enemies at his back; Washington, inspiring order and spirit into
troops hungry and in rags; stung by ingratitude, but betraying no
anger, and every ready to forgive; in defeat invincible, magnanimous
in conquest and never so sublime as on that day when he laid down
his victorious sword and sought his noble retirement--here, indeed,
is a character to admire and revere; a life without a stain, a fame
without a flaw."

A year after the Articles of Confederation had been adopted, the war
came to an end by a preliminary treaty on November 30, 1782.

Now follows the least known chapter in American history. It was a period
of travail, of which the Constitution of the United States and the
present American nation were born. The government slowly succumbed from
its own weakness to its inevitable death. Only the shreds and patches of
authority were left. Gradually the union fell apart. Of the Continental
Congress only fifteen members, representing seven colonies, remained to
transact the affairs of the new nation. The army, which previously to
the termination of the war had dissolved by the hundreds, was now unpaid
and in a stale of revolt. Measure after measure was proposed in Congress
to raise money to pay the interest on the bonded indebtedness, which was
in arrears, and to provide funds for the most necessary expenses, but
these failed, in Congress for the want of the necessary nine votes or,
if enacted, the States treated the requisitions with indifference. The
currency of the United States had fallen almost as low as the Austrian
kronen, and men derisively plastered the walls of their houses with the
worthless paper of the Continental Congress. Adequate authority no
longer remained to carry out the terms of the treaties with England and
France, and they were nullified by the failure of the infant nation to
comply with its own obligations and the consequent refusal of the other