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“He has tried to make the Indians our enemies,” said a fourth.

“He is a tyrant and unfit to be the ruler of a free people,” agreed they all.

And then everybody was silent while one read: “We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, solemnly publish and declare that the united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states”

Soon afterward the bell in the high tower above the hall began to ring.

“It is done!” cried the people. “They have signed the Declaration of Independence.”

“Yes, every colony has voted for it,” said those nearest the door. “The King of England shall no longer rule over us.”

And that was the way in which the United States came into being. The thirteen colonies were now thirteen states.

Up to this time Washington and his army had been fighting for the rights of the people as colonists. They had been fighting in order to oblige the king to do away with the unjust laws which he had made. But now they were to fight for freedom and for the independence of the United States.

By and by you will read in your histories how wisely and bravely Washington conducted the war. You will learn how he held out against the king’s soldiers on Long Island and at White Plains; how he crossed the Delaware amid floating ice and drove the English from Trenton; how he wintered at Morristown; how he suffered at Valley Forge; how he fought at Germantown and Monmouth and Yorktown.

There were six years of fighting, of marching here and there, of directing and planning, of struggling in the face of every discouragement.

Eight years passed, and then peace came, for independence had been won, and this our country was made forever free.

On the 2d of November, 1783, Washington bade farewell to his army. On the 23d of December he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief.

There were some who suggested that Washington should make himself king of this country; and indeed this he might have done, so great was the people’s love and gratitude.

But the great man spurned such suggestions. He said, “If you have any regard for your country or respect for me, banish those thoughts and never again speak of them.”

XIV. THE FIRST PRESIDENT.

Washington was now fifty-two years old.

The country was still in an unsettled condition. True, it was free from English control. But there was no strong government to hold the states together.

Each state was a little country of itself, making its own laws, and having its own selfish aims without much regard for its sister states. People did not think of the United States as one great undivided nation.

And so matters were in bad enough shape, and they grew worse and worse as the months went by.

Wise men saw that unless something should be done to bring about a closer union of the states, they would soon be in no better condition than when ruled by the English king.

And so a great convention was held in Philadelphia to determine what could be done to save the country from ruin. George Washington was chosen to preside over this convention; and no man’s words had greater weight than his.

He said, “Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.”

That convention did a great and wonderful work; for it framed the Constitution by which our country has ever since been governed.

And soon afterwards, in accordance with that Constitution, the people of the country were called upon to elect a President. Who should it be?

Who could it be but Washington?

When the electoral votes were counted, every vote was for George Washington of Virginia.

And so, on the 16th of April, 1789, the great man again bade adieu to Mount Vernon and to private life, and set out for New York. For the city of Washington had not yet been built, and New York was the first capital of our country.