UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 379 



The British parliament having petitioned against a further prosecu- 

 tion of the American war, a change of ministry was the consequence. 



The first business of the new ministry was the taking measures for 

 effectuating a general peace. Mr. Grenville was invested with full 

 powers o treat a: Paris with all the parlies at war, and was directed 

 to propose the independency of the Thirteen United Provinces of 

 America in the first instance, instead ot making it a condition of a 

 general treaty. The commanders in chief in America were also 

 directed to acquaint the congress with the pacific views of the British 

 court, and with the offer to acknowledge the independency of the 

 United States. 



Peace was concluded at Paris on the 30th of November, 1782, and 

 the present federal constitution of the United States was adopted in 

 convention on the 17th of September, 1787. The officers of the 

 administration were generally chosen from among those who had 

 been most zealous in the cause of independence, and George Wash- 

 ington, the late commander in chief of the American armies, was 

 almost unanimously elected president of the United States. Under 

 his administration the prosperity of the United States was unprece- 

 dented in the history of nations. One of his first acts was to endea- 

 vour to procure peace with the neighbouring tribes of Indians. After 

 some unsuccessful negociations a treaty was formed with the Creeks ; 

 but the North -We stern Indians refused to come to terms. Two ar- 

 mies under generals Harmer and Sinclar were successively defeated 

 by them, but they were finally subdued by general Wayne in 1794. 



The navigation of the mouths of the Mississippi had for some time 

 been a subject of dispute between the government of the United 

 States and that of Spain; but in 1795 a treaty was concluded, in 

 which the claims of the United States were fully conceded. The 

 war which about this time was recommenced between England and 

 France, excited great interest among the people of the United States. 

 The president was determined upon a strict neutrality, but a large 

 proportion of the people wished to espouse the cause of France. 

 Several points of dispute with Great Britain remained unsettled, and 

 the opposition party in America found it their interest to keep up 

 the revolutionary animosity against that country. The president, 

 however, despatched Mr. Jay to England, and that gentleman having 

 procured a treaty, returned with it to America. Apainst this treaty 

 the greatest clamours were excited by the opposition ; and after it 

 had been ratified by the president, the resolutions necessary for car- 

 rying it into effect, passed the house of representatives by a majority 

 of but three votes. 



About this time Mr. Genet, the first minister from the French re- 

 public, arrived in the United States. He was received with enthu- 

 siasm by the people, who shewed him every where marks of the 

 greatest attention. His conduct, before his arrival at Philadelphia, 

 however, was not such as to insure him the best reception from the 

 president. While at Charleston, 'where he landed, he encouraged 

 citizens of the United States to fit out privateers, which he commis- 

 sioned. This produced immediate complaints from the British minis- 

 ter. The president of course disapproved of the conduct of Genet, 

 and that gentleman, encouraged by the American opposition, so far 

 forgot himself, as to offer open insults to the administration. This 

 produced a request from the president to the French government for 

 hia recall. This request was complied with, and another minister 



