Mar. 10—Thomas Jefferson appointed to fill the place of Franklin, as Minister to France; Franklin wishes to return home. He had been there nine years.
July—Commercial treaties negotiated with Prussia, Denmark, Portugal, and Tuscany.
The treaty with Prussia stipulated that, in case of war between that country and the United States, there should be no privateering.
” 13—Stephen Hopkins, of R. I., a signer of the Declaration of Independence, died.
” 28—Wm. Whipple, of N. H., a signer of the Declaration of Independence, died.
” ”—Treaties made with the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws.
1786.
Financial troubles were now approaching a crisis. In 1784-5 the importations from England had amounted to $30,000,000. The exportations to only $9,000,000. Paper money was depreciated so much as to be of little value. Debt oppressed government and people; want of vigorous authority was everywhere felt; and many disorders in Tennessee, Kentucky and elsewhere, begin to threaten the internal peace of the country.
June 19—Gen. Nathaniel Greene, an able commander in the Revolutionary armies, died. He manouvered against Cornwallis in North and South Carolina with great ability.
Dec. 5—Shay’s Rebellion broke out in Mass. That State wished to raise money to aid Congress in paying the interest on the federal debt. The people felt unable to pay it. They mobbed the courts but were dispersed by troops under Gen. Lincoln. Three were killed and one wounded, in an attack the insurgents made on an arsenal. There was little other fighting. Fourteen persons were tried and condemned to death but afterwards pardoned.