169 A Time of Distress

169.A Time of Distress

 It is not right to speak too harshly of the refusal of the state governments to give CongresS the money it asked for , as the people of the states were in great distress and had no money to give . As soon as peace was declared British merchants sent over great quantities of goods . People bought these goods , for every one thought that good times were coming now that the war was over . But the British government did every - thing it could do to prevent the coming of good times . The prosperity of the northern states was largely based on a profitable trade with the West Indies . The British gov - ernment put an end to that trade . No gold and silver came to the United States from the West Indies while gold and silver con - stantly went out of the country to pay debts due to British merchants . Soon gold and silver grew scarce , and those who had any promptly hid it . The real reason of al this trouble was the lack of a strong national government which could have compeled the British government to open its ports to American commerce . But the people only saw that money was scarce and caled upon the state legislatures to give them paper money .