victory over the British under Col. Tarleton. On March 15, at Guilford Court House, N. C., a battle was fought in which the British gained the victory, but drew from it no advantage; and on Sept. 8 occurred the drawn battle of Eutaw Springs, a bloody action which nearly terminated the war in South Carolina. At the close of the year the British in the states south of Virginia were confined to Charleston and Savannah. Cornwallis, having advanced into Virginia in April, was opposed by Lafayette, Wayne, and Steuben, and fortified himself at Yorktown, where be gathered a considerable army. Meanwhile the American army under Washington and the French army of Rochambeau had formed a junction on the Hudson; and while the British commander, Sir Henry Clinton, was kept from sending aid to Cornwallis by apprehensions that Now York was threatened, the allied army was far on its way toward Yorktown, where it arrived Sept. 28, 1781, and began a regular siege, which lasted till Oct. 19, when Cornwallis surrendered with his whole force of 7,247 men, besides 840 sailors; 106 guns were taken. This victory substantially terminated the contest, and secured the independence of America. The French contributed 37 ships (under De Grasso) and 7,000 men to the besieging force, and the Americans 9,000 men. In England Lord North and his administration were forced to retire, March 20, 1782, and were succeeded by a cabinet opposed to the further prosecution of the war, headed by the marquis of Rockingham. Orders were sent to the British commanders in America to cease hostilities, and in July, 1782, Savannah was evacuated, and Charleston on Dec. 14. Adams, Franklin, Jay, and Laurens on the part of the United States, and Strachey, Oswald, and Fitzherbert on the part of Great Britain, signed a preliminary treaty of peace at Paris on Nov. 30, 1782; and on Sept. 3, 1783, a definitive treaty was signed at Versailles, by which the United States wore formally acknowledged by Great Britain to be free, sovereign, and independent. New York, the last position held by the British on our coast, was evacuated Nov. 25, 1783. In the seven years of the revolutionary war Great Britain sent to America about 112,000 soldiers and 22,000 seamen. Tho forces raised by tho United States during tho same period consisted of about 232,000 continental soldiers and 56,000 militia. On Nov. 2 Washington issued a farewell address to tho armies of the United States, and, after taking leave on Dec. 4 of his officers at New York, proceeded to Annapolis, Md., where congress was then in session, and on Dec. 23 resigned his commission as commander-in-chief and retired to his estate at Mount Vernon.—The existence of tho United States as a political entity may be dated from tho assembling of the second continental congress, May 10, 1775, as the first assumed no political powers. From that date to March 1, 1781, when the articles of confederation were finally ratified, the government of the Union was revolutionary, the powers exercised by congress being assumed by that body and conceded by the states from the necessity of tho situation. The period of the confederation extended to March 4, 1789, when the constitution went into effect. On June 12, 1776, while the resolution of independence was under consideration in congress, a committee of one from each colony was created to draft a form of confederation, and the articles reported by it were adopted, Nov. 15, 1777. They were ratified by South Carolina on Feb. 5, 1778, and by ten other states before tho close of that year. Delaware ratified them on Feb. 1, 1779, and Maryland on Jan. 30, 1781; and, being signed by delegates from all tho states, they went into effect as above stated. The delay of Maryland was caused by her refusal to join the confederation until those states claiming territory beyond their settled limits should cede it to the Union for the common benefit. Cessions having been made, an ordinance was passed by congress, July 13, 1787, for the government of the territory N. W. of the Ohio river, since famous as the ordinance of 1787. Dissatisfaction with the confederation, owing to the weakness of the central government under it, soon became widespread, and in September, 1786, a convention of delegates from several states at Annapolis, Md., recommended the calling of a convention of delegates from all the states to propose changes in the articles of confederation. This plan was approved by congress on Feb. 21, 1787, and tho convention organized at Philadelphia on May 25, by the choice of Washington as president. It remained in session in Carpenters' hall until Sept. 17, when it adjourned after adopting the constitution. All the states were represented except Rhode Island. On the 28th congress passed a resolution transmitting the constitution to the several states to be acted upon by conventions. Delaware ratified it on Dec. 7, and ten other states prior to Sept. 13, 1788, when a resolution of congress declared it ratified by nine states (the constitution providing that when ratified by that number it should go into effect in the states ratifying), fixed the first Wednesday of January, 1789, for the choice of presidential electors in the several states, and the first Wednesday of February for the choice of president by the electors, and provided that the new government should go into operation on the first Wednesday of March. The second continental congress expired on March 4, 1789, having maintained its corporate identity for nearly 14 years, though changed from time to time in its membership. Its presidents, though without power or patronage, were regarded as the personal representatives of the sovereignty of the Union. The following are their names, with the date of their election: Peyton Randolph of Virginia, May 10, 1775; John Hancock of Massachusetts, May 24, 1775;
