better. There were twenty-two thousand five hundred of them in the South, and twenty thousand in the State of Maryland alone. The four Middle States contained nine thousand four hundred, of whom seven thousand seven hundred were in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

The modern spirit of philanthropy had, of course, not yet sprung up. The scientific spirit, coupled with the humane, as applied to charities and corrections is a very recent development. The prisons and jails of the time were horrible almost beyond description. The ideas of John Howard and Elizabeth Fry had not yet been adopted in America. To add to the horrors of the prison pens, imprisonment for debt still prevailed, and thousands of weak and unfortunate persons were cast into jail because they could not pay their debts. These foul jails, the scenes of so many acts of cruelty and brutality, were scattered quite impartially among the various States; but one of the most horrible of all was the old Newgate Prison near Granby, Connecticut. It was an underground pen, located in an old copper mine, and a ladder in the shaft provided the only entrance. The horrors of the place have been graphically described by McMaster, whose words are quoted. "There in little pens of wood, from thirty to one hundred culprits were immured, their feet made fast to iron bars, and their necks chained to beams in the roof. The darkness was intense; the caves reeked with filth; vermin abounded; water trickled from the roof and oozed from the sides of the cavern; huge masses of earth were perpetually falling off. In the dampness and the filth the clothing of the prisoners grew mouldy and rotted away, and their limbs became stiff with rheumatism. The Newgate prison was perhaps the worst in the country, yet in every county were jails such as would now be thought unfit places of habitation for the vilest and most loathsome of beasts." In the prisons at Northampton, Worcester, and Philadelphia the condition of affairs was hardly better. In the jail of the latter place each prisoner was allowed a space six feet by two feet in

which to sleep. There was no separation of the sexes, and all grades of offenders were huddled together. The debtor and the murderer, the horse thief and those detained as witnesses, were compelled to mingle indiscriminately. The use of the branding iron, the stocks, the pillory, and the whipping post were among the common punishments.

The physician was an important member of the community. His medical education seems insignificant if we compare it with that of a modern practitioner, but he was usually an intelligent man and supplemented his reading by the results of his varied experience. In the country districts, the physician was expected to attend all who were in need of his services, and then collect his fee if he could. In many instances, he practised his profession at a loss, and he supplied, usually from his saddle bags, the drugs necessary for his patient. The fees were in keeping with the rude pioneer life. In Boston the fee was one shilling to one shilling and sixpence for a visit, but in the country it was much less. "Such as were in high life" were obliged to pay nearly double for the same service. Night visits were more, and "capital operations" were charged at £5.

Great quantities of loathsome drugs were taken by the sick and the well alike. The spring dosing, which still survives throughout the United States, was considered absolutely necessary to the continuation of health. Sulphur, senna, and rhubarb, with or without molasses, then, as now, were forced upon unwilling stomachs in the annual exercise that our forefathers gave to their livers and kidneys. Feverstricken sufferers were stinted or denied water, though in towns along the New England coast clam juice, and in the South toast water, was sparingly administered. Bleeding was a panacea for all ills, and it mattered not whether the patient was plethoric or tuberculous. Mercury was a

favorite drug, and its excessive use led to frequent cases of salivation.

The amusements of the time were comparatively few and primitive, and in too many instances coarse and vulgar. In

New England there was strong opposition to the theatre. The first theatre or "playhouse "in Boston was not established until 1794, because of this spirit of antagonism. In New York theatrical performances had preceded the Revolution, and after the peace one theatre was opened in 1785. Actors found encouragement in the South at an early date. The rendition of The Beaux' Stratagem in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1792, however, was made the occasion for the discussion of theatrical performances from the moral standpoint. Dancing was quite commonly indulged in. The stately minuet was the favorite for dignified occasions, while reels, jigs, and hornpipes did service in more plebeian festivities. Card parties, shooting matches, and tavern dinners occupied the attention of many. Rum, gin, and tobacco provided excitement for many a roistering crowd at a pioneer inn.

The costume of the period does not differ materially from that of colonial times. The ladies of fashion wore caps, high-heeled shoes, silk or satin bonnets, and brocade gowns with tight sleeves. Hoops were again in use, and a string of beads for the neck was indispensable. The woman who was so poor that she hadn't a bead to her neck" was indeed to be pitied. During the excitement of the Revolution and before, the homely homespun prevailed, and leathern breeches were in common use for boys and workmen. The most rigid economy prevailed. It was a common sight to see men and boys walk in barefooted from the farm on Sundays and put on their shoes and stockings as they approached the town. Women, too, who wished to economize and to keep up a good appearance at the same time, were accustomed to wear their old shoes to the outskirts of the village; then casting them by the roadside to remain until their return, they would put on their "Sunday best" for the rest of the journey. The spirit of the times was against extravagance. Franklin in 1779 argued against the "gewgaws and superfluities" of the time. When his daughter wished him to bring her black pins and feathers from France, he declined, saying: "If you wear your cambric ruffles as

I do, and take care not to mend the holes, they will come in time to be lace; and feathers, my dear girl, may be had in America from every cock's tail.”

Having obtained a glimpse of the political, economic, and social condition of the people of the United States during the period of the Confederation, we will now turn our attention to the efforts which were made to improve the form of government. In the closing years of the Confederation it became evident that something must be done. The Articles of Confederation were clearly defective in several particulars. American credit was dead; the paper money craze was rampant; the system of requisitions had utterly broken down; boundary disputes prevailed; American merchant vessels were not safe upon the seas; commerce was in a tangle; anarchy was threatened; and Congress was constantly becoming weaker. That body fled from Philadelphia to Princeton; from Princeton it went to Annapolis, thence to Trenton, and afterward to New York. It had lost the respect of the people and of itself. A rustic writer is made to express the wish that Congress might roll like a wheel from Dan to Beersheba and from Beersheba to Dan, and have no rest on either side of the river Jordan.

Although there were many valid reasons why the form of government should be strengthened, the deplorable condition of commerce was the immediate cause of the revision of the Articles. James Bowdoin, Governor of Massachusetts, was the first to move in the matter. In a message to the legislature of his State on May 31, 1785, he set forth the unsatisfactory condition of foreign trade and showed that the regulation of commerce should be in the hands of Congress. He accordingly recommended that there should be a meeting of delegates from all the States to take the matter under consideration. The suggestion was well received, and the General Court of Massachusetts expressed itself as being in favor of a convention of delegates from the various States to revise the Articles of Confederation. A copy of the resolutions was sent to Elbridge Gerry, Samuel Holten, and

Rufus King, the representatives of Massachusetts in Congress. They refused even to submit the matter to that body. Thus nothing came directly from the wise and patriotic suggestion of Governor Bowdoin, but the matter was later taken up in a different way. Shays's rebellion of 1786, and the widespread social discontent then prevalent throughout the country, brought home to the people the conviction that something was fundamentally wrong. It was the regulation of commerce, however, that was the immediate cause for the calling of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Maryland and Virginia were mutually interested in the navigation of Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River and seemed to have conflicting interests. Commissioners from the two States met at Alexandria in the spring of 1785 to consider the matter. The commissioners deliberated and made a visit to the home of Washington at Mount Vernon, but accomplished nothing of importance aside from arranging for another conference to be held at Annapolis in the following year. It was evident to the delegates at Alexandria that two States could not solve the commercial problem which interested every State in the Union. This was particularly evident to Madison, and it was largely through his efforts that all the States were invited to send representatives to Annapolis in September, 1786. Madison and Hamilton hoped for some practical outcome from this meeting and labored zealously for its success.

When the Annapolis conference assembled on the 11th of September there were present only twelve delegates, representing five States, the Middle States and Virginia,— and some of these delegates were limited by instructions in such a way as to impair their usefulness. John Dickinson was chosen chairman, and strove to carry out the purpose of the promoters of the convention. Again it became evident that nothing of direct importance could be accomplished. However, the delegates present did unite in a recommendation that all the States be invited to send delegates to another convention, to be held at Philadelphia on