles, powdered heads, silks
and scarlets, decorated the
men; while the most costly
silks, satins, chintzes, calicoes,
muslins, ETC., ETC., decorated
the females. Nor was their diet
less expensive; for superb
plate, foreign spirits, wines,
ETC., ETC., sparkled on the side
boards of many farmers. The
natural result of this change
in habits and customs of the
people-this aping of Euro
pean manners and morals
was to suddenly drain our
country of its circulating spe-
cies; and as a necessary conse-
quence, the people ran in debt,
times became difficult, and
money hard to raise"
"The Fathers of the Consti-
tuition" by Max Farrand
(1921) page 35: "When peace
came in 1888 there were in the
United States approximately
three million people. Many
of the people were poorly edu-
Gated and lacking in cultivation
and refinement and in knowl-
edge of the usages of good So
ciety. Not only were they
looked down upon by other ma
tons of the world; there was
within the United States itself
a relatively small upper class
inclined to regard the mass of
the people as of an inferior or
der"
In 1888 in Newburgh, N. Y,
Continental militia and short
time volunteers passed around
an anonymous paper which
urged the army not to disband
until the question of pay had
been settled. This disturbance
had all the earmarks of a mill
tary coup which George Wash
ington stopped by a moving adj
dress to his troops. In June,
1873, eighty troops of the
Pennsylvania line marched
from Lancaster to the State
House in Philadelphia where
Congress was sitting. 1t start
ed out as an orderly demon
stration under the leadership
of noncommissioned officers,
but with a bit of drinking, the
troops turned into a disorder
ly mob. Congress became
frightened for its safety and
appealed to Pennsylvania au-
thorities for help. Pennsylva-
MIA refused; Congress fled in
alarm in the night.
The rivalry and jealousy be-
tween the states was so great
at this time that the creation
of a new nation was in doubt.
The Confederation had no
power to levy taxes and the
nation faced bankruptcy. With
out power and organization,
Congress became little better
than a laughing stock. Shay's
Rebellion in 1885 and disturb
ances in other states make it
seem for a time that it would
all end in anarchy. 1t didn't
end in anarchy because Ameri.
ca was blessed with some fine
leaders and many citizens who
possessed experience in self
government. Some of these
leaders were well educated
men and others were men of
little education but with good
intelligence and character.
Many of the new African ma
tons are not as fortunate as
were the American colonies at
the close of the American Rev.
olution. Some have had no ex.
perience in self government
(our ancestors would have had
very little or no such expert
ence If they had been governed
by the French or Spanish).
Some are composed of tribes
that have been hostile to each
other for centuries. Many lack
the agricultural, industrial, and
commercial activities that
would produce a balanced and
productive economy. Some are
lacking in natural resources.
Some have almost no educat-
ed citizens.