JUJl GojyrightN^. COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. AN ELEMENTARY HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN, Ph.D. .4ni/ior of '■'■ EnglaniT s Story" '''■American Hero Stories" "Ohi World Hero Stories," " Story of the Greek People " " Story of the Roman People" etc. Editor of " The Children'' s Hour." BOSTON NEW ^ORK AND CHICAGO HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1902, 1914, BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Tiventicth 7>nf>ycssi'o>t Revised, attd printed from iiezv eleetrotypcd plates November, igi4 d)t IKibcrsitit fSxtiS CAMBRIDtiK . MASSACHUSBTTS U . s . A m -2 1915 ©CI.A393U54 ^(, A^^ '.o 4 PREFACE This book aims not at telling stories about the United States, but at giving a short, simple, connected account of our country from its discovery to the present day. Mindful of the pleasure that children take in knowing " why," and of their unfailing in- terest in biography, I have tried, as far as the limits of the book would permit, to note reasons as well as deeds ; and, while avoid- ing everything of the nature of a biographical sketch, I have sought to arouse and encourage a feeling of friendly familiarity with the heroes of our nation. Though an introductory history must necessarily be limited in size, it is believed that there can be gained from this volume a definite knowledge of the main events in the history of our land, some idea of the causes of those events, and an acquaintance, sympathetic though slight, with the men who stood behind the events ; and that the book ^vill thus serve as an introduction to a later and more extended study of the growth and development of our country. Acknowledgment is due to General James Grant Wilson, the Lenox Library, Messrs. S. P. Avery, Jr., Walter Bailey Ellis, George A. Clough, Grover Flint, Charles Scribner's Sons, and The Century Company, for permission to reproduce a number of illus- trations in this book. EVA MARCH TAPPAN. Worcester, Massachusetts, April, 1902. CONTENTS Tmpokt.wt Datfcs IX Amicricax History PRKSn>ENTS OF TIIK Uxn KD StATES Declakatiox of JxDEI'EXDKXCE T. COLUMHUS SHOWS THE AVaY To AmEUICA ir. The Eahi.y Followers of t'oLFMius III. The ICari.y Atikmpts to .-make Setteemexts IV. The IxDiAx^i axd their Ways v. ViR(iixiA, THE First Fermaxext Fxcilish C'oi.oxy VI. Plymouth, the First Colony ix New Kx(;laxi> Vir. The Massachusetts Bay Coloxy .... VIII. IMaixe, New IIami'shire, Rhode Island, and Conxf CUT IX. Early Ci^stoms of New Kxclaxd .... X. New York. Delaware, and New .Jersey XI. Fexnsylvania and ^Iarylaxd XI [. The Carolixas axd Georgia .... XIII. The Frexch Exploratioxs ix A:merica . XIV. The Struggle with the French .... XV. The Times uefore the Kevolutiox .... XVI. The First Two Years of the Kevolutiox XMI. The Latter Part of the IJexoh tion . X\'III. The Years of Weakxess XIX. The Westward Growth of the ('otxti!Y XX. Trouble arises over Slavery .... XXT. The Civil War XXTI. The Latter Years of the Cextury . XXIII. The United States as a World Power XXIV. Our Country To-day Vll ix X 1 l:] L'l 34 42 rrJ Gl 70 S3 88 99 109 111 119 129 141 154 168 183 197 208 229 241 2:.l Index and Pronouxcixg A'ocaiulary IMPORTANT DATES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 1492 Columbus discovers America. 1497 First voyage of Cabot to America. 1497 Vespucius sails to America. 1513 Ponce de Leon visits Florida. 1522 Magellan's ships sail around the world. 1534 Cartier explores the St. Lawrence. 1542 De Soto discovers the Mississippi. 1565 First town in the United States founded at St. Augustine. 1607 Virginia, the first English colony in America, settled at James- town. 1608 Champlain founds Quebec. 1609 Hudson explores the Hudson River. 1614 New York first settled on Manhattan Island. 1617 New Jersey first settled at Bergen. 1619 First legislative assembly in America. 1619 Negro slavery introduced into America. 1620 Massachusetts first settled at Plymouth. 1623 New Hampshire first settled at Dover. 1625 Maine first settled at Pemaquid Point. 1630 Boston founded. 1634 Maryland first settled at St. Mary's. 1636 Rhode Island first settled at Providence. 1636 Connecticut first settled at Hartford. 1638 Pequot War. 1638 Delaware first settled at Wilmington. 1663 North Carolina first settled near Albemarle Sound. 1670 South Carolina first settled near Charleston. 1673 Marquette and Joliet explore the Mississippi. IMPORTANT DATES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 1675 King Philip's War. 1G82 La Salle explores the Mississippi. 1682 Pennsylvania first settled at Philadelphia. 1690 Witchcraft excitement in Massachusetts. 1733 Georgia first settled at Savannah. 1745 Capture of Louisburg. 1759 Capture of Quebec and end of French power in America. 1705 The Stamp. Act. 1773 The Boston Tea-party. 1774 First Continental Congress. 1775 April 19. Battle of Lexington and beginning of the Revolution. 1775 June 17. Battle of Bunker Hill. 1776 July 4. Declaration of Independence. 1778 Clark saves the Northwest. 1781 Surrender of Cornwallis and close of the Revolutioa 1787 Framing of the Constitution. 1789 "Washington becomes first president 1793 Invention of the cotton-gin. 1803 The Louisiana Purchase. 1804 Suppression of the Barbary pirates. 1812-1815 War with England. 1820 IMissouri Compromise, 1825 Opening of the Erie CanaL 1844 Invention of the telegraph. 1846 War with Mexico. 1846 Settlement of the Oregon boundary. 1848 Mexican cession. 1848 Discovery of gold in California. 1850 Compromise of 1850. 1861 Capture of Fort Sumter and beginning of Civil War. 1862 Battle between Monitor and INIerrimac. 1863 Emancipation Proclamation 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. 1865 Surrender of Lee and close of Civil War. 1866 The Atlantic cable laid. IMPORTANT DATES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 1867 Purchase of Alaska. 1869 Completion of the Union Pacific Raikoad. 1876 Centennial Exposition. 1893 Columbian Exposition. 1898 War with Spain. 1898 Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands. 1899 Annexation of Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. 1912 Arbitration treaties with Great Britain and France. 1914 Panama Canal opened to commerce. PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES George Washington . John Adams , . . Thomas Jefferson James Madison . . James Monroe . . John Quincy Adams Andrew Jackson . Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison 1841 John Tyler ... James K. Polk . . Zachary Taylor . Millard Fillmore - . 1789-1797 1797-1801 1801-1809 1809-1817 1817-1825 1825-1829 1829-1837 1837-1841 1841-1845 1845-1849 1849-1850 1850-1853 William H. Taft Woodrow Wilson Franklin Pierce . . James Buchanan , . Abraham Lincoln . . Andrew Johnson . . Ulysses S. Grant . . Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur . Grover Cleveland . . Benjamin Harrison , Grover Cleveland . William McKinley , Theodore Roosevelt . . . o 1909-1913 . , . 1913- 1853- 1857- 1861- 1865- 1869- 1877- 1881 1881- 1885- 1889 1893 1897 1901 1857 -1861 ■1865 -1869 -1877 -1881 -1885 -1889 -1893 -1897 1901 1909 July 4, 1776 A DECLARATION By the REPRESENTATIVES of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA In general CONGRESS Assembled WIIEX, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unal- ienable rights ; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are insti- tuted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes ; and, accord- ingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more dispf)s(!d to suffer, while evils are suiferaV)le, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute des- potism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such govern- ment, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world : — The Declaration of Independence He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till liis assent sliould be obtained ; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature: a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual un- comfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with nis measures. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise • the state remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the danger of invasion from without, and convulsions within He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States- for that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturalization of forei-n- ers, refusing to pass others to encourage theu- migration hither and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusms his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers ^f n"" •'''^^"'''^'' -^"f ^If dependent on his wiU alone, for the tenure of their ottices, and the amount and payment of their salaries He has CTccted a multitude of new ofhces, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance He has kept among us, in time of peace, standing armies, with^ out the consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. fnW^T ^^"^^'i^^^^^^v-r^f- °*^'^^'' ^ ^"^^^J^^* ^is to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws • giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation ■ tor quartering large bodies of armed troops among us • For protecting them by a mock trial, from punishment, for any States -'^ '^^'°^^^ commit on the inhabitants of these For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: The Declaration of Independence For imposing taxes on us without our consent : For depriving us, in many cases, of tlie benefit of trial by jury : For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences : For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarg- ing its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies : For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the powers of our govern- ments : For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign merce- naries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fail themselves by their hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has en- deavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress, in the most humble terms ; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts made by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, The Declaration of Independence too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity We must, therefore acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of manSni en" mies ni war, m peace, friends. ^ We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of Amer- T,u^LfTf V;"P?. assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge ot the world lor the rectitude of our intentions do n the name, and by tlie authority of the good people of these colo^jes solemn y publish and dec-lare, that these uiUted colonies aTand loh .]T°^^''",^i/^"'^ '''''^ indepen^/^f ;:^^"11 ^^^^^^ ^ levy war, conclude peace, CO tiatt alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and ^^^^t^'':"^'^:'''' ''''!? "^"^ ^^ "^^^t '^^- ^^^' for the of X n< Pr vi ''''^'''"' '''^^f ^'''' "^^'^^"^^ «" t^^e protection of Du me 1 ro^ uleiice, we mutually pledge to each other our lives our fortunes, and our sacred honor. . ' John- Hancock, President New Hampshire. _ Josiah Bardett, AVilliain M'hipple, Matthew Thornton ElbridgfSy. ^'^■~ ""'^ ^J^""-^' J«l'>' Adams, Kubert Treat Paine, n/io(le Island. — StQphcu Hopkins, "William Ellery Oh?erTolcotr^^°^'''' ^^^'^'••"^"^'^^"""^■1 nuntingt^n, William ^ViUiams, Wm'ris.^'"^-"^^'"'""" ^'"•'^^' ^'"''^^ Livingstone, Francis Lewis, Lewis J^^li^^^^cilt^'^'"' '^'" ^^'^^'--1-"' Francis Hopkinson, /\««,syra,H-«.- Robert Morris. Benjamin Rnsh, Benjamin Franklin John Geor^^Rors""^" ''^^""'"■' ''''''' '^""^^^' ^^'^'-^-^ '^^^i'^-' Jai's Witn, Delaware- Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas M'Kean. rolfc7£romom'""' ^'"'"' '^''"""' ''="''^' '^^'^^'"^^ «^-^^' ^I-arles Car- ianVin'li-m-i;;;,? tT'^' ^^'v'f ' ^^''t'^'t "^"'•>' ^^^^' Thomas Jefferson, Bon- Zv/ rw ^''•"";^„^^l«'^j;- '^•••' ^^^-^^ Liol^tfoot Lee, Carter Bnixton. ^oyU Carohna. - A\ .Ijiam Hoojkm-, Joseph Hewes, John Penn. GWi^^a. -Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton. OUR COUNTRY'S STORY COLUMBUS SHOWS THE WAY TO AMERICA If a group of schoolboj^s had been talking about their geo- graphy lessons four hundred years ago, one would perhaps have said : — " Our teacher tells us that the world is flat. The land is in the Early ideas centre, the ocean flows all around, and if any one should sail to ° ^ wona the edge of the world, he would fall off." Then another boy would have said : — " Our teacher told us that many learned men beheve the earth is round ; and he says a few of them think that if a ship should go through the Straits of Gibraltar and sail west across the Atlan- tic Ocean far enough, it would come to India." "But no ship could ever do that," another boy would have ob- j ected. " The Atlantic Ocean is the Sea of Darkness, and every- body knows that the farther you go from the land, the darker it The Sea of becomes. There are thick, black fogs. In one place the sun is ^^^^"^^^ so hot that the water boils, and it might be hot enough to burn DANGERS OF THE SEA OF DARKNESS (From a sixteenth century illustration) OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Trade with Asia jnuuwegian ship the ship. The waves are as high as mountains, and there are mermaids and horrible demons. A monstrous bird flies over the water, strong enough to carry off a great ship and all the sailors ; and worse than that, batan sometimes stretches up a great black hand as big as a cliff and draws a ship down under the sea." These stories of the dangers of the ocean were not fairy-tales told to amuse children ; they were what most men really beheved. It is no wonder, then, that when the people of Genoa in Italy were asked to furnish funds for sending a ship "--" across the Atlantic .to India, they looked upon the plan as a wild and hopeless scheme. It is probable that five hundred years before this tmie some hardy marmers of Norway and ^Sweden sailed south from the settlement that they had made ui Greenland, and even tried to found a colony in Massachusetts ; but there is little reason to tlimk that any one in Italy knew of their voyages. It was one of the citizens of Genoa who had asked for this money, a man named Christopher Columbus. He was born in Genoa, and all through his boyhood he had seen ships coming into the harbor and unloading rich cargoes of spices, pearls, per^ fumes, siUvs, ivory, and fine Cashmere shawls. These luxuries were brought from eastern Asia, or the Indies, as people then called that country. The journey was long and hard, for the goods had to be taken on the backs of camels across great tracts of land to the eastern sliore of the Black Sea. Then they were put on board ships and carried past Constantinople and over the Mediterranean to Genoa. COLUMBUS SHOWS THE WAY CARAVAN TRAVEL IN ASIA Columbus went to sea when he was fourteen, and three or four years later there were few rich cargoes from the Indies unloaded Why this at the wharves of Genoa. The reason was that the Greeks had ^^ lost Constantinople to the Turks, and the Turks would not allow the Genoese vessels to pass through the Bos- phorus. Columbus did not believe half the stories that were told about the dangers of the Sea of Darkness, and he reasoned : "If the earth is round, we can sail across tlie Atlantic to the very coast of Asia, Columbus's z.i'A that would be a much easier journey than to go by the Black '"^^soning Sea." He thought that it would be an exceedingly short way, for even the learned men who believed that the world was round thought it only half as large as it really is. He had studied and read and thought, and he felt sure that he was right. Only a rich city or a king could provide money for such an expedition. Genoa had refused, but Portugal had long been interested in finding an easier way to India, and therefore Columbus went to see the king of Portugal. The royal advisers called the plan a foohsh notion, but the king was half convinced that Columbus was in the right, and he said: "My advisers do not believe that your plan is possible, but I should like to borrow your maps and look into the matter for myself." COLUMBUS'S ARMOR (Now In Madrid) OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The king of Portugal deceives Columbus The maps were lent most willingly, for Columbus thought that at last he had found a friend. After a while a ship sailed in from the west, and it became known that to make sure of the glory and gam for himself the king had sent out a vessel secretly. It went THE MAP COLIMBUS USKD but a little way, however, because the captain was afraid of the high waves of the Atlantic. Columbus was so angry at this trickery that he took his little Cojumbus son Diego and went to Spain. King Ferdinand and Queen Isa- Spain t)eUa were on the Spanish throne, and to them Columbus appealed, Ferdinand called a council of wise men and asked them to decide whether these new ideas were reasonable or not. Now that so much more is kno^m about the earth, some of the arguments brought forward by these learned councilors seem so foolish that it is hard to believe they were really m earnest. One asked : "How can there be people on the other side of the earth? Do they hang on by their feet? Do the trees grow do^vn and does the rain fall up?" Another was willing to admit that tlie world was round. "But if you should go to the other side," said he, "how could you ever sail up hill and return ?" For several years Columbus waited. Spain was at war, and aU the king would say was that he would consider the matter later. COLUMBUS SHOWS THE WAY People laughed at the wild dream of this persistent stranger. Delay and The children in the streets pointed their fingers at him and whis- ment"'^^^^" pered, " Look ! there 's the crazy man who thinks he can cross the Sea of Darkness ! " Columbus had some reason to hope for aid from France, and he had sent his brother to England to ask for help. He determined to leave Spain. One morning a man with gray hair and keen blue eyes stood before the convent of La Rabida near Palos and asked for food Columbus at for his little son. The prior of this convent was a learned man who was especially interested in geography. He noticed the stranger at the gate and began to talk with him. When he found what a wonderful plan he had in mind — for the stranger was Columbus himself — the prior wrote to Queen Isabella and pleaded for her aid. He told her what glory such a discovery would bring to Spain and how much wealth would pour in from the trade with the Indies. She became greatly interested, but a difBculty arose. tpe of (Joiiil Z/ojjt' THE REAL POSITION OF THE CONTINENTS Columbus demanded the title of admiral, the right to rule over the lands that he should discover, and one tenth of all gains that might be made. The Spanish courtiers were jealous that an unknown man, a foreigner, should dream of having so much power; and although Jealousy of tVi p courtiers he was ready to risk his life, one of them said to him sneermgly : 6 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY ** You have nothing to lose if you fail, and you make sure of your title, whether you accomplish anything or not. You 're a shrewd man." Columbus was not selfish, but he felt that he had a right to Isabella aids share in Avhatever gain might come from his years of study and thought. Moreover, he needed a large sum of money to carry out Columbus CONVKNT OF LA KABIDA (The part Columbus kne\y is to the right) a plan of his for rescuing from the Turks, who ruled in the Holy Land, the tomb in which Christ was said to have been buried, and he declared that he would rather seek for the aid of France than yield a single point. The enthusiasm of Queen Isabella was aroused. *' I will undertake the enterprise for my own crown of Castile," she declared, " and I will pledge my jewels to raise the necessary funds." Then there was a bustle of preparation. For some misdemeanor Preparations the town of Palos had been required to provide two ships, well manned and armed, to serve the king for one year. The order was given that these two ships should be at Columbus's disposal. The sailors of the town were terrified at the thought of such a for the voyage COLUMBUS SHOWS THE WAY sails Journey. Some hid themselves, and others ran away. At last two brothers, wealthy shipowners, offered to go on the fearful voyage, and also to furnish one vessel. After this some sailors volunteered, others were forced to go, and one morning in August the three small vessels, the Pinta, Columbus the Niiia, and the Santa Maria, set out from Palos to cross the unknown ocean. The rudder of the Pinta broke, and a visit had to be made to the Canary Islands to repair it. Then word came that three Portuguese vessels had been seen off the coast waiting to capture Columbus. That matter was easily ar- ranged, for he slipped past them directly out into the open ocean, knowing well that no Portu- guese ships would dare to fol- low into the Sea of Darkness. The farther they went, the more frightened became the Spanish sailors. They wept and lamented, saying that never again should they see their homes and their friends. Every- thing alarmed them. The mast of a vessel floated by, and this they took as a sure sign that they would be wrecked. They saw a meteor, and they were certain that it was a bad omen. The wind blew steadily from the east, and the discouraged mariners wondered how they could ever make their way home. They found themselves in the midst of the great masses of seaweed that we call the Sargasso Sea, and The fears of the sailors QUEEN ISABELLA (After a picture in Madrid) 8 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY •11 : ;,1A (Columbus's own ship) Signs of then the sailors talked about quicksands and the dangers of run- ning aground. The needle of the compass no longer pointed directly to the north star. That was worst of all, for they thought they had lost their way. They were so angry with the admiral that they even planned to throw him overboard. Columbus was very patient with them. He sounded many times to convince them that there was plenty of water below the weeds of the Sargasso Sea. lie made up the best explanation that he could of the needle's failure to point to the north star, and he told them of the wonderful countries that they would soon see, the home of spices and perfumes, of gold and jewels. lie told them how nuicli land they would own and what great lords they would become, and so day after day he led them on. Flocks of birds began to fly past, nearly all going to the south- west, and the course of the ships was changed to fol- low their flight, in the hope that they were going to land the land. Fresh-water weeds were seen and a branch of thorn with berries on it. At last a piece of wood was picked up that some one had carved. Then the sailors were almost as eager as their leader to find the unknown country, and one after another began to de- clare that he could see land, and to claim the reward promised by Ferdinand and Isabella to him who should first discover the farther shore. Columbus increased the reward by the offer of a velvet doublet, but there were so many of these false alarms that he declared no man AN EARLY COMPASS COLUMBUS SHOWS THE WAY 9 who shouted " Land ! " should receive the reward unless land was discovered within three days after the time when it had been announced. It seems only right that the great discovery should have been made by the admiral himself, and so it was, for one evening as he Land at last stood gazing into the west, he was sure that he saw a light that COLUMBUS'S ROUTE (From Winsor's Columbus) moved up and down as if some one was carrying a torch in his hand. Early the next morning, October 12, 1492, the land was in full view. Columbus put on his rich scarlet robes, took the royal banner in his hand, and was rowed to the shore. What a shore it was! The water was clear as crystal, the sand was dazzlingly white, there were strange trees and fruits, unkno^vTi flowers, birds of most brilliant plumage, and, strangest of all, great numbers of copper-colored natives, who at first hid behind trees, but soon gathered around the Spaniards, gazing with rev- erent curiosity upon their white skins, their steel armor, their glittering weapons, and especially upon the admiral in his scarlet dress. The Spaniards knelt down and kissed the ground. They rose and chanted the Te Deum. Then Columbus unfurled his banner Landing of and formally claimed the land for Spain. He named the island San Salvador, or Holy Saviour. It was one of the Bahamas, no one knows which one, but many think that it was the one now Columbus The return to Spain 10 m OUR COUNTRY'S STORY THE LANDING OF i ^i \ V]:\-< (From Vanderlyn's painting in the Capitol at Washington) known as Watling's Island. The natives he called Indians, be- cause he supposed that he was on the coast of India. He asked the Indians where Cipango, or Japan, was, and they pointed to the south, for they thought that he meant some mountains with nearly the same name. They told him of " great water " to the westward, and he supposed they meant the Indian Ocean. The Indians had a tradition that some day white men would come dovm from the skies to visit them. They were overjoyed that the heavenly visitors, whom they thought the Spaniards to be, had come in their time, and when Columbus asked some of them to go to Spain with him, they were delighted. Such a recep- tion as the successful voyager had when he returned to Spain! There was a triumphal procession with soldiers and music and banners and gorgeous robes to escort Columbus to the king and COLUMBUS SHOWS THE WAY 11 queen. He knelt before them, but Isabella begged him to rise and seat himself — a rare honor in the Spanish court — and tell them all about his voyage and his discoveries. What a wonderful tale it must have been ! There is a story that at a dinner in honor of Columbus not long after this reception a jealous courtier asked him: — " If you had not sailed to the Indies, don't you suppose there are other men in Spain who would have made the voyage ? " Instead of answering, Columbus held up an egg and asked if Columbus any one present could make it stand on end. No one succeeded, until he took the egg, broke the end slightly, and in that way was able to make it stand. *' Any one could do that," muttered the envious courtier. " Yes," said the admiral quietly, " after I have shown the way." That was the work of Columbus, to " show the way." He made three other voyages, visiting more of the Bahama Islands and the West Indies, and sailing along Central America, Panama, and the northern coast of South America. He tried to govern a colony of turbulent Spaniards in the New World, but he failed, and his enemies reported such mali- cious stories of him that a new governor was appointed for the colony. He put the great admi- ral in chains and sent him back to Spain. The captain of the vessel would gladly have removed the fetters, but Columbus said : " No, the rulers of Spain have put chains upon me, and they alone shall take them off. So long as I live I will keep these chains, and they shall be buried with me." Ferdinand and Isabella were indignant at such treatment of so great a man, and there was no delay in striking off the chains. Yet sovereigns shows the way SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN, 1497 (From the earliest picture) 12 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY aiid kingdom were alike disappointed, Columbus had crossed the ocean, but he had discovered no gold; and although he was so sure that the islands -were off the coast of India that he called them the Indies, no great oriental cities had been found, and there seemed no reason to expect any great wealth to come from the new hinds. He fell into loneliness and suffering. The queen died, and he was friendless. Again the chil- dren in the streets pointed their fingers at him, the " admiral of the lands of deceit and disai>pomt- ment," as they called him. He died neglected and forgotten. Seven years after his death, King Fer- diuand built him a handsome tomb, but it would have been better to have treateil him kindly v.hen he was alive. Columbus was a great man, neither because he was the first to sail across an unknowni sea, nor because he thought the world was round, for a Why Colum- wise man named Aristotle believed that eighteen hundred years Kreat before Columbus's time ; he was great because he knew ^hat was true, and was ready to risk his life for truth's sake. roi iMius (From the statue in KHiriuouut I'ark, rhU. years after the voyage of Vespueins, there was another Ponce de expedition, the story of which seems like a fairy-tale. It was led Uw^Fminuiln ^*>' '^ ^veallhy Si)anish nobleman named Ponce de Leon, who had of Voutli been with C'olnmbns on one of his vo^'ages. His hair was growing while, and he longed to he a yi>nng man again, 'lliere was an old story that somewhere in Asia was a magical fonntain whose waters wonld make an old man young. So many things were new anil strange and mysterious in those days that this seemed no more impossible than anything else; and when De Leon heard sr.ixisH helmet that the Indians declared there was such a fountain in their land, he could not rest till he had tried to rind it. He had been living in Porto Kieo as governor, and therefore the Discovery of voyage lo the mainland was a short one. He landed on the coast *^'^' '' of Floriila on Easter Sunday, and as the Spanish word for Ea&ter is *' Pascua Florida," or Flowery Easter, he gave the name of Florida to the new land. It was a beautiful country, full of bright green trees, and flowers of many colors. There were rivers and lakes and springs. "Surely among all these," thought De Leon, "we shall find the Fountain of Youth." However, though he drank the water now of one anil now of another, and hoped at each draught that he would feel himself becoming stronger and younger, nowhere did he rind the magical fountain. Instead ~ -^ *, of growing young in Florida, it was there that he met .jy^ his death, for the Spaniards had treated '^ tlie Indians so badly that they hated the ~ white people whose coming with Columbus DE LKox s TiMK ~^^ luul bccu SO welcouie, and on De Leon's second visit he died by an Indian arrow. The year 1519 had come. Many dift'erent voyagers had sailed to xVmerieiu They had landed on islands, or had explored the EARLY FOLLOWERS OF COLUMBUS 17 coast for a little way, but few realized that a vast new continent lay west of the Atlantic. Most people thought all this expanse of land was connected with southeastern Asia, and that to the west of it lay the cities with wliich Europe had traded. They hoped there was some passage through this land which would give them a short route to India. One man who was especially interested Magellan's iciCfi of 3 in this idea was a Portuguese named Magellan. He was a warm- passage to hearted man, and it is quite possible tliat one reason why he India wished to cross the seas was because a dear friend of his was in the eastern Indies. The king of Portugal refused to have anything to do with the expedition. Then Magellan asked, " Have I your majesty's permission to offer my services to some other monarch?" The king replied shortly, "Do as you i)lease," and would not allow Magellan to kiss his hand at parting. Magellan did not wisli to give up the voyage, and he sailed in the service of Spain, though Spain and Portugal were not on the best of terms. He had five ships, and the brother of his friend was ^i. captain of one of them. He went to the eastern coast of South America, and when he came to the La Plata 1 liver, he felt al- most sure that this was the passage that every one was hojiing to find. He explored the stream for three hundred miles, but it grew narrower and the water grew fresher. There was nothing He sails in the service to do but to go back to the coast and try to find soine other pas- ^j spain sage. He sailed to the south, keeping near the shore. There were fearful storms that strained and weakened the ships, no one knew what dangers were before them, and they were short MACIKLLAN 18 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY He enters the Pacific Ocean Across the Pacific of food, " Let us go home," pleaded the sailors. "Our ships are weak, and we shall either be wrecked or else die of starvation." *' Never," answered the commander, " I will go on if I have to eat the leather from the ship's yards." On he went. The sailors rebelled. " He is only a foreigner," said they, " and what better service could he render to the king of Portugal than to lead a company of Spaniards to certain death ? " They even seized some of the ships, but Magellan fomid a way to ROUTE OF MAOELLAN'S SHU'S suppress the mutiny, and sailed on until he came to the strait that bears his name. Through the strait he went, and behold, a wide ocean stretched out before him ! This ocean seemed so calm and peaceful after all the storms that he had been through that he named it the Pacific. It is said that when he saw the quiet water, he was "so glad thereof that for joy the tears fell from his eyes." The sailors were in despair, but it would do no good to rebel, for they were so far from Spain that there was not nearly enough food to last for a return voyage. The only course was to press on in the hope that aid would be found somewhere in the wide ocean. It was long before the help came, and they suffered so severely from hunger that they actually did eat "the pieces of leather EARLY FOLLOWERS OF COLUMBUS 19 First voyage around the world > \Tn I s (Jb M A. ,1 LL\N •^ SlK\ITS which were folded about certain great ropes of the ship." At last they came to a group of islands where they could indeed buy some food, but the natives proved to be so dishonest that the Spaniards called them "Ladrones," or thieves, and the name has clung to the whole group of islands. Soon Magellan reached the Philippines, and' there he was killed in a fight with the na- tives, but not before he had met ships coming from the west, and knew that his ves- sels could make the rest of the journey home through well-known waters. One of them did this, and in 1522 the first voyage around the world was com- pleted. The name, New World, had often been used, but until this voy- age of Magellan's was made, few thought that this New World The New was a great double continent. Some supposed that what we caU North America was probably a group qf islands, and that some- where among these islands there was a passage through which ships might sail to Japan without going as far south as Magellan had done. They spoke of this strait which they hoped to find as the " Northwest Passage," and one man after an- other went out hopefully in search of it. How discouraged these bold navigators would have been if they had known that no such passage would be found until the middle of the nineteenth century, and that even then it would prove to be so far north as to have Uttle practical value ! World PmLIPPINE CANOE 20 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY In all these early voyages whoever landed on an unknown shore unfurled his banner and claimed the land for the sovereign in France is whose service he had sailed. France began to feel that it was thcf New '" ^""^ ^^^ ^^^'^ ^^ have a share in these new countries, for even if World there were no rich cities with which she could trade, there might be gold mines and j)recious stones. There is a tradition that the French King said : " Show me Father Adam's will that gives the earth to Spain and Portugal and shuts out France." Spanish voyagers had gone to South America and Mexico, and from those countries gold A MEXICAN KNuiAN ^^'^ ^'^^''^^ ^''''^ probably first visited. He went into a beautiful bay, but it was so warm that he could think of no better name to give it than l>aie des Chaleurs (Chaleur Bay), or the bay of heat. In the usual fashion of the early explorers, EARLY FOLLOWERS OF COLUMBUS 21 he claimed the land for his king and set up a great wooden cross. French The natives had received him kindly, but when the cross was set America up, the chief spoke as well as he could by signs and said : " This established is my country, not yours. I am its king, not you." This made no difference to Cartier, for it never entered the minds of these voyagers that the Indians had any rights. He did not care to have trouble, however, and he thought it was quite unneces- sary to tell the truth to an Indian, so he said: "That is nothing. The cross is only a beacon to show sailors the way to your country," When once in the Saint Lawrence, Cartier hoped that he had found the Northwest Passage, but just as it had been with Magellan in the La Plata, so it was here, for the stream grew narrower and the water fresher the farther they went. At last they had to admit that this was not the Passage so long desired. Cartier went on, however, to an island in the river where Montreal now stands. Plere was a little Indian village. Back of it was a high hill, and the view The Saint from this hill was so beautiful that he named it Mont Real, or the g^^o^"^^ royal mountain. To the river itself he gave the name Saint Law- rence, because he had discovered it on Saint Lawrence's Day. A few years later another great river, the Mississippi, was visited. This discovery was made by De Soto, the Spanish gov- De Soto's ernor of Cuba. He set out with a thousand men in nine ships. He carried mth him cattle, mules, horses, and also fierce blood- hounds which were sometimes used to hunt the natives. It is JACQUES CARTIER expedition 22 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The Missis- sippi River discovered i»F, SOTO in;Ariii.sm>mi ii (From Powell's picture in the Capitol at Wnshington) no wonder that the Indians who had welcomed the Spaniards so warmly became as savaEce as the hivaders, and tortured every Spaniard that fell into their hands. De Soto had been told that if he went to the westward he would find a land rich in gold, so to the west he made his way. He came to the JMississippi Kiver in 1541, but he found no gold. The In- dians had become bitter enemies, two thirds of his thousand men had died in the wilderness, and he decided to build two boats, float down the river to the Gulf of ^lexico, and then push on to Cuba. Before the boats could be made, De Soto died. He was so hated by the Indians that, for fear they should insult his grave, his followers hohowed out the trunk of an oak and buried their dead leader at midnight in the waters of the mighty stream that he had discovered. of different nations EARLY FOLLOWERS OF COLUMBUS 23 Nearly fifty years had passed since the first voyage of Columbus. Spain, England, Portugal, and P'rance had all sent out explorers. Explorations The general course of the Spaniards and the Portuguese had been to lands around the Gulf of Mexico and to the south of it. The English had sailed to Newfoundland and Labrador. The French had explored the Saint Lawrence. Both English and French had explored part of the eastern coast of North America. SUMMARY. Within fifty years after the voyage of Columbus: — The CaVjots visitfid the mainland of America. Vespucius coasted along South America. De Leon went to Florida. Magellan's ship sailed around the world. Cartier explored the Saint Lawrence. De Soto discovered the Mississippi. These voyages, together with that of Columbus, gave Spain, France, and England claims to land in North America. » They proved : — That the world was round. That it was much larger than had been supposed. That a continent lay between Europe and Asia. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. Write a conversation between two persons about the New World. Describe Cartier's planting the cross at Chaleur Bay. Describe the burial of De Soto. 24 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY III THE EARLY ATTEMPTS TO MAKE SETTLEMENTS Claims of France, Eng- land, and Spain As has been said, it was the custom for each ex- plorer to take possession for his king of whatever land he visited. This is why the French claimed the country about the Saint Lawrence, the Eng- lish claimed all between jMaine and Florida, and the Spanish claimed Flor- ida, Mexico, the West In- dies, and South America. There were no bounda- ries between these terri- tories, no one knew how far west the continent extended, and each sovereign had a vague idea that he had a right to all the land that was connected with the place where his explorer was the first to land. Fifty years after Columbus's death neither Spain, France, nor England had settled on the mainland of what is now the United States. Different explorers had tried to found colonies, and even on Columbus's first voyage some of his followers were so de- lighted Avith the new country that they ]iersuaded him to allow them to remain there when he sailed for home. This colony failed. OLD SPANISH (lATKWAY AT ST. AlCrSTIXE ATTEMPTS TO MAKE SETTLEMENTS 25 however, and so did all the others. The chief reason was that the Why the colonists had no thought of making their homes in the New ntes'failed World. What they wanted was to fill their pockets with gold or pearls or diamonds and then go back to Europe to spend their money. Filled with this idea, they paid little attention to the character of the region to which they were going. What the soil was, and whether it was a good place for a home, made little differ- ence to them. So much treasure hud been found in America that men were ready to believe that anything was of value if it only came from across the ocean. The caterpillars of Florida they took for remarkably fine silk- worms. Quartz crystals from near Quebec they felt sure were diamonds, and when a sea-captain carried home a black stone from the frozen lands north of Xorth ^imerica, he was immediately sent back across the ocean for a cargo of black stones, for the wise men of Lon- don declared that the specimen was full of gold. To colonists with such ideas as these, it seemed absurd to waste their time planting com, when by a little searching they could per- haps discover a gold mine. This is the chief reason why during the second fifty years after Columbus discovered America only two per- the United manent settlements were made in what is now the L'nited States. One was at Saint Augustine, in Florida, which the Spanish founded in 1565. The other, also Spanish, was at Santa Fe in Xew Mexico. SPANISH TKEASUHE SEKKEB (Showing the soldier's cuirass and halberd) First perma- nent settle- ments in A SILK wo KM 26 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Sir Walter Raleigh Of the colonies that failed one was unlike the others. This Mas founded by Sir Walter Kaleigh, the best known Englishman of his time. He was an admirable leader and a brave soldier, as well as the author of some very good poetry and an interesting history of the world. Whatever he undertook he did well, and he always seemed to know just what to do. There is a story that one day C^ueen Kli/.abeth wished to cross a piece of damp ground. The attendants ditl not know how to save her jNlajesty from setting her royal foot in the mud, but, quick as thought, Sir Walter spread his rich velvet mantle on the ground before her, and the queen passed over safely. Whether this is true or not, the warrior poet was a successful courtier, and Elizabeth was inclined to grant whatever he asked. He was greatly mterested in the New World, and he had some ItlUTlirLACK, OK SIK WAI.TKU UAl.KlCll AT HAYKS IN nKVONSlllUl-: ideas that were unlike those of most men of his time. Others had thought that the chief value of America lay in the gold mines that might be found there; Kaleigh believed that if colonists would form real settlements and cultivate the ground, their sow- ing and reaping would be worth more than the vague chance of ATTEMPTS TO MAKE SETTLEMENTS 27 discovering? a mine. Most men tiiouglit that if the Northwest R^J^'gJj^s Passage could be found, Europe would become enormously rich about from trade with Asia. Raleigh dreamed of America's becoming America a second home of the English nation. "And when the land is full of English towns," he thought, " what need will there be of trading with Asia ? Will not this American England give us a market for our manufac- tures?" Raleigh was a rich man, and he straightway sent out two ships to explore the coast of America. The next thing to do was to interest Queen Eliz- abeth in the plan. A man named Richard Ilakluyt knew more about America tlian any one else, and Raleigh asked him to write a book for her, telling why it would be a good thing for England to have colonies in the New World. I lakluy t gave many reasons. He brought for- ward the hope that America would become a market for Eng- Reasons lish manufactures. He declared that England would soon have colomes'"^ neither food nor work for her people. It was becoming so much more profitable to raise sheep than grain that large numbers of English farmers were turning their farms into sheep pastures. They no longer planted grain, and as one man could care for many sheep, the men who had been working on farms had nothing to do. It is no wonder that many people agreed with Ilalcluyt. QUEEN ELIZABETH (From a portrait In the Queen Victoria collection) 28 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Objections to planting colonies Another strong reason was that England could weaken Spain by having colonies in America. English vessels, he said, could easUy go forth from these colonies and caj)- ture Spanish treasure ships, as well as di'ive the Spaniards from the Newfoundland fishing grounds. Spain would no longer receive the vast amounts of gold that had been coming to her from her American pos- QUEEN ELIZABETH'S COACH scssious. " Thcu is there no doubt," said Hakluyt, " but the Spanish empire falls to the ground, and the Spanish king shall be left bare as ^Esop's proud crow." Elizabeth was much mterested m the plan, and on the return of Kaleigh's exploring vessels suggested that the land which they had visited should be called Virginia in honor of her, their virgm queen. "When she was asked to send out a colonj^ it was a different matter. No doubt it would be a good thing to have powerful settlements in America from which vessels could be sent out to capture Spanish ships, but it would be some years before these settlements would be strong enough to do anything of the kind, and in the mean time England needed all her money and all her ships to meet an attack that was threatened by Spain. Finally Raleigh sent out more than one hundred emigrants at his own expense. The queen had granted him a generous tract of land, for "Virginia" was to extend from Cape Fear to Halifax, and she had promised that American colonists should have aJl the privileges of men born TOBACCO ATTEMPTS TO MAKE SETTLEMENTS 29 and living in England, and that they should make such laws as they thought best. England claimed this vast area of land because of the discoveries of the Cabots. Elizabeth said that Spanish claims were nothing where Spain had no settlements, and as for have, no one thought went to Roanoke Is- Raleigh's It failed utterly, ^^^^"y ^^"« was delayed, any rights that the Indians might of them at all. In 1585 the colony land, off the coast of North Carolma. The promised ship with provisions the men were homesick, they pre- ferred to search for gold rather than to work, and the governor de- clared that they talked too much ! An English vessel came to the island, and they all went home. They carried with them pota- toes and tobacco, and from that day to this, as has been said, " the air of Eng- land has never been free from tobacco smoke." Two years later Ra- leigh sent out a second colony to the same place, this time of men, wo^ men, and children. Not Spanish treasure ships long after they landed, there was born to the governor's daughter His second a little girl, who was the first child born in America of English ^°^°^y parents. She was named Virginia Dare. No one knows what became of this little American girl, for the governor had to return to England ; and when three years later he was able to go back to the colony, the little granddaughter and all the other colonists 30 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY had disappeared. There is a tradition that some Indians were at first kind to them, but afterwards murdered nearly all. It was rumored that one youn{^ girl was among the few that the savages spared, but whether it was the child Virginia, no one can telL Kaleigh had not forgotten the colonists during those three the colonists SrAMSU Ali.MAli.V AllAtivi.ii li \ iiir. r.MiLISU FLEET (Froiii an ancient tapestry in the House of Lords) Why Raleigh years. lie tried to send a vessel to them, but it was driven back fhA "°inn?l?c to port by the Spaniards. lie tried again, but the English govern- ment had need of every ship in the kingdom, and his vessel was seized for the service of his country. This was in the famous year 1588. Spain was determined to conquer England, and she had fitted out a great fleet of warships. The Spanish word for fleet is " armada," and Spain was so sure that no other vessels could resist her onslaught that she called the fleet the Invincible Armada. This attack was not for money or possessions ; the king of Spain meant to become also king of England. The whole land was aroused. Every one who owned a vessel went out to fight the Armada, and the end of the matter was that the Spanish ships were so shattered by the English attacks and by storms that not more than one half ever returned to Spain. ATTEMPTS TO MAKE SETTLEMENTS 31 mistress e seas Before this time England had always been afraid of contests with the Spaniards, for Spain was a rich and powerful country. English vessels were so often captured by Spanish men-of-war that even if English colonies had been jjlanted in America, the colonists could not have been sure of receiving food and suppUes from England ; but after the victory over the Armada, England England is was " mistress of the seas " and could plant her colonies where J^ she would. Spain was thorouglily subdued and seldom ventured to interfere. This contest took place while Queen Elizabeth lived ; but when she died, King James, the next sovereign, seemed to care for nothing else so much as winning the friendship of Spain. Now Spain hated Raleigh, not only because he had fought against the Armada, but because he had tried to plant a colony and to find a gold mine on what she claimed was Spanish soil; and to please Spain this great man was kept in prison for twelve years, and finally executed on a false charge of trea- son. Prisoner as he was, he never gave up his interest in America. " I shall live ^ Wll-^^ to see Virginia an English nation," he said, and he did see the beginning of a new home for part of the English people across the ocean. If he could look upon America now, he would think that his dream had come true, though it would surprise him greatly that the colonies planted by English- men were no longer under English rule. Ameri- cans should never forget Sir Walter Raleigh, for Spanish gentleman of he was one of the first men in the world to be- the'armada period lieve in the wonderful future that lay before our land. In 1600 America had been known for one century. People had by that time a fair idea of the shape of South America, but. 32 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Ideas about North Amer- ica in 1600 Search for the North- west Pas- sage r L MEERIMi THE NUKTHWEST I'ASSAliE (The Hudson lUver explored during' the search) although explorers had coasted along the eastern shores of North America, and also along the Avestern shores as far as what is now called Oregon, no one liad any notion of the shape or size of the northern half of the New "World. From P'lorida to where New York now stands might ' '0 a solid mass of land, they thought, extend- ing to California, but Canada and all the northwestern part of what is now the United States many supposed to be one great sea broken by islands. From \'irginia across the land to this vast northern ocean they thought was perhaps one hundred miles. Explorers hoped to find a strait through this land, and when- ever a mariner came to the wide mouth of a river, he would say to himself, "Surely I am the fortunate man who has discovered the North- west Passage." If he sailed up the river, he found the water less salt with every mile, and at last he would turn his ships about and sail back, saying, "The Northwest Passage must lie farther north, or it may be farther south." Never would he say to himself, "There is no Northwest Passage." Although Raleigh saw farther into sassakkas the future of America than most other men, he was not the only ATTEMPTS TO MAKE' SETTLEMENTS 33 one interested in the New World. Valuable woods and dyestuifs Increased had been found ; sassafras had been discovered, and sassafras was ^^^ -^^^ the fashionable medicine of the day, the remedy that would cure World all diseases. Merchants began to feel that there were as good opportunities for gain in America as elsewhere in the world. Other books than Hakluyt's were written to show that it was worth while to plant colonies. One strong reason for making settlements in America was that by founding colonies England might have a larger share in the American fisheries. Great quantities of fish were caught off the shores of Newfoundland. Many more Frenchmen than Englishmen had taken advantage of this fact ; but if only there were colonies near the fishing codfish grounds, the English fishermen could be (The most important of the American Ashes) protected from their enemies, and the colonists could salt and dry lish and have it ready to send home to England. SUMMARY. France, England, and Spain all claimed a share in the New World, but in 1600 there were only two permanent colonies, — Saint Augustine in Florida, and Santa Fe in New Mexico. Both were Spanish. Raleigh believed that America would become a second home of the English nation. He planted two colonies on Roanoke Island, but both failed. England's defeat of the Armada enabled her to plant colonies without fear of Spain. In 1600 the shape of North America was unknown. The continent was thought to be much narrower than it is. It was also believed that a passage led through it to the Pacific. England was feeling interested in the Newfoundland fisheries, and mer- chants were finding that there were opportunities for gain in the New World. 34 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. Raleigh writes a letter to Queen Elizabeth, asking for help to found a colony. One of Raleigh's colonists writes a letter home describing the potato. What became of little Virginia Dare ? What Raleigh would think of America to-day. IV THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAYS The differ- ent Indian tribes For many centuries be- fore Columbus came to America the country was inhabited by a copper- colored people whom he called Indians, because he supposed that he was on the coast of India. There were many different J tribes, and each tribe had a name, but for their race as a whole they had no other name than a word meaning " Men," or " Real Men." The Indians of the northwest never had any settled homes, but roamed about from place to place and lived on fish and game. Those of the southwest lived in fortresses of stone, often built four or five stories high up the face of a cUff, au4 INDIAN PWKI.MNC. IN THE SOl'TliWEST (The rueblo of Wolpi in Arizona) THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAYS 35 each of them large enough to make a dwelling for two or three thousand persons. Those of the east, the ones with whom the early English colonists had most to do, gathered into villages. They lived partly by the chase, and partly on some of the vegetables that are most easily raised, — corn, beans, pumpkins, and squashes. The Indians who dwelt in villages some- times built long houses large enough for Long houses many families, with a division for each family. ^"^ ^*^" •^ warns Sometimes they made wigwams. For these they drove poles into the ground in a circle and fastened the tops together for a frame- work. Then they spread over this framework the bark of trees, or skins fastened together with the sinews of animals. Sometimes, like the people who hved in England in the early days, they wove slender twigs back and forth among the poles. The fire was on the ground in the middle of the wig- wam, and the smoke made its way out as best it could. Each family had its own wigwam. The husband, or brave, must protect his wife and children from their foes, and he must procure whatever meat and fish were used. The wife, or squaw, must provide the vegetables. She must not only cook them, but she must plant the seed and give them what- ever care was needed while they were growing. A brave would work to make bows and arrows, but he would not hoe the corn. If his family moved, he would stalk on ahead with his weapons, while Ms wife followed as best she could with the household goods. This seems at the first glance like a most unfair division of iabor. but it must be remembered tha-t when the brave fished, hcj SQUAW CARRYING A PAPOOSE The Indian family A STONE AXE 36 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The brave had something more to do than to bait his hook and drop it into the water. lie must make his hook before he could bait it, and he must make his line from the fibrous bark of some tree. If he needed a pole, he must cut it, not with a sharp steel hatchet, but with a dull stone knife, and he nuist also make the knife. His boat was either a birch-bark canoe, or a " dug-out," which was hollowed out of the trunk of a tree. Making a boat, as well as almost all other work that the Indians did, was long, slow, and wearisome. The household goods of the Indians were few. There was per- \ \ N 1 \ i \ I \ \I I«;OMF WORK haps a basket or two, some skins to sleep on, a bowl made of clay hardened in the fire, and not much else. If there was a baby, or The papoose papoose, in the household, it was not allowed to lie on the ground or creep about as white babies do. An Indian mother would have thought it very careless to treat her precious child in such a fashion. The Indian baby was carefully wrapped in the softest of skins and tied to a framework of wicker or wood. Then baby and framework were stood up in any safe place, or swung to the THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAYS 37 branch of a tree, where the wind would rock the child better than a cradle, and the bright green leaves, gleaming in the sunshine and waving in the breeze, were prettier playthings than any that are found in the toyshops. The Indians of to-day who have not adopted the ways of the white people treat their children in the same manner, and the babies always look contented and happy. When the children grew older, the girls were taught to do all the kinds of work that their mothers did. They learned to make baskets and pottery, to plant corn and cultivate it, and to cook in the clay bowls. If they had only dishes of wood, they would fill them with water and heat the water by dropping in hot stones. In this way they could boil their meat and vegetables ; or they could broil the meat over the open fire and roast the " potatoes and squashes in the hot ashes. They had no way of grinding corn, but they pounded it into a coarse meal, mixed it with water, and made cakes of it. Making the clothes of the family did not re- quire much time, for no one wore very many. Indian A rudely woven garment of cotton or grass- '^'^^"'"S cloth was enough for the summer, wliile leggings of skin and a fur cloak were a wardrobe for many winters. The Indian women liked pretty things as well as white women do, and they gave a great deal of attention to the shoes of the family. These shoes were called moccasins. They were made of soft, thick deerskin, and were embroidered with porcupine quills and tiny shells. It was partly because of this embroidery that the Indians were so dehghted when the colonists gave them beads. THE INDIAN BABY'S CRADLK "-^S^ BOILING FOOD IN AN EARTHEN POT 38 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Teapons The scalp lock for beads were easier to use than shells and of much more bril- liant colors. As the boys grew older, they were taught to do ^hat their fathers did. They learned not only to fish and shoot, but to make their own fisliliooks of bits of bone, and their own bows of wood with the sinews of deer for bow-strmgs. The heads of the arrows were made of stone, and the Indian boy must work patiently hour after hour, chipping off a httle bit of stone at each blow, until he had brought the head to the proper shape. Then it was bound fast to the wooden arrow. He must make his knife by rubbing a bone on a rock until it had an edge. The tomahawk was made of stone, and that, too, was shaped and sharpened by being rubbed on a rock until it slowly came to be of the right form. The Indian boys did not have an easy time by any means. Even their games were not what we should call play, for many of them were only tests to see who could endure most. It is said that one game was played by the boys putting red- hot coals under their arms. The boy who dropped his coal first was laughed at and de- iNDiAN WEAPONS gpiggf]^ wliilc the one who bore the pain long- est wa^ the hero of the day and was honored by the boys and by their fathers. As soon as the boy was old enough to become a war- rior, his head was shaved, except for one long lock of hair called the scalp-lock. When an Indian killed an enemj% he always " scalped " him, that is, he cut off a round piece of the skin of the scalp. This lock was left to make it convenient to cut off the piece of skin and carry it away. An Indian would FISHHOOKS OK 1U)XE THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAYS 39 have thought it exceedingly cowardly to remove his scalp-lock before going to fight, and when he looked upon an enemy's, it seemed to say, "Take me if you can." Their fighting was carried on m quite a different fashion from that of Europeans. The Indian had no idea of two lines of war- iVlethod of riors facing each other and shooting till the men of one side had either fallen or run away. That would have seemed to him a. most ridiculous thing to do. The proper way to fight, according to his ideas, was to shoot from behind rocks and trees, or to come suddenly upon his enemies with a horrible war-whoop, perhaps in the middle of the night, and kill them before they were fairly awake. The Indians often tortured their prisoners, but perhaps not wholly from the fiendish delight, that some races have shown, in see- ing the sufferings of others. To bear torture , . „ ^ ° _ •'an INDIAN SCALP- without a groan was their test of a great man. lock If the prisoner contrived to get the better of his captors by some deed of bravery, they showed him all honor. Only a few years ago, a young missionary won over a group of Indians in Dakota by riding a " bucking " pony that they had not been able to man- age. " After that," said he, " I could preach to them all day if I chose, and they would listen to every word." Each tribe had a chief, but all important questions were talked over in a general council of the braves of the tribe. The records Wampum of these councils were carefully kept, only the Indian way was not by pen and paper, but by the use of small shells made into beads and called wampum. Belts were made of this wampum, and as shells of different colors were used, sometimes pictures of men and animals were formed ; but even if there were no pictures, the Indians could tell by the arrangement of the shells what had 40 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Religion been done at a council, or what treaties had been made. This wampum was not only a record, but the shells took the place of money, and for some time even the colonists used them for that purpose. After a while the Indians made their wampum of beads, and a handful of beads was to a red man what a handful of gold dollars is now to a white man. With this in mhid, the price paid for Khode Island, forty fathoms of wliite wampum, does not seem so ridiculously small. The Indians thought that if they were brave warriors they would go to the "Happy Hunting Grounds" when they died. That they might be able to follow the chase in this world of happiness their weapons were usually buried with them, and wAMia^i sometimes a dog was killed and laid at the feet of his dead master. They are thought to have believed m one Great Spirit, who was more powerful than all other gods, though they also worshiped the sun, rain, wind, Ughtning, or anything else that could help or harm them. They were honest and truthful with mem- bers of their own tribe, and they had a great admiration for any one among the wliites who kept his word with them. Long after the early colonial days, a man in Pennsylvania was AN INDIAN PIPE caUed among them " He ^. that Tells the Truth"; and even now the In- \ dians of Minnesota speak of the late Bishop Whipple as " Straight Tongue," because he never broke his word to them. In their dealings with the wliites, they always remembered a Treatment of kindness, though they never forgot to avenge an injury. Almost the Indians i, r j.i i , o j j by the «il oi the early explorers say that the Indians were at first gentle whites and friendly. The whites looked down upon them as heathen, THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAYS 41 treatment of the red men brought upon the colonists many of the attacks that filled their lives with fear and suffering. If there was any difficulty with the Indians, the whites would generally stand by one another; and for this reason the Indians felt that if one group of settlers had done them a wrong, they had a per- fect right to avenge it on any other group. Such were the people whom the early settlers in America had ' to meet. If from the first coming of the dis- coverers the red men had been treated with kindness, taught and not despised, many a story of suffering and bloodshed would have been unwritten. To the Spanish founder of Saint Augustine the Pope wrote: "Have a care that you show not bad habits and vices to the Indians, and so prevent them from be- coming Christians." It is to be regretted that this advice was not always followed. The red men looked upon the first white men that they saw as angels come down from the skies to counsel them and teach them. It was a sad thing for them and for the whole country that their first century of acquaintance with Europeans should have often shown them the white man, not as the kind teacher, but as the savage conqueror, ready for the sake of gold to torture, enslave, and murder the people who had wel- comed him and trusted him. THE WARRIOR'S WAR DANCE SUMMARY. Columbus called the natives of America Indians, because he thought he was on the coast of India. The Indians that had settled homes lived in stone fortresses, in long houses, ^^ OUR COUNTRY'S STORY or in wigwams. Their food wa^ vegetables, fish, or the animals that they shot. Their tools and weapons were made of stone or bone. Their boats were canoes or dug-outs. The papoose was protected by a wooden framework. The girls learned to make household utensils, to cook, raise corn, and make the clothes of the famUy. The boys learned to hunt, fish, and make their own weapons. Their games were often tests of endurance. The warrior always had a scalp-lock. He shot from behind rocks and trees. He often tortured prisoners. Wampum was used for money and for keeping tlie records of the tribe. The Indians believed that after death they would live again. They reraem- bered a kindness, but never forgot an injury. They welcomed the fii-st white men as teachers come from the skies. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN ^VORK. An Indian boy tells a white boy how to build a wigwam. An Indian girl tells how her mother cooks the dinner. The Indians held a council about making war upon the whites ; what did they say ? VIRGINIA, THE FIRST PERMANENT ENGLISH COLONY Sir Walter Raleigh at last concluded that planting colonies a^ndTo"nJon '^'''''^'^ ^^. ^^'^ '^''''^ ""^ '^ ^^^ ^'" ^^ ^ company of men, and he Companies o'^^'*^ "P ^^i^ claim to the American lands. While he was in prison, two companies were formed to send colonists to Virgmia. Tliey were named the Plymouth Company and the London Company, King James gave to the Plymouth Company the land between Xova Scotia and Long Island, and to the London Company, the land between the Potomac and Cape Fear. From the Athintio VIRGINIA 43 to the Pacific is about three thousand miles, but no one supposed then that it was more than one or two hundred, and King James declared that these grants were to extend from ocean to ocean. The strip between the two claims was to belong to the company that could colonize it first. The Plymouth Company did little more than to coast along the L _.o N D O N ^'»' ,,,, shore and trade with the In- dians, but the London Com- The London pany founded the first per- ff^s^P^f/nJ manent English settlement in America. In 1607 the London Com- pany sent out one hundred and five men. Many promi- nent persons in England were interested in this colony, and Hakluyt wrote them a long letter of advice. He told them to be kind to the " nat- urals," as he called the In- dians, but not to trust them. An English poet wrote a poem Ideas of about " Virginia, earth's only paradise." In the plays of the time there was much talk about this marvelous country. One character says: — "l tell thee, gold is more plentiful there than copper is with us. . . . All the prisoners they take are fettered in gold ; and for rubies and diamonds, they go forth on holidays and gather them by the seashore to hang on their cliildren's coats and stick in their children's caps." The little company sailed for America. Up the coast they Virginia GRANTS TO THE LONDON AND PLYMOUTH COMPANIES 44 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY EXOLISH SOLPIEK OK li>« Sickness and other troubles went ; between two points of land, which they named Cape Charles and Cape Henry m honor of the two sous of King James; and up a river, which they named the James Kiver in honor of the khig himself. On a peninsula which extended into the stream they decided to make their settlement. They called it Jamestown. Evernlmig was against the colony. They had thought more of defense than of good air, and they had settled where it was damp and un- healthy. The river water was not fit to drink. They had so scanty a supply of food that one pint of wormy wheat and barley a day was all that could be allowed to a man. Such a hot sum- mer they had never kno^^^l. Fever broke out, and more than half the company died. Some of these troubles might have been avoided if the colonists had been a dif- ferent kind of men, but half of them had no idea how to work with their hands. Some had come to see what adven- tures they might meet with, some to search for gold, and i AriAix johs smith some with the hope of whining glory and a royal reward by finding the Northwest Passage. All these men needed houses, and there were but four CiU'penters in the party. VIRGINIA 45 With sickness and hmiger and helplessness there would have been little hope for the colonists if there had not been among Early adven- their number one man, Captain John Smith, who knew what to ^^-^^ do. lie wrote the story of his life, and it is full of adventures almost as wonderful as those of Sindbad the Sailor. When he came to Virginia, he was only twenty-seven years of age, and in those twenty-seven years he had served as a soldier in three or four countries, and had been tossed into the sea as one whom a company of self-right- eous pilgrims thought woidd bring them bad luck. Three times he had en- gaged in smgie combat with a Turk- ish champion, while two armies watched the contest with de- light. He was taken prisoner by the Turks and made to wear a heavy iron collar. He escaped to Rus- sia, and finally made his way back to England just in time to join the Virginia expedition. His story is a strange one, but in those days of wild adventures it was not impossible for such things to come to pass. Some of the Indians about Jamestown were hostile, others were inclined to be friendly. Smith contrived to compel the hostile tribes and persuade the friendly ones to sell the colonists corn. John Smith After a while he set out on an exploring trip up one of the rivers. Indians He was taken prisoner, but he showed the Indians his pocket- SMITH DKFEATS THH TUUKISII CHAJITION (From a rare print. Tlie orescent and cross above distinguish the Turk from the Christian) 46 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY A GENTLEMAN OF IGIO compass, and they harcUy dared to kill a man who had such a wonderful article ; he might bring some terrible evil upon them. After much discussion, however, it was decided to run the risk. His head was laid upon a stone, Pocahontas and the warriors were ready to strike, when Po- cahontas, the little daughter of the chief, claimed the prisoner as hers, and his life was saved. This is the story that Smith tells, and there is no special reason for doubting it. It was not uncommon among the Indians for one of the tribe to rescue a prisoner in this way. The chief, Powhatan, was perhaps a little amused to see the child claiming the rights of a grown i)erson ; and then, too, he was half afraid to put the man to death, and it may be that he was glad to find a way to avoid it. Powhatan told Smith that he was now a mem- ber of their tribe and might go back to his white friends whenever he chose. On the day of Smith's return another shipload of men arrived from England, but they would do nothing ex- cept to search for gold. Before long some earth was found that was full of bright yellow gi-ains of metaL " That is gold," they cried in delight, and the ship was sent back across the ocean with what proved to be worthless dirt. A third shipload of men came, but they were like the others, — eager to search for gold, and with no idea of doing any work. John Smith A \nRGiNiA INDIAN ^^s now govcmor of the colony, and he ^v^ote to the (From John Smith's map) Loudon Company : "Send us but thirty carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners, fishermen, blacksmiths, masons, and dig- gers up of trees' roots, rather than a thousand of such as we have." VIRGINIA 47 The third sliip had also brought a letter from the Company. The men who had paid for carrying the colonists to Virginia Three de- thoiight it was time for them to receive some return from their Company investment. Their demands seem like the three feats required of the hero of a fairy-tale, for they said that the colonists must either send them a great lump of gold, or discover the Northwest Passage, or else find what had become of the English who had disappeared from Roanoke Island nearly twenty years earlier. "The Company are fools," said Governor Smith bluntly; but probably the Company thought that they had asked no more than was fair. They may have reasoned, " Where a substance so nearly like gold is found, there nuist be gold not far away, and it is mere idleness and laziness not to discover it." What the colony would have done without the common sense of John Smith is a question. The plan had been that whatever money and food could be obtained should be divided equally. The lazy ones knew that they would fare as well whether they did any work or not, and so they idled their time away. Governor Smith put an end to that, and now if a man would not work six hours a ''■ /1 had to learn to hoe corn and cut down trees. The 1/ ^ v, axes blistered their fingers, and they seemed to fancy /V that the pain would be less if they swore about it. The governor had an account kept of their oaths, and at night indian corn one can of cold water was poured down each man's sleeve for every oath that he had uttered during the day. This punishment, according to John Smith's " History of Virginia," was so success- ful that " a man would scarce hear an oath in a week." The Indians began to see that the white men meant to stay in America, and they were not pleased. Even Powhatan refused to Powhatan is sell corn, but the child Pocahontas was friendly, and often the ""^'"'^"'^^y 48 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY time lives of the colonists would have been much harder if she and her companions had not brought them corn and venison. Three years passed. Governor Smith was badly injured by an The starving accident and had to return to England. Then came a terrible winter known as the " starving time," when the colonists suffered so severely from cold and famine that in the spring only sixty were alive out of five hundred. " It is of no use to try to live in Virginia," said they. " We will make our way to Newfoundland if we can, and then cross to England." They went aboard their small boats and were far down the river when, behold, three stately ships came into view, full of provisions. The colonists turned back joyfully, and Jamestown was saved. On board the vessel was a new governor who ruled in much the same Avay as John Smith. He gave every man a piece of land and said, " You must work if you wish to eat." After a while the settlers became more willing to work, for they found that it paid better than searching for gold. A far-seeing man named John Kolfe had be- gun to raise tobacco. Smoking was now common in England, and smokers would i)ay a large price for Virginia tobacco, so before many years the poor Virginians were becoming the rich Virgin- ians. One chapter of the liistory of the colony might have come from a story-book. When the little girl Pocahontas was about twenty years old, she married the planter John Rolfe, who took his bride to England. The "Lady Kebekah," as she was there called, was received as a princess, the great king, for even then people in Europe could not seem to understand that Powhatan was not a mighty sov- ereign governing a nation, but a naked savage ruling over a A VIRGINIA PLANTKK The Lady daughter of a Rebekah VIRGINIA 49 little tribe in the wilderness. John Smith went to see the tall, handsome, digniiied young woman, but when he addressed her as " Lady Rebekah," she was grieved and said : " But you must call me your child and let me call you father, just as we did in Vir- ginia." Powhatan sent several of liis tribe to England with Pocahontas. He was anxious to know how many people there were in the Counting the distant land across the ocean, and to one of his men he gave a "^ '^ bundle of little sticks, telling him to cut a notch every time he met a white man. When the Indian landed in London, he took J\An slow N IN 1 2 (From an early Dutch account of \ irginn) one look at the crowds waiting to see the ship come in, grunted in amazement, and threw away Ms bundle of sticks. , In 1619, when the settlement was twelve years old, three im- portant events took place. The first was the arrival of a shipload A shipload of of women. The London Company knew that unless the colonists ^o"^^" had homes of their own, they would come back to England as soon as they had made their fortunes. It was much better for the Company to have permanent settlers than to have the land cultivated first by one man and then by another, so they brought over ninety respectable young women who were willing to live in the new country. There was many a suitor for the hand of 50 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY every girl. The one wlioni she chose must pay the cost of her passage, — one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco, — and soon there were ninety marriages and ninety homes. The coming of these women and of those who followed them was what made Virginia a permanent colony, for when the men had homes in the new land, they were no longer eager to make their way back to the mother country. In England no one was allowed to tax the people except the House of Commons, and mem- The House '■^^^^^^--"'TX^^^^ bers of that body were not ap- of Burgesses " • ^-- ":- _^-;=:^_ ; ^ ^^ l)ointed by the king, but were chosen by the people. Thus far Virginia had been ruled by a governor appointed by the London Company. The settlers did not object to this, but they said that there ought also to be an assembly chosen by them, just as members of the House of Commons were chosen by the people of England, and that only such an assembly should have the right to tax them. The London Company agreed,' SPEAKER'S CHAIR, HOUSE OF BURGESSES , , , . ^^ ^ ^^ and an assembly met, called the House of Burgesses, or citizens. This was the beginning of self- government in America, and was the second great event. A de- mand for similar rights of taxation, made by the American colo- nies a century and a half later, led to the Revolutionary War. The third event was the beginning of slavery. The Virginians were cultivating great plantations of tobacco, and they needed many laborers. It became the custom in England to send over VIRGINIA 51 shiploads of criminals to serve the planters for a term of years. The begin- Kidnappers would steal children and even grown persons, if they "iT^fery in had no friends to make trouble, and sell them to the planters. America Sometimes poor people who wished to come to America would sell themselves, that is, they would agree to work a certain tune for any one who would pay their passage. Even this supply was not enough, and in the year 1619 a Dutch ship brought twenty negroes to Virginia from Africa and sold them as slaves. So began that slavery which, two centuries later, had so much to do with bringing about the great Civil War that came near making our United States the divided states. Thus in the same year an English colony first began to be per- manent, the ideas that led to the Revolution were first manifested hi America, and the slavery which brought about the Civil War made its first appearance. About half a century later, the Virginians again proved their de- termination to resist tyranny. Governor Berkeley had made him- Bacon's self very unpopular, and when the colony was attacked by the ^ ^ ^°^ Indians, refused to defend it, because he was afraid of the militia. A volunteer force assembled, chose Nathaniel Bacon their captain, and defeated the Indians. Thereupon the Governor declared Bacon a rebel. Then there was rebellion indeed, and finally the Virginians set fire to Jamestown to prevent Berkeley from taking shelter there. Bacon soon died, Imt at least a score of his friends were hanged by the angry Governor. SUMMARY. In 1607 the first permanent English settlement "was made at Jamestown. The colonists suffered greatly from sickness and want. By the wisdom of John Smith the Indians were induced to furnish food, but after his return to England seven eighths of the colonists perished. In 1G19 women came from England, and the colonists began to have homes; the House of Burgesses, the first representative assembly in America, was established ; and negro slavery was introduced. 52 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK Powhatan tells a friendly chief about Pocahontas's saving John Smith' .- life. John Smith's reply to the letter from the Company mentioned. One of the colonists describes the punishment given to a profane person. VI PLYMOUTH, THE FIRST COLONY IN NEW ENGLAND In 1620 the first settlement in New England was made at First settle- Plymouth in Massachusetts. The Virginia colonists came to mentin New ^mgpica to make their fortunes; the Massachusetts colonists England ' came that they might be free to worship God in the way that they believed would be most pleasing to him. In those times most people thought that every person in a country ought to belong to the same church as the king, and to pay taxes for the sup- port of that church. King James belonged to the Episcopal Church, or Church of England, and he declared that he would make all his sub- jects attend it. Those who were not Episcopa- lians were fined and imprisoned without mercy. Among them were the Puritans and the Sepa- ratists. " Puritans '\ was a nickname that was given to those who said that they wished to make the church purer. The name "Separa- tists" was given to those who wished to leave the church, and these were the people whom we THE PILGRIM DRESS Call thc Pilgrim Fathers. PLYMOUTH 53 The king forbade them even to hold meetings at one another's The Pilgrims houses, and whenever one of his officers found them doing tliis, f^j^J^ they were either fined or imprisoned. They . knew that in Holland men were free to attend whatever church they chose, and they determined to go to Holland to live. King James had said that he would " harry out of the land " all who would not attend his church, but when the Separatists were ready to go, his officers found out their plan and arrested the whole company. They made a second attempt, and a second time the king's men discovered the plan. At last they succeeded in making their way to Holland. They were in a strange land with a people whose cus- toms and language were new, but they were free. For a while they were happy, but as their children grew older, the parents found that in spite of all that could be done, the young folks were learning the ways of the children around them and were talking in their language. Badly as the English government had treated them, they still wished to live under its rule, and they began to think of America. They decide They talked about Guiana, but decided that it would be too warm. ^ §° ^° In Virginia the Episcopal Church was in power. John Smith had explored the coast of New England and had given it its name, but he had reported that it was exceedingly cold. They concluded that the best place was somewhere between the Potomac and Long Island. The London Company would gladly allow them to settle on their land, but the king's permission must be gained. When they asked King James for a charter, or written agree- WIXDillLL IN HOLLAKD 54 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY :--\:'-V.^-':r'r^^:rv<^'^-^:i^^:- ■; r/-. -;>:a;R*f^^ - • :.r-m r\ ^ VI, )/;/ r..,, i ^1 . »^^„^^» '^^H^^H^Hpi^H^^m HMSPffi BS^ ^^^H^^^^^^B^BBI^IBe^' v^^*''*^!/ ' "^M^Hfl^^^^BBHi ^^ THE PILGKIMS' DEPARTURE FROM HOLLAND (From an old Dutch painting) The May- flower sets sail The voyage ment that they might settle in America, he said no, he would give no charter, but they might go if they chose, and so long as they behaved themselves no one should disturb them. To England they went, and then set sail for America in two vessels, the Speedwell and the Mayflower. The Speedwell sprang a leak; and it is possible that the captain's report made the injury greater than it was, for he had agreed not only to carry the Pilgrims to America, but to remain there with them for a year, and he was sorry for his bargain. Over one hundred passengers crowded into the Mayflower. Nine weeks they were on the ocean. There was an accident. Severe storms drove them out of their course, and forced them to take refuge in Massachusetts Bay instead of going farther south as they had planned. The land about the bay belonged to the Plymouth Company, but the Pil- grims knew that the Company would be only too glad to have PLYMOUTH 55 a settlement made on their territory, so they decided to stay where they were. Before they landed, they met in the cabin of the Mayflower and wrote a paper promising to obey whatever laws should be made, in search of After the paper had been signed, a party went ashore to explore ^ home the country and find a suitable place for their home. It was November. The shores were barren, " of a wild and savage hue," wrote one of the Pilgrims. Xo place fit for a settlement was found. For many days they explored the coast. The captain and the sailors grew more and more impatient. " Choose your place soon," said the captain, " for I shall keep enough food to carry my men to England." The sailors muttered, " We '11 put your goods on shore and leave you." Another party went out to explore. John Carver, the first governor, William Bradford, the second, and the fiery little soldier. Miles Standish, were of this party. Such troubles as they had! It was so cold that the spray froze to their clothes. A hea'vy storm began to rage, the rudder broke, and the mast snapped into three pieces. At last they ^^^ reached land, but what land it was they knew not, for night had come upon them. They contrived to kindle a fire in the driving rain, and waited for the morning. When morn- ing came, the sun shone bright and clear. They were on Clark's Island, and there they keyjt their Sunday with prayer and singing, for great as was their need, they would do no exploring on the Lord's Day. Monday morning they sailed to the mainland, and went ashore at a place that John Smith had named Plymouth, and that they Plymouth now agreed to call Plymouth in remembrance of the English town '^"o^^" from which they had sailed. This was the best place that they THE MAYFLOWER (From the National il use um model) 56 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY I'LViVlUUTH ROCK had seen, and it did not take them long to go back to the ship and report tliat tlicy liad decided vipon a lioiue. In Plymouth there Ls a rock which is carefully protected and guarded, for people believe that on this rock the explorers stepped ashore. De- cember twenty-first, the day of their landing, is called Forefathers' Day, and is celebrated in their honor. There were a nuinl)er of children on board, and after being crowded into the ship for so many weeks, they ninst have l)oen glad enough to go ashore. There was no room to spare, even when they were on land, for after they had been in Plymouth all winter and all the following summer, there were but seven houses. For a wliile they had only one house into which they crowded their goods and as many persons as possible. Some had to remain on the Mayflower for several weeks. The story of the winter seems almost Uke that of the starving Hardships of time in Virginia, though the Pilgrims were somewhat better sup- the first winter plied with food. One after another fell ill, and at one time only six or seven were well enough to take any care of the others. The minister, William Brewster, and the brave soldier, Miles Standish, were the most tender nurses that could be imagined; but in spite of their care, more than half the company died in the first three months, sometimes two or three in a day. Before they left the Mayflower a baby was born to Mrs. White, and was named Peregrine from the Latin word peregrmus, meaning a wanderer. Strangely enough, this little child was one of the survivors of the hard winter. The graves of those who died were leveled with the ground and sown PILGRIM CRADLE (It belonged to the IMl^ims' doctor) PLYMOUTH 57 ■with wheat, for Indians had been seen, and there was danger that they wouM attack the little settlement if they knew how many had died and how few were left to defend it. One morning in the spring an Indian appeared who did not skulk beliind the trees like the others, but walked straight into Samoset and the centre of the village and called out, "Welcome, Englishmen, ^quanto Welcome ! " The Pilgrims must have felt very much pleased to have a word of greeting in the strange land. The Indian's name was Samoset. He had been among the fishermen farther north and had learned a httle EngUsh. It was only a very Uttle, but he made the Pilgrims under- stand that he had a friend, sTANDisH's SWORD Squauto, who had been car- ried to England by one of the early explorers, and that Squanto could speak English well. Before long the Indian chief, Massasoit, came with a number of attendants and Squanto for interpreter, enemies, with the white people so that he might have aid if he were attacked. The Pilgrims gave the cliief and his attendants some presents and feasted them. Then the two parties made a solemn promise that they woidd assist each other, and that if a member of either party injured one of the other, he should be punished, whether he was an Indian or a white man. This treaty was kept3 for more than fifty years. The Pilgrims did not waste their time searching for gold; they cleared the land and planted corn. Squanto showed them the Indian way of making sure of a rich soil for the corn by putting a small fish into each hill, and he taught them many other things that helped them to live in the new country, \yhen the first autumn came, they Massasoit had dangerous Treaty with • the Narragansetts, — and he wished to make a treaty WILLIAir BRADFORD'S ARMCHAIR 58 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY riLC.KlMS GOISO TO CHrRCH {. From a painting by O. H. Houghtonl The first were so happy at having a good harvest that Governor Bradford giv?ng^' appointed a day for Thanksgiving, and invited ^lassasoit and ninety of Ids men to a three-days' feast. Not all the red men were as friendly as Massasoit. One day a Narragansett Indian strode into Plymouth and asked for Squanto. " He has gone fishing,'' was the reply. Then the Indian threw down a queer looking object and stalked away. This proved to he a rattlesnake's skin wrapped around a bundle of arrows. There was little difficulty in guessing what that meant. The Xarragan- setts were a large tribe, but it would not do for the little company Trouble with of colonists to show that they were afraid, and Governor Brad ford stuffed the snakeskin full of powder and bullets and sent it back with the message, "If you want fighting, come whenever you like, and we will give you enough of it.'' Canonicus, chief of the Xarragansetts, knew that powder and bullets did much damage in some mysterious way, and he was afraid to have the dangerous things about. He contrived to have them taken aAvay from his lands, and for a long time there was uo trouble AAith the Xarra- PLYMOUTH 59 gansetts. Other tribes threatened the colony, but the valiant Miles Standish went out with his " Great, invincible army, Twelve men, all equipped, having each his rest and his matchlock," and came back victorious. l*lynioutli was live hundred miles from the nearest English settlement, and three thousand miles from its king', but the colo- Town meet- nists seemed to get along very well witliout a king. Whenever '"^ they needed to decide any important question, they held a meet- ing to talk it over. Then they voted, and the matter was decided as the greater number wished. This assembly was the beginning of the New England town meetings of to-day. In England there had often been such Avild revelings on Christ- mas and other church holidays that the I'ilgrims had decided [ to make no differ- : ence between these days and others. I After a while, some 1 people joined the [ Plymouth colony ' who did not agree ' with this decision: I • ' I and on Christmas j morning, when the ( governor called the ! men out to work as I usual, they said it Avent against their consciences to work on Christmas in Christmas Day. "Very well," said the governor, "no one shall P'y"iouth I force you to act against your consciences, and I will spare you I until you are better informed." At noon, the governor found j these men having a fine time playing ball and other games. lie i Btood looking at them a moment; then he said, " It goes against (iOVKKNOU lU!Al)F(»i;i) HKFIKS THE N A KKACIANSKTTS 60 OUR COUNTRlf'S STORY your consciences to work, but it goes against J7iy conscience to see you play while others Avork ; so if you wish to keep Christmas as a church day, go to your owti houses." He took away their hall, and they gave up their at- tempt to celebrate Christmas. Such was the Pilgrim's stern view of hfe. Though the Pilgrims suffered greatly during the early years of the colony, they never thought MILES sTANDisH's ARMY of Icaviug the couutry, as they might have, had they come merely to seek their fortunes. When Why the Pil- trouble came to Plymouth, the Pilgrims would say, " We have happy ^^"^^ come here to worship God in freedom, and He will not forget us." This is why the Pilgrims were never discouraged, and why they were happy in spite of all their hardships. SUMMARY. Persecution in England drove the Pilgrims to Holland and then to America. They founded a settlement at Plymouth, but more than half the colonists died the first winter. The neighboring Indians were friendly, and the white men were victorious over the hostile tribes. The Pilgrims cultivated the ground instead of searching for gold. The New England town meeting originated in the Plymouth assembly for the discussion of important questions. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. What the last body of explorers reported to the Pilgrims waiting on the Mayflower. The best way to celebrate Forefathers' Day. One of the older children tells Peregrine White about leaving England. THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY 61 VII THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY One day some Puritans were talking of what the Pilgrims had done to find a home where they could worship God as they The Puritans thought right. Some one suggested, " Would it not be well for Pj^JJ^^ ^ettle- us also to make a settlement m America?" The longer they talked, the more mterested they became in the plan. Then they wrote to several of their Puritan friends in different parts of the country, and a number of them agreed to unite in forming a colony. The Pilgrims were not rich people, and they had been obUged to borrow money to carry them to America, but many of the Puritans were wealthy, and every year their party in England was becoming stronger. They formed the Massachusetts Bay Company and bought of the Plymouth Company what is now the greater part of Massachusetts. They induced King Charles, son and suc- cessor of King James, to give them a char- ter, allowing them to make laws for the colony. Only one year after the little com- pany of friends had talked about America, king charles i a shipload of Puritans were ready to cross the ocean. They landed north of Boston, and settled at a place to which they gave Founding of the name Salem. " Salem" is a Bible word meaning peace, and ^ ^^ they hoped that here they would fljid peace. 62 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The Com- pany moves to America Puritans with John Winthrop found Boston The Puritans in Enjjland were becoming more and more troubled. King Cliarles meant to rule the country just as he chose without the least regard to what any one else thought, and he was so untruthful that no one could trust his promises. Some people began to fear that there would be war between those who stood by the king and those who were against him. No one knew how such a war might end. If the king should win, he would be more opposed to the Puritans than ever ; but if they had flourish- ing colonies in America, there would be one place where they could live m safety. In the king's charter not a word had been said about where the Mas- sachusetts Comjxniy should hold their meetings. They decided to hold them, not in England, but beside Massa- chusetts Bay. It is quite possible that the king knew nothing about their decision until they had gone. Even then, he did not object, and it may be that he was glad to have so many who did not agree with him go out of the coimtry. A little later the English Puritans were pleased and encouraged, because John "Winthrop, a man whom they greatly respected, said that he would go to Amer- ica. He was not only rich and well educated, but he was so wise that almost all who knew him felt that whatever he advised was the best thing to do. He set out in 1G30 with a great company of THE NEW ENtiLAND COAST SETTLEMENTS THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY 63 ARRIVAL OF THE WINTHROP COLONY IN BOSTON (From W. F. Halsall's paintiug) nearly one thousand persons. They brought cattle, goats, pro- visions, arms, tools, and farming implements. Several ships were needed to carry so many people, and among them was the May- flower, that had brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth, and had also taken the settlers to Salem. Governor Winthrop and his party decided to make their home where Boston now is. They called the place Boston, because many of the colonists came from Boston in England. These people had been accustomed to living in comfort, and in spite of all their careful preparations the first winter was almost Early hard- as hard for them as it had been for the other colonists. Provi- ^ '^^ sions became scarce, and Governor Winthrop was obliged to appeal to the Pilgrims for help. A generous supply of food came from Plymouth. When that was gone, he asked the people of Boston to spend a certain day in fasting and prayer that God 64 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Content- ment of the Puritans WINTHROP CUP (Olvon by Winthrop to the First Churfh, Boston) Puritan narrowness would help them. The help came, for a ship laden with pro- visions sailed into the harbor, and instead of fasting, they kept a day of thanksgiving. The lives of the l*uritans were hard, but nevertheless Governor Winthrop wrote to England that he had never felt more contented than in Massachusetts. Another governor of the colony wrote home to his Puritan friends that if they wished to make money, Massachusetts was not the place for them ; but if they wished to have plenty of wood to burn and to build their houses Avith, pure air to breathe, good water to drink, ground to plant, seas and rivers to fish in, and If, above all, they wished to be free to worship God as they thought right, all these good things were waiting for them in jMassachusetts. (Tovernor Winthrop was so honest and truthful in all his deaUngs with the Indians that they called him " Single Tongue," meaning that he never told two stories about anything. lie was always ready to do a kindness. It was reported to him one day that a poor man was stealing his wood, and he declared sternly, " I '11 soon put a stop to that"; but to the poor man he said, " Friend, I fear that you have not wood enough for the winter. Help yourself from my pile whenever you choose." Then he went to his informer and said, " Did n't I tell you I would put a stop to it? Find him stealing if you can!" The great fault of the Puritans was that they could not under- stand how any one else could be as earnest as they in wishing to serve God and yet not go about it in the Puritan way. They had borne a great deal for the sake of living as they believed right, and they meant to govern the new land as they thought best, and to allow no one to stay among them who did not agree with their ideas. They had town meetings like those of the Plymouth peo- ple, but they would let only members of their church vote. THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY 65 Hams The ship that brought them food when they were in such great need brought also a talented young clergyman named Roger Roger Wil- Williams. He too wished to serve God, but he had some ideas that seemed to the Puritans very wrong. He said that King Charles had no right to give away the land of the Indians unless they were willing. "What would the king say to that?" whis- pered the colonists to one another. " He might even take away our charter." Still worse, Roger Williams- de- clared that it was not right to compel a man to attend church or to pay for the support of ' I a church against his will. The Puritans did not wish to be obliged - to attend the Episcopal Church, but they did \\dsh to oblige whoever came to Boston to attend their church. It would not do to have such ideas as Roger Williams's in their colony, -'^C^ ^ they thought, and they told him ~ '^~- ^t that the following spring he must leave Massachusetts. John Win- throp contrived to send word to him that they were intending to send him back to England ; so instead of waiting for spring, he went away from the colony in the bitterly cold weather. The first town house in boston, less tale of his life in the forest in snow and storm will be told in the story of the founding of Rhode Island. To have their children grow up without good schools was some- thing that the Puritans could not bear. At first the parents Harvard taught their children at home as well as people who were so busy found?d could teach, but only five years after the settlement in the wilder- 86 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY John Har- vard John Eliot teaches the Indians ness was begun, a public school was opened in Boston. Many of the Puritans were graduates of English universities, and they wished to make sure that when their ministers died other educated men would be ready to fill the vacant places. They talked the matter over in town meeting, and finally, in 1G36, they agreed to give four hundred pounds to found a college. . At that time spending public money for instruction was very unusual in Europe. This generous appropriation shows how nmch the Puritans cared for education. They used to go to the college to hear the boys declaim in Latin and in Greek, and when one did especially well, his father was happy, and he would say to himself, " Per- haps my son will some day be a minister and preach in our church." A clergyman named John Harvard died soon after the college was founded, and when his A^ill was read it was fountl that he had left his books and half his money to the ncAV school. The name "Harvard" was given in his honor. There were other gifts. The state gave a year's rent of a ferry. Plymouth and the other settlements that began to be scattered through New England were ready to help, and once each family gave a peck of corn or its value in wampum. A law was soon made that in every Puritan village of fifty families there must be a school ; and if there were one hundred families, a school- master must be engaged who could prepare the boys of the town for the university. Another reason why the college was founded was that the Indians , might have an o])portnnity to be educated and to learn Christianity. A clergyman named John Eliot was especially JOFIN HARVARD (From Kreiu-h's statue in Cambridge) THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY 67 the Indians interested in them. He not only preached, but he translated the Bible into their language. He did even more ; he lived in the wigwams and taught the Indians as if they were his children, and tried his best to answer all the questions that they asked. Some of these questions were not easy. " If the soul is shut up in iron," said they, " can it get out '? " Another question was, " When you vote and make a man your governor, how do you know that he will be a good governor ? " Another was, " Ought a wise man to obey an unwise cliief ?" John Eliot was never weary of helping them in every way that he could. He taught the women to spin, and he showed the men Progress of better ways of tiUing the ground. Many Indians learned to read and write English, and finally one of them delighted the Puritans by graduating at Harvard. Life was growing a little easier for the settlers. There was plenty of food, they had schools and a college, and they had sent away Roger Williams, whose ideas about the church dif- fered from their own. Their next trouble came from the Quakers. The Quaker idea of what was right and what was wrong sometimes differed greatly not only from the Puritan idea, but from that of aU the other English people : for in- stance, a Quaker would not take off his hat even to the king, because he thought that to do so would be showing to man a reverence which belonged to God alone. Other people thought that this refusal showed scorn of the king's authority, and the village of Boston was much alarmed when it was known that a few Quakers had come from England. These early Quakers were so different' from those of later days, and even from those who lived in Boston soon after these times, that it seems as if their minds must have been unbalanced by the persecutions in England. They certainly did strange things. One man forced his way into the court and QUAKER DEESS 68 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The Quakers accused the judge of putting innocent men to death. Another Puritans went into the church with a gUiss bottle in each hand, and in tlie midst of the service broke the bottles before the people, and cried, " Thus will the Lord break you all in pieces." The Puritans banished them, but they refused to stay away, for they said that they should obey God rather than man, and God wished them to preach to the people of Massachusetts. Then they were imprisoned or whipped or branded with hot irons. These penalties were brutal, but they were less severe than those in- flicted in England upon men who disobeyed the laws, for wliile to-day a man is hanged only for wilful mur- der or for treason, there were then in England two hundred offenses for which one might lose his life. Finally, four Quakers who returned a second and even a third time after being ordered to stay away were put to death. The Puritans wrote to the king that these four were hanged because they persisted in refusing to obey the laws of the colony. This was true, but if the Puritans had not been quite so sure that their belief A\'as the only right one, it may be that they would have had more charity for the Quakers and would not have - made such severe laws against them. In 1675, almost twenty years after the coming of the Quakers, there was a terrible war between In- dians and colonists. Massasoit was always true to the English; but after he was dead, his son, "King Philip," as he was called, had different ideas. Many more white King men had come, little villages were everyw^here, and Philip felt Philip's War ^^^^^ .^ ^^^ English were not driven out at once, the country would be lost to the Indians. He persuaded other tribes to join him, and they made fierce attacks upon one village after another in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. In Massa- IS' THE PILLORY (One of the Puritan pun- ishments) THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY 69 chusetts more than half the towns were either partly or wholly destroyed. One thousand men and large numbers of women and children were slain. At last King Philip was besieged at Mount Hope in Rhode Death of Island. One of his men advised him to surrender, but Philip was ^'"^ ^^'^'P so angry that he struck the man dead in a moment. In revenge, the dead man's brother crept away to the whites, and told them where to find his chief. Philip was slai and his head was fastened to a pole and set up on th green in Plymouth. After this war, southern New England had no more trouble from the Indians. When the Puritans had been in America more than half a century, they became greatly alarmed, because they believed that there were witches among them, and witches were thought to be special friends of Satan. Some nervous girls played various pranks, and declared, probably more in fun than in earnest, that they could not help it, for they were "bewitched." When they saw that the matter was taken seriously, it is very likely that they became so excited that they could not con- trol themselves, and began to believe their own stories. These Witchcraft girls and others began to point out those who had bewitched them, and before the colonists came to their senses, nineteen inno- cent people had been hanged. AU over Europe people thought that there was such a thing as witchcraft. A century before the Puritans crossed the ocean, five hundred persons were put to death in three months on the charge of being witches. Fifty years after this alarm in Massachusetts a new law was made against them in England, and many people were executed. KING PHILIP (After Paul Hevere's piettiie) 70 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY SUMMARY. English Puritans formed the ^Massachusetts Bay Company to insure them a refuge in time of persecution and a phice for freedom of ^Yorship. Under the leadership of John Winthrop they founded Boston in 1G30. They did not wish to have any one in the colony wliose belief differed from theirs ; therefore they drove away Roger Williams, and later the Quakers. Harvard College was founded in 1G3G to educate both wliites and Indians. John Eliot did much good as a missionary to the Indians. King I'hilip's War in 1G75 caused many deaths and was the last of the Indian troubles in southern New England. The Puritans executed nineteen persons for supposed witchcraft. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. A Puritan tells a friend why he wishes to go to New England. The reply of the Pilgrims to Winthrop's appeal for food. King Philip tells his men why he wishes to make war upon the whites. VIII MAINE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, RHODE ISLAND, AND CONNECTICUT MAIXE AND XEW HAMPSHIRE. "When- the Indian Squanto, who was so good a friend to the The kidnap- Pilgrims, was a young man, he hved on the coast of what is now Squanto called ]\raine. One day a ship came to anchor near the shore, and the Indians paddled out in their hirch-bark canoes to see the wliite men and sell furs to them. Squanto and four others were seized and carried away across the ocean, for the captain thought that after they had learned EngUsh thoy could be brought back and MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE 71 made to serve as interpreters when the white men ^vished to trade. It was an unpardonable crime. The only good thing about the whole story was that these five Indians were very kindly treated Squanto in in England. Squanto and two others were taken into the family *^"g'^"d of Sir Ferdinand© Gorges, who was a friend of Sir Walter Ilaleigh, Sir Ferdinando was only a few years older than the Indians, and he was much interested in them. It was not long before they could talk with him, and they told him so much about their friends and their home, the clear air, the pure water, and the great forests, that Sir Ferdinando and others began to be eager to found a colony. Sir Ferdinando had no trouble in finding sailors who would go to Maine and bring back a. cargo of fish or furs, but colo- nizing was a different matter, for the men who first tried to make a settlement had re- ported that the place was too cold to live in. StiU he was not discouraged. He sent out ship after ship to fish and to trade, and finally he persuaded one captain, who was also a phy- sician, to spend the winter near where Saco now stands. This captam went home in the spring and said that the climate was perfect, and that not one of his men had even had a headache. A few years after John Smith returned to England from James- toAvn, he sailed as captain of one of Sir Ferdinando's vessels. John Smith Sixteen men were with him who had agreed to become colonists, ^^a'" and with such a leader to help and advise them, it is probable that they would have succeeded ; but wherever John Smith went, he met with adventures, and so it was on this trip. England and ?ik:DC' Attempts to found a colony in Maine THE BEAVER (An Important New England fur-bearer) 72 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Dover and Portsmouth France were at war, and a French vessel took tlie captain and his sixteen men prisoners, and carried them to France. Still Sir Ferdinando did not give up. He united with a brave, resolute man. Captain John Mason, who had been in Newfound- land and was not afraid of the cold weather of JMame. These two men and others who joined with them pubhshed glowing descrip- tions of the new country. They said the climate was the most delightful in the world, the soil was so rich that generous har- vests could be raised "with little work, the forests were full of fur-bearing animals, and the great trees were the best timber for ship-building that could be found. Besides all this, the bays and the rivers were swarming with fish. Colonists began to go to the new province, which was after- wards named Maine, or the mainland. The colonies were hardly more than fishing stations, and were scattered about over the southwestern corner of what is now Maine, and the eastern part of what is now New Hamp- shire. It is probable that the first settle- ment in Maine was made at Pemaquid Point in 1625. This soon became a busy place. Indians who had furs to sell came to Pemaquid, and ships came from England not only to bring tools and other things that the colonists needed, but to carry back to England lumber and furs, and the fish that had been caught and cured. The Pilgrims were culti- vating corn, and they used to send boatloads of it to Pemaquid to exchange for furs. The earliest settlements in New Hampshire were made at Dover, 1623-1627, and at Portsmouth in 1631. 1 This brick structure, still standing, was erected in 1729 on the site of the wooden building mentioned on page 73, of which there is no pictuie. TUE OLD SOUTH MEETING-HOUSE ' MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE 73 After a while Sir Ferdinando and Captain Mason concluded to The colony divide their land; the former took Maine, and the latter took the land to the west of the Piscataqua River. Captain Mason was once governor of a town in Hampshire, England, and in memory of this he named his land New Hampshire. How far west this land extended was uncertain, and what is now called Vermont was claimed at times by both New Hampshire and New York. In 1641 the few scattered settlements in New Hampshire asked the protection of the Massachusetts Bay colony. As for Maine, after Sir Ferdinando died, his grandson offered to seU. the land to the English king, Charles II. The king was a little slow in giving his answer, but Massachusetts was quick, and before Charles II. had decided whether he could raise the money or not, Massachusetts had bought the land and paid for it. The king was angry that Maine joined to /Vlfl'S^s- a colony should dare to do such a thing as to buy land that he chusetts wished to have. Boston wrote him a letter saying that she was sorry to have displeased his Majesty, but she made no offer to give back the purchase. One man in Boston wrote indignantly to a friend in England that the king's letter was worth no more in Massachusetts than an old London newspaper. This was hardly true, but it was true that more than once when the king had made a law which would injure the colony, Massachusetts had quietly disobeyed it. More than that, the Puritans would not aUow the Episcopal Church in their colony, and this did much to arouse the wrath of the king. Charles sent Massachu- over and demanded their charter. The Puritans held a town ^^^ charter meeting in the Old South Meeting-House, and every man voted BLOCKHOUSE IN MAIKE (Bmlt near the junction of the Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers) 74 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY not to return it. Then the king declared that whether the char- ter was in P^ngland or in America, it should no longer hold good. lie planned to send over one of the most cruel, hard-hearted men in England as governor ; but before this could be done, the kmg died. The charter, however, no longer had any value. New Ilampsliire had been made a " royal province," and now New Hamp- the new king declared that Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Maine Massachu- should form another. These colonies could no longer choose their setts royal own officers, but must be ruled by whatever governor the king provinces u ^ i xi chose to send thero. RHODE ISLAND. When Roger Williams was ordered to leave Massachusetts, the court told him that he might remain until spring. They thought that he would keep still if they showed him so much favor ; but instead of keepmg still, he preached oftener than ever. Then the court said he must be taken to Eng- land, and a boat was sent to Salem to l)ring him to Boston. However, \vhen the officers landed in Salem, Roger Wil- liams was nowhere to be found. Some one had warned him secretly, and he had slipped away. The one who Avarned him was, as has been said, no less a man than John Winthrop, and with the warn- ing had come the advice to go to the Indians about Xarragansett Bay, because that place was free from any English claim. It was a cold, snowy night when the message came, but there was no time to lose, so Roger Williams said good-by to his v^iie FIRST MEETING-IIOUSK IN SALICM (Where Roger Williams is said to have preached) Roger Wil- liams leaves Salem RHODE ISLAND 75 and children, took his staff, and went out bravely into the wilder- ness. When he was an old man, he said he could "feel yet" the winter snow of that journey. For more than three months he lived in the forest. Sometimes he had a guide, but oftener he found liis way alone as best he His wander- might. Sometimes he slept in a hollow tree; often he had no '"^^ fire. He had friends in the forest, however, for he had always been kind to the Indians and had learned their language. They were glad to repay his kindness, and when he came to the wig- wam of Massasoit, there was a warm welcome awaiting him. Canonicus, too, the fierce warrior who had sent to Plymouth the bundle of arrows bound together with a rattlesnake's skin, gave him tender greeting, and " loved him as a son." Possibly Roger Williams had no thought of founding a colony. He had always cared for the Indians, and now that the whites Providence would not listen to him, perhaps he meant to live among the red ^ men and teach them. Five friends came to him from Massachu- setts, however, and they paddled down the Providence River in search of a place to settle. Some Indians saw them and called out in friendly welcome, " What cheer ? What cheer ? " an old- fashioned form of greeting that they had learned from the whites. He ran ashore and had a little talk with these Indians. Prob- ably they told him of a good place for his house, at the foot of a hill near a spring of water. This was in 1636, and was the beginning of the city of Providence, so called because, as Roger Williams said, it was by the providence of God that he had made his way thither. The exile's wife and children soon came to him. Governor Winslow of Plymouth visited him and gave him a piece of gold. Growth of The Puritans wished people to worship God in their way ; Roger colony Williams wished every one that came to his colony to be free to worship God in any way that he thought right. Before two years 76 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The New England Confederacy Rhode Island asks for a charter had passed, many had come. He was in the country of the Narra- gansetts, and Canonicus was glad to sell his friend what laud he wanted for a colony. Among those who came from Massachusetts was a company that meant to go farther south, but Koger Williams urged them to stay near him, and Canonicus was willing to seU them the Isle of Rhodes, or llhode Island. The two colonies made a kind of agreement to help each other. That is why the smaUest state in the Union has the longest name, for the name that must be used in legal documents is " State of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- tions." This tiny state was almost the only place in the world where some one form of worship was not favored. It is no wonder that people with all kinds of ideas came to settle beside Narragansett Bay. It has been said that " if a man had lost his religious opinions, he might have been sure to find them again in some village of Rhode Island." ^ A few years later, Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven agreed to defend one another if there was need. Rhode Island would have been glad to join the league, but the others said this could not be unless the colony would be- • come a part of either Massachusetts or Plymouth. Maine, too, was shut out, because the laws of Maine favored the Episcopal Church. It seemed impossible for the little state to stand alone without some protection, and the Rhode Islanders sent Roger Williams to England to ask for a charter. The story of what he had done for the Indians had gone before him, and the English government 1 Bancroft's History of the United States. ROGER WILLIAMS (From the statue In Provklence) CONNECTICUT 77 willingly gave him a charter, allowing the Rhode Island colonists freedom to make whatever laws they thought best and to choose their own governor and other officers. Roger Williams crossed the ocean again, happy in the news that he was bringing to the colony. "When he came to the bank of the river that flowed by his house, he saw that the whole shore was lined with canoes, for the people of Providence had all come out to welcome the man whom they respected and loved. His canoe was placed in the midst, and so they paddled to the farther shore. It is no wonder that they welcomed him, for Roger Williams Roger Wil- was one of the most lovable men that appear in all the colonial ^^^^ ^ ^ ' history. The Puritans had driven him into the wilderness, and then had made him lose many thousand pounds by forbidding him to send goods from the port of Boston to England, but even of them he had not a hard word to say, and when the opportunity came to do them a favor, he did it as eagerly as if they had been his warmest friends. CONNECTICUT. A colony that is only sixteen years of age seems hardly old enough to begin to found other colonies, but this is just what English in- Massachusetts did. Not long after the coming of the Puritans, on^the°Con- the chief of the country along the Connecticut River had asked necticut both Massachusetts and Plymouth to send Englishmen to settle on his lands. Some of the colonists began to think of going there to trade. It was an especially good place, for the Indians could much more easily float down the stream with their canoes full of furs than they could make their way through the forest and bring the furs on their backs. The EngUsh were not the only ones who saw that it was worth while to get possession of this valuable river. The Dutch were Trouble with settled in New York, and they had forts in New Jersey. They too ^ ^ L)utcn 78 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY wished to hold the Connecticut. The Plymouth people thought that the EngUsh had a better right to the territory than the Dutch, and a few of them set out for the mouth of the river. They carried with them tlie frame of a house, and, although the Dutch threatened to lire upon them from the fort at Hartford, kept on up the river. When they were where Windsor now is, they set up their house, and began to trade for furs as calmly as if there was not a Dutchman in the land. Others came, the Dutch were driven out, and in Hartford, the very ulaceMherethoDutch MU't had stood, there was soon a small com- l>any of Englishmen. It was a hard win- ter, and it may be INDIAN Frn-TKAUEi:s that report made the Puritans de- sutferings of the settlers even worse than they really were, for i^n'^Conneai^ '5*?"^'*'i''^l hundred people who lived near Boston were thinking cut about moving to Connecticut, and the other colonists did not wish to have them leave jMassachusetts. Those who wished to go said that the to^^^ls in ^Massachusetts were so near together that there was not pasture for their cattle. " But you have made a solemn promise to support and aid our conunonwealth," said the court. " That is true," answered they, " but how better can we support it than by keeping both the Dutch and the English who do not think as we do from settling so near us?" There was also another reason for moving, but little was said about it. In the Massachusetts colonies no one was allowed to vote who was not a member of the Puritan church ; and most of the people who CONNECTICUT 79 wished to move to Connecticut thought that every man should have a right to vote. At last the court agreed that they might go. The first settlers were led by their pastor, Thomas Hooker, of Cambridge. There were about one hundred in this company, and A forest they must have had a delightful journey. It was June. The i^^^^^V trees were green, and the flowers were in bloom. Through the forest they went, making their beds of the boughs of trees, sleep- ing under the stars, and waking to the singing of birds. Two weeks they spent on the journey, and it nmst have seemed al- most like a picnic two weeks long. There was no fear of hun- ger, for before them they drove one hundred and sixty cattle, and there was sure to be plenty of milk, even if all other food failed. These were the people who hi 1636 founded Hartford. Others Settlements came, and within a few months VVethersfield and Windsor were ^^^^''"^ ^ settled by colonists from other towns near Bos- ton. A few people had come to these places before, but until 1636 there were not enough to call their coming the founding of a town. Three years later the three towns formed a union and decided upon the laws that should govern them. These laws allowed every man to vote, whether he was a member of the church or not. There was one thing that would cer- tainly have aroused the king's wrath if he had not been too busy to pay any attention to it, and this was that these laws did not even mention his Majesty. Evidently the Connecticut settlers thought that they could manage their own affairs without any help from the king. Before the colonists were fairly settled in their new home, there was trouble with the Pequots. These Indians did not make any FIKST MKI'.TINn-HOCSE IN HARTFORD 80 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Roger Wil- liams helps the Puritans In the wig- wam of Ca- nonicus general attack, but they would come as near the settlement as they dared, and seize one man or a small group of men and put them to death. Roger Williams learned that the Pequots were trymg to persuade the Narragansetts to join them in making war upon the whites. He did not stop to remember how Massachu- setts had treated him, but without a moment's delay he sent word to Governor Wmthrop of the danger. He did much more than to send a message. He knew that the Pequots would try to persuade the Xarragansetts to join them; and in wild, stormy weather he paddled his canoe NEW H A M P. -^-^ across Karragansett Bay, and went straight to the wigwam of Canonicus. There stood the Pequot messengers, and Ca- nonicus was on the point of yielding. They knew why Roger Wil- liams had come. They glared at him angrily, and would have killed him if they had dared. Canonicus, too, would have killed any other man who had come so boldly into his wig- wam ; but he was very fond of Roger Williams, and he listened closely to what he had to say. It was several days before the chief would decide. Roger Wil- liams talked, and the Pequots talked. When they lay down to sleep at night, the white man hardly expected to be ahve in the morning. At last Canonicus told the Pequots that he would not unite -sAith them. The Pequots decided to make war without help, and all through the winter they put to death every colonist that they could seize. COXNKCTICrT VALLEY SETTLEMK.NT; CONNECTICUT 81 Then Connecticut appealed to Massachusetts and Plymouth for The Pequot help. Near where Stonington, Connecticut, now stands was a ^^ Pequot village. Around it was a stout palisade, or fence of tree trunks set close together in the ground. There MATCHLOCK AND REST WCrC but tWO openings, and those were very narrow. The colonists closed them and threw lighted torches over the paUsades. The wig- wams blazed, and out of seven hundred Pequots only five escaped. For nearly forty years no Indians dared to attack the English. One month after this terrible fight. New Haven was founded, in 1638. Hartford had been settled by men who thought the Founding of Bostonians were too strict. New Haven was settled by a com- pany from England who feared that Boston was not strict enough. This company was made up chiefly of wealthy merchants; and just as the Reverend Thomas Hooker had led his church to Hart- ford, so the Reverend John Davenport led his church to New Haven. Boston would have been glad to have them stay in Mas- sachusetts, but they had landed just after the banishment of Roger Wilhams, when Boston seemed to be full of new opinions, and religious matters were being discussed more freely than Dav- enport thought was right; and that is why he made his way through the forest to Connecticut. He paid the Indians ten coats for a piece of land on the coast, and there he founded New Haven. . From almost the first Connecticut had good schools, for these people were as eager as those in Massachusetts for the education A NEW ENGLAND STOCKADE 82 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Education in of (lii'ir cliildrcii. li» iTOd (en iiu-n t'loiii llic ditVi-rriit srtlU'UU'iits ConiK-cticut ^..jiii^, toKVtliiM- (o lomui a coIU'Ko. KiU'h laiil a lew books on a (able and said, "I K'v»' tluvsi' books for tbi> foundiiii;' of a i"olU\ui' ill (bis coloiiN." Tbis littli' pile of books was the bi'^inning of Yalo C"olK>i;i<. Tho C'onncctiout valloy boinj;: foitiU\ tbt'ro was nloiity of food. 'Vhv laws wcro '4i4'f^^/j\[^v\i_iijin:p^^ I IlorSK WIIK.KK YAl.K COl.l.KiiK WAS KDlNmn (It \\:is I lie lioinr ol liov. Siinvurl Kussi-U, 111 ltr:>nti>ril, (onii.) stiiil, but no man was pi'rsiH'uti'd for tbinkin.u' wbal. \\v wo\d(l on rc- lij-ious subjects. It was a (inict, liappy, lH\u('ful country, and hitcr it was nicknamed "Tbc Land of Steady Habits." Wlien INIassacliusi'tts, lM\uioutb, and iNIaine \\iMt> nnited ais a royal provinci', tbe tirst i;o\(Miior was dctcinuned to sei/.e the charter of Connei'tieul, and be wi-nt ti» Hartford with a lompany of sol- diiM's io gvt possession of it. lie and tbe Coiniecticut ollicials discussed the matter all one afternoiMi. The .uovernor would not yield, ai\d at last tlu> ebartiM- was bn>ui;'ht in antl i)laced upon a table. It .urew dark and candles were lighted. Then, tradition Vho Charter says, the candles wi're smUlenly init out, anil when they were li.nided a.uain, no charter was tt^ be seen. Tons:: afterwards. Con- nect ii'ut pri>sented one Captain NVadswmth with a sum of moni\v, sayiuij that, he had carcil for the charter "in u very tn>ubleson\e season." It is thouirht that he hid it in an oak-tree, and a tree in Hartford which fell half a century ai;-o was lU'ten ptunted out us the "charter Oak" in which the charter was concealed. EARLY CUSTOMS OF NEW ENGLAND 83 SUMMARY. Maine and New Tfnmps/iirr. T\\(\ ki(lii:ii)]iiii}; of S(]u:iiil() iiroiisod {,ht>. intor- chI of Sii- Fcidiiijuido (ior^cs in M:iiiit'. (Jor^cs :ui(l Aliisoii in;uln Micir lirsl, sell Iciiiciils ;it. I'ciiiiuinid I'oiiit. in iM;iiiin ;iii(l I'orlMinoiilli in Now ll;lUl]^,sllil■(^ MasHiu^liusolLs lioiigliL Muiiio from (lories, and Maine, iMassaciinscll.s liay, and Plymoutli were united in one crown colony. IIIkhIc hlaiul. Roger WillianiH, driven from Massaclinsetts, was hefiituidiul hy the Indians. IIo founded I'rovideiice in 16:5(3, and gave reiigiouH freedom to all who came. A comi)any from Massachusetts settled Rliode Ishuid, aiul Williams obtained a ciharUu- from tiie king. Connecticut. Wothersneld, Windsor, and Hartford wcu-e scttN-d from Massaciluisctts, in spiUr of the (daims of the Dutch. They wen; (luiet, ])ea(;efnl colonies, save* for the war with the rec^nots. Tliey established schools ami Yale College. SIKUJKSTIONS FOK WiMi'l'MN WORK. S(|uauto tells Sir lA'rdinaiul about his e:i|>lure. l)(\scribo Roger Williams's set-ting out into tln^ forest. Describe the (!onn<'(;ti(Mit colonists traveling through the forest. Describe the scene when Rogtsr Williams entered the wigwam of CanonieuH. IX EARLY CUSTOMS OF NEW ENGLAND WmcN ii Siguier coim^s to ii ii(!W liuid, his (ii-st, tlioiiglit is to make some kmd of slielter for liimself. 'VW- lirsl lioiiscs in Nciw Kiifjjliind w(M-o Iniilt of lo^s, for wood was i)l('iity and easy to work. Tlio chinks lu^twciciii tlio logs wcn^ lilh^d with ^^^\\\^)^ and clay. Glass was expensive, and in the ((aili(!st diiys oiled paper 84 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The first houses in New Eng- land was used for windows. Since wood was to be had for the cut- ting, the jBreplaces were made large enough for the great logs that were brought in from the forest. There was plenty of heat, but so large a share of it went up the chimney that people cannot have been very comfortable, according to our ideas of comfort. It was the custom to "bank up " the house for winter, that is, to pile up a bank of earth around it to keep out the cold. Stoves were not used until long after the Pilgrims came, and they cannot have been very good, for one writer of those days said that he could hardly keep his ink from freezing, even when it was close beside the stove. There was no way of heating the meeting-houses. Babies only a few days old were brought into these frigid buildings to be baptized with water in which the ice had to be broken. Wo- men sometimes carried little foot-stoves, Avhich cannot have given out much warmth ; and there the people sat through the long sermons. They would have thought themselves exceedingly wicked if any discomfort had made them wish to go home. In the house the important place was the kitchen. There was The kitchen the great fireplace with its iron crane, a long arm that stretched out over the fire and could be moved back and forth. " Pot- hooks" were hung to this, and from these hung kettles. Tin "bake-ovens," like small cupboards open at one side, were set up AX EAKLY SETTLER'S HOUSE EARLY CUSTOMS OF NEW ENGLAND 85 A FOOT-STOVE before the fire, and in them were baked biscuit ; or on hooks in- side pieces of meat were fastened to roast. Strong hooks were fixed into the beams that ran across the top of the room. Poles were laid on these, and from them strings of dried apples or pumpkin were suspended. Sometimes a chain hung from these hooks in front of the fire and held a turkey or a chicken to be roasted before the blaze. " Brick ovens " were made after a while. They were little brick caverns beside the fireplaces. A fire was built in the oven, and when it was well heated the coals were raked out, and the beans and brown bread and chickens and pies and cakes were put in to cook. The early settlers had stools and benches, but few chairs. They ate from wooden " trenchers," or dishes made by hollowing Furniture out pieces of wood. Miles Standish bequeathed twelve of these ^""^ dishes trenchers in his will. A trencher generally served for two per- sons, and one large drinking cup was enough for a table. There were no forks, for they liad hardly been intro- duced into England, but there were knives and wooden or pewter spoons. Pewter dishes were looked upon as elegance itself, and even the poorest house- keeper would not have dared to risk the scorn of her neighbors by NEW ENGLA.ND KITCHEN ^^aving hci pCWtCr UH- (Showing crane, brick oven, and beams in the ceiling) SCOUrcd. M' p ^^PW^ tf li^/ :W • Hii i^'- |^ftc.V y^^^^^^^i^fj w ^^^H y ki£e^'*^ ^^^^^H^*ililSRe^^^^^H F""^*^- ^^R^^^^^^k^^L^^^^I '::-^'v^^^nH • 51 86 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The bedrooms were icy in the cold New England winters, and Bedrooms it is no wonder that every household had its long-handled warm- ing-pan. This was filled with coals, the cover was shut down, and then the pan was drawn back and forth between the sheets. Beds and pillows were valuable articles, and even so great a man as the governor of a colony did not scorn to make a will that bequeathed his daughter a feather bed and a bolster. The parlor, or " best room," had no carpet until the later colo- The parlor nial days, but both it and the kitchen had " sanded " floors ; that is, sand was thrown upon the boards, and sometimes so carefully . as to make almost a regular pattern. As soon as the // colonists became at all comfortable, every house must have .^^^^m a parlor, though it was rarely used except for weddings CJ^jgiV^^i^ and funerals and the minister's calls. In the surmner the ^^HS^ parlor fireplace was filled with sprays of asparagus, or TiNDEK iiox sometmies ^^^th laurel leaves. box'fo7ti'nd"r.'^Imi^cL^ndie ^^ this parlor there was sure to be a corner cupboard, in the cover) ^ buff ct, somctimcs with glass doors ; and when the days of china came, the rare bits were displayed in the upper part, while in the closet below was often the "company cake" and the home-made wine. If a member of the family had died, there was a " mourning piece " on the wall. This was the picture of a gravestone whereon was written the person's name. A woman weeping usually bent over the stone, and a drooping willow filled one side of the picture, or canvas, for sometimes these " pieces " were worked on canvas with silk or worsted. The home of the colonist was a real manufactory. There were Home man- no "department stores " in those days, and few of the settlers had much ready money. Flax and wool were spun and woven and dyed and made into clothes, all in a man's OAvn house. Stock- ings and mittens were knit by hand, and hats were made of hume-braided straw. Soap was home-made. Butter and cheese iifactures EARLY CUSTOMS OF NEW ENGLAND 87 FLAX WHEEL were always made at home. To be called a " good butter-hand " was a great honor. For lights, the first settlers had pine-knots. There was no tallow in the earhest days, so candles were made of the beautiful and sweet-smelling pale green bayberry wax. The men bore their part in these home manu- The Yankee factures. In farming implements wood was used ^^^ " "' ^ wherever it could be employed, and in the long evenings the jack-knives of the masculine part of the family were kept busy whittling out teeth for rakes, handles for hoes, reels for winding yarn, wooden spoons and dishes, tubs, pails, buckets, yokes, flails, snowshoes, skimmers, and handles for axes, and numberless other things. The men made the brooms, some- times of birch twigs and sometimes of hemlock branches. A Yankee with his jack-knife could almost furnish a house and a barn. The children did their part of the work of the house. The girls helped their mother, and the boys helped their father. If Self-reliance the boys wished for playthings, they made them. If a boy must have a basket, he made it of birch bark; while for paint he used elderberry or pigeon berry juice. A boy who grew up in this way learned to depend upon himself, and to know what to do if he found himself in any difficulty. When the Revolutionary War broke out, these boys had become men who were not afraid to try to do things they had never done before. They knew little about military drill, but they could invent new ways of making their attacks, and they could capture forts in ways not laid down in the books. In some of the wool spinning wheel little hamlets away from city life, the old customs lingered far into this century. Many a man, not yet fifty years old, ate in his of children 88 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Effect of this boyhood dinners that were cooked in a brick oven, prepared training " quills," or pieces of the hollow elder stem, to be wound on the little "quilhng wheel" with yarn for use in the shuttle of his mother's loom, and set off for college in a suit of his mother's spinning and weaving. These were the kind of boys who knew an unearned diploma was not worth the parchment it was written on, the kind of boys that the college and the country were proud to possess. SUM^IARY. The New England colonists lived in log houses, cooked before open fires, had simple furniture and wooden or pewter dishes. They manufactured most of their clothes, tools, and household utensils. The children learned to be self-reliant, and their training showed in the Revolutionary War. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. Describe an evening in a colonial kitchen. Tell what each member of the family was doing. Describe a cold day in a colonial house. X NEW YORK, DELAWARE, AND NEW JERSEY About the time when the Pilgrims were planning to leave Eng- Henry Hud- land and go to Holland, a company of English merchants were making ready to send a ship to search, not for a Northwest Pas- sage, but for a Northeast. They thought there might be a way to sail north of Russia, and then south to eastern Asia. Tliey chose for the captain of their vessel a friend of John Smith, a son NEW YORK, DELAWARE, NEW JERSEY 89 brave English sailor named Henry Hudson. He set out on the voyage, but he had to come back and report that the ice kept him from going to Asia. He had been " farthest north," how- ever, and he found himself famous. A Dutch company then induced him to com- mand one of their ships. Again the ice pre- vented him from sailing farther to the north- east, but he made up his mind to go in search of the Northwest Passage instead of returning to Holland. He had with him a letter from John Smith saying that he beUeved the Passage might be not far north of Chesa- peake Bay. One bright September morning Hudson sailed into the mouth of the river that is named for him, though he spoke of it as the " River of Mountains." Up the stream went the Uttle vessel, the Half-Moon, but the water was more and more fresh. Still he kept on, until just beyond where Albany _ now stands the stream began to '^'^* '=^*=i-'-^"=-"^^-^e"=s> grow shallow. This was no North- west Passage. Hudson made another voyage to Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait, this time for an English company. His crew rebelled, and Hudson's finally turned him and a few others adrift in a small boat, and no voyage one knows his fate. Hudson had called the country about the "River of Moun- tains " " as fair a land as can be trodden by the foot of man " ; feut the Putch were more interested in the thought that the THE HALF-MOON LEAVING AMSTERDAM (Showing the Weepers' Tower, where mariners took leave of their friends) 90 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Dutch traders in America Beginnings of New York Settlers on Manhattan Island North River — as they called the stream, since the Delaware was known as the South River — was convenient for the Indians to float down with canoes full of furs. Furs could be bought for beads, jack-knives, red cloth, and trinkets of various kinds, and could be sold in Europe at a high price. It is no wonder that Dutch traders hastened to send ships to America. There must be forts to protect the traders, and in 1614 a fort was built on Manhattan Island. That was the beginning of the city of New York. Another name for Holland was the Nether- lands, or the lower lands ; and the Dutch called their possessions in America New Neth- erland, just as John Smith called the land north of them New England, and the French named the land that they claimed New France. More forts were built, and one stood where Albany now is. One of the early writers called it " a miserable little fort, built of logs." Even if the settlers were protected by " miserable little forts," many of them were making fortunes by trading in furs. This was a good thing for the traders, but the Dutch West India Com- pany wished to have permanent settlements, and they began to think of sending colonists to the Hudson. The Indians were de- lighted to sell Manhattan Island for twenty-four dollars' worth of beads, brass buttons, ribbons, and red cloth. The settlement around the little fort was named New Amsterdam. The settlers lived m log houses, one story high, with roofs made of bark. FntST VIEW OF NEW AMSTERDAM (Sketched by a Dutch officer in l(*ij) NEW YORK, DELAWARE, NEW JERSEY 91 DUTCH FLAG People came from most of the countries of Europe. To buy furs for beads and sell them for a generous amount of gold was an easy way to make a fortune, and after makmg a fortune, the next thing was to go back to Europe to spend it. The Company discussed the matter, and concluded that farm- ers who had been forbidden to deal in furs would be the best settlers. There was rich land all along the North River, but it paid so much better to trade in furs than to manage a farm that the Company knew they 1 1 must make especially good offers to induce people to remain farmers. They formed a plan that was entirely different from anything that had been attempted in America. Long before this time it had been the cus- tom in various countries of Europe for one Patroon sys- man to hold a large amount of land, and to ^^"^ allow other men to use such parts of it as he chose. These men must work for him so many days every year, and they could not leave one man's land to work for some one else. This custom had gone out of use in Europe, but the Dutch Company thought it might be introduced into America. They offered to give sixteen miles of the Hudson River shore with an indefinite amount of land behind it to any member of the Company who SETTLEMENTS ABOUT would briug fifty scttlcrs to America. THE HUDSON RIVER The owner of this land was called a patroon, or protector. He must clear the land, build houses and barns, and provide cattle and tools. He was to receive as rent a part of each crop. The colonists were to be free from paying taxes for ten years, but they must agree to remain on his land for 92 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY How New Netherland was gov- erned ^-?y that time. The patroon held a court of his o^vIl, and had the right to punish any one who broke his laws. Indeed, he could do just about what he chose except to trade in furs. The Com- pany would not give up that right to anj"- one. In the New England settlements most of the settlers had the same ideas of what was good for the colony, and were ready to give up their own wishes for the gain of all. It was not so in New Netherland. The Dutch had come to make money, and in their settlement, if a colonist was becoming rich, he did not care much what became of the colony. In Massachusetts, even after it became a royal province, every member of the church had a vote, but New Netherland was ruled by governors sent over by the Company. Governor Stuyvesant, the last of these governors, was the best .. . ■'T-y-! ^, .; of them, for though he meant to have his own way, he was honest and kept the colony in order. Just as Vir- ginia had demanded a House of Bur- gesses, so the people of New Nether- land \vished to elect a council of men to tell what their taxes should be, and to decide how the money should be spent. Stuyvesant finally jielded so far as to allow them to elect the council; but the councilors had no power, for he would pound on the floor with his wooden leg and tell them Avhat was to be done — and it always was done. Governor Stuyvesant had in New Amsterdam a great farm, or The Bowery boAvery, as it was called in Dutch. The lane leading to it was Str'eet'^'' Bowery Lane, and even now the street that is where the lane used to be is called the Bowery. Before New Amsterdam was WALL STEEET PALISADE FROM THE EAST lUVEK NEW YORK, DELAWARE, NEW JERSEY 93 thirty years old, a war broke out between England and Holland ; and lest the English should mvade the Dutch city, Governor Stuyvesant built a stout wooden wall, twelve feet high, directly across the island. Where this wall ran is now called Wall Street. The Dutch had good reason to fear being driven away by the English. Holland said, " We were first in the North River." Dutch and England replied, "Yes, but an Englishman was captani of your ^i"f^|^to vessel; and what is more, John Cabot New Nether- brought an English ship to America ^" more than a century before ^''ou NEW AJISTEKUAM (From a Dutch map published in 1656) came." " True," retorted the Dutch, " but if our captain was an Englishman, yours was an Italian. Moreover, it was your own Queen Elizabeth who said that discovery of a land is nothing ; it is colonizing that gives a right to the country. We have had men here almost ever since Hudson's voyage was made, and the land is ours." But the English said, " King James granted this land to the London and the Plymouth Companies before Hudson crossed the ocean. If Dutchmen come here to settle, we are willing ; but they are on our land, and they are subjects of our king." The matter was dropped for a time because the English king and his people did not get along very well together and were too Swedes in busy with their own quarrels to give much time to American I^^l^ware affairs. England left the Dutch in peace for a while, but trouble was arising from another direction, and they covild not make butter and cheese and smoke their pipes in quiet very long. The king of Sweden had been eager to found a colony in America that 94 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY should be open to all Protestants. He died before this could be done, but in 1638 a company of "strong, industrious people" sailed from Sweden to the Delaware River — or South River, as the Dutch called it. Up the wide, beautiful stream they went until they were where Wilmington now stands. There they built a fort and named it Fort Christiana m honor of the Uttle girl, twelve years old, who had become their queen. She was much interested in the colony, and was glad to have her father's plan carried out. This was the beginning of the settlement of Delaware. After a few years, a governor named Printz was sent to rule the colony. He did not mean ,;,;, that any craft should sail up the Delaware River against his will; and when a vessel entered the stream, the sailors must anchor and go on for six leagues in small boats to ask if the governor would allow them to bring up the ship. If his permission was not asked, he would fire upon the vessel, no matter to what nation it belonged. This was very annoying to the Dutch, for they had a little settlement farther up the Delaware, opposite where Philadelphia now stands, and to be obliged to ask the permission of a Swede whenever they wished to sail up to their o\\ti people was rather hard. They said dolefully that the Swedish fort was " extremely well supphed with cannons and men." After a while the time came when The Dutch Sweden was too busy making war in sShph '^^^ Europe to defend her colony on the Delaware. The hot-headed Governor Stuyvesant had borne about as much as he cared to bear, and Governor Printz was greatly surprised one morning to see seven Dutch ships come sailing up his river without ask- DVTCll TANKAItl) (Given to the first wliite girl Ijorn in New J«etherlanil, on her marriage) DUTCH FLINTLOCK PISTOL Sweden I . NEW YORK, DELAWARE, NEW JERSEY 95 ing his permission. There were more men on board, armed and ready to fight, than there were in all the Uttle Swedish settle- ment, and Governor Printz had to surrender. So it was that the Dutch became masters not only of New Netherland, but of New New Jersey Sweden. lu 1617, only three years after they built their fort on ^^"^^'^ Manhattan Island, they built one where Bergen stands, and this was the first settlement in New Jersey. So far, the Dutch had had matters their own way. They had taken as much land as they chose, and had conquered the Swedei who would not live under their rule, but now trouble was com- ing upon them. An Eng- lish fleet sailed into Mas- sachusetts Bay, and the Dutchmen of New Amster- dam were greatly alarmed, but Holland sent a mes- sage, " There is notliing to fear. They have only come to oblige Massachusetts to admit the Episcopal Church." There were some Dutch warships lying off New Amsterdam, but when this dispatch came. Gov- Trouble for ernor Stuyvesant allowed them to sail. The Dutch had made *^^ ^"^'^^ a treaty with the Iroquois, the chief tribe of Indians in that part of the country, but some other red men were making trouble, and the governor and most of his troops had gone up the Hudson to quiet them. One hot August day a messenger dashed into the camp. "The English ships!" he cried. "They have left Boston, and they are coming to Manhattan !" Governor Stuyvesant hurried to Manhattan, and the next day THE STRAND, NOW WHITEHALL STREET, NEW YORK, IN 1673 (The house at the head of the wharf was the first brick house built in the town) 96 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY England claims New Amsterdam Nicolls's letter the men-of-war appeared. There were one thousand soldiers on board, and there were six times as many guns as Fort Amsterdam could show. Governor Wmthrop came ashore and made it clear to Governor Stuyvesant that the land had been granted to the ]\Iassachusetts Bay Company, and nuist be surrendered. Stuy- vesant would not yield, and at last Winthrop presented a letter from the English commander, I^ichard Kicolls, whom the king had ai^pointcd governor of the territory, and Avent back to the ship. This letter promised that the Dutch might plant as many colonies as they chose and have all the privi- leges of English colo- nists, if they would sur- render Manhattan. " Let us read it to the people," said the coun- cilors. " I won't," roared Governor Stuyvesant, thuni])ing on the floor with his Avooden leg; and straightway he tore the letter into bits. The people heard what he had done, and sTiYVKSANT TKAKs UT NICOLLS'S LKTTKR thcy demanded to hear the letter. One of the councilors put the pieces together and read it to them. " The West India Company has done little for us," said one. " Why should we lose our homes and our lives to hold the land for them ? " demanded another. "We cannot hold the land if we would," declared a third. NEW YORK, DELAWARE, NEW JERSEY 97 " We have twenty guns and two hundred and fifty men ; they have one hundred and twenty guns and one thousand men." Still Stuyvesant would not yield. The ships sailed into the North River, and the governor marched up the road at the head New York of his men to prevent the troops from landing. The citizens begged him not to fire. Women and chil- dren crowded around him and pleaded with him not to bring war upon them. He yielded, but he said, "I'd rather be carried to my grave." So it came about that New Amsterdam was no longer a Dutcli town. It lost even its name, for the English king gave the territory to his brother, the Duke of York, and in 1664 New Amsterdam became New York. Nicolls remained as governor. He was a just, kind- hearted man, always ready to please the people. When he was obhged to go back to England, the New York- ers were as sorry as if they themselves had chosen him for their governor. Honest, positive old Gov- ernor Stuyvesant and this gentle, courteous Governor Nicolls became warm friends. Stuyvesant lived on his " bowery " on the East River, and the man whom he would have fought to the death was one of his most welcome guests. Governor Nicolls was much pleased with the northern part of what is now New Jersey. He sent a colony there when he had New Jersey been in New York only a few months, but before the colonists a^^ly^ were fairly settled, he learned that the Duke of York had given away the land to two noblemen. Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. " Hold on to your homes," said Governor Nicolls. " I am going to England, and I wiU beg the duke not to give up the land." The visit was of no use, and one day in 1664 an English vessel appeared in the harbor. The colonists stood in a group on tho A COMPANION OF GOVEKNOR NICOl.LS (Showing the costume of the period) 98 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Philip Car- river bank, not knowing whether they would be treated kindly or ^^^ driven harshly away from their settlement. A small boat was rowed to the landing, and a young man sprang ashore. Tradition says that he had a hoe on his shoulder. He introduced himself as Philip Carteret, a cousin of Sir George, and made a cordial little speech to the settlers, saying that he was glad to find them there, and he hoped they would stay. He told them how much land he would give them, and promised that every man might worship God as he thought right. The colonists liked the young man. They had built four " clapboarded houses," and, crowded as they were, room was made for Philip and his men. This is the way in which the town of Ehzabeth was begun. The name was that of Sir George's wife. New Jer- sey's name came from the island of Jersey, of which Sir George Carteret had once been governor. Not many years passed before Lord Berkeley sold his share of The Quakers New Jersey to the Quakers. Some time afterwards they pur- chased the share of the Carterets also. In 1702 East and West Jersey were united and became a royal colony. SUMMARY. Henry Hudson, sailing for a Dutch company, discovered the Hudson River. New York was first settled by the Dutch fur traders, and was called New Amsterdam. Patroons received large estates along the Hudson. England claimed the land because of Cabot's voyage, seized it, and gave to both city and province the name New York. STUWhSANT'S BOWERY HOUSE buy New Jersey PENNSYLVANIA 99 Delaware was settled by the Swedes, and afterwards was seized in turn by the Dutch and the English. New Jersey was settled by the Dutch, then by colonists under Carteret and Berkeley, then by Quakers. Finally it became a royal colony. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. Stuyvesant describes the surrender of New Amsterdam. A patroon tries to persuade a man to come to America. A talk between Governor Printz and some sailors who wished to go up the Delaware. 1 f XI PENNSYLVANIA AND MARYLAND PENNSYLVANIA. Settlements had already been made in New England, New York, The boy Wil- and Delaware when the boy was born who was to hold more land in America than any other man had ever received. His name was Wil- liam Penn, and he was the son of an admiral of the British navy. When the boy grew older, he was very handsome. He was an excel- lent scholar, and spoke five or six languages. He was fond of out- of-door sports, rode well, danced well, was a good swordsman, and a favorite wherever he went. Admiral Penn was exceedingly proud of his brilliant son. He WILLIAM PENN (When twenty-two years old) 100 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY A QUAKKR» sent him to Oxford University, and made many plans for his career after he had graduated. By and by news came to the admiral that the young man had become a Quaker, and that he was getting into trouble at the University because he thought it was wrong to attend the church service and be- cause he persisted in saying thee and thou instead of you. The Quakers, or Friends, did not think it right to speak to one person as you^ since you is a plural pronoun, although by most peo- ple it was thought as impertinent to say thou to an older person as it would be to-day to call him by his first name. The admiral was angry and disappointed. One thing that seemed especially shocking to ^''''hatTinTef^Ve'n'^'o^a^'^o.Te^'"*'^ him was his sou's Tcfusal to take off his hat, Penn will even to the king. The king himself was not at all annoyed. He thought this whim of young Penn's, as he called it, was very amusing, and when the handsome young man stood before him, hat on head, the king took off his own hat. " Friend Charles," asked the Quaker, " why dost thou take off thy hat ? " " Wher- ever I go," answered the king, with a sly twinkle in his eye, " it is the custom for only one man to wear a hat." William Penn Hked a jest as well as any one, and he must have been amused at this speech, but he continued to wear his hat. In some important matters the Friends were wiser than tho rest of the world; for instance, in England a man might be hanged for stealing a loaf of bread, but the Friends believed that it was far better to punish him in some other way than by taking his hfe. In those days most people thought that insane persons could be cured by beating and starving, but Penn believed in 1 From a portrait of Nicholas Walu iu Waison's Annah of Fhiiudelphia. not remove his hat to the king Advanced ideas of the Quakers PENNSYLVANIA 101 having hospitals for them and treating them kindly. He thought no one should be imx^risoned for debt ; and, so far as Is known, he was the first man in the world to declare that criminals ought to have work x^rovided for them when they were imx^risoned, and not spend their time in idleness and in learning more of evil from the other prisoners. Another idea of his, which was then Penn's own almost unheard of, was that nations, instead of going to war when "^^^^ they disagreed, should let their rulers meet and act as a council to settle any dispute. It is probable that many who were opposed to the Quakers did not think so much of the difference of behef in important affairs as of what seem to us very small matters, such as refusing to take off the hat, and saying thz-A and thou. There were Quakers in New Jersey, and for some time Penn thought of founding a settlement in America where his i>*iople could live in peace and not be fined or beaten or im- prisoned. Charles II. owed Admiral Penn a large sum of money, and when the admiral died, William Penn offered to accexjt instead of the money a tract of land in America. The king was glad enough to escape from paying the debt. He thought it very amusing that this young Quaker would take wild forest land instead of such a sum of money, and it may be that there was a touch of humor in the name which he gave it, " Pennsylvania," or " Penn's Woodland," though he declared that the name was given in honor of the admiral. More amasing still did it seem to the merry King Charles to send Quakers, who did not believe in fighting, off among the savages. CHABLES 11. 102 OUR COUNTRrS STORY Philadelphia founded " We shall have no fighting," said Penn, " we shall pay the Indians for the land." " I thought the land was mine," said the king. " Did n't our ships discover it ? " "If some Indians should come over here and discover England, would the country be theirs ? " asked Penn. " Oh good-by, good-by," said the king ; " but see to it that you don't take to scalping." There were to be just laws in Penn's colony and religious free- dom. Ship after ship sailed up the Delaware, full of colonists ; three thousand came during the first year. Penn planned his city with wide, straight streets, and gave them the names of forest trees. Some of these names have been changed, but there are still Chestnut, Wal- nut, Spruce, Pine, and others. The settlers at first lived not on the river bank, but in it, for they dug into the bluff from the side and top, spi'ead turf and branches over the cave for a roof, and were not at all un- comfortable. So it was that Philadolpliia was begun in 1682. The name means the "city of Tnr. MiDDLKcoLON-iEs brothcrly love," and Penn in- tended that people of different beliefs should have an oppor- tunity to live there in peace. In a few weeks he asked the set- tlers to meet him, and together they made laws for the colony. Soon after Penn's arrival the famous treaty with the Indians was made. Penn feasted them, and they feasted him. They ran PENNSYLVANIA 103 and leaped to show what they could do. The governor watched Penn's a little while, then he showed what he could do. When they Ih^indians saw that he could leap as far and run as fast as they, they were convinced that he was really a mighty man, and they gladly made a treaty with him. The treaty made by the Pilgrims with Massasoit was kept for more than fifty years, but this famous treaty of Penn's was faithfully observed for sixty years. The Quakers paid the red men for the land that they took, as the whites in New York and New England had done ; but the Quakers were especially fortunate in having around them, not fierce, warlike Indians hke those of the east, but tribes that had been completely subdued by the fierce Iroquois, made to pay tribute, and to call themselves cowards. Their conquerors were friendly to the whites, and were ready to swoop down upon the Indians of Pennsylvania if they harmed the Quakers.^ This was what gave Penn safety. But he had more than safety : he had the friendship of the red men, and this he won chiefly because he was one of the few white men who treated them not as inferiors, but as equals, and because he was careful to do by them as he would have liked them to do by him. Penn stayed two years in America. He lived at first in a small cottage, now in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, the bricks for which were brought from England. He was finally obliged to return to Eng- land, and visited his " Woodland " but once more. The city grew. Schools were opened when it was only one year old, and — a new thing in those days — they were for girls Education as well as boys. Children could be taught to read for four shil- Q^a^frs a lings a term, and for eight shillings they could learn reading, Puritans ' Fiske's Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America. PENK'S AUTOGRAPH AND SEAL 104 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Growth of the city writing, and arithmetic. The Quaker behef in regard to educa- tion was quite different from that of the Puritans. Both were eager to understand the Bible aright. The Puritans thought that the more of a student a man was, the better chance he would have of knowing just what every verse in the Bible meant. That is why the Puritans were so anxious to found a college. The Quakers thought that if one simply learned to read, God would put into his heart the mean- ing of what was said in the Bible. That is why they did not think it was necessary to have a college, although they wished their children to have a common school education. Philadelphia grew rapidly and soon became the largest city in the colonies, retaining that distinction for many years. Two years after Penn's arrival the first printing press in the middle colonies was established in Philadelphia. There, too, was pubhshed the first daily paper in the United States. PKXN'S BIUCK COTTAGE (Formerly standing on the west side of Letitia Street) English per- secution of Roman Catholics MARYLAND. Maryland is a kind of link between the northern colonies and those farther south. It was first settled in 1634, the very year in which Roger Williams was having so hard a time in Massachu- setts. The Roman Catholics in England were meeting even greater troubles than his. If they refused to attend the Episcopal "Church, they were fined or imprisoned, or even tortured. Not a word could they say about making the laws of the land, and they MARYLAND 105 could not even send their children away to school in Roman Catholic countries. The queen was a Roman Catholic, but, strangely enough, this fact only made hfe in England harder for the members of her church. In order to marry her, Charles had promised that the laws against those of her faith should not be carried out. He had no power to bring this to pass, and while the Roman Catholics were indignant that he did not succeed, the Protestants were angry that he even made an attempt, and they watched closely to make sure that the laws were enforced. In England there was a wise, clear-sighted nobleman called Lord Balti- Lord Baltimore. He had been a member of Parliament, and he ^cSony "^ was a friend of King Charles. This nobleman had become a Ro- man Catholic, and just as the Puritans wished to found a colony where they could be free to worship as they would, so Lord Baltimore wished to found one where Roman CathoUcs could have their church. He asked the king for some land north of Virginia, and Charles was more than ready to grant the request. This gift would please the Roman Catholics, the Protestants would not object to their op- ponents leaving the country, and the only ones displeased would be the colonists in Virginia, who were too far away to make any trouble. Lord Baltimore could appoint his own judges, have his own form of worship, and make very nearly what laws he chose. The only claim that King Charles made upon the proprietor was that one fifth of all gold and silver mined should be- long to the crown, and that two Indian arrows should be pre- The inde- sented to him every year, to show that the land was under tlie Maryland Enghsh rule. The queen's name was Henrietta Maria, and in her honor the tract was to be called Maryland. CECILIUS CALVERT, SECOND LOKD BALTIMOKE 106 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY lounded Just as the papers for this grant were to he made out, Lord St. Mary's is Baltimore died, but his son went on with the i)lan, and carried out his father's ideas. Soon three hundred colonists went to Maryland. A few were rich, and all were well supplied with what would be needed in a new country. Some were Roman Catholics, but many were Protestants, for it was known that men were to attend whatever church they chose. The emigrants came to land on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay. The ship was the largest that the Indians had ever seen, and they sent messen- gers about to say, " A canoe as large .as an island has brought as many men as there are trees in the woods." "Where did a tree grow that was large enough to make it of V " they asked, for they thought it was made of a single trunk like a dug-out. For "axes, hatch-ets, hoes, and some yards of cloth," the chief sold the whites a piece of land at the mouth of the l*otomac, and there in 1G34 was founded Saint IMary's, the first settlement in Maryland. Some wigwams were on this land, and in one of these was held the first Roman Cath- olic service in that part of the world. This Indian hut is sometimes spoken of as the " Wigwam Church." The governor called the colonists to a meeting, and together they made laws for the settlement. The most famous one of these laws declared that no one who believed in Jesus Christ should be interfered with in his worship, Rhode Island was not founded till two years later, so such liberality was something entirely new in America, and it was almost unknown in Europe. Roman Catho- lics came to the colony, of course, and Quakers came ; and finally some Puritans came who had not been happy in Virginia, and they founded Annapolis. The great business of Maryland was raismg tobacco. This A H.\LTIMOUK .SIXPKNCK (Issued by Lord Ualtlmore In 1862) Religious freedom MARYLAND 107 L»OUGHOIi£GAN .MANOR IN MAKYLAXD work ijaid so well that people did little else; and while the New Why Mary- Englanders were spinning and weaving and sawing and whittling, manufac- the people of Maryland were rolling their hogsheads of tobacco ^ufes to the wharves, and sending them to England to buy whatever they needed to wear and to use in their houses. With whole forests at hand, the Marylanders made nothing for themselves, but sent the wood to England to be manufactured into tables, stools, bowls, and brooms, and brought back to them. People living on large plantations cannot have their houses near together, and this is the chief reason why there were so few Reason for Each the lack of towns in Maryland even after many settlers had come. ^..^.. towns plantation, however, was like a little town in itself. There were wide fields of tobacco all around, cabins for the workmen, a chapel, storehouses, and in the centre of all the great, comfortable house of the owner of the ijlantation. In these rather lonely places, the people at the " great house " were always glad to wel- come guests. The homes of the pilanters " are free for all to comQ and go," said one who knew them well. 108 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Puritan re- bellion Changes of government In a short time there were troubles m Maryland, which arose chiefly because the Virginians did not wish to have a colony so near. Some years later a rebelhon broke out among the Puritans against the governor. They were especially ungrateful because, as was said, Lord Baltimore had given them the same rights that he had given to the people of his own church. The Puritans were in power in England, and the man who was then Lord Balti- more was declared to have no claim upon Maryland. A few years later his rights were restored, and for thirty years every man went to church where he pleased. Then the king took the government into liis own hands, and the Roman Catho- lics were obliged to pay forty pounds of tobacco apiece every year to help support the Episcopal Church. Finally a Protestant de- scendant of the founder was appointed governor, and his family held the province until the K evolution. SUMMARY. The Quaker, "William Penn, obtained a grant of land in America and founded Philadelphia. People of all kinds of belief came to enjoy relio-ious freedom. The city soon became the largest in the colonies. Maryland was founded by Lord Baltimore as a place of refuge for Roman Catholics who were persecuted in England. Religious freedom was given to all who chose to come. Maryland had few manufactures because tobacco-raising paid so well that people bought whatever was needed, and few towns because each man ■wished to have a large plantation for raising tobacco. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. A Quaker boy describes his cave in the banks of the Delaware. Penn tells the Indians of his wish to be on good terms with them. One Indian tells another about the coming of the great ship. NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA 109 XII THE CAROLINAS AND GEORGIA the Caroli- NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA. The father of Charles II. treated his people so badly that finally he was tried and put to death. For eleven years there was no The grant of king in England, and then Charles II. was set upon the throne. ^^^ The men who had helped him to secure his father's crown expected to be rewarded, but Charles preferred to spend his money in amusing himself. The cheapest thing to do was to give them some land in America, and this he did. To a company of eight he gave the land between Virginia and Saint Augustine. Like the other grants, this terri- tory was to extend to the west as far as the Pacific. Carolina was not all wilder- map of the carolinas and Georgia ness, for a few farmers had come from Virginia and settled near Albemarle Albemarle Sound, not far from Roanoke Island, where Raleigh had tried to begin his " second home " for the English nation. In 1663 the Company gave the little group of houses the name of Albemarle. This was the first permanent settlement in North Carolina. The first settlement in South Carolina was made in 1670, near no OUR COUNTRY'S STORY nots Charleston where Charleston now stands, by English emigrants whom the Company sent over. Just as Jamestown had been named in honor of King James, so tliis settlement was named in honor of King Charles II. South Carolina was especially fortunate in the Huguenot, or The Hugue- French Protestant, emigrants who came to the new colony in the early days. The king of France declared that they should not have a church of their own in France, and that if they tried to emigrate, they should be hanged. Those who came to America had to steal away by night and abandon their homes and other property, but when they reached the New World, every colony had a welcome for them. Massachusetts gladly gave them land and money. They were valuable colonists, for they understood various kinds of manufactures, and, more than that, they were brave, upright, intelligent people, a prize for any nation. In England a learned man named John Locke wrote a body of laws for Carolina. There were laws for everything that could be thought of from the punishment of crimes to the oversight of chil- (Iren'sgames. Therewas to be a certain number of noblemen, each own- ing a certain amount of land. There were also to be tenants, who rented land, but could never buy it. They must do whatever the nobleman bade, and they must not leave his land without permission. The Company were so delighted ■^ith this body of laws that they called it the " Grand IModel," and declared that it would stand forever. In reality, it never stood ENTRANCE TO CHARLESTON HARBOR The Grand Model GEORGIA 111 at all, for the settlers refused to be ruled in any such fashion, and insisted upon buying land and making laws for themselves. North Carolina had vast forests of pines, and the chief occupa- tion of the colonists was cutting timber and making tar The chief and turpentine. South Caroliaa had great tracts of swampy land, and as soon as it was found that rice would grow on it, the raising of rice became the princi- pal work. Long before the Revolutionary War, it was discovered that indigo would flourish in South Carolina, and that paid so well that indigo raising then became the leading industry. It was not easy for white people to work in the swamps, and negro slaves were brought RICE from Africa. The occupations of the two parts of Caro- Division of lina were so unlike and the first settlements so far apart, that ^^^ what one portion of the country wanted was often quite different from what the other required. The result of this was that the territory was finally divided into two parts, North and South Caroliaa. GEORGIA. There used to be a law in England that men who could not pay their debts should be put into prison. In prison they must stay unless some one paid for them, for there they had no way of earning money. Indeed, they had little food unless their friends gave it to them or they could beg it from those who passed by. Many of these " poor debtors " were honest men who had run in debt because of sickness. Some were even well educated. Poor debtors GEXERAL JAMES OGLETHORPE (From a print in the British Mnseum) 112 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Oglethorpe plans to help them Why he chose Geor- gia The settle- ment of Georgia The prisons of Enjjland were in a wretched condition, and Par- liament appointed General James Oglethorpe to visit them and report what reforms ought to be made. General Oglethorpe was a kind-hearted man, and after he had seen the sufferings of these people, he could not rest until he had planned some way to relieve them. Tliis is what he planned. He would pay their debts, set them free, and then carry them and their families to America, and give them a chance to try again. Many rich men helped, the English government helped, and it was only a year before a ship set sail with more than one hundred liberated prisoners and their families on board as emigrants. They were to form a settlement between Charleston and Saint Augus- tine, for Oglethorpe was a good general as well as a kind, gener- ous man, and he knew that Charleston would welcome a strong settlement to the south as a protection against the Spaniards, and that the two colo- nies could stand more firmly together than either alone. The tract of land given to him " in trust for the poor " was called Georgia, for then King George 11. was on the throne. The first settlement was made at Savannah in 1733. Not many SAVANNAH ix 1741 years before this time, the Spaniards of Florida had aroused the Indians to attack South Carolina, and that colony was delighted to have these new neigh- bors and allies. She gave them cattle, goats, hogs, and rice, besides sending some negroes with them to help build the houses. South GEORGIA 113 Carolina was not disappointed in the help that she expected to receive from the new colony, for General Oglethorpe led an expe- dition against the Spaniards, and after that there was no trouble from them. Oglethorpe had expected to be able to make wine and oUve oil, Silk-raising and to produce large quantities of silk, for mulberry-trees, on whose leaves the silkworms feed, grew wild in Georgia. When the colony was two years old, the founder made a visit to England, and carried with him eight pounds of Georgia silk, which was made into a dress for the queen. Silk-raising was not a success, however, one reason being that the raising of rice and indigo paid much better. Oglethorpe and his friends were to make the laws for the colonies for twenty-one years ; but after a httle while the settlers were not contented to be ruled by others. There were two reasons why they felt that they had a right to complain. One was that no rum could be brought into the colony, and the second was that slavery was not allowed. The colonists said that men needed rum in that climate, and that besides, they ought to have it to sell to the West Indies. The climate, it was maintained, required the use of negroes, for the settlers said they must have workmen who could endure the heat better than white men. The founder and his friends finally granted their requests. Twenty years after the colony was founded, the province was Georgia is given up to the king, and until the Revolution it was ruled by a f^e^^ine ° governor whom he appointed. Georgia was the last of the thirteen EngUsh colonies that united, only a century and a half after the first one was founded, to free themselves from Great Britain. BRANCH OF OLr\rE 114 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY SUIMMARY. The Caroliiias were granted to several men as a reward for serving the king. Among their most valuable colonists were the Huguenots. The chief industry in the northern part was the manufacture of tar and turpentine ; in the southern, the raising of rice and indigo. The wants of the two colonies were so unlike that the province was finally di- vided. General Oglethorpe founded Georgia as a home for " poor debtors." The settlers were not satisfied with the government of the colony, and at last it was given up to the king. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. General Oglethorpe tells Parliament about the " poor debtors." One of the prisoners writes his wife about Oglethorpe's offer. xiir THE FRENCH EXPLORATIONS IN AMERICA A FEW years before JamestoAvn was settled, there was in France a brave young sailor who had become a soldier for the time, and was helping to fight some of the French king's battles. His name was Champlain, and he would have been much surprised if any one had told him that some day a lake in America would be named after him. When the fighting was over, he asked the cHAiiPLAiN's ricTUKE OF QUEBEC Mug's pcrmission to go to America to search for the Northwest Passage. He explored the Saint Lawrence, and on its north shore he noted a rocky pro- FRENCH EXPLORATIONS 115 montory. " That is the very place for a town," he thought. " The The found- river is narrow here, and a fort with a few men conld keep any o^e*b number of ships from coming up the stream," In 1608 he founded a colony on that very spot, and named it Quebec from the Indian word quehec^ a narrow place. The Iroquois, the fiercest and most savage of all the Indian tribes, Uved in what is now the State of New York, and one day the friendly Indians who were north of the Saint Lawrence came to Champlain to beg for his aid against these Iroquois, who were their deadly foes. Champlain agreed to help them. The white men and the red men feasted and smoked and made speeches. Then they paddled up the river and into Lake Champlain. If they had been one month later and had gone a little farther south, they might have met Henry Hudson and his Dutch- men sailing up the Hud- son. All the men that they thought of meeting were the Iroquois, Champlain A JESUIT EXPLORER and soon the Iroquois came. Champlain's guns won the day, and there was no limit to the devotion of the Indians. To show their affection and gratitude, they gave liim the bleeding head of one of their enemies and asked him to present it to his sovereign. This little battle between a few red men in the woods with some white men helping one side was an important event in American history, for ever after this the Iroquois hated the French and were ready to help the Enghsh. That is why the French did not venture to found any colonies in New York, although they and the Iroquois 116 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The Jesuits explored to the westward, up the Samt Lawrence and about the Great Lakes. They claimed all the land that is drained by the river, and called it New France. The first explorers were Roman Catholic priests called Jesuits. Champlam said that he would rather convert an IncUan than found an empire, and this was the spirit of these priests. Among the hostile Indians they suffered fearful tortures. They were beaten, they were burned, their fingers were cut off \\ath shells joint by joint, and they were put to death in all the agonizing ways that could be invented. Still, even after the Dutch had ransomed one and sent Mm home, he made his way back again to preach to his tormentors. One Jesuit, when pursued by Iroquois, might easily have made his escape, but hastened back to terrible sufferings because he remembered that some of his Indian con- verts had not yet been baptized. In all the history of America, there are no heroes more brave, more earnest, and. more unselfish than these black-robed missionaries of the wilderness. Another class of people who did much to bring the French and the Indians together were the coureurs de bois, or forest rangers. The king's officers demanded so much of the profit on furs that many young men went into the \\il(lerness and traded without the royal permission. Whenever one was caught, he was severely punished; therefore, they went farther and farther away from the ^_^ settlements. Often they married Indian women. -^^^ Nearly all the English looked down upon the In- A couKEUR DE Bois dlaus, but the French treated them as equals, and could go among them in safety far from any settlement of whites. After a while the French heard that beyond their forts and missions there was a great river which the Indians called the Mississippi, or "father of waters." Marquette, a Jesuit priest, FRENCH EXPLORATIONS 117 was eager to go down this stream to preach to new tribes of Marquette Indians, and Johet, a fur-trader, was ready to go with liim. The down^the^ ^° friendly Indians begged them not to go. They said that the Mississippi distant tribes were fierce and cruel, and that the river was full of "monsters that devour both men and canoes." Nevertheless, the priest and the explorer and five of their friends floated down the Wisconsin and into the Mississippi. The Indians met them kindly, and one tribe, the Illinois, begged that the white men would come back and live among them. They went below the mouth of the Arkansas, far enough to be almost sure that the great river did not flow into the Gulf of California, as had been thought, and then they paddled their way back up the Mississippi. Marquette was exhausted by the hard journey, but as soon as he was strong enough he went to visit the Illinois. He preached to them and founded a mission. On his way back to the Great Lakes, he died on the bank of the river that is named for him. To find where the Mississippi emptied was the work of La Salle, another brave French explorer. Nothing could make this resolute man falter. He built a sailing vessel; it was vn-ecked. A French ship bringing him money was lost. He built a fort ; the garrison revolted. He made friends of the Illinois ; but when La Salle he came to their village a second time, it had been burned, and mo^th of the the heads of his Indian allies were i)ut up on poles. Three times Mississippi he started on his expedition ; twice he failed. The third time, in the bitterly cold winter of 1682, he came to the Mississippi. It was full of floating ice, but the dauntless man never thought of giving up the voyage. Down the stream he made his way. At the mouth of the river he set up a great wooden cross, on which MARQUETTE ( From llie statue In the Capitol at Washington) 118 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Louisiana Death of La Salle he nailed the arms of France, and took possession in the name of King Louis XIV. of all the land drained by the Mississippi and its branches. In honor of the king, he named the territory Louisiana. He knew that it was of httle use to claim the land unless he planted colonies and built forts. The king gave him four ships that he might found a colony at the mouth of the INIississippi, but the pilot made a mistake and sailed to the coast of Texas. There they built a fort, but many of the men died and the rest quar- reled. Finally, La SaUe set out for Canada to find help. On the way he was shot by one of his own men. So died one of the bravest and most resolute of all the explorers of the New World. SETTLEMENT AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN UK SUMMARY. Champlain explored the Saint Lawrence and founded Quebec ; therefore France claimed Canada. He sided with the Canadian Indians against the Iroquois ; and, because of their enmity, although the French planted colonies to the west, they founded none in New York. Marquette, Joliet, and La Salle explored the ]\Iississippi ; therefore France claimed the land drained by that river. She named it Louisiana. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. A Jesuit tells his friends about his life in America. An Indian tells ^larquette about the Mississippi. La Salle describes his journey down the Mississippi ¥ THE STRUGGLE WITH THE FRENCH 119 XIV THE STRUGGLE WITH THE FRENCH A FEW years after all the colonies except Georgia had been founded, war broke out between England and France. Both na- Who should tions were beginning to see that it was worth while to hold land J^jJ^gj-^ca in America, and that to destroy one of the enemy's settlements counted for more than to capture one of the enemy's warships. /Cj St.Lawrence / J T^ / y^Louisburg C^"' 'M 100 150 200 250 FKKNCTI FT?ONTIER TN THK NORTH This is why there was fighting between the French and English colonies. In this struggle the colonies that could be most easily reached from Canada suffered most. One of the first to be attacked was Schenectady Schenectady in New York. The settlers had so little thought of ^^^^^^^^ danger that in jest they had put up two snow men at the gates for 120 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Hannah Dustan's adventures Burning of Deerfield sentinels. In the night, through the storm and the darkness, the French and Indians went silently past the watchmen of snow. Not a sound was heard. Suddenly came the terrible warwhoop, and in two hours men, women, and children were slain or carried away as prisoners. Another raid was made ui^on a few farmliouses near Haver- hill, Massachusetts. A sick wo- man named Hannah Duston was dragged away with her nurse. With the Indians was a boy captured at Worcester long before who had learned to speak their language. " They said that by and by we should have to run the gantlet," whispered the boy to ]\Irs. Duston. "IJunning the gant- let" meant running between two rows of men, each man striking at the captive as he passed. "Find out where to strike if one would kill at a blow," A^hispered Mrs. Duston. That night they camped on an island in the Merrimack just above Con- cord, New Hampshire. The two women and the boy each took a tomahawk, and, gliding silently from one sleeping Indian to another, struck the fatal blow. With ten Indian scalps to prove the deed, they made their way back to their friends.^ A few years later an attack was made upon Deerfield, Massa- chusetts. It was burned and a large number of captives taken on the long march to Canada. Many of them died on the way, or were killed by the savages because they could not travel over the snow and ice as fast as the others. One httle Deerfield girl finally * Acts and Resolves of the Province of Mass. Bay, vol. vii, p. 1");}. TUli ('ArriKK OK HANNAH l»l SION THE STRUGGLE WITH THE FRENCH 121 married an Indian. Years afterwards, she and her brave and their children made several visits to her old home. One Sunday her relatives persuaded her to put on a gown and bonnet and go to church ; but as soon as she came back, she tossed them off and went back to her Indian blanket and her Indian wigwam. After a time of peace, word came across the ocean that France and England were at war again. The governor of Louisburg, a New Eng- fortress on Cape Breton Island, heard the news first, and before {fon aeainst Boston knew that war had been declared, he burned a little Eng- Louisburg lish fishing village. The New Englanders were indignant, and in their wrath they determined to capture Louisburg. A skilled commander would have hesitated, for Louisburg was . LOUISBURG FROM THE NORTHEAST (On the right is the Royal Battery, the first French outpost to be captured) the strongest fortress in North America ; but this scheme had " a lawyer for contriver, a merchant for general, and farmers, fisher- men, and mechanics for soldiers." No one in New England knew anything about besieging such a fort, and in all good faith the wildest methods were proposed. Almost as an afterthought, some English vessels were asked to accompany the expedition to pre- vent French ships from coming to the aid of the fortress. The 122 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Louisburg taken New Englanders landed. The cannon must be dragged two miles. The men were up to their knees in mud, and the cannon sank out of sight. There were few tents, and not enough blankets to go around. Shoes gave out, clothes were in tatters, the scahng ladders were too short, two thousand men were sick ; and before the troops were the stone walls of the fortress, thirty feet high. Louisburg Avas captured, but even the colonists themselves who afterwards went within the walls wondered how the deed had been done. It was partly because the French commander was not as bold or as wise as he should have been, and did not make the proper preparations ; and partly because, while the besiegers knew nothing of the usual way of attack- ing a fort, they had had a hard training in finding out how to do things for themselves, and they made their assaults in original fashions that were a continual surprise to the French. " Panic seized upon us," wrote a P'renchman who was at Louis- burg ; and he added mournfully, " These New Englanders CROSS are a smgular people." All the fighting on land was done (Captured at Louis- ,,1 ^ • , -n , ■, .-,, i.urKandnow In by the colouists witliout otlicr aid than the instructions of the Harvard Li- brary) three or four gunners whom they borrowed from the fleet to shoAV these daring soldiers how to use the cannon ; yet, if the English ships had not kept the harbor clear of vessels coming to help the French, and if they had not captured one with a supply of powder just as that of the besiegers was faihng, Louisburg could not have been taken. When the terms of peace were arranged, England gave up Louisburg to France. This was done that England might gain some land in Hindustan, but the New Englanders were indignant, for they felt as if tlieir great victory had gone for nothing. The question, " Who shall rule in America ? " was not yet set- tled, however. Before this, France and England had quarreled about matters in Europe, but trouble now arose about matters Louisburg returned to France THE STRUGGLE WITH THE FRENCH 123 in America. France claimed the land drained by all the rivers The French that she explored. " The French king might as well claim all i^^^ the lands that drink French brandy," declared an Englishman ; but France went on building forts and claiming land. The Eng- lish were not especially interested in the Mississippi, but when the French claimed the Ohio, they were aroused. Some Virginians and Londoners formed the Oliio Company and planned to make settlements on the river. The French began at once to build forts down the Alleghany. At length Governor Dinwiddle of Virginia decided to send a letter to warn them that they were trespassing. A young man of A youthful twenty-one years was asked to carry the letter, and he set off on a dangerous journey of nearly one thousand miles. It was winter, and the path was hidden by the deep snow. The young envoy would not wait for his party, but with one companion he went straight through the woods, finding his way by the compass. They crossed the creeks by felling trees for bridges. The Alleghany was full of floating ice, and they made a raft. In the middle of the stream the messenger was jerked into the water. He was fired at by an Indian not fifteen paces away, but at last he de- livered his letter and came safely home again. His friends were very proud of him, and they would have been still more proud if they had known what he would do for his country a few years later, for the young man's name was George Washington. The only answer the French made was that the letter should be forwarded to Marquis Duquesne, the governor of Canada. Then The answer Governor Dinwiddle sent Washington to build a fort where Pitts- pj-gncji burg now stands. It was hardly begun when the French fell upon the party, completed the fort themselves, and named it Fort Duquesne. Washington built a small fort farther south, but when the French came upon him, he had to surrender and march back to Virginia. 124 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY General Braddock takes com mand X.A N T A R/ The next year the English sent over General Braddock to take command. " I shall capture Fort Duquesne in three or four days, and then march on to Niagara," said he. " The Indians are skillful in laying snares," mod- estly suggested a wise colonist of whom we shall hear more, for his name was Benjamin Franklin. "Very likely they are troublesome to your un- trained soldiers," said Brad- dock a little haughtily, "but the king's Regulars will have no difficulty." Washington tried to make him see that it would not do to draw up his men in lines in i)lain sight when fighting with Indians, but Braddock accepted no ad- vice, and wrote home that the American troops were cow- ardly. Not far from Fort Duquesne there was a sudden attack. Brad- H is defeat at dock was bravery itself, and the English soldiers would have stood like a wall against an enemy whom they could see, but hardly a foe was in sight. The deadly shots came from behind trees and rocks, and the soldiers had no idea where to fire. They were panic-stricken, and ran " like sheep pursued by dogs," "Washington wrote home to his mother. He added, " I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me." Then he signed himself in the formal fashion of those days, " I am, honored Madam, your most dutiful son, George Washington." REGION ABOUT FOUT DUQUESNE Fort Du quesne THE STRUGGLE WITH THE FRENCH 125 Only the skill of the young Virginian saved any part of the army. Braddock was slain, and Washington buried him secretly at night, lest his grave should be insulted. The Indians strutted about the battlefield, wearing the laced hats and scarlet uniforms of the English officers. One of the saddest events of the war occurred in Acadia,' or Nova Scotia. Nearly all the settlers there were French, and they Exile of the claimed to be " neutrals," that is, persons who would favor neither Acadians party. The Enghsh believed that they were aiding the French, and thought that if they were \ allowed to remain, Eng- land would lose Nova Scotia. Suddenly the English troops swept down upon the Aca- dians, carried six thousand of them away, and scattered them among the English colo- nies along the coast. In the confusion, husbands were parted from their wives, and mothers from their children. There is a tradition that a young maiden was separated from her betrothed, and wan- dered for many years in search of him. It is upon this story that Longfellow founded his " Evangeline." -z-^-T-- - The exiles buried many of expulsion of the acadians their possessions, hoping to return. Some of these things have been found, and people have not yet given up digging in search of the chapel bell of Port Royal. Those who came to Philadelphia were in great need, until a 126 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The Aca- dians in Philadelphia Quebec kind Quaker raised funds to build a row of little •wooden houses for them, and to provide a teacher for their children. There was a strange fear of these simple, harmless people, and a young Philadelphia girl wrote that she was frightened because she had to go by the houses of the " French Neutrals " at twilight. This carrying peoi)le from their homes was not a new thing, and aa ^'■■^rnxmiUmSu;. TUlTJ m TUE to Hi I.. .i- yLLl'.hl As U Is lu-KA V strangely enough, it is just what the French king had proposed to do some years earlier if he had captured New York. The EngUsh had won victories, but the one thing that would end the French rule in America was the capture of Quebec. Quebec was built on a great mass of rock that jutted out into the Saint Lawrence. It was one of the strongest cities in the world, and it was commanded by General IMontcalm, a brave and suc- cessful French soldier. The English were commanded by General Wolfe, a young man who had won glory in previous lighting. All summer Wolfe tried one plan after another to take the city, but in vain. Autumn came, and he planned a final attempt, lie sent part of the vessels with a few men below the town to pre- tend to be getting ready for an assault, while the other ships with THE STRUGGLE WITH THE FRENCH 127 most of the men sailed far up above the town. Montcalm was below, and one of his officers above, each expecting an attack. When night came, Wolfe and his men floated dowTi stream in the deep shadow of the high bank. It was dark, but the stars were Capture of out. Wolfe repeated softly his favorite poem, Gray's " Elegy." the^English " I should rather have written those hnes," said he, " than to take Quebec." They came near the shore. " Who is there ? " called the sentinel. " Provision boats," was the answer. " Keep still, the English will hear ! " Provision boats were expected, and the sentinel asked no more questions. About a mile above Quebec was a high plateau called the Plains of Abraham from a pilot who lived there in the early days. Wolfe had seen with his glass far across the river a rough path up the almost perpendicular cliff, and he believed that his men could climb it. Montcalm, too, had noticed this path, but he said, " They have not wings, and one hundred men posted there could stop their whole army." So they could, but the one in charge was careless, and while Mont- calm below the town and his officer above the town were each expecting an attack, Wolfe and his men were climbing up the steep cliff. In the morning Montcalm found an English army drawn up in line on the Plains. Tliere was a fierce battle. Both commanders were mortally wounded. Wolfe heard his men crying, " They run ! See them run ! " " Who run?" he asked, and when he knew it was the French, he said, " Now I shall die in peace." Montcalm was carried to a little house in the town. " Thank God," said he, " that I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." This victory in 1759 ended in America the war which lasted in Europe till 17G3. France gave up to England, Canada, and all ENGLISH SOLDIER OF WOLFE'S TIME 128 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY DEATH OF GENERAL WOLFE (From the painting by Benjamin West) English rule the land that the French had claimed east of the Mississippi. in America During the war, England had captured Cuba and the Philippines from Spain, for Spain was helping France. Now England gave the islands back and took Florida in exchange. To pay Spain for this loss, France had to give her New Orleans and all the land between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. The question was settled once for all that England would rule in America. SUMMARY. For nearly seventy-five years there were periods of fighting with the French to see who should rule in America. The latter part of this struggle, brought on by the attempts of the French to seize the Ohio valley, was called the French and Indian War. TIMES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 129 The capture of Quebec gave England the control in America. After the war, England held Canada and all land east of the Mississippi. Spain held the land between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. A New England soldier writes home from Louisburg. Washington's companion tells about the journey to the Alleghany. An Acadian girl describes the carrying away of her people. XV THE TIMES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION America in the eighteenth century was a very different country from what it is to-day. In the first place, there were probably Population not so many inhabitants in all the English colonies as there are now in New York and Philadelphia, and of these half a milhon were negro slaves. Slaves were held m all the colonies. Indeed, England was making so much money in the slave trade that she forced slavery upon America, and ordered her officers in the New World to do all that they could to encourage the trade. In the South, a negro could live on cheap food and without many clothes or much shelter, while in the North, if he did not have good food, warm clothes, and a comfortable shelter. Slavery GREAT HOUSE OF AN EAKLV PLANTATION 130 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY lie would die. The result was that people in the northern colo- nies found that slavery did not pay, and it was gradually dis- appearing. Even in the southern colonies there was a feehng that slavery would vanish in time. The Carolinas were not at all pleased, and even a little alarmed, to have so many negroes in their territory. Newspapers and mail Books A POSTRIDER (From a print in the I'ost Office Department) There was no daily newspaper, and if there had been, people woiild not have received it promptly unless they had lived near the printing-office, for even between New York and Philadelpliia there was a mail only three times a week, and it took three days for the mail carrier, or "postrider," to make tlie journey. Once a month the mail went to England. Sending mail from colony to colony was expensive, and a letter of a single sheet sometimes cost twenty or twenty-five cents, according to the distance that it was carried. \Yriting a letter to a friend was not a business to be undertaken without con- sideration, and this is one reason why the letters of those days were so carefully and formally written. But if the colonists had few newspapers and few books, they read all the more carefully what books they did have, and they thought about what they read. Most of the books were brought from England, but some were IJUliNlMl OF mi;. .IiiIlN i;o(;ek.s (From the New England Primer) TIMES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 131 ■written in America, chiefly volumes of sermons, discourses on witchcraft, and some rhymes so dreary that no one cares to read them now. Almost the only book that the children could claim as their own was a tiny volume called the " New England Primer." This con- The New tained pages of Bible questions, such as, " Who was the oldest pj^mer man ? " or " Who was the meekest man ? " There were long lists of hard names, " To teach children to spell their own," said the heading; and the Puritan boys and girls must sometimes have wondered how learning to spell Methuselah would teach them to spell John, but they would never have dared to ask. There was a picture of a man tied to a stake and burning to death because he did not believe in the king's church. There were verses that this man wrote not long before he was put to death, and there was an alphabet with a picture and a rhyme for every letter. This began, — In Adam's Pall We iinned all. and ended, — ZACCHETTshe Did climb the Tree Our Lord to fee. There, too, was the children's evening prayer, " Now I lay me down to sleep." This was the children's especial book, and they read it and re-read it till all the early copies were so worn out that there are no more to be found. A famous book that came once a year was "Poor Richard's Poor Almanac," written by Benjamin Franklin. Besides having tides, Alma^na/ eclipses, etc., Uke other almanacs, it had good advice put into 132 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY FRANKLIN'S rUlNllM. TKESS (Now owned by the Uostonian Society) Traveling rhyme and little stories, and such proverbs as "Great talkers, little doers," and " Tongue double brings trouble," " Doors and walls are fools' paper," and " He who pursues two hares at once does not catch one and lets t' other go." There were often puzzles and riddles to be answered in the next number. Some households had little other reading except the Bible. The children must have watched eagerly for the time when the new almanac would come, and they could have new stories and see if their guesses of the puzzles were correct. Getting new clothes was a weighty matter. In the North the wool or flax must be raised, spun, and woven. In the South, even if a gown was to be bought and not groicn^ it generally had to be ordered from England ; and as at least three months would have to pass before the buyer could receive it, deciding what to send for was a seri- ous business. Traveling was difficult. To go from Philadelpliia to New York took three days by stage-coach, and Avhen it was announced that one was to make the journey in two days, people thought the name, the "Flying Ma- chine," was well deserved. Ev one who visited a city expected to have many commissions for his friends. Stage drivers and postriders "did er- rands." Only three or four years ago, an old lady on Cape Cod said that in her early American stage youth she and her friends always sent to Boston by the captain of the packet boat for their bonnets. "And they were pretty ones, too," she added. Many of the things that the colonists would gladly have made TIMES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 133 I for themselves England would not allow them to make, because England the English manufacturers wished to make money selling their manufac- goods to the colonists. If the colonists began to make hammers tures and axes, straightway the English manufacturers of hammers and axes would get a law passed that no such things should be made in America, More than this, no colony was allowed to sell goods to any other colony without paying a tax. They must buy of England, and whatever they pro- duced must be sold to England, even if other coun- tries would pay a higher price. They must not buy a paper of pins from any other counti y, no matter how much better and cheaper the pins were than those made m Eng- land. ^ These laws were unjust, and the colonists broke them just as far as they dared. Articles were sent from one colony to another without the payment of any tax, foreign goods were smuggled into the coast towns, ships that had never been near Eng- *^^^ land went back and forth among the colonies. It seems as if the English faneuil hall, boston „ (Called, on account of the patriotic meetings held ther 01 a century and a half ago might " The cradie of Liberty ••) have seen that if a country was making unjust laws for its colo- nies and the colonies were breaking them, there would surely be trouble before many years had passed. The French wars cost a great amount of money. France might possibly try to regain the land that she had lost, and the king and England his advisers thought it would be best to keep an army of British fgx'^the^ ' soldiers in America to be ready to oppose the French. England colonies decided to tax the colonies to help pay for the war and the new 134 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Writs of assistance standing army. The colonists answered, " We do not \\'ish to have a standing army, and we have given more than our share to the war, for we raised and paid as many men as England." The colonists' objections made no difference, and England determined to collect in two ways the money needed. One was by im])osing a few new duties and by enforcing the laws in regard to trade. As long as France had power in America, England had not dared to be very strict in demanding the taxes on goods brought from France and Spain, or very severe in punishing smuggling. Now she determined that every penny that the laws allowed should be collected. The king's officers had the right to have a warrant •UTitten by the court allowing them to search any special house in which they had reason to tliuik there might be smuggled goods. Now they obtained what were called writs of assistance. These allowed the officers to go into as many houses as they chose without having a separate warrant for each one, and if the doors were barred, they could call upon the sheriff to break m. This made the colonists mdignant, but it was according to an old English law, and never would have caused the Revo- lution. The second way of collecting money was by requir- ing every legal document, like a will or a mortgage, to be written on paper stamped m England. An extra price must be paid for the stamp, and if there was no stamp, the document was of no value; for instance, A STAMP ACT STAMP if a man bought a house, he received a deed, or writ- ten paper, saying that the proi)erty Avas his, but if there was no stamp on the deed, then he could not defend his right to the house in the courts. After the Spanish War, the people of the Ignited States obeyed such a law to help pay the cost of the war; but the men whom wo had chosen to make our TIMES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 135 laws were the ones who decided to raise the money in this way, and we could find no fault. It was different with this stamp tax. In each colony there was an assembly of men elected by the people, and only that assembly Right of had ever imposed taxes. The colonists replied, " This is not iust. \^^^^^^^ ^V •^ House or In England only the House of Commons can impose a tax ; so in Commons America, only the assembly of each colony can tax that colony. ''^"'^'^ But, if the king as/cs us to help England, our assemblies will grant money as we have often done before." When the legislature of Virginia knew that such a law had been proposed, they protested to the House of Commons. Patrick Henry, The Virginia the greatest orator of the colonies, made a brilliant speech, " Caesar ^'"0^^^^ had his Brutus," he said ; " Charles the First, his Cromwell ; and George the Third — " The cry of " Treason ! treason ! " was heard, and Henry ended quietly, " may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it." The assembly voted not to obey the law. So it was that "Virginia rang the alarum bell." England was startled that mere colonies should dare to be so independent. In these days a nation is proud of her colonies and How Europe glad to have them prosper ; l)ut in the earlier times the countries ^^^} ^^.^^""^ of Europe felt differently. They looked upon a colony as a con- venient place to send men for whom there seemed to be no work and no room at home. It was also a place where a man whom the king wished to favor could receive a grant of land or hold some office, and thus make his fortune. In matters of trade, the mother country never thought of trying to help the colonies ; and when laws were made in P^ngland, they always aimed at getting as much money as possible from the colonies. In 1765 the Stamp Act was passed, though many clear-headed statesmen in England were against it. Edmund Burke said it was The Stamp unjust. William Pitt, who was always a friend to America, said, ^'^^ " England has no right to lay a tax upon the colonies." The colo- nies from New England to Georgia rebelled. The streets were 136 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Opposition by the colonies Repeal ot the Stamp Act full of crowds. Images of the men appointed to sell the stamped paper were hanged or burned or driven about town in the govern- or's best coach with a figure of Satan for companion. The lieu- tenant-governor of New York threatened to fire upon the rebellious colonists. " You '11 be hanged to a lamp-post if you do," was the answer, and he did not fire. In some places buildings were torn down, and every scrap of stamped paper that could be found was burned or tossed into the ocean. It was not all " mob law." The assemblies met and declared that it was right to resist tyranny. Lawyers agreed that no deed or will should be called illegal for the lack of a stamp. The news- papers came out with a skull and erossbones for a heading, or with black borders indicating the death of liberty- During the French and Indian wars, Benjamin Franklin, then editor of a paper pub- lished in Philadelphia, had printed a picture of a snake cut into several parts, labeled with the names of the difi'erent colonies. It was an old superstition that a snake cut into pieces would live if the pieces were united, and under this picture Franklin printed the motto, " Unite or die." This became a favorite emblem. In one respect the colonists had matters in their own hands. They said, " We will not buy EngUsh goods." No orders were sent to England, and ships that crossed the ocean with goods to sell had to carry them back. Then the English manufacturers begged Parlia- ment to give up the tax, and the act was repealed. Parliament declared at the same time that it had the right to tax the colonies, but no one thought much about that, and if King George III. had not been so unwise and so obstinate, there would proba- bly have been no Revolution. After a httle while, new taxes were imposed, and English, soldiers continued to come to America. Some were sent to Bos. sc tf M UNITE OR DIE FKANKLIN'S DEVICE (The initials indicate the colonies) •TIMES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 137 The "Father of the Revo- lution" ton, and one night a quarrel arose between them and some of The Boston the citizens. The soldiers fired and killed five. It shows how aroused the colonists were that they called this the "Boston Massacre." It shows how anxious they were to be fair that when the soldiers were tried for murder, they were defended by two prominent lawyers, John Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr. Adams said a few years later that this was " one of the best pieces of service I ever ren- dered my country." The colonists re- fused to buy any of the goods on which a tax was demanded. Many of them agreed to buy nothing made in England so long as there were duties on any goods. One of the strong men in this par- ty was Samuel Adams, who has been called the " Father of the Revo- lution." George III. and his were called, formed what they thought a very shrewd scheme. The tax on The Americans used much tea, and a large part of it was smug- gled from Holland. It was decided to allow tea to be sent to America and sold at so low a rate that even with a duty of three pence a pound it would be cheaper than the tea that was smuggled. " The people will buy the English tea, and the rebellious leaders will be left without support," thought the king, and the tea^ was sent over to the large cities on the coast. THE BOSTON MASSACRE IN KING (NOW STATE) STREET (From Paul Revere's engraving) Friends," as those who supported him 138 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Charleston stored the tea sent there in damp cellars, where it Tea brought soon spoiled. Philadelphia forbade her pilots to guide the tea- cities^^ ships up the Delaware. New York would not let them enter the harbor. In Boston the matter was more difficult. The ships were in the harbor. They could not leave without the royal governor's permission, and he refused to give it. Nineteen days they lay at the wharf. On the twentieth day, the custom-house officers would have a legal right to unload them, the men who ^i,0'B.J(l^!'",'"- •1r^^.''''mPi^f,^ ^^^ ordered the tea would pay the duty, and then they would have pos- session of the goods. The people of Boston came together in the Old South Meeting-IIouse. All day long they discussed what it was best to do. In the evening two hun- dred men appeared in the street and marched quietly toward Long Wharf. They wore blankets, their heads were muffled, and what could be seen of their faces was copper-colored. A man who saw them wrote cautiously to a friend, "They say the actors were Indians from Narragansett," but every one knew that they were white men from Massachusetts. When they came to the wharf, they leaped on board the tea-ships. Every man drew out a hatchet from under his blanket, and it Avas not many minutes before Boston Harbor became a vast teapot, for every chest had been broken open and all the tea was in tlie water. Then the " Indians " went quietly to their homes, and the " Tea-party " was over. PULPIT OF THE OLD SOUTH MEETING-HOUSE The Boston Tea-party TIMES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 139 The brig Peggy Stewart brought to Annapolis some paclcages of tea among other goods. The vessel could not be unloaded till all taxes were paid ; therefore the owner paid the tax on the tea. Before this, he had signed the agree- ment not to buy or import goods taxed by England for revenue, and now the people of Annapolis were so angry that they threatened to destroy the brig. To prevent a riot he burned his own boat, tea and all. This settled the matter in Maryland, The king was determined to punish these bold colonists. Boston should suffer first, he said, and in 1774 the " Port Bill " was passed, which forbade ships coming to the city or leaving it. Boston would lose the money that she was making from trade, and would soon be glad to apologize and pay for the " Tea-party." So the king thought ; but instead of being frightened, the other colonies stood by Massachusetts and sent her all kinds of provisions. Even far-away South Carolina sent ship-loads of rice. Cat- tle and sheep were driven into Boston in flocks. England had said that ships should go to Marblehead instead of to Boston; but Marblehead said at once to the Boston merchants, " Use our wharfs and our warehouses without charge." The Virginia House of Burgesses was in session. The brilliant orators Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee made stirring speeches, and the House voted to defend their liberties with arms, Virginia's if the need should arise. The day on which the Port Bill was to ^"'^"^^ take effect they set apart for prayer and fasting. Washington noti- fied his constituents of this. George Mason bade his family attend church in mourning. CARPENTERS' HALL, PHILADELPHIA 140 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY England's treatment of Massachusetts aroused the colonists to The first send delegates to a meeting called "The First Continental Con- cSngrTss^^' gress," which was held in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia. The Car- penters' Company knew that the king's officers might take their hall away for allowing the " rebels " to use it ; but the only care they took was to mention no names on their record. They said merely, " Voted : That they be allowed to use our hall." The list of names is an honor roll of heroes. From Virginia came Washington, Henry Lee, Edmund Pendleton, and the wise and dignified Peyton Randolph, who became President of the Congress. Massachusetts sent Samuel and John Adams. Edward Rutledge came from South Carolina, Phili]) Livingston from New York, and other notable men from the different colonies. This Congress sent a respectful petition to the king, telling him frankly what riglits they thought belonged to them and in what ways they thought they had been treated unfairly. SUMMARY. In the eighteenth century there were not so many inhabitants in the English colonies as there are now in New York and Philadeljjliia. Slavery was fast disappearing in the North, and was not always looked upon with favor in the South. Mails were slow, and postage was expensive. There were few books, and England's refusal to permit manufactures was arousing discontent among the colonists. England decided to tax the colonists because of the expense of the French wars and her wish to station an army in America to guard the colonies against the French. To raise the money, the trade laws were enforced, new duties were imposed, and the use of stamped paper was required. The colonists refused to buy English goods, and resisted the Stamp Act. All taxes were repealed except that on tea. The attempt to force English tea upon Boston resulted in the Boston Tea- party, lu retaliation, Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill. FIRST TWO YEARS OF THE REVOLUTION 141 This treatment aroused the colonists to hold in Philadelphia the First Con- tinental Congress, which sent a petition to the king. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. Describe the journey of a postrider from New York to Philadelphia. A man tells in 1773 why there will probably be war with England. A description of the Boston Tea-party. A letter of sympathy to a Bostonian after the passing of the Port Bill. XVI THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF THE REVOLUTION 1775. The Americans had little hope that the king would pay any regard to their petition, and they were ready to fight rather than yield to injustice. In almost every colony companies were formed and drilled, while in various places arms and ammunition were stored. General Gage, who was at the head of the British troops in America, decided to send eight hundred of his men to Concord, Massachu- ^ setts, to seize the powder and cannon that he knew were there. Another thing that the troops were to do was to seize Samuel Adams and John Hancock, that they might be taken to England and tried for treason. This plan would have succeeded, but the Ameri- cans were on the watch, and before the British were ready to start, Paul Revere galloped through the darkness, past the villages and farmhouses on the way to Concord, telling every one that the Regulars were coming. Thousands of the Americans had become "minute men," that is, The battle of they had agreed to be ready to fight at a minute's notice. When Lexington POWDEK-HOUSE NEAR BOSTON (Where the British seized some powder Sept. 1, 1774) 142 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The retreat of the British the British troops came to Lexington to seize John Hancock, there stood the minute men on the green. "Disperse, you rebels!" shouted the commander. "Lay doAvn your arms and disperse!" Not one laid downi his gun, " Fire ! " cried the commander. In a moment, seven Americans lay dead, and the Revolution had begun. This was on April 19, 1775. At Concord the British began to destroy the arms, but so many minute men were upon them that there was nothing to do but to retreat to Boston. The farmers pursued. Longfellow tells the story of the retreat in liis "Paul Revere's Ride: " — " How the Britisli Regulars fired and fled, — How the farmers gave them ball for ball, From behind each fence and farm-yard wall, Chasing the red-coats down the lane, Then crossing the fields to emerge again Under the trees at the turn of the road. And only pausing to fire and load." Colonists hasten to Boston Long afterwards, when Benjamin Franklin was in Eng- r^ land, some one said that liiding behind a wall and firing was no way to fight. Franklin asked quietly, but ^\dth a sly twinkle in his eye, " Did n't those stone walls have two sides ? " Men whose names were to become well-known hur- ried to Boston, and although General Gage was in command of the British troops and had been ap- pointed by the king governor of Massachusetts, he was really a prisoner in the city, for he was surrounded by many thousand men. Among these men was Israel l*utnam, of Connecticut, who had left his plough in the field and started for Boston as soon as the news of the battle of Lexington reached him. There was also Benedict Arnold with sixty volunteers. Arnold suggested that Fort Ticonderoga, at the northern end of Lake George, ought THE MINUTE JIAK (D. C. French's statue at Concord) FIRST TWO YEARS OF THE REVOLUTION 143 to be captured, not only because there was in this fort a great supply of powder and guns, but because if no Americans were there to prevent, the British troops could come down from Canada and take New York. With the permission of Massachusetts, Arnold set out to raise troops in the western part of the state ; but much to his surprise. The capture he found there Ethan Allen, a sturdy Vermonter, with his " Green jiconderoga Mountain Boys," and they, too, were on the way to capture Fort Ticonderoga. Allen had more men, and the " Boys " would not fight under any one else, so Arnold went on, not as commander, but as a volunteer. The two men and the " Boys " came upon Ticonderoga when the gar- rison were fast asleep without a thought of dan- ger. The commander was suddenly aroused by a demand to " Surrender ! " He jumped out of bed, not more than half awake, and said, " To whom ? By whose authority ? " " In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Con gress," roared Ethan Allen, and the fort was sur- rendered. This was only three weeks after the battle ol Lexington. On that same day, the Second Continental Con- gress was meeting in Philadelphia. John Hancock, whom the king was so anxious to catch, was made president. Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, and his cousin John Adams, Patrick Henry, the great patriotic orator, and Wasliington, were all member^ of this Congress. They knew that war must come, and they adopted the forces around Boston as the "Continental Army." A commander-in-chief must be chosen, and every one remembered how skillfully Wash- Continental ■' Army organ- ington had saved part of Braddock's army at Fort Duquesne ized ETHAN ALLEN (From the statue In the Vermont State House, Jlontpelier) 144 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY SAMUEL ADAMS »« WHITKEY'S COTTON-GIN did not weave it, but sold it and bought what needed; therefore they wanted duties The North raised no cotton, and a large share of the northern income came from manufactures ; therefore the North preferred high duties on goods that could be made in America. The cotton-gin encouraged negro slavery. Before this, many, even in the South, had felt that it would be good to have no such thing as slavery, but now large numbers of workers were needed, and it was thought that the negroes would not work unless they were slaves. If cotton was not plenty, the mills in the North would make less money, and, therefore, many Northerners were willing to have slavery flourish. John Adams became president in 1797. Before that time, France rleclarod war a':rainst England and wished the United Trouble with ^4 States to join her ; but our -ii government refused to \ J have anything to do with s&%^ European disagreements. ^ France was angry and began to destroy our ves- sels. The French minis- ^ ter, Talleyrand, suggested ^ that this would be stopped ' if the Americans would \ bribe some of the officials A COTTON-FIELD of the French government. France 174 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Hail, Columbia Then Charles Pinckney, who had been sent to France to repre- sent the United States, declared that his country had " millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." These words were in every one's mouth, just as in the Revolution every one was say- ing, " No taxation without representation." " America is not scared," wrote Adams. " France shall do as she pleases." The thought of another war made the union of the states stronger. This was when the words of "Hail, Columbia," were written, though the music had been composed several years before. The tune was called " The President's March," and was first played when Washington was going through Trenton on his way to New York to be inaugurated. Our small navy began to attack French vessels, and was so successful that France soon suggested that we should be friends. In Adams's administration, in the last month of 1799, Washington died. General Henry Lee pronounced the funeral oration, and then it was that Washington was called " First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." While Jefferson was president, there was trouble with Africa. For several hundred years the people living in the Barbary States in northern Africa had been accustomed to de- Suppression mand tribute from all vessels that came their way. If this tribute bary pirates ^^^ ^^^ paid, they would seize the vessels. Any wealthy men that might be on board were kept for ransom, and the others were sold as slaves. These pirates were so fierce and savage and had so many vessels that the nations of Europe had paid them tribute rather than run the risk of losing their merchant ships. For the lack of warships, the United States did the same thing at BARBAKT PIRATE VESSEL THE YEARS OF WEAKNESS 175 CANNON CAPTURED FROM THE BARBAKY STATES first, but very unwillingly. One officer, sent to pay the tribute, Suppression wrote home that he hoped he should never be sent to pay tribute barv Dilates again unless he could deUver it from the mouth of a cannon. At last warships were sent against the Barbary States, and one of their chief cities was bombarded. Then the ruler thought it was time to ask for a treaty with the United States, and to cease meddling with American ships. About this time the United States suddenly became more than twice as large as it had been before. When the French and Indian War came to an end, the immense tract of land north of Texas and between the Mis- sissippi and the Rocky Mountains was given to Spain. After a while, France gained possession of it again. France owned also some land on the east of the Mississippi at its mouth ; and, there- fore, if she chose, she could prevent the Ameri- cans from using the river. Jefferson sent two Louisiana men to see whether Napoleon, emperor of France, Purchase would sell New Orleans. Napoleon was about ready to make war upon England. He wanted money, and he did not want this land in America, for England could easily seize upon it. While the two envoys were thinking about New Orleans, he suddenly offered them the whole territory known as Louisiana at two and a half cents an acre. Such a bargain as this was not to be passed, and the land was bought. No one knew much about it, and some said not a settler would go there for a century ; but the purchase would give the right to use the Mississippi, and it would prevent England from ever holding the land, so that most Americans were glad. MERIWETHER LEWIS 176 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Exploration of the west- ern land The Em- bargo Act Causes of the War of 1812 Jefferson sent out a party at once to explore the new territory. The leaders were his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark, whose Brother George had saved the Northwestern Terri- tory for the Americans. They went up the JMissouri, then made their way to a branch of the Columbia, and so down to the Pacific Ocean, which was, as their journal ' more raging than pacific." Ilie Columbia Kiver had 1 leen discovered more than a century before this by a lihode Island captain, who gave it the name of his vessel. Again the quarrels of Europe made trouble for A WARSHIP'S GUK-DKCK IN 1800 thc Unitcd Statcs. France and England were at war. Napoleon gave notice that he should fire upon any vessel carrying goods to England ; and England declared that she should seize any vessel carrying goods to France or to any of the countries that were on the side of France. Con- gress believed that both France and England needed our goods so badly that if none made their way to either country, these declarations would be withdrawn, and so they made a law called the Embargo Act, forbidding any American vessel to leave port. People who depended upon commerce suffered greatly by this act. They spelled its name backwards and called it the 0-grab-me act. It hurt the United States much more than France or England had done, and before long it was repealed. Madison became president. He was a gentle, courteous, schol- arly man, but it was during his term of office that a second war with England Avas fought. One cause was the interference with our commerce. Another was England's claim that no English- man could become a citizen of any other country, and her THE YEARS OF WEAKNESS 177 exercising what was called the right of search. An English war- Right of ship meeting an American vessel would signal it to stop, and would ^^^^'^" fire at it if the order was not obeyed. Then the English captain would take from the crew, of the American ship all the men that he thought were Englishmen, even if they had become American citizens. If he needed sailors, he would not be particular to make sure that these men were of English birth. He would claim that no one could tell an American from an Englishman, and so he would carry off what men he chose, and force them to enter the British navy. The United States had long been indignant at this behavior of England, but had not been able to prevent it for want of an army. Eng- land was engaged in the war with France also, but she had a large and well- trained army and sixty times as many warships as the United States. Nevertheless, this country would bear no more, and war was declared. The contest is called the War of 1812. The first aim of the Americans was to conquer Canada, but they did not succeed. As the enemy were invadmg the Northwestern Terri- tory, it began to be clear that the only way to keep them out was to gain possession of Lake Erie. A young naval ofiicer named Oliver Hazard Perry was sent to Erie, Pennsylvania, to build a fleet. To keep English ships from sailing up the Saint Lawrence, the frigate Constitution under Captain Hull Avas sent at the beginning The Consti- of the war to cruise about the Gulf. One afternoon he caught |he*Guer- sight of the British frigate Guerriere, the ship of all ships that he rifere was most eager to meet, for he had once been chased nearly three uLlJ Il;u^ SIDES (Built in Boston, 179", and now at the Charlestown Navy Vard) 178 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY days by the Guerriere and the rest of her fleet, aud he meant to have his revenge. The British captain was ready, for he was sure that he could capture any American vessels "with a bit of striped bunting at their mastheads," as he said scorn- fully. The fight was not half an hour long. The masts of the Guerriere were shot away, and her hull was riddled with cannon balls. There was nothing to do but to surrender. The wreck was not worth saving, and it was set afire. New England had not favored this war, but when Captain Hull appeared in Boston harbor, the city made ready to give him such a reception as she had never given to any man before. To sink an English frigate was enough to arouse the enthusiasm of this little nation with its navy of sixteen vessels. One city gave Hull and his officers swords, another presented silver plate. State dinners and decora- tions and cheering and illuminations and the waving of flags were everywhere. As for England, this victory was perhaps one of the greatest surprises that she had ever known, and she became more and more surprised as time passed. In the long war with France she had taken hundreds of ships and lost only five ; but in the first six months of this War of 1812 she "had had six naval battles, had lost six ships, and had not taken one." The Constitution won so many victories and was so little in- Old Iron- jured that the name "Old Ironsides" was given her. Twenty sides years afterwards the government decided that she was no longer seaworthy and must be broken up. Then Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote his famous poem, " Old Ironsides," beginning, " Ay, tear her tattered ensign down ! " and so many were eager to save the ship that it was repaired and sailed the ocean for many a year. It is now, more than a century old, in the Nai-y Yard at Charlesto^^Tl, Massachusetts. It is kept in good repair, and will, perhaps, last another hundred years. Perry and his company of carpenters were at Erie, cutting down THE YEARS OF WEAKNESS 179 DONT GIVE IIP THE SHIP i PERRY'S FLAG trees as fast as they could to build a fleet. There was no time to Perry's vic- wait for timber to season, and the ships were niade from lumber £^^^ on a e that was almost fresh from the forest. The one that he chose for his flagship was named the Lawrence, from a brave ofiicer who had fallen in a sea fight a year earUer. The last words of Lawrence were, " Don't give up the ship ! " and this is what Perry put on his flag. The young captain had never seen a naval battle, but he went out boldly to meet the British fleet. Capturing a flagship is about the same on the water as taking the enemy's capital is on land ; but even when Perry's flagship was shot so full of holes that she was ready to sink, he did not surrender. He and his twelve- year-old brother sprang into a boat with the eight sailors who still lived, and rowed to another ship of the fleet. There was a storm of bullets and cannon balls around them. More than one bullet went through the boy's cap, but they reached the vessel in safety. " Don't give up the ship ! " swung out from the masthead, and in less than ten minutes the British fleet surrendered. Perry sent a message to the government, " We have met the enemy and >^-y ^ they are ours." This c^ ^*7tc/ c;/t^^««^. victory cut the Brit- ish off from further mvasion of the North- western Territory. The war was more serious than it other- The Indians wise would have been ^{"j^ ^ "^* because the Indians of Canada united with the English, and their chief went to Alabama to induce the red men there to fight against the Americans. The Indians were suppressed by two men who afterwards became presidents of the COMMODORE PERRY'S MESSAGE (!iy permission of Harper & Brothers) 180 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The burning of Washing- ton Attack on Baltimore United States, General Harrison, who won victories in Canada, and General Jackson, who was successful in the South. When the war with France was over, England sent more sol- diers and more vessels. Suddenly word came to Washington that fifty British sliiiis were at the mouth of the Potomac. The city had no fortifications and was helpless. The invaders swept into the town, burned the Capitol, and even the Congressional Library, and took possession of the White House. Dolly Madison, the President's wife, saved the Declaration of Independence and a valuable portrait of Washington. Tradition de- clares that, like a good house- :eeper, she also carried away to safety her work-bag filled with silver spoons. To de- stroy Wasliington gave no military advantage. The British said it was done be- cause the Americans had burned Toronto. There was this differ- ence, however, in the two acts : Toronto was burned by soldiers acting without authority and the United States disapproved of the deed, while Washington was burned under strict orders from the British government. Americans may well be ashamed of the destruction of Toronto, but they have no such act of barbarism to regret as burning a national library. The British ships next appeared before Baltimore. All day the cannon thundered. On board one of the ships was an American DOLLY MADISON (From a miniature) THE YEARS OF WEAKNESS 181 NewOrleans prisoner, Francis Scott Key. The cannonading went on through The Star- the night. He watched anxiously every rocket's red glare," lest Banner he should see that the American flag had been lowered. Dawn came, and the flag still floated. In his rehef and joy, he wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." It was printed at once; the air was a familiar one, and soon the song was sung from one end of the country to the other. After more than two years of fighting, England planned to make a fierce attack upon New Orleans and so gam control of the The battle of Mississippi. General Jackson was sent to defend the city, and wherever he went something was usually accomplished. The American troops had had little experience, and they were only half as many as their enemies. The British soldiers were veterans, but their knapsacks, muskets, etc., were far too heavy for rapid move- ment. Both sides fought bravely, but the English were terribly defeated. One especiaUy sad fact about this battle, with its great loss of fife, is that it was fought in January, 1815, two weeks after the treaty of peace was signed. The only way for news to come from England to America was by sailing vessel, and there were few that even with fair winds could cross the ocean in less than a month. This treaty said not one word about any rights of the Americans to buy and sell as they chose and did not mention The treaty . . , , , or peace the right of search, but after this, England never agam attempted to interfere with American commerce or to search an American vessel. Before this war the United States had been looked upon FORT McHENKY, BALTIMOKE (Where " the Star-Spangled Banner " of the song waved) 182 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY as a few millions of people who had banded together to free themselves from England. After the war it was seen that the United States was a nation, able to defend its rights, and to hold an honorable place among the nations of the world. SUIOIARY. After the Revolution each colony thought only of its own gain. Congress had no power to enforce its laws. The chief thing in which all the states had a common interest was the Northwestern Territory. A convention held in Thiladelphia drew up the Constitution, which gave Congress the power to make laws, the President the power to enforce them, and the Supreme Court the power to interpret them. In 1789 Washington became the first president of the United States. The government obtained money by duties on imports, and friends by assuming the Revolutionary debts of the colonies. The invention of the cotton-gin resulted in an increase in the production of cotton, wliich caused disagreement between the North and the South about duties, and encoui-aged negro slavery. Our vessels were attacked by the French because of our refusal to aid them in a war against England. After we had captured many French vessels, France made peace. In 1799 Washington died. The Barbary pirates were suppressed by our warships. The United States bought of France the land between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, which was soon explored by Lewis and Clark. The Embargo Act was passed in retaliation for the declarations of France and England which injured o\ir commerce. The War of 1812 was caused by England's interference with our commerce, and by her searcliing our ships and seizing our sailors. American attacks on Canada failed ; but American victories on Lake Erie and elsewhere kept tlie British out of our Northwestern Territory. Our ships won many victories on the ocean. The British burned Washington, but were defeated at New Orleans after peace had been made. WESTWARD GROWTH 183 SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. A sailor describes the search of an American vessel by the British. Perry's brother describes the victory of Lake Erie. XIX THE WESTWARD GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY 1817-1841. James Monroe was the next president. Soon after he was in- augurated he made a tour of the country to see the forts and navy yards. Traveling was easier than when Washington had to ride on horseback from New York to Boston, for a man named Robert Fulton had invented the steamboat. Steamers were ah-eady on the rivers and the Great Lakes, and before Monroe's term of office was over, Georgia sent one to Europe. Monroe had a joyful reception wherever he went. He wore the blue and buff uniform and the cocked hat of the Revolution. The old soldiers remembered that Th^e^'J^e^a of he had been one of them and gave. him a comrade's greeting. f^^„ ^^ " One of the Boston papers caUed the times the " era of good feel- ing," and that described the condition of things so well that the phrase went throughout the country. In the southeastern corner of the land there was trouble. The FULTON'S STICAJIER, THE CLERMONT Creek Indians of Alabama had sided with the British in the War Tro"gble^^^^h of 1812, because they felt that the Americans were driving them ^^j^g^ away from their lands. They expected the British to secure the 184 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY land for them, and when this was not done, they were more indig- nant than ever. In Florida there were ISeminoles, negro slaves who had escaped from their masters in Georgia, Spaniards, and a few English, all of whom were willing to unite with the Creeks against the Americans. Monroe sent General Jackson to subdue them, and he succeeded ; but Congress was a little startled when it was known that he had paid no attention to the fact that Florida was Spanish soil, and that among the men whom he punished were both Spaniards and English, There might have been trouble if Spain had not been in need of money. Tha result was that she sold Florida to the United States. Our country then owned every foot of what is now United States territory east of the Mississippi. West of that river the vast tract called Louisiana was United States soil. Spain still owned what is now Texas and Mexico, but she agreed to give up all claim to the "Oregon Territory," which was the land north of California. There was much talk about the Pacific coast just then, for The Monroe Russia had taken possession of the land which we now call Alaska, and had begun to build trading-posts along the California coast. Other nations of Europe \Yere looking for new territory in South America. Then it was that the President announced what is now called the " Monroe doctrine." It was that European nations could not acquire new territory in either North or South America, and that the United States would not permit any European country to "interfere with any independent American government." The Americans were no longer confined to a little strip of land along the coast. There were twenty-two states, and two others OSCEOLA, CniKF OF THE SEMINOLES doctrine WESTWARD GROWTH 185 were asking to be admitted. The new states had been settled Going West chiefly by colonists from the older ones. There were no railroads, and the only way for a family to " go West " by land was by wagon or on foot. The wagon most often used was called a prairie schooner. It was long and low, and was covered with white canvas drawn over great wooden hoops. The emigrants would ride slowly on day after day, cooking their meals in gypsy fashion over out-of-door fires, and sleeping in the wagon. They would pick out a good piece of land, build a log house, cut down the trees, plant corn and potatoes, raise sheep and cattle, spin, weave; and, if all went well, they would have a comfortable home, where the family would at least be sure of enough to eat and to wear. The emigrant would, of course, be wise enough to select land that was near a river, so that as soon as he had any produce to sell, it could be taken to a market and ex- changed for things that he could not make. Other settlers would come, perhaps a village would grow up around his house ; and he might become a rich man. This is what every emigrant hoped, and it is no wonder that so many went to the " far West," which then meant states no farther Numbers of away than Ohio or Tennessee. One man in Pennsylvania re- grants ported that two hundred and thirty-six prairie schooners went through his town in a single month. Some of the emigrants had set out bravely on foot to find the happy land where the poorest -v^ EMIGRANTS GOING WEST ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 186 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY CHICAGO AS IT WAS IN 1S32 had enough. One man and his wife were seen in Pennsylvania on their way to Indiana, having already walked from Maine. They had a httle handcart, in which were all of their possessions, and as many of their six children as were too young to make the journey on foot.^ These people came from all parts of the country, and an im- portant question was arising because of the new settlements. Should slav- ery be allowed in the newly opened territory? The North said "No," not only because many were beginning to tliink slav- ery wrong, but because if there were more slave states than free states, their representa- tives in Congress would vote against duties, and this would hurt the northern manufac- turers. The South said "Yes," fearing that if there were more 1 McMaster's History of the People of tlie United States. -j^;^i0Sm^'iif>>^ H£NIiY CLAY'S BIKXHPLACE. HANOVEK COUNTY VIRGINIA WESTWARD GROWTH 187 free states, slavery might be interfered with. She hoped also to The Mis- gain representatives enough to abolish duties on imported goods, promise "^' Maine asked to be admitted as a state, but the South said, "No, we will not have another free state." Missouri made tlie same request, but the North said, " No, we will not have another slave state." Finally Henry Clay, " the great peacemaker," persuaded Congress to admit both states on condition that there should never be an- other slave state north of the southern boundary of Missouri, that is, 36° 30'. This act was called the Missouri Compromise. People felt relieved and glad. " There will be no more trouble about slavery," they said. In 1824, four years after the Missouri Compromise, the United States "had company." Lafayette was invited to visit the country as the guest of the whole nation. Such rejoicings as there were, and such welcomes, not only from the old soldiers who had fought under " the boy," but from every one who loved his country and appre- ciated the help that Lafayette had given so generously to win its freedom. He visited each one of the twenty-four states, and was greeted everywhere as the friend of the nation. From each railroad train that comes into Boston from Lafayette's the north the tall gray stone monument that stands on Bunker ^'^'^ Hill may be seen. Its corner-stone was laid by Lafayette, June 17, 1825, just fifty years after the battle, and many veterans were present who, as young men, had stood on that hill waiting to " see the whites of their eyes." When Lafayette was ready to return to France, Congress gave him a generous sum of money and more than one half as much BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 188 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The fiftieth Fourth of July Death of Adams and Jefferson land as there is in the District of Columbia. A new frigate was named the Brandywine in honor of the battle m which he was wounded, and this was sent to the mouth of the Potomac to carry ^ him across the ocean. John Quincy Adams became president in 1825. When July 4, 1826, drew near, great preparations were made through- out the land to cele- brate the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the De- claration of Inde- pendence. There were speeches and cheers and music. Guns were fired and bells were rung. When night came, the country was ablaze with bonfires and illuminations. The use of gas was beginning to be common in some of the large cities, and its light was so much brighter than that given by candles and whale- oil lamps that it was looked upon as a marvel. Audiences Avould gaze with wonder and delight when the gas in a theatre or con- cert hall was suddenly turned up. The whole land was jubilant, but a few days later word came that on July 4, while the country was happy in its celebration of independence, two men who had done much to win that inde- pendence had died. They were Thomas Jefferson in Virginia and John Adams in Massachusetts. Grief took the place of joy, and black drapings were hung where such a little while before there had been only brightness. STACK-COACH WESTWARD GROWTH 189 To-day the death of a famous man would be flashed over the Slow travel- world in a few minutes, but seventy-five years ago news traveled '"^ slowly, for there were no steam railroads and no telegraph. The only way that a message could be carried from New York to Pittsburg, for instance, was by a man on horseback or by stage- coach. When the people in Ohio wished to send their pro- duce to market, they usually carried it in wagons to Pitts- burg, and then it went by boat down the Ohio and the Missis- sippi to New Orleans. Goods sent from New York to south- ern Ohio had to be carried by wagon across Pennsylvania, or else by boat up the Hudson and the Mohawk, across Lake Ontario and a part of Lake Erie, and then down the Alleghany to Pitts- burg.^ The part of this journey that could not be made by water was ma,de in great wagons or ox-carts. New York and the other Eastern cities knew that there must AX ULD-l'ASHIOXED CHAISE FREIGHT WAGON (Prom an old freight bill) be a cheaper way to carry goods to the West, or else the new states The Erie would make all their purchases in New Orleans and bring them ^^"^^ 1 McMaster's History of the People of the United States. 190 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Opening of the canal up the Mississipiii in steamboats. It was proposed to dig a canal from Albany to Buttalo. There was no dynamite for heavy blast- ing and no steam machinery for digging. Every pound of dirt must be lifted by a man with a shovel. It was a great under- taking. Governor Clinton of New York was much mterested in its success, and the people who did not believe in the canal called it " Clinton's big ditch." " How shall you get back the millions that it will cost? "one asked. "We will tax every boat that goes through it," Clinton answered. " You '11 have nothing lint mud for your pains," another grumbled ; but Governor Clin- ton kept bravely at work, and after eight long years the " big ditch " was done. There was a great celebration in Buffalo, and the Erie Canal was for- mally declared to be open. A cannon was fired, then another five miles farther down the canal, and so on all the way to New York city. Probably no news had ever before traveled five hundred miles so rapidly. Gov- ernor Clinton and others went on board some canal boats, fresh and new, and made gay with flags and streamers. Horses walking the " tow-path " towed the boats along to Albany. Then they went down the Hudson to New York city and out into the bay. Two kegs of water, brought from Lake Erie, were poured into the sea to show that Lake Erie and New York Bay were united. A CANAL SHOWING HOUSES, TOW-BOATS, AND LOCKS WESTWARD GROWTH 191 KEG UROUGHT THROUGH THli KRIE CANAL The canal was used so much that even the first year the tolls Enthusiasm paid nearly twice the interest. Freight grew cheaper each year, buUdSg*^ and it was not long before one dollar would carry as much weight from Albany to Buffalo as fifteen had formerly done. Towns were soon built all along the canal. Other canals were dug, and each one of them made it possible for new towns to be built and new manufactures to be engaged in. There was such enthusiasm over canals that some people declared it would not be long before there would be a waterway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Canal boats were cheap and safe, but their speed was only four miles an hour, and people began to question whether it would not The early be better to build railroads. The idea of a railroad was not new. '"^'Ifoads "Wooden rails had been laid in several places to carry stone or earth, and wagons had been dragged on these rails by horses; but the use of steam locomotives on railroads we owe to an Eng- lishman named George Stephenson. lie tried for a long time before any one would believe m his invention. People laughed at _4^ it just as they had laughed at the "big ditch." "What should you do, Mr. Stephen- ^ son," asked one man, "if your engine was going at full speed and a cow got in front of it ? " cow," said the inventor gravely. America BOSTON AND WORCESTER RAILROAD TRAIN OF 1835 ' It would be very bad for the The new engines were tried in They went very well on level ground, but they could not climb a hill that was at aU steep. The road must either go around the hill, or else there must be machinery at the top to pull the cars up by ropes. The speed was not so very much greater than that of a steamboat. The rails were of wood with strips 192 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Who shall pay? of iron on top. The passenger cars looked almost exactly like stage-coaches, and part of the passengers had to ride backwards. Improvements came rapidly. Every year the trains went a little faster, the roadbeds, rails, and locomotives were a little better. It was easier for people to go about the country. They learned new ways of doing tilings. They saw new sights and thought new thoughts. Men had to think new thoughts in those days, for several diffi- cult problems were coming up to be solved. There were the two old ones, about slavery and about duties, and there was a new one, " Who shall pay for these canals and railroads ? " The South said, " Let each state pay for its own " ; the North said, " They are for the gain of the whole country, and therefore the whole country should pay for them." When it was time to elect a new presi- dent, Andrew Jackson, the sturdy old In- dian fighter, was chosen. He was a straight- forward, upright man, with a frank, cordial manner. He liked to please people and to do everythmg in the simplest way. His good-heartedness led him to do one deed that was an injury to the country. Reso- lute as he was, it was always hard for him to Jackson and refuse a friend's request. When he became president, every one system''^ who had the least claim upon him begged for some position in the government employ, and he could not say No. The only way to find positions enough was to turn out the men who were then in office. This fashion of favoring one's friends is called the " spoils system" from a remark made in jest that "to the victor, belong the spoils." The hardest question that Jackson had to meet was in regard ANDHEW JACKSON WESTWARD GROWTH 193 WEBSTEK MAKING HIS FAMOUS SPEECH (From the painting by Healy in Faneuil Hall, Boston) to what was called "nullification," or making of no force. Con- Nullification gress voted to impose duties large enough to make imported goods cost more than those made in the United States. South Carolina said, " This is an unjust law, for it makes us poor while it makes the northern manufacturers rich. It is right for us to refuse to obey it, and therefore we shall nullify the act." This statement was made in the Senate. Daniel Webster replied in the famous speech that closes, " Liberty and Union, now and for- ever, one and inseparable." President Jackson did not like the large duties, but he meant that the laws of the land should be obeyed, and he sent forces to South Carolina to see that the duties were collected. Soon after this, Henry Clay, the "great peacemaker," persuaded Congress to lessen the duties, and there was no outbreak. If a government is strong, and people feel safe and have time to devote to education, books are sure to be written. In the colo- 194 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Our first great Ameri- can writers nial days few books were written in America whose reading still gives pleasure. Even after tlie Union was formed, people across the ocean used to say with a smile, " Not even the Americans read the American books ;" but before Jackson's time three Amer- ican writers became known whose works were read with pleasure on both sides of the xVtlautic. They were Irving, Cooper, and Bryant. One great dilference between their writings and those of most of the American authors that had come before them was that they did not try to imitate English writers. When Bryant described a landscape, he put in American flowers and trees and ^g^L birds ; while the American poets before him ;" ' ' were nichned to put in larks and night- ingales and primroses and "crimson- tipped" daisies, without stopping to think whether these birds and flowers could be fomid in America. Cooper had little to say about lords and princes ; he liked best to write about the Indians of liis ovm land. So it was with Irving. When he wrote "Rip Van Winkle," he did* not make his hero live in some old English castle, but in a New York village ; and Rip's strange adventures all took place on the New York mountams. In 1837 Jackson's term of office was over. He was the last President that had had anything to do with the Revolutionary War. Not one man was living who had signed the Declaration of Independence. The men who had made the country were dead, and the land was left in the hands of those that had come after them. When Van Buren's name is mentioned, the first thought that comes to mind is "hard tunes," that is, times when no one seemed BRYANT'S HOME AT ROSLYN WESTWARD GROWTH 195 to have money to pay his debts. The government had received Martin Van for pubUc lands and duties many million dollars more than it needed to use, and had deposited the money in various banks. These banks had loaned it to speculators, and to men who wished to build railroads or canals or to buy western lands. Suddenly the government decided to divide this money among the states, and ordered the banks to return it. The banks called upon the speculators and others to bring it back. To do this at once was often difficult or impossible; for in- stance, men who had borrowed money to buy land where they Hard times expected a railroad would be built could not sell their land at a fair price till the road was completed, and had no money with which to pay the banks. Another trouble was that the govern- ment had declared that men who bought western land must pay for it in gold or silver ; and, therefore, much coin had gone West. The banks united, and said that for the present they would not give coin for their bills, and they would make no new loans. No one knew what to-morrow's value of the paper money, or " rag money," as it was called, would be. Every one wanted coin, and whoever had any coin held on to it. Business firms failed, banks failed, mills stopped, work stopped, poverty and suffering were everywhere. The acts that caused the trouble came before Van Buren's term of office, but as the trouble itself appeared while he was president, it was always associated with his name. After a while the money difficulties passed away, but there was another difficulty that was growing worse all the time, and that Anti-slavery • societies was the difference of opinion about slavery. Anti-slavery socie- ties were formed in the North. Wilham Lloyd Garrison had for several years been publishing a paper called the "Liberator," whose object was to arouse people to do away with slavery. " It is wrong," said these societies, " for one man to hold another as his slave." " It is right," said the South, " for us to hold the 196 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY negro. He is happier and better cared for than he would be as a free man." The societies sent pictures and pamphlets through- out the land to persuade people that slavery was wrong. The South declared that these papers would make the slaves rebel and demanded that the government should forbid such acts m' order to prevent the danger of a slave insurrection. Not all northerners sympathized with the anti-slavery societies of opfn^ in ^^ '"^ ''''^'''- ^^«^^^ly ^^0^*^ ^^^ "1 the North thought that it the North would be better if there were no such thing as slavery, but many believed that each state had the right to do as it chose in the matter, and some who would have done anything in their power to keep slavery out of a new state thought that no one had a right to interfere where it already existed. Anti-slavery papers were sometimes taken from the mails and destroyed. A hall m which an anti-slavery meeting had been held was burned, and the offices of the "Liberator » and other pubhcations of the sort were raided. SUMMARY. During Monroe's term of office, the Seminoles Tvere subdued, Florida was acquired, Spain gave up all claim to the Oregon Territory, and the Monroe doctrine was proclaimed. Emigration to the West increased, and the Missouri Compromise postponed the slavery trouble. Lafay- ette became the guest of the nation. While John Quincy Adams was president, the fiftieth birthday of the nation was celebrated. Jefferson and John Adams both died on the day of the celebration. The success of the Erie Canal brought about the building of many other canals and railroads, which made new towns and manufactures possible. Jackson's enforcement of the law and a decreased tariff prevented nuDificar tion in South Carolina. Irving, Cooper, and Bryant wrote the first great American books. Van Buren's administration was marked by hard times and by increasing difference of opinion about slavery. TROUBLE ARISES OVER SLAVERY 197 SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. Fulton's difficulties in making the first steamboat. Governor Clinton tells why he favors the Erie Canal. A ride on one of the early railroads. XX TROUBLE ARISES OVER SLAVERY People suffered so much while Van Buren was in office that, although he was not to blame for their misfortunes, they wished Hamson^ to have a man who belonged to another pohtical party. Wilham Henry Harrison was chosen president and John Tyler vice- president. Harrison was a brave, faithful, upright man, who had always done his best and could be trusted to do well whatever he undertook. Just before the War of 1812, he had subdued the Indians at Tippecanoe in Indiana, and before the election took place his friends used to sing an absurd song, which ran : — " Oh, what has caused this great commotion Oar country through? It is the ball that 's rolling on For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too ; And with them we '11 beat little Van, Van, Van I Van ! oh, he 's a used-up man. And with them we '11 beat little Van ! " Perhaps what helped Harrison most was a remark made by a newspaper that was opposed to him. It was that Harrison The-log-^,_ would feel more at home in a log cabin than in the White House, d^te " " That is just what we want," said his friends. " A man who can Uve in a log cabin, plough his own field, and build his own 198 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Tyler succeeds Harrison The Lone Star State house-he's the n,.n for us." Pictures of log cabms appeared on flags and medals. Real ones were drawn in the torch- light processions by stout horses or oxen. Mammoth log cabins were built for the meetings held by Harrison's friends, and the "log-cabin candidate " was elected. Just one month after Har- rison was inaugurated he died, and John Tyler took his place. The chief subject about ' Mliicli people were talking was the annexation of Texas. The land southwest of the United States which formerly be- longed to Spain had become . fi"ee and taken the name of Mexico. Mexico was willing that settlers from other nations should form colonies on her soil, and it came to pass that more than twenty thousand people from the United States settled on the land between the Red River and the Gulf of Mexico, called Texas. After a while the de- mands of the jMexican government became too severe to please the Texan-Americans. Just as Mexico had fought herself free from Spain, so Texas fought herself free from Mexico. She then asked to become a state, but for several „„ years lier request was not granted, and she was a state alone by herself. This is why Texas is called the " Lone Star State." There were various reasons why people wished or did not wish PICTURE FROM THE nARKISON CAIJPAIUN ALMANAC SEAL OF TEXAS TROUBLE ARISES OVER SLAVERY 199 to have Texas admitted, but the most important one was the ques- The admis- tion of slavery. Texas held slaves, and if it became a state, the jexas slave states would gain in power because they would have more votes in Congress. There was a long discussion in Congress, but finally the state was admitted. The South was triumphant; but the abolitionists, as those were called who wished to abolish slavery, set to work with more energy than ever. People were not thinking about slavery alone. Many a man was at work on some invention that would be a gain to the country. Great inven- The sewing machine had been invented long before, but it was a *^°"^ clumsy affair. Elias Howe succeeded in making machines that were practical. Kubber shoes had been used, but they were thick and heavy and they had a fashion of melting when they were left in a warm place. Charles Goodyear found a way to vulcanize the rubber so it would not melt. " Daguerreotypes " of buildings had been taken, but now a way was found to take pictures of persons. A vast amount of suffering was prevented by the discovery that by inhaling sulphuric ether the most severe opera- tion would be painless. Samuel F. B. Morse worked for many years to find out the way to send mes- sages by electricity. Even after he was sure that he could do it, so few believed in him that it was a long time before he could persuade Congress to give 1 • ,, 4- 1 -1 1 T f 4. 1 1 At A TELEGRAPH SOUNDER mm the money to build a Ime of telegraph. At last the line was built, and the reverent message, "What hath The first God wrought ! " was sent from Washington to Baltimore. telegraph ' Telegraph " means " far- writing," and it was a great mystery how writing could be done so far from where the message was given. Some did not believe any news that the telegraph brought until letters had come to prove that it was true. Some believed that the wonderful invention could not only carry the news, but coUect it, and it is said that one woman objected to having a tele- 200 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Territory graph pole set up near her house because, as she declared, she did not want people aU over the country to know what she was doing. While Tyler was in office, there was much discussion about Terd?o'rv^°" '""^''^^ '''^^ ''^^^'^ ^^'^ ^^^^'°^^ Territory, that is, the land that now forms Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Wyoming and Montana, and extends as far north as Alaska. A Rhode Islander had discovered its chief river, the Columbia; a Virgmian had explored the stream ; and a New Yorker had sent out a colony. England, too, claimed the land, and for many years the two coun- tries had held it in common. The southern limit of Alaska is latitude 54° 40', and when it was time to elect a new president, one of the political par- ties took for a campaign cry, "Fifty-four forty or fight." The candidate of this party, James K. Polk, was chosen president. When he was elected, he declared, "One tiling that must be done while I am in office is to settle the Oregon boundary." In his inaugural address he said that the title of the United States to Oregon was clear, that emi- ^ grants were going from the east to the extreme west, and that the government ought to protect them and their interests. A little later he urged that an overland mail should be established to go to Oregon at least once a month. Only a few years earlier it had been a disputed question whether it was possible to cross the moun- tains in wagons, and whether the Oregon country was worth the effort. Few had thought that much of it was of any value. In Congress a senator had declared, "For agricultural purposes I would not give a pinch of snuff for the whole Oregon Territory." The pre- sident's addi-ess did much to mcrease the number of emigrants. MONUMENT AT CHAMPOEQ, OKKGOJS (To (;ommeinorate tlie orpnniza- tion tliprc on Jlay •-', IM"., of the first American Kovernnient on the I'aciUc coast) TROUBLE ARISES OVER SLAVERY 201 The trains of cattle drawing wagons loaded with furniture, tools, food, and clothing grew longer and more frequent. Many of these trains went to Oregon. It was a long journey ; it took six months to go from the Missouri to the Willamette, but the very fact that it was farther from the east than any other part of the country to which emigrants had begun to go was one reason why so many went, for some people had the feeling that the farther they trav- eled, the more successful they would be. The number of emigrants increased so that it grew more and more important to both England and the United States that the boundary line should be settled. Both countries were finding out that a part, at least, of the Territory was a rich, fertile land; but after all, the chief thing desired by each country was to get possession of the Columbia River and the inlet south of Vancouver Island. President Polk made it clear that this country would not give up any territory south of 49°. There was great excitement, and again the cry was heard, "Fifty-four forty or fight." After much discussion England offered to surrender all claim to the mainland south of 49°. This was agreed to, and our northern boundary, at 49°, was then completed. From the Lake of the Woods to the Pacific, it was marked by iron pillars placed one mile apart, and by piles of stones. Although there was no fighting with England, the United States did have a war while Polk was in office, audit came about because m Mexican of the " Lone Star State," for Texas had at last been admitted to the Union. The Texans claimed the Rio Grande as their western boundary, but Mexico declared that the new state extended only to the Nueces. It was because of that strip of land, one hundred miles wide, lying between the two rivers, that the war took place. General Zachary Taylor was sent to the banks of the Rio Grande to defend the American claims. The story is told that A AIKXICAN BOY 202 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Campaigns of the war Acquire- mentof new territory before the fighting began the Mexican leader said to one of the American officers, " If General Taylor will surrender, I can pro- mise him good treatment." " General Taylor never surrenders," said the officer indignantly, and that speech became the watch- word of the campaign. In these Mex- ican battles many a man fought whose name was to become familiar a few years later. Among these men were U. S. Grant, Robert E, Lee, and Jeffer- son Davis. General Taylor was uni- formly successful along the Rio Grande. One division of the Amer- ican forces conquered California, and another marched from eastern Kansas to California, capturing Santa Fe by the way. Fmally General Winfield Scott made a wonderful march from Vera Cruz through the enemy's coun- try to the city of Mexico. The city was captured, and the war was ended. One condition of peace was that Mexico should sell to the United States California and the land of which Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and part of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico have been formed. American laws and customs were introduced at once into the new territory, and little attention was paid to the wishes of the people who were living on the land. Even if there had been no question that all American laws were better than Mexican laws, these changes were made so suddenly and so harshly that they brought about much suffering. Mrs. Jackson's story of " Ramona " was wTitten to picture the life of the Mexicans at the first coming of the Americans into the territory. Part of this land was California. It was known to have a DISPUTED TF.llKITORY OF XHli MEXU^AN WAR TROUBLE ARISES OVER SLAVERY 203 delightful climate and a fertile soil. After a while it was dis- ^o°Jered^in covered that bits of gold were to be found in the beds of gravel California on the hills and in the valleys. A man could fill a pan with earth, pour on water, wash the gravel over the top of the pan, and find in the bottom grains of shining gold. When the report of this discovery reached the East, there was a wild rush for the " Golden State." Some sailed around Cape The " Forty- nincrs Horn, some risked the deadly fevers of the Isthmus of Panama, others went across the country, in "prairie schooners," in ox- carts, on horseback, or even on foot. The overland route was marked not only by goods that had been thrown away when the horses became too weak to carry them farther, but 1>y skeletons of horses and cattle, and by the headboards of hastily made graves. It was 1849 when these first gold-seekers went, and they called themselves the " Forty-niners." While the Forty-niners were ^..^ hurrying to California, Zachary Taylor, who "" never surren- dered," was chosen president. In a few months he died in office, and Millard Fillmore, the Vice- President, took his place. Fill- more was followed by Frankhn Pierce, and after him came .Tames Buchanan. During the terms of ofiice of these presidents the laws in which people were most interested all dealt with slavery. The first one came about because so many Forty-niners went to California that one year later the territory asked to come in as a free state. Much of California was south of 36° 30', and there was the same discussion that there had been in 1820 when Mis- SAN FI;AN' CISCO IN 1S4!) (From an engraving published in 1855) 204 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY souri wished to come in as a slave state, but in 1850 it was even The compro- more bitter. In 1820 "the great peace-maker," Henry Clay, had miseof 1850 pj.QpQgg(l t,he Missouri Compromise, and now in 1850 he brought forward another compromise. "To please the North," he said, "let us admit California as a free state. To satisfy the South, let us pass a new fugitive slave law, and decree that if a slave escapes to a free state the United States government shall seize him and return him to his master." The third proposal that he made was, "Let us agree that the rest of the land which was bought from Mexico shall be free or slave territory, just as the people who may live there shall decide." • Men who settled upon land to which they had no title were sometimes called " squatters," and this law allowing the settlers to decide whether slavery should exist in their territory was spoken of as " squatter sovereignty." The compromise was agreed upon, and California was admitted. Daniel Webster and many others who did not believe in slavery The under- voted for this law, because they feared that the country would be ground rail- ^^^^^j^^^ if ^l^ey refused. The slaveholder said, "This negro is my property. I paid for him, and I have a right to claim him wherever I can find him ; " but when a negro who had made his escape appeared before the door of a man who believed that slavery was wrong, that man was much inclined to help the fugi- tive, even if the government did order that he should be given up. Anti-slavery men would hide these runaway slaves, and pass them on from one to another, concealed in all sorts of ways, until they were safe in Canada. This system was so secret and so success- ful that it was spoken of as the " underground railroad." People were talking of slavery more than anything else, and Uncle Tom's into the midst of the discussion came Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," painting the life of the slave in the darkest colors. The North believed that it was a truthful picture and opposed slavery more than ever. TROUBLE ARISES OVER SLAVERY 205 The Missouri Compromise declared that all territory north of Bleeding 36° 80' should be free; but now, influenced by the friends of *^^"^^^ "squatter sovereignty," Congress voted that, although Kansas and Nebraska were north of the line, yet when they wished to come in as states, they might be free or slaveholding, as they chose. Then there was a struggle to win the new territories. Settlers from the slave states round about pressed into Kansas. Anti-slavery men in the North became colonists or gave money to help to send others. Both parties were sure that they were in the right ; both were eager and excited. There were battles be- tween them, and for several years there was so much bloodshed in the territory that it was called " bleeding Kansas." In a battle at Osawatomie, one of the fighters was John Brown, of Connecti- cut, who fought so fiercely that he was afterwards often called " Osawatomie Brown." The one aim of his life was, as he said, to wage " eternal war with slavery," and he had gone to Kansas to do everything in his power to make the territory into a free state. In 1857 James Buchanan became president; in the next four years there was one act that especially aroused the North and one The Dred that alarmed the South. The first was what was known as the gj^*^^ " Dred Scott Decision." Dred was a slave. His master kept him in Illinois several years, and then carried him back to Missouri. In Missouri, Dred was flogged. He said, " No man is a slave in Illinois; therefore, when I was there, I became free, and my master must pay for flogging me." The case went from one court to another, and at last the Supreme Court of the United States, whose business it is to tell what the laws mean when people differ, said, " A slave is not a person ; he is property, and his master may take him anywhere." The North cried indig- nantly, " That is not only protecting slavery in the states where it already exists, it is forcing slavery upon us ;" and the opposition became even more determined. 206 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY John Brown's raid Two years later came the act that alarmed the South. ** Osawa- tomie Brown " had left Kansas to Uve near Harper's Ferry in Virginia. He thought that with the aid of a few friends it would be possible to fortify some place in the mountains where fugitives might be safe, and that after a while the slaves might be united in a general revolt. To get arms, he seized upon the United ...^— .- -. ^__^_ _. , ., States arsenal at Har- per's Ferry. A fight folloAved ; John BroAni was captured by ! 'nited States troops I'd by Robert E. Lee, I lied for treason and murder, and executed. He had broken the law of the land, and his punishment was law- ful ; but so much sym- pathy was felt in the North with liis eagerness to free the negroes that his death strengthened the northern hatred of slavery. In the South it was thought possible that John Brown was supported by many northerners. There might be a general revolt Seven states of the slaves, pillage, burning, and murder. The South was fear- ful of the horrors that might come, and more angry than ever ■v\ith the North. It was near the end of Buchanan's term. Many southerners declared that the South would leave the Union if the next President should oppose slavery. " Must a state be kept in the Union against its will ? " they asked. " Has it not a right to secede ? " Abraham Lincoln was elected, and the watchword of his party was," No more slave states." Seven states. South Caro- lina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas IIAKTEK'S FKKUV secede TROUBLE ARISES OVER SLAVERY 207 left the Union. Franklin's great-granddaughter was present when the senators of these seven states withdrew from Congress. Jef- ferson Davis was one of the senators, and he told her that the new government and the old would live side by side and be friendly to each other. " The North will never fight the South," he said. " You see how quietly they have let us go." SUMMARY. Texas freed herself from Mexico and was admitted to the United States. A quarrel over her boundary brought this country into a war with Mexico. The telegraph was invented. The conflicting claims of tlie United States and Great Britain to Oregon were settled, and the northern boundary of our country was marked. California and a vast area of land east of California were ceded to the United States by Mexico. The discovery of gold in California caused a great westward migration in 1849. California was admitted as a free state, and to satisfy the South the Fugitive Slave law was passed. Squatter sovereignty did away with the Missouri Compromise. The question of slavery became more violent. " Uncle Tom's Cabin " and the "Dred Scott Decision" aroused the North; while John Brown's raid alarmed the South. Finally, seven states seceded. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. Morse tells Congress how valuable the telegraph will be. A day's ride with a western emigrant. A Forty-niner describes his journey to California. 208 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The South- ern Confed eracy. CONFKnERATE BATTLE FLAG Lincoln's determina- tion The attack on Fort Sumter XXI THE CIVIL WAR 18G1. The seven seceding states formed a union, or confederacy, and in a little while four others joined them. These eleven were Virginia, ^ Xorth Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkan- sas, and Tennessee. Jefferson Davis, who had fought bravely in the Mexican War, was chosen president. A flag was adopted which had a red field crossed di- agonally by wide bars of blue outlined with white. In the bars were eleven stars for the secedmg states and two more for Missouri and Kentucky, which the Confeder- ates expected would secede because those states had sent representatives to the Confederate congress. Jefferson Davis had said that the northern states would not fight, and he had much reason to think so, for President Buch- anan was not sure that the government had any right to force a state to remain in the L^'nion, and many people in the North agreed with him. When Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated, he said that he should not interfere with slavery where it already ex- isted, but that he should protect the Union and the property of the Union. Among these pieces of property were the forts, one of which. Fort Sumter, was on an island at the mouth of Charleston harbor. In April, 1861, when the government at Washington attempted to throw supplies into it, the Confederates demanded its surrender, and when Major Anderson refused, General Beauregard fired upon it. THE CIVIL WAR 209 CopyriEht, 1891, bj M. P. Rioo ABRAHAM LINCOLN (From an original negative made in 1864, -when President Lincoln com- missioned General Grant Lieutenant-General and commander of all the armies of the republic) The Union men held out for two days. So much of the fort was on fire that the defenders had to lie on the ground with handker- chiefs over their mouths to keep from being suffocated. The powder was nearly gone. There was nothing to eat but salt pork. Then Major Anderson surrendered. The flag on the fort Surrender of had been shot through and through. Anderson saluted the tat- tered banner with fifty guns, and the little company which had 210 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The country is aroused formed tlie garrison marched out with drums beating and colors flying. The first gun fired upon Fort Sumter aroused the whole country. Before that men talked about what might happen. Now something had hap- pened, and every man in the land must stand Foirr siJiTEu IN isci for the Union or against it. Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand men to serve in the army, and more than that number offered themselves. Most people in the North supposed that the revolt would soon be suppressed, and Lincoln asked the men to serve for three months. The South, too, raised an army at once, and made ready to defend the border line of the seceded states. Richmond was chosen xis the Confederate capi- tal. If the Union men could take Richmond or the Confederates could take Washington, it would be a great gain to the victors, it might even bring the war to an end. Week after week passed. " On to Washington ! " cried the Confederates. ""Wliy does n't General Scott do something ? " complained the Unionists. " He could fight in the Mexican War. Why does he stand still now ? On to Richmond ! " The two armies pressed a little nearer to- gether. Neither was ready to fight, but each commander felt that he must pay A UNION SOLDIER soms TCgard to the wishes of his people. In Virginia, not far from Washington, is a little river called Bull Run, and just beyond it is a railroad that runs from Washington A CONl'EDEKATE THE CIVIL WAR 211 to the southwest. If the southern army held this railroad, they Battle of could bring men and arms and provisions from the South easily and quickly, and thus threaten Washmgton. The North meant to prevent the capture of the road, and that is why the first great battle of the war was fought near Bull Run, General Beauregard a U L F OF MEXICO THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY AND ADJACENT UNION STATES had come from Charleston, and was in command of the Con- federate forces. He had been educated at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Among his classmates was Irvin McDowell, and it was McDowell who stood on the other side of the little stream, leading the Union army. Another West Point graduate. General Jackson, was on the field, fighting for 212 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY the Confederacy. It seemed at first as if the Union men would win, and as they pushed forward upon Jackson, an oflicer shouted to his troops, " Look at Jackson and his men standing there like a stone wall." Soldiers always nickname their favorite command- ers, and from that day the brave general was known among them as " Stonewall " Jackson. There was a fierce battle, and thousands of men were slain. Defeat of the The Confederates were victorious, and the retreat of the Union soldiers was a wild stampede. Men, horses, army- wagons, gun- troops Making an army Blockade runners carriages, sutlers' teams, dashed along the road in the maddest confusion, while tents, cannon, and provisions were scattered along the way. The two chief reasons for the Union defeat were, first, that the soldiers had expected to win the day easily ; sec- ondly, that they were " green," as Lincoln said, and had no idea of the training and obedience required of a soldier. General McDowell said that on the march to Bull Run it was hard to keep these untrained warriors from leaving the ranks to pick blackberries. After Bull Run it was clear that the conflict would be long and serious. Lincoln called for seven times as many men as at first. Another tiling that was clear was that bravery alone would not make a soldier. The troops must be drilled. General McClel- lan spent week after week in training his men. In the autumn of 1861 there were thousands of men who wished to fight for the Union ; in the spring of 1862 these men had become an army. The Confederates had felt almost sure of the favor and support of England, for English mills were using large quantities of southern cotton, and cotton could not be sent so long as there was war. A Union warship watched every important port, and a vessel trying to enter or leave the harbor was in great danger of being captured. Those that did attempt it were called block- ade runners. The risk was so great that an enormous price was THE CIVIL WAR 213 charged for the goods that they carried ; and before the war was over a pound of cotton that cost four cents in South Carolina could be sold for two dollars and a half in England, Two men The Trent were appointed by the Confederates to go to England and try to persuade both that country and France to help them. They were on board the Trent, a British mail - steamer. A Union captain obliged the Trent to stop, and carried away the two men. Thoughtless people throughout the North rejoiced, but Lincoln declared that this was exercising the right of search, and the men must be given up. They were set free with an explanation to England that their capture was not approved by the United States government. A CONFEDERATE BLOCKADE RUNNER (This vessel, the A. D. Vance, was captured Sept. 10, 1864) 1862. The United States government now planned to get control of the Mississippi. That would cut Texas, Arkansas, and most of The capture Louisiana from the other Confederate states, and would make it Orleans easy to transport men and supplies from the North. The first step was to take New Orleans, which would prevent blockade runners from landing there arms and ammunition or anything else that would help the Confederates. There was a naval ofl&cer named David Farragut who had gone to sea as a midshipman when he was only eleven years old. He had stood firmly by the Union, but some were afraid to trust him because he was of southern birth. The government be- lieved in him, and gave him command of the fleet that would, it was hoped, succeed in taking New Orleans. The city was 214 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The Merri- mac AN ArOUST MOKNINc; WITH FARRAGUT (From W. U. Overend's painting showing Farragut in the rigging) defended by two forts, by sixteen gunboats, by chains stretched across the river, and by rafts of logs. Flat-boats loaded with pine-knots or with cotton were set afire and let loose to drift down among the ships ; but Farragut avoided the fire-boats, broke the chains, cut his way through the rafts, silenced the forts, and captured New Orleans. No one distrusted Farragut after this. While Farragut was on his way to New Orleans, a new sort of battle was being fought off the mouth of the James River. A Virginia navy yard had been seized by the Confederates at the beginning of the war. The Merrimac, a Union frigate taken at that time, was cut doAvn to the water's edge and covered with a sloping roof of iron, pierced with holes for the cannon. This new kind of craft attacked the wooden vessels of the Union. One sank, another surrendered, a third, the Minnesota, ran aground, THE CIVIL WAR 215 and the iron-clad left her destruction until the mornmg. Should she be abandoned ? Trains of powder were laid that she might be left and blo\vn up. "Wait," ordered the captain. "And he did more than or- der," said one who was there. "He almost begged us to stay. We had heard about the Monitor, though we did not know thk mkkmai m whether the Monitor was coming or whether it would amount to anything if it did come, but a man does not like to leave his ship, and we stayed." Morning came, and with it the queerest little vessel that was ever seen. "A cheese-box on a raft," the Con- federates called it. This was the Monitor, invented by a Swede, John Ericsson. It was made of iron, it carried two guns, and the "cheese-box" could he turned so that the guns might be fired in any direction. The battle was a severe one, but neither ves- The battle sel was destroyed. Next day the Mer- rimac came out, but as the IMonitor was needed to pro- tect Washington, it did not engage in another battle. THE MONITOR I^^tcr the Confed- erates were forced to evacuate Norfolk, and destroyed the Merri- mac. This battle made it necessary for all countries to build iron- clad naval vessels instead of the wooden vessels that had been used. "On to Richmond!" was still the cry. and a plan was made 216 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY for McClellan to land near Yorktown, march up the Peninsula, as it was called, between the York and the James rivers, meet McDowell, and press on to Richmond. " Stonewall " Jackson was carrying on a brilliant campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, where small bodies of Union troops were stationed. Up and down the valley Jackson swept, making marches as un- expected as Washington's sudden moves, and so rapid that people called his army " Stone- wall's foot-cavalry." It would not do to let McDowell and his troops leave Washington, for it was possible that Jackson might suc- ceed in reaching that city, and therefore Mc- Clellan had to do as best he could without them. Richmond was alarmed, and Jefferson Davis's niece wrote to a friend, " Uncle Jeff thinks we had better so to a safer attempt to take Rich- mond GENERAL ROBERT K. LEE McClellan's place than Richmond." After much fighting, McClellan was driven back toward the sea; and as there was still fear for the safety of Washington, he was ordered to come nearer the capital. There was reason for alarm. General Lee for the Confederates were evi- dently planning to carry the war into the North. General Robert E. Lee was now at the head of the Confederate army. He was the son of a famous Revolutionary officer, a West Appomattox / PcierslniT;^ O^ \ » W? THE SCENE OF WAR NEAR WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND THE CIVIL WAR 217 s^lS Point graduate, and he had served with honor in Mexico. When the war broke out, lie knew tliat a position in the Union army which might tempt any soldier, would be offered him, but Lee was not the man to do what he thought wrong for the sake of posi- tion. It was a strug- gle for him to choose on which side to stand, but he decided that as a citizen of Virginia he ought to follow the bidding of his state. This was the man who was pressing to- ward Washington. He thought that the peo- ple of Maryland would be glad to join him, and that with them he could march against the capital ; but the Mary landers did not wish to join him. There was a terrible fight at Antietam in Maryland, and Lee withdrew into Virginia. During the year 1862, the great gains of the Union forces had been the capture of New Orleans, the securing of the command of the sea, and the withdrawal of Lee from Antietam. On the Confederate side, Jackson had swept the Union troops from the Shenandoah Valley, and Lee had kept McClellan from Richmond. BRIDGE OVER ANTIETAM CREEK (From Battles and Leaders of the Civil War) Battle of Antietam 1863. Civilized nations have adopted a rule that private property must not be touched in war except in times of great necessity Contrabands unless it is plainly intended to be used for military purposes, °^ ^^'' 218 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY as in the case of guns or ammunition. It is then called con- traband, or illegal, and it may be seized by the opposing side. Wherever the Union army appeared, runaway slaves flocked to the camp, and what to do with them was a little puzzling. Gen- eral Butler, a slirewd man with a keen sense of humor, finally solved the problem. When a "master" came to him and de- manded the return of some runaway slaves on the ground that they were private property, the general said, " No. You will use them in making fortifications and in raising corn to support the Confederate army. They are contraband of war." After this, the negroes were often called "contrabands." In time of civil war the President, as commander-in-chief of the army of the United States, can do very nearly what he thinks The Emanci- wise, provided the greater part of the people approve of his kcts. Famatio^'^'"^" When the first day of 1863 came, Lincoln signed a paper that is almost as famous as the Declaration of Independence. It is called the Emancipation Proclamation, and it declared that all slaves of those who were resisting the Union government were free. Tliousands of slaves did not hear of their freedom for months, but the Proclamation made it clear to the world, and especially to England, that whoever helped the Confederacy would be help- ing slavery; and as England had abolished slavery in all her colonies, she could hardly support it in America. She did, however, give much indirect aid to the Confederates, for although she had promised to help neither side, she allowed them to build at the English shipyards swift blockade runners, and armed privateers to destroy Union vessels. The most power- The ful of these was called the Alabama. She destroyed a warship, Alabama captured a mail-steamer, and either sank or burned more than sixty other American vessels, chiefly merchantmen. She was finally simk by a Union ship. The year 1863 began with the Emancipation Proclamation. In THE CIVIL WAR 219 May, the Confederates were victorious at Chancellorsville in Mary- land ; but they met witli a loss that was worse than a defeat, for through a mistake " Stonewall " Jackson was shot by his own men. In the month of July there were two great northern victories. The first was at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, for Lee Gettysburg again invaded the North. Up the valley of the Shenandoah he marched, across the Potomac, through Maryland, and into Pennsylvania. He planned first to take Harrisburg, then Philadelphia. He came to Gettysburg, lying in a peaceful valley, with orchards, green fields, farm- houses,, and away to the west the blue mountains. Here he met the Union forces and fought the most terrible battle of the war. For three days it raged. One man out of every four — some say one out of every three union line meeting pickett's charge at Gettysburg -Wll tillpfl "Wmniflpfl (From the Gettysburg Cyclorama, by permission of the National Panorama Co.) or missing. Such was the slaughter that men threw themselves on the ground and held up bits of white paper to show that they had surrendered. Lee was driven back, and retreated into Vir- ginia. The day after the battle was spent by both sides in burying the dead. Four months later, a part of the battleground was set Lincoln's apart as a national cemetery. Lincoln made on the day of the gn^eech ^^^ dedication a short, simple speech, so full of thought and feeling. 220 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The siege Vicksburg of and appreciation of the honor due to those who had given their lives for their country, that it will never be forgotten. The second great Union victory was at Vicksburg. If that town and Port Hudson could be taken, the ^Mississippi would be in the hands of the Union ; but it was not easy to take Vicksburg. The city stood on a bluff so high that shot could not be thrown to it from ves- sels on the river, while the city guns could easily smk any ship that attempted to pass. For three months General mortar i or thro wing shells Grant and General Sherman tried to get into a position to attack the toAMi. At last they succeeded, and the siege of seven weeks began. Day and niglit the shells were falling. People dug caves into the side of the hill to be safe from flying fragments. A lady who lived in one of the caves wrote that even the mules in the town seemed wild, and the dogs would howl madly when a shell exploded. Food was scanty. By and by it gave out altogether, and finally the brave, suffering, starving people surrendered. The Confederate flag was hauled down, and the banner of the Union :^ run up. The whole Union army witnessed the scene, but not a cheer A UNION RIVER GUNBOAT ^as givcu, says General Grant, so deeply were the courage and endurance of the people respected. One member of the victorious army was the war-eagle, "Old Abe," the pet of a Wisconsin regiment. He was in many a bat- THE CIVIL WAR 221 tie, and when the noise and confusion were greatest, he would flap his wings and scream as if war was his chief dehght. A few days later Port Hudson, which lies between Vicksburg and Xew Orleans, yielded, and the Mississippi was in the hands The Mis- of the Union. This capture prevented the bringing of troops and unlorf' *" supplies from Texas and Arkansas to the aid of the Confederate hands states east of the Mississippi. The Confederacy had now no way to communicate with Europe. It was shut in upon itself. The greater part of the Confederate army was now divided between Virginia and the northwestern corner of Georgia. It was in Georgia that the hardest fighting of the last six months of the year took place. One battle was at Chickamauga. The Union forces lost, but it would have been a far more terrible defeat if the bold stand made by General Thomas had not prevented the rout of the army. The Confederates had had a " Stonewall " Jackson. Now the Unionists had a " Rock of Chickamauga," for this was the name that the soldiers gave to General Thomas. Several other battles were fought in that part of the coun- try. The last one was cti lied the '' Battle above the Clouds." It took place on Lookout Mountain, and the heavy mist settled down so darkly that while the eager watchers in the valley could hear the sound of the cannon, they could only guess who were losing and who were winning. The Union forces won. " God bless you all ! " came over the wires to General Grant from the weary, anxious President in Washington, for every victory brought nearer the coming of peace for which he prayed. The end of 186.S came. During this year the Confederates had been successful at Chancellorsville and Chickamauga, but they had lost General Jackson. Lee had kept the Union sol- diers from Ifichmond, but the repulse at Gettysburg had driven him from Pennsylvania. The Mississippi had fallen into the 222 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The plan to end the war Battles of the Wilder- ness In the Shenandoah Valley hands of the Union, and Union troops had been successful m Georgia. 1864. Two men now stood out as tlie most successful generals in the Union army, Grant and Sherman. Grant was ])ut at the head of all the Union forces. The two generals formed a plan that they hoped would end the war. Grant was to face Lee and try to take Richmond; Sherman was to cut his way through Geor- gia to the sea. Grant went into Virginia from the north, swept around to the east of IJichmond, then to the south. There were terrible battles. There were two days of fighting in a dark, gloomy forest called the Wilder- ness. The woods caught fire, and wounded men were burned to death in the blazing timber. There were explosions of trains of ammunition. There were dense clouds of the smoke of powder. Suffering men lay moaning. The underbrush was crackling in the fire. Men shot at their opponents in the darkness, or took aim by the glare of the flames. It is thought that about 30,000 men were killed. Neither side could claim a victory. General Grant pressed on till he wj's at Petersburg, south of the Confederate capital. Lee had rcc men enough to drive him away, but he could keep him from advancing upon Richmond. lie even made the government fear another invasion of the North, for he sent General Early through the Shenandoah Val- ley toward Maryland. Copyright, 1*91, by JI. P. Rice GENERAL U. S. GRANT (From a picture taken in 18(14 when he was commissioned commander-in-chief) THE CIVIL WAR 223 CONFEDERATE CAPITOL, RICHMOND Sheridan marclied out to oppose liim. Early had once been within a few miles of Washington and had burned Chambers- burg, but now his opponent went through the valley with orders to destroy everything which would feed man or beast, that there might be no more raids upon Pennsylva- nia. It was not long before he reported to Grant, " If a crow should want to fly through the valley, he would have to carry his food with him." Sheridan was called to Washington, and when he returned to Winchester, he heard firing far away. He put spurs to his great Sheridan's black horse and galloped on. He met men running to the town. " General Early has attacked us," they cried, "and we are beaten." "Back!" ordered Sheridan. "We'll beat them yet. Face about!" he shouted to the retreating cav- alry. They did face about. Early was driven away, and the disas- ter was prevented. This was the "Sheridan's ride" which the poem by that name has made famous. But while Grant was before Richmond and Sheridan was in Where was the Shenandoah Valley, where ^^^'""^"^ was Sherman? He was attack- ing the Confederate forces in SHERMAN'S ROUTE TO THE SEA ^^^^i^^ggtern Gcorgia. The Con- federate general, Johnston, had not men enough to meet Sher- 224 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY man, hut he retreated after the masterly fashion of Washington in New Jersey. Slierman had to leave guards behind him to protect the railroads, and Johnston meant to continue the re- treat until so many men had been left that the two armies could fight on equal terras. After two months of this retreating, the Confederate War Department gave Johnston's command to Gen- eral Hood. Hood made bold attacks on Sherman, but was obliged to retreat, y leaving Sherman in possession of Atlanta. Then began Sher- man's famous " march to the sea." He marched southeast through the state in four col- umns, twenty miles apart, cut- ting a swath sixty miles wide. He burned At- lanta with its mills and foundries. He destroyed railroads and bridges, leaving a pitiful ruin behind him. The object of this march was not only to cut the Confederacy in two, but to destroy everything that would help the Confederates to carry on the war. Just before Christmas he entered Savannah, and sent to President Lincoln the message: — I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammuni- tion ; also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton. W. T. Sfikrmax. ■ -r-- -'■s- CORDUROT ROADS IN SOUTH CAROLINA So ended the year 18G4. The Confederates had burned Cham- THE CIVIL WAR 225 bersburg, but Sheridan had devastated the valley of the Shenan- doah, Sherman had made a wide path of ruin through Georgia to Savannah, and Grant had pushed on toward Richmond as far as Petersburg, 1865. The year in which the war was to end began. Sherman had a hard march before him, and he would not leave Savannah until The end his men were rested. They were impatient to go on, and when he "'"^^^ "®*'' WASHINGTON MONUMENT AND CAPITOL SQUARE, RICHMOND rode about the camp, they would call out, " Uncle Billy, Grant is waiting for us at Richmond." Finally the march through South Carolina began. The streams were swollen, the swamps flooded, and the roads were often only long lines of mud. The men waded, they built bridges, they made " corduroy roads." At last they were in North Carolina. Both Sherman and Grant had many more men than the Confederate commanders near them, and they believed that one more battle would end the war. 226 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Lee's sur- render Lee was one of the great commanders of history, and his sol- diers trusted him and loved him ; but his army was reduced to 26,000 men, and many of those were so weak from exposure and want of food that they could not lift their muskets to their shoulders. The most skilful general is helpless without strong men and food and suppUes. Lee could no longer protect the Confederate capital. "Richmond has surrendered," was tele- graphed to Washington, and on the 9th of April Lee's whole force surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, a little village west of Richmond. The two generals met to discuss terms. It was agreed that the Southern soldiers should lay down their arms and return to their homes in peace. The horses Grant APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE (From a war-time photograph) left with the cavalry. " I hope this will be the last battle of the war," he said, "and they will need the horses to work their farms." Lee's men had been living for days on parched corn, and not very much of that. Grant's first action was to send a generous supply of food to the men. THE CIVIL WAR 227 This surrender was the real close of the war. On April 14th, just four years after the fall of Fort Sumter, Anderson was CopyriBtit, 1887, by The Cenlurj Co. UNION SOLDIERS SHARING THEIR RATIONS WITH CONFEDERATES AFTER LEE'S SURRENDER sent to take command of the fort a second time. The same old flag was hoisted, pierced with the holes of the first shots of the war. Late that evening, in the midst of the rejoicings of the The assassi defenders of the Union, the telegraph flaslied over the country president tlie message, " President Lincoln has been assassinated," and all Lincoln the joy was turned into sorrow. He was sliot by a man who fancied that he was avenging the " wrongs of tlie South." In reality lie was mur- dering the true friend of the South. Only six weeks before, when Lincoln was made President for the second time, he said in his inaugural speech : — "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us ' ° ' *= AN ARMY power to see the right, let us strive to finish the canteen 228 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY work we are in . . . to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves." SUMMARY. 18G1. The Civil War began with the caj)ture of Fort Sumter. The Union forces were defeated at Bull Run. The capture of the Confederate commissioners on the Trent nearly made trouble with England. 1862. The Union forces capture New Orleans. The contest between the Monitor and the Merrimac took place. Jackson swept the Shenan- doah Valley. ^McClellan failed to reach Richmond, and Lee withdrew from Antietam. 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed. The Alabama did much damage to Union ships. The Confederates were victorious at Chancellorsville, but Lee was repulsed at Gettysburg. The Union forces gained control of the Mississippi by the capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson. The Confedei-ates were successful at Chickamauga. 1864. Grant pressed on to Petersburg. Early had burned Chambersburg, and to prevent such raids Sheridan devastated the Shenandoah Valley. Sherman marched through Georgia to Savannah. 1865. Lee was forced to abandon Richmond, and to surrender at Appo- mattox Court House April 9tli. Four years from the day when Fort Sumter fell President Lincoln was assassinated. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN AVORK. A soldier writes about the attack upon Fort Sumter. A boy describes the siege of Vicksburg. Two sailors on the JMinnesota discuss the possible coming of the Monitor. THE LATTER YEARS OF THE CENTURY 229 of the seceded states XXII THE LATTER YEARS OF THE CENTURY After the war, the government had to decide a diflQcult ques- tion. This was, " Will it be safe to allow the states that wished The position to leave the Union to send represent- atives to Congress and help make the laws for the coun- try?" Lincoln's be- lief was, " No state cawleavethe L^'nion. Some persons have raised an insurrec- tion, but this has been suppressed. These states as states have not forfeited their right to send representatives." When Lincoln died, the Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, be- came president. His belief was almost the same as Lincoln's, but Andrew where Lincoln would persuade men, Johnson would try to compel ^^""son them, and all through his term of office there were quarrels be- tween him and Congress, and many of the laws made at that time were made not with the President's consent, but in spite of his opposition. An addition was made to the Constitution which is known as The Thir- the Thirteenth Amendment. It forbids slavery in the United Amendment States or in any place governed by the United States. A law THK WHITE HOUSE (The official residence of the President as it appears to-day. corner-stone was laid by Washington, Oct. 13, 1792) 230 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Carpet- baggers The negro vote THE GREAT EASTERN LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE was passed requiring every man who wished to hold office in the South to take what was called the "iron-clad oath," declaring that he had taken no part in the war. This was an unwise demand, for almost every resrectable man in the seceding states had taken nart in the war: and the result of the act was that worthless men from the North persuaded or bribed the negroes to vote them into office. These men were called " car- pet-baggers," because they usually had no property, and often no baggage except a car- pet-bag. For a con- siderable time the northern adventurers and the ignorant negroes were in power in the South. In order to send representatives to Congress, the Confederate states had been obliged by the government to grant the negroes the right to vote ; but it was not long before the whites had the power in their own hands again, for in many places they would either frighten the negroes or bribe them, and so keep them away from the polls. United States troops were then sent South to protect the negroes in their right to vote and to support the men who had been lawfully elected ; but the soldiers did not like this duty, the whites were angry, and the negroes often suffered more than before the troops came. Matters were made a little better by the pardoning of those Confederates who had taken part in the war, and restoring to nearly all the right to hold office. Though there are even now some hard questions to settle about the ne- groes, it is probable that very few men in our country, even in the South, would be willing to have the days of slavery, return. THE LATTER YEARS OF THE CENTURY 231 Tn 1866 whUe Johnson was stiU in office, Europe and America JlJllTZei^e. It too. columns ten weeks to cross the T.e Man.c Atlantic. The Pilgrims spent nine weeks m sailmg from Eng- land to Massachnsetts. In 1812, even a swift sailmg vessel needed a month. Before the Civil War, the mvention of steam- boats had made it possible to send a message from England to America in ten or eleven days. A persevering man named Cyrus W Field was now convinced that a telegraph wire might be laid across the Atlantic Ocean. The first attempt failed, the second failed the third time all went well, but in a few days the cable broke'. Field's money was gone, and his friends had no more that they wished to invest. At last Congress voted to help him. This time the cable succeeded. The we was laid from Ireland to Newfoundland, and instead of the New World and the Old being ten weeks apart, whatever was done in one contment could be known in the other in a very few minutes. Whittier wrote of this new wonder : — " And round the world the thought of all Is as the thought of one." So it was that in Johnson's time the Atlantic grew nar- rower ; but at the same time the United States grew wider, for Alaska was bought of Rus- sia. Every time that the coun- p^^^p.^i. i,, w u p.nr i o try has bought a piece of land, sitka alaska there have been citizens who opposed the purchase for one reason m pur- or another; and when Alaska was bought, some declared that it Alaska was a foolish, extravagant deed, that the country could keep 23>2 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The Alabama claims bouse " without a " refrigerator." This " refrigerator," however, is just the place for fur-bearing animals, and in a few years the fur companies had paid for the right to collect furs much more than Alaska had cost. The recent discovery of gold in the Klon- dike district of Alaska has greatly increased the value of this possession. Few were pleased with Johnson's management, and in 1868 General Grant was elected to succeed him. While Grant was in office, an important war question was settled in regard to the "Alabama claims," whether or not England ought to pay for the damage that the Alabama and other privateers built in that country had done to American shipping. For less cause than this, nations have fought long and bloody wars, but both coun- tries agreed that the matter should be left to five men M'ho would not favor either party. The men met at Geneva in Switzer- land. They decided that England should not have aUowed the boats to be built, and that she must pay to the United States fifteen and one half million dollars to make good the harm that they had done. The Atlantic cable had brought Europe nearer to America, but the Americans had felt for many years that eastern and western America ous:ht to be THE COXKiiDKKATE CUUISEK ALABAM\ (From Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies) lir^llV''" ^T'"^ *^^'^^^^^- ^'«l^l ^"^1 «il^er had been found east of the Kocky lyiountains. Emigrants were going westward by thou- sands. There were railroads as far as the :\rissonri, but no regu- lar way of sending letters or goods from the Missouri to the "far THE LATTER YEARS OF THE CENTURY 233 West," now that this " far West " had moved from the Mississippi to the Pacific. The days of the postrider returned, and the " pony express" was mtroduced. Each mail carrier rode seventy-five miles finding a fresh horse awaiting liim every twenty-five mUes. Then another man took the mail and galloped away. The next The. Union plan for carrying mail and passengers was by stage-coach ; but Rajiroad while in Revolutionary days this would have been thought a luxurious way to travel, it was entirely too slow for the sons and grandsons of the Revolutionary heroes. A rail- road ought to be buht across the continent, so the people said, and the Union Pacific Railroad was begun. There were mountain ranges to be climbed, vast expanses of prairie to be crossed, and rivers to be bridged, seven years to build the road, but at last the golden spike was driven that marked its completion. Every year the trains go a little faster, and to-day one can cross the continent m less time than it would have taken the New Yorker of a century earUer to go to Boston and return. The time soon came when it was natural to look back a century, for the hundredth anniversary of the days when the thirteen col- Jhe^^^^.^^ onies were becoming a nation was at hand. In 1873 a tea-party was given m Philadelphia in memory of the Boston Tea-party of 1773. Lowell wrote a poem about the fight at Concord bridge, and the men — " Who did great things, not knowing they were great. One event after another was commemorated in song or in cele- It took ■THE PONY EXPRESS' 234 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY Greenbacks become as good as gold bration; but the great celebration came in 1876, the hundredth birthday of the nation. The Declaration had been signed in Philadelphia, and there the Centennial Exposition was held. All the nations of the world were invited to come to the celebra- tion of the United States, and to bring specimens of what they could make or produce. One guest was the war-eagle, " Old Abe." The exhibition was most interesting, and it was a great help to our manufactures, for it gave us new ideas, and taught us new methods. The United States had no need to be ashamed of her own exhibit, for although she was the youngest nation repre- sented, her list of recent useful inventions was longer than that of any other country. In 1877 Rutherford B. Hayes became president. There was no important treaty while he was in office, there was no war and no discovery of gold, but a great event took place, for the treasurer of the United States announced that he was ready to exchange gold for "greenbacks." Just as in the Revolution the colonies issued paper money, so in the Civil War, when the government needed money, it issued bills, called " greenbacks," be- cause the backs were printed with green ink. THKTIiEASUUY BUILDING. WASHINGTON TllCSC blUsWCre Ollly the promise of the government to pay in gold or silver the amount named, and people knew that if the government should fall, they would never be paid. When the Union won a battle, the value of the greenbacks would rise, but if the Union lost, it would faU ; and at one time it cost nearly three dollars in greenbacks to buy one dollar in gold. The government needed so much money during the war that a clock ticking sixty times a minute would THE LATTER YEARS OF THE CENTURY 235 the war have to run for more than ninety years before it could tick off, once for every dollar, the money borrowed. After the war, the Paying for United States began straightway to pay the debt; the green- backs rose in value, and when finally the Secretary of the Trea- sury offered to give gold in exchange for greenbacks, people did not care to accept the offer, because the promise of the United States had become literally "as good as gold." In 1881 James A. Garfield was elected president. A few months later he was shot, and Chester A. Arthur, the Vice- President, became president. This murder was partly due to a mistake made fifty years be- fore by honest, faithful Andrew Jackson. The kind-hearted old warrior could not bear to re- fuse a friend who asked for a position, and to make room for these friends he turned out large numbers of those who were in office. This act grew into a custom. Every man who had tried to help elect the successful candidate thought he ought to have the re- ward of a government position. Hayes did not believe in this custom, and Garfield did not. Men who had voted for Garfield expected the usual reward, and were angry when it was not given them. It was one of these disappointed seekers after office who shot President Garfield. This crime aroused Congress, and a law was made requiring many offices to be filled only by men who had successfully passed Civil Service an exammation. Another law, which applied to many thousand subordinate positions, provided that men who were working for the government well and faithfuUy should not lose their places when the party that appointed them went out of power. These laws were a long step in the direction of justice and fairness. They were passed while President Arthur was in power, so that JAMES A. GARFIELD (Died September 19, 1881) Reform 236 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY C^.^Zl:^:::''-''' ^.t.e.e.innin.of ^at is called It was at this time that two expositions somewhat like the Centenma were held in the South, and the whole country wa! glad to see the prosperity of the southern states. The South had feared that the negroes would not work if thej were free, but now it was proved that far more cotton was raised m proportion to the number of the negroes than before the war. More tobacco and sugar were also raised and much more corn and wheat. Manufacturing was now carried on m the South. The southerners were also look- ing below the surface of the ground as they had never done before; and, behold, there were great beds of coal and of iron. Cotton seed used to be thrown away but now every state that raises cotton receives a large income from the sale of the oil that is pressed out of the seed It was in Arthur's time that a great change was made in a small thing. A law was passed that instead of asking three cents for a letter stamp, the government should charge but 9fo. 7 r.^-^"^ u""^^'"' ^' '^^ ^'^"^ ^^^^^^ ^y the United States, and that IS why we can send a letter to the Phihppines for two cents, while it costs five cents to send one to Europe After Garfield was shot and all knew that there was httle hope of his recovery, the Vice-President also became seriously ill tothepresi- ,^''' ™ ^^^^ ^^ °^^ Constitution to decide who should dency become president if both died ; but under Grover Cleveland the next President, a law was made that if both the President 'and Vice-President should die, the Secretary of State should rule, and If he died, the Secretary of the Treasury should take his place and so on through the cabmet. As the cabinet is made up of men chosen by the President, they would be hkely to carry out his Ideas and the wishes of the people who had elected him 1 SUGAK-CAXE Two-cent postage Succession THE LATTER YEARS OF THE CENTURY 237 While Cleveland was in office the Chinese were forbidden to enter the United States. Our country is so large that for many The Chinese years it did not occur to Americans to shut out any one who wished to come in, but after a while it was found that some of the European states were sending paupers across tlie ocean, be- cause it was cheaper to pay their fare than to support them at home. This was forbidden, and the government began to look a little more closely at the kinds of people who were landing on our shores. It was found that the Chinese differed from other immigrants in two respects. One was that they were willing to work for very small wages ; and the workingmen of the Pacific coast said, " There are so many Chinese, and they work so cheap, that employers are refusing to pay us the wages that we have been receiving." The other difference was that while most men from other nations would stay in the United States and become citizens, the Chinese would stay only until they had made a cer- tain amount of money and would then go home, carrying their money with them. A law was passed forbidding the Chinese to come into the land. Many persons thought that this law ought not to be made, because we had a treaty with China allowing the Chinese the same rights as other nations, but the Supreme Court decided that Congress had a right to say who should be allowed to enter the land. France had not forgotten her old friendship of a century earlier, and in token of this and of her respect for the United The statue States, she presented the country with a colossal statue of Lib- ^ erty. It stands on an island in New York harbor. It is so large that a room in the head of the figure will hold forty persons. In one hand is a torch which may be lighted by electricity. Cleveland's term of office expired in 1889, and he was suc- ceeded by Benjamin Harrison, the third man by the name of Harrison who has been famous in our country's history. One 238 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY TheMcKin- signed the Declaration of Independence; his son, nicknamed ley tanfr um- „ , , , . lippecanoe," was elected president in 1841; and in 1889 the grandson of "Tippecanoe" became president. In 1841 there was much discussion about the tariff. One party said, "The duty on imported goods ought to be just high enough to pay the expenses of the government, and then prices will be low." The other said, "If imported goods are too cheap, our manu- facturers will either go out of business or else they will pay our workmen no higher wages than the workmen in Europe receive." When Benjamin Harrison became presi- dent, people were discussing this same question. William McKinley, of Ohio, proposed in Congress a bill whose aim was to impose a high duty upon imported goods that could be manufactured in this country. This bill became a law. The right was also given to the President to change the duty on certain articles, if the country sending those articles should impose unfair duties upon our products. This principle was called reciprocity, and by this means w^e could be sure of fair treatment, for we had become so large and so rich a nation that other nations were eager to win the privilege of selling their goods in this country. Millions of people from Europe had come to make their homes in America. Instead of thirteen little colonies clinging to the Atlantic coast, our nation spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and great cities had sprung into life where half a century earlier there had been only a wilderness. In the movement of population to the westward there had sometimes been trouble with the Indians. They were here first, but most people have come to feel that roaming over a land does not give a claim to it, and that civilized STATUE OF LIBERTY '.Designed by Rarlholdi and pre- sented by France to the United States. It was completed in 1886) Indian troubles THE LATTER YEARS OF THE CENTURY 239 nations have a right to take possession of wild land. The Indians were gathered into tracts called reservations, in places where it was thought no white men would wish to live; and then as these tracts became valuable, the Indians were moved, not once, but many times. It is no wonder that they tried to resist and that there were bloody massacres. In the year that Beniamin Harrison became president, the In- dians were moved from Oklahoma, and one April day there was The openmg a strange scene acted on the border of the new territory. Thou- sands of men had gathered together from all parts of the country. Just at noon a bugle sounded; men ran, horses galloped, wagons swayed wildly to and fro. Everybody was frantically struggling to get possession of a bit of land, for the gov- ernment had agreed that whoever was first on a lot might have it for his own on pay- ment of a small sum, much less than the land was worth. This was so unfair a way to grant property that when the time came to open another terri- akapahoe camp, indian territory tory to settlers, the plan was tried of allowing them to draw lots for the pieces of land. After Harrison's term of office was over, Cleveland was again elected. In his first term he had done all that he could to help CnjU^Service on Civil Service Reform, and during this second term he suc- ceeded in putting many more offices under the merit system. Before Cleveland's second election there was much discussion 240 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The Colum- bian Exposi- tion about the best way to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the landing of Columbus. In 1876 the Centennial had cele- brated the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and it was now decided to hold an exposition in Chicago. The buildings of the exposition were exceedingly beau- tiful. So many of them were white that they were known as tlie " White City." In Chicago there were more than a million inhabi- tants, but many a man went to the Columbian Expo- sition, as it was called, who could remember aaIu'u the city consisted of a fort and a few little huts. The celebration should have been held just four liuiidred years after the coming of Columbus, but the plan was not made early enough, and the doors could not be opened until 1893. SUiALAIARY. An amondinoiit to tlie Constitution abolished slavery, and the negroes were enfranchised. After some delay, representative government was com- pletely restored to the South. Before 1876, the first Atlantic cable was laid; Alaska was purchased; England paid for tlie damage done by the Alabama, the dispute being settled by arbitration; and the Union Pacific Railroad was built. Between the Centennial and the Columbian Exposition, our " green-backs " THE PERISTYLE AND FRENCH'S STATUE OF LIBERTY AT THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION THE UNITED STATES AS A WORLD POWER 241 became as good as gold; Civil Service Reform was carried out ; Chinese laborers were excluded; a tariff for protection as well as revenue was imposed; and much land in the West was thrown open to settlers. SUGGESTIONS FOll WRITTEN WORK. One of the unsuccessful men describes the opening of Oklahoma. Why should the landing of Columbus be celebrated? XXIII. THE UNITED STATES AS A WORLD POWER The next president was William McKinley, tlie Ohio congress- man whose plans for the tariff had been adopted seven years before. A^hopef ui Forty-five states had been admitted to the Union, busmess was flourishing, the crops were large, and thronghont the country there seemed to be good reason to expect a peaceful, prosperous tune. One hundred miles off our coast, however, there was trouble, and it was soon plain that this trouble would affect the United States. Cuba belonged to Spain, and the island had been ruled so harshly that the Cubans had tried many times to free themselves from Spanish control. Soon after McKinley became president, they tried again and fought more desperately than ever. Spain could not suppress the revolt, and her commanders treated the Cubans so savao-ely that the United States beheved it was time to mtertere. Another reason for interference was that the Cubans and their friends were trying to fit out vessels in the United States to carry arms and supplies to the island. The only way to prevent this was for our government to keep ships sailing up and down our long coast, and the expense of such patrolling was very great A third reason was that many Americans owned prop- erty on the island, and this war was breaking up their busmess 242 OUR COUNTRY'S STORY The Span- ish fleet in the East destroyed CopjTi^hl, 1893, by J. C. ncmmcnt THE MAINE ENTEKING HAVANA HARBOR (Jlorro Castle appears on the right) and causing them much loss. To protect them if need should come, the United States battleship Maine was anchored in the harbor of Havana. It was blo^vn up. There was suspi- cion that Span- iards had caused the disaster. Spain had shown herself unfit to rule over Cuba, and war was declared. Spain was sup- posed to have a formidable navy, but if this could be destroyed, she would be powerless. One of her fleets was in the Pacific, in the harbor of Manila, the chief city of her Philippine colonies. Commo- dore Dewey was off the coast of China in command of an American fleet of six warships. The order came to him, "Capture [Spanish] vessels or destroy." Mines that would explode at a touch were scattered about Manila harbor, but Dewey steamed in one night, and destroyed ten Spanish warships and one transport without losing a man. The power of Spain in the Paciflc vanished in a day, Spain then sent a fleet across the the Philippine islands Atlantic. The United States vessels kept close watch, and it was icS map. Bergen (ber'gen), N.J., location, 01 7nap ; founded, 95. Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, 51. Berkeley (berk'li). Lord, obt.ains part of New Jersey, !t7; sells it to Quakers, 98. Blockade runners, 212 ; picture of one, 2i;5. Blockhouse in Maine, picture, T-^. Bon Homme Richard {French bon-om-re- shar'), battle with the Serapis, 163 ; pic- ture of, 164. Books, in America before the Revolution, l.SO ; the first great American writers of, 194. Boston, Mass., founded by the Winthrop colony, 63; first town house in, picture, 65 ; massacre in, 137 ; the Tea-party, i:i8 ; punished by the Port Bill, 1.39 ; siege of, 142- 14y. Boston and Worcester Railroad train of 18.'i5, picture, 191. Boston Massacre, 1.'57 ; Paul Revere's pic- ture of, 137. Boston Port Bill, 139. Boston Tea-party, i;i8. Bowery, The, why so named, 92. Boy Scouts, 248. Braddock (brad'ok). General, scorns ad- vice, 124; his line of march, 124 map; his army routed, 124 ; killed, 125. Bradford, William, in the Pilgrim explor- ing party, 55; his armchair, picture, 57 ; defies Caiuinieus, 58 ; picture, 59 ; stops a Christmas celebration, 59, (K). Brooklyn ( hrcVik 'lln ) Heights, Howe drives Washington from, 151. Brown. John, in Kansas, 205 ; his raid. 206. Bryant, William Cullen, 194; his home at Roslyii, picture, 194. Buchanan (bu-kan'an), James, president, 20;!, 205. Bull Run, battle of, 210-212. Bunker Hill, fortified by the Americans, 144; battle of, 145; view of the battle, 145'; the monument erected, 187 ; picture of the monument on, 187. Burgesses (bur'jes-ez), House of, in Vir- ginia, established, 50 ; objects to Stamp Act, 135; to Boston Port Bill, i;?9. Burgoyne(bur-goin'), General, his invasion of New York, 158 ; the region of his in- vasion, map, 1.58 ; surrender, 1,59. Burke, Edmund, objects to the Stamp Act, 135. Burning of Ch.irlestown and the Battle of Bunker Hill, picture, 145. Cabot (kab'ot), .John, his voyage to Amer- ica, 13, 14; describing his voyage, picture, 14. California (k.ul-i-for'ni-a'), discovery of gold in, 203; trouble over its admission as a state, 204. Canal showing horses, tow-boats, and locks, picture, 190. INDEX 111 Cannon captured in the Revolution, pic- ture, 147 ; captured from the Barbary States, picture, 175. Canoe (ka-nob'), making a, 3(5. Canonicus (ka-non i-kus), hostile to Ply- mouth, 58 ; receives Roger Williams, 75 ; prevented by Williams from joining the Pequots, 80. Cape Breton (bret'on). Island, 121. Capture of Hannah Duston, picture, 120. Carolinas (kar-o-li'naz). See North and South Carolina. Carolinas and Georgia, The, map, 109. Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, 140 ; pic- ture, 139. Carpet-baggers, 230. Carroll, Charles, of CarroUton, signs the Declaration of Independence, 149. Carteret (kar'te-ret). Sir George, obtains New Jersey, 97. Carteret, Philip, cousin of Sir George, his reception in New Jersey, 98. Cartier (kar-tya), Jacques, sails to the St. Lawrence, 20 ; claims the territory for France, 21. Carver (kar'ver), John, in the Pilgrims' exploring party, 55. Catholics, persecution of, in England, 104, 105 ; Maryland founded for, 105. Centennial Exposition, 234. Chaise (shaz), an old-fashioned, picture, 189. Chaleurs, Bale des (badasha-ler'), discov- ered, 20. Chambersburg (cham'berz-burg), location, 216 map ; burned, 223. Champlain (sham-plan'), his early years, 114 ; explores the St. Lawrence, 114 ; joins the Indians opposed to the Iro- quois, 115. Charles I. , grants a charter to Puritans to form the Massachusetts Bay Company, 61 ; portrait of, 61 ; his despotism, 62 ; grants Maryland to Lord Baltimore, 105. Charles II., provoked over the sale of Maine to Massachusetts, 73 ; annuls the Massachusetts charter, 74 ; Penn's con- duct to, 100 ; grants Pennsylvania to Penn, 101 ; portrait of, 101 ; grants Car- olina to a company, 109. Charleston (charlz'ton), located, 109 map; 165 map ; first settlement in South Caro- lina, 110 ; entrance of the harbor, pic- ture, 110 ; British defeated at, 150. Charter Oak episode, 82. Chicago as it was in 1832, picture, 186. Chickamauga (chik-a-ma'ga), battle of, 221 ; location, 224 map. Child labor laws, 247. Chinese, exclusion of, 237 ; students, 247. Civil Service Reform, 235, 239. Clark, George Rogers, drives the British out of the Northwest, 162. Clark, William, sent to explore the North- Avest, 176. Clark's Island, landing of Pilgrims on, 55. Clay, Henry, his birthplace, picture, 186 ; urges the Missouri Compromise, 187 ; and the Compromise of 1850, 204. Cleveland, Grover, president, 236, 237. Clinton, Governor, of New York, inter- ested in the Erie Canal, 190. Codfish, picture of a, 33. Columbian Exposition, the, 240 ; peri- style at, picture, 240. Columbus (ko-lum'bus), Christopher, born at Genoa, 2 ; plans to cross the Atlantic, 3 ; his armor, picture, 3 ; refused assist- ance and deceived by Portugal, 4 ; goes to Spain, 4 ; at La Rabida, 5 ; his de- mands, 5, 6 ; aided by Queen Isabella, 6 ; his voyage, 7, 8 ; his ship, picture, 8 ; lands on San Salvador, 9 ; picture of the landing, 10; his reception in Spain, 10, 11 ; makes an egg stand on end, 11 ; his later voyages, 11 ; his death and charac- ter, 12 ; statue of, 12. Companion of Governor Nieolls, picture, 97. Compass, varies on Columbus's voyage, 8 ; picture of an early, 8. Compromise of 1850, 204. Concord, fight at, 142. Confederacy, the, organized, 208 ; map of, IV INDEX 211 ; shut in by the capture of the Mis- sissippi, 221 ; cut in two by Sherman, 225 ; conies to an end, 22(i, 227. Confederate, a, picture, 210. Confederate battle flag-, picture, 208. Confederate capitol, Richmond, picture, 22,'i. Congress of the United States, how made up, 170; power of, 171. Connecticut (kon-6t-I'kikt), beginnings of, 77, 78 ; Hooker's party goes to, 79 ; Davenport's party founds New Haven, 81 ; education in, 82 ; preservation of the charter, 82. Connecticut Valley settlements, map, 82. Conservation of natural resources, 248. Constantinople (kon-st,an-ti-no'pl), eastern trade through, 2 ; captured by Turks, .S. Constitution of the United States, prepa- ration and adoption of, 170, 171 ; Thir- teenth Amendment to, 229. Constitution, the, picture of, 177 ; her fight with the Guerri^re, 178. Continental (kon-ti-nen'tal) Congress, the meeting of the first, 140 ; of the second, members of it, 143 ; its lack of money, ir>C). Continental money, picture of, 156 ; its depreciation in value, 1(54. Contrabands, what they were, 217. Cooper (koop'er), J. F'eniniore, 194. Corduroy roads, picture, 224. Cornwallis (korn-wal'is), Lord, drives Washington across New Jersey, 152 ; beaten at Trenton, 1.52 ; and Princeton, 154 ; his operations in South Carolina, 1G4 ; goes to Yorktown, l(i7 ; surrender of, 167 ; picture of the surrender, 167. Corporations investigated, 246, 247. Cotton, r.aised in Georgia, 172; picture of, 172 ; cotton field, picture of, 173 ; ex- port of, by blockade rimners, 212. Cotton-gin, invented by Whitney, 172 ; picture of, 1 73 ; effect of, on slavery and duties, 173. Coureurs de hois (French, kob-rer' de bwii), who they were, 116; picture of one, IIC). Cuba (kuM)a), trouble over the revolution in, 241 ; location, 243 map, 247 map ; given her freedom, 244; controlled, 24(i. Cuban iiomestead, a, picture, 241. ("up given by Winthrop, picture, 64. Currency bill, 248. Dare, Virginia, 29. Davenport fdaven-port). Rev. John, leads his church to New Haven. 81. Davis, Jefferson, in the Mexican War, 202 ; chosen president of the Confeder- acy, 208. De Soto (dii so'to), discovers the Missis- sippi, 21-23 ; picture, 22. Debtors, condition of, in Englatul, 111. Declaration of Independence, signed, 148 ; incidents of its signing, 149. Deerfield (der'felds Mass., location, 80 map, 119 map ; attack on, 120. Delaware (del'a-war), Swedes in, 93, 94 ; conquered by the Dutch, 94, 95. Delaware River, location, 151 map ; Washington's retreat across the, 1.52 ; Washington crossing the, picture, 152. Dewey (dii'i). Commodore, captures the Spanish fleet at Manilla, 242. Dinwiddie (din-wid i). Governor, of Vir- ginia, sends Washington to Fort Du- quesne, 123. Doughoregan Manor, Maryland, i)icture, 107. Dover (do'ver), N.H., location, 62 7nap, 119 map; settled, 72. Dred Scott Decision, 205. Duston (dus'ton), Mrs. Hannah, capture and escape of, 120. Dutch, make settlements on the Con- necticut, 77, 78 ; Hudson River explored for, 89 ; settle in New Netherlands, 9(V- 93 ; conquer New Sweden, 94 ; over- thrown by the English, 9o. Dutch flag, picture, 91. Dutch West India Company, activities along the Hudson River, 90 ; introduce the patroon system, 91. Early (grl'i), General, 222, 223. INDEX Early settler's house, picture, 84. Eliot, John, preaches to the Indians, 66, 67. Elizabeth, Queen, story of, and Raleigh, 26 ; portrait of, 27 ; her reasons for not aiding Raleigh's expedition, 28 ; picture of her coach, 28. Elm in Cambridge, under which Washing- ton took command of the army, picture, 146. Emancipation (e-man-si-pa'shun) Procla- mation, signed, 218. Embargo (em-bar 'go) Act, passed, 176. Emigrants going West across the prairies, picture, 185. England, Cabot sails from, 14; her claims in North America, 24 ; advantages to her of colonies in America, 27, 28 ; defeats the Spanish Armada, 30 ; religious per- secution in, 52 ; condition of poor debtors in. 111; contest with France in America, 119 ; her supremacy in America settled, 128 ; passes laws oppressive to America, 133 ; tries to keep a standing army in America, 133, 134 ; writs of assistance, 134 ; attitude toward the colonies, 135 ; passes the Stamp Act, 135 ; repeals it, 13(3 ; imposes the tea tax, 137 ; revolu- tion against, 141-168 ; causes of the war of 1812 with, 176 ; attitude of, toward the Confederacy, 212 ; influence of the Trent affair on, 213. English soldier, of 1603, picture, 44 ; of Wolfe's time, picture, 127. Ericsson (er'ik-son), John, inventor of the monitor, 215. Erie Canal, building of, 190. Fanecil (fan'el) Hall, picture of, 133. Farragut (far'a-gut), David, sent to take New Orleans, 213, 214 ; an August morn- ing with, picture, 214. Federal Reserve Board, 249. Ferdinand (fer'di-nand), King, of Spain considers Columbus's plans, 4 ; builds a tomb to him, 12. Field, Cyrus (si'rus) W., puts through the Atlantic Cable, 231. Fillmore (ffi'mor), Millard (mil'lard). Pre- sident, 203. First meeting-house in Salem, picture, 74. First town house in Boston, picttu'e, 65. Fishhooks of bone, 38. Flax wheel, picture, 87. Florida, explored by Ponce de Leon, 16 ; claimed by Spain, 24 ; bought by the United States, 184. Foot-stove, picture of, 85. Fort Christiana, built, 94; location, 102 map. Fort Duquesne (doo-kan'), built, 123 ; loca- tion, 124 map; Braddock's defeat at, 124, 125. Fort McHenry, Baltimore, picture, 181. Fort Moultrie, location, 165 ?iiap. FortStanwix (stau'wix), location, 158 map; siege of, 159. Fort Sumter (sum'ter) besieged, 208 ; sur- rendered, 209 ; in 1861, picture, 210; loca- tion, 211 7nap; retaken, 227. Fort Tieonderoga. See Ticonderoga. Fortress of Quebec, the, as it is to-day, picture, 126. "Forty-niners," 203. "Fountain of Youth," 16. France, sends out Jacques Cartier, 20; her claims in North America, 24; ex- plorations, 114 ; contest with England in America begun, 119 ; pushes her set- tlements into the Ohio valley, 123 ; her supremacy in North America ended, 127, 130 ; attempts to win her aid for the colonies, 157; sends a fleet to America, 161 ; trouble with the United States, 173 ; sells Louisiana, 175 ; presents the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty to the United States, 237. Franklin (frank'lin), Benjamin, his advice to Braddock, 124 ; his Poor Richard's Almanac, 131 ; his device to represent union or death, picture, 13(5 ; his re- mark about Concord fight, 142 ; in the second Continental Congress, 143 ; signa the Declaration of Independence, 149 ; portrait of, 150 ; sent to France, 157 ; his remark about Howe in Philadelphia, VI INDEX 101 ; liis contribution to the Columbian Exposition, '_'4(). Franklin's ))rintint;-press, pictui'e, 132. Freight wagon, picture, 18!). French frigate, a, picture, 10'2. French frontier in tiie North, map, 119, Fugitive-slave law, 204. Fulton (ful'ton), Robert, invents the steamboat, 183 ; picture of his boat, 183. Fur trade, in Maine, 71 ; between Maine and Massachusetts, 72 ; in New Nethei-- lands, 'JO, 91 ; forbidden to patroons, 91, 92. Gage (giij'), General, sends British troops from Boston to Concord, 141 ; besieged in Boston, 142 ; decides to storm Bunker Hill, 144. Garfield, James A., elected president, 235 ; assassinated, 23.") ; portrait, 235. Garrison (gar-ii-son), WUliam Lloyd (loid), publishes the "Liberator," 195. Geneva ijen-e'va), 232. Genoa (jen'o-a), birthplace of Columbus. 2 ; interested in Asiatic trade, 2 ; re- fuses to assist Columbus, 3. Gentleman of UilO, a, picture of, 40. Georgia (jor'ji-a), why chosen for settle- ment, 112; first settlement in, 112; in- dustries of, 113; given up to the king, 113 ; captured by the British, 163. Gettysburg (get'iz-burg), location, 216 map ; battle of, 210 ; dinlication of field, and Lincoln's speech at. 219. Gomez (Sp(i7iis/u go'meth). General, 241. Goodyear, Charles, vulcanizes rubber, 199. Gorges, Sir Ferdinand© (fer-di-n?in'do gor'jez), becomes interested in Maine, 71 ; associates with Mason, 72 ; takes Maine in the division of land, 73. " Grand Model," Locke's code of law for Carolina, 110. Grant, General U. S., in the Mexican War, 202 ; takes Vicksbtirg, 220 ; put at the head of the army. 222 ; portrait of, 222 ; presses on toward Richmond, 222 ; forces Lee to surrender, 22() ; becomes presi- dent, 232. "Greenbacks," 234. Greene, General, opposes CornwallLs in the t^outh, 166, 167. Greenland, Norse and Swedish voyages to, 2. Guam (gwam), ceded to the United States, 244 ; location, 248 map. Guerri^re {French, gar-ri-arr'), sunk by the Constitution, 177, 178. Gunboat, Union river, picture, 220. " Hail, Columbia," written, 174. Hakluyt (hak'liti, Richard, his recom- mendations about America, 27, 2H ; ad- vice to emigrants to America in 16(i7, 43. Half-Moon, Hudson's vessel, 89 ; picture of, leaving Amsterdam, 89. Hamilton (ham'il-ton), Alexander, his sug- gestions as secretary of the treasury, 171 ; portrait of, 172. Hancock, John, atternpt to capture at Lexington, 141 ; member of the second Continental Congress, 143; recommends the burning of Boston, 147; his house in Boston, picture, 148 ; signs the Dec- laration of Independence, 149. Harper's Ferry, John Brown captured at, 206; picture, 206 ; location, 21t') ntiip. Harrison (har'i-son). Benjamin, elected president, 237, 238. Harrison, William Henry, his presidential campaign, 197 ; his death, 198. ''Harrison Campaign Almanac," picture from the, 198. Hartford (hiirt'ford). Conn., English drive the Dutch from, 78 ; Thomas Hooker founds the city, 79 ; first meeting-house in, picture, 79 ; location, 80 map. Harvard (hiir'vard), John, gives his library to the college, 66 ; statue of, 66. Harvard College founded, 66. Haverhill (ha've-rTl), Mass., location, 119 map : Indian attack on, 120. Hay. John, 247. Hayes, Rutherford (ruth'er-ford) B., elected president, 234. Henry, Patrick, speaks on Stamp Act, 135; INDEX Vll on Boston Port Bill, 139 ; in Congp^ess, 140, 143 ; governor of Virginia, l(i2. Hessians (hesh'anz), hired to fight in America, 14(3 ; beaten at Trenton, 152. Holland, life of the Pilg^rims in, 53 ; flag of, picture, 91. Hooker (hook'er). Rev. Thomas, leads a party to Hartford, Conn., 79. House where Yale College was founded, 82. Howe, Elias, invents practical sewing ma- chine, 199. Howe, General, takes General Gage's place, 147 ; evacuates Boston, 148 ; drives Washington from New York, 151. Hudson (hud'son), Henry, early life, 88 ; discovers the Hudson River, 89 ; lost, 89. Hudson River, discovered, 89 ; Dutch col- onists on, 90, 91 ; settlements about, map, 91 ; British plan to get control of, 151, 158. Huguenots (hu'ge-nots), emigration of, to the Carolinas, 110. Hull, Captain, defeats the Guerri^re, 177, 178. Independence Hall, picture of, 149 ; President's chair in, picture, 170. India, theories of reaching, by crossing the Atlantic, 1. Indian baby's cradle, picture, 37. Indian corn, picture, 47. Indian fur-traders, picture, 78. Indians (in-di-ans), why so named, 10, 34 ; first picture of a South American, 11 ; picture of a Mexican, 20 ; their charac- teristics, 34 ; their dwellings, 35 ; squaws and braves, 35, 36 ; the papoose, 36, 37 ; children's education, 37 ; weapons, 38 ; games of the boys, 38 ; method of fight- ing, 39 ; wampum, 39, 40 ; religion, 40 ; conduct toward whites, 41 ; attitude to- ward colonists at Jamestown, 4,5, 47 ; at Plymouth, 57 ; John Eliot's service to, 6(), 67 ; under King Philip attack the English, 68 ; Pequot War, 80, 81 ; Penn's treatment of, 102, 103 ; Champlain's conduct toward, 115 ; the Jesuit feeling for, 116 ; general attitude of the French to, 116 ; attack Schenectady, 119 ; Haverhill and Deerfield, 120 ; help the Tories against the Americans, 162 ; stirred up by the English in the war of 1812, 179 ; Seminole War, 183 ; troubles with, in the West, 238. Internal improvements, payment for, 192. Inventions, 199. Iroquois (Tr'o-kwoi), Pennsylvania Indians tributary to, 103 ; rendered hostile to the French by Champlain's attack, 115. Irving, Washington, 194. Isabella (iz-a-bBl'la), queen of Spain, 4 ; helps Columbus, 5, 6 ; portrait of, 7 ; received Columbus on his return, 11. Jackson, Andrew, wins the battle of New Orleans, 181 ; sent against the Semi- noles, 184 ; events of his presidency, 192-194 ; portrait of, 192. Jackson, "Stonewall," at Bull Run, 212. James I., king of England, courts the favor of Spain, 31 ; grants Virginia to the London and Plymouth Companies, 42 ; persecutes the Puritans and Separa- tists, 52, 53. Jamestown (jamz'town), founded, 44 ; hardships at, 44 ; John Smith becomes governor, 46 ; colonists obliged to work, 47 ; " starving time " in, 48 ; picture of, in 1622, 49 ; location, 102 map. Jefferson, Thomas, author of the Declara- tion of Independence, 149 ; portrait of, 150 ; events of his term as president, 174-176; his death, 188. Jesuit (jez'ii-it) explorer, a, picture, 115. Jesuits, the, 116, 117. Johnson, Andrew, becomes president, 229. Johnston, General Samuel Joseph E., 223, 224. Joliet {French, zho-lya'), explores the Mis- sissippi with Marquette, 117. Jones, John Paul, captures the Serapis, 163. Kansas (kan'zas), trouble over slavery in, 205. VUl INDEX Keg brought through the Erie Canal, 191. Key (ke), Francis Scott, author of "The .Star-Spang-led Banner," 181. King PliiHp. See Philip. La Plata (la pla'ta) River, visited by Ma- gellan, 17. La Rabida (la ra'be-dii), convent of, Columbus received at, o ; picture of, 0. La Salle (la sal), explores the Mississippi to its mouth, 117; attempts to plant a colony at its mouth, US ; murdered, 118. Ladrones (la-dronz), location, 18 map; discovered by Magellan, lil; one taken from Spain by the United States, 244. Lafayette (la-fa-yef), portrait of, 1.57 ; comes to America, l.")7 ; at Yorktown, 167 ; visits America, 187. Lee, General Henry, pronounces Washing- ton's funeral oration, 174. Lee, Richard Henry, at first Continental Congress, 140 ; urges independence, 148. Lee, General Robert E., in the Mexican War, 202 ; captures John Brown, 2(H) ; portrait of, 21f) ; in command of the Confederate army,' 21() ; withdraws from Antietam, 217 ; defeated at Gettysburg, 219 ; surrenders at Appomattox, 226. Lewis (lu'is), Meriwether (me'ri-weth-er), picture of, 17.5 ; explores the North- west, 176. Lexington, battle of, 142. Liberty, statue of, presented to the United States by France, I'M ; picture of, 2.'W. Libert}' Bell, picture of, 149. Lincoln (ITiik'on), Aljraham, elected presi- dent, 206 ; ])ortrait of, 209 ; calls for volunteers, 210 ; signs the Emancipation Proclamation, 218 ; his Gettysburg speech, 219; assassinated, 227. Locke, John, formulates the "Grand Model " for Carolina, 110. London Oun'don) Company, grant to, 42 ; map of grant, 4.S ; founds Jamestown, 4."?, 44 ; foolish demands upon the colony, 47 ; sends a shipload of women to Vir- ginia, 4!t ; agrees to permit a legislative assembly in Virginia, 50. "Lone Star State," 198, Long Island, battle of, 151. Long Wharf, the Tea-party at, 138 ; tab- let on, picture, 140. Lookout Mountain, battle of, 221. Louisburg (loo'is-burg), location, 119 map; attacked by New England troops, 121 ; view of, from the northeast, 121 ; cap- tured, 122 ; cross captured at, picture, 122. Louisiana (lob-e-zi-a'ni) Territory, pur- chased from France, 175 ; explored, 176. McClellan (mak-klSl'lan), General, trains the Union army, 212; advances on Richmond and is repulsed, 216. McDowell (mak-dow'eli, Irvin, Union commander at Bull Run, 211. McKinley (ma-kin'lii, William, proposes a protective tariff, 2.'58 ; made president, 241 ; portrait of, 244 ; reelected and assassinated, 245. Madison (inad'i-son), Dolly, her escape from Washington, ISO ; portrait, 180. Madison, James, events during his term as president, 176. Magellan (ma-jel'an), portrait of, 17 ; sails fr»m Spain, 17; discovers Magellan's Straits, 18 ; killed in the Philii)pines, 19. Magellan's Straits, discovered, 18 ; natives of, 19. Mail system, before the Revolution, V^Q. Maine, The, entering Havana Harbor, picture, 242. Maine, beginnings in, 70, 71 ; why so named, 72 ; settlements in, 72 ; separated from New Hampshire and bought by Massachusetts, 73 ; admitted as a state, 187. Manhattan (mlin-h3,t'tiln) Island, first set- tlement on, 90. Manila (ma-nil'a), battle of, 242 ; location, 242 map ; 247 majt. Maps : the one Columbus used, 4 ; showing real position of the continents, 5; of Columbus's route, 9 ; showing the old idea of a southern continent, 15 ; the INDEX IX ?oute of Magellan's ships, 18 ; grants to the London and Plymouth companies, 43 ; New England coast settlements, 62 ; Connecticut valley settlements, 80; set- tlements about the Hudson River, 91 ; the middle colonies, 102 ; the Carolinas and Georgia, 109 ; the French frontier in the North, 119 ; region about Fort Duquesne, 124 ; central scene of the Rev- olutionary War, 151 ; region of Bur- g03me's invasion, 158 ; seat of war in the South, 1(35 ; disputed territory of the Mexican War, 202 ; the Southern Con- federacy, 211; scene of war near Wash- ington and Richmond, 216; Sherman's route to the sea, 224 ; the Philippine Islands, 242 ; the West Indies, 243 ; the United States and its possessions, 248. Marion (mar i-on), Francis, his guerrilla warfare in South Carolina, 165. Marquette {French, mar-ket), explores the Mississippi, 116, 117; statue, 117. Maryland (nier i-land), granted to Lord Baltimore, 105 ; why named, 105 ; first emigrants to, 106 ; first settlement in, 106 ; religious freedom in, 107 ; planta- tion life in, 107 ; Puritan rebellion in, 108. Mason, George, 139. Mason (mason), Captain John, helps Gorges in Maine, 72 ; takes New Hamp- shire in the division of land, 73. Massachusetts (mas-sa-chii'sets), founded, 61, 62 ; Roger Williams expelled from, 65 ; trouble with Quakers in, 67 ; at- tacked by King Philip, 68 ; witchcraft delusion, 69; buys Maine, 73; charter of, annulled, 73, 74 ; made a royal prov- ince, 74 ; people from, go to Connecticut, 78, 79. Massachusetts Bay Company, chartered, 61 ; holds its meetings in New England, 62 ; charter of, annulled, 73, 74. Massasoit (mas'a-soit), makes a treaty with the Pilgrims, 57 ; receives Roger Wil- liams, 75. Matchlock and rest, picture, 81. Mayflower, Pilgrims come to America in, 54 ; picture of, 55. Merrimae (mer'-i-mak), the, 214 ; picture of, 215 ; battle with the Monitor, 215. Mexican boy, picture, 201. Mexico (mex'i-ko), has trouble with Texas, 198 ; war with, 201, 202 ; map of the dis- puted territory, 202 ; territory ceded by, 202 ; intervention in, 249, 250. Middle colonies, map of, 102. Minute man, the picture, 142. Mississippi (mis-sis-sip'pi) River, discov- ered, 22 ; explored by Marquette and Joliet, 117 ; by La Salle, 117, 118; set- tlement at the mouth of, in 1719, pic- ture, 118 ; Union plan to get control of, 213 ; plan succeeds, 221. " Missouri (mis-ob'nj Compromise, The," 187. Monitor, the, 215; picture of , 215 ; fight with the Merrimae, 215. Monmouth (mon'muth), location, 151 map; battle of, 161. Monongahela (mo-non-ga-he'la), 152. Monroe (mun-ro'), James, events during his presidency, 183-187. "Monroe Doctrine, The," 184,250. Montcalm (mont-kam' ), General, in com- mand of Quebec, 126; defeated by Wolfe and killed, 127. Montgomery (mont-gum'er-i). General, captures Montreal but is slain at Que- bec, 147. Montreal (mon-trT-al'), visited by Cartier, 21 ; location, 119 map, 158 map ; cap- tured by Montgomery, 147. Monument at Champoeg, Oregon, picture, 200. Morris (mor'is), Robert, the financial back- er of the Revolution, 156. Morristown (mor'ris-town), location, 151 viap ; winter at, 154 ; second winter at, 166. Morro (mor'ro) Castle, Havana, picture, 242 ; Santiago, picture, 244. Morse, Samuel F. B., invents the tele- graph, 199. Mortar for throwing shells, picture, 220. Moultrie (mob'tri or mobl'tri). Colonel, de- feats the British at Charleston, 150. INDEX Napoleon (ni-po'18-6n), sells Louisiana to the United States, 175. Narra^aiisetts (iiar-a-gan'sets), threaten Plymouth, HS. Nebraska (nS-bras'ka), trouble over slav- ery in, Sit"). Neutrals, French, 125, 126. New Anisturdani (am'ster-dam), founded, 90; first view of, picture, '.10; location, 91 map ; how {jfoverned, !t2 ; view of, picture, O;) ; becomes New York, 97. New England, first colony in, 52 ; coast of, explored by John Smith, 53 ; coast set- tlements of, map, 02 ; confederacy of, 70 ; early homes in, 83, 84 ; furniture, 85 ; home manufactures, 80, 87. New England kitchen, picture, 85. "New England Primer," picture from, 130; its contents, 131. New England stockade, picture, 81. New Hampshire, first settlement in, 72 ; why named, 73. ; cut from Maine and under the protection of Massachusetts, 73 ; made a royal province, 74. New Haven (ha'vn). Conn., location, 80 map ; founded by John Davenport, 81. New Jersey, first settlement in, 95 ; Nic- olls sends a colony to, 97 ; given to Berkeley and Carteret, 97 ; turned over to' the Quakers, 98 ; Washington's re- treat across, 152. New Netherlands (neth'er-landz), why so named, 90 ; English and Dutch claims to, 9.3 ; becomes New York, 97. New Orleans (or'le-anz), attempt to buy, results of the Louisiana Purchase, 175 ; battle of, 181; location, 211 map; cap- tured by Farragut, 214. New Sweden, founded, 9.3 ; captured by the Dutch, 94, 95. Newspapers before the Revolution, 104, 130. New York city. New Amsterdam be- comes, 97 ; Washington takes his army thither, 148. Nicolls ( nik olz), Richard, sent to take New Netherlands for Englaiul, !H5 ; be- comes governor of New York, 97. Nifla (nen'ya), one of Columbus's ships, 7. North America, first seen by John Cabot, 14 ; early views about, 19 ; French, Eng- lish, and Spani.sh claims in, 24; the Pa- cific coast exploited, 32 ; Indian inhal)- itants of, .'54, 35. North Carolina (kar-o-li'na), grant of, 109; first settled at Albemarle, 109; Huguenot emigration to, 110; laws of, 110 ; industries of. 111 ; separated from South Carolina, 111. North Pole, discovery of, 247. Northwest Pa.ssage, search for, 19, 32. Northwestern Territory, all the states in- terested in, 170. Norwegian (nor-we'jan) ship, picture of, 2. Nueces (nw.a'ses), disputed boundary, 201 ; location, 202 maj). Nullification, suppressed by Jackson, 193. OoLETHORPE (ogl'thorp). General James, portrait of. 111 ; plans to relieve the debtors and priso)iers in England, 112; chooses Georgia for his settlement, 112 ; his expectation for the colony, 113. Ohio (o-h!'o), valley of, claimed by France, 123. Oklahoma (o-kla-ho'ma), opened to settle- ment, 239 ; admitted as a state, 247. "Old Abe," 220; picture, 221. "Old Glory," fii-st appearance of, 159. " Old Ironsides," picture, 177. Old South Meeting-House, picture of, 72 ; picture of the pulpit, 138. Old State House in Philadelphia, picture, 149. Olives, prospect of raising in Georgia, 113 ; branch of, picture, 113. Oregon (or'e-gon I, interest in aroused, 200 ; boundary of, settled, 201. Osawatomie (os-a-wat'o-me), 205. Osceola (os-se-o'la), chief of the Senii- noles, picture, 184. Pacific (pa-sTf Ik) Ocean, first crossed by Magellan, 18. Palos (pii'los), location, 5 map ; Columbus starts from, G, 7. INDEX XI Panama (pan-a-ma') Canal, 247. Papoose (pap-obs'), treatment of, 3G ; pic- ture of, 37. Patroon (pa-trobn) system, introduced along the Hudson River, 91. Peary, Commander Robt. E., 247. Peggy Stewart, the brig, 139. Pemaquid (pem'a-kwid), location, 62 map ; settled, 72. Penn (pen), Admiral, disappointed in his son, 99, 100. Penn, William, early years, 99 ; portrait of, at twenty-two, 99 ; turns Quaker, 100 • conduct toward the king, 100 ; obtains Pennsylvania, 101 ; decides to pay the Indians for the land, 101, 102 ; founds Philadelphia, 102 ; makes friends of the Indians, 102, 103 ; autograph and seal, picture, 103 ; returns to England, 103 ; his house, picture, 104. Pennsylvania (pen-sil-va'ni-a) granted to Peun, 101 ; settled by Quakers, 102 ; boug'ht from the Indians, 102, 103 ; edu- cation in, 103, 104. Pequots (pe'kwotz), make war on the Eng- lish, 80; defeated, 81. Perry, Commodore O. H., builds a fleet on Lake Erie, 177 ; captures the British fleet, 178, 179 ; his flag, picture, 179 ; his message, 179. Petersburg, location, 216 map ; Grant at, 222. Philadelphia (fil-a-del'fi-a), founded, 102 ; becomes the largest city in the colonies, 104 ; French Neutrals in, 126 ; first Conti- nental Congress meets in, 139 ; British forces take, 160. Philip, king, makes war on the English, 68 ; killed, (59 ; picture of, 69. Philippine (fil i-pen) canoe, picture of, 19. Philippine Islands, discovered by Magel- lan, 19 ; map of, 242 ; sold to the United States, 244 ; location of, 247 map. Pierce (pers or purs), Franklin, president, 203. Pilgrim cradle, picture of, 56. Pilgrim dress, picture of, 52. Pilgrims, who they were, 52 ; escape to Holland, 53 ; plan to come to America, 53 ; their departure from Holland, pic- ture, 54 ; their voyage in the May- flower, 54 ; search for a home, 55 ; suf- ferings of, 56 ; relations with the In- dians, 57, 58 ; going to church, picture, 58; their religious feeling, 59, 60. Pillory, the, picture, 68. Pinekney (pink'ni), Charles, his defiance of France, 174. Pinta (Spanish, pen'ta), one of Columbus's ships, 7. Pipe, an Indian, picture of, 40. Piscataqua (pis-kata-kwa) River, divides Maine and New Hampshire, 73. Pistol, of Ponce de Ijcon's time, picture, 16 ; Dutch flintlock, picture, 94 ; flint- lock given by Lafayette to Washington, 156. Pitt, William, objects to the Stamp Act, 135. Plymouth (plim'oth), Mass., reason for the colony begun at, 52 ; named by John Smith, 55 ; landing of Pilgrims at, 56 ; first winter at, 56 ; first Thanksgiv- ing at, 58 ; town meeting begun at, 59 ; location, 62 map; people of, establish a post at Windsor, Conn., 78. Plymouth Company, grant to, 42 ; map of grant, 43 ; sells Massachusetts to the Massachusetts Bay Company, 61. Plymouth Rock, picture of, 56. Pocahontas (po-ka-hon'tas), saves John Smith, 46 ; marries John Rolfe and goes to England, 48. Polk (pok), James K., events of his presi- dency, 201-203. Ponce de Leon(Sj:ianisA,pon'thadala-on'), explores Florida, 16. "Pony Express, The," 233; picture of, 233. " Poor Richard's Almanac," 131. Population of America in the eighteenth century, 129. Port Hudson, La., location, 211 map ; cap- tured, 221. Port Royal, N.S., location, 119 map. Porto Rico (por'to re'ko), location, 243 Xll INDEX map, 247 map; ceded to the United States, 244. Portsmouth (ports'muth), N. H., settled, 7li ; location, (i'J map. Portufjal (por'tii-gal), refuses to aid Co- lumbus, 3 ; tries to prevent his voyage, 7 ; refuses to aid Magellan, 17. Postrider, a, picture, 130 ; days of, in the far West, 233. Powder house near Boston, picture, 141. Powhatan (pow-ha-tan'), releases John Smith, 4(i ; sends representatives to England with Pocahontas, 49. President of the United States, how chosen, 170; power of, 171 ; succession in case of his death, settled, 23(). Princeton (prins'ton), location, 151 viap ; battle of, 154. Printing, in the colonies, 104, 130-1.32, 136. Printz (prints). Governor, of New Sweden, 94, 95. Providence iprov i-deus), location, 62 map; founded, 75. Pure food laws, 247. Puritans (piir i-tanz), who they were, 52 ; decide to found a colony in America, 61 ; have trouble with the king in Eng- land, 02 ; found Boston, 62, (!."> ; their virtues and faults, 04 ; drive out Roger Williams, 05 ; and the Quakers, ()7, 68. Putnam (put'n.am), Israel (iz'ra-ell, hurries to Boston, 142 ; at Bunker Hill, 145. Quaker (kwa'ker) dress, picture, 07; por- trait of a, 100. Quakers, trouble with, in Massachusetts, 07; expelled, OS; buy New Jersej', 98; their advanced ideas, 100 ; Penn gets Pennsylvania for, 101 ; pay the Indians for their land, 103; views on education contrasted with those of the Puritans, 104. Quebec (kwe-hek'), Champlain's picture of, 114; named by him, 115; location, 119 map; fortress of, picture, 12(> ; at- tacked by Wolfe, 120; c.aptured by the English, 127 ; Arnold's exjiedition to, 147. Quincy (kwin'ra), Josiah, defends the sol- diers concerned in the Boston Massa- cre, 137. Railroads, introduction of, 191. Raleigh (ra'li). Sir Walter, and Queen Elizabeth, 20 ; birthplace of, 2<') ; colo- nies of, 29, 30 ; imprisoned bj- James I, 31 ; gives up his claim on Virginia, 42. Randolph, Peyton, president of the first Continental Congress, 140. Region about Fort Duquesne, map, 124. Region of Burgoyne's invasion, map, 158. Reina Mercedes (Spanish, ra-e'nii mar- thil'das), wreck of the, picture, 244. Revere, Paul, his ride, 141 . Revolutionary dance, picture, 100. Revolutionary AVar, causes, 13:i-140; first two years, 141-153 ; latter part of the war, 1.54-108. Rhode Island, beginnings of, at Provi- dence, 75; on Rhode Island, 76; obtains a charter, 70, 77. Rice, picture of. 111 ; staple product of South Carolina, 111. Richmond (rich'mond), chosen capital of the Confederac}', 210 ; McClellan's ad- vance on, 210; location, 210 ?«a/) ; Grant's advance on, 222, 223 ; Confederate cap- itol in, picture, 223 ; captured by Grant, 220. Rio Grande (Sjjanish, re'o griin'dJi), quar- rel over boundary along, 201 ; campaigns on. 202; location, 202 map. Roanoke (ro-.-v-nok) Island, first colony on, 29; second, 29, .30; colony disap- pears, 30; location, 43 jiuip. 109 mci]) ; search for colony required by the Lon- don Company, 47. Rolfe, John, marries Pocahontas, 48. Roosevelt .(ro'ze-velt), Theodore, charac- ter of, 243 ; le.ads the Rough Riders, 24.3 ; becomes president, 245. Rough Riders, the, 243 ; picture of one, 243. Saint Augustink (a'fi:us-ten), Fla., founded, 25 ; location, 109 map. INDEX Xlll Saint Lawrence (la'rens) River, explored by Cartier, 21 ; valley of, claimed by France, 24. Saint Mary's, Md., location, 102 map ; first settlement in Maryland, 106. Salem, Mass., founded, Gl ; location, 62 7nap ; first meeting-house in, picture, 74. Samoset, welcomes the English at Plym- outh, 57. San Francisco (fran-sis'ko) in 1849, pic- ture, 203. San Salvador (san sal-va-dor), where Co- lumbus landed, 9. Santa Maria (SjJanish, san'tama-re'a), one of Columbus's ships, 7 ; picture of, 8. Santiago de Cuba (Spanish, san-te-a'go dJi k<')o'ba), Spanish fleet at, 242 ; Amer- ican troops sent there, 243 ; location, 243 map ; battle of, 244. Saratoga (sar-a-to'ga), location, 158 inax> ; Burgoyne's surrender at, 159. Sassafras (sas'sa-fras), 33; picture, 32. Savannah (sa-van'a), location, 109 map, 165 map, 211 map ; founded, 112 ; in 1741, picture, 112 ; taken by Sherman, 224. Scalplock, the, 39. Scene of Civil War near Washington and Richmond, map, 216. Schenectady (ske-nek'ta-di), location, 119 map ; attacked by French and In- dians, 119, 120. Scott, General Winfield, his success in Mexico, 202 ; commands at the begin- ning of the Civil War, 210. Sea of Darkness, old idea of, 1 ; six- teenth century picture of, 1. Seat of Revolutionary War in the South, map, 165. Secession of Southern States, 206. Seminole (sem'i-nolj War, 183, 184. Separatists, who they were, 52. Serapis (se-ra'pis), battle with the Bon Homme Richard, 163 ; picture of, 164. Shenandoah (shen-an-do'a) Valley, Gen- eral Early in, 223 ; General Sheridan's devastation of, 223. Sheridan (sher'i-dan), Philip, devastates the Shenandoah Valley, 223; his ride, 223. Sherman (sher'man), General, at Vicks- burg, 220 ; his march to the sea, 224 ; marches northward through the Caro- linas, 226. Sherman's route to the sea, map, 223. Silkworm, picture of, 25. Sitka (sit'ka), Alaska, picture, 231. Slavery, introduced into America, 51 ; in the colonies, 129 ; effect of the cotton- gin on, 173 ; questions on, begin to arise, 186 ; the Missouri Compromise, 187 ; increasing antagonism to, 195, 196 ; con- sidered ill the admission of Texas, 199 ; the compromise of 1850, 204 ; the Dred Scott Decision, 205. Slaves at work, picking cotton, picture, 173 ; declared contraband of war, 217. Smith, Captain John, picture of, 44 ; early career, 45 ; saved by Pocahontas, 46 ; activity as governor of Virginia, 46, 47 ; returns to England, 48 ; sails for Gorges and is captured by the French, 71, 72. South Carolina (kar-o-li'na), first settled at Charleston, 109, 110 ; Huguenot em- igration to, 110 ; laws of, 110 ; industries of, 111 ; separated from North Carolina, 111. Spain, Columbus received in, 4 ; his re- ception in, after his voyage, 10, 11 ; sends out Magellan, 17 ; derives wealth from Mexico and South America, 20 ; her claims in North America, 24 ; her armada defeated, 30 ; war of the United States with, 242-244. Spanish gentleman of the armada period, picture, 31. Spanish helmet, picture, 16. Spanish treasure seeker, picture, 25. Spanish treasure ships, picture, 29. " Spoils system," introduced by Jackson, 192. Squanto (skwan'to), aids the Pilgrims, 57 ; kidnapping of, 70, 71. "Squatter sovereignty," 205. Squaw, picture of, 35 ; her duties, 35. Stage, early American, picture, 132. XIV INDEX Stage-coach, picture of, 1H8. Stamp Act, wliat it was, VM ; passed, Vi'i ; opposition of tlie eoloiiios, l'.'*) ; repealed, VM ; stamp to be used uuder the, pic- ture, l.U. Stamp tax levied by the United States, i;u, •J4S. Standish, Miles, in the Pil}jrinis' exploring party, 55 ; his sword, picture, 57; leads the Pilgrim forces, 5!» ; his army, picture, 60. "Star-Spangled Banner, The," written, 181. Stark, Colonel John, beats Burgoyne's men at Bennington, 158. "Starving time" in Virginia, 48. Stephenson (ste'ven-son), George, inventor of the steam locomotive, 191. Steuben (stu'ben or, German, stoi'ben), Baron von, drills the American army, 161; portrait of, IGl. Stone axe, picture of, .'?5. Stowe (sto), Mrs., 204. Strand, the, now Whitehall Street, New York, in 1(>7.S, picture, !)5. Stuyvesant (sti've-sant), Governor, last of the Dutch governors of New Amster- dam, O'i ; conquers New Sweden, 94, 95 ; resolved to oppose the English, 95, 96; tears up NicoUs's letter, picture, 96 ; forced to yield, 97 ; his " Bowery House," picture, 98. Sugar-cane, picture, '2.S(). Sumter (sum'ter), Thomas, his guerrilla warfare in South Carolina, 1()5. Supreme Court, how made up, 171. Swedes, settle in Delaware, 94 ; conquered by the Dutch, 94, 95. Takiff, protective, 238 ; reciprocity in, 238 ; reduction of, 248. Taylor, General Zachary, his success in the Mexican War, 202 ; president, 20:?. Tea, tax imposed on, in the colonies, 1.37 ; sent to America, 138 ; the Boston Tea- I)arty, 138. Telegraph, invented, 199 ; picture of a sounder, 199. Texas (tgks'As), frees herself from Mex- ico, 19S ; seal of, picture, 198; admitted to the Union, 199. Tiioma-s, (ieneral, the Kock of Chicka- maug:i, 221. Ticonderoga (ti-kon-de-ro'gii), Fort, cap- tured by Ethan Allen, 143 ; recaptured by Burgoyne, 1.58; location, 158 map. Tinder box, picture, 8(). Tippecanoe (tip-e-ka-ncw'), 197. Tobacco, picture of, 28; culture of, begun in Virginia by John Rolfe, 48 ; culture of, in Maryland, 107. Toronto (to-ron'tijl, burning of, 180. Town meeting, begun at Plymouth, 59 ; held in Boston, 6(). Transportation in 1825, 189. Traveling, in America before the Revolu- tion, 132; in 182.5, 189. Treasury Building, Washington, picture of, 234. Trent affair, the, 212. Trenton (tren'ton), N.J., location, 151 maji; buttle of, 1.52. Turks, cut off trade with the East, 3; John Smith and the, 45. Tyler (ti ler), John, made vice-president, 197 ; becomes president, 198, Undekground Railroad, 204. Union Pacific Railroad finished, 232. Union soldier, picture, 210. Union soldiers sharing their rations with Confederates after Lee's surrender, pic- ture, 227. United States, declared free, 149 ; finan- cial troubles after the Revolution, 169 ; Hamilton's suggestions for the i)ayment of debts of, 171 ; trouble with France, 173 ; suppresses Barbary pirates, 174 ; buys Louisiana, 275 ; War of 1812, 176- 181; westward growth, 18.3-196 ; troubles over .slavery, 197-207 ; the Civil War, 208-22.S; recent events in, 229-2.50. United States and its possessions, the, map, 2,52. Valley Forof., location, 151 map : win- ter at. IGU. INDEX XV Van Buren (van bu'ren), Martin, events during his presidency, 19-1-19(3. Vera Cruz (vera krobz), 202 ; location, 202 maj) ; held by United States, 249. Vespucius (ves-pu'shus), Americas (a- mer'i-kus),sails along HSouth America, 15. Vicksburg (viks'burg), location, 211 map ; capture of, 220. Vincennes (vin-senz'), captured by the Americans, 162. Virginia, derivation of name, 28 ; granted to Raleigh, 28, 29 ; taken over by the London and Plymouth companies, 42 ; colonists sent to, 43; "starving time" in, 48 ; culture of tobacco begun, 48 ; women sent to, 49 ; House of Burgesses, 50 ; slavery introduced, 51 ; Bacon's re- bellion, 51 ; patriotic uprising, 135, 139. Virginia Indian, picture of, 46. Wall Street, why so named, 92. Wampum (wam'pum), 39 ; picture of, 40. War dance, picture of an Indian warrior's, 41. War of 1812, causes of, 176; events of, 177-181; close of, 181. Warship's gun-deck, picture, 176. Washington (wosh'ing-ton), George, sent to Fort Duquesne with a message, 123 ; his experience with Braddock, 124 ; made commander-in-chief of the Conti- nental Army, 143, 144; takes command of the army in Cambridge, 145 ; his cares, 146; urged to attack Boston, 147; drives the British from Boston, 148 ; refuses to receive a letter not addressed to the commander-in-chief, 150 ; driven from New York, 151 ; crossing the Del- aware, picture, 152 ; beats the Hessians at Trenton, 152 ; eludes Cornwallis at Princeton, 154; winters at Morristown, 154 ; portrait of, 155 ; accepts no salary, 156; the "American Fabius," 157; con- spiracy against, 160; at the surrender of Cornwallis, 167 ; resigning commission, picture, 169 ; elected president, 171 ; inauguration of, picture, 171 ; dies, 174. Washington, city of, burned by the Brit- ish, 180 ; location, 216 map. Watling's (wot'lingz) Island, Columbus's supposed landing-place, 9, 10 ; location, 9 map. Weapons the Indians used, 38. Webster, Daniel, opposes nullification, 193; making his famous speech, picture, 193 ; votes for the compromise of 1850, 204. West Indies, map, 243. Wethersfield (weth'erz-feld),Conn., found- ed, 79 ; location, 80 vuip. White, Peregrine, 56. Whitehall Street, New York, in 1673, pic- ture, 95. White House, picture, 229. Whitney, Eli, invents the cotton-gin, 172, 173. " AVigwam Church," 106. Wilderness, battle of, 222, Willamette River, 201. Williams, Roger, driven out of Massachu- setts, 65 ; flees from Salem, 74 ; founds Providence, 75 ; statue of, picture, 76 ; character of, 77 ; prevents Canonicus from joining the Pequots, 80. Wilson, Woodrow, presidency of, 247-250. Windsor (win'zor), Conn., founded, 79; location, 80 map. Winthrop (win'throp), John, comes to New England, 62, 63 ; arrival of his colony in Boston, picture, 63 ; his character, 64 ; cup given by, to the first church, pic- ture, 64 ; warns Roger Williams, 65, 74; goes to New York with Richard NicoUs, 96. Witchcraft delusion in Massachusetts, 69. Wolfe (woolf), General, commands Eng- lish forces at Quebec, 126 ; killed, 127. Wolpi, pueblo of, picture, 34. Wool spinning wheel, picture, 87. Writs of Assistance, 134. Yale College, founded, 82; house where it was founded, picture, 82. York, Duke of, obtains New York, 97 ; gives New Jersey to Berkeley and Car- teret, 97. Yorktown, Va., location, 165 map ; cap- ture of Cornwallis at, 167. THE HOUGHTON MIFFLIN TEXT-BOOKS IN HISTORY FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS UNITED STATES Book I. An Elementary History of Our Country. For Grades V-VI By Eva March Tappan 65 cents. Book II. A History of the United States. For Grades VII-VIII By R. G. Thwaites and C. N. Kendall ^i.oo. A History of the United States. For Grades VII-VIII By John Fiske $r.oo. ENGLAND England's Story. For Grades VII-VIII By Eva March Tappan 85 cents. ANCIENT AND MODERN EUROPE Old World Hero Stories. For Grades VI-VII By Eva March Tappan 70 cents. 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