Conclusion- difficulties - remedies. The Appendix to the volume, first edition, is omitted in this; it con- GENERAL INDEX. FAMILIAR LETTERS. LETTER I. BOSTON, JAN. 17, 1833. THE citizens of the present day find themselves to be members of a great and growing republic. They must be members, also, of some political party, if they exercise the rights and duties of citizens. They usually become partymen, without much consideration of the reasons for being on one side, or the other. Accident, imitation, or being on one side, because some one, not in favor, is on the other, are as good reasons as many can give, for the choice they make. There is a right and a wrong in all political divisions. One side may be entirely right, and the other entirely wrong. Two opposing parties may be both wrong, in proportion as they deviate from the sound principles of the constitutions under which they live. It is a dry and uninteresting employment to most young persons, to study out the origin, and progress, of the political institutions of this country. But if our republic is to continue, these young persons must know, in some way, how much it depends on them to accomplish its preservation. All modes of instruction must be attempted. Whether that intended, in the following pages, will be of use to that end, cannot be foreseen. It is the design to run through the prominent events, in this country, out of which political parties have arisen. In 1783, and for some time afterwards, and up to the time of the French Revolution, there were distinctions in society, now unknown. They were the remnants of the colonial relations. Persons in office, the rich, and those who had connexions in England, of which they were proud, were the gentry of the country, before the war. Modes of life, manners, and personal decoration, were the indications of superiority. The commencement of hostilities drove a large portion of this gentry from the colony; but these indications continued among some who remained, and adhered to the patriot side. There was a class of persons (no longer known) who might be called the gentry of the interior. They held very considerable landed estates, in imitation of the landholders in England. These persons were the great men in their respective counties. They held civil and military offices, and were members of the general court. This sort of personal dignity disappeared before the end of the last century. The long continued and impoverishing war had brought very serious embarrassments, public and private. One mode of relief, after the war ended, was to engage in commerce. The commercial part of the community who had means, (and some of them were wealthy from privateering,) and all who had credit in England, engaged in importing English manufactures. This traffic drained the country of specie, and introduced articles of luxury, which the inhabitants needed not, and for which they contracted debts, which they could not pay. Embarrassments were increased from such causes. Importations were discountenanced, and those who made them, not only made bad debts, but attracted public odium. The usual consequences of such mistakes followed. There were insolvencies, and prosecutions. These new, and improvident contracts, were but a small item in the causes of general distress, after independence was secured. These were far more serious and durable, as they involved public, as well as private credit. Be The United States owed the heavy debt of the war. sides this national debt, the states, separately, had contracted heavy debts of their own, in carrying on the war. Towns, also, had contracted debts in furnishing men, and necessaries for the army, especially in Massachusetts. Individuals owed large sums, the interest of which had been accumulating during the war. In the planting states of the south, very heavy debts were due to the English. These necessarily slept through the war. |