But worse was yet to follow, for Washington, besides
refusing to fight for the French, made a treaty with the British,
with whom the French were at war.
The War of Independence had left some bitterness between the old
country and the new. And as time went on that bitterness increased
rather than lessened. The United States felt that Britain hardly
treated them with the respect due to an independent nation, and
indeed some of Britain's actions were fairly high handed.
During the war a great many Negroes had been carried off into
Canada, and Britain would not pay for them. The boundaries between
the United States and Canada were still in dispute. Britain made
no effort to settle them, but kept possession of such forts as
Oswego, Detroit, Niagara, and others. Then, because they were at
war with France, the British interfered with, and almost ruined,
American trade with the French West Indies. And lastly, what
seemed to Americans the worst insult of all, they claimed the right
of search. That is, they claimed the right of searching neutral
vessels for British seamen and of taking them by force to serve in
the British navy. In those early days it was difficult to distinguish
an Englishmen from an American by his speech, and thus Americans
were often seized and made to serve in the British navy. There were
other grievances, but these were chief.
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