Goods, to the amount of 20,000, dollars were now distributed among the Indians; and they were to receive 8000 annually.1

1795.

Connecti

The remainder of the Connecticut reserve lands was sold for Schools in 1,200,000 dollars; and the proceeds of the sale were appropri- cut. ated for the support of schools in the state.2

The exports of the United States amounted to upward of 47 Exports. million of dollars. The net amount of imports and tonnage was nearly 8 million.

The freeholders in the city of New York were upward of N. York. 36,000. Richmond, in Virginia, contained between 400 and Richmond. 500 houses, and nearly 4000 inhabitants.

The first vessel despatched from Carolina for the East Indies, Charleston. sailed this year from Charleston. The amount of imports to Baltimore was upward of 5,000,800 dollars. There were ob- Baltimore. served to pass up to Baltimore, this year, 109 ships, 162 brigs and snows, and 5464 bay craft.

The Massachusetts Fire Insurance Company, and the Aque- Societies. duct Society for bringing fresh water from Jamaica Pond, in Roxbury, were incorporated. The Boston Mechanic Association, and the first Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation were established.

Merrimack bridge, between Newbury and Haverhill bridges, Bridges. was built. A bridge was built over the Raritan, opposite to Brunswick. The passage of the Lower Canals on Connecticut river, at South Hadley Falls, was opened.

Ohio.

A printing press was set up at Cincinnati, in Ohio. Colonel Hamilton resigned his office as secretary of the trea- Secretaries sury, and was succeeded by Oliver Wolcott of Connecticut; who of treasury as comptroller had been eminently useful to the head of the de- and of war. partment. General Knox resigned his office as secretary of war, and was succeeded by colonel Pickering.

view of the

The president's speech to congress presents a pleasing view Dec. 8. of the prosperous state of the nation. "Our agriculture, com- President's merce, and manufactures prosper beyond former example. Our national population advances with a celerity, which, exceeding the most prosperity. sanguine calculations, proportionally augments our strength and resources, and guarantees our future security. Every part of the Union displays indications of rapid and various improvement, and with burdens so light as scarcely to be perceived; with resources fully adequate to our present exigencies; with governments founded on the genuine principles of rational liberty, and with mild and wholesome laws; is it too much to say, that our

1 Another treaty for settling boundaries, was concluded with these Indian

tribes in 1803.

2 See 1786.

1795. country exhibits a spectacle of national happiness never surpassed, if ever before equalled?"

Deaths.

Tennessee.

June 29.

Francis Marion, an officer of distinguished reputation in the revolutionary war, died in South Carolina; Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College, aged 68;2 and John Phillips, founder of Exeter Academy, aged 76 years.3

1796.

THE Territory of the United States south of the Ohio was erected into an independent state by the name of Tennessee, and admitted into the Union.

A treaty of peace and friendship was concluded at Colerain, Treaty with in Georgia, between the president of the United States and the the Creeks. Creek Indians. By this treaty the line between the white people

President

Washing ton's Vale

dictory Address.

Dec. 7.
His last

speech to
congress.

and the Indians was established to run from the Currakee mountain to the head or source of the main south branch of the Oconee river, called by the white people, Appalatchee, and by Indians, Tulapocka, and down the middle of the same. Liberty was given by the Indians to the president of the United States to establish a trading or military post on the south side of Alatamaha, about one mile from Beard's Bluff, or any where from thence down the river, on the lands of the Indians; and the Indians agreed to annex to said post a tract of land five miles square. In return for this and other tokens of friendship on the part of the Indians, the United States stipulated to give them goods to the value of 6000 dollars, and to furnish them with two blacksmiths, with tools.

President Washington, having formed a resolution to retire from public life, prepared for the occasion a valedictory address, which was published in September. It was worthy of the patriot and the statesman. It bears the impressions of affection and solicitude for his country. It was his "last effort to impress upon his countrymen those great political truths, which had been the guides of his own administration, and which could alone, in his opinion, form a sure and solid basis for the happiness, the independence, and the liberty of the United States."" It contains precepts," his biographer justly remarks, "to which the American statesman cannot too frequently recur.'

In his last speech to Congress, after presenting a full and clear view of the situation of the United States, and recommending those great national measures which he judged to be useful and reasonable, he used these concluding words: "The situation in which

1 Allen, Biog. and Lempriere, Amer. edit. Memoirs of R. H. Lee, i. 394. 2 Life of President Stiles, 8vo. Boston, 1798. Miller, Retrospect, ii. 397. Eliot and Allen, Biog.

3 Allen, Biog. Miller, ii. 381, 382. See 1781.

I now stand, for the last time, in the midst of the representatives 1796. of the people of the United States, naturally recalls the period when the administration of the present form of government commenced; and I cannot omit the occasion to congratulate you and my country on the success of the experiment; nor to repeat my fervent supplications to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and sovereign arbiter of nations, that his providential care may still be extended to the United States; that the virtue and happiness of the people may be preserved; and that the government, which they have instituted for the protection of their liberties, may be perpetual."

An act was passed by the legislature of Pennsylvania for Pennsylvaestablishing schools throughout the state.

nia.

An act was passed by the assembly of New York "for the Indians. relief of the Indians, who are entitled to land in Brothertown ;" also an act, by which the Oneidas were to receive of the state of New York an annuity of 3552 dollars, in consequence of a purchase of lands in 1795, and in lieu of all former stipulations; the Cayugas, $2300; and the Onondagos, $2000.

In the district comprehended between the Oneida reservation Whitesand the Mohawk river, above the German Flats, now divided town and its vicinity. into the three townships of Whitestown, Paris, and Westmoreland, there were six parishes, with five settled ministers, three full regiments of militia, and one corps of light horse.1

see lands.

Robert Morris purchased land that had been surrendered to R. Morris Massachusetts by Gorham and Phelps; extinguished the Indian buys Genetitle; sold out several tracts of 50,000 and 100,000 acres off the east side of the tract and along the Genesee river; and mort- Mortgage to gaged the residue to Wilhelm Willink and others, of Amsterdam, Land Comcalled the Holland Land Company.2

the Holland

pany.

The city of Albany, according to actual survey, contained 700 Albany. dwelling houses, beside 162 in the Northern Liberties; and 6021 inhabitants.

The first Methodist church, erected in Boston, was opened by Methodist a Methodist missionary.

The first Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation was established. The Boston Medical Dispensary was instituted. The Bank of Baltimore, and the Union Bank of South Carolina, were established.

church.

A System of the Laws of the State of Connecticut, by Zepha- Connectiniah Swift, was published; the first work of its kind published in cut Laws.

the United States.

1 In 1785, there were but two families in this district.

2 Under this mortgage the company afterward acquiring the title to the land, surveyed it, and in 1801 opened a land office at Batavia, under the agency of Joseph Ellicott, for the sale of it.

1796.

Benjamin count Rumford, of Munich in Bavaria, presented 5000 dollars to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Donation of the interest of which is to be given once every second year, as a count Rum- premium to the author of the most important discovery or improvement on heat and light, in any part of America, or in any of the American islands.1

ford.

Detroit.

Fires.

Deaths.

The post of Detroit was delivered up by the British to the United States, according to treaty.

A fire broke out in Charleston on the 20th of June, and laid a considerable part of the city in ashes. On the 25th of November, a fire consumed 350 buildings in Savannah.

There were about 1000 Indians, pure and unmixed, in Massachusetts. The legislature of Massachusetts passed an act for regulating hackney coaches in Boston; the number of which

was 51.

The town of Lynn, in Massachusetts, annually exported nearly 300,000 pair of shoes.

The New York Missionary Society was formed.

Samuel Huntington, governor of Connecticut, and formerly president of congress, died at Norwich in the 64th year of his age; 3 David Rittenhouse at Philadelphia, in his 65th his 65th year, and was buried under his observatory;4 Anthony Wayne, major

1 The name by which this eminent man had been known in America, was Benjamin Thompson. He was born at Woburn in Massachusetts. See 1814. 2 By frequent fires that city sustained a loss estimated at £300,000 sterling. There were 300 houses burnt.

3 Governor Huntington was born in Windham, and descended from an ancient family. In 1774 he was an assistant judge of the superior court in Connecticut. In 1775 he was chosen a delegate to congress; and in 1779 was president of that body. In 1784 he was chosen lieutenant governor, and appointed chief justice; and in 1786 he was chosen governor, and was annually re-elected till his death. He was highly respected for his talents, integrity, prudence, and piety.

4 David Rittenhouse, LL.D. F. R. s. was born at Germantown, near Philadel phia. He very early discovered a fondness for mathematical science, and while at the plough, covered the handles of it with his calculations. At the age of 17, without foreign assistance, he constructed a complete clock. Astronomy next became the subject of his inquiries, and, with the aid of a few books, he soon made a wonderful progress. In 1768, he completed his first orrery, upon which Mr. Jefferson observed, that " as an artist he had exhibited as great proofs of mechanic genius, as the world had ever produced." In 1770, he went to reside in Philadelphia. In 1791, he was chosen president of the Philosophical Society, as successor to Dr. Franklin, and was annually re-elected until his death. In 1792, he accepted the office of director of the mint of the United States, but, on account of his ill health, resigned it in 1795. "On the whole," says a foreign writer, "as a philosopher and man of science, America has not produced any one superior to David Rittenhouse. To the principle of liberty he was invariably attached; his philanthropy was universal, and rendered him a friend to the whole human race, without distinction of country, colour, or complexion. In private life, amiable and unassuming; in public, a constant and firm supporter of the rights of man." Notes on the Provincial Literature of Pennsylvania, by Thomas I. Wharton, Esq. in Vol. 1. of the Memoirs of the Hist. Society of Pennsylvania. Burton's Life of Rittenhouse. Miller, ü. 373. Allen, Biog. Dict.

general in the revolutionary war, at Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, 1796. in his 52d year; Samuel Seabury, bishop of the church of England in Connecticut, at New London, in his 68th year;2 and George Wyllys, at Hartford, in the 86th year of his age.3

1797.

JOHN ADAMS was chosen President, and Thomas Jefferson Vice President, of the United States.

President's

ration.

The president was inaugurated on the 4th day of March. In March 4. his speech to congress at his inauguration, he first adverted to Speech at the origin and progress of the American revolution; to its suc- his Inaugu cessful issue, under an over-ruling Providence, in the establishment of national independence; to the government of the United States under the Confederation; and to the evils that were experienced from the defects in that first system of government. "In this dangerous crisis," he proceeded to observe, "the people of America were not abandoned by their usual good sense, presence of mind, resolution, or integrity. Measures were pursued to concert a plan to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. The public disquisitions, discussions, and deliberations, issued in the present happy constitution of government." Employed in the service of his country abroad, during the whole of these transactions, he "first saw the constitution of the United States

1 General Wayne was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania. In the war of the revolution he was distinguished for his military skill and bravery; and eminently at the memorable assault of Stony Point. After the capture of Cornwallis, he was sent to conduct the war in Georgia; and as a reward for his services, the legislature of that state presented him with a valuable farm. At the conclusion of the war he retired to private life. In 1787, he was a member of the convention which ratified the constitution of the United States. He afterwards commanded the army employed against the Indians. After his complete victory in 1794, his treaty with the Indians was one of the last offices of his life. Allen, Biog. and the histories of the war.

2 The Rev. Dr. Seabury was consecrated bishop at Aberdeen, in Scotland, in November 1784, by three nonjuring bishops; and took charge of the episcopal churches in Connecticut in 1785. He was the first bishop of the church of England in the United States. He published two volumes of Sermons; and another volume, selected from his MSS. has been published since his death.

3 Strong's Sermon at his Funeral. Life of President Stiles. Mr. Wyllys was the son of Hezekiah Wyllys, who was the son of Samuel, who was the son of George, who came to New England at a very early period, leaving an estate of f500 a year at Fenny Compton, in the county of Warwick; and who, with his family and dependents, assisted in the settlement of the town of Hartford in Connecticut. This descendant succeeded his father as Secretary of the State of Connecticut, in 1730, and without interruption filled the office nearly 66 years. He was a wise and upright man, and an estimable Christian; "and obtained an influence by moderation and integrity, to which faction vainly aspires."