The city of New York was in quite a deplorable state.  The wide tract swept by the fire of 1776 still lay in blackened ruins.  No effort had been made to rebuild except where temporary wooden huts had been set up by the soldiers.  The churches, all of which had been used for one purpose or another, were dismantled, blackened, and marred.  There was scarcely a house in all the little town that had not been ill-used by the soldiers.  Fences were down, and the streets were filled with rubbish.  It was a city stricken with premature decay.  Business life was dead, and would have to be begun all over again.  The citizens were divided against themselves.  Feuds existed everywhere.  Patriots who had fled and had now come back felt a deep bitterness against those who had adopted the royal cause for the purpose of keeping possession of their property.  These, however, complained just as bitterly because now their homes were taken from them in the adjustment.

King’s College, of which you have been told, had been closed all during the war, and had been used as a hospital.  It was opened now, but was called Columbia College, as the King no longer had any claims on the city or its institutions.

During the next few years business slowly revived, and day by day the city was rebuilt, growing into something like its old self.

Some little distance above the Common was the City Hospital.  There came rumors at this time that the bodies of the dead were being stolen from the graveyards and used by the students for dissecting purposes.  There was no truth in these stories, yet many persons became alarmed.  They gathered, broke into the hospital and destroyed everything of value.  The doctors fled to the jail on the Common for protection.  The mob determined to seize them, and tore down the fences about the jail.  Then the Mayor gathered a body of citizens to oppose the mob.  As night came on, the rioters, becoming more and more destructive, were fired upon and five were killed.  After this they scampered away, the trouble was over, and that was the last of the Doctors’ Mob.

CHAPTER XXXI

The first President of the united states

Rebuilding a city and forming a new nation is such a great task that you can readily believe it was not accomplished without some difficulty.  The colonies were free from the rule of the English King, but it was necessary for them to learn to govern themselves.

Each of the new States now had its own government.  It was thought by many that there should be some powerful central government to control all the States.  So after a great deal of deliberation a convention was held in Philadelphia over which George Washington presided.  After four months of hard work the present Constitution of the United States was given to each State to be approved.

There was strong need for this step to be taken, but there were a great many who did not want it, because they thought it would give the President as much power as a king, and as they had gone to some cost to rid themselves of a king, they did not wish another.  Those who wanted a central government were called Federalists.  Those who did not want it were called Anti-Federalists.