PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY YALE UNIVERSITY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO The Riverside Press Cambridge COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY ALLEN JOHNSON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS U. S. A. PREFACE The title of this volume must be regarded as suggestive rather than as strictly accurate, for the beginnings of union are to be found farther back than 1783, and democracy in its largest sense has even yet been only imperfectly realized. At the close of the R

CHAPTER I THE ORDEAL OF THE CONFEDERATION It was characteristic of the people of the United States that once assured of their political independence they should face their economic future with buoyant expectations. As colonizers of a new world they were confident in their own strength. When once the shackles of the British mercantile system were shaken off, they did not doubt their ability to compete for the markets of the world. Even Washington, who had fewer illusions than most of his contempo