owners, and that the consent of the Federal Congress be obtained before June 1, 1787, to receive the new State into the Federation; and then the separation was to be made perfect upon a day to be named subsequent to September 1, 1787. The delay necessitated by the last clause was eminently unsatisfactory to the impatient. They chafed under it, but the temper of the people showed itself as fully en rapport with the Virginia programme, and the situation was quietly accepted. Misunderstandings, however, arose, and Virginia in October of the same year passed another act delaying the separation till January 1, 1789, and fixing July 4, 1788, as the date prior to which Congress should consent to receive the new State into the Federation. This was very much more unpopular than the former act, but was complied with at the time by quietly recognizing it as final.
Meanwhile the military affairs were growing less important, and the two meetings held in Danville, in 1787, the one in May and the other in September, brought another question into prominence. As the country grew the difficulties that were felt in transactions beyond the mountains were greatly increased by the advent of commerce. Transportation of large quantities of goods was both expensive and difficult. And the products of the State were all agricultural, and the imports were all the necessaries of life, except their food. The imports would come to them, but at a high price; their exports, on the other hand, could with difficulty find a market at any price. At such a time it was only natural that
