Phineas BondSeven years of war forced a reluctant mother country to recognize the independence of the thirteen American colonies. With the signing of the treaty at Paris on the 3rd of September 1783, the rebellion came to a formal end, and a new state entered the family of nations. But the resulting peace stopped short of men's minds and spirits. There was no binding up of wounds nor forgetting of past injuries. On the contrary, hatred persisted and, if anything,