網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

appearing in connection with his valuable monograph on the Geographical Distribution of the Vote of the Thirteen States on the Federal Constitution, 1787-8. Mr. James Herbert Russell has been of great service in reading the proofs of these pages, and that fact has given me the comfortable assurance that, whatever other errors I may have inadvertently made, the quotations and references approach absolute exactness.

ANDREW C. MCLAUGHLIN.

THE CONFEDERATION

AND THE CONSTITUTION

THE CONFEDERATION

AND THE CONSTITUTION

THE

CHAPTER I

THE END OF THE REVOLUTION

(1781-1782)

HE defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown demonstrated the inability of England to conquer America. Throughout the war George III., with characteristic perseverance, had clung resolutely to the purpose of overcoming the rebellious colonists, and when this last disaster came he still spoke of continuing the contest. But the opposition in Parliament gained force daily, and it soon became evident, even to the obdurate monarch, that he must give way.

At the end of 1781 England saw herself surrounded and beset by enemies; Spain, France, and Holland were arrayed in arms against her; no ally on the Continent gave her encouragement or assistance; her colonies were gone; disasters in various parts of the world seemed to bring both ignominy and defeat.

« 上一頁繼續 »