by Donald Jeffries, I Protest:

The sad American track record

When British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781, it represented the high point in American History. We reached our peak at the very beginning of our existence as an independent nation. We successfully seceded from British rule. We won.

Things ran pretty smoothly under the Articles of Confederation. It gave the central government as few powers as any document possibly could. Shays’ Rebellion in 1786 revealed the ugly underbelly from the War of Independence. Those forlorn soldiers weren’t properly paid, or properly treated.