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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
GK.OKGK WA.SHIMJIOX. 
 
A HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 FOR YOUNG AMERICANS 
 
 From the Landing of Cohnnbus to the Inaztguration 
 of Benjamin Harriso7t 
 
 BY (, -f^-^ 
 
 LYNDS EfloNES 
 
 w 
 
 WITH 230 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 JUL 1918890, 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS 
 
 New York : 9 Lafayette Place 
 
 London, Manchester and Glasgow 
 
IN UNIFORM STYIE. 
 
 History of the United States. 
 History of England. 
 
 Each 1 60 pages, quarto. With numerous 
 illustrations. Boards, lithographed double 
 cover, each, 75 cents. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, 
 
 New York : g Lafayette Place ; 
 London, Manchester, and Glasgow. 
 
 Copyrighted, 1889, bv Joseph L. Blamire. 
 
 Eqs 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Little doubt now remains that, some five hundred years before Columbus set .sail on his 
 famous voyage, this continent was visited by the Northmen, or people from Norway and Iceland. 
 They were a venturesome, sea-loving race, and on one of their many bold western expeditions they 
 chanced upon Greenland and then upon the mainland. They made, however, no permanent settle- 
 ment here, and the knowledge of their discovery does not appear to have travelled much beyond 
 their own country, and seems to have been soon forgotten even there. It became a lost discovery, 
 with little bearing upon the history of the New World and none whatever upon that of the United 
 States. Our history — the history of the American people — only dates from the discovery, or redis- 
 covery, of a Western Hemisphere by Columbus. 
 
 This closing year of centennial celebrations seems a peculiarly fitting occasion to attempt 
 once more to excite in the youth of our country an interest in its past history. We are seeking in 
 these days to do honor in every way to the Fathers of the Republic. Surely we can pay them no 
 greater reverence than by retelling the story of their deeds as examples for our children to emulate. 
 And if from th&jeading of this volume, necessarily limited to a narrative of only the most notable 
 incidents which have marked the progress of the nation, a desire is awakened in the minds of young 
 Americans to learn more of the land to which it is their happy fortune to belong ; if a purer 
 patriotism is aroused, and a stronger purpose formed to live a life worthy of the founders of the 
 Union, its object will be fully accomplished. 
 
 LYNDS E. JONES. 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y., 1889. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE 
 
 How Columbus Found a New World, . i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Followers in Columbus's Track, . . 5 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 First Attempts to Settle North America, 
 and their Failure, .... 9 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 
 
 The Thirteen Colonies 
 
 Virginia, . 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 New York, . 
 
 
 
 
 '5 
 
 Massachusetts, . 
 
 
 
 
 iS 
 
 Connecticut, 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 Rhode Island, . 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 New Hampsffire, 
 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 Maryland, . 
 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 New Jersey, 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 Pennsylvania, . 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 Delaware, . 
 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 North Carolina, 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 South Carolina, . 
 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 Georgia, 
 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Whites and the Indians, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The French and Indian Wars, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Separation from England, 
 
 36 
 
 41 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 page 
 
 The Minute-Men at Lexington and at 
 
 Bunker Hill 44 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Washington in Command, . 
 
 49 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Loss of Philadelphia and the Vic- 
 tory at Saratoga 5 s 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Aid from France, . 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 57 
 
 The War in the South and Arnold's 
 
 Treason 59 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Surrender of Cornwallis and the 
 Close of the War 61 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Framing the Constitution, •. • .63 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Formation OF the New Government under 
 Washington ^^4 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Beginning of Party Politics. . . 67 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 The Administration of Jefferson, . . 71 
 
viii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 The War of 1813 
 
 . 75 
 
 The 1 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Era of Good Feeling and the Mis- 
 souri Compromise, 81 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The " American System " and Nullifica- 
 tion, 85 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, . 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 The Mexican War, 
 
 89 
 
 93 
 
 97 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 The Anti-Slavery Struggle, 
 
 > 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Outbreak of the Civil War, , 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Events of 1862, loS 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 The Third Year of the War, . 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Nearing the End, 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 The Return of Peace, 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Reconstruction of the South, 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 Mr. Hayes's Administration, 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 The Most Recent Events, . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 114 
 
 119 
 
 . 126 
 
 130 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 The Presidency of General Grant, . 134. 
 
 139 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 The Civil Service and the Mormons, . 141 
 
 144 
 
 TABLE OF THE PRESIDENTS, 
 
 147 
 
 TABLE OF ADMISSION OF STATES 14S 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 14^ 
 
History of the United States. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW COLUMBUS FOUND A NEW WORLD. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 THERE are two dates in the history of their 
 country which no American boy or girl 
 should ever forget : one is the year 1492, in which 
 America was discovered by Columbus ; the other is 
 the year 1776, in which it freed itself from the rule 
 of Great Britain and began to govern itself. There 
 are many other things which they ought to know 
 and which they will have to learn, but these are 
 the two which above everything else they should 
 know best of all. 
 
 Four hundred years ago there was no person liv- 
 ing, except the Indians, who had ever been in Amer- 
 
 ica or who even knew that there was such a coun- 
 try. But there was one man who thought there 
 otight to be such a country, and who was deter- 
 mined to find out for himself whether or not he 
 was right in thinking so. Even he did not dream 
 that America was a continent by itself. He 
 thought that the earth was smaller than it is ; that 
 Asia extended a greater distance around it than it 
 does ; and that by sailing westward out into the 
 ocean, further than any one had ever sailed before, 
 he could reach India more easily than could those 
 
 ISABELLA. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 •who had gone there b)' travelling towards the 
 east. 
 
 No one believed him ; every one laughed at him ; 
 for in those days few people imagined that the 
 «arth was round ; they thought that it was flat ; 
 and to attempt to get to India by sailing towards 
 the west seemed to them about as sensible as to try 
 to reach the centre of the earth by flying away from 
 it up in a balloon. But Columbus, for that was the 
 man's name, did not mind their laughter. He was 
 sure that the world was round, and that somewhere 
 beyond the great Atlantic Ocean there must be 
 land. And he was willing to face any possible dan- 
 ger in crossing this unexplored ocean to find this 
 unknown land if some one would only fit out for him 
 the shi ps which he was too poor to provide himself. 
 
 COLUiMBUS ON HIS CAKAVEL. 
 
 THE EMBARKATION OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 It was many years before he could 
 get any one to do this. Those in his 
 own countr)', Ital)', refused ; so did 
 those in Portugal; -and at first even 
 those in Spain. At last, after ten years' 
 constant begging. Queen Isabella of 
 Spain helped him in obtaining three 
 ships with which to make the attempt. 
 These ships were all sailing vessels, for 
 the use of steam was not at that time 
 known. They were called the Santa 
 ]\laria, the Piiita and the Nina, and 
 would be thought nowadays much too 
 small for a voyage across the Atlantic, 
 but they were fair-sized vessels for the 
 time, especially the San/a Marm, which 
 was ninety feet long and had a deck 
 its entire length, an advantage which 
 the others did not share. 
 
 Columbus set sail from Spain, on 
 what was to prove the most wonder- 
 ful voyage ever made, with one hun- 
 dred and twenty men and with food 
 enough to last them all a year. The 
 men were not very anxious to go, and 
 some of them had to be driven on 
 board the ships by force. Nor is it 
 strange that they showed so little ea- 
 gerness in starting on avoyage of which 
 they could not know the end, and from 
 which the chances seemed so great that 
 they might never return. Like most 
 men, the sailors cared far more for their 
 own safety than they did for any pos- 
 
HO IV COLUMBUS FOUND A NEW WORLD. 
 
 men about him, who could 
 not be trusted but who must 
 be watched, with no one to 
 consult or to confide in or 
 to share anxiety with — who 
 can imagine a loftier cour- 
 age than that now shown 
 by him in still holding fast 
 to the same firm belief that 
 land must lie to the west- 
 ward ? 
 
 For two months and more 
 the little boats kept bravely 
 on their way across the 
 ocean, and then at last, on 
 October 12, 1492, the pa- 
 
 COLUMBUS BEFORE THE COUNCIL. 
 
 sible glory they might win, and so their 
 fears did not lessen as time passed on 
 and the distance between them and 
 their homes increased, and Columbus 
 had to exert all his powers, coaxing and 
 threatening by turns, to persuade them 
 to keep on. He dared not let them 
 know the true distance they sailed from 
 day to day, because he knew that if 
 they did learn this they would insist 
 upon turning back. Once they did 
 plan to seize and throw him overboard 
 and then to return to Spain, but fort- 
 unately the plot was discovered and 
 prevented. ' 
 
 Surely, if ever a man displayed cour- 
 age, and courage of the finest and rarest 
 kind, that man was Columbus. In spite 
 of the jeers and laughter that greeted 
 him he had clung steadily to his opin- 
 ion that the world was round and that 
 there was land beyond the water — and 
 did not that take courage ? During the 
 weary years when he begged on foot 
 from country to country for ships to 
 find this land, did it not take courage 
 to endure his voluntary poverty and 
 the insults and scorn with which his 
 requests were refused, and to sufler 
 nothing to turn him from the path he 
 had marked out for himself.' And now, 
 far out at sea, many weeks' journey 
 from home, in daily danger from storm 
 and tempest, in greater danger from the 
 
 COLUMBUS IN CHAINS. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tience and the faith of Columbus were rewarded by 
 a sight of the land he had come so far to seek. 
 Though it was but an island that he first saw he 
 was content for the time, knowing that the main 
 shore could not be far distant. With tears of thank- 
 fulness and a heart full of solemn joy he landed 
 with his men, and, kissing the earth, claimed the 
 island in the name of the King and Queen of Spain, 
 whose flag he carried in his hand. Supposing that 
 this island, which he named San Salvador (and 
 which is one of the Bahamas), was off the coast of 
 India, he called the natives, who had watched with 
 the greatest astonishment the Europeans approach 
 and land, Indians, the name which they have re- 
 tained to the present time, though it was known 
 long ago that their country was on the opposite 
 side of the world from India. 
 
 Before returning to Spain, Columbus visited 
 some of the West India islands but did not touch 
 the mainland. On his second voyage from Spain, 
 in which he had a fleet of seventeen vessels with 
 fifteen hundred men, he discovered the Windward 
 Islands and planted a colony on Haj^i. It was not 
 until his third voyage, in 1498, that he reached the 
 continent, landing near the Orinoco River in South 
 America. Finally, on his fourth and last voyage, 
 he reached North America. He still supposed that 
 these were the eastern shores of Asia, nor did it 
 
 become known until after his death that instead of 
 discovering a new passage to India he had discov- 
 ered what was of far greater importance, a New 
 World. 
 
 Beyond his satisfaction in proving to the world 
 that he was right, and in adding to the world's 
 knowledge and future wealth, Columbus gained 
 nothing from his great discovery. On his return 
 from his first voyage he was received with great 
 honor. On his third voyage he returned home in 
 chains. His best friend. Queen Isabella, was dead, 
 and King Ferdinand, disappointed that the wealth 
 which he expected from the New World did not flow 
 into his treasury at once, was indifferent to him and 
 neglected him. Even the colony which he himself 
 had founded on Hayti, and whose governor it was 
 that had previously sent him to Spain in chains, 
 disowned him and would not allow him to land on 
 the island when he stopped there on his last voy- 
 age. Worn out and broken-hearted, he died in 
 1506, seventy years old. After his death King Fer- 
 dinand did him tardy justice by having a monu- 
 ment placed over his grave on which were these 
 words: "To Castile and Leon Columbus 
 GAVE A New World. " Two hundred years later 
 his body was brought from Spain and placed in the 
 cathedral at Havana, that it might rest in the New 
 World he had discovered. 
 
 INDIAN BOATS AT THE TIME OK COLUMBUS. 
 
FOLLOWERS IN COLUMBUS'S TRACK. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FOLLOWERS IN COLUMBUS'S TRACK. 
 
 Columbus reached the mainland on his third 
 voyage in 1498, but he was not the first to do so. 
 When the news of his discovery became known on 
 his return from his first voyage it aroused great in- 
 terest and excitement throughout all 
 Europe, and other expeditions were im- 
 mediately sent out to make further dis- 
 coveries. Among these was one under 
 the direction of an Italian named 
 Americus Vespucius, who visited South 
 America in 1497, and another under 
 command of an Englishman named 
 John Cabot, who with his three sons 
 landed on Labrador a little later in the 
 same year. So that though the credit 
 and the glory of the discovery without 
 doubt belong to Columbus alone, others 
 were before him in actually reaching 
 both North and South America. 
 
 It would seem but just that if Colum- 
 bus was to receive neither riches nor 
 honors for his discovery that at least 
 his name might have been given to the 
 country that became known through 
 his untiring exertions. But even this 
 has been denied him, and the New 
 World has been called after the man 
 who was the first to land upon the 
 continent, Americus Vespucius. It is 
 only fair to add that Americus himself 
 had nothing to do with this, but that 
 the name was given to it by others. 
 
 Columbus, Americus and Cabot hav- 
 ing led the way, others soon followed 
 in their steps. Among the first to do 
 so was a son of John Cabot, Sebastian 
 by name, who had accompanied his 
 father when he landed on Labrador in 
 1497. Sebastian made two voyages be- 
 sides the one with his father, during 
 which he explored Hudson's Bay and 
 followed the coast from Newfoundland 
 to Maryland. He was the first to suspect that 
 Columbus was wrong in thinking the eastern shores 
 of Asia had been reached ; he believed, what was 
 soon found to be the fact, that the discovery was 
 
 that of a new continent. The voyages of the 
 Cabots are especially important, as they were the 
 chief ground for England's claim to the greater 
 part of North America, and were the reason why 
 
 AMERICUS VESPUCIUS. 
 
 so many more colonies from England settled there 
 than from any other country. For in those days it 
 was the custom to add any newly discovered land 
 to the country under whose flag the discoverer 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 sailed. This was done whether the natives liked 
 it or not ; generally they did not like it, but that 
 made no difference to the white men, who seemed 
 to think that the natives had no rights to the land 
 although they and their fathers had owned it for 
 centuries. 
 
 Sebastian Cabot received a very different wel- 
 come on his return home from that given to Co- 
 lumbus. The King of England gave him a pension 
 and every one made much of him. But this respect 
 does not seem to have extended beyond his life, for 
 history does not tell when or where he died, and 
 though " he gave England a continent, no one 
 knows his grave.'' 
 
 Among the wonderful stories told and believed 
 in Europe at this time was one of a magical foun- 
 tain, said to be somewhere in the New World, 
 though no one knew just where, the waters of 
 which, it was declared, would make forever young 
 whoever drank of them. It was in search of this 
 " fountain of youth " that a Spaniard named Ponce 
 de Leon, who had been a companion of Columbus 
 on his second voyage, set sail not long after Cabot 
 
 BALBOA DISCOVERING THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
 
 SEBASTIAN CABOT. 
 
 had made his discoveries. Though he 
 did not find this "elixir of life," he did 
 find a land blossoming with beautiful 
 flowers, which, as the day on which he 
 landed was Easter (15 12), called in 
 Spanish "Pascua Florida" {feast of 
 /lowers), he named Florida, and took 
 possession of in the name of the King 
 of Spain. i 
 
 The zeal of the early explorers for 
 their own country, and their desire 
 to add to its power and extent, some- 
 times caused them to do very queer 
 and absurd things. The year after 
 Ponce de Leon discovered Florida, 
 another Spaniard, Balboa, crossed the 
 isthmus of Darien, and to his intense 
 surprise found there was another ocean 
 on the further side of it. Wading into 
 it up to his waist, he waved his sword 
 above his head and boldly proclaimed 
 ' the King of Spain the owner and 
 master of that vast body of water, and 
 swore to defend his rights to it against 
 all comers. Balboa gave to it the 
 name of the " Sea of the South," but 
 it was finally called the Pacific Ocean, 
 
FOLLOWERS IN COLUMBUS' S TRACK. 
 
 under the mistaken belief that it was more peace- 
 ful and less stormy than the Atlantic. 
 
 Other Spaniards in the meantime explored Cen- 
 tral and South America, the West Indies and other 
 islands near the coast. Mexico was seized and con- 
 quered by Cortez and Peru by Pizarro, and their 
 wealth added to the riches of the Spanish crown. 
 The governor of the Spanish colony which had 
 been founded on Cuba, Fer- 
 dinand de Soto, hoping to 
 find in Florida a country 
 as rich as Mexico, headed 
 an expedition which land- 
 ed there in search of gold 
 in 1539. After wandering 
 about for two years he 
 reached the Mississippi Riv- 
 er, but without finding the 
 gold he sought. Disap- 
 pointed at his failure he 
 turned homewards, but died 
 of fever on the way and 
 was buried by his follow- 
 ers in the waters of the 
 river he had discovered. 
 
 The southern part of the 
 continent received most at- 
 tention from the Spaniards, 
 as there was to be found 
 the gold which was their 
 
 great object in coming to America. This naturally 
 led to their settlement there and to its gradually 
 passing under their control. Sometimes this was 
 done by fierce wars, as in the case of Peru and 
 Mexico, and sometimes peaceably with little or no 
 trouble from the natives. The final result was that 
 all of Central and South America became Spanish 
 
 excepting Brazil, which fell to Portugal, the only- 
 possession of that country in the New World. 
 
 But all of the discoveries and explorations in 
 the early days of American history were not made 
 by the Spanish and English ; France did her share, 
 and a very important share it was. As early as 
 1504, French fishing vessels visited the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence, and two years later a rough map of the 
 
 DE SOTO. 
 
 DE SOTO DISCOVERING THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 Gulf was prepared for the use of these fishermen 
 by a Frenchman named Denys. 
 
 In 1524 an expedition was sent out from France 
 under command of Verrazzano, which explored 
 the coast from South Carolina to Nova Scotia, enter- 
 ing on the way the harbors both of New York and 
 Newport. Verrazzano wrote a very full description 
 of the Atlantic coast, the most complete of any 
 made at that time. It is still in existence and 
 sounds very strange now, but was remarkably accu- 
 rate for that period, when so little was known about 
 this country. Ten years after he made his voyage, 
 another Frenchman, Cartier, came here and sailed 
 up the St. Lawrence River (so called from Cartier's 
 entering it on the day of that saint) a distance of 
 fifteen hundred miles. He gave the name of Mon- 
 treal to an Indian village he found on the banks 
 of the river, and the name of New France to all of 
 the surrounding country. On these voyages and 
 discoveries of Verrazzano and Cartier was laid the 
 French claim to North America, as the English one 
 was based on those of the Cabots. For the present 
 these claims were of slight importance and little at- 
 tention was paid to them, but later on, when the 
 
s 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 country became settled, they clashed against each 
 other and finally led to war. 
 
 The other nations of Europe took no part in the 
 discovery or exploration of America, except Portu- 
 gal to a very small extent. No attempt was made 
 by the early voyagers to visit the interior of the 
 country ; they devoted themselves entirely to study- 
 
 woods which they expected to take back to Europe. 
 None of these were found, and at first it seemed as 
 though the discovery would prove a barren one. 
 Then gold was discovered in South America, and 
 Spain eagerly seized it, and soon a rich stream was 
 flowing into her treasury that made her the wealthi- 
 est country in the Old World. But in what is now 
 
 JACQUES CARTIERi 
 
 ing tne coast, opening a trade with the Indians and 
 learning from them what they could about this New 
 World, especially its wealth, for it was that which 
 brought most of them here. In America they 
 hoped to find another India, and to enrich them- 
 selves and those who sent them with the pearls and 
 rubies, silks and shawls, spices, ivoiy and fragrant 
 
 the United States that kind 'of wealth was not 
 found in any quantity until the present century 
 was half gone, and her other riches were not known 
 or valued for a long period. There was not, there- 
 fore, the same inducement to hasten her settlement 
 that there was in South America, and so it was 
 deferred for many years. 
 
Fin ST ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FIRST ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE NORTH AMERICA AND THEIR FAILURES. 
 
 CHAMPLAIN. 
 
 
 When we read 
 of the great age of 
 many of the cities 
 in the Old World 
 it gives us a strange 
 feeling to remem- 
 ber that in the 
 United States we 
 have but two towns 
 that can boast of 
 being three hun- 
 dred years old, 
 / which to Rome, 
 or Paris, or Lon- 
 don, must seem 
 very young indeed. 
 And this feeling of 
 strangeness grows stronger when we further reflect 
 that neither of these two towns or cities was at first 
 American or became American (that is, belonged 
 what is now the United States) for more than 
 o hundred and fifty years after each was founded. 
 Not until Columbus and Vespucius and Cabot 
 and all of their companions were dead, not until 
 their discovery was over a hundred years old was 
 any colony started in North America which man- 
 aged to live. The Spanish cities of St. Augustine in 
 Florida (1565) and Santa Fe in New Mexico (1582) 
 are the only exceptions, and they remained Spanish 
 until long after the Revolutionary War, and did 
 not become part of the United States until the 
 present century was out of its teens. 
 
 But it was not through want of trying that our 
 country was not settled sooner, for the attempt to 
 plant colonies was made time and time again dur- 
 ing these hundred years, but without success. The 
 French first tried about 1 540 along the St. Law- 
 rence River, but the climate was too severe. Then 
 they tried (1562) in a milder region, at Port 
 Royal in South Carolina. But here they grew 
 homesick, quarrelled among themselves, killed their 
 commander, and fled back to France. Two years 
 later they again made an attempt, choosing this 
 time as a site for their new home the St. John's 
 River in Florida. For awhile everything went 
 well : they got a good start and it looked as though 
 this colony might succeed. And perhaps it would 
 
 have done so had not the jealousy of the Spanish 
 governor of St. Augustine led him to attack this 
 French settlement and put nearly all of its inhabi- 
 tants, including the women and children, to death, 
 They were, however, soon revenged, for when the 
 news of this butchery reached France a private 
 soldier of fortune, named De Gourges, fitted out an 
 expedition at his own expense, which sailed secretly 
 to Fort Carolina (as the settlement on the St. 
 John's River had been called), surprised the Span- 
 ish garrison in charge, and hung two hundred of 
 them to neighboring trees. 
 
 At last, after many failures, in the early years of 
 the new century a French colony planted itself 
 (1605) in Acadia, the old name of Nova Scotia, 
 and shortly after (1608) Champlain, who discovered 
 the lake that bears his name, established another 
 colony at Quebec. Both of these colonies thrived 
 in spite of their wintry situation, and a start once 
 made in this region, other Frenchmen settled them- 
 selves along the St. Lawrence and gradually took 
 
 PEREZ ON HIS WAY TO SANTA FE 
 
lO 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 possession of what is now the Dominion of Canada. 
 By right of their settlement as well as of Cartier's 
 previous discovery and exploration, this became a 
 French province and remained so until the close of 
 the French and Indian War (1763), when it was 
 given to Great Britain, to whom it still belongs. 
 
 The English did not begin their attempts to col- 
 onize as early as the French, but they succeeded 
 more quickly when they did begin. No English 
 expedition of any kind, as far as is known, visited 
 America for eighty 
 years after the Cabots 
 had been here. Then 
 England's two great 
 sailors, Frobisher and 
 Drake, came — the first 
 in 1576 and the other 
 in 1579 — but their ob- 
 ject was to explore 
 and not to settle. The 
 first attempt to plant 
 a colony was made in 
 1583 by Sir Humphrey 
 Gilbert, but it failed, 
 and on his way home 
 Sir Humphrey lost his 
 life. His half-brother. 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, a 
 favorite of Queen Eliz- 
 abeth, next tried, and 
 after first sending over 
 vessels to explore the 
 country and trade with 
 the Indians, he de- 
 spatched a larger party 
 in 1585 to settle on a 
 tract of land given 
 him by Elizabeth, and 
 which in her honor 
 
 (as she was a Virgin Queen) he called Virginia. 
 This party landed on Roanoke Island (now part 
 of North Carolina) and remained there for a 
 year, when it returned to England in a half-starved 
 and very unhappy condition. Two years later Ral- 
 eigh sent over another party, which also landed on 
 Roanoke Island. Here the first white child was 
 born in America. She was the granddaughter of 
 the governor of the colony and was named after 
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH 
 
 her birthplace, Virginia Dare. The ships which 
 brought these colonists over after a time sailed 
 back to England, intending to return shortly 
 with further supplies for the settlers. But one 
 thing and another detained them, and they did 
 not get back to Roanoke Island for three years. 
 When they did arrive the entire colony had disap- 
 peared and no trace of it has ever been found, so- 
 that to this day the fate of little Virginia and of her 
 companions remains unknown. Sir Walter had now 
 
 had enough of Amer- 
 ica. Though he had 
 never been here him- 
 self, he had hoped 
 through the colonies 
 he had tried to start to 
 obtain a fortune out of 
 the land given him by 
 the Queen. But in- 
 stead of making money 
 he had lost all he had . 
 in fitting out these un- 
 lucky expeditions, and 
 so he was glad to sell 
 the land in order to pay 
 his debts. " It was 
 bought by some Lon- 
 don merchants, who 
 had no wish to colo- 
 nize, but who proposed 
 to open a trade with 
 the Indians for tobac- 
 co and potatoes, twcv 
 things unknown in 
 Europe before Ameri- 
 ca was discovered, but 
 which now are to 
 be found in almost 
 every town or village 
 Another unsuccessful Eng- 
 lish attempt to settle was made in 1602 at Buzzard's 
 Bay, Massachusetts, by Bartholomew Gosnold, but 
 his men would not remain and returned in the very- 
 ship that brought them over. Had that succeeded, 
 France would not have secured the lead in coloniza- 
 tion as she did by her Acadian settlement in 1605. As 
 it is, both Spain and France had a foothold in Amer- 
 ica before England— but neither retained it as long. 
 
 «^\-^ 
 
 throughout the world. 
 
THE THIRTEEN^ COLO XI ES. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 
 TOBACCO PIANT. 
 
 /. Virg inia. 
 
 So much for the 
 English failures in 
 founding colonies. 
 Now for their suc- 
 cesses. 
 
 When King James 
 came to the English 
 throne on the death 
 of Queen Elizabeth, 
 he paid no attention 
 to the title which she 
 had given Raleigh, 
 and which Raleigh 
 had in turn sold to 
 the London mer- 
 chants, but he made 
 a new disposition of 
 the land. He di- 
 vided all of North 
 America, from Can- 
 ada on the north 
 (owned by the French,^ to Florida on the south 
 (owned by the Spanish), into two parts, and gave 
 
 the northern half to the Plymouth Company and 
 
 the southern half to the 
 
 London Company. And 
 
 to prevent any quarrel- 
 ling between the two, 
 
 the King forbade either 
 
 to make any settlement 
 
 within one hundred 
 
 miles of the other. 
 
 These companies con- 
 sisted each of a number 
 
 of Englishmen who had 
 
 the means to send out 
 
 parties better prepared 
 
 in every way to over- 
 come the difficulties 
 
 which had been too 
 
 much for those who had 
 
 tried before. Mexico 
 
 and South America were 
 
 yielding a great deal of 
 
 gold at this time to 
 
 Spain, and these companies were formed in the 
 hope of obtaining gold also from North America by 
 means of the colonies they intended to plant here. 
 
 Both companies despatched colonists about the 
 same time ; the Plymouth Company to Maine and 
 the London Company to Virginia. The former 
 did not prosper and were soon forced to abandon 
 their settlement near the mouth of the Kennebec 
 River, but the latter were more fortunate. Intend- 
 ing to land where Raleigh's men had landed, on 
 Roanoke Island, they were driven out of their 
 course by a storm into Chesapeake Bay, where they 
 discovered a river, which they ascended for fifty 
 miles, and there, in May, 1607, they made a settle- 
 ment, which theyloyally called Jamestown, in honor 
 of their King, whose name they also gave to the 
 James River. This was the beginning of the State 
 of Virginia and of the United States of America. 
 
 At the start they had a hard struggle to live. 
 The settlers were not of the stuff that colonists 
 should be made of. There were no farmers, car- 
 penters, or other mechanics among them ; but they 
 were mostly bankrupt gentlemen, who had come to 
 America, as had so many others before them, in 
 search of gold with which to repair their ruined fort- 
 unes. They neither knew how to labor with their 
 
 THE BUILDING OF JAMESTOWN. 
 
12 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 hands nor were willing to do so had they known 
 how, and were utterly unfitted for the rough work 
 which always has to be done in a new country. 
 
 But they had other troubles in addition to those 
 caused by their own ignorance and incapacity. 
 
 #fe^ 
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 Thej{ had arrived too late in the season to plant 
 crops jfpr that year and had used up most of their 
 food on the voyage, so that hunger soon stared 
 them in the lace. Many of them became sick, and 
 all suffered greatly from the cold during their first 
 
 winter, as the miserable huts they built could not 
 give them sufficient shelter. Disappointed at not 
 finding gold, and disheartened by the many priva- 
 tions they had to endure, they would quiCKly have 
 deserted their newly-made home and returned to 
 England, had it not been for one man. 
 Captain John Smith, who kept up their 
 courage, obtained food for them from 
 the Indians, induced them to work, 
 showed them how to build log-houses, 
 settled their quarrels, and in general 
 managed their affairs for them until 
 they picked up heart by the arrival of 
 further supplies of men and provisions 
 from England. 
 
 John Smith is one of the most strik- 
 ing men in early American history. 
 He had led a roving life and met with 
 a great many strange adventures, if we 
 are to believe the stories he tells of 
 himself. He explored the country 
 about Jamestown, and usually was on 
 good terms with the Indians, though 
 once he narrowly escaped losing his 
 life at their hands. Powhatan, a chief 
 not friendly to the whites, captured 
 him and condemned him to death, and 
 the sentence was about to be carried 
 out when Powhatan's young daughter, 
 Pocahontas, threw herself in front of 
 Smith and begged his life from her 
 father. She afterwards married a white 
 man named Rolfe, and went to Eng- 
 land, where she died. 
 
 In time the affairs of the little set- 
 tlement began to brighten. A more 
 industrious class of emigrants joined it, 
 and, giving up the useless search for 
 gold, the colonists turned their atten- 
 tion to raising tobacco, which they 
 sent to England in exchange for cloth- 
 ing and whatever else was needed. 
 Tobacco soon became the principal 
 product of the colony and was used as 
 money in buying and selling, and we 
 read that when, later on, a number of 
 young women were sent over for the 
 planters to marry, their husbands paid 
 a hundred pounds of tobacco apiece 
 for them, some indeed as much as a hundred and 
 fifty pounds. 
 
 By the end of the first ten years, the colony had 
 become strong enough to take care of itself, and 
 soon after obtained from the King and the Com- 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 
 13 
 
 pany the right to make its own laws. Accordingly, 
 in 1619, the first legislature, or House of Burgesses 
 as it was called, ever elected in America met at 
 Jamestown. It is a curious fact that in the very 
 year the colonists began to govern themselves they 
 began to enslave others; for it was in 1619 that the 
 first negroes were brought to Virginia by 
 a Dutch trading vessel and sold there as 
 slaves. 
 
 The London Company retained control 
 of Virginia until 1624, when the King took 
 away its charter, and she became what was 
 known as a royal colony, or colony whose 
 governor was appointed by the crown. He 
 did not, however, alter the constitution 
 previously given her, and generally the col- 
 onists were allowed to manage their own 
 affairs. They sided with the Stuarts dur- 
 ing the Civil War in England, and when 
 Charles II. regained his throne Virginia 
 proudly called herself his " ancient do- 
 minion," and this gave her the name of 
 "The Old Dominion," which she still 
 bears. But Charles showed no more grati- 
 tude to the Virginians for their loyalty 
 to him and to his father than he showed 
 to English cavaliers. He gave his assent 
 to the oppres- 
 sive navigation 
 laws, which for- 
 bade the colon- 
 ists from trading 
 with any onebut 
 the English or 
 from using any>' 
 but English ves- 
 sels to trade in, 
 and twice he 
 made a present 
 of the colony to* 
 court favorites 
 — though each 
 time he after- 
 wards recalled 
 the gift. 
 
 Virginia grew 
 very rapidly, 
 
 after her early troubles were over, through emi- 
 gration from England, and was the most popu- 
 ;lous as well as the oldest of the colonies. The 
 fertility of the soil, which enabled her to raise 
 large crops of tobacco at but little expense, made 
 her the richest and most prosperous colony as 
 well. Her territory was then far larger that it 
 
 is now. In fact, at first it included pretty much 
 all of our present Southern States as far south as 
 South Carolina, and extended westward indefi- 
 nitely. New colonies and (after the Revolution) 
 new States were carved out of it, and so its area 
 was gradually reduced to its present size. 
 
 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 
 
 There were but few cities or towns,ythe people 
 living chiefly on large plantations some distance 
 apart. This caused the population to be so scat- 
 tered that schools were not as common as in the 
 New England colonies, and less attention was paid 
 to education. The wealthy planters sent their sons 
 to England to be educated and had their daughters 
 taught in their homes. But the children of the 
 less wealthy for the most part remained unschooled. 
 Eighty-five years passed after the settlement at 
 Jamestown before the first college was founded — 
 that of William and Mary, established at Williams- 
 burgh in 1692 — though Massachusetts had had one 
 then for more than fifty years. 
 
u 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Most of the settlers in Virginia were members of 
 the Church of England, and that was therefore 
 made the religion of the colony. Though laws 
 were passed excluding those who held a different 
 belief, there was no active religious persecution, 
 and in that respect Virginia appears in a more fa- 
 vorable light than many of the other colonies, which 
 not only excluded those whose faith did not agree 
 with the prevailing one of the community, but 
 which imprisoned and punished them if found with- 
 in the colonial territory. 
 
 The relations of the Virginians with the Indians 
 were most of the time pleasant and friendly, but 
 there were occasional difficulties. The first oc- 
 curred in 1622, and was caused by Indian jealousy 
 at the growing size and number of the plantations, 
 which were slowly driving the Indians back from 
 
 CAPTAIN SMITH TAKEN PRISONER BY THE INUIANS. 
 {From Smith's Virginia.) 
 
 the settlements. Three hundred and fifty whites 
 
 lost their lives in this war, which was not ended 
 
 •until after a long and bloody contest. A second 
 
 out:break followed twenty j'ears later, during which 
 
 five hwjndred settlers were killed, but in which the 
 
 Indians were so thoroughly beaten that they did 
 not rise against the whites again. But the Marj'- 
 land Indians sometimes made raids over the borders 
 of Virginia, and this led in 1676 to trouble among 
 the colonists themselves. Sir William Berkeley 
 
 fMW'mj;^^^^ 
 
 POCAHONTAS SAVING CAPTAIN SMITH'S LIFE. 
 
 was at the time Governor of Virginia, and was a 
 very unpopular one. He refused either to put 
 down the Indians himself or to supply the settlers 
 with arms to do so for themselves. A young 
 planter, named Bacon, thereupon raised a body of 
 troops, overcame the Indians, and then marched 
 against the governor and drove him out of James- 
 town, which during the struggle was burnt and has 
 never been rebuilt. The sudden death of Bacon 
 ended the rebellion, but Berkeley in revenge hung 
 twenty-two of Bacon's followers, a measure so cruel 
 that it caused good-natured King Charles to say, 
 " The old fool has hanged more men in that naked 
 country than I did in all England for the murder 
 of my father." 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 
 IS 
 
 2. New York. 
 
 One of his own courtiers remarked of James I., 
 that "he never said a foolish thing and never did a 
 wise one," and certainly his forbidding the London 
 and Plymouth Companies from making any settle- 
 ment within one hundred miles of the other showed 
 as little wisdom as any act of his reign. For instead 
 of preventing quarrels between colonies, as he in- 
 tended, it caused quarrels. And it caused them 
 in this way. By placing the English settlements so 
 far apart, ample room was left for some other nation 
 to slip in and plant colonies between them, and 
 colonies of different nations near together are much 
 more apt to quarrel than when both speak the same 
 language and come from the same country. 
 
 And that was exactly what did happen. The 
 Dutch seized this unoccupied land, settled it, and 
 soon began to quarrel with the English and other 
 colonists who established themselves in the neigh- 
 borhood not long after the Dutch. 
 
 In 1609 an association of merchants in Holland, 
 engaged in trade with the Indies, sent Hendrik Hud- 
 
 HENDRIK HUDSON. 
 
 son to discover if there was not some passage 
 through America which would shorten the distance 
 to India — the great desire of all European traders 
 at that time, and indeed at the present time. While 
 trying to find such a passage he entered the Hudson 
 River (named after him), and sailed up it to what 
 is now the City of Hudson, which was as far as his 
 little vessel, the "Half-Moon," could go; though 
 
 one of his boats ascended it still further, to the site 
 of the present City of Albany. When he found that 
 he could not reach India by that route he returned 
 to Holland. 
 
 The " Half-Moon " was the first European ship to 
 visit the waters of the great river, and, in virtue of 
 that fact, Holland claimed all the territory lying on 
 
 JAMES I. 
 
 both sides of it, and gave the name of the New 
 Netherlands to the whole region. Hudson report- 
 ed the natives as friendly and willing to trade with 
 the whites, and Dutch merchants at once sent out 
 vessels to open a traffic with the Indians. Trading- 
 posts were soon established at various points on the 
 river to help this traffic, which was a very profitable 
 one to the Hollanders. An accident to one of the 
 vessels detained its crew on Manhattan Island in 
 1614, and this was the beginning of the settlement 
 of the city, which the Dutch called New Amsterdam, 
 but which is now known to all the world as New 
 York. Ten years later the entire island was bought 
 from the Indians for the sum of twenty-four pounds 
 sterling, or one hundred and twenty dollars in our 
 money. 
 
i6 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 New Amsterdam and the New Netherlands at 
 first grew slowly, only poorer emigrants coming over 
 from Holland. But after a little this changed. 
 The Dutch West India Company secured control of 
 all of the New Netherlands from the government of 
 Holland, and it induced a wealthier class to come and 
 settle along the Hudson by granting to each a tract 
 of land, sixteen miles along the banks of any stream 
 and extending back from the stream as far as each 
 colonist chose. They could not take land already 
 occupied, and they were obliged to pay the Indians 
 for what they took, as the Dutch wisely wished to 
 preserve the friendship of the Indians. These pro- 
 prietors were called " Patroons," and their tracts 
 
 after Hudson's voyage. To mark these claims as 
 well as to aid the fur-traders, forts were built, one at 
 Hartford and one near Camden. The English dis- 
 puted the claim to Connecticut (the settlement of 
 which they had by this time begun) as indeed they 
 had previously done the claim to the New Nether- 
 lands, and there was almost constant trouble be- 
 tween the two colonies, which was not ended until 
 the present boundary line was agreed upon in 1650. 
 On the southern side of the New Netherlands, diffi- 
 culties also arose with some Swedes who had settled 
 near Wilmington, Delaware, and which resulted in 
 their complete conquest (1655) by the Dutch under 
 Peter Stuyvesant, the last and the best of the four 
 
 V, 
 
 THE " HALF MOON AT THE MOUTH OF THE HUDSON. 
 
 " Manors." Each had the right to found a colony 
 of fifty persons and had absolute power over his own 
 manor, without regard to the colonial government. 
 To aid them in tilling their land, the Company 
 agreed to supply them with negro slaves from 
 Africa. 
 
 For the protection of those engaged in trading 
 with the Indians, several forts were erected, one of 
 which (Fort Orange) was the origin of the capital 
 city of the State, Albany. The Dutch claim in- 
 cluded not only the present limits of New York, but 
 also territory north and south of it, extending from 
 Cape Cod to Cape Henlopen. This claim had for 
 its basis explorations made by Dutch seamen soon 
 
 governors (or directors) who ruled over the New 
 Netherlands until it passed into the possession of 
 the English. By their just and wise treatment of 
 the natives, the Dutch for the most part escaped the 
 Indian wars, which were such a scourge to many of 
 the other colonies. Only one serious disturbance 
 occurred (1643). and that was brought on by the 
 cruelty of the Dutch governor. Sir William Kieft, 
 who in consequence was recalled by the West India 
 Company, and was succeeded by Stuyvesant, whO' 
 quickly made peace with the Indians. 
 
 As the colony grew in numbers and in wealth, 
 many English joined the Dutch in New Amsterdam 
 to share in the rich trade which had been established 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 
 17 
 
 between the Indians on the one side and Europe 
 on the other. This trade was largely in furs, though 
 they also exported other articles, as tobacco and 
 tar. Furs were sometimes used as money, much in 
 the same way that tobacco was used in Virginia, 
 and we hear of a minister receiving one hundred 
 and fifty beaver-skins for his year's salary. Besides 
 the English, many other nations had representatives 
 there, and it was said that one could hear eighteen 
 different languages spoken in the streets of New 
 Amsterdam while it was still a Dutch town. 
 
 But next to the Dutch, the number of Englishmen 
 
 much to the disgust of old Peter Stu)rvesant, who 
 thought them great cowards for not preferring to 
 fight. This was in 1664, when Charles II. was on 
 the English throne. He made a present of the col- 
 ony to his brother James, the Duke of York, and 
 the names both of the New Netherlands and of 
 New Amsterdam were changed, in honor of the 
 royal owner, to New York. 
 
 Holland made one attempt to regain her lost 
 colony (1673) and for a brief time succeeded, but 
 was forced the next year to give it back again to 
 England. 
 
 PETER STUYVESANT. 
 
 was the largest in the place, and they in time became 
 very much discontented with the Dutch government. 
 It was too strict to please them. They wanted great- 
 er freedom and a voice in the management of public 
 affairs. Many of the Dutch citizens sympathized 
 with them in this feeling, for they, too, felt that they 
 had much less liberty than the people in the other 
 colonies enjoyed. When, therefore, an English fleet 
 appeared before New Amsterdam and demanded 
 its surrender, all of the inhabitants, the Dutch as 
 well as the English, insisted upon giving it up, 
 
 Its new owner, the Duke of York, was more lib- 
 eral than the West India Company had been. He 
 allowed the colonists to make their own laws and 
 granted them a charter. This he afterwards tried 
 to recall when he became King, but he did not suc- 
 ceed. The number of English settlers soon exceed- 
 ed the Dutch, and Dutch customs gradually dis- 
 appeared, though a few have remained to the pres- 
 ent day ; for both Santa Claus and New Year's calls 
 have come down to us from the Knickerbockers. 
 Many years passed before the Dutch language en- 
 
i8 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tirely ceased to be spoken, and schools could be 
 found in New York for a long time where English 
 ■was taught like a foreign language, only as an 
 accomplishment. 
 
 The history of New York from its conquest to the 
 Revolution, is chiefly the history of a succession of 
 bad governors sent by the English kings to rule 
 over the colony, and in this its experience was the 
 
 J. Massachusetts. 
 
 About the time that the little colony at James- 
 town was making its start, a body of men had gone 
 to Holland from England to escape the persecutions 
 which religious differences had brought upon them 
 in Great Britain. In Holland they found men who 
 believed as they did, and with whom they could 
 
 NEW AMSTERDAM IN 1659. 
 
 A, the fort; B, the church; C, the windmill ; D, the flag which is hoisted when vessels arrive in port; E, the prison; 
 F, the house of the general ; G, the place of execution ; H, the place of e.xpose, or pillory. 
 
 same as that of many of the other colonies. Though 
 some of these rulers were worse than others, none 
 of them were go6d or fit to govern. The colony, 
 ■while large in territory, was small in population, 
 with few settlements excepting those scattered 
 along the Hudson River, and it remained among 
 the less important colonies until after the indepen- 
 dence of the country had been for some time se- 
 cured. 
 
 The introduction of slavery into Virginia was fol- 
 lowed by its introduction into all of the colonies, 
 though it was never as extensive in the North as in 
 the South. In New York it was the cause of a most 
 remarkable excitement in 1740, when there was a 
 rumor that the negroes had made a plot to kill 
 all the whites, and before the furore could sub- 
 side thirty-two negroes had been put to death and 
 6eventy-one banished. It is no longer believed, 
 now, that such a plot had been formed, or that the 
 slaves had in any way conspired against their mas- 
 ters. 
 
 therefore live in peace. But after spending twelve 
 years in Holland, they became desirous of having a 
 home of their own, where their children could grow 
 up in English and not in Dutch ways, and which 
 would also ser\'e as an asylum for others, who, like 
 themselves, might wish to leave England for "con- 
 science' sake." Sothey turned their eyes to the Nev/ 
 World, hoping there they migbt find a country 
 large enough for all, and where they could worship 
 God in the only way that seemed to them right. 
 
 Obtaining from the London Company permission 
 to settle in " Southern Virginia," as the half of the 
 country given that Company by King James was 
 called, a part of their number returned from Hol- 
 land to England, and being joined by others from 
 London, set sail from Southampton in September, 
 1620, in the " Mayflower." They had already received 
 the name of Pilgrims when they first went to Hol- 
 land, and now the name was applied to them more 
 seriously than ever, when they started on that great- 
 er and much more dangerous journey to America. 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 
 19 
 
 TOMB OF THE MATE OF THE " MAYFLUWER. 
 
 After a wear}' voyage of sixty-three days they 
 reached Cape Cod, and though this was north of 
 the limits of "Southern Virginia," they were so worn 
 out by their confinement on the ship that they de- 
 cided to make their settlement there, and accord- 
 ingly on the 2ist of December, 1620, they landed at 
 a spot which they named New Plymouth, and the 
 colonization of New England was begun. 
 
 One hundred and one sailed from Southampton 
 on the " Mayflower." One hundred and two landed 
 at New Plymouth ; for on the voyage a little girl had 
 been born. Peregrine White, who received her name 
 on account of the " peregrinations " (or wanderings) 
 of her parents. Her fate was not as sad as was that 
 of Virginia Dare, for fortunately the Plymouth Col- 
 ony did not disappear like the one on Roanoke 
 Island, but sur\'ived its many hardships, and forms 
 to-day a part of the great State of Massachusetts. 
 
 MONUMENT COMMEMORATING THE LANDING OB 
 THE PILGRIMS AT PLYMOUTH. 
 
 It was a dreary and bleak shore on which they 
 landed that cold winter day; but they had stout 
 hearts ready to face every trial for the sake of a 
 home for themselves and for their children. Unlike 
 the Virginia settlers, it was not gold or the desire 
 for riches that had tempted them to cross the At- 
 lantic, but a love of freedom and a religious im- 
 pulse, and this gave them greater courage to endure 
 the sufferings before them. Apart from the motive 
 which brought them to America, they were better 
 
30 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 fitted in other ways for the task before them than 
 were the earliest Virginians. They liad stronger bod- 
 ies, they were more used to hard work and were less 
 afraid of it, and they better understood in advance 
 what colonization really meant. And so, though 
 the climate was more severe and the soil less fertile 
 at Plymouth than at Jamestown, there was more 
 cheerfulness and less discontent in this northern 
 colony than there had been in the southern one. 
 
 Before leaving the " Mayflower," the Pilgrims 
 chose from among their number John Carver as 
 their governor and agreed upon a form of govern- 
 
 the cold weather. Then they divided themselves 
 into nineteen families, and gradually a house was 
 built for each. The houses were not very large, and 
 the beds had to be pretty close together, but the 
 colonists were much more comfortable in them 
 than they had been on shipboard, or when they 
 were all crowded together in the building they first 
 occupied. They were made of logs and mortar 
 with thatched roofs, and the windows had oiled 
 paper in place of glass. A shed was also put up to 
 cover their goods, and a small hospital and a church 
 were built. As it was winter, of course no crops 
 
 PILGRIMS ON THEIR WaY TO CHURCH. 
 
 ment which gave each one an equal voice in the 
 management of the affairs of the colony. This was 
 necessary because they had no charter from the 
 King, and because their settlement was beyond the 
 limits of the land granted to the London Company 
 (which had sent them to this country), and therefore 
 outside of its authority. They also organized a 
 body of soldiers for protection against the Indians, 
 should it be necessary, and appointed Miles Stan- 
 dish its captain. 
 
 The first thing done on landing was to erect a 
 building large enough to give them all shelter in 
 
 could be raised, so they supported themselves by 
 hunting and fishing until the season came round 
 when they could grow corn. Fortunately the Ind- 
 ians in their neighborhood were friendly, and a 
 treaty was made with Massasoit, their chief, which 
 lasted over fifty years. Though that first winter 
 was a hard one and half of their number (including 
 Governor Carver) died before it was over, the Pil- 
 grims did not lose heart, and not one of them re- 
 turned in the " Mayflower " when she sailed back to 
 England the following spring. All preferred to re- 
 main and share the fate of the rest. 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 
 A few years after the landing of the Pilgrims, an- 
 other body of Englishmen came over and estab- 
 lished themselves (i 628) at a point on the coast north 
 ■of Plymouth, which they named Salem. Others 
 followed them in the next year and settled at 
 Charlestown, and soon after Boston, Roxbury and 
 other places near by began their existence. These 
 were all under one government and formed the 
 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Its leading spirits were 
 John Winthrop, John Endicott, Sir Henry Vane 
 and John Cotton, who had obtained a charter from 
 King James before they left England, and a grant 
 of land from the Council of Plymouth (which had 
 succeeded to the rights of the Plymouth Company), 
 extending from three miles south of the Charles 
 River to three miles north of the Merrimack River. 
 
 Members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were 
 known as Puritans, and, like the Pilgrims, had left 
 England to escape religious persecution. They 
 differed from the Pilgrims on some points of belief, 
 but in the main were men of very much the same 
 character^ — hardy, self-denying and austere. They 
 had greater wealth and they came over in larger num- 
 bers, but their sufferings and privations during 
 their first years in America were nearly as severe as 
 were those of the Plymouth settlers, notwithstand- , 
 ing the greater comforts they had been able to pro- 
 vide themselves with. The two colonies maintained 
 a separate existence for many years after their 
 foundation, but their history and interests were the 
 same, though the Bay Colony received by far the 
 greater number of recruits from England, and was 
 always larger, stronger, and more prosperous than 
 Plymouth Colony. In 1691 tlje two were united 
 under the name of Massachusetts Colony ; so called 
 from a tribe of Indians that lived close at hand — 
 the word " Massachusetts" meaning " blue hills." 
 
 Pilgrims and Puritans both fled to this country 
 to obtain religious freedom, but it was freedom for 
 themselves and not for others that they sought. 
 We have seen in Virginia that the very year the 
 colonists began to govern themselves they began to 
 enslave others. So in Massachusetts, as soon as 
 the colonists escaped being persecuted themselves, 
 they began to persecute others. In 1635 a minister 
 in Salem, named Roger Williams, was banished 
 from the colony because his opinions on religious 
 matters were not quite the same as those of the 
 others ; and two years later a woman (Mrs. Hutchin- 
 son) was also driven into the wilderness for holding 
 meetings of her own sex, in which some new views 
 of theology were advocated. Many others fared as 
 badly and were forced to seek a home where best 
 they could beyond the limits of Massachusetts. 
 
 Fortunately one was soon ready for them in Rhode 
 Island, founded by Roger Williams when he was 
 expelled by the Puritans. 
 
 The Quakers (or Friends) were treated still more 
 harshly. Four of them were hanged and a number 
 of others were thrown into prison for neglecting to 
 obey the order to leave the colony and to keep 
 away from it. Such extreme measures and the pa- 
 tience and courage with which they were borne 
 soon, however, produced a reaction in public opin- 
 ion, which caused the persecution to cease and 
 allowed the Quakers to remain undisturbed. 
 
 The history of Massachusetts was stained with 
 yet one more persecution before religious tolera- 
 tion gained the day. At that time it was a com- 
 mon belief all over the world that there were witches 
 
 JOHN ENDICOTT. 
 
 who had the power to harm man or animal, and 
 who could assume whatever shape they chose. In 
 1692 a craze broke out in Salem that there were 
 witches there and, before people recovered their 
 senses, twenty persons had been put to death who 
 were innocent of any offence. 
 
 But if there was less religious freedom in Massa- 
 chusetts in its earlier days than there was at the 
 same period in Virginia, there was a greater interest 
 in education. In all of the New England settle- 
 ments, as soon as the houses and churches were 
 built, schools were started and, before the Massa- 
 chusetts Bay Colony was ten years old. Harvard 
 College was founded at what was then Newtown, 
 but is now Cambridge. It received its name from 
 John Harvard, who gave to it his library of books and 
 
22 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 WITCHCRAFT AT SALEM VILLAGE, 
 
 about four thousand 
 dollars in money. 
 Harvard University 
 (as it is now named) 
 is thus not only the 
 largest and richest 
 college in America 
 but is also the oldest. 
 Both in Plymouth 
 Colony and in Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay Col- 
 ony the governors 
 were elected by the 
 people (church- 
 members only voting 
 in the latter) until 
 James II. ascended 
 the English throne. ti 
 He took away this 
 right and declared 
 that all charters pre- 
 viously granted to 
 the colonies were for- 
 feited. Sir Edmund 
 Andres was appoint- 
 ed by him governor 
 of the whole of New 
 
 England , and for 
 three years Massa- 
 chusetts suffered un- 
 der his tyranny 
 (1686-1689), until the 
 English Revolution 
 gave the colonists an 
 opportunity to rid 
 themselves of An- 
 dres by sending him 
 back to Great Brit- 
 ain. When the two 
 colonies of Plymouth 
 and Massachusetts 
 Bay were united by 
 William and Mary in 
 1 69 1, a new charter 
 was granted in place 
 of the one recalled 
 by James. This did 
 not restore to the 
 people the privilege 
 of choosing their 
 own governor; that 
 was reserved for the 
 sovereign. But it d id 
 give religious free- 
 
 HARVARD COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 
 n 
 
 dom to all excepting Roman Catholics, and it ex- 
 tended the limits of the colony so as to include 
 Maine and Nova Scotia. The former remained part 
 of Massachusetts from this time until its admission 
 as a separate State into the Union, in 1820. The 
 latter was lost during the Revblutionary War. 
 
 4. Connecticut. 
 
 Connecticut, like Massachusetts, had at first two 
 separate colonies within its borders, the govern- 
 ment of each being entirely distinct from the other. 
 There was indeed also 
 a third settlement, but 
 as that was small and 
 was soon united with 
 one of the others, it 
 scarcely need be 
 spoken of as an inde- 
 pendent colony. 
 
 The first of the three 
 was settled by colo- 
 nists from Massachu- 
 setts who, in 1635 and 
 1636, forced their way 
 through the wilderness 
 and established them- 
 selves at Windsor, 
 Hartford and Wethers- 
 field, taking the name 
 of the Colony of Con- 
 necticut, which in the 
 Indian tongue means 
 " long river." Trouble 
 soon arose between 
 them and the- Dutch 
 in the New Nether- 
 lands, who had previ- 
 ously (1633) built a fort 
 just below Hartford, 
 and who claimed a 
 right to all of the land 
 as far as Cape Cod, 
 
 through explorations made by their trading vessels 
 about the time New Amsterdam was founded. 
 Though it caused ill-feeling ^nd was a serious an- 
 noyance to each side, this trouble fortunately did 
 not lead to any actual war, and it was finally settled 
 (1650) by a treaty which placed the boundaries very 
 much as they exist between the two States to-day. 
 
 These Connecticut colonists from Massachusetts 
 who were so emphatic in their denial of the Dutch 
 claim to the land they had taken possession of, 
 had really no right to it themselves, as they had ob- 
 
 tained no grant from the Council of 'Plymouth. In 
 fact the Council of Plymouth no longer owned it, 
 as it had previously disposed of it to the Earl of 
 Warwick, who in turn had transferred it to Lords 
 Say and Brook. The latter, however, made little 
 use of it, only one small settlement being started 
 by them, which, from their two names, was called 
 Saybrook. It was at the mouth of the Connecticut 
 River, and at first was only a fort, built to prevent 
 the Dutch from gaining control of the river. It 
 was the least important of the three independent 
 settlements already referred to, and afterwards 
 
 (1644) became part of 
 the Colony of Connect- 
 icut. 
 
 Saybrook, Windsor 
 and Hartford were 
 founded about the 
 same time, and New 
 Haven was not long in 
 following, but, unlike 
 the others, it was set- 
 tled (1638) by colonists 
 who came to it directly 
 from England and not 
 from Massachusetts. 
 They bought their land 
 from the Indians and 
 adopted the Bible as 
 the only law of the col- 
 ony, limiting the rights 
 to vote for governor 
 and other officers, as 
 Massachusetts Bay had 
 done, to church mem- 
 bers (Puritans). This 
 was in contrast to the 
 Colony of Connecticut, 
 which gave the privi- 
 lege of voting to all 
 residents of good char- 
 acter. As a conse- 
 quence of this greater 
 liberality, the latter colony grew more rapidly than 
 New Haven, as new settlers who were not Puritans 
 preferred to be under a government in which they 
 had a voice in the management of affairs. 
 
 Neither colony obtained a charter until after the 
 Restoration in England, when Gov. Winthrop, of the 
 Colony of Connecticut, obtained one from Charles 
 II. (1662), covering the territory of both and provid- 
 ing for their union. New Haven was not very will- 
 ing to give up her independence, but finally con- 
 sented, and in 1665 the two colonies became one 
 
24 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 under the name of Connecticut. The charter was a 
 liberal one, allowing the people to make their own 
 laws as well as to choose their own governor and to 
 elect their own assembly, and it was so well liked by 
 the people that they kept it in force for more than 
 forty years after the Declaration of I ndependence was 
 adopted. James II. attempted to revoke it, as he 
 revoked those of Massachusetts and the other colo- 
 nies when he tried to unite all New England into one 
 province with Sir Edmund Andros as its governor. 
 Androswentto Hartford in 1687 and demanded that 
 
 tree became known as the Charter Oak, and was 
 justly the pride of Hartford, until it was blown down 
 by a storm in 1856. 
 
 When the two colonies were united, New Haven 
 (city) and Hartford were both made capitals of Con- 
 necticut, the governor living part of the time in 
 one place and part of the time in the other, and 
 this was continued after the Colony became a State ; 
 but since 1873 Hartford has been the only capital. 
 
 In 1701 Yale College was founded by the Assem- 
 bly of Connecticut, at Saybrook, as a school for 
 
 IHE (.APirOL, HAKlllJRO. 
 
 the charter be given up to him. The people ob- 
 jected. He insisted ; a discussion followed, during 
 which the lights (it was in the evening) were sudden- 
 ly put out and in the confusion and darkness the 
 charter mysteriously disappeared and could not be 
 found when the lights were restored, so that Andros 
 was compelled to go back without it. When James 
 left the throne and the colonists felt safe once more 
 under William and Mary the charter was brought 
 from its hiding-place, a hollow oak tree, near at hand, 
 •where it had lain concealed for two years. This 
 
 training young men to the ministry, and a few 
 years later (171 7) it was removed to New Haven, 
 when it took its present name from Elihu Yale, the 
 governor of the colony and a warm friend of the 
 college. Yale was thus the third of the higher in- 
 stitutions of learning to be established in the 
 country, and is next to the oldest of those still in 
 existence, its only senior being Harvard. Next in 
 age came the College of New Jersey (1746), the 
 University of Pennsylvania (1749), and Columbia, 
 formerly King's College (New York City, 1754). 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 
 5. Rhode Island. 
 
 It was in the depth of winter when Roger Will- 
 jams, banished from his church in Salem, left the 
 Colony of Massachusetts to find a home where there 
 should be perfect religious freedom for all, whatever 
 their belief might be. Ignorant of the way and with- 
 out a guide, he wandered in the pathless woods for 
 fourteen weeks before he found a shelter or a ref- 
 uge, and when he did find it, it was among a tribe 
 of Indians called the Narragansetts. They were very 
 kind to him and gave him a tract of land, which, 
 in remembrance of " God's merciful providence to 
 him in his distress," he named Providence (1636). 
 Others joined him there, and in the following year a 
 settlement was also made on the Island of Rhodes, 
 which was bought from the Indians for the purpose, 
 and the name of which was afterwards changed to 
 Rhode Island (or " red island," from the Dutch). 
 Though these two colonies were entirely separate 
 from each other, each having its own government, 
 they served alike as a home for all who had been 
 persecuted elsewhere, and it was said that any one 
 ■who had lost his religion would find it in Rhode 
 Island. 
 
 In 1644 a charter was obtained from the English 
 Parliament uniting the two colonies under the 
 name of " Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
 tions," which is still their legal name to-day. New- 
 port (at the southern end of the Island of Rhodes) 
 and Providence were both made capitals of the 
 colony and are now of the State. On the accession 
 of Charles II. a new charter was granted, confirming 
 the colonists in all their liberties and giving them 
 
 a.'yri^ 
 
 PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND. 
 
 ample powers of self-government. This charte\ 
 was suspended while Andros was governor of New 
 England (i 686-1 689), but afterwards resumed its 
 force and continued to be the basis of law until 
 1842. 
 
 There is little of interest or importance in the 
 early history of Rhode Island. The Indians gave 
 her scarcely any trouble, and her principal difficul- 
 ties were with Massachusetts, who, on account of 
 her religious toleration, tried 
 to prevent all trading and 
 other communications be- 
 tween the two colonies. 
 When Roger Williams went 
 to England to obtain a char- 
 ter Massachusetts would not 
 allow him to sail from Boston, 
 so that he was obliged to 
 start from New Amsterdam. 
 She also had disputes about 
 her boundaries with both 
 Massachusetts and Connecti- 
 cut, who between them 
 claimed pretty much all her 
 territory, excepting the isl- 
 ands" in Narragansett Ba)% 
 but she was firm and insisted 
 upon her rights, and the mat- 
 ter was as last settled in 1 741, 
 
26 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 giving her the land she claimed and which she now 
 occupies. 
 
 None of the other colonies had laws as gentle or 
 liberal as Rhode Island or granted as much freedom 
 to their inhabitants. Indeed they were so afraid of 
 tyranny that when Williams refused to be their gov- 
 ernor, they went without one for forty years to 
 avoid the danger of choosing one who might prove 
 a tyrant. 
 
 it grew very slowly and from its exposed position 
 suffered a great deal from Indian attacks, its inhab- 
 itants seemed to thrive, and at the outbreak of the 
 Revolution it was a strong and resolute colony. 
 During much of its early history the settlers were 
 engaged in disputes with Mason's heirs, who, though 
 they had a legal right to the land, found it impos- 1 
 sible to gain possession of it and were at length com- 
 pelled to give up their attempts to drive the settlers 
 
 WILLIAMS' PRAYER-MEETING HOUSE, PROVIDENCE. 
 
 6. New Hampshire. 
 
 Religion had nothing to do with the settlement 
 of New Hampshire, as it had with the other New 
 England colonics. Fishing was the attraction which 
 led to the starting in 1623 of little villages at Dover 
 and Portsmouth, which for fifty or sixty years re- 
 mained very small, being scarcely anjthing more 
 than mere fishing stations. It received its name 
 from the English county (Hampshire) in which lived 
 John Mason, to whom the Council of Plymouth had 
 granted the land in 1622. 
 
 Its history is closely connected with that of Massa- 
 chusetts, to which it was three times formally united 
 and from which it was as many times separated. 
 It was also once made part of New York. Though 
 
 ofi' and were forced to allow them to remain on it m 
 peace. 
 
 7. Maryland. 
 
 As Massachusetts was settled by persecuted Pil- 
 grims and Puritans, so Marj-land was settled by 
 persecuted Roman Catholics, whose sufferings for 
 their religion in England were even greater than 
 those of the Pilgrims and Puritans. 
 
 At first they attempted to found a colony in New- 
 foundland, but climate and soil were both against 
 them and the attempt had to be abandoned. Next 
 they planned to join the settlement in Virginia, 
 but the sentiment there was too strongly opposed 
 to Roman Catholics to permit of it. So a tract of 
 land north of the Potomac was obtained for them 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 
 2^ 
 
 from Charles I. and in honor of his wife (Henrietta 
 Maria) was named Maryland. 
 
 This land was actually given to Lord Baltimore 
 (Sir George Calvert), a prominent Catholic and 
 formerly a member of the London Company. He 
 had greatly interested himself in finding a home 
 for his fellow-Catholics in America, had started the 
 Newfoundland colony and had endeavored to ob- 
 tain their admittance to Virginia. Before the patent 
 (or title-deed) was signed by the King, Calvert died, 
 and the name of his son, Cecil Calvert, who by his 
 father's death had become Lord Baltimore, was 
 thereupon inserted in the deed in place of his 
 father's. This patent gave Maryland to Lord Balti- 
 more and to his descendents forever, and they did 
 remain its proprietors until the Revolution. 
 
 The first settlement in Maryland was made near 
 the mouth of the Potomac in 1634, and was called 
 St. Mary's. Annapolis, now the capital of the State 
 and the place where the United States Naval Acad- 
 emy is situated, was founded in 1683, and Baltimore 
 in 1 729. Virginia was very jealous of the new colony 
 and made her all the trouble she could. The tract 
 given Calvert had been part of her own territory 
 and had been taken away by Charles without her 
 consent or knowledge just as she was about coloniz- 
 ing it. But though her opposition created diflficul- 
 ties and even caused some bloodshed, Lord Balti- 
 more retained his rights and the colony prospered. 
 
 Though founded for and by Roman Catholics, 
 Maryland gladly welcomed all Christians by what- 
 ever name they called themselves to her settle- 
 ments. In this respect she was more liberal than 
 any of the other early colonies, excepting only 
 Rhode Island, who did not limit her welcome to 
 Christians, but who received Jew and sceptic as 
 freely as Baptist or Churchman. Marj-land was 
 equally liberal in political matters, giving every 
 settler an equal vote in making laws for the colony. 
 
 This liberality the Catholics afterwards had reason 
 to regret, for it caused so many Protestants who 
 had been persecuted elsewhere to take refuge in 
 Maryland that in time they outnumbered the Catho- 
 lics and then ungratefully deprived the latter of the 
 right to vote in the very colony founded especially 
 for them. 
 
 Maryland had no trouble with the Indians, and, 
 excepting the early difficulties with Virginia, lived 
 at peace with all the world. When Pennsylvania 
 was colonized a difference of opinion arose between 
 her and Maryland regarding the boundary line 
 between the two colonies, which was not settled till 
 the year in which the French and Indian war was 
 ended (1763). The division line then agreed upon 
 
 was called, from the names of the two sur\'eyors 
 who ran it, " Mason and Dixon's line," and served 
 
 HENRIETTA. 
 
 not only to separate Pennsylvania and Maryland 
 but for a hundred years marked in popular speech 
 the boundary between the free and the slave States. 
 
 8. Neiv Jersey. 
 
 New Jersey had been part of the New Nether- 
 lands, and, on the surrender of the latter to the 
 English in 1664, passed with the other possessions 
 of the Dutch into the ownership of the Duke of 
 York, who sold it the same year to Lord Berkeley 
 and Sir George Carteret. The latter gave it its 
 name from the Island of Jersey, in the English 
 Channel, of which he had once been governor. 
 
 Though the Swedes and Dutch had begun some 
 small settlements there soon after New Amsterdam 
 was founded, they were of little account, and the 
 real colonization of New Jersey may be said to 
 have started with Elizabeth, settled in 1664 by 
 Puritans from Long Island. Connecticut emigrants 
 settled Newark in 1666, and the Quakers Burling- 
 ton in 1677. In 1676 Berkeley and Carteret divided 
 the tract between them, East Jersey falling to the 
 latter and West Jersey to the former. Gradually 
 
28 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the Quakers bought up most of the land, and with 
 some Scottish Presbyterians became the principal 
 settlers. There was perfect liberty of conscience 
 throughout the colony, which in this respect resem- 
 bled Rhode Island and Maryland. It passed out 
 of the possession of the proprietors in 1702 and 
 became a royal colony. For a time it was made 
 part of New York, though with a separate assembly, 
 but in 1738 it became an independent colony and 
 remained one until the Revolution made it a State. 
 Though the people in New Jersey at no time in 
 its colonial history were allowed to choose their 
 own governors, they were permitted to make their 
 own laws and they received from Berkeley and 
 Carteret many privileges which really amounted to 
 a charter, though they were not one in name. Un- 
 der royal governors the colony did not fare so well, 
 still it prospered, and the liberal laws attracted 
 many settlers from New York and other colonies 
 •who added to its wealth. The large manufactories 
 for which New Jersey is now famed were at that 
 time unknown, and most of the community then 
 were farmers. 
 
 In 1746 the College of New Jersey 'was founded 
 at Elizabeth, but was removed in 1757 to Princeton. 
 It was the fourth American college to be established, 
 following Yale and preceding the University of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 g. Pennsylvania. 
 
 Like so many of the other colonies, Pennsylvania 
 was founded as a refuge for those who had been 
 
 PENN'S arrival in AMERICA. 
 
 persecuted for their religion in England, only this 
 time it was neither Pilgrims nor Puritans, Baptists 
 nor Roman Catholics who sought a home in the 
 New World, but Quakers or members of the Society 
 of Friends. 
 
 Their leader was William Penn. He was one of 
 the most eminent Quakers in England, and was the 
 son of a distinguished admiral in the British Navy, 
 who had loaned a large sum of money to Charles II. 
 to aid him in regaining his father's throne. Penn 
 proposed to the King that in payment of this debt 
 he should be given some land in America. This 
 Charles was very willing to do, and in 1681 granted 
 him the tract which now forms the State of Penn- 
 sylvania, a Latin word meaning " Penn's Woods." 
 
 Penn came over with a large body of settlers in 
 1682, and his first act was to buy the land needed 
 for his colony from the Indians and to make a 
 friendly treaty with them, which he took care 
 should not afterwards be broken by the whites. 
 His treatment of them was so just and so kind that 
 the Indians always were on the best of terms with 
 the Quakers, and would trust any one wearing their 
 dress. The year after his arrival (1683) Penn laid 
 out Philadelphia (" the city of brotherly love "), 
 which soon became the largest city in this country 
 and remained the largest until New York gained 
 the lead in 1820. 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 
 29 
 
 In addition to the land obtained from King 
 Charles, Penn bought (1682) from the Duke of York 
 what is now the State of Delaware and which had 
 been, like New Jersey, part of the New Netherlands. 
 Settlements had already been made there and in 
 some parts of Pennsylvania proper by the Swedes 
 and Dutch as early as 1635, and by some English 
 a little later. Penn did not disturb these settlers 
 in their possessions ; he even paid them for land 
 occupied by them, which he desired as a site for 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Though the colony was intended as an asylum 
 for Quakers, others were received into it as freely 
 
 the attempts of the latter to again become King of 
 England. But it was soon restored to him and 
 remained in the posession of his family for nearly 
 a hundred years, until in 1779 their rights were 
 bought by the State for six hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 10. Delaware. 
 
 Delaware was first settled by the Swedes near 
 the present city of Wilmington in 1638, and the 
 name of New Sweden was given by them to the 
 surrounding country, which they bought from the 
 Indians. The Dutch considered it a part of the 
 
 PENN S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 
 
 as were the Friends, and no one ' believing in 
 Almighty God " was excluded or questioned further 
 as to his faith. The governor was appointed by 
 Penn, but the people elected the law-makers and 
 chose most of their other officers. So excellent 
 was the form of government adopted at the start, 
 that scarcely any change was made m it until the 
 colony became an independent State at the out- 
 break of the Revolution m 1776. 
 
 In 1692 Pennsylvania was for a short time taken 
 away from Penn by William and Mary, because he 
 was suspected of sympathizing with James II. in 
 
 New Netherlands, and in 1655 compelled the Swedes 
 to submit to their authority. When King Charles 
 seized all the Dutch possessions in 1664 and gave 
 them to his brother, the Duke of York, the latter 
 soon sold (16S2) Delaware to William Penn. From 
 that time until the Revolution it formed part of 
 Pennsylvania, though after 1703 it had a separate 
 assembly, but not a separate governor. During its 
 colonial history, it was known as " the Territories " 
 or " the three lower counties on the Delaware," so 
 called from the river on which they were situated and 
 which took its name from Lord Delaware. When 
 
3° 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the colonies separated from Great Britain in 1776 
 it organized a government independent of Penn- 
 sylvania and so became one of the thirteen original 
 States. 
 
 Under the rule of Penn and of his descendants it 
 shared the mild, liberal government of the people 
 of Pennsylvania. The occupation (farming) of the 
 inhabitants of the two colonies was the same, and 
 their history was uneventful but prosperous. 
 
 planted in 1664 by emigrants from Virginia on the 
 Chowan River and named Albemarle, and the fol- 
 lowing year another settlement was established near 
 Wilmington and called the Clarendon County col- 
 ony. Both of these names were those of prominent 
 proprietors of the grant. 
 
 The form of government adopted for Carolina 
 was a peculiar one and unlike that of any of" the 
 other colonies. It was drawn up for the proprietors 
 
 PENN S HOUSE. 
 
 //. North Carolina. 
 
 A hundred years passed after the failure of the 
 French to settle at Port Royal before another at- 
 tempt was make to colonize that part of our country. 
 Then the English tried and succeeded. 
 
 In 1663 the territory now included in both Caro- 
 linas, Georgia and the northern half of Florida was 
 given by the English sovereign to eight proprietors 
 who retained the name of Carolina previously given 
 it by the French as it honored their present King, 
 Charles 1 1., as much as it had the forrner French one, 
 Charles IX. (The Latin word for Charles is " Caro- 
 lus;" hence, "Carolina.") 
 
 Under these eight joint-owners a colony was 
 
 by the celebrated English philosopher, John Locke, 
 and created a nobility of various degrees of rank 
 (called barons, landgraves and caziques), who were 
 to possess all the authority, leaving the people with- 
 out any share in the government. This the settlers 
 naturally did not like, so that the scheme, after a 
 trial of twenty years, had to be abandoned. 
 
 Besides the colonies in Albemarle and Clarendon 
 counties, other settlements were made, chiefly in 
 the southern part of the grant. For a considerable 
 time these were all under one government, but the 
 distance between the northern and southern settle- 
 ments was so great that it was finally thought best 
 to separate them into two counties of the same 
 provmce— North and South Carolina. Though 
 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 
 
 31 
 
 these had different governors, they were still both 
 under control of the same proprietors and were 
 properly regarded as one colony until 1729, when a 
 ijnal separation was made and they became inde- 
 pendent of each other. They then became royal 
 colonies, the proprietors giving back the territory to 
 (the King on account of their inability to collect 
 itheir rents from the settlers. 
 
 In none of the colonies was the population so 
 
 scattered as in North 
 Carolina, and few of 
 them were so poor. 
 But though it grew 
 ^slowly it grew surely and soon became firmly estab- 
 'lished, and the people showed great independence 
 :and liberality. No religious persecution was allowed, 
 :and the attempt to adopt the Church of England as 
 :a state (or colonial) church was defeated in North 
 • Carolina while it succeeded in South Carolina. The 
 •governors sent from England to rule over North 
 'Carolina were among the worst that any of the colo- 
 mies were afflicted 'with, and its colonial history con- 
 ;sists almost entlirely of a series of conflicts on the 
 part of the people to defend their rights against the 
 ttyranny,.(a'f 4'he King's representatives. 
 
 V 
 
 12. South Carolina. 
 
 The 'first settlement in what is now South Caro- 
 llina wasimade in 4670 on the Ashley River and be- 
 came affteiwandj "known as Old Charleston. Ten 
 
 years later the settlement was removed to where 
 the Cooper River unites with the Ashley and the 
 foundations laid of the present city of Charleston. 
 The colonists who in 1665 had settled in Clarendon 
 County (North Carolina), but who had not prospered 
 there, removed in a body to this new settlement, 
 which also received a number of Huguenots (French 
 Protestants), as well as some Dutch from New York 
 who were discontented with the changes which 
 followed its transfer to the 
 W^^ English. Other settle- 
 
 W~ ments sprang up in South 
 
 Carolina in addition to 
 '-J the one about Charleston, 
 but that for a long time 
 was the only town of any 
 importance in the colony. 
 Farming and hunting 
 and the extraction of tar 
 and turpentine from trees 
 were the principal occupa- 
 tions of the North Caro- 
 linians. In South Caro- 
 lina the production of rice 
 was at first the great in- 
 dustry of its people, and 
 like furs in New York and 
 tobacco in Maryland and 
 Virginia, rice in South 
 Carolina was used in place 
 of money. Later on, the 
 cultivation of indigo was 
 introduced and became even more important than 
 rice. The raising and export to England of these 
 two articles made South Carolina one of the richest 
 of the thirteen colonies. Cotton, which afterwards 
 became " king " throughout the South, was raised 
 very little before the Revolutionary War, as there 
 was no machinery then for cleaning it or separating 
 the seeds from the fibre. 
 
 Until Georgia was settled South Carolina was 
 exposed on her southern side to attacks from the 
 Spaniards in Florida, and between 1702 and 1706 
 there was warfare between the settlements of the 
 two different nations, during which St. Augustine 
 was captured, but it did not remain long in the 
 English hands, the Spaniards soon retaking it. 
 South Carolina also had trouble with Indian allies 
 of Florida, but with the aid of Virginia and Mary- 
 land she defeated them and finally broke their power 
 so that they left her in peace. 
 
 Though the people of South Carolina in 1706 
 made the Church of England the religion of the 
 colony, there was no persecution of those of a differ-* 
 
 THE DELAWARE RIVER. 
 
32 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ent belief. There was the same opposition in South 
 Carolina on the part of the settlers to the payment 
 of rents to the proprietors that there was in North 
 Carolina, and it was this which caused the two Caro- 
 linas to be given back by their joint-owners to the 
 King in 1729, and to their becoming from that time 
 until 1776 separate royal colonies. 
 
 I J. Geoi'g ia. 
 
 Georgia, the last of the thirteen colonies to be 
 settled, had been part of the tract given to the 
 proprietors of Carolina, and which they gave back 
 to the English crown in 1729. No attempt to col- 
 onize it was made during the ownership of the 
 proprietors, nor did South Carolina, after she be- 
 came a separate royal colony, look upon it as a 
 very valuable part of her territory. She was there- 
 fore quite willing to part with it when George II. 
 in 1732 granted this land to James Oglethorpe and 
 others as a home for poor people. 
 
 Oglethorpe was an officer in the English army who 
 had become very much interested in the miserable 
 state of the English poor, and who had devoted his 
 life to doing whatever was in his power to raise 
 their condition. Among his plans was founding a 
 colony for them in America, where he thought they 
 might succeed better than they had done in Eng- 
 land. So he obtained a grant of this land from the 
 King, and secured from Parliament a sum of money 
 with which to start the enterprise. 
 
 The new colony was named Georgia in honor of 
 
 King George, and the first settlement in it was made 
 at Savannah in 1733 under the personal direction 
 of Oglethorpe himself. Like the earliest Virginia 
 settlers, the Savannah colonists were poor material 
 for pioneers, comprising chiefly London tradesmen, 
 who had failed in the effort to make a living in the 
 Old World, and who were in every way unsuitad to 
 the task before them in the New World. A better 
 class afterwards joined them, who somewhat im- 
 proved and strengthened the colony, but it grew 
 very slowly and remained the weakest, if not the 
 poorest of the original colonies. 
 
 The government at first was placed by the King 
 in the hands of twenty-one trustees, whose power 
 was to last twenty-one years, but before that time 
 expired, they gave back their authority to the King 
 (1752), and Georgia, like most of the others, became 
 a royal colony. 
 
 Oglethorpe followed Penn's policy in paying the 
 Indians for the land used by his colonists, and this 
 secured him the friendship of the Indians, who 
 therefore gave the Georgia settlers very little trouble. 
 Their nearness to Florida, however, often brought 
 them into conflict with the Spaniards settled there, 
 and for many years the two nations were almost at 
 constant war, neither side gaining much advantage 
 over the other. 
 
 After spending ten years in Georgia, Oglethorpe 
 returned to England, where he lived long enough 
 to see the independence of the colony he had es- 
 tablished acknowledged by Great Britain. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE WHITES AND THE INDIANS. 
 
 Between the beginning of the settlement of the 
 country at Jamestown in 1607 and the outbreak of 
 the Revolutionary War in 1776 the number of white 
 people in America had increased from one hundred 
 to two and a half millions. By far the largest 
 part of these were English, but by no means all. 
 For besides the Dutch in New York, the Swedes in 
 Delaware and in New Jersey, the French Huguenots 
 in South Carolina, who have already been spoken 
 of, there were scattered throughout the thirteen 
 colonies many Germans, Scotch, Irish and people 
 from other European countries, who, like the Eng- 
 lish, had come here to secure for themselves and 
 for their children, greater freedom and better homes 
 than they could have any hope of ever obtaining in 
 crowded Europe. 
 
 The discomforts and sufferings of those wno first 
 came were very great. Only a few could afford to 
 build any but the plainest and cheapest houses. 
 Most of them had to be content with log-cabins, 
 without floors. Many had only bark huts, like the 
 wigwams made by the Indians, and some had to 
 live in holes dug in the ground. Their furniture 
 was of the simplest kind, benches, stools, tables and 
 bedsteads being all home-made; for the number of 
 colonists who were able to bring these things with 
 them across the ocean was very small. Carpets 
 were unknown and their place supplied with sand 
 sprinkled upon the floor. 
 
 At first the settlements were all scattered along 
 the coast, and were quite a distance apart. There 
 were no roads between them, only bridle-paths and 
 
33 
 
 MASSACRE OF SETTLERS. 
 
34 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Indian trails, and travelling from one to another 
 was extremely difficult and dangerous. Journeys 
 which we can now make in a few hours then took 
 days and even weeks, and it was easier and safer to 
 cross the ocean from America to England than to 
 travel from New York to Boston. 
 
 All of this, however, gradually improved. As the 
 settlements increased in number and in size, the 
 distance between them grew smaller. Roads were 
 made and bridges built, so that regular intercourse 
 could be held between towns and villages and 
 between the difTerent colonies. And by the time 
 the war of independence began, it was possible to 
 journey through the entire range of settlements 
 with some degree of comfort, if not with any great 
 ■degree of speed. 
 
 With the growth in population and lapse of time, 
 tne wealth of the colonists also increased. They 
 were able to build better houses than they first 
 occupied; to give up the clothes made of leather 
 which they first wore, for garments of cloth ; and 
 to surround themselves with many comforts and 
 luxuries which at first they had been compelled to 
 •do without. 
 
 Though the colonists were still dependent upon 
 England for the supply of many articles needed by 
 them, and which could not be obtained in America, 
 they amply paid for whatever they received with 
 the tobacco, rice, indigo, furs and other valuable 
 products raised by them. They became not only 
 able to support themselves, to accumulate wealth 
 and to pay the expenses of their town and colonial 
 governments, but were also able to give money and 
 ships to the King of England to aid him in carrj'ing 
 on his wars. All the colonies were not equally 
 prosperous, nor were all the settlers in each colony 
 •equally well off, but they were on the whole all 
 improving and constantly bettering their condition. 
 Much of their wealth came from the labor of slaves, 
 who, before the Revolution began, were to be found 
 an all of the colonies. 
 
 During a considerable part of the one hundred 
 and seventy years of colonial history, the whites 
 and Indians were on terms of friendship. Some of 
 the colonies, as Georgia, New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
 vania, by their just and kind treatment of the 
 natives, remained at peace with them throughout 
 all this time. Others were less wise or less fortu- 
 nate and suffered cruelly at their hands. The early 
 settlers in these colonies did not dare to attend 
 church unarmed. They carried their weapons to 
 the cornfield and kept them within reach when 
 they went to bed at night. Block-houses were built 
 large enough to cpntain all the people in the settle- 
 
 ment, to be used in case of an Indian rising, and 
 sometimes an entire village would be enclosed with 
 a stockade or wall, to shut out the common enemy. 
 The fault in these disturbances was sometimes on 
 one side and sometimes on the other, but it^was 
 oftener with the whites than with the Indians. The 
 earliest explorers and colonists found the natives 
 peaceable, generous and friendly, but when they 
 were ill-treated or thought themselves wrongly used, 
 they became revengeful and horribly cruel. And 
 many of the whites did ill-treat them. They seemed 
 to think the Indians had no right to the land they 
 were occupying when the whites came, or to their 
 other property, and they did not scruple to seize 
 whatever they wished. In revenge the Indians 
 would kill the first colonists they met, whether they 
 were the wrong-doers or not. and this would bring 
 on a general Indian outbreak. The wise foresight 
 of Penn, Oglethorpe and the founders of some of 
 the other colonies, in strictly insisting at the outset 
 that neither land nor anything else must be taken 
 from the Indians without their consent or without 
 full payment, saved their settlements from much 
 suffering, which other colonies brought on them- 
 selves by showing less care for the rights of their 
 Indian neighbors. Humanity and honesty proved 
 the best policy with the Indians, as they have with 
 other people. 
 
 Few of the Indian outbreaks deserve the name of 
 wars or need to be even mentioned. They were 
 usually very brief, and onl)' a single village or a 
 single colony would be concerned in them. Vir- 
 ginia, New York, Georgia and most of the other 
 colonies suffered more or less from such risings, 
 and there are few towns or cities in the United 
 States, two hundred years old, whose history does 
 not contain some account of Indian troubles. 
 
 Of the really serious difficulties with the Indians, 
 by far the most important was the long series of 
 wars in which the French settlers in Canada as well 
 as the Indians were opposed to the English col- 
 onists. But before coming to this there were two 
 purely Indian wars which require some mention : 
 the Pequot War and King Philip's War. 
 
 The Pequots were a race of Indians living on 
 the shores of Long Island Sound east of the Con- 
 necticut River. They had had some disagreement 
 with Massachusetts, and to revenge themselves at- 
 tacked and killed a number of Connecticut settlers. 
 Connecticut, aided by Massachusetts, sent a body 
 of soldiers against them, who, though at first un- 
 successful, by the end of the year (1637) entirely 
 destroyed the tribe, killing nearly nine hundred of 
 their number in battle. Had it not been for the 
 
THE WHITES AND THE INDIANS. 
 
 35 
 
 influence of Roger Williams in dissuading the Nar- 
 ragansetts from join i ng the Pequots, the result of the 
 war might not have been so favorable to the whites. 
 In King Philip's War all of the New England colo- 
 nies were concerned. It was brought about by a 
 younger son of Massasoit, who had made the treaty 
 with the Plymouth Pilgrims when they first landed, 
 and who faithfully kept it during his long life. But 
 he died in 1659, and his son (named by the whites 
 King Philip), who then became chief of the Wam- 
 
 former was found drowned. Thereupon the colo- 
 nists seized three Wampanoag Indians and hung 
 them upon suspicion of having committed the mur- 
 der. This caused a war, for which the Indians had 
 been already secretly preparing, to at once break 
 out, and a number of towns in western Massachu- 
 setts were attacked at almost the same moment and 
 their inhabitants killed. 
 
 All of the colonies in New England promptly 
 united in defence, and the war thus begun lasted 
 
 ATTACK ON THE PEQUOT FORT. 
 
 panoags, was of different temper from his father, 
 and looked upon the growing settlements of the 
 English with a jealous eye, fearing that in time they 
 would entirely drive out the Indians. He visited 
 the various tribes from Maine to the Hudson, and 
 persuaded them all to unite in a league against the 
 colonists. 
 
 This scheme or plot of Philip's was discovered by 
 a converted native missionary and told to the mag- 
 istrates of Plymouth. Not long afterwards the in- 
 
 for two years (1675-1677), during which six hun- 
 dred settlers lost their lives in open battle and an un- 
 known but probably much larger number in mas- 
 sacre and by starvation. Thirteen towns were de- 
 stroyed and many more attacked and injured. The 
 superior arms and better discipline of the whites 
 at length proved too much for the Indians, who 
 were driven back from point to point and finally 
 were completely and overwhelmingly defeated. King 
 Philip was killed and his son sold into slavery. 
 
36 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS. 
 
 The French and Indian wars had their origin in 
 difficulties and jealousies between the English and 
 French settlers along the Mississippi River and in the 
 Northwest, as Ohio and the region about it were then 
 called. For while the English were busy in plant- 
 ing their colonies on the Atlantic coast, the French 
 were not only extending their settlements along 
 the St. Lawrence in Canada, but were also estab- 
 lishing themselves on the Mississippi River, and 
 
 But as their colonies grew stronger and their pop- 
 ulation larger, they began to push into the wil- 
 derness, and this brought them into conflict with. 
 the French. The first difficulty between the two 
 nationalities arose as early as 1689, and was followed 
 by others at frequent intervals, until the final strug- 
 gle was ended in favor of the English in 1 763. These 
 little wars usually had for their pretext European 
 conflicts in progress at the time between France 
 
 NEW ORLE.^NS. 
 
 in northern New York, in Michigan, and at other 
 points near the Canadian border in what is now 
 the United States. They had obtained a grant of 
 Louisiana (so named by them in honor of their King, 
 Louis XIV.), and in 1718 founded the city of New 
 Orleans, which soon became the most important 
 point on the Mississippi. To secure the safety of 
 these settlements they built a chain of forts, sixty 
 in number, from New Orleans to Montreal. 
 
 All of this mattered very little to the English at 
 first, for while their settlements were few and small 
 they did not venture very far back from the coast. 
 
 and England, and the names given to them are 
 generally those of the English king or queen during- 
 whose reign they broke out. They really form but 
 parts of one long war which had for its object the 
 determination of the question which nation, the 
 English or the French, was to rule North America. 
 These earlier struggles, known as King William's 
 War, Queen Anne's War, King George's War, etc.. 
 though they scarcely desen-e such dignified names, 
 resulted in no decided gain to either side, the 
 French perhaps profiting a little more than the 
 English. They were of slight importance in tliem- 
 
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS. 
 
 37 
 
 ■selves, but they gradual- 
 ly led up to something 
 which was of real im- 
 portance and which is 
 known in American his- 
 tory as the French and 
 Indian War. 
 
 Unlike the minor wars 
 which preceded this 
 final contest between 
 the settlers of these two 
 nations, the French and 
 Indian War originated 
 on this continent and 
 at a time when the par- 
 ent countries in Europe 
 v.ere at peace with each 
 other. Its cause may be 
 found in the attempt 
 which was made by the 
 English to open up and 
 settle the western lands 
 on a larger scale than had ever before been tried. 
 
 About the middle of the last century some Lon- 
 don merchants united with a number of Virginia 
 planters to form the Ohio Company, which bought 
 a large tract of land west of the Alleghany Moun- 
 tains with a view to inducing settlers to move 
 there. 
 
 As soon as this Company began operations by 
 sending out surveyors and traders and by making 
 roads for emigrants, the French colonists became 
 alarmed, justly fearing if the English succeeded in 
 
 SCENE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 OHIO RIVER. 
 
 UNLOADING A COTTON STEAMER AT NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 settling that region as extensively as they planned 
 that the French would soon be obliged to entirely 
 withdraw from the interior of the continent and to 
 content themselves with their Canadian possessions. 
 To prevent this and to secure for themselves the 
 land desired by the Ohio Company, the French in 
 '753 P"t up a strong fort where the city of Erie 
 now stands, and prepared to build other forts extend- 
 ing from that point to the Ohio River. Virginia 
 claimed this land as part of her territory and the 
 governor of the colony sent George Washington, 
 then only twenty-two years old, but who 
 had already acquired distinction on the 
 frontier as a sur\-eyor, to protest against 
 this action oi the French. Though he was 
 received with civility and courtesy, Wash- 
 ington did not succeed in his mission and 
 had to return with the refusal of the 
 French commander to either give up the 
 fort or to leave the disputed territory. 
 
 During Washington's absence Virginia 
 had raised a body of four hundred soldiers, 
 and she promptly replied to this message 
 by sending him back at the head of this 
 force to protect a fort which the Ohio 
 Company was building on the site of the 
 city of Pittsburg. But the French were 
 before him and had seized and strength- 
 ened the fort, which they then named Fort 
 Du Ouesne, before he could get there. 
 They then hastened on to attack Wash- 
 ington, who defeated their advance guard. 
 
38 
 
 nrSTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 but who thought it wiser to fall back before the 
 main body of the French, as it greatly exceeded in 
 numbers his force. He retired to a small fort 
 (named by him Fort Necessity) near Fort Du 
 Quesne, and there (on July 4, 1754) he surrendered 
 to the French on the condition that he and his sol- 
 diers might return to Virginia. 
 
 In the contest that followed, the French received 
 very valuable aid from their Indian allies, as indeed 
 
 they had all acted together, but they knew that this 
 western land was necessary for the growth of their 
 country and that all were equally interested in keep- 
 ing out the French. England and France were at 
 first disposed to let the colonists fight it out by 
 themselves, but they soon became involved in one 
 of their frequent wars with each other in Europe 
 and so in self-defence sent troops to the aid of their 
 settlers in America. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF INDIAN AUXILIARIES AT FORT DU QUESNE. 
 
 they had in their earlier difficulties with the Eng- 
 lish. It was this which gave it the name of the 
 French and Indian War. The French treatment of 
 the Indians had been much more friendly than that 
 of the English ; they had regarded them more as 
 equals, had shown them greater kindness in every 
 way, and so the Indians were far more willing to as- 
 sist the French than they were to help the English. 
 All the colonies rallied to the assistance of Vir- 
 ginia and voted arms, money and men to fight the 
 French. It was the first time in their historj' that 
 
 At first the English were unsuccessful, for though 
 they drove the French out of Nova Scotia and de- 
 feated a body of French and Indians in northern 
 New York near Lake George, they were badly beat- 
 en in an attempt to capture Fort Du Quesne, and 
 their commander. General Braddock, and half his 
 force were killed. Washington served as an aide to 
 Braddock in this campaign, and by his skill and 
 coolness checked the pursuit of the enemy after the 
 defeat and brought the survivors back to Virginia. 
 This was in 1755, and for two years more the Eng- 
 
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS. 
 
 39 
 
 lish did not do much better, for though they kept nient to lead the colonial troops. The French sol- 
 attacking the French at many points they did not diers were a smaller body of men, but they were bet- 
 succeed in gaining possession of the coveted coun- ter organized and had for their commander a briU- 
 
 braddock's forces surprised by an ambuscade. 
 
 try, but even lost the few forts they had built along 
 the border between Canada and New York. 
 
 The chief cause of these disasters was the poor 
 quality of the officers sent by the British Govern- 
 
 iant general (Montcalm), who with his few soldiers 
 was more than a match for his opponents with their 
 larger forces. In time England realized her mis- 
 take, and by 1758 matters improved. More able 
 
40 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 GENERAL MONTCALM. 
 
 commanders were sent to America, who, instead of 
 frittering away their strength in a multitude of lit- 
 tle and trifling engagements, attacked three points 
 that were of real importance, and two of these they 
 captured. These were Louisburg on Cape Breton 
 Island and Fort Du Ouesne, which was then re- 
 named Fort Pitt in honor of the Prime Minister of 
 Great Britain, William Pitt. Ticonderoga (in New 
 York), the third point of attack, was defended by 
 Montcalm in person, and here the English were less 
 fortunate, for though they tried again and again, 
 Montcalm each time drove them back, and at length 
 they had to retire, leaving fifteen hundred of their 
 men dead behind them. Though they did not take 
 Ticonderoga, the English did capture Fort Fronte- 
 nac (where the Canadian city of Kingston now 
 stands) and drove the French out of northwestern 
 New York. 
 
 From this time on the successes of the English 
 were almost continuous, and the capture of Quebec 
 in 1759 virtually ended the war, for after that the 
 French forts surrendered as fast as the English ap- 
 peared before them to demand it. Montcalm lost 
 his life in battle on the Plains of Abraham before 
 Quebec, as did also his English opponent. General 
 Wolfe. The dying words of each showed the char- 
 .acters of the two men. When Montcalm was told 
 
 that he must die, he said : " So much the better ; I 
 shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." 
 W^olfe was mortally wounded when word was 
 brought to him that the battle was won : " Then .( 
 die happy," he said. 
 
 By the close of 1760 Montreal and all the other 
 American possessions of the French were in the 
 hands of the English, and the French troops had 
 returned to France. But though hostilities had 
 ceased in this countr}', they did not end in Europe 
 until 1763, when a treaty of peace was signed by the 
 three countries (Spain had assisted France in Eu- 
 rope) by which France gave up to Great Britain all 
 of her. territory in America east of the Mississippi 
 and to Spain what lay west of that river. From 
 Spain England obtained Florida, in exchange for 
 Havana. The district granted Spain extended from 
 the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, and the 
 name of Louisiana given it by the French was re- 
 tained by Spain. France bought it back from Spain 
 in 1800 and in 1S03 sold it to the United States. 
 
 The French and Indian War did this great service 
 for the colonists: it taught them to act together 
 and in unison. It also gave them experience in 
 warfare and in military matters. The colonial sol- 
 diers fighting by the side of British troops gained 
 both knowledge and confidence in themselves, and 
 they and their officers learnt many a valuable lesson 
 which a dozen years later they put to good use in 
 the Revolutionary War. 
 
 GE.NERAL WOLFE. 
 
SEPARATION FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 41 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SEPARATION FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 How many boys and girls have ever noticed in 
 looking at the American flag that it always has 
 just thirteen stripes? And how many know that 
 these stripes repre- 
 sent the thirteen 
 colonies whose set- 
 tlement you have 
 been read ing about? 
 These were the first 
 States, and though 
 others have since 
 come into the Un- 
 ion whose territory 
 is larger, whose pop- 
 ulation is greater, 
 and which are rich- 
 er and perhaps more 
 enterprising than 
 ■were some of these 
 original colonies, 
 yet the names of 
 these t h i rteen 
 should always be 
 gratefully remem- 
 bered by every 
 American, for 
 it was their self- 
 denial, courage and 
 perseverance which 
 in the first place 
 colonized the coun- 
 trj', and in the sec- 
 ond place freed it 
 and made of it the 
 Union. 
 
 We have seen that 
 each of these col- 
 onies had some- 
 thing different 
 about it from the 
 others. New York 
 was Dutch, Penn- 
 sylvania was Qua- 
 ker, Maryland was 
 Catholic, New Jer- 
 sey Swedish, Massachusetts Puritan, and Virginia 
 Cavalier. Even where the nationality and the re- 
 ligion were the same a difference in the wealth of 
 the setUers or in their character soon made itself 
 
 ANDROS h PKISllX 
 (From Buttirworth's "Vouns Folks 
 
 apparent in differences in the laws and customs 
 of the colonies, and Massachusetts was not the 
 same as Connecticut or North Carolina the same 
 
 as South Carolina. 
 But whatever 
 their differences 
 might be they were 
 alike in one respect: 
 they were all jeal- 
 ous of their rights; 
 none of them liked 
 English inter- 
 ference in their af- 
 fairs ; and each of 
 them preferred to 
 make its own laws 
 and to govern itself 
 rather than to be 
 ruled by the British 
 King or by the Brit- 
 ish Parliament. 
 
 This showed itself 
 very early in their 
 history when King 
 James II., who 
 seemed to believe 
 that the people nei- 
 ther in England nor 
 America had any 
 rights which he was 
 bound to respect, 
 attempted to take 
 away the charters 
 which had already 
 been given the col- 
 onies and sent over 
 Sir Edmond An- 
 dros to govern New 
 England and New 
 York without re- 
 gard to law. For 
 three years (1686- 
 1689) the people op- 
 posed and resisted 
 him every way they 
 could, and at length seized him by force and sent 
 him back to London. Some of the other governors 
 in New York and North Carolina fared no better; 
 the people rose in arms and compelled them to 
 
 ER IX BOS'KJX. 
 History of the United States.") 
 
42 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 leave the country. In Virginia as well there was 
 open rebellion, and the colonies were few in num- 
 ber where there was not more or less resistance at 
 times to the royal authority. 
 
 From the outset the British government showed 
 but little sympathy with the colonists, and seemed 
 more disposed to hinder than to help them. They 
 had scarcely got a start when the Navigation Laws 
 were passed (1651) which forbade the settlers from 
 trading with any other country than England or 
 from permitting the vessels of any other nation to 
 enter American ports. The colonists found these 
 laws very oppressive and they were a constant 
 source of griev- 
 ance against the 
 mother country. 
 They were not, 
 however, always 
 strictly enforced, 
 and the colonists 
 managed by 
 bribery and 
 smuggling for 
 the most part to 
 evade them. 
 Other laws pro- 
 hibiting the 
 manufacture of 
 certain articles 
 in America were 
 almost as bur- 
 densome as the 
 Navigation 
 Laws, and were 
 disregarded in 
 much the same 
 
 ^.\W 
 
 way. 
 
 Still, notwith- 
 standing the tyrannical governors who at times 
 were sent over to rule them, and notwithstanding 
 what they felt to be the injustice of the Naviga- 
 tion and Manufacturing Laws, the colonists on the 
 whole were loyal to England and would probably 
 have had no thought of revolting when they did, 
 had not Great Britain begun to apply these laws 
 with a vigor never before displayed, besides adopt- 
 ing other measures even more distasteful to the 
 colonies. 
 
 For after the French and Indian Wars England 
 seemed to suddenly wake to the growing size, 
 wealth and importance of the settlements and to 
 become uneasy at the liberty and freedom allowed 
 them. She seemed to fear that unless steps were 
 taken to check their progress towards self-rule 
 
 they would soon wish to be entirely independent of 
 her and to set up a separate government of their 
 own. The feeling of indiilerence she had shown 
 before disappeared, and in its place appeared a lively 
 anxiety to restrain and control them while there was 
 yet time. With this end in view she determined to 
 carry out the Navigation Laws to the letter and also 
 to obtain money from the colonists by taxation. 
 
 Heretofore, while the colonies had very willingly 
 taxed themselves to support the governors sent to 
 them and for the administration of their own laws, 
 they had not been called upon to pay any money to 
 England, and they received with indignation this 
 
 demand that 
 "^ . . - they should help 
 
 bear the expen- 
 ses of a distant 
 government in 
 which they had 
 no voice either 
 as to how the 
 money was to be 
 raised or how it 
 was to be spent. 
 The cry of " no 
 taxation without 
 representation 
 was at once 
 raised, and the 
 colonists re- 
 solved to pay no 
 tax levied by 
 Great Britain. 
 
 The first test 
 of their resolu- 
 tion came in 
 1765, when Par- 
 liament passed 
 the Stamp Act. which required that all newspapers, 
 almanacs, marriage certificates and legal docu- 
 ments of every description should have on them 
 stamps furnished by the English government and 
 which must be bought from agents appointed to 
 sell them in the colonies. The Americans acted 
 quickly. As soon as the stamps arrived they were 
 seized by mobs and burned, the stamp-officers were 
 forced to resign their positions, and on the day ap- 
 pointed for the law to go into effect not a stamp 
 could be found in the colonies. The Stamp Act 
 was a failure and in the following year it was re- 
 pealed. 
 
 But in abandoning this particular tax the British 
 government had no thought of giving up its claim 
 to the right to tax, and soon duties (as they arc 
 
 THE STAMP ACT. 
 
SEPARATJON FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 43 
 
 to 
 
 called) were imposed upon a number of articles im- 
 ported to the colonies, as tea, glass, paper, paints 
 and other things. These duties the colonists re- 
 fused to pay. and agreed among themselves 
 purchase nothing from England while 
 she continued her attempt to tax 
 them. In the meantime the Naviga- 
 tion and Manufacturing Laws were 
 enforced with the greatest severity, 
 and soldiers were sent from England 
 to aid the civil authorities in detect- 
 ing and arresting smugglers and other 
 violators of these laws, and these sol- 
 diers the colonists were required to 
 shelter and feed. New York and Bos- 
 ton, to their credit be it said, refused 
 to do this, and in those places other 
 provision had to be made for these 
 soldiers. 
 
 The colonists had now entered upon 
 a struggle with Great Britain which 
 they meant to be peaceable, and 
 which was peaceable at first, but which 
 tended all the time towards warfare. The attempts 
 of revenue officers to seize smuggled goods and ves- 
 sels in which the goods had been brought were re- 
 sisted and often led to street fights. The vast 
 
 ^9^f<S OF '.HUE B.TY;l^i',^,6i 
 
 Ml'fl'l:r,"'::l'i?;i'i':6i::ijr;'ii!i.' . 
 
 as many of them delighted to call themselves. 
 As the contest went on, each side grew more bitter 
 and exasperated. Parliament in its determination 
 to find some way by which the colonists would be 
 forced to pay a tax, and the Amer- 
 icans in their resolution that nothing 
 should induce them to pay one penny. 
 In 1770 Parliament changed its 
 tactics and tried to obtain by a trick 
 what it had before been unable to se- 
 cure openly. It took off the tax from 
 everything but tea, and on that it re- 
 duced the duty to three pence (six 
 cents) a pound. Then it arranged 
 with London merchants to sell the 
 tea in the colonies at three pence a 
 pound less than it was sold for iti 
 England. By this device the tea with 
 the tax added to its price would cost 
 the colonists no more than they would 
 have to pay for it in England. But it 
 was the principle of ta.xation, not the. 
 amount, that the Americans were 
 struggling against, and they met this move as 
 promptly as they had the attempt to impose stamps, 
 upon them. At Philadelphia and some other 
 places they sent the ships back to London with. 
 
 DESTROYING THE TEA IN BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 majority of the Americans were united in their 
 resolution to oppose by every means in their power 
 foreign taxation ; but there were a few adherents of 
 the mother-countr)'. They were called Tories ; their 
 opponents were named Whigs, or " Sons of Liberty," 
 
 all the tea on board. At Charleston the tea was 
 placed (the chests unopened) in cellars, where the 
 dampness soon ruined it. At Boston a number of 
 citizens dressed themselves as Indians and in an 
 orderly but resolute way proceeded to the shipu in 
 
44 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the harbor and threw all the tea overboard. By 
 one means or other the tea was gotten rid of at 
 every place it had been sent to, and Parliament was 
 once more thwarted in its plans to obtain money 
 from the colonies. 
 
 The action of the " Boston Tea-Party " especially 
 angered the English government and in punishment 
 it closed the port of Boston by forbidding all vessels 
 cither to enter it or to leave it. Parliament also took 
 away from the people of Massachusetts their right 
 to make their own laws. The other colonies all 
 sided with Massachusetts in her opposition to Eng- 
 land, and the effect of these measures was only to 
 strengthen still more the bond of colonial union. 
 This sentiment was further increased by the pas- 
 sage of other laws by Parliament at the same time 
 that those afltecting Boston and Massachusetts were 
 
 adopted, one of which ordered that all Americans 
 accused of murder in resisting English laws should 
 be sent to Great Britain for trial. The execution 
 of these and other hateful acts was given to the 
 British troops already in the colonies and the num- 
 ber of which was now considerably increased. 
 
 The Americans by this time had become thorough- 
 ly roused and the excitement ran high. Each town 
 felt that it might receive the same treatment as 
 Boston, each colony knew that its liberties were no 
 more safe than those of Massachusetts. There was 
 a general demand for a Continental Congress, and 
 one accordingly was chosen by the people and met 
 in Philadelphia in September, 1774. Georgia was 
 the only colony which did not send delegates, and 
 she was only prevented from doing so by her gov- 
 ernor. 
 
 BRITISH GRENADIER. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE MINUTE-MEN AT LEXINGTON AND 
 AT BUNKER HILL. 
 
 Three things of importance were done by this 
 first Continental Congress, and the chief of these 
 three was the preparation of two addresses, one to 
 the people of Great Britain and one to King George, 
 in which were recited the many wrongs which Parlia- 
 ment had inflicted (or had attempted lo inflict) upon 
 the Americans, and which again asserted the right 
 of the colonists to govern themselves and not to be 
 taxed without their own consent. Next it drew up 
 an agreement neither to buy anything from Eng- 
 land nor to sell anything to her, nor to transact 
 business of any kind with her until Parliament re- 
 pealed the laws which had been passed against the 
 colonies. Copies of this agreement were sent mto 
 ever}' town and village in America and were signed 
 by the people everywhere. Lastly it promised to 
 aid Massachusetts with troops from the other col- 
 onies if they should be needed in her resistance t 
 Great Britain's attempt to force her into submissii m 
 Important as these three acts were, what was of far 
 more importance was the evidence furnished by the 
 meeting of the Congress itself that the colonies 
 ^ were thoroughly united in their determination to do 
 everything in their power to maintain what thci 
 knew to be their rights. 
 
 Though the language of the Continental Congress 
 was mild, its attitude was firm and unyielding, and 
 every one felt that open war must soon come, and 
 
 MINUTE-MAN. 
 
THE MINUTE-ME.X AT LJXIXGTON AND AT BUNKER HILL. 
 
 45 
 
 every one began to prepare for it. 
 Massachusetts, it was plain, would 
 be the first battle-ground, and 
 there was the greatest activity — 
 the people collecting and storing 
 weapons, powder and shot, and the 
 English governor (Gage) increas- 
 ing the number of his soldiers and 
 defending his position by erecting 
 fortifications around Boston. 
 
 The first blow was soon struck. 
 Gage learned from spies, emploj'ed 
 by him to find out what the colo- 
 nists were doing, that about twenty 
 miles from Boston, at Concord, the 
 Americans had gathered together 
 a quantity of ammunition and sup- 
 plies. He determined to destroy 
 these and sent for the purpose a 
 body of eight hundred soldiers 
 with orders to proceed as secretly 
 as possible in order to surprise 
 those in charge of the stores. 
 
 But friends in Boston discov- 
 ered the plan just before the party started and sent 
 word by Paul Revere to the patriots, so that when 
 at daybreak on the morning of April 19, 1775, the 
 British soldiers entered Lexington on the road to 
 Concord ihey were met by some seventy " minute- 
 
 CHRIST CHURCH (WHERE THE SIGNAL LANTERN 
 WAS DISPLAYED). 
 
 BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 
 
 men," as the colonial militia were called from their 
 being always ready on an instant's notice to take 
 up their arms. The English opened fire and the 
 Americans returned it. but after exchanging a few 
 shots the Americans retired with eight of their men 
 dead and a number of others wounded. The British 
 then proceeded to Concord, destroyed the supplies 
 collected there and started back towards Boston. 
 
 But the Americans had not been idle while the 
 English were accomplishing their work of destruc- 
 tion. Warned by church-bell and messenger the 
 whole country round about had become ablaze, and 
 minute-men hurried from every quarter to meet the 
 enemy on its return. At first the British march 
 was orderly and the fire from the patriots was steadily 
 and coolly returned, but as the number of the min- 
 ute-men increased and from every point on the 
 road affording the least shelter there was poured 
 upon the English a constant stream of deadly shot, 
 they lost their nerve and were chased by the colo- 
 nists into Lexington on a run. There they were re- 
 inforced by a fresh body of nine hundred soldiers 
 whom Gage had sent to their relief and who were 
 provided with cannon, and under their protection 
 they at last reached Boston, pursued the whole dis- 
 tance by the minute-men. The total number of 
 Americans engaged was but four hundred, of v.-hom 
 they lost eighty-eight. The killed, wounded and 
 missing among the English numbered two hundred 
 and seventy odd. 
 
46 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The die was cast. The war was begun. From it 
 a nation was to emerge destined to become the 
 £reest, wealthiest and probably in time the largest 
 and most powerful on the face of the globe. An 
 experiment in self-government was to be tried on a 
 scale never before attempted and with results for 
 good no man could have imagined possible. Could 
 
 PAUL REVERE. 
 
 they who laid down their lives at Lexington have 
 foreseen the rich harvests their children were to 
 reap they would have counted their own sacrifice as 
 nothing. 
 
 The minute-men who had pursued the English 
 from Concord and from Lexington were speedily 
 joined by others from the several New England col- 
 onies, and soon twenty 
 thousand surrounded 
 Boston and were besieg- 
 ing it on every side ex- 
 cepting that towards the 
 sea. Within the city the 
 British forces were also 
 increased until there were 
 ten thousand men under 
 command of Generals 
 Howe, Clinton and Bur- 
 goyne, who had come to 
 the assistance of Governor 
 Gage. The ten thousand 
 English soldiers were 
 well-armed, disciplined, 
 experienced veterans; 
 their twenty thousand op- 
 ponents were for the most 
 part raw farmers, with no 
 knowledge of the art of 
 war, untrained, poorly 
 supplied with weapons, 
 with no cannon and with 
 little food. The greater 
 number of the Americans 
 was thus offset by the 
 greater efficiency of their 
 enemy. 
 
 h^Drth of Boston are two 
 hills, Bunker and Breed's, 
 the first of which the 
 Americans decided to for- 
 tify. By mistake the par- 
 ty sent under Colonel 
 Prescott to do this select- 
 ed Breed's Hill, which was 
 nearer to Boston than 
 Bunker Hill. They 
 worked at night as silently 
 and as rapidly as possible 
 and by daybreak, when 
 the British discovered 
 what was going on, had 
 thrown up a long Ime of 
 entrenchments fac- 
 ing Boston. The English 
 
THE MINUTE MEN AT LEXINGTON AND AT BUNKER HILL. 47 
 
 THE BATTLE OF EUXKER HILL. 
 
 men-of-war in the harbor at once began to bombard 
 these fortifications, but without preventing the 
 Americans from continuing their work of strength- 
 ening their position. Then three thousand soldiers 
 were sent to dislodge the workmen and to capture 
 
 the place. The fifteen hundred minute-men, with- 
 out offering to fire a shot, calmly watched their as- 
 sailants march up the Hill, while from every house- 
 top in the city multitudes anxiously looked on, 
 wondering if the undisciplined Yankee farmers 
 
48 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 PLAN OF BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 
 
 would Stand a single round 
 from their seasoned and 
 battle - tried opponents. 
 Not until the British were 
 within' one hundred and 
 fifty feet of the breast- 
 works was this question 
 answered, and then there 
 was a flash of fire from the 
 entrenchments, part of the 
 attacking column fell, and 
 the rest, routed, were fly- 
 ing back. 
 
 Urged on by their offi- 
 cers they turned at the foot 
 of the Hill to renew the 
 assault. The Americans 
 waited in the same silence 
 as before until the Eng- 
 lish were close at hand 
 and again with their fatal 
 fire drove them down the 
 Hill. Once more the Brit- 
 ish re-formed and for the 
 third time ascended the 
 Hill to attempt the cap- 
 ture. This time they suc- 
 ceeded, for the Americans 
 
 MOXU.MENT AT BU.N'KER HILL. 
 
 had exhausted their am- 
 munition and, although 
 they fought desperately 
 with stones and used their 
 guns as clubs, the British 
 bayonets were too much 
 for them and they were 
 obliged to retreat, leaving: 
 the fortifications they had 
 so gallantly defended in 
 the hands of the enemy. 
 , This Battle of Bunker 
 Hill, as it has always been 
 called and probably al- 
 ways will be, was fought 
 on June 17, 1775, and was 
 of the greatest ser\'ice 
 to the colonial cause in 
 showing that Continental 
 troops, unused to war as 
 they were, could stand fire 
 and were not afraid to 
 meet veterans in battle. 
 It gave the Americans a 
 confidence in themselveSi 
 at the start which even in 
 their worst reverses they 
 never afterwards lost. 
 
WASHINGTON IN COMMAND. 
 
 49) 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WASHINGTON IN COMMAND. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 While the siege of Boston was in progress and 
 before the Battle of Bunker Hill took place, Con- 
 gress met again (May 10, 1775) at Philadelphia and, 
 still asserting its loyalty to the King, declared that 
 as Parliament had begun the war upon the colo- 
 nies they would defend themselves until their rights 
 and liberties were respected. Provision was made 
 for raising troops in addition to those around Bos- 
 ton, the whole to form a Continental Army of 
 which George Washington was appointed Com- 
 mander-in-Chief. A system of taxation was also 
 adopted and laws passed for the government of the 
 country as long as the trouble with England lasted. 
 
 Two weeks after the Battle of Bunker Hill Wash- 
 ington arrived at the camp before Boston and be- 
 gan his task of drilling the besiegers into an effec- 
 tive body of soldiers. While he was thus busy other 
 Americans were planning an invasion of Canada. 
 Shortly after the Le.xington fight, Ticonderoga had 
 been captured by some Connecticut militia under 
 Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, and a day or 
 two later Crown Point also fell into their hands 
 
 and with it a large number of cannon and a quan- 
 tity of powder — two things greatly needed by the 
 young colonial armjr. The possession of these twc>' 
 places left the way clear through New York to Can- 
 ada. Accordingly, in the latter part of the sum- 
 mer of 1775 two parties set out, one under Generals' 
 Montgomery and Schuyler by way of Lake Cham- 
 plain, and the other under Benedict Arnold which> 
 was to force its way through the Maine wilderness 
 and join the first division in front of Quebec. 
 The expedition was a failure, for though Montreat 
 was taken, Quebec was too strong for the Americaa 
 attack, and after spending the winter in a fruitless 
 effort to capture the city, Arnold, who by the illness 
 of Schuyler and death of Montgomery had risert 
 to the chief command, was forced in the spring of 
 1776 to abandon the attempt and to leave Canada, 
 what it has since remained, an English possession. 
 By March, 1776, Washington had got his army 
 into better shape than he found it when he was made 
 its general, and was ready to repeat the attempt 
 which had failed the previous June. He had kept 
 the British closely confined to Boston all winter 
 and now thought it time to drive them out. Select- 
 ing a hill to the south of the city, called Dorchester 
 Heights, he took possession of it at night and, aidr^ 
 
 GEORGE III. 
 
50 
 
 H2S70RY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 yUtUliC, SHOWING THE CITADEL. 
 
 ■ed by a storm, had it strongly fortified before the against them 
 English commander in Boston, General Howe, was the news of 
 able to attack it. 
 As the guns from 
 Dorchester 
 Heights complete- 
 ly commanded the 
 city, Howe con- 
 cluded it best to 
 leave, and on 
 March 17, 1776. set 
 sail for Halifax, 
 and the Ameri- 
 cans entered Bos- 
 ton. No further 
 events of impor- 
 tance occurred in 
 Massachusetts 
 •during the Revo- 
 lution, and in fact 
 all of New Eng- 
 land was from this 
 time forth com- 
 paratively f ree 
 from the British. 
 
 Thus far the 
 ■colonies had been gUtuEC 
 
 fighting the Eng- 
 lish Parliament 
 and not the King. 
 But matters could 
 not go on in that 
 way much longer, 
 and early in 1776 
 the question of 
 separation from 
 Great Britain be- 
 gan to be more 
 generally consid- 
 ered and discuss- 
 ed than it had 
 been be fore. 
 Throughout the 
 quarrel King 
 George III. had 
 constantly sided 
 ■with Parliament 
 and had approved 
 all its measures 
 aimed at the in- 
 jury of the Ameri- 
 cans. Hedis- 
 played as much 
 bitter feeling 
 as did any of his subjects. When 
 the battle of Bunker Hill reached 
 
WASHINGTON IN COMMAND. 
 
 51 
 
 England, he at once arranged to send 
 twenty-five thousand more troops to 
 conquer the " rebels " as he called them, 
 among whom were a large number of 
 Hessians, said to be the most cruel and 
 inhuman of hireling soldiers. He or- 
 dered that all trade with the colonies 
 be stopped and authorized their mer- 
 chant ships to be seized and destroyed 
 by any one wherever found. With his 
 assent a number of towns on the coast 
 were bombarded and ruined. 
 
 These actions at length had their 
 natural effect in destroying the feelings 
 of personal loyalty which had hitherto 
 influenced the Americans, and caused 
 them to regard the King as no less 
 their enemy than were his ministers. 
 They were forced to abandon all hope 
 of obtaining redress from him, as they 
 had before given up hope of securing 
 it from Parliament. Their thoughts 
 thereupon turned towards a complete 
 separation from the mother-country. 
 
 The first step towards independence 
 was taken by the colonies themselves 
 on the advice of the Continental Con- 
 gress, and consisted of the formation of 
 State governments in place of the colo- 
 nial ones which had already been overturned by the 
 disagreement with Great Britain. 1 his was done in 
 
 INTERIOR OF INDEPENDENCE HALL IN Io"q. 
 
 INDEPENDENCE HALL, I'lULADELI^HI A. 
 
 May and June. 1776, and after that date the word 
 " colory " was no longer used, the word " State " 
 taking its place. The next 
 step followed immediately; 
 Virginia took the lead in 
 directing her delegates in 
 Congress to vote for inde- 
 pendence and the other 
 States were not slow in 
 seconding her action. A 
 committee was appointed 
 by Congress to draw up 
 suitable resolutions and the 
 Declaration of Independ- 
 ence prepared by that Com- 
 mittee was adopted on July 
 4, 1776, and the United 
 States became one of the 
 nations of the world. 
 
 Immediately after the 
 British sailed from Boston 
 AVashington hastened to 
 New York and began to 
 collect an army and to 
 fortify the city. He sue- 
 
52 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ceedcd in getting together some twenty thousand August 27, 1776, attacked a post of five thousand 
 
 men, but like those he found at Boston they were Americans whom Washington had stationed near 
 
 poorly armed and without experience in war. Gen. Brooklyn, then a small village. The American* 
 
 
 
 
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 FAC-SI.MILE OF IHE t>l(iNATUKE:i TO THE UECLAKAXrON UF INDEl'LN DENCE. 
 
 Howe had come from Halifax to Staten Island and were utterly defeated and nearly half of their num- 
 
 his force had been increased to thirty thousand prac- ber slain and taken prisoners. The remainder took, 
 
 tised soldiers. Taking with him about half of his refuge in a fort which had been erected in Brooklyn, 
 
 men, Howe crossed over to Long Island and on and two days later, under cover of a fog, were 
 
54 
 
 JUS TORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
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 WASHIXGTON READING THE DECLARAIION OF 
 INDEPENDENCE TO THE ARMY. 
 
 brought by Washington to New York. Howe fol- 
 lowed him, and Washington, making only a show 
 of resistance, retreated to the hills near Peekskill. 
 
 Leaving Gen. Charles Lee in command at that 
 point, Washington crossed the Hudson with five 
 thousand of his men and was followed by the 
 British under Lord Cornwallis, who gradually drove 
 the Americans across New Jersey to the Delaware 
 River. This they crossed in open boats among 
 cakes of floating ice (it was now December), but the 
 exposure, the rapid retreat and the privations they 
 
 WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAV/AR5 
 
 GENERAL CHARLES LEE. 
 
 suffered reduced the number 
 of Washington's soldiers to 
 three thousand, and the Eng- 
 lish felt confident that, as soon 
 as the river froze over so that 
 they could cross in safety, they 
 could overtake Washington 
 and by again defeating him 
 end the war. 
 
 But Washington had a sur- 
 prise in store for them. Se- 
 lecting twenty-five hundred of 
 his best men, on the night of 
 Christmas, 1776, he secretly 
 recrossed the Delaware and 
 by daylight had surrounded 
 the city of Trenton, whose en- 
 tire garrison consisting of a 
 thousand Hessians were cap- 
 tured with the loss of only 
 
THE LOSS OF PHILADELPHIA AND THE VICTORY AT SARATOGA. 55; 
 
 four Americans. Hurrjing with his prisoners to 
 Philadelphia he left them there and at once re- 
 turned to Trenton. The British forces from all 
 parts of New Jersey quickly gathered at Trenton, 
 and for the moment it looked as though Washington 
 had allowed himself to be entrapped between the 
 enemy on the one side and the river on the other. 
 
 But he was equal to the emergency. Breaking- 
 camp at the dead of night he skirted the English en- 
 campment and marching to Princeton attacked and 
 defeated three regiments stationed there and escap- 
 ed to the mountains about Morristown in northern 
 New Jersey, where Cornwallis, who had started ia 
 pursuit, did not think it best to follow him. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE LOSS OF PHILADELPHIA AND THE VICTORY AT SARATOGA. 
 
 ~)URIN"G the third year of the war, 1777, the two 
 , ents of most importance were the capture of Phila- 
 delphia by the British and the defeat of Burgoj'ne 
 by the Americans. Scarcely less notable was the 
 addition to the Revolutionary army of a number of 
 European officers, who volunteered their services to 
 Washington through sj-mpathy with the American 
 cause. Of these the most distinguished were the 
 Marquis de la Fayette, who secretly fitted out a 
 ship and sailed to America against the orders of 
 the French government ; Baron de Kalb, a German 
 nobleman of distinction, and two Polish patriots, 
 Kosciusko and Pulaski. Another very valuable ac- 
 cession was made the following year in the person 
 
 of Baron von Steuben, who was of great service in; 
 improving the tactics of the republican army. 
 
 The opening of 1777 found the Americans- 
 strongly entrenched at Morristown in New Jersey 
 and at Peekskill on the Hudson, from both oi 
 which positions the British were anxious to dis- 
 lodge them, as well as to seize Philadelphia, then 
 the largest city in the countr)'. Fearing to attack 
 Philadelphia directly by marching his soldiers across 
 New Jersey in face of the American army, Howe 
 sailed in July with eighteen thousand men from 
 Staten Island without letting it be known where he 
 was bound, and Washington was compelled to wait 
 in New Jersey until he learned that the vessels had 
 
 VIEW OF WASHINGTON'S QUARTERS AT MORRISTOWN. 
 
56 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 been seen in Chesapeake Bay. As this showed 
 without doubt that Philadelphia was the object of 
 ithe expedit-ion, Washington hastened to the de- 
 fence of the city, but only to be twice defeated, at 
 Brandywine and Germantown (September and Oc- 
 tober, 1777), and Philadelphia fell into the hands 
 of the British. 
 
 Congress had fled from Philadelphia before it 
 ■ was captured by Howe, and after his defeats Wash- 
 ington moved his army to Valley Forge, a small 
 ^place on the Sphuylkill, where he was near enough 
 
 PENERAL GATES. 
 
 ■•to Philadelphia t,o -attack- ^he English if they left 
 the city. Here the Americans passed the winter of 
 1777-78. suffering everj'. manner of hardship from 
 the cold, poorly housed, badly clad, with scanty 
 food, and many of them with no boots or shoes to 
 protect their bare feet from- the snow and ice. Rut 
 through all the horrors of that dismal season Wash- 
 ington did not despair. Patient, hopeful and confi- 
 .dent in their final success, he; held up the courage 
 .of his men, and was firm in his refusal to leave the 
 
 point from which in the end he thought he could 
 most injure the enemy. And despite the miseries 
 of Washington's army, the American prospects 
 were much brighter than they had been a year be- 
 fore — thanks to Schuyler and Gates in New York, 
 whose victories over Burgoyne were far more im- 
 portant than Washington's ill-success in Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 The English greatly desired to gain control of the 
 Hudson River, both because it would shut off New 
 England from the rest of the country and because 
 it was the easiest and most direct road to 
 Canada. As the American position at Peek- 
 skill was too strong to be taken from the 
 south, they determined to attempt it from 
 the north ; and so about the time that Wash- 
 ington was hastening to the defence of 
 Philadelphia a British army of ten thou- 
 sand men was moving from Canada under 
 command of Sir Edward Burgoyne. Op- 
 posed to him was Gen. Schuyler with some 
 five thousand men. 
 
 Ticonderoga was easily captured by Bur- 
 goyne, and Schuyler fell back before him 
 towards Albany, destroying bridges and 
 blocking up the road behind him as he 
 proceeded. At the mouth of the Mohawk 
 River, where it unites with the Hudson, 
 both armies came to a halt, Schuyler await- 
 ing the aid of more troops, and Burgoyne 
 hesitating to attack the Americans in their 
 strong position on the river islands where 
 they had camped. 
 
 During the pause which followed, meant 
 by Burgoyne to be a very brief one, but 
 which proved in the end a fatal one to him, 
 he sent out two expeditions, one to the 
 / west to take Fort Schuyler on the site of 
 
 the present city of Rome (New York), and 
 one to the east to attack Bennington (Ver- 
 mont). The first was defeated by Benedict 
 Arnold and driven into Canada. The other 
 suffered as severely at the hands of Col. 
 Stark, whose short and famous speech to his men 
 before the battle: " There they are, boys ; we must 
 beat them to-day or this night Mollie Stark's a 
 widow," will not soon be forgotten. 
 
 The British loss in these two engagements weak- 
 ened Burgoyne most seriously, while the Ameri- 
 can force against him had in the mean time been 
 strengthened by the arrival of fresh troops sent to 
 its assistance by Congress. Prevented from re- 
 treating by the militia which had now closed up his 
 
AID FROM FRANCE. 
 
 57 
 
 rear, he crossed to the west bank of the Hudson 
 with the intention of descending the river and 
 pushing his way through the American lines. In 
 this he was checked by Gates, to whom Congress 
 had given the command in place of Schuyler, and 
 who, though he did not in the two battles of Bemis 
 Heights and Stillwater succeed in driving the 
 English from the field, yet so hemmed them in that 
 they soon could neither advance nor recede. Bur- 
 goyne tried to hold his men together until Clinton, 
 who he knew was on his way from New York, 
 could arrive with reinforcements, but he was with- 
 out provisions, his force had become reduced to six 
 thousand men who were worn out with hunger and 
 fatigue, and at last, on October 17, 1777, he sur- 
 rendered to Gates at Saratoga. 
 
 Gates not only reaped the fruit of Schuyler's well- 
 planned campaign, but he took all the credit of 
 the result, and was the hero of the hour. The 
 gloom which had rested upon the country in conse- 
 quence of the loss of Philadelphia and Washing- 
 ton's reverses in Pennsylvania lifted, and so great 
 was the exultation and so popular was the victor 
 that an effort was even made in Congress to deprive 
 Washington of the chief command of the Conti- 
 nental Army and to give it to Gates. Happily for 
 the republic it failed. Washington retained the 
 command that he alone in the difficulties of the 
 
 GENERAL BURGOVNE. 
 
 time was fitted to hold, and in the course of a few 
 years more brought the war to a successful close. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 AID FROM FRANCE. 
 
 Besides increasing the confidence of the patriots 
 in their cause and removing the danger of any 
 further attempt at an invasion from Canada, Bur- 
 goyne's defeat was of especial value to the Ameri- 
 cans in securing for them the open aid of France in 
 continuing the war. Her long enmity with Eng- 
 land had already insured them her private sympa- 
 thy and some secret help. But though she rejoiced 
 when by the adoption of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence the United States separated themselves 
 from Great Britain, she feared at first that they 
 would not be equal to the task they had assumed, 
 and that if she became their ally the chief burden 
 of the contest would fall upon her. The Saratoga 
 victory lessened this fear and proved that the 
 Americans would bear their full share in any war 
 to which they were a party. She was, therefore, 
 now willing to become publicly known as their 
 
 friend, and to enter into an alliance with them. 
 Thanks mainly to Benjamin Franklin, who was the 
 American agent in Paris throughout the Revolu- 
 tion, and who did much to shape public opinion 
 there favorably to his country, a treaty was signed 
 early in 1778 by which France agreed to send four 
 thousand soldiers and sixteen ships of war to the 
 assistance of the Americans. 
 
 This put a different face upon the war, and Eng- 
 land became quite willing to grant to the United 
 States all that she had previously refused them, and 
 offered them freedom from taxation and representa- 
 tion in Parliament if they would give up the French 
 alliance and join her in a war upon her old enemy. 
 This the Americans declined to do. They neither 
 wished to throw off their new friends nor to connect 
 themselves again with Great Britain. Nothing but 
 absolute independence would now content them. 
 
58 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The benefits from the French treaty proved to 
 be less in the troops and ships sent to this country, 
 which until the closing acts of the war were of little 
 real aid, than in the money and supplies loaned by 
 France to Congress. For these were the great 
 needs of the time. The government, hastily formed 
 when the war first broke out, and which consisted 
 only of the Continental Congress, was a very im- 
 perfect one and with very indefinite powers, and it 
 had great difficulty in obtaining money to pay the 
 soldiers and to buy necessary supplies, so that the 
 loans from France were of the greatest service to the 
 Americans in aiding them to carry on the war. 
 Another important result of the treaty was the 
 European war it caused between France and Spain 
 on the one side and Great Britain on the other, 
 and this helped the Americans by preventing Eng- 
 land from devoting so much attention to this 
 country. All of these things combined made the 
 assistance of France at this time extremely valu- 
 able to the Revolutionists, for without it the war 
 would undoubtedly have lasted many more years 
 than it did. 
 
 When the news of the formation of the French 
 alliance reached Philadelphia, General Clinton, who 
 had succeeded Howe in the command, decided to 
 
 withdraw to New York in order to strengthen the 
 British forces there as much as possible before 
 the arrival of the expected French fleet. Wash- 
 ington, still encamped at Valley Forge, await- 
 ing this opportunity, hastened after him in the hope 
 of detaining him in New Jersey until the French 
 should come. At Monmouth the two armies met 
 and fought, but darkness came upon them before 
 any decisive result was reached, and during the 
 night Clinton succeeded in drawing off his men to 
 New York. Had it not been for what was after- 
 wards thought to be treachery on the part of Gen. 
 Charles Lee in retreating when he had been ordered 
 to attack, Washington might have won the battle. 
 Lee was second in command, and at the outbreak 
 of the war was regarded as one of the most brilliant 
 officers on our side. For his conduct at Monmouth, 
 followed by insolence to Washington, he was dis- 
 missed from the servdce. 
 
 Clinton transferred his forces from Philadelphia 
 to New York in June, 1778. In July the French 
 arrived, but their larger vessels were unable to en- 
 ter the harbor of New York, so that the attack 
 upon that city was abandoned, and the French 
 sailed to the West Indies to defend their possessions 
 among those islands. Washington, after the battle 
 of Monmouth, resumed his old position on the 
 Hudson near Peekskill, with a line extending 
 
 SIR HENRY CLINTON. 
 
THE WAR IN THE SOUTH AND ARNOLD'S TREASON. 
 
 59 
 
 across to Morristown, ready to meet the British if 
 they ventured towards New England, Philadelphia, 
 or Camden — the three points most likely to be the 
 objects of any land-attack from New York. This 
 position he maintained for three years, carefully 
 
 watching every sign of movement of the enemy, 
 and by his vigilance preventing their doing any- 
 thing of moment either in the Middle States or in 
 New England. During the remainder of the war 
 the principal events took place in the South. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUTH AND ARNOLD'S TREASON. 
 
 The close of the year 1778 saw the first of the 
 operations in the South, when an expedition sent 
 by Clinton (by sea) captured Savannah. Augusta 
 soon followed, and before long all of Georgia was 
 overrun by British troops from New York and 
 Florida. As yet the United States had practically 
 no navy, and the French war vessels were rarely at 
 hand when needed, so that no matter how strong 
 Washington's land-blockade around New York 
 might be, he was without any means of preventing 
 Clinton from shipping his men to whatever port in 
 the country he desired. 
 
 Congress had built a few naval vessels, but they 
 had either been captured by the English or were 
 too small to contend against the British frigates. 
 A little later on a few ships were obtained from 
 France, and fitted out as American men-of-war. 
 One of these, named the " Bonhomme Richard," 
 under command of Paul Jones, met two frigates oflE 
 the northeastern coast of England (Sept., 1779), ^fd 
 there was fought one of the most notable battles in 
 naval history. Jones lashed his ship to the " Serapis " 
 (one of the frigates), and a hand-to-hand struggle 
 followed, in which the loss of life on both sides 
 was something enormous. The" Serapis" finally sur- 
 rendered, but the " Richard " was so badly damaged 
 that she sank the next day. The other frigate was 
 captured by two smaller vessels, consorts of the 
 " Bonhomme Richard," and this was the only part 
 they took in the fight. No other engagement of 
 any great consequence occurred on the ocean dur- 
 ing the war. 
 
 But though the American navy during the Revo- 
 lution was little more than a name (if it was even 
 that), American privateersmen were something much 
 more real, and the destruction inflicted by them 
 upon British commerce was so very serious ttiat it 
 formed an important element in the war, and caused 
 the English trading-classes to become very desirous 
 of bringing the contest to a speedy end. Some of 
 the privateersmen acted under the authority of 
 
 Congress, and some under that of the separate 
 States. The smaller war-ships built by Congress, 
 which were not powerful enough to attack men-of- 
 war, also employed themselves in worrying mer- 
 chantmen of the enemy, and at one time for a 
 brief period almost put an entire stop to England's 
 foreign cotimierce. 
 
 PAUL JONES. 
 
 The British having gained control of Georgia, and 
 kept it despite a vigorous attempt of Gen. Lincoln 
 (the American commander in the South) to retake 
 Savannah (Sept., 1779), they next turned their at- 
 tention to South Carolina, and early in 17S0 a large 
 force sailed from New York under command of 
 Clinton himself and, aided by troops from Georgia, 
 laid siege to Charleston. Lincoln defended it to 
 the best of his ability, but was at length compelled 
 to surrender it (May, 1780), and with it his army of 
 
6o 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 six thousand men. The whole State was then 
 overrun as Georgia had been, and Clinton, satisfied 
 with his work, returned to New York, leaving Corn- 
 wallis in command. 
 
 But though South Carolina and Georgia had been 
 conquered, they did not lead their masters a very- 
 easy life. Gates, on whom the halo of Saratoga still 
 rested, was first sent by Congress to take Lincoln's 
 place, but his failure in his first Southern battle 
 (Camden, N. C, August, 1780), notwithstanding 
 
 knowing the countrj' as only those born and brought 
 up in it could, were able, from their hiding-places in 
 forest and in swamp, to suddenly surprise the enemy 
 with most unexpected attacks, to inflict the in- 
 jury they had planned, and to dej)art as quickly as 
 they had appeared. 
 
 While the attention of the people was fixed 
 upon the South as the principal theatre of war, 
 an event occurred in the North which produced a 
 profound sensation throughout all the country and 
 
 P.\UL JONES' SEA FIGHT. 
 
 his soldiers twice outnumbered the enemy, caused 
 him quickly to give way to Gen. Nathanael Greene, 
 who proved himself to be the one man for the 
 work. Cautious, brave and alert, he kept the en- 
 emy constantly busy in long pursuits and in numer- 
 ous battles, in which he was almost uniformly 
 beaten, but in which the British losses were so 
 much heavier than his own that his defeats were 
 almost as valuable as victories would have been. He 
 was ably seconded by Marion, Sumter, Morgan 
 and other brilliant Southern cavalry officers, who. 
 
 which might have been disastrous to the American 
 cause. This was the treason of Benedict Arnold. 
 
 When the British left Philadelphia Arnold was 
 given charge of the city, and there, tempted to spend 
 more than he could aflord, he used public money 
 for his own purposes. For this, at the direction of 
 Congress, he was reprimanded by Washington. 
 Smarting with mortification and burning with re- 
 venge, he yet concealed his real purposes and after 
 a time applied for the command of West Point. 
 This was granted by Washington, who still had 
 
THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS AND THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 6i 
 
 confidence in him on account of his earlier services 
 in the war. No sooner had he reached his new 
 
 BENEDICT ARNOLD. 
 
 post than he wrote to Clinton at New York, offer- 
 ing to turn the place over to the English for a sum 
 
 of money and the position of brigadier-general in 
 the British army. The offer was accepted and a 
 young English officer. Major Andre, was sent to 
 West Point to com- 
 plete the arrange- 
 ments. On his way 
 back to New York he 
 was taken prisoner 
 near Tarrytown by 
 three militiamen, who, 
 on searching him, dis- 
 covered plans of the 
 fortifications at West 
 Point hidden in his 
 boots. Unfortunately, 
 the officer in whose 
 custody he was placed 
 gave him an oppor- 
 tunity to write to 
 Arnold, who, thus 
 
 warned, escaped into the British lines before he 
 could be captured. As Andre had been taken in 
 disguise within the American lines, Washington 
 reluctantly felt that there was no choice but to 
 have him hung as a spy that others might be 
 warned by his fate, and this was done (Oct., 1780), 
 though the sympathy with him was almost universal. 
 
 MAJOR ANDRi. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS AND THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 
 
 Clinton was as desirous of subduing Virginia as 
 he had been of overcoming Georgia and South 
 Carolina, and the first task set Arnold on his re- 
 ceiving the reward of his villainy, was to lead an 
 expedition from New York to the " Old Dominion " 
 (January. 1 78 1 ). Lafayette was sent by Washing- 
 ton to stop him, but could do nothing, as the French 
 ships which were to help him were driven off by 
 English men-of-war, so that Arnold plundered the 
 State at will. Cornwallis, who in the course of his 
 struggle with Greene had shifted his ground from 
 Charleston to Wilmington (in North Carolina), de- 
 termined to join the British forces in Virginia and 
 try to complete its conquest. This he did, and sta- 
 tioned himself at Yorktown, which from its position 
 on a peninsula he thought could be easily defended, 
 and which also could readily be reached by British, 
 vessels. His combined army numbered eight thou- 
 sand men, fully double as many as Lafayette's. 
 
 Cornwallis had scarcely got settled at Yorktown 
 
 when Washington, still at Peekskill, received word 
 that a large French force was on its way to the 
 Chesapeake to cut off the British in Virginia from 
 any assistance from the North. This was the chance 
 for which he had been waiting, and his plans were 
 quickly formed. Concealing his purpose from every 
 one, he made a great show of preparation about 
 New York to lead Clinton into thinking that that 
 city was to be attacked, and under cover of the 
 confusion began a rapid march to the South, hop- 
 ing to arrive at Yorktown and capture Cornwallis 
 before the British in New York could send relief to 
 their countrj'men. 
 
 His plan was successful. Clinton did not discover 
 Washington's departure for several days, and when 
 he learned the object of the movement and sent a 
 British fleet to the aid of Cornwallis it was too late. 
 The French had arrived at the Chesapeake and pre- 
 vented the English from landing. 
 
 Before the arrival of Washington, Lafayette had 
 
62 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 been reinforced with soldiers from the French fleet, 
 and Washington also had with him a large body of 
 soldiers which General De Rochambeau had brought 
 over from France during the 
 summer. Altogether there 
 were sixteen thousand men 
 who on the 30th of September, 
 1 78 1, began the siege of York- 
 town, a force amply large to 
 shut the British completely 
 off on the land side, while the 
 French fleet under Admiral 
 De Grasse as securely closed 
 them in from the ocean. 
 
 Cornwallis was fairly trap- 
 ped, and knew it. For three 
 weeks he fought desperately 
 to escape, but the line around 
 him was too strong, and at 
 last he had to give in, and on 
 October 19, 1 781, he laid down 
 his arms and surrendered his 
 army of eight thousand men 
 to Washington. Had he held 
 out a few days longer he might 
 have been relieved, for an ex- 
 pedition of seven thousand 
 menwason its way to him from 
 New York, but this sailed back on learning his fate. 
 
 This ended the Revolution, for though no treaty 
 
 CORNWALLIS. 
 
 was signed till two years afterwards, there were 
 no more battles fought, and both sides, tired of 
 the struggle, were quite content to cease all war- 
 fare while the two countries 
 were settling upon the terms 
 of peace. As finally agreed 
 upon, the treaty placed the 
 boundaries of the United 
 States at Canada on the north, 
 the Mississippi River on the 
 west, and Florida on the south, 
 and by it Great Britain fully 
 recognized the independence 
 of the country. Without wait- 
 ing for its formal signing, the 
 British gave up Savannah and 
 Charleston in July and De- 
 cember, 1782, retaining posses- 
 sion only of New York and a 
 few unimportant forts in the 
 Northwest. New York re- 
 mained in their hands a year 
 longer, until news was received 
 that the treaty had been rati- 
 fied, and then that city also 
 passed again to the controj of 
 the Americans — the last Brit- 
 ish soldier leaving it on 
 November 25, 1783, a day whose anniversary is still 
 observed in New York as " Evacuation Day." 
 
 THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS AT VORKTOWN. 
 
FRAMING THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 63 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FRAMING THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 The war was over, the army was disbanded, the 
 Tories had left the country with their friends the 
 British, and Washington had given back to Con- 
 gress the commission of Commander-in-Chief which 
 he had received from Congress. Peace had come, 
 a peace which brought with it all that the country 
 for nearly ten years had been striving for, absolute 
 freedom and the right of self-government. 
 
 But it had also brought some other things with 
 it: among them great discontent among the ofh- 
 'cers and men, who after enduring the most cruel 
 sufferings and privations in the war received for 
 their pay at its close only empty promises from 
 Congress; paper money, which Congress had no 
 means of redeeming and which soon became ut- 
 terly worthless; and a weak general government 
 which had very little authority and no power to 
 enforce what little it had. 
 
 At the beginning of the war when the colonies 
 became States they all adopted constitutions and 
 formed governments which served excellently for 
 their own separate needs. But they did nothing of 
 the kind for the country at large. All that they 
 did was to send delegates to the Continental Con- 
 gress without giving them any real power to make 
 laws or to tax the people. When Congress re- 
 quired money it was obliged to ask the States for it, 
 and they gave it or not as they saw fit. In the 
 early days of the conflict when there was great fear 
 of England, the States were willing to do. and did 
 do, pretty much everything requested of them, but 
 after Burgoyne's surrender, when their confidence in 
 themselves grew stronger. Congress had great diffi- 
 culty in obtaining from them even a small part of 
 what was actually needed to carry on the war, and 
 at tim.es the supply of food and clothing furnished 
 the troops was so scanty that the soldiers rose in 
 open rebellion, and Washington had the utmost 
 trouble in pacifying them. 
 
 What had been bad during the Revolution grew 
 much worse in the peace that followed, and soon 
 there was the utmost disorder throughout the 
 whole country. The States quarrelled among them- 
 selves about their boundaries; the larger ones passed 
 laws which pressed heavily upon the smaller ones; 
 the wishes and advice of Congress were disre- 
 garded more and more, so that it soon became the 
 laughing-stock of the people. As a consequence 
 
 of this condition of affairs there was distress every- 
 where, and for a time it looked as though the free- 
 dom which had been so dearly bought would prove 
 a curse instead of a blessing. 
 
 This could not go on. The leading men saw 
 that, if the country was to prosper and the newly 
 won independence be of any benefit, the States 
 must be united under some form of general govern- 
 ment that had power both to make laws and to en- 
 force them, a government that the people would 
 respect because they would be compelled to obey it. 
 A call was therefore issued for a convention of 
 delegates from all the States to draw up a plan for 
 the remedy of the evils under which the country 
 was suffering. 
 
 In May, 1787, this Federal Convention met at 
 Philadelphia, Rhode Island alone refusing to be 
 represented. The States sent their ablest men, 
 many of them young in years, but with unusual ex- 
 perience in public affairs gained during the Rev- 
 olutionary War and the troubles which led to it. 
 Washington was chosen its president. No one was 
 admitted to its meetings but the delegates, and they 
 pledged themselves to say nothing of its proceed- 
 ings until its work was completed and published to 
 the whole country. 
 
 Four months were spent by the Convention in 
 settling upon a form of union that would suit all. 
 Many times it seemed as if the delegates would be 
 unable to agree and would have to give up the at- 
 tempt and return to their homes. Most of the 
 difficulty was with the smaller States, who were 
 afraid that the larger States, on account of greater 
 population and wealth, would have more power 
 and influence than they, and that they would suffer 
 in consequence. This fear was finally removed by 
 providing that in the Senate every State should 
 have an equal vote, and that the Senate's con- 
 sent should be necessary for the passage of any 
 law. The desire of the South to continue the 
 slave trade was granted for twenty years on con- 
 dition that after 1808 it was to cease forever. 
 Other disagreements were arranged more or less 
 readily by concessions on both sides and at last 
 the Constitution as we now have it (without the 
 Amendments) was perfected and submitted to the 
 people for their approval. 
 
 The new Constitution proposed to replace the 
 
64 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 former Confederation (as it had been called) with a 
 government that could act and that could make its 
 acts felt. The old government by Continental Con- 
 gress had power only to recommend measures to 
 the States. The new government was itself to have 
 the power to make laws and to see that the laws 
 which it made were duly carried into effect. It was 
 to comprise three branches : a Congress to make 
 laws, a President to enforce them, and courts of 
 judges to explain them and to decide all questions 
 that might arise under them. To accomplish this 
 certain rights and privileges which they had 
 previously possessed were taken away from the 
 States and given to the new government. All 
 their other powers the States were permitted to 
 retain. 
 
 Its adoption by two-thirds of the States was nec- 
 essary before it could go into operation, and near- 
 
 ly a year passed before this was secured, during 
 which time it was eagerly debated throughout the 
 length and breadth of the land. There was some 
 opposition to it, chiefly on account of the powers 
 of which it deprived the separate States, but the 
 vast body of the people and nearly all of their lead- 
 ers strongly favored it. New Hampshire was the 
 ninth State to ratify it, and, as this completed the 
 necessary number, arrangements were at once made 
 to carry out its provisions by choosing a President 
 and Vice-President and electing Members of Con- 
 gress, and March 4, 17S9, was set as the date for 
 the beginning of the new government. Before 
 that day arrived Virginia and New York had also 
 adopted the Constitution, so that out of the thir- 
 teen States all but two took part in the first elec- 
 tion, and these two were North Carolina and 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FORMATION OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT UNDER WASHINGTON. 
 
 There was but one voice as to who should be the 
 first President of the young republic and that voice 
 was for George Washington, the only President of 
 
 WASHINGTON MADE PRESIDENT. 
 
 the United States who has ever been chosen by a 
 unanimous vote. Communication between the 
 States was not as rapid at that time as it is in these 
 days of railroad and telegraph, so that there was 
 gOme delay in learning the results of the election. 
 
 and it was not until April 30, 1789, that the inaugu- 
 ration of Washington took place, with great pomp 
 and ceremony, in the city of New York. The spot 
 in Wall Street where he took 
 the oath of office is now 
 marked by his statue. 
 
 Washington immediately 
 called to his assistance in 
 conducting the government 
 Tliomas Jefferson, whom he 
 appointed to be Secretary of 
 ate; Alexander Hamilton, 
 .i hom he made Secretary of 
 the Treasury; Gen. Knox, who 
 became Secretary of War, and 
 Edmund Randolph, as At- 
 torney-General. These offi- 
 cers were to be the confiden- 
 tial advisers of the President 
 and formed his Cabinet. Their 
 positions were created by the 
 new Congress, which was al- 
 ready in session when Wash- 
 ington began his administration. A few years 
 later (1798) the Navy Department, which at first 
 formed part of the War Department, was made a 
 separate branch of the government and its Secre- 
 tary added to the Cabinet. The Post-Officeandln- 
 
FORMATION OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT UNDER WASHINGTON. (,^ 
 
 INSTALLATION OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 terior Departments were not created until 1829 
 and 1 849 respectively, and the Department of Agri- 
 culture not until 1889. The most important of 
 Washington's other appointments was that of John 
 Jay as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. 
 
 The wisdom of Washington's choice of his ad- 
 visers soon showed itself in the organization of the 
 machinery of government, whose running from the 
 first was as smooth as though it had long been in 
 operation. Under advice from the Cabinet. Con- 
 gress passed the necessary laws to give full effect to 
 the Constitution, and so great a care was taicen to 
 start everything in the right way that during the 
 hundred years that have since passed few changes 
 have been made in the methods then adopted ex- 
 cepting such as were required by the growing size 
 of the public business. The strong and firm hand 
 of the government quickly restored order to the 
 disturbed country and afforded an opportunity for 
 laying the foundations of the wonderful prosperity 
 that has since marked the progress of the nation. 
 The invention of the cotton-gin by Whitney in 1793 
 
 became a great source of wealth to the country, as 
 it enabled one person to separate the seeds from a 
 thousand pounds of cotton in the same time that it 
 had previously taken him to clean six pounds. 
 Unfortunately it also caused an increased demand 
 for slave labor, and made it less probable that 
 slavery would die out in the South, as it was already 
 doing in the North. The boundary disputes had 
 been partly settled shortly before Washington be- 
 came President, and soon were all arranged, the 
 States giving up the western lands they had claimed, 
 to the new government, which thus became pos- 
 sessed of a large and rich tract of territory out of 
 which some of the richest and most populous States- 
 have since been formed. 
 
 One of the earliest acts of Congress was to- 
 choose a capital for the United States, and a site 
 was accordingly selected on the banks of the Poto- 
 mac, to which it was decided that the government 
 should be removed in 1800. Until then it was to. 
 meet at Philadelphia. A system of taxation to pro- 
 vide for the public expenses and for the payment 
 of the debt incurred during the Revolution wa^ 
 prepared by Hamilton and adopted, and twelve 
 amendments to the Constitution were proposed by 
 which the rights of the States were more expressly 
 guarded than in the Constitution itself. Ten of 
 these amendments were ratified by the people, and 
 in 1 79 1 became part of the Constitution. 
 
 In the meantime North Carolina (in 1789) and 
 Rhode Island (in 1790) had given their assent to- 
 the new form of government, and the thirteen States, 
 that had struggled together through the war were 
 
 ELI WHHNEY. 
 
<56 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 DANIEL BOONE. 
 
 once more united. Other States soon began to 
 ask admittance to the Union, and the first to be 
 received was Vermont. She originally had been 
 part of the grant made by King Charles to the Duke 
 of York, but was claimed also by New Hampshire. 
 While New York was disputing this claim and the 
 two colonies were quarrelling over her, the "Green 
 Mountain boys " (Vermont is the French for " green 
 mountain ") set up a government for themselves 
 which they kept up during the Revolution (in which 
 they did good service) and until her entrance into 
 the sisterhood of States in 1791. Kentucky fol- 
 lowed the next year. She had been part of Vir- 
 ginia, and her settlement was begun in 1769 by 
 Daniel Boone, one of the boldest and bravest fron- 
 tiersmen in American history. The Indians op- 
 
 '^ 
 
 posed its colonization very stubbornly, and the 
 whites had to fight their way for possession foot 
 by foot. She had Virginia's full consent in seeking 
 and obtaining the privileges of statehood. The 
 third State to be admitted during Washington's 
 presidency was Tennessee. Until 1784 she was part 
 of North Carolina, but in that year she revolted and 
 tried to form an independent government under 
 the name of Franklin. In this she failed, and in 
 1790 was given by North Carolina to the United 
 States. She was known as the Southwest Terri- 
 tory from that date until 1796, when under her pres- 
 ent name she became the sixteenth State. Both 
 Kentucky and Tennessee are the Indian names of 
 rivers that flow through the two States. 
 
 MUL'Inj \i!.KS(ji\. 
 
 A WESTERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The Constitution placed the terms of President 
 and Vice-President at four years, but the senti- 
 ment in favor of Washington's re-election in 1792 
 was as strong as it had been when he was first cho- 
 sen in 1788. When his second term expired in 
 1797 the people would gladly ha'>e elected him for 
 a third time had he not positively refused to accept 
 the office again. Before retiring to his home at 
 Mount Vernon (in Virginia) he issued a Farewell 
 Address, intended not only for the Americans of 
 that day. but for those that came after them as 
 well, in which he counselled his countrymen how 
 they could best preserve the freedom they had 
 
THE BEGINNING OF PARTY POLITICS. 
 
 67 
 
 gained. This paper ranks with the Declaration of 
 Independence and the Constitution of the United 
 States as one of our three priceless charters of lib- 
 erty. The love and veneration of the whole coun- 
 try' accompanied Washington in his retirement, 
 and when two years later, in his sixty-eighth year, 
 
 he died (Dec. 14, 1799), his loss was mourned by 
 the entire nation as one man. The greatest of all 
 Americans, no one before his time nor since it has 
 for one moment rivalled the affection which he holds 
 in the hearts of the people to whom he gave inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF PARTY POLITICS. 
 
 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
 
 The second President of the United States was not 
 elected with the unanimity with which the first had 
 been chosen ; on the contrary he met with consider- 
 able opposition. For when the time came (1796) to 
 select a successor to Washington it found the people 
 divided into two political parties, each of which had 
 a candidate in the field whom it was urging for the 
 presidency. 
 
 The first of these parties, called the Federalist, 
 was the party which had done most to secure the 
 adoption of the Constitution, which had organized 
 the new government, and which carried it through 
 the first eight years of its existence. Its two most 
 eminent leaders were John Adams and Alexander 
 Hamilton. Washington's sympathies were really 
 
 with it, though he took no side and was strictly im- 
 partial in conducting his administration. 
 
 With a vivid recollection of the discomforts and 
 evils caused by the weak government of the Conti- 
 nental Congress and of the Confederation, the Fed- 
 eralists held that the only safety for the people, the 
 only way in which they could prosper, was in a strong 
 central government with the most ample powers for 
 ruling the country. Otherwise, they said, the jeal- 
 ousies and dissensions among the States would for- 
 ever hinder the progress of the nation and finally 
 bring it to ruin. 
 
 Opposed to the Federalists were the Republicans, 
 led by Thomas Jefferson. They too looked to the 
 experience of the past to guide them in the present, 
 but it was in the troubles be fore the Revolution that 
 they found their lesson. Appealing to the memory 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
68 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of men to recall how the 
 liberties of the colonies had 
 once suffered under the 
 strong arm of a great pow- 
 er, they besought their fel- 
 low-citizens not to again 
 endanger them by trans- 
 ferring to this new general 
 government any of the 
 rights belonging to the 
 States excepting those ab- 
 solutely necessary to give 
 effect to the Constitution. 
 They feared that the new 
 government might become 
 so strong as to crush the 
 States, and they felt that 
 each State best knew the 
 needs of its own people 
 and could best advance 
 their interests. In brief, 
 the difference between the 
 
 AARON BUKK. 
 
 two parties was tnis : the 
 Federalists would strength- 
 en the general government 
 at the expense, if needful, 
 of the States ; while the 
 Republicans would main- 
 tain State rights even if it 
 left the general govern- 
 ment weak. It should be 
 noted that the Republicans 
 of that day were an entire- 
 ly distinct party from the 
 Republicans of the present 
 time. 
 
 Adams and Jefferson 
 were the candidates of their 
 parties, and after a sharp 
 contest the former won, 
 the latter becoming Vice- 
 President. The new Presi- 
 dent was well experienced 
 in public affairs, having 
 
 THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON. 
 
THE BEGINNING OF PARTY POLITICS. 
 
 69 
 
 been Vice-President during both of Washing- 
 ton's terms and prior to that United States 
 Minister to England, being, in fact, the first 
 representative sent to Great Britain by this 
 country after its independence was acknowl- 
 edged. A native of Massachusetts, he was fore- 
 most among her sons in defending her rights 
 during the struggle which preceded the Revolu- 
 tion, and was equally zealous while the war 
 lasted in advocating the cause of the young re- 
 public in Europe. On the conclusion of the 
 conflict he was one of those appointed to draw 
 up and sign in behalf of the United States the 
 treaty of peace with Great Britain. 
 
 The administration of Adams cannot be said 
 to have been a remarkably successful one for the 
 country, and it proved a fatal one to his party. 
 
 ENTRANCE ^ 
 
 ilTE HOUSE. 
 
 THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON. 
 
 Trouble with France, then in a very unsettled con 
 dition resulting from the French Revolution, occu 
 pied most of its attention and nearly led to 
 war. Indeed there was some actual fighting 
 on the sea, but nothing of any importance ex- 
 cepting the defeat and capture of "LTnsur- 
 gente " by the " Constellation " under Commo- 
 dore Truxton off the West Indies (1799). Con- 
 gress had made preparations for war and was 
 about to declare it when a change in the 
 French government by which Napoleon Bona- 
 parte became its head removed the difficul- 
 ties between the two nations and assured 
 peace between them once more. 
 
 It was not the threatened war with France 
 which wrecked the Federalists. That was pop- 
 ular. But it was the passage of two laws by 
 
 their party in Congress during the excitement of 
 the period that cost them the confidence of the 
 people ; and these were the Alien and 
 Sedition Laws, permitting the arrest of any 
 foreigner (alien) regarded as dangerous 
 and of any person who spoke evil of the 
 government. These were both intended 
 to strengthen the hands of the President 
 and of the executive government and 
 were in accord with the policy of the Fed- 
 eralists, but they were bitterly opposed 
 by the Republicans, who declared that no 
 man ought to be imprisoned unless con- 
 victed by a jury of some crime, and that 
 it was one of the rights of the citizen to 
 criticise the government, for without such 
 criticism true freedom could not exist. 
 In this a majority of the people agreed 
 with them, and at the election in 1800 
 Adams was defeated and Jefferson was 
 chosen President in his stead. Jefferson 
 did not obtain the coveted prize, how- 
 ever, until after a rather peculiar contest with his 
 political friend, Aaron Burr, the candidate of the 
 
 SOUTH FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE. 
 
70 
 
 HISTORY OF THE U XI TED STATES. 
 
 Republicans for Vice- 
 President, which 
 showed a curious de- 
 fect in the Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 The presiden- 
 tial electors, at that 
 time, in choosing the 
 President and Vice- 
 President simply 
 voted for two men 
 without specifying on 
 their ballots which of- 
 
 PENSION OFFICE. 
 
 curred to them that 
 the electors might be 
 divided into political 
 parties, the members 
 of each casting ballots 
 all having on them the 
 same two names. But 
 this was what did hap- 
 pen in 1 800. All the 
 Republicans voted for 
 both Jefferson and 
 Burr, who thus had an. 
 equal number of votes. 
 
 ST.ilE, NAVV AND WAR DEl'AKTMENT BUILDING. 
 
 fice each was to hold, , 
 and the one who re- j 
 ceived the most votes L 
 became President and i 
 he who had the next | 
 highest number be- 
 came Vice-President. 
 By this method, the 
 framers of the Con- 
 stitution thought, the 
 best man would be se- 
 lected President and 
 the next best Vice- 
 President. It does 
 not seem to have oc- 
 
 TREASURY BUILDING. 
 
 Every one knew, of 
 course, which the elec- 
 tors meant should be 
 President and which 
 Vice - President, but 
 there was nothing on 
 the ballots to indicate 
 it. The decision be- 
 tween the two there- 
 upon fell to the House 
 of Representatives (or 
 lower branch of Con- 
 gress), which, after 
 some little delay and 
 trouble caused by the 
 
THE ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON. 
 
 71 
 
 friends of Burr, gave the presidency, as it was in- 
 tended to go, to Jefferson. Before another elec- 
 tion came round an amendment to the Constitu- 
 tion was adopted which prevented the recurrence 
 of such a difficulty by directing the electors to vote 
 for the two offices separately. 
 
 The year which witnessed the defeat of Adams 
 and the expulsion from power of the Federalists saw 
 also the removal of the seat of government from 
 Philadelphia to the banks of the Potomac. The 
 new city which the First Congress, ten years before. 
 
 had ordered should be laid out as a permanent 
 home for the federal government, and which ia 
 honor of the Father of his Country had been named 
 Washington, was then a city only in name; in appear- 
 ance it was more like a small country village, with 
 muddy and unpaved streets, mean-looking houses 
 and small population. It is only within a short 
 number of years that the stately buildings, which 
 now render it one of the most beautiful of Ameri- 
 can cities, have been erected and that it has assumed 
 something of the dignity of a national capital. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON. 
 
 As Governor of Virginia, Minister to France, Sec- 
 retary of State under Washington and Vice-Presi- 
 dent under Adams, Thomas Jefferson had already 
 shown himself to be 
 one of the wisest 
 statesmen of his 
 time before he was 
 called to the high 
 office of President. 
 The Declaration of 
 Independence was 
 the work of h is 
 hand, the Republi- 
 ca n (soon to be 
 known as the Dem- 
 ocratic) party the 
 fruit of his politi- 
 cal teachings. Few 
 men have been able 
 to impress their be- 
 liefs more durably 
 on the histoiy and 
 laws of their coun- 
 try than did the 
 third President of 
 the United States. 
 
 He served for two 
 terms, taking office 
 in 1 801 and leaving 
 it in 1809. During 
 these eight years the 
 
 number of States was increased by one and the area 
 of the United States was more than doubled. The 
 new State was Ohio, and it had been part of that large 
 western tract of land about which the older States 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 had once quarrelled and which fifteen years or more 
 before they had given to the general government. 
 In accepting the gift of this Northwest Territory 
 
 (as it was called) the 
 Congress of the 
 Confederation had. 
 by what is known 
 as the Ordinance of 
 1787, thrown it open 
 to general settle- 
 ment and had 
 agreed that as the 
 population in it in- 
 creased five States, 
 should in turn be 
 formed from it and 
 admitted to the Un- 
 io n . The Ord i- 
 nance also prohibit- 
 ed slavery from for- 
 ever being tolerated 
 within the borders 
 of this Territory, 
 and it guaranteed 
 to all who should 
 settle in it equal 
 political rights and 
 perfect reli g- 
 ious freedom. This 
 agreement or Or- 
 dinance was after- 
 wards confirmed by the new government formed 
 under the Constitution. 
 
 The first settlement by Americans in Ohio was at 
 Marietta in 178S, followed by another in the same 
 
72 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 year at Losantiville, now Cincinnati. The Indians 
 at once opened war upon the immigrants and for a 
 time held them in check, but in 1794 General Wayne 
 
 ANTHONY WAYNE. 
 
 was sent by President Washington to Ohio, and he 
 defeated the Indians so completely that they gave 
 up the State to the whites. Wayne was one of the 
 heroes of the Revolution, where for his great daring 
 he was nicknamed "Mad Anthony.'" Like Ken- 
 tucky and Tennessee, Ohio took its name from that 
 
 States which thus far had entered the Union, an 
 equal number were free (Vermont and Ohio) and an 
 equal number were slave (Kentucky and Tennessee). 
 Ohio was admitted in 1802. In the following 
 year the territory of Louisiana, which shortly before 
 had been sold by Spain to France, was bought by 
 the United States from Napoleon Bonaparte for 
 fifteen millions of dollars. This territory embraced 
 far more than the present State of that name, and 
 added over a million square miles to the eight 
 hundred thousand which had previously comprised 
 the area of the country. The next year (1804) the 
 foundation was laid for still another enlargement of 
 the boundaries of the United States by an exploring 
 
 ROBERT FULTON. 
 
 given by the Indians to its principal river, but un- 
 like those two States its soil (as provided in the 
 Ordinance of 1787) was free. Of the four new 
 
 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 
 
 expedition under Lewis and Clarke through Oregon, 
 Idaho and Washington (State), a region hitherto 
 ■unvisited by Americans. Great Britain afterwards 
 disputed the claim which this exploration gave us 
 to that part of America, and the question of owner- 
 ship remained unsettled for over forty years. 
 
 But the occurrence of this period which is of the 
 most importance, by the side of which the purchase 
 of Louisiana and the exploration of the Oregon 
 country seem of trifling value, was the invention by 
 Robert Fulton of the steamboat. Since Watt had 
 invented the steam-engine forty years before, the 
 effort had repeatedly been made to apply it to vessels, 
 but without much success until Fulton's boat, the 
 
THE ADMINISTRATION OF JEFFERSON. 
 
 73 
 
 " Clermont," made the journey 
 to Albany, driven by steam, in 
 1807. Steamships were soon 
 seen on the waters of all the 
 inhabited parts of the country, 
 and were of the greatest pos- 
 sible service in developing and 
 building up the districts which 
 as yet had not been settled. 
 
 When Jefferson was re-elect- 
 ed President in 1804, Burr, 
 who had lost much of his pop- 
 ularity, was not continued as 
 Vice-President. Disappointed 
 at his political failure, he or- 
 ganized an expedition in 1807 
 to go to the southwest, and 
 there to set up a government 
 of his own separate from the 
 United States. Before he 
 could carry out his plans he 
 was arrested and tried for 
 
 treason, but as he had not actually borne arms 
 against the United States he could not be con- 
 
 STEPHEN DECATUR. 
 
 FULTON S STEAMBOAT. 
 
 victed. This, together with his having killed Ham- 
 ilton in a duel, which he had forced upon Hamilton 
 (1804), filled the measure 
 of his public disgrace and 
 the rest of his life was 
 passed in the closest re- 
 tirement. Hamil- 
 ton, strong partisan as he 
 ■was, had been especially 
 esteemed by the people, 
 and his early death in 
 such a manner gave the 
 country a shock that soon 
 put an end to the prac- 
 tice of duelling. 
 
 Fulton's invention was 
 not used in sending ships 
 across the Atlantic for a 
 number of years after it 
 had been successfully ap- 
 plied to river boats. But 
 our foreign commerce had 
 not waited for the com- 
 pletion of that invention 
 to become an important 
 element in our prosper- 
 ity. Securing a good start 
 under Washington, it had 
 grown very rapidly until 
 under Jefferson Ameri- 
 can vessels were carrying 
 a large part of the freight 
 
74 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of the world. This good fortune was mainly due 
 to the wars in which nearly all of Europe was at 
 the time engaged, and which made the ships of a 
 neutral like ourselves the safest for the transporta- 
 tion of goods. 
 
 An annoying hindrance to this commerce had for 
 a long time existed in the tribute which the Bar- 
 bary States on the northern shores of Africa com- 
 pelled Christian nations to pay to prevent their 
 ships from being captured and their sailors from 
 being sold into slavery by these Mohammedan 
 
 face of a constant fire from the enemy burned her. 
 The damage done to her forts and shipping by 
 frequent bombardments finally brought Tripoli to 
 terms, and in 1805 she yielded and made peace 
 with the United States. The e.xample thus set by 
 America in resisting the Mediterranean pirates was 
 followed by other nations, and in the course of a 
 few years a complete stop was put to their exac- 
 tions. 
 
 But before Jefferson's presidency ended American 
 commerce suffered from a much more serious inter- 
 
 ■t^ 
 
 DECATUR BURNING THE " PHILADELPHIA." 
 
 pirates. The United States, like the nations of 
 Europe, submitted to this extortion until Tripoli 
 (one of these Barbary States) in 1801 increased the 
 amount of money demanded. This the United 
 States refused to pay and sent her little navy to the 
 Mediterranean to protect American ships. The 
 " Philadelphia," one of her frigates, having stranded 
 in the harbor of Tripoli, was captured (1803), but 
 before the Mohammedans had any chance to make 
 use of her, a boat-load of sailors, pluckily led by 
 Lieutenant Decatur, ran into the harbor, and in 
 
 ference than from the Barbary tax. This was from 
 the blockades which England and France declared 
 against the ports of each other and of their allies. 
 Not content with these blockades, Great Britain 
 went further, and in 1807 issued Orders in Council 
 forbidding any American ship from entering any 
 European harbor excepting her own and those of 
 her friend, Sweden. Bonaparte replied with his 
 Milan Decree directing that every American vessel 
 which entered a British port should, if captured by 
 the French, be sold. 
 
THE WAR OF 1812, 
 
 75 
 
 Between these two cross-fires our foreign trade 
 was soon in a sorry pliglit. The people felt these 
 acts to be intolerable, but were reluctant to go to 
 war, as the weakness of the American navy offered 
 but a poor chance of any redress from fighting. 
 Moreover the Republicans were more desirous of 
 paying oflf the debt already incurred than of burden- 
 ing the country with a new one, as a war would 
 do. It was therefore decided to stop all trade for a 
 time with Europe in the hope that the injury thus 
 inflicted upon foreign commerce would bring the 
 two countries to terms. Accordingly in 1807 Con- 
 gress passed the Embargo Act, prohibiting any ves- 
 sel from leaving the United States for any European 
 port. 
 
 Instead of helping matters this only made them 
 worse. Great Britain profited by it in getting back 
 some of the carrying trade she had previously lost, 
 and New England, whose foreign business was 
 large, suffered severely from the paralysis caused it 
 by this step. All of the country was affected more 
 or less from the measure, and in 1809 it was found 
 necessary to replace the Embargo Act by the Non- 
 Intercourse Act, which, while still forbidding trade 
 with France and England, permitted it with other 
 countries. This made the situation a little better, 
 but not a great deal, and the feeling became very 
 bitter against France and Great Britain, particularly 
 against the latter, as she had been the more hostile 
 of the two. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE WAR OF 1812. 
 
 Though the troubles with France and England 
 had lost to the Republicans some of their popu- 
 larity with the people, they yet succeeded in elect- 
 ing one of their number President when Jefferson's 
 second term expired in 1809. This was James Mad- 
 ison, also a Virginian, and, like his predecessors, 
 of public experience derived from services in his 
 State legislature, the Constitutional Convention and 
 Congress. He had been Secretary of State under 
 Jefferson. 
 
 The foreign difficulties under Madison did not im- 
 prove; they rather grew worse. France, indeed, did 
 agree to repeal her decrees if the Non-Intercourse 
 Act was not applied against her, but England en- 
 forced the Orders in Council with greater vigor 
 than ever, and stationed war ships along the Ameri- 
 can coast ready to pounce upon any vessel that 
 ventured forth. What was particularly hateful to 
 the Americans was the right claimed and continu- 
 ally exercised by her of stopping the ships of any na- 
 tion upon the high seas and taking av/ay any sailors 
 whom the officer making the search chose to think 
 had been born in Great Britain or Ireland. In this 
 way many American citizens, both native and 
 naturalized, were forced into the British navy and 
 compelled to serve against their own country. Not 
 content with these injuries, the British attempted 
 also to inflict one of a different kind by aiding some 
 Indians under Tecumseh in an attack upon the 
 whites in the Northwest. General W. H. Harrison 
 defeated these Indians (181 1) at Tippecanoe, and 
 
 Tecumseh with his men afterwards entered the 
 British army. 
 
 At length the patience of the Americans became 
 exhausted, and on June 18, 1812, Congress, after 
 making what preparations it could, formally declared 
 war against Great Britain. The government had 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
76 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 TECUMSEH. 
 
 but little money at its command and these prepara- 
 tions were not very formidable. The navy consisted 
 of only twelve vessels, and the army was an undis- 
 ciplined body of troops officered by Revolutionary 
 soldiers, now too old to be really efficient, or by 
 politicians ignorant of the first principles of military 
 
 science. Among the Federalists and throughout 
 New England the war was not regarded with much 
 favor, but the Republicans strongly supported it, 
 and they formed a decided majority of the people. 
 
 Most of the honors in the naval part of the con- 
 flict fell to the Americans. On the land they were 
 more evenly divided. The naval results were a sur- 
 prise to the United States as well as to England 
 and to Europe generally, for hitherto the British 
 had been considered almost invincible on the ocean 
 even by a first-class power, which America at that 
 time certainly was not. Out of the seventeen sea- 
 fights which occurred during the two and a half 
 years that the war lasted, the Americans won thir- 
 teen and lost four, and this surely was a creditable 
 showing for a nation which at the beginning of the 
 contest had only a handful of war ships to oppose 
 to the thousand belonging to the enemy. The dis- 
 parity between the sea forces of the two countries, 
 however, did not long continue to be quite as great 
 as this, for the United States soon verj' materially 
 increased its navy by the purchase and building of 
 more vessels. 
 
 The reason for this was very largely in the care- 
 lessness of the English commanders and in the vigi- 
 lance of their opponents. The very success which 
 Great Britain had so uniformly met with hitherto 
 
 THE "CHESAPEAKE" AND THE "SHANNON. 
 
THE WAR OF 1812. 
 
 77 
 
 on the ocean made her now more lax, especially 
 when she had a nation so much her inferior in 
 power as the United States to contend against. The 
 Americans, on the contrary', were all the more alert 
 because they felt their weakness. Whatever they 
 were to accomplish must be done by discipline and 
 skill, for of strength they had but little as compared 
 with that against them. 
 
 The first of these sea-victories was the capture of 
 the "Alert " by the " Essex "commanded by Captain 
 Porter, followed in a few days by the capture of 
 the " Guerriere " by the " Constitution " under Cap- 
 tain Hull. This was in August, 1812. In the fol- 
 lowing October the " Frolic " was taken by the 
 •' Wasp " (Captain Jacob Jones), and the " Macedo- 
 nian " by the "United States" (Captain Decatur). 
 Still a fifth conquest was made the same year (De- 
 cember) — that of the " Java " by the " Constitution," 
 now under command of Captain William Bain- 
 bridge. Against these five victories was one loss, 
 the " Wasp," which was so badly injured in its fight 
 with the " Frolic" that it fell an easy prey to the 
 " Poictiers," a larger British vessel, which overtook 
 and captured it with its prize a few hours afterwards. 
 
 During 1S13 the American naxy was not quite as 
 successful as it had been in the preceding year, its 
 defeats equalling in number its victories. Of its 
 losses, that of the " Chesapeake " (June) was the most 
 serious. The "Chesapeake" was commanded by 
 Captain Lawrence, who earlier in the season (Febru- 
 arj'). while in command of the " Hornet," had gained 
 one of the two victories of the year by defeating and 
 capturing the " Peacock." For this service he had 
 been transferred to the larger ship, the " Chesa- 
 peake," but had scarcely assumed charge before he 
 was engaged in battle with the "Shannon." Law- 
 rence fought gallantly, but in this case British dis- 
 cipline was better than American and prevailed. 
 Lawrence lost his life before the struggle was de- 
 cided, so that he was spared the pain of defeat. His 
 last words — "Don't give up the ship" — became for 
 the rest of the war the battle-cry of the American 
 sailor. 
 
 Of the other ocean reverses the capture of the 
 "Essex" (March, 1814) was the most important. 
 She had been cruising in the Pacific for about a year 
 when she was attacked, while crippled from an ac- 
 cident, by the " Phoebe " and " Cherub," and after 
 the fiercest fight of the war, during which more than 
 half of her men were killed, she was forced to sur- 
 render. Another loss to the Americans occurred 
 in the following January when the " President " was 
 taken by a British fleet near Long Island. 
 
 But against these disasters was a long series of 
 
 splendid successes : the " Peacock " over the " Eper- 
 vier" (April, 1814); the "Wasp" over the "Rein- 
 deer" (June, 1814); the "Wasp" over the "Avon" 
 (Sept., 1814) ; the "Constitution " over the "Cyane" 
 and the " Levant" (Feb., 181 5) ; the " Hornet" over 
 the " Penguin " (March, 181 5) ; and the " Peacock" 
 over the "Nautilus" (June, 181 5). The three capt- 
 ures (all under different commanders) made by the 
 " Constitution " earned her the reputation of a lucky 
 ship with her officers and men and they gave her 
 the name of " Old Ironsides," by which she was 
 known as long as she was kept afloat. 
 
 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY. 
 
 Not only on the ocean was the United States 
 successful. Two of its greatest naval victories were 
 won on the lakes. Captain Perry had command 
 on Lake Erie, his fleet consisting of five small ves- 
 sels and two larger ones, the " Lawrence " and the 
 " Niagara," the former named after the hero of the 
 "Chesapeake." whose dying words were inscribed 
 on the flag flying from her mast. In September, 
 181 3, Perry met the British fleet and engaged it in 
 battle. He was in the " Lawrence," and against her 
 the English at first directed the whole of their fire 
 until she became hopelessly disabled. Quickly shift- 
 ing himself to the "Niagara," Perry turned at once 
 
78 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 upon the British, exhausted from their attack on the 
 " Lawrence," and breaking through their Hne poured 
 upon them so heavy a fire in all directions that in 
 a quarter of an hour the entire fleet surrendered. 
 Perry used few words to announce his victory: 
 " We have met the enemy and they are ours : two 
 ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop." 
 
 The victor^' on Lake Erie gave the American 
 army an opportunity to invade Canada. Exactly 
 a year later (Sept. ii, 1814) a similar success on 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 WIN FIELD SCOTT. 
 
 Lake Champlain prevented an English army from 
 invading New York by way of Canada. Commo- 
 dore Macdonough was at the head of the Ameri- 
 can fleet on this lake which opposed the progress 
 of the British, and the result of the battle was the 
 capture of the four larger vessels of the enemy, the 
 flight of the smaller ones and the retreat of the 
 army. In neither of these lake engagements did 
 the Americans have quite as many guns or men as 
 the English. Indeed there were few naval battles 
 
 in the war in which whatever advantage there 
 might be in these respects did not rest with the 
 British. 
 
 Turning now to land operations the picture is 
 not as flattering to American pride, for there we 
 did not have it nearly so much our own way as on 
 the water. At the outset of the war several attempts 
 were made to invade Canada, but the)' only resulted 
 in the loss of Detroit (Aug., i8i2),then the largest 
 town on the northwestern frontier. General W. 
 H. Harrison was then 
 given command of the 
 West and he tried many 
 times to retake Detroit, 
 but his troops at first 
 were too raw to accom- 
 plish much. It was while 
 he was striving to drive 
 the enemy from Michigan 
 that the battle of the 
 Raisin River occurred 
 (Jan., 1813), long remem- 
 bered for the bloody mas- 
 sacre of the wounded by 
 the Indians which fol- 
 lowed it and which was 
 inhumanly permitted by 
 the British commander, 
 General Proctor. The 
 victory of Perr)' finally 
 afforded Harrison 
 the chance to enter Cana- 
 da, where he defeated 
 Proctor at the Thames 
 River (Oct., 1813), killed 
 Tecumseh and put an end 
 to the war in that region. 
 Detroit and other captur- 
 ■^^ ed forts were easily retak- 
 en and Michigan passed 
 back again to American 
 control. 
 
 In northern New York 
 there was the same ill- 
 success for the first year or two that there was in 
 the West, and the same improvement in the latter 
 part of the war. The most important engagement 
 in this section of the country was the battle of 
 Lundy's Lane (July, 1S14), fought on the Canadian 
 side of the Niagara River, which resulted in driv- 
 ing the British from the field, but also in weakening 
 the Americans so seriously that they thought it 
 prudent to themselves retire as well the next day. 
 The improved discipline in this northern army was 
 
THE WAR OF 1812. 
 
 79 
 
 principally due to the efforts of Winfield Scott, one 
 of the younger officers lately put in command, and 
 who, with Ripley and Jacob Brown, led our soldiers 
 in the battle of Lundy's Lane. 
 
 In the East the American cause suffered even 
 more than in the West and North. The British 
 vessels stationed along the Atlantic coast not only 
 blockaded all the ports but they bombarded many 
 towns and sent parties on shore who did much in- 
 jury to public and private property. Lewes, Havre 
 
 This work of destruction accomplished, the British 
 turned to Baltimore, but here some preparations for 
 defence had been made and the attack was deter- 
 minedly resisted and finally repulsed. 
 
 The Indians on the frontier, who were generally 
 hostile to the settlers, nearly everywhere seized the 
 occasion of the outbreak of the war to attack the 
 whites. Of these attacks by far the most serious was 
 that made by the Creeks, the principal tribe in the 
 Southwest Territory consisting of tlie present States 
 
 •^——~ - . : -^y,, -" " 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 ■^ 
 
 
 PACKENHAM LEADING THE ATTACK ON NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 de Grace, Hampton and Stonington were among 
 the places thus attacked, and New York only es- 
 caped through British fear of the torpedoes in the 
 harbor. But the greatest disaster in this region, in 
 fact of the war, was the burning of Washington. 
 That city had been left entirely unprotected, and 
 when an English army of five thousand men landed 
 at Chesapeake Bay and marched to the seat of gov- 
 ernment (Aug., 1 814) there were no soldiers there 
 to defend it and the city was pillaged at will. 
 
 of Alabama and Mississippi. In August, 1813, they 
 surprised Fort Mims (near Mobile) and put to death 
 nearly all of the five hundred men, women anc 
 children who had taken refuge there. 
 
 Such an act called for immediate vengeance. 
 The Tennessee militia hastened to the field and 
 under command of Andrew Jackson pursued the 
 Indians, and at the battle of Tohopeka, on the Tal- 
 lapoosa River (Alabama), overwhelmingly routed 
 them, killing eight hundred of their number and 
 
8o 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 compelling them to give up most of their land 
 to the Americans (March, 1814). From this time 
 the Creeks, who before had been a power in the 
 Southwest, gave the settlers but little trouble. 
 
 The battle of Tohopeka, or Horseshoe Bend (as it 
 is also called), made Jackson's reputation for leader- 
 ship and the command in the Southwest was given 
 to him. It was known that an army was on its way 
 from England to attack New Orleans, and Jackson 
 at once made the most energetic arrangements for 
 its defence. Entrenchments were thrown up on 
 marshy land a few miles below New Orleans and 
 expert riflemen stationed behind them to prevent 
 the enemy on landing from reaching the city. 
 
 In December, 1814, the British arrived. They 
 comprised twelve thousand veteran troops led by 
 Sir Edward Packenham, and opposed to them were 
 six thousand Americans as inexperienced in war as 
 were the minute-men at Lexington and Concord. 
 The first week or two was spent in minor skir- 
 mishes, and then, on January 8, 1815, Packenham 
 threw his entire army against Jackson's works. 
 Profiting by the example of their fathers at Bunker 
 Hill, the Americans held back their fire until the 
 English were close at hand and then poured it up- 
 on them with such deadly effect that the whole line 
 of the enemy broke and fled, leaving their command- 
 er and over twenty-five hundred of their number 
 dead behind them, while of Jackson's men but seven 
 were killed and thirteen wounded. 
 
 The battle of New Orleans was a more gratifying 
 close to the war than Hull's surrender of Detroit 
 had been a beginning of it. Before this last bat- 
 tle was fought peace had been concluded by Ameri- 
 can and British representatives at the Belgian city 
 of Ghent (Dec. 24, 1814), but the news of it did not 
 reach this country until after Jackson's victory. It 
 is curious that the very things which caused the 
 
 two countries to begin the war were neither of them 
 mentioned in the treaty of peace. The reason for 
 their omission is that they had ceased to be of impor- 
 tance. England and France were no longer at war 
 and hence there was no occasion for the former to en- 
 force her Orders in Council. As to the British claim 
 to the right of search and imprisonment of seamen, 
 the United States no longer feared she would attempt 
 to exercise it, as the American na\T had shown itself 
 fully able to protect our commerce on the ocean. 
 
 Tidings of peace were never more gladly received 
 than was the news of the treaty of Ghent. Though 
 it left matters very much as they were before, it 
 was ever)T,vhere hailed with delight and celebrated 
 by the ringing of bells and firing of cannon. For by 
 the close of the war business of all kinds was nearly 
 at a standstill. The people had become too poor to 
 buy anything but the barest necessities of life, and 
 sometimes they could hardly buy those. Money 
 was scarce, creditors could not collect their debts, 
 farmers could not sell their crops. New England 
 suffered especially from the stoppage put to her 
 commerce by the war. From the first she had op- 
 posed it, and the many land reverses met with by the 
 Americans during its progress did not tend to de- 
 crease her opposition. This opposition grew still 
 stronger after the burning of Washington, and in 
 the latter part of 1814 a secret convention of New 
 England Federalists was held at Hartford, to take 
 steps, the Republicans said, to withdraw from the 
 Union. There is no proof to support this charge, 
 for all the convention did was to draw up a report 
 on the condition of the country, suggest that New 
 England be allowed to defend herself against the 
 English without waiting for Federal aid and propose 
 some changes in the Constitution. Peace so quick- 
 ly followed the meetings of the convention that 
 nothing came of its recommendations. 
 
 BRIDGE OVER THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT ST. LOUIS. 
 
THE ERA OF GOOD FEELING AND THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 
 
 8i 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE ERA OF GOOD FEELING AND THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 
 
 The close of the war opened again the ocean 
 roads for merchant ships to Europe, and with the 
 resumption of foreign commerce came a revival of 
 business throughout the land. The country was 
 growing. The war itself had stimulated the settle- 
 ment of western New York, which previously had 
 been a rarely visited wilderness. Steamboats were 
 carrying emigrants to the Westand Jackson's crush- 
 ing defeat of the Creeks had removed all fear of 
 the Indians in Alabama and Mississippi and thrown 
 them open to white colonists. New States were 
 also coming into the Union. In 1812 Louisiana 
 was separated from the rest of the territory bought 
 from France and given statehood, followed four 
 years later (18 1 6) by Indiana, formed, as Ohio had 
 been, from the Northwest Territory. Slavery was 
 already in existence in Louisiana before it became 
 a State, while the Ordinance of 1787 insured free soil 
 in Indiana and the rest of the Northwest Territory, 
 The admission of these two States therefore did 
 not affect the balance of power between the slave- 
 holding and non-slaveholding States. 
 
 The opposition of the Federalists to the war and 
 particularl)' their calling the Hartford Convention 
 destroyed what little influence they still had. They 
 had been unable to prevent the re-election of Mad- 
 ison in 181 2; they were able to do yet less in 181 6 
 when Madison's successor was to be chosen. Out 
 of two hundred and twenty-one electoral votes 
 cast, the Republican candidate, Monroe, received all 
 but thirty-four. This ended the Federalist party. 
 It now completely disappeared from politics and at 
 no future election did it make even a nomination 
 for office. After a few years a new party was formed, 
 called the Whig, and this was joined by many of 
 those who were formerly Federalists. But in the 
 meantime there was little or no organized opposi- 
 tion to the Republicans, who in consequence were 
 able to conduct the government pretty much as 
 they liked. 
 
 James Monroe, the fifth President of the United 
 States and the fourth furnished by Virginia, had 
 had perhaps even a wider experience in public 
 office than any of the Presidents before him. He 
 had served as captain in the Revolution, as mem- 
 ber of the Continental Congress, and (on the adop- 
 tion of the Constitution) as United States Senator. 
 Then he became Minister in succession to France, 
 
 England and Spain, and afterwards Governor of 
 Virginia and (under Madison) Secretary of State. 
 He held the presidency for eight years, only one 
 electoral vote being cast against him at the end 
 of his first term in 1820, and that was thrown 
 simply that no one should share with Washington 
 the honor of a unanimous election. 
 The administration of Monroe was the "era of 
 
 JAMES MONROE. 
 
 good feeling." Parties and politics for the time 
 were over. The country was at peace and was pros- 
 perous, and its increasing population was forming 
 settlements in every direction and rapidly developing 
 its marvellous resources. The three millions of peo- 
 ple contained in the United States at the end of 
 the War for Independence had by 1820 become over 
 nine and a half millions, and these figures were con- 
 stantly enlarging by a vast emigration from Europe 
 which spread itself over the country, clearing away 
 forests, building villages and towns, and turning the. 
 wilderness into a garden. 
 
82 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Railroads were as yet unknown. The only means 
 of travel were by boat or carriage. The importance 
 therefore of good roads and waterways was mani- 
 fest. Recognizing this. Congress and the various 
 
 DE WIIT CLINTON. 
 
 States, in order to aid in the development of the 
 country, began at this time to build a better system 
 of roads and canals than any that had hitherto ex- 
 isted. Of these by far 
 the most extensive and 
 important was the Erie 
 Canal, constructed by 
 the State of New York, 
 and which, by connect- 
 ing Lake Erie at Buffalo 
 ■with the Hudson at Al- 
 bany, afforded a new 
 outlet from the Great 
 Lakes to the Atlantic 
 and made travel and 
 trafficbetween New York 
 and what was then the 
 extreme West immense- 
 ly easier. Eight years 
 were occupied in its 
 building (i8i 7-1 825), and 
 the credit of the enter- 
 prise is due to the un- 
 tiring efforts of Govern- 
 or De Witt Clinton, but 
 for whom it never would 
 have been begun or 
 pushed to a conclusion. 
 
 It is undoubtedly to the Erie Canal that New York 
 owes the commercial supremacy she has so long 
 ■enjoyed and which has made her to-day the largest 
 and wealthiest of the States. 
 
 Once before had the United States added to its 
 territory. Now it did so again by buying (1S21), 
 for five millions of dollars, Florida from Spain, to 
 whom it had been given by England at the close of 
 the Revolution. This purchase was rendered nec- 
 essary, or at least desirable, by the trouble which 
 both the Indians and Spanish settlers in Florida 
 continually gave to the neighboring Americans in 
 Georgia and Alabama, and which could not readily 
 be checked until our government obtained control 
 of the territory. 
 
 Not only was the area of the United States en- 
 larged during this period, but the number of States 
 was increased and five more stars added to the 
 American flag. The first to be admitted was Mis- 
 sissippi (18 1 7), originally claimed by Georgia, but 
 given up in 1802 to Congress. Next followed Illi- 
 nois (in 1818), the third State taken from the North- 
 west Territory. Alabama, which like Mississippi had 
 once belonged to Georgia, came in 1S19, and a year 
 later Maine was divided off from Massachusetts and 
 made a State by itself. The last of these five was 
 Missouri, admitted in 1821. The names of all these 
 States, excepting Maine, were taken from the In- 
 dians, Illinois being the name of a tribe and the 
 
 THE FIRST BOAT THROUGH THE CANAL TO THE SEA. 
 
 Others the names of rivers. Maine received its 
 name from the French possessions of Henrietta 
 Maria, wife of Charles the First, during whose reign 
 it was first settled. 
 
THE ERA OF GOOD FEELING AND THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 83 
 
 Missouri was part of the Territory of Missouri, 
 the name given to the rest of the French purchase 
 when Louisiana was cut off from it and made a 
 State in 1812. Its admission raised the slavery 
 question and marks the beginning of the anti-slave- 
 ry struggle, which was not brought to a final close 
 till nearly half a century later. Though negroes 
 were at first held in bondage in all of the original 
 thirteen colonies, they were never as numerous in 
 the North as in the South, and the idea of slavery 
 was never as well liked in the one region as in the 
 other. Before the end of the last cen- 
 tury it had nearly died out in the North 
 and public sentiment there was becom- 
 ing decidedly averse to it, while in the 
 South, on the other hand, it was con- 
 stantly increasing as negro labor became 
 more profitable in the production of cot- 
 ton, rice and tobacco. But however 
 much the North might be opposed to the 
 principle of slavery there was no thought 
 at first of attempting to abolish it in the 
 Southern States where it already existed. 
 There was, however, a strong feeling 
 against its extension to new parts of the 
 country', and it was this feeling which 
 had secured (by the Ordinance of 1787) 
 its prohibition from the Northwest Ter- 
 ritory. 
 
 Of the ten States admitted into the 
 Union after the adoption of the Consti- 
 tution, and up to the time that Missouri 
 came in, five (Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, 
 Illinois and Maine) had been free and 
 live (Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, 
 Alabama and Mississippi) slave. In the 
 latter five slavery had been introduced 
 before they passed under control of the 
 national government either by gift from the older 
 States or (as in the case of Louisiana) by purchase. 
 There was therefore but little objection to their 
 admission as slave States. The case of Missouri 
 ■was thought to be different. In position she was 
 nearer to the Northern States than to the South- 
 ern ones, and her interests, the North claimed, 
 would lie more with the former than with the latter, 
 and like them, therefore, she should be free. She 
 was west of the Mississippi, and the North held 
 that the founders of the government had never in- 
 tended that slavery should extend beyond that 
 river. When bought from France there had been 
 scarcely any settlement within her boundaries, so 
 that her soil was then virtually free, and only as a 
 free State were the opponents of slavery willing 
 
 she should enter the Union. But during her terri- 
 torial days many slave-owners had mov'ed into Mis- 
 souri and they had become a majority of her popu- 
 lation. They naturally wished to retain their slave 
 property, and in this they were supported by the 
 other Southern States, who argued that the Consti- 
 tution had left the matter to the States, and that if 
 Missouri chose to permit slavery she was entitled to 
 do so. Congress debated the question long and 
 earnestly, public feeling in both sections of the 
 country becoming thoroughly roused and excited. 
 
 ERIS CANAL, NEW YORK STATE. 
 
 Finally, after a discussion which lasted two years, 
 the dispute was arranged by admitting Missouri as 
 a slave State on condition that all other territories 
 and future States north of her southern boundary 
 should be free. It was hoped at the time that this 
 " Missouri Compromise," as it was called, would 
 end forever the slavery contest, but as will be seen 
 later on it only postponed the day of settlement. 
 
 Monroe's administration saw also the opening of 
 another great public question which, unlike that of 
 slavery, has not yet reached a final settlement. 
 This was the tariff question. Many manufactories 
 had been established in this country since the Rev- 
 olutionary times, but their owners found it difficult 
 to compete with foreign (especially English) goods, 
 which were offered for sale in the American mar- 
 
84 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 kets more cheaply than they could be profitably 
 made for here. At the request of American manu- 
 facturers, Congress in 1824 increased the taxes (or 
 duties) on goods imported into this country so as 
 
 COTTON PLANT. 
 
 to raise the price at which they must be sold, and 
 thus protect home wares. This protective policy 
 was (and is) opposed by those who believe that the 
 government ought not to do anything to restrict 
 trade, that ever)' one should have the right to buy 
 where he can buy at the least cost, and that a high 
 
 tariff compels the many to support the few. From 
 that time to the present this question of free trade 
 or protection has often come up for discussion and 
 action, and the people have sometimes inclined to 
 one side and sometimes to the 
 other, but they have never yet 
 spoken so decisively for either 
 policy as to cause its opponents 
 to abandon the contest. 
 
 The ■' Monroe Doctrine," which 
 has ever since been our great 
 guide in determining the rela- 
 tions we should hold with foreign 
 countries, also originated in this 
 period. It was set forth in a 
 message sent to Congress by the 
 President in the year preceding 
 the adoption of the protective 
 tariff, and declared that while the 
 United States would take no part 
 in any quarrel or war between the 
 nations of Europe or disturb any 
 colony already established in this 
 country, we would not permit any 
 European interference with the 
 affairs of this continent, any at- 
 tempt to plant new colonies or to 
 subject any independent state to 
 the condition of a colon}' in either 
 North or South America. The 
 message was called forth by a sus- 
 picion that some of the powers of 
 Europe were seeking to gain con- 
 trol over the South American 
 states which had recently freed 
 themselves from Spanish rule and 
 become independent. 
 
 In the closing year of Monroe's 
 term of office La Fayette on in- 
 vitation from the government vis- 
 ited once more the United States. 
 He was received everywhere with 
 the honors he so richly merited from the great 
 services he had rendered the countrj' fifty years 
 before, and when his year's stay was over he re- 
 turned to France in a frigate which bore his name 
 and with a present from Congress of two hundred 
 thousand dollars and a township of public land. 
 
THE '' AMERICAN SYSTEM" AND NULLIFICATION. 
 
 85 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE " AMERICAN SYSTEM " AND NULLIFICATION. 
 
 There were four candidates for the presidency in 
 1824, all of them Republicans (Democrats), for the 
 Federalist party had ceased to exist and the Whig 
 party had not yet come into being. Of these An- 
 drew Jackson received the most electoral votes, but 
 not a majority, and so for a second time the House 
 of Representatives was called upon to choose the 
 President. There the friends of two of the other 
 candidates combined against Jackson and secured 
 the election of John.Quincy Adams. 
 
 John Quincy Adams was the first President who 
 had had no part in either the Revolutionary War or in 
 framing the Constitution. He had come into pub- 
 lic life after the Constitution was adopted and the 
 new government organized under it. A son of 
 John Adams, he had first served his country as 
 Minister to the Netherlands and to Prussia, then as 
 United States Senator, then as Minister to Russia 
 and then as Monroe's Secretary of State. It is a 
 curious fact that four of the first six Presidents 
 should have been Secretaries of State under some 
 of their predecessors, the last three in fact going 
 direct from that office to the executive chair. 
 
 The elder Adams was still living when his son 
 became President, but the latter had been in office 
 only a little more than a year when his father died. 
 By a remarkable coincidence both he and Jefferson 
 died on the same day, and that day (July 4, 1S26) 
 was the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the 
 Declaration of Independence, of which one had 
 been the author and the other the principal sup- 
 porter. The two had been life-long friends except 
 for a brief interval at the beginning of Jefferson's 
 presidency, and each died in the belief that the 
 other was still living. 
 
 The administration of Monroe had witnessed the 
 introduction into the United States from Great 
 Britain of lighting by gas (1822); that of the younger 
 Adams saw another invention brought from over the 
 Atlantic which proved of infinitely more value and 
 which rivalled in importance even Fulton's steam- 
 boat. This was the railroad, first tried in England 
 in 1825, and in America, at Quincy (Mass.) and at 
 Albany, in 1827. In the course of a few years rail- 
 roads were built through most of the settled parts 
 of the United States and proved a most powerful 
 help in enabling us to make use of the natural wealth 
 of the country and in enlarging its settlements. 
 
 Without question, the locomotive steam-engine has 
 done more for the prosperity of America than any 
 other one thing that can be named. It has hastened 
 by at least a quarter of a century the development 
 of the vast region northwest of the Mississippi. It 
 has made it possible for the people in every section 
 of the country to obtain quickly and cheaply the 
 products of every other section. More than all, it 
 has so encouraged the inhabitants of one State to 
 travel and mingle among those of other States that 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 it has knit the whole people into one nation as 
 probably nothing else would have done. 
 
 Though the benefits which were to be derived 
 from the railroad were not felt immediately, the 
 country was in a very prosperous condition, and this 
 the protectionists claimed was the effect of the tarifl[ 
 of 1824. They therefore became urgent to have the 
 duties made still higher, on the ground that such a 
 course would result in even greater wealth to the 
 country. This policy was advocated by Adams and 
 
86 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 his Secretary of State, Henry 
 Clay, and they induced Congress 
 in 1828 to pass a bill raising the 
 imposts (or taxes on imports). 
 The revenues which came from 
 these increased duties were de- 
 voted to continuing the improve- 
 ments of roads, canals and har- 
 bors previously begun under 
 Monroe. 
 
 This " American system," as 
 the combination of a protective 
 tariff with internal improvements 
 came to be called, proved the 
 ruin of Adams as the " Alien 
 and Sedition Laws " had of his 
 father before him. It broke up 
 the Republican party into two 
 sections, one believing as did 
 Adams and Clay, and the other 
 opposed to their policy. In the 
 latter division, which took the 
 name of the Democratic party, 
 was found nearly the entire 
 South, which having no manu- 
 factories, favored free trade or 
 at least a low tariff. The other 
 division of the Republicans 
 (which soon took the name of 
 Whigs) obtained its support at 
 the North, especially in New 
 
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 THE FIRST STEA.M-ENGINE. 
 
 HENRY CLAY. 
 
 England, where nearly all of the manu- 
 facturing of the country v.as done and 
 which accordingly desired the protec- 
 tion afforded by a high tariff. The 
 North and South thus became divided 
 to some extent on another subject be- 
 sides that of the right or wrong of 
 slavery. 
 
 Other things as well as the tariff and 
 internal improvements entered into 
 the party feeling of the time and helped 
 to destroy the political quiet which had 
 so long rested upon the nation. Adams 
 personally was not a popular man with 
 the people, though he was respected 
 and even feared. Trained in politics 
 by his father, he was felt to belong to 
 the old school of statesmen and not 
 to be in sufficient sympathy with the 
 changed conditions of the country to 
 properly be its head. But the great 
 thing against him, that which chiefly 
 led to his overthrow, was the sentiment 
 
THE "AMERICAN SYSTEM" AND NULLIFICATION. 
 
 87 
 
 that the presidency had not been fairly awarded to 
 him in 1S24, and that the man who had then re- 
 ceived the most votes should have been President. 
 This it was that, when he stood for re-election in 
 1828, caused him to be hopelessly defeated by the 
 same candidate who had outvoted him four years 
 before, but whom the House of Representatives had 
 then set aside in his favor. General Andrew Jackson. 
 
 Andrew Jackson, the hero of New Orleans, " Old 
 Hickory " as his party associates loved to call him, 
 was not without political experience when he en- 
 tered upon the presidency, though his experience 
 had not been as extensive as that of most 
 of his predecessors. He had been a mem- 
 ber of both branches of Congress as well 
 as of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, the 
 State of his adoption though not of his 
 birth. It was as a soldier, however, in the 
 second war with England that he had won 
 his distinction and shown his fitness as a 
 natural leader of men. Honest, fearless, 
 bold and energetic, he allowed no obstacle 
 to prevent his doing what he thought was 
 right or necessary. 
 
 The administration of Jackson was a 
 stormy one. There were foreign difficul- 
 ties with France. There were wars with 
 the Indians. There was trouble with the 
 States. There were disagreements with 
 Congress. From the beginning to the end 
 of his eight years' presidency Jackson was 
 engaged almost constantly in some contest, 
 small or great, and from every one of them 
 he came out the victor. 
 
 His first attack was upon office-holders 
 whose politics differed from his own, all of 
 whom he swept from office as no Presi- 
 dent before him had done, and thus estab- 
 lished a custom which has been followed 
 almost without exception by each of his successors. 
 Then he turned against the Bank of the United 
 States, in which, since the early days of the Re- 
 public, the public money had been kept, vetoed 
 the bill passed by Congress to renew its charter 
 (1832), and forcibly removed the government de- 
 posits to State banks. Opposed to the " American 
 system" of high tariff and internal improvements, 
 he showed his disapproval by refusing to sign any 
 of the many harbor, canal and river bills sent him 
 by Congress. 
 
 These acts were all directed against his political 
 opponents. But he was not afraid to proceed 
 against his political friends, as well, when his views 
 differed from theirs. He himself believed in a 
 
 low tariff, but while a high tariff was the law he 
 thought it should be obeyed. South Carolina, like 
 all of the South, was opposed to protective duties. 
 But her opposition took a more violent form than 
 did that of other States. When Congress in 1832 
 again raised the tariff. South Carolina refused to 
 obey the new law, declared it null (of no effect), 
 forbade her citizens to pay the duties, and threat- 
 ened to secede if the national government should try 
 to enforce it. Such a defiance of federal authority 
 Jackson was not the kind of man to tolerate. He 
 at once sent a naval force to Charleston harbor to 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
 collect duties from every incoming ship. He or- 
 dered troops to the interior of the State to keep 
 order. He issued a proclamation notifying the peo- 
 ple that the law would be carried out, whatever hap- 
 pened, and that if they resisted it would be at the 
 peril of their lives. This brought South Carolina 
 to her senses. She had not been prepared for 
 quite so much energy. She determined to wait a 
 little before giving effect to her " nullification," and 
 see what Congress would do. What Congress did 
 was to adopt a "compromise tariff" (1833), pro- 
 viding for a steady annual decrease in the duties, 
 and so quieted the troubled waters. 
 
 He was equally decisive in foreign matters. 
 Americans had long been seeking payment for the 
 
88 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UN'ITED STATES. 
 
 injuries done their commerce by France in the ear- 
 ly years of the century, but without success, until 
 Jackson threatened to seize enough French ships 
 to make good the old loss and directed our Minister 
 at Paris to demand his passports and come home 
 (1834). This was sufficient. The five millions of 
 dollars claimed by us were paid and harmony be- 
 tween the two nations restored. 
 
 The first of the Indian troubles was an outbreak 
 on the part of the Sac and Fox tribes in Wisconsin 
 (1832), led by Black Hawk, a chief whose name has 
 been given to the war, and which resulted after a 
 few months' contest in the removal of the Indians 
 beyond the Mississippi. A more serious disturbance 
 occurred a few years later in Florida with the Sem- 
 inoles. It originated in the shelter they gave negro 
 slaves who had run away and whom they refused 
 to give up to their masters. This made the whites 
 very desirous of getting rid of such neighbors. The 
 ■war lasted seven years (1835-1842) and ended as the 
 
 BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Black Hawk one had done, in driving the Indians 
 west of the Mississippi. A third Indian tribe also 
 had to give up its lands during this period and cross 
 the great river. This was the Cherokee tribe, which 
 the government after some little difficulty induced 
 to leave Alabama and Georgia in 1836. 
 
 But the tumults, quarrels and excitements of the 
 time did not interrupt the growth or prosperity of 
 the country, more marked perhaps during these 
 years than at any other period in our history. Even 
 a great fire in New York, which destroyed twenty 
 million dollars' worth of property, did not affect 
 the nation at large, and only briefly checked the in- 
 
 crease of wealth in that city. In the very year ot 
 that fire (1835) the national debt was entirely paid 
 off and Congress found itself with an income (from 
 the tariff) larger than was needed for the expenses of 
 the government, and it could discover no better 
 means of using the surplus than by dividing it 
 among the States. But the States felt as pros- 
 perous as the federal government and were spend- 
 ing money freely in building railroads and canals, 
 improving highvvays and establishing more and 
 better schools. Private wealth kept pace with pub- 
 lic prosperity. The number of banks rapidly in- 
 creased ; more money was put into manufactories ; 
 and the sales of government lands rose from one 
 million dollars a year to twenty-five millions. It 
 was at this time that friction matches came into 
 use, and that coal took the place of w-ood. The 
 reaping-machine was invented in 1834 and the re- 
 volving pistol in 1835. Steamboats, which as yet 
 had only been used on the rivers and lakes, be- 
 gan to cross the ocean. Imprisonment for debt 
 began to be abolished, and the abolition of slave- 
 ry began to be advocated. The temperance move- 
 ment as an organized effort to restrict the use of 
 alcoholic drink also first came to the front at this 
 period. 
 
 The admission of Arkansas and Michigan into 
 the Union during the last years of Jackson's term 
 increased the number of States to twenty-six, thus 
 just doubling the original thirteen. Arkansas had 
 been part of the French purchase and had been in- 
 cluded successively in the territories of Louisiana 
 and Missouri until the latter in 1819 had formed a 
 State government, when she was made a territory by 
 herself under her present name (that of a former tribe 
 of Indians). She entered the Union in 1836, and as 
 she was south of Missouri she came in as a slave 
 State. Michigan followed a year later as the fourth 
 (free) State taken from the Northwest Territory, 
 though she had had a separate territorial govern- 
 ment of her own since 1805. Her name was taken 
 from that given by the Indians to the body of water 
 separating her from Wisconsin and which means 
 " great lake." The first settlement in each of these 
 two new States was made by the French, at Arkan- 
 sas Post (1685) and at Detroit (1701) respectively, 
 and for a long time these were about the only 
 settlements in the two territories. 
 
VAN BUREN, HARRISON. TYLER. 
 
 89 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 VAN BUREN, HARRISON, TYLER. 
 
 MARTIN VAN BUREN. 
 
 After serving for two terms Jackson in 1837 was 
 succeeded in the presidency by Martin Van Buren. 
 The Whigs had become discouraged by their defeats 
 in 1828 and in 1832 (when Jaclcson was re-elected) 
 and made no nomination against Van Buren, scat- 
 tering their vote among a number of candidates. 
 Their leader was Henry Clay, author of the " Mis- 
 souri Compromise " and the great advocate of pro- 
 tective duties and internal improvements, who had 
 twice before been a presidential candidate and each 
 time beaten (1824 and 1832). Besides serving as 
 Secretary of State under John Ouincy Adams, Clay 
 was for many years a member of the House of Rep- 
 resentatives and afterwards United States Senator 
 from Kentucky. 
 
 A native 'of New York, Van Buren had held a 
 number of State offices (among them the governor- 
 ship), had been a United States Senator and then 
 in turn Secretary of State and Vice-President 
 {under Jackson) before rising to the highest posi- 
 tion in the gift of the nation. Both of these last 
 (and highest) two offices he owed to the friend- 
 ship of Jackson, who procured his nomination 
 
 from the Democrats in gratitude for his loyal 
 support. 
 
 But Van Buren was able to retain the presidency 
 only one term, thus making the third President in 
 the first fifty years of the Constitution who failed of 
 re-election. His defeat was caused by the financial 
 panic which swept over the country the year he 
 took office, and of which the effect was felt during 
 most of his term. The prosperity of the previous 
 fifteen or twenty years had led people to extend 
 their business beyond the needs of the country, 
 growing as that was. To supply the money re- 
 quired by this expansion of trade the banks had 
 issued notes far in excess of their ability to redeem 
 them with gold and silver. Indeed, many of these 
 banks had never intended to redeem them when 
 they issued them. The failure of the banks to make 
 good their notes when presented brought on the 
 panic, which involved thousands in ruin. The gov- 
 ernment itself for a time was embarrassed, as the 
 State banks in which its funds were deposited were 
 obliged to suspend with the rest. It was on this 
 account that Congress, at the suggestion of Van 
 
 WILLIAM H. HARRISON. 
 
90 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 JOHN TYLER. 
 
 Buren, soon after established subtreasuries in vari- 
 ous parts of the country, where the public money 
 has since been kept safe from the danger of bank 
 failure. 
 
 Though Van Buren can hardly be held respon- 
 sible for the panic, the people did lay it partly at 
 his door, and thought that they might find relief 
 from the depression in business and general distress 
 by a change in the government. Accordingly in 
 1840 the Whigs, for the first time since their party 
 was formed, and after One of the most exciting cam- 
 paigns in our political history, famous for the size 
 of its meetings, the length of its processions and 
 the quantity of " hard cider " drunk, succeeded at 
 last in electing one of their number President, 
 General William H. Harrison. 
 
 Harrison, like Jackson, had gained his popularity 
 through his services in the War of 181 2, but, also 
 like Jackson, had held public office before his eleva- 
 tion to the presidency. By birth a Virginian, he re- 
 moved to the Northwest Territory in early manhood 
 and became one of the first territorial governors of 
 Indiana and afterwards its representative in turn in 
 each branch of Congress, and then was sent abroad 
 as United States Minister to Colombia. 
 
 The triumph of the Whigs was short-lived. 
 Scarcely a month after taking the oath Harrison 
 died (April 6, 1841), and in his successor, chosen 
 though he was by their votes, the Whigs found any- 
 thing but a friend to their cause. 
 
 John Tyler had been elected Vice-President on 
 the same ticket with Harrison, and so on the death 
 of the latter became President. This was in ac- 
 cordance with the provisions of the Constitution, 
 which in fact had only created the vice-presidential 
 office in order to provide for an immediate succes- 
 sor to the presidency should that position become 
 vacant by death, resignation or removal. No oc- 
 casion having before this arisen for the Vice-Presi- 
 dent to assume the higher office, the position had 
 come to be little thought of. Its duties were tri- 
 fling, it exerted slight influence, and in making nom- 
 inations to fill it parties looked with much more 
 care at the votes to be obtained than at the special 
 fitness of the candidate. It was this which had in- 
 duced the Whigs to associate Tyler with Harrison 
 at the recent election, and which had now made 
 the former President. For though Tyler called 
 himself a Whig, he was in reality a Democrat of the 
 most extreme type. He was a strong believer in 
 State sovereignty, or the right of a State to act in- 
 dependently of the national government and even 
 to leave the Union if it chose. He had therefore 
 emphatically approved of South Carolina's attempt 
 at nullification and had bitterly opposed Jackson's 
 course in stamping it out, and it was only to show 
 
VAN BUREN, HARRISON, TYLER. 
 
 91 
 
 his hostility to Jacl<son that he (nominally) left the 
 Democratic party and became a Whig. The Whigs 
 had placed his name on the ticket in the hope that 
 it might attract the votes of other Southerners who 
 thought as he did. He was from Virginia and had 
 been governor of that State, a member of Congress 
 and Senator. 
 
 Tyler's administration was a four years' struggle 
 between the President and the Whigs in Congress. 
 Nearly every bill passed by them was vetoed by him, 
 and though they had for the first half of his term a 
 majority in both houses it was of little avail against 
 his opposition. All the members of his Whig cabi- 
 
 JOHN C. CALHOUN. 
 
 net soon resigned excepting Daniel Webster, Secre- 
 tary of State, who remained in office to complete a 
 treaty he was arranging with Great Britain for the 
 extradition of criminals and the settlement of the 
 boundary between Canada and Maine (1842). This 
 was the first treaty ever made by the United States 
 providing for the return of criminals to the country 
 from which they had fled, but we now have similar 
 treaties with nearly all civilized nations. Webster, 
 who made the treaty, was Clay's great rival in the 
 leadership of the Whig party. He was a Senator 
 for many years from Massachusetts and was with- 
 out dispute the foremost orator of his age. His 
 most brilliant opponent was John C. Calhoun, who 
 
 succeeded him as Tyler's Secretary of State, and 
 who previously had been Monroe's Secretary of War 
 and Vice-President during Jackson's first term. It 
 was, however, while in Congress (to which he was 
 
 SAMUEL F. B. MORSE. 
 
 sent by South Carolina) that Calhoun, like Web- 
 ster and Clay, won his great fame. As the most 
 eloquent defender of slavery, the leading advocate 
 of State sovereignty and the originator of nullifica- 
 
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 MORSE S TRANSMITTING PLATE. 
 
92 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tion. he occupied for nearly twenty years before the 
 nation the most commanding position held by any 
 Southern man. 
 The most important difference between Tyler and 
 
 ^<ttr^"-^n\ tr" 
 
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 TRANSMITTING KEY. 
 
 Congress was on the annexation of Texas. Texas 
 had belonged to Mexico, but in 1835 had rebelled 
 and set up a government of its 
 own. Many Americans had settled 
 there, and through their efforts ap- 
 plication was made by it for annex- 
 ation to the United States. This 
 Tyler would have been glad to do, 
 but at first Congress would not con- 
 sent. The North opposed its admis- 
 sion both on the slavery question 
 and because of the probability that 
 it would involve us in war with Mex- 
 ico. The South favored it, as it 
 would help to preserve the balance 
 between the slave and free States, 
 which the South feared would soon 
 be lost to her through the increas- 
 ing settlements in the (free) North- 
 west. The matter was discussed 
 during all of Tyler's term and be- 
 came the controlling issue in the election of his suc- 
 cessor (1844). Then the verdict of the people was 
 
 possessing the oldest settlement in the United 
 States (St. Augustine, founded 1565). her increase 
 in population had been slow, owing chiefly to the 
 vast swamps which occupied so much of her ter- 
 ritory. It was on this account that 
 her admission as a State was delayed 
 for nearly twenty-five years after her 
 purchase from Spain (1821). 
 
 But Tyler's administration is to be 
 ~ associated with something of immense- 
 
 ly more consequence than the annex- 
 ation of Texas or the extradition treaty. 
 j^s-~ In the year that he went out of ofRce 
 
 the third greatest invention that the 
 world has known — with which only 
 printing and the steam-engine can be compared 
 — was perfected and put into operation. Samuel 
 
 ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE, 1 866, 
 
 for admission, and in the following year she was 
 both annexed and made a State — the last slave 
 State to enter the Union. Florida, also a slave 
 State, had preceded her by a few months. Though 
 
 MORSE S RECORDING TELEGRAPH. 
 
 F. B. Morse had secured patents for an electric 
 telegraph in 1837, but it was not until 1845 that 
 he could obtain the necessary 
 money from Congress to show 
 the practical usefulness of his 
 invention. Then a line was 
 built from Baltimore to Wash- 
 ington and the value of his 
 discovery at once showed it- 
 self. Telegraphy has now 
 come to play so important a 
 part in the conduct of all public and private busi- 
 ness that it is no longer possible to measure the 
 changes it has produced or to estimate the benefits 
 it has conferred. 
 
THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 93 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 The election of 1844 turned upon the annexation 
 of Texas, the Democrats supporting it and the 
 Whigs opposing it. The former won and their can- 
 didate, James K. Polli, accordingly became Presi- 
 dent in 1845. Clay for the third time had received 
 the nomination of his party and for the third time 
 had been defeated. 
 
 Polk was born in North Carolina, but at the age 
 of ten removed to Tennessee, of which he later be- 
 came Representative in Congress and afterwards 
 Governor. He served but one term, and of this the 
 great event was the Mexican War. 
 
 Mexico had never acknowledged the indepen- 
 dence of Texas, and felt aggrieved at the action of 
 the United States in annexing it while still regarded 
 by her as a rebellious province. This feeling of 
 soreness was further increased by a disagreement 
 as to its western boundary. A strip of land lying 
 between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers was 
 claimed by both the Texans and the Mexicans. 
 President Polk upheld the claim of the former and 
 sent General Zachary Taylor to take possession of 
 the disputed territory. This the Mexicans resented, 
 as they considered it an invasion of their country, 
 and a body of their soldiers crossing the Rio Grande 
 attacked and overcame a small troop of American 
 cavalry (April 26, 1846). Congress thereupon de- 
 clared (May 13) that Mexico had begun war and 
 voted the necessary money and men for carrying it 
 on. Though the Whigs did not approve of the war 
 as having been needlessly commenced by the Presi- 
 dent (and not by Mexico), they did not oppose 
 granting the money, as they thought that the sol- 
 diers already sent to the frontiers should be pro- 
 tected. 
 
 The war thus begun was an almost unbroken 
 series of victories for the Americans, whose disci- 
 pline, equipment and good leadership enabled them 
 to overcome in nearly every battle greatly superior 
 numbers. Taylor soon drove the Mexicans back 
 over the Rio Grande and gained control of the tract 
 of land in question. California (then Mexican ter- 
 ritory) was conquered with little difficulty during 
 the same summer (1846) by a fieet sent around to 
 the Pacific, assisted by land forces under Fremont, 
 then in the West exploring Oregon. At the same 
 time what is now New Mexico was seized by Gen- 
 eral Kearny, who led a body of troops there over- 
 
 land from Kansas. This gave the United States 
 possession of all the provinces of Mexico excepting 
 those which still belong to her, and the rest of the 
 war was entirely waged within her present bounda- 
 ries. 
 
 In the latter part of 1846 Taylor with some six 
 thousand men moved into northern Mexico and on 
 Sept. 24 stormed and captured Monterey in the face 
 
 of odds of nearly two to one. The following Feb- 
 ruary he won a yet more brilliant victory at Buena 
 Vista. His force, which after the battle of Monterey 
 had been increased to nine thousand men, was now 
 reduced (by reinforcements sent to assist General 
 Scott in an expedition against central Mexico) to five 
 thousand men, of whom nearly all were fresh recruits 
 untried in battle. In this condition he was met by 
 Santa Anna, the Mexican commander-in-chief, with 
 an army of twenty thousand men. Taylor was able 
 to place his men to advantage at the head of a steep 
 
94 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 
 
 mountainous pass (Buena Vista), where they could 
 only be attacked in front. Santa Anna charged the 
 
 leaving two thousand dead behind him (Feb. 24, 
 
 1847). 
 
 BATTLE OF BUEXA VISTA. 
 
 Americans again and again, but was beaten back 
 each time, and at length after a day spent in fruitless 
 attempts to dislodge them from their position was 
 comjjelled to abandon the contest and to retire. 
 
 While General Taylor was operating in northern 
 Mexico, General Winfield Scott was proceeding 
 against the central portion of the country with a 
 view to ending the war by capturing the City of 
 
THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 95 
 
 Mexico. Crossing the Gulf of Mexico in March, 
 1847, with a force of thirteen thousand men, he at- 
 tacl<ed Vera Cruz, and after more than a week's 
 cannonading captured it (March 27) with five thou- 
 sand prisoners and five hundred pieces of artillery. 
 He then set out with nine thousand men for the 
 capital, defeating the enemy wherever he met them, 
 but fighting no important battle excepting that of 
 Cerro Gordo, where he was opposed by Santa Anna 
 at the head of twelve thousand Mexicans, whom he 
 badly routed, taking three thousand of them pris- 
 oners. Resting on high land for a while during the 
 hot and sickly summer months, he took up his 
 march again in August and soon reached the bor- 
 ders of the valley where the city lay. Making a 
 new road for themselves around the fortifications 
 built to defend the valley, the Americans began the 
 descent of the mountain side and met with no seri- 
 ous delay until they arrived within ten miles of the 
 city. There a more resolute attempt was made to 
 check them and in one day (August 20) they fought 
 five battles and were victorious in all. 
 
 The Mexicans then took refuge in the city, leav- 
 ing Scott in possession of pretty much everything 
 outside with the exception of the fortress of Cha- 
 pultepec, situated on a steep hill, and a smaller fort 
 below it called Molino del Rey. The latter was 
 
 easily captured, but more trouble was found in tak- 
 ing the former, as its position rendered it difficult of 
 access. The Americans finally effected an entrance 
 
 SANTA ANNA. 
 
 through the windows by the use of scaling-ladders, 
 and after a stubborn resistance compelled its sur- 
 render (Sept. 13). Then they turned at once upon 
 the city and attacked it upon an unexpected side. 
 
 CITY OF MEXICO. 
 
96 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Santa Anna with the remnant of his army fled, and 
 on Sept. 14, 1847, Scott entered and the American 
 flag floated over the capital of Mexico. 
 
 ■•^^fSifS^S* 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO IN 1849. 
 
 There were a few skirmishes after this in other 
 parts of the country, but the war was virtually ended 
 with the capture of the City of Mexico, though the 
 treaty of peace was not signed 
 until the following February 
 (1848). By it the United States 
 not only gained the strip of land 
 which had caused the war but 
 also the territory now included 
 in California, Nevada, Utah, Ari- 
 zona and New Mexico, as well 
 as part of Colorado and Wyom- 
 ing. For the cession of this land 
 Mexico received fifteen millions 
 of dollars in money and the as- 
 sumption by Congress of a debt 
 of three and a half millions of dol- 
 lars which she owed to American 
 citizens. Though she had made 
 but little use of them and they 
 were very thinly settled, Mexico 
 was very reluctant to give u p these 
 provinces. But the Americans 
 were determined to have them on 
 account of the fertility of the 
 Californian soil and the fine har- 
 bor afforded by San Francisco 
 Bay, and in fact it was only to 
 compel Mexico to sell them that 
 the war had been prolonged be- 
 yond the first few months. 
 
 When the terms of the sale 
 were made neither party knew 
 
 of the special value the purchase was to prove to 
 the buyer. No one dreamed there was gold in 
 California until just two weeks before the treaty 
 was formally signed, when it 
 ^ZT"* was accidentally discovered on 
 the banks of the Sacramento 
 River (Jan. 19, 1848). At first 
 the news was received with the 
 greatest doubt, but when it was 
 once clearly proved to be true 
 the wildest excitement pre- 
 vailed. Men hastened from all 
 parts of the country and even 
 from Europe to the gold-fields, 
 and in less than two years the 
 population of California had 
 risen from fifteen thousand to 
 one hundred thousand inhabi- 
 tants. 
 
 The Mexican War was not the 
 
 only foreign difficulty in Polk's 
 
 time. There was also a disagreement with Great 
 
 Britain. Webster in 1842 had settled the northern 
 
 boundary between Canada and the United States as 
 
 GOLD-W.-VbHLKS IN C.\L1F0RNIA. 
 
THE ANTI-SLAVERY STRUGGLE. 
 
 97 
 
 far west as the Rocky Mountains, but had been un- 
 able to arrange that between the Oregon country 
 and British Columbia. England claimed as far 
 south as the Columbia River; the United States as 
 far north as latitude 54° 40'. American settlement 
 of the region had already begun and the feeling 
 with many was very strong not to give up an)' of the 
 claim, but if necessary to go to war to defend it. 
 Their cry was, " Fifty-four forty or fight." Fortu- 
 nately moderate counsels prevailed and in 1846 the 
 question was adjusted by selecting a middle line 
 as the boundary. 
 
 While the negotiations for this boundary treaty 
 were in progress the twenty-ninth State was being 
 admitted into the Union. Iowa (an Indian name) 
 had been part of the Louisiana purchase, and was 
 the fourth State formed from that tract. There 
 had been an attempt at settlement by the French 
 towards the close of the last century, but this had 
 failed and it was not until after the Black Hawk 
 War (1S32) that the real settlement had begun. 
 Two years later (1848) Wisconsin (which also takes 
 its name from the Indians) had followed Iowa, and 
 was the fifth and last State into which the Northwest 
 
 Territory was divided. A few small settlements had 
 been founded within her borders by the French in 
 the seventeenth century, but they were of little 
 account, and, like Iowa, she had made no actual 
 progress towards development until within the pre- 
 ceding twenty years. The Missouri Compromise 
 and the Ordinance of 1787 made both of these free 
 States. 
 
 The year of Iowa's admission, of the commence- 
 ment of the Mexican War and of the settlement of 
 the northwest boundary, was also the year of the 
 invention of the sewing-machine by Elias Howe and 
 of the first use of ether in medicine to render pa- 
 tients unconscious while undergoing surgical opera- 
 tions. In the same year (1846) a new tariff bill was 
 passed in which protective duties were entirely done 
 away with and the taxes laid simply with a view to 
 revenue. This was a victory for the free traders, 
 who were in control at the time of all branches of 
 the government. Their system was followed until 
 the outbreak of the Civil War (i 861), when the neces- 
 sity for increased ta.xation furnished an opportunity, 
 which was made use of, for accompanying it with 
 protective features. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE ANTI-SLAVERY STRUGGLE. 
 
 The purchase of California brought the slavery 
 question once more to the front as the annexation 
 of Texas had done three years before, and again 
 that question exerted great influence in deciding a 
 presidential election. Mexican law did not recognize 
 slavery and hence it did not exist in the territory 
 ceded to the United States. The soil being already 
 free, the anti-slavery men of the North wished it to 
 remain so, while Southern planters were equally de- 
 sirous that their favorite institution should be per- 
 mitted in the new States to be formed in time from 
 the purchase. As early as 1846, in the opening 
 days of the war, when the acquisition of California 
 was first contemplated. Congress began to consider 
 this matter and it was not settled when the territory 
 was bought or when the time for the election of 
 Polk's successor arrived. At that election neither 
 the Whigs nor the Democrats, for fear of losing 
 some of their supporters, were willing to take decid- 
 ed ground on the question and so slavery was not 
 mentioned in the platform of either partj'. But it 
 was mentioned in the platform of a new party 
 
 which first appeared at this time and which was 
 formed solely to oppose the extension of slavery. 
 This was the Free-soil partv, whose nominee for 
 President (1848) was Martin Van Buren. TheFree- 
 soilers did not succeed in electing Van Buren, but 
 they drew away enough votes from the Democrats 
 to give the presidency to General Taylor. 
 
 General Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President of 
 the United States and the second of the only two 
 elected by the Whigs, was a soldier by professioa 
 and had passed all of his life, since he reached man- 
 hood, in the armies of his country. He had gained 
 distinction in the War of 1812, in the Black Hawk 
 War, and in the War with the Seminoles before his 
 brilliant victories at Monterey and at Buena Vista 
 had made him the idol of his party. He was the 
 first President who had held no political office be- 
 fore entering the White House, as the Executive 
 Mansion at Washington is popularly called. In the 
 latter part of his life he had made his home in 
 Louisiana, but he was a nativeof Virginia, thus mak- 
 ing the seventh President who could claim the Old 
 
98 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Dominion as the place of his birth or residence, and 
 which gave that State the proud name of " the moth- 
 er of Presidents." 
 
 But the Whigs were unfortunate. Again their 
 President died in office (July 9, iS5o),and again the 
 reins of government fell into the hand of the Vice- 
 President, though luckily this time he was a man 
 more in sympathy with their ideas than Tyler had 
 been. Millard Fillmore, whom Taylor's death pro- 
 moted to the presidency, had been a member of 
 Congress and Comptroller of New York (his own 
 State) before his name had been joined with Taylor's 
 on the electoral ticket in 1S48. Though a life-long 
 Whig he had never been a leader of his party, and as 
 President he made but little mark on the history of 
 his time. 
 
 The population of California increased so rapidly 
 after the discovery of its gold-fields that it had not 
 long been United States territory before it was de- 
 manding the privileges of statehood. This com- 
 pelled a decision on the much debated and long 
 delayed question of its slavery position. After an- 
 other year's discussion the matter was at last settled 
 in a way suggested by Clay, who was still in the 
 Senate and who was a great believer in arranging 
 disagreements by compromise. Clay's plan was to 
 
 ZACHARY TAYLOR. 
 
 MILLARD FILLMORE. 
 
 gratify the North by admitting California as a free 
 State and at the same time please the South by 
 adopting a new and more rigid fugitive slave law. 
 Other disputes were also disposed of in the same act, 
 which was thus of a very mixed character and was 
 named the " Omnibus Bill." Congress approved of 
 the measure, and accordingly in September, 1850, 
 California entered the Union as the thirty -first 
 State. 
 
 The compromise worked we"l in every respect ex- 
 cepting that in regard to fugitive slaves. But this 
 proved a very important exception. A somewhat 
 similar law had been on the statute-books since the 
 foundation of the government, but hitherto it had 
 rot been very vigorously enforced. The new law, 
 directing United States officials to arrest runaways 
 wherever found and hand them over to their mas- 
 ters, was carried out with great strictness and often 
 with considerable harshness and cruelty. It was a 
 law, moreover, which could be. and doubtless was, 
 many times abused in the seizure of negroes who 
 always had been free and bearing them off into bond- 
 age on the pretext that they were escaped slaves. 
 Such negroes were not allowed to testify in their own 
 behalf, and so often were without any means of prov- 
 
THE ANTI-SLAVERY STRUGGLE. 
 
 99 
 
 ing that they never had been slaves. The law had 
 been framed principally for application in the free 
 States, where naturally fugitive slaves would be 
 most apt to take refuge, and its execution both 
 upon actual runaways and free negroes gave a shock 
 to the moral sentiment of the North as nothing else 
 had done. For the first time it seemed to appreci- 
 ate what the evils of slavery really were, and a deep 
 and growing indignation was aroused that Northern 
 leaders should ever have allowed Congress to pass 
 such an act. The anti-slavery cause was helped 
 more in a few months by the operation 
 of this law than the Abolitionists had 
 been able to advance it in twenty years 
 of preaching. Northern feeling now be- 
 gan to turn towards ridding the country 
 of slavery altogether instead of only re- 
 stricting it, and this was what the Abo- 
 litionists had long been striving for. 
 
 The first effect of this changing senti- 
 ment in the North showed itself in the 
 break-up of the Whig party. The anti- 
 slavery men left it in dissatisfaction at 
 its approval of the fugitive slave law, 
 and this caused its Southern members 
 also to withdraw and join the Demo- 
 crats, who were more in accord with 
 their views on what every one saw was 
 to be the great issue for some years be- 
 fore the people — and that was the rela- 
 tion of slavery to the Union. The anti- 
 slavery men did not at first see how they 
 could give effect to their ideas, and so 
 for a while their political influence was 
 little felt. As a consequence, in 1852, 
 Franklin Pierce, the Democratic presi- 
 dential candidate, received more than 
 five-sixths of the electoral votes cast. 
 
 Pierce was from New Hampshire, and 
 had been successively a Representative 
 in Congress and United States Senator; 
 winning also some distinction after- 
 wards in the Mexican War, which he entered as a 
 volunteer and from which he emerged as a briga- 
 dier-general. During his administration the slavery 
 contest continued to be the most absorbing topic 
 of public interest. 
 
 Kansas and Nebraska were the objects in the next 
 stage of the great struggle. Their settlement had 
 begun and it became necessary to provide for them 
 territorial governments. They were part of the 
 Louisiana purchase, and so by the Missouri Com- 
 promise their soil should be free. But this the 
 South was determined if possible to prevent, as it 
 
 would surely increase the anti-slavery vote later on 
 when the time came for their admission as States. 
 Taking advantage, therefore, of their complete con- 
 trol of all branches of the government, the demo- 
 crats in 1854 repealed the Missouri Compromise and 
 enacted that the people in each Territory should de- 
 cide for themselves whether or not slavery should 
 be permitted within its boundaries. 
 
 The North looked upon this act as a deliberate 
 breach of faith on the part of the South, and it ex- 
 cited even deeper indignation than the fugitive 
 
 FRANKLIN PIERCE. 
 
 slave law had done. The anti-slavery men resolved, 
 however, that the South should not profit by it, and 
 large numbers of Free-soilers emigrated to Kansas 
 and Nebraska in order to form a majority of their 
 settlers and so insure their entrance into the Union 
 as free States. The planters were equally bent 
 upon making them slave States, and so they like- 
 wise began to colonize the two Territories. A 
 struggle for control began between the opposing 
 parties which lasted for five years and in which 
 the worst elements of human passion were dis- 
 played. Possession of the land was fought for 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 with knife and pistol, and deeds of violence were so 
 frequent that the Territory which first became a 
 State was long known as "bleeding Kansas." In 
 the end the greater numbers of the Free-soilers pre- 
 vailed and secured the exclusion of slavery. A hos- 
 tile Congress, however, withheld the rights of state- 
 hood until the Democrats lost control of the United 
 States Senate by the secession of its Southern 
 members. 
 
 The repeal of the Missouri Compromise vastly in- 
 creased the ranks of those opposed to the extension 
 
 JOHN C. FRE.MOXT. 
 
 of slavery and ser\'ed to unite them all into one 
 compact body which took the name of the Repub- 
 lican party. Its first appearance was in 1S54, when 
 it elected a majority of the House of Representa- 
 tives. Two years later it put a presidential candi- 
 date into the field, John C. Fremont ; but though it 
 had grown wonderfully during the short period of 
 its existence, it was not yet strong enough to elect 
 a President, and Fremont was defeated by his Dem- 
 ocratic opponent, James Buchanan. 
 
 James Buchanan, the only Pennsylvanian who 
 has been President, had represented his native State 
 
 in both houses of Congress, had been a member 
 of Polk's Cabinet (Secretary of State) and Minister 
 both to Russia and Great Britain before he entered 
 upon the duties of the highest office of all. He was- 
 an accomplished lawyer and had a profound knowl- 
 edge of politics, but he did not possess sufficient 
 force of character to contend with the exceptional 
 difficulties of the time, which day by day were driv- 
 ing the two sections of the country further apart. 
 
 Three more States were created during his term : 
 Minnesota in 1858, Oregon in 1S59, and Kansas in 
 1 86 1. The settlement of the first of 
 these (part of the Louisiana tract) had 
 been long delayed by Indian occupation 
 of the soil, but in 185 1 the red men con- 
 sented to give up their land to the 
 whites, and in a few years her population, 
 liad become large enough for her to enter 
 the Union. The Californian gold-fever 
 liad hastened the settlement of Oregon, 
 begun a few years before, by drawing- 
 people there in the hope that the pre- 
 cious metal might also be found within 
 her boundaries. Some gold was discov- 
 ered there, but agriculture soon proved 
 to be much more profitable than mining, 
 and she has since become one of our 
 great wheat -growing States. Kansas 
 was ready for statehood three years be- 
 fore it was granted her, but she did not 
 receive it until the closing days of Bu- 
 chanan's administration and until the 
 countr)' was on the eve of Civil War. 
 
 But before any of these new States 
 entered the Union another financial 
 panic swept over the country (1857) and 
 involved many people in ruin. It was 
 largely caused by the building of rail- 
 roads in the West more rapidly than they 
 were needed. They therefore at first did 
 not pay their expenses and their build- 
 ers became bankrupt. The failure of 
 those who had invested their money in these rail- 
 roads caused the failure of others, and so the distress 
 spread from one class to another until nearly every 
 one was to some degree affected. The general loss 
 was greater than in the panic of 1837, but it was 
 not as severely felt, as the country was richer and 
 so could bear it better. 
 
 For the country had been growing much richer 
 during all these years. The nine and a half millions 
 of people in 1820 had become thirty and a half mill- 
 ions in i860, worth over Si 5.000,000.000 in property. 
 California was yielding an amount of gold which was 
 
THE ANTI-SLAVERY STRUGGLE. 
 
 lOl 
 
 ■soon to exceed that previously possessed by all the 
 rest of the world. The discovery of one precious 
 metal was followed ten years later (1S5S) by the 
 discovery in Nevada of the other, and in less than 
 twenty-five years two hundred and fifty millions of 
 dollars' worth of silver have already been taken 
 from the Comstock mines alone. Other discoveries 
 of natural wealth followed close on the heels of gold 
 and silver, among which scarcely any has been 
 more valuable or useful than that of petroleum 
 <"rock oil"), first found in Pennsylvania in 1859. 
 New inventions for use in the arts, 
 manufactures and agriculture were con- 
 stantly perfected and added no less to 
 the wealth of the country than the dis- 
 covery and development of its natural 
 resources were doing. 
 
 The increase in the prosperity of the 
 nation, however, was much greater in 
 the North and West than in the South. 
 Commerce and manufactures did not 
 thrive alongside of slavery and were al- 
 most entirely confined to the free States, 
 which were growing rich and strong fast, 
 while the progress of the slave States 
 ■was slow. The immense number of im- 
 migrants that each year reached our 
 shores, and of whom by far the larger 
 part were workingmen, preferred to seek 
 their bread where all labor was equal 
 rather than by the side of bondmen, and 
 so few of them turned to the South. '- 
 Already the population of the free States ; 
 greatly exceeded that of the slave States ; 
 and it was manifestly destined to exceed ! 
 it still more within a very few years, \ 
 owing to the rapid settlement of the new : 
 Western States. It did not require 
 much foresight for the South therefore £^ 
 to see that it would soon be hopelessly 
 outvoted by the North. 
 
 This would not have been of so much importance 
 if matters had remained as they were during the 
 first fifty years of our national history. As long as 
 the interests of all parts of the country were pretty 
 much the same and both Northern and Southern 
 men were found in the same political party it was 
 of comparatively little consequence which section of 
 the country was the larger. But the moment any- 
 thing occurred to set one section against the other, 
 the size of each and the number of votes it could 
 cast became of the utmost importance. Such a 
 time was approaching. The slavery question was 
 separating the two sections. As yet the division 
 
 was not complete, for a number of the Northern 
 States which were Democratic voted with the 
 South. But the rapid growth of the Republican 
 party showed how probable it was that the South 
 would soon lose this support and all the free States 
 be united against the slave States. When that did 
 come to pass the South knew that its political 
 power would be forever gone, and that it would be 
 helpless to resist the North in either preventing the' 
 extension of slavery or in abolishing it altogether. 
 Rather than this should happen the Southern lead- 
 
 .^;- 
 
 ]\M 
 
 ers preferred secession, and they began quietly to 
 prepare for it in case the next election should go 
 against them. 
 
 The breach between the two parts of the country 
 was further widened early in Buchanan's term (1857) 
 by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States that Congress had no power to prohibit 
 slavery in the Territories. Though this decision 
 was in the interest of the South it did not help her 
 cause, as the North refused to be bound by it, holding 
 that it was clearly against the spirit of the Constitu- 
 tion and that the right had been exercised by Con- 
 gress with the consent of all for nearly forty years. 
 
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 JOHN BKOW.V. 
 
 The result of the Dred Scott decision (so called 
 from the name of the person who brought the suit) 
 
 therefore was only to make the North even more 
 bitter against slavery than it had been when the 
 fugitive slave law was put into operation and the 
 Missouri Compromise repealed. 
 
 Two years later the South in turn was roused by 
 an attempt made by a few extreme Abolitionists to 
 raise an insurrection among the slaves. It was 
 planned by John Brown, a Kansas Free-soiler. who 
 had been driven half mad by the troubles in that 
 territory. He led a small party into Virginia and 
 seized some arms belonging to the United States 
 government at Harper's Ferry with the intention 
 of giving them to the negroes. Virginia and Mary- 
 land troops quickly overpowered the party, and 
 Brown with five of his associates was hung. The 
 North strongly denounced Brown's raid, but the 
 South could not but believe that it was approved if 
 not encouraged and aided by a large number of 
 Northern Republicans. And thus another link was 
 added to the chain which was steadily drawing the 
 two sections asunder. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 Thus far the Northern Democrats had supported 
 the views of their Southern brethren, not so much 
 because they themselves believed in slavery as be- 
 
 wished its soil to be free. But the claim made by 
 the South after the Dred Scott decision, that Con- 
 gress not only could not forbid slavery in theTerri- 
 
 STEPHliN .-v. DOUGLAS. 
 
 JOHN C. BKELKENKIUGE. 
 
 cause they had been taught to think that its exist- 
 ence was absolutely necessary to the South, and 
 also because they felt that each State ought to have 
 the right to decide for itself whether or not it 
 
 tories but that it was bound to uphold it wherever 
 a master chose to take his slaves, was more than 
 the Democrats of the North were ready to accept, 
 and accordingly in i860 the party split into two di- 
 
OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 103 
 
 visions and each section, Northern and Southern, 
 put forward a presidential candidate, Stephen A. 
 Douglas and John C. Breckenridge. As a result 
 
 JOHN DLLL. 
 
 of this Democratic quarrel the Republican nominee, 
 Lincoln, was elected. There was also a fourth 
 candidate in the field who received a few votes, 
 John Bell, who represented a small party (the 
 American or " Know Nothing") which was opposed 
 to unrestricted immigration. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, the best loved of all our Presi- 
 dents, excepting always Washington, was a Ken- 
 tuckian by birth, but early in life removed to Ind- 
 iana, and then to Illinois. Compelled by poverty to 
 support himself from boyhood, he educated himself 
 and worked his way from the position of a common 
 farm laborer and rail splitter to that of a success- 
 ful lawyer. The only office previously held by him 
 was that of member of Congress, but he narrowly 
 missed an election to the United States Senate in 
 
 1858, his successful opponent being Douglas, the 
 leader of the Northern Democracy, whom he in 
 turn had now defeated in the presidential race. 
 
 The South looked upon the election of Lincoln 
 as the death-blow to any hope of extending slavery 
 beyond its present limits and as even imperilling 
 the future existence of slavery itself. Southern 
 leaders thereupon began to arrange for carrying out 
 the plans previously formed of seceding from the 
 Union and establishing a new government, com- 
 posed of the slave States, independent of 'the 
 United States. South Carolina was the first to act 
 and on Dec. 20, i860, passed an "ordinance of se- 
 cession." Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia 
 
 LINCOLN'S EARLY HOME IN GENTRVVILLE, IND. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 land Louisiana followed in January, i86i,and Texas 
 tin February. Thus before Lincoln actually began 
 |his administration (March 4, 1861) seven States had 
 ^declared themselves no longer members of the 
 (Union. 
 
 The South had claimed for many years that the 
 
 lUnion was only a compact or alliance among the 
 
 iStates, which any of them could end whenever it 
 
 fdesired to do so. The North asserted the Union to 
 
 |be much more than this : that by the adoption of 
 
 the Constitution the individual States had given up 
 
 gtheir sovereignty and had become only parts of one 
 
 nation. It therefore denied the right of secession 
 
 and considered it but another name for rebellion. 
 
I04 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 February 4, 1 861, delegates from the seven seced- army, Secretary of War under Pierce, and United 
 ing States organized (at Montgomery, Ala.) a new States Senator from Mississippi. Stephens on the 
 government under the name of the Confederate contrary had opposed secession, but like most 
 
 JEFFERSON DAVIS. 
 
 THE CONFEDERATE FLAG. 
 
 States of America and elected JefTerson Davis Presi- Southerners he felt that his State had a stronger 
 
 dent and Alexander H. Stephens Vice-President. claim upon his allegiance than the Union had, and 
 
 Davis was one of the prime movers in bringing so when Georgia adopted the ordinance he cast in 
 
 about secession. He had been an officer in the his fortunes with her. 
 
 LINCOLN KEVIEWLNG IHE TROUl'S IN WASHINGTON. 
 
OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 i°S 
 
 INTERIOR AND FLAG OF FORT SUMTER AFTER THE liOMBARDMENT. 
 
 Members of the United States Cabinet, Senators, 
 Congressmen, clerks in the departments and officers 
 of the army, who were citizens of the seven Con- 
 federate States, with very few exceptions resigned 
 their positions when their States seceded and re- 
 turned to their homes. Government property in 
 the rebellious States was taken possession of by the 
 secession authorities and United States officials 
 were not allowed to perform their duties. Forts and 
 arsenals belonging to the national government were 
 seized and the arms contained in them used to equip 
 Southern troops. Only Fort Sumter in Charleston 
 harbor and Fort Pickens at Pensacola escaped, and 
 the former did not long continue an exception, as it 
 was captured by force soon after Lincoln entered 
 
 upon the presidency and before he could succeed 
 in relieving it. 
 
 Two months remained of Buchanan's term when 
 the secession movement actively began, but he did 
 nothing to prevent it. Nor would he allow any re- 
 sistance to be made to the seizure of federal prop- 
 erty in the Southern States. When Lincoln, there- 
 fore, took charge of affairs he found that the 
 authority of the United States had come to a com- 
 plete stop in these seven States and that no prepa- 
 rations whatever had been made on the part of the 
 North for the coming struggle. 
 
 At first peaceable means, efforts at compromise, 
 were made to induce the secessionists to abandon 
 their attempt at forming a separate government 
 
io6 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and to resume their place in the Union. These 
 failing, the President and Congress determined 
 that the integrity of the country must be maintained 
 at any cost and the rebellion put down by force. 
 Lincoln thereupon called for seventy-five thousand 
 volunteer soldiers (April 15), and the call was 
 
 had not believed in the wisdom of secession and as 
 yet had taken no part in it. They were, however, 
 advocates of the right of secession if any State saw 
 fit to exercise the right, and they strongly opposed 
 the idea that a State could be compelled to remaia 
 in the Union against its will, or that force should 
 
 THE SIXTH MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT IN BALTIMORE. 
 
 eagerly responded to by many times that number 
 of men in the North and West whose blood had 
 been roused by South Carolina's bombardment of 
 Fort Sumter and its surrender three days before. 
 
 While Lincoln's proclamation for volunteers ex- 
 cited the patriotism of the North, it had exactly the 
 contrary effect in the border States. These States 
 
 be used in an attempt to hold a State. Virginia, 
 North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, accord- 
 ingly, when called upon by the President to furnish 
 their proportion of troops to crush the rebellion, 
 refused, preferring to throw in their lot with the se- 
 ceders by withdrawing from the Union and joining' 
 the Confederacy. Though there were many seces- 
 
OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 107 
 
 sionists in the other three slave States (Missouri, 
 Kentucky and Maryland) they were not in a major- 
 ity, so that those States remained loyal. Thus when 
 hostilities began there were eleven Confederate 
 and twenty-three Union States. 
 
 The first gun of the war was that fired at Fort 
 Sumter; the first blood was that shed on April 19 
 when a mob in Baltimore attacked a Massachusetts 
 regiment on its way to the defence of Washington. 
 This was, however, nothing but a street fight and 
 did not prevent the capital's soon becoming thor- 
 oughly well protected. No real battle occurred 
 for several months, though a few minor skirmishes 
 took place in the meantime. Richmond, after the 
 secession of Virginia, was made the capital of the 
 Confederacy, and its capture at once became the 
 great object of Northern plans as being the surest 
 way, it was thought, to speedily end the war. 
 Urged on by public clamor, but against his own 
 judgment, Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott (the 
 federal commander-in-chief) sent General McDow- 
 ell with some thirty thousand men to make the 
 
 G. T. BEAUREGARD. 
 
 attempt. But the South had realized just as keenly 
 as the North the importance of its capital and had 
 amply arranged for its defence. When, therefore, 
 McDowell reached Bull Run (a small stream cross- 
 ing the Richmond road thirty odd miles from Wash- 
 ington) he found a Confederate army about the size 
 
 of his own, under command of General Beauregard, 
 awaiting him, and there was fought (July 21) the 
 first battle of the war. The result was disastrous 
 to the Union cause, for though McDowell at first 
 seemed to have the best of it, Beauregard later in 
 the day was reenforced by General A. S. Johnston 
 
 iRviN McDowell. 
 
 at the head of ten thousand men and this decided 
 the victory in his favor. The federal troops gave 
 way and retreated to Washington. 
 
 In some smaller engagements, as well as at Bull 
 Run, the results of the first year were not encourag- 
 ing to the North and showed that the war would 
 not be finished in the three months hoped for. 
 Both sides found their opponents better fighters 
 than had been expected and so each had to prepare 
 for a longer contest than either at the start had an- 
 ticipated. The advantages of the situation, how- 
 ever, lay nearly all with the North. It had greater 
 territory, a larger population and more wealth to 
 draw upon in carrying on the struggle. Moreover,, 
 as the scene of the conflict was in the enemy's 
 country its own land escaped the ravages of war. 
 On the other hand the very fact that the South 
 was the theatre of the war was in one way a help 
 to the Confederates, as it gave them the feeling 
 that they were fighting in defence of their own 
 homes and firesides. Another circumstance at first 
 in their favor was that Southern men as a rule were 
 more accustomed to out-door life and were more 
 fond of active sports than were the men of the 
 North, and so more quickly adapted themselves to 
 the soldier's life; but this was an advantage which 
 did not last long. 
 
 Though the North gained no great victory dur- 
 ing 1861, it prepared itself for winning victories in 
 the future by gathering together necessary military 
 
io8 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 stores, purchasing steamers for use as war vessels, 
 erecting forts and enlisting soldiers. Disunionists 
 in Missouri were driven from that State, and west- 
 ern Virginia, where there were few slave-owners 
 and whose inhabitants in the main were loyal, was 
 also freed from the disaffected. A line was drawn 
 around the seceding States and guarded by North- 
 ern troops, thus confining the Confederates pretty 
 strictly to their own territory. The federal position 
 was still further strengthened by blockading with 
 naval vessels the Southern ports, so that soon al- 
 most the entire Confederacy was surrounded by 
 Union land and sea forces. 
 
 The advancing age of General Scott caused him 
 before the close of 1861 to resign his commission 
 and to retire from the army. The command was 
 thereupon given to General George B. McClellan, 
 who had made the greatest success of this first year 
 in securing and holding possession of western Vir- 
 ginia. McClellan proceeded to Washington and at 
 once devoted himself to drilling and organizing the 
 large number of raw recruits who had hastily been 
 mustered into service and hurried to the national 
 capital, and by the end of the year he had con- 
 
 GEORGE B. McClellan. 
 
 verted this great mass of untrained citizens into 
 a disciplined army of a hundred and fifty thousand 
 soldiers. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 EVENTS OF 1862. 
 
 The events of 1862, though not decisive in their 
 result, were on the whole favorable to the North, 
 
 DON CARLOS BUELL. 
 
 and it occupied a stronger position at the close of 
 the year than it held at the beginning. The line 
 around the Confederates was drawn yet tighter and 
 their operations confined still more rigidly within 
 its limits. A stricter blockade of Southern ports 
 was established and maintained. Control over 
 most of the Mississippi River was secured. The 
 greater part of Tennessee was reclaimed. New 
 Orleans and some other important places were cap- 
 tured. And every effort made by the Confederates 
 to break through the besieging Union armies was 
 frustrated and repulsed. Much territory was gained 
 by the North and none lost. But the capture of 
 Richmond, the thing most desired of all, seemed 
 no nearer when the year ended than when it com- 
 menced. 
 
 When the year opened it found half a million vol- 
 unteers enlisted in the ser\'ice of the United States. 
 These were divided into various armies and sta- 
 tioned at different points around the Confederacy. 
 The largest of these divisions was the Army of the 
 Potomac (underthe immediate command of McClel- 
 
EVENTS OF 1862. 
 
 109 
 
 Ian), encamped in the neighborhood ofWashington, 
 where it had been collected both for the defence of 
 the national capital and for an advance upon Rich- 
 mond. Another important division (commanded 
 by Gen. Don Carlos Buell) was placed in Kentucky 
 with the object of regaining Tennessee and of aid- 
 ing in opening up the Mississippi River. The con- 
 trol of that river was important to the Unionists, as 
 their possession of it would divide the Confederacy 
 by separating Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas from 
 the other seceding States. 
 
 Buell's campaign was largely successful. Aided 
 by Grant (who was soon to become the hero of the 
 war) he defeated the Confederate army, which 
 under Gen. A. S. Johnston was guarding the north- 
 ern frontier of Tennessee, in a number of battles 
 and finally drove it from the State. The most seri- 
 ous of these battles was that of Shiloh (or Pitts- 
 burg Landing), fought on the banks of the Ten- 
 nessee River on April 6. Grant was awaiting there 
 the arrival of Buell when he was attacked by John- 
 ston at the head of forty thousand men. Taken 
 
 wholly by surprise, the Union troops at first fell 
 back, but their gunboats checked the enemy after 
 its first advance and gave Grant an opportunity to 
 
 A. S. JOHNSTON. 
 
 rally his men. While the battle was still in prog- 
 ress, part of Buell's army reached him and with its 
 aid he drove the enemy from the field, though not 
 
 GUNBOATS PASSING BEFORE VICKSBURG. 
 
no 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 until after Johnston had been killed. Grant's loss 
 was thirteen thousand out of a total of fifty-seven 
 thousand engaged. The Confederate dead num- 
 bered eleven thousand. 
 
 Forts Henry and Donelson (on the Tennessee 
 and Cumberland Rivers respectively) had fallen 
 into federal hands before the battle of Shiloh, the 
 first taken by Admiral Foote and the second by 
 Grant, and the capture (May 30) of Corinth in the 
 northern part of the State of Mississippi soon after 
 that battle cleared the Mississippi as far south as 
 Memphis. Though the Confederate General Bragg 
 
 AU.MIKAL FOOTE. 
 
 later in the year raided Tennessee (as well as Ken- 
 tucky), he did not succeed in holding anything but 
 a part of eastern Tennessee, the rest of the State 
 remaining for the balance of the war under the 
 military control of the United States. 
 
 While Buell and Grant were thus busy in Ten- 
 nessee, other leaders were doing equally good work 
 further south. Roanoke Island (North Carolina) 
 was taken by General Burnside and Commodore 
 Goldsborough in February, and St. Augustine and 
 other Florida cities were captured a little later on 
 by another body of Union troops. On April 11 
 
 Fort Pulaski at the mouth of the Savannah River 
 also surrendered. Hatteras Inlet, Port Royal and 
 some minor points on the coast had fallen to the 
 North in 1861 and had been among its few suc- 
 
 BRAXTON BRAGG. 
 
 cesses of that year. The task of blockading South- 
 ern ports thus became much easier, as nearly all of 
 the prominent places on the Atlantic seaboard were 
 now in federal hands, Charleston and Wilmington 
 being the principal exceptions. 
 
 Another naval expedition besides that of Burn- 
 side and Goldsborough was also sent out in Febru- 
 ary to attack a much more important point than 
 
 A. E. BURNSIDE. 
 
 either Roanoke Island or Fort Pulaski. It was 
 under command of Commodore Farragut and 
 General Benjamin F. Butler, and had for its ob- 
 ject the capture of New Orleans. The value of 
 
EVENTS OF 1862. 
 
 that city as commanding the entrance to the Mis- 
 sissippi was fully appreciated by both sides, and the 
 Confederates had spared no pains in providing it 
 •with the most elaborate defences. On the opposite 
 banks of the Mississippi some distance below New 
 Orleans were two strong forts and stretched be- 
 tween them were heavy chains, resting on masses 
 •of timber. Back of the chains were placed floating 
 batteries, fire rafts and gunboats. Along the shores 
 from the forts to the city were other batteries. For 
 the protection of the city itself ten thousand sol- 
 diers had been collected within its walls. 
 
 On April 18 the attack was begun by a bombard- 
 ment of the forts which was kept up for nearly a 
 week, but without avail. Farragut then decided 
 to force a way through the obstructions in the river 
 •despite the forts and the enemy's boats. Selecting 
 a dark night he sent a few of his gunboats ahead 
 to cut the chains and open a passage, following him- 
 self soon after with the rest of his fleet. The heavy 
 guns of the forts and the batteries on the banks 
 poured a steady and murderous fire upon him as 
 he advanced, but he passed them in safety, fought *i^ 
 and destroyed the river fleet, and on April 25 New 
 Orleans was taken. The surrender of the forts 
 quickly followed, and the lower Mississippi as well 
 •as the upper was once more under Union control, 
 leaving Vicksburg and Port Hudson the only points 
 on the river which remained to the Confederates. 
 They for the present were safe, as they were situ- 
 ated on bluffs too high to be successfully attacked 
 by gunboats. 
 
 v\V^ 
 
 Before New Orleans surrendered, before even the 
 attack upon it had commenced, the North had 
 been confronted by a novel and unexpected dan- 
 ger, which looked for the moment as though it 
 
 MOXITOR. 
 
112 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 IRONCLAD GUNBOAT. 
 
 might prove a fatal one. Up to the outbreak of the 
 Civil War ironclad vessels had never been used as 
 ships of war, indeed they had scarcely yet been em- 
 ployed for any purpose, a few only having recently 
 been built by France and England as an experi- 
 
 UOUBLE-TURRET IRONCLAD. 
 
 ment. When the Confederates took possession oi 
 the Norfolk navy yard on the secession of Virginia 
 they found there a wooden frigate named the " Mer- 
 rimac." By covering this with metal plates they 
 turned it into an ironclad and made it still more 
 formidable by fastening an iron ram to its 
 bow. Early in March she was ready for 
 service and proceeded at once into Hamj)- 
 ton Roads and attacked the " Cumberland " 
 and four other United States men-of-war 
 which with some smaller vessels were lying 
 there at anchor. These all found themselves 
 powerless against her. Their shot made no 
 impression upon her iron coat, while she 
 could pound them at will with ball upon 
 every quarter, or tear open their sides with 
 her iron ram. The wooden ships were abso- 
 lutely at her mercy. The " Cumberland " 
 was sunk and the others would have shared 
 the same fate had not darkness compelled 
 the " Merrimac " to suspend the attack. 
 
 When the telegraph that night spread the 
 news of the terrible destructiveness of the 
 invincible " Merrimac " the North was struck 
 with consternation. What was there to 
 prevent Washington, Baltimore, Philadel- 
 phia, New York, Boston and every loyal 
 
EVENTS OF 1862. 
 
 "3 
 
 city from being either captured or levelled to the 
 ground, the merchant ships and navy of the Union 
 from being swept off the face of the ocean, and the 
 Confederacy from overrunning and subjugating ev- 
 ery free State ? 
 
 Twenty-four hours changed this panic of fear into 
 a shout of exultation. For while the South had 
 been occupied in converting the " Merrimac " into 
 an armored vessel, John Ericsson, a Swedish engi- 
 neer in New York, had been as busily engaged in 
 building an ironclad for the North. His work was 
 also finished in March and received from him the 
 name of " Monitor." Having been sent to the 
 South under command of Lieutenant Worden, the 
 " Monitor " chanced to reach Fortress Monroe (in 
 the Hampton Roads) the very night which followed 
 the loss of the " Cumberland." When the " Merri- 
 mac" returned the next morning (March 9) to 
 complete her work of destruction she was attacked 
 by the " Monitor " (her inferior in size and strength) 
 and after a long fight was compelled to retire to 
 Norfolk, from which she did not again venture 
 forth. The victory of the " Monitor " not only 
 carried joy to the North, but it revolutionized naval 
 architecture all fever the world. Every nation at 
 once began building ironclads, and they have since 
 almost entirely supplanted in every civilized coun- 
 try wooden vessels as ships of war. 
 
 In Virginia, destined from the start to be the 
 great battle-ground of the war, matters did not run 
 as smoothly for the North in 1862 as they did else- 
 where. There was much fighting there during the 
 year, but little came of it. Two expeditions were 
 sent against Richmond and both failed. McClellan 
 led the first (numbering one hundred thousand 
 men) in the Spring by boat to Fortress Monroe and 
 thence up the peninsula which separates the York 
 and James Rivers. This route was chosen to avoid 
 the bad roads and swollen and unbridged streams 
 of the more direct one overland. But before he 
 reached Richmond, after meeting the enemy with 
 varying success in a number of engagements, a 
 series of attacks upon the forces left for the defence 
 of Washington recalled him to that city. Another 
 effort was made by General Burnside with a still 
 larger army later in the year. Burnside took the 
 shortest road, but was so badly defeated at Fred- 
 ericksburg (December 1 3) that he also had to give 
 up the attempt. 
 
 After McClellan's return to Washington, and be- 
 fore Burnside started on his expedition. General 
 Robert E. Lee, the commander-in-chief of the Con- 
 federacy, led an army north in an attempt to break 
 through the Union lines and capture some impor- 
 tant Northern city. McClellan threw himself in 
 
 > 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 > 
 Z 
 
 M 
 H 
 > 
 
 s 
 
114 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNTlED STATES. 
 
 ) 
 
 Lee's way, compelled him to turn aside from his 
 direct path and then hastened after him. At An- 
 tietam (Maryland) the two armies met and fought 
 one of the great battles of the war (September 17). 
 Neither side won a decided victory, but Lee gave up 
 his invasion and returned to Virginia. 
 
 There had been a good deal of dissatisfaction with 
 McClellan before the battle of Antietam. He had 
 been nearly a year in command of the Army of the 
 Potomac, the largest, best drilled and most thor- 
 oughly equipped body of soldiers on the continent, 
 and had accomplished nothing? To his excessive 
 slowness and overcaution was laid the failure of the 
 
 Spring campaign against Richmond and of all the 
 other operations in Virginia. The result at Antie- 
 tam, particularly his allowing Lee to escape with his 
 army afterwards, greatly heightened the general dis- 
 trust in him at Washington and determined Lincoln 
 at last to remove him from the command. This 
 was done and his place given to Burnside, who had 
 so successfully conducted the expedition against 
 Roanoke Island early in the year. Burnside, how- 
 ever, was able to retain it but a short time. His de- 
 feat at Fredericksburg compelled him to ask to be 
 relieved, and about the beginning of 1863 he was 
 succeeded by General Joseph E. Hooker. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE THIRD YEAR OF THE WAR (1863). 
 
 The South had gone to war to perpetuate and to 
 extend slavery. But by going to war it brought 
 slavery to a much more speedy end than there is any 
 likelihood would have otherwise happened. For on 
 January i, 1863, the President issued an emancipa- 
 
 THOMAS J. JACKSON {"Stonewall"). 
 
 tion proclamation which declared that all slaves in 
 the States then in rebellion should from that time 
 forth be considered free. Some months before do- 
 ing this Lincoln had warned the seceding States 
 that if they did not renew their allegiance to the 
 
 federal government by the close of 1862 he should 
 take this step. None of them did lay down their 
 arms by that time, and the proclaftiation was accord- 
 ingly made. Two years later (1865) the thirteenth 
 Amendment to the Constitution was adopted which 
 forever prohibited slavery within the United States. 
 
 Once again the Army of the Potomac moved 
 towards Richmond, led this time by its new com- 
 mander, General Hooker. Skirting the defences at 
 Fredericksburg, it had advanced about ten miles on 
 its way when it met the Confederates under Lee 
 and Jackson at Chancellorsville. The Union forces 
 were twice the number of their enemy, but the latter 
 were so much better handled by their generals that 
 they drove Hooker back (May 2 and 3, 1863) with a 
 loss of seventeen thousand men out of the ninety 
 thousand he had with him. The Confederate loss 
 was twelve thousand, but one of these twelve thou- 
 sand was worth an army in himself. This was Gen- 
 eral Jackson, Lee's ablest assistant, who had won 
 the name of " Stonewall " from his unyielding firm- 
 ness and courage at the battle of Bull Run. 
 
 His success at Chancellorsville encouraged Lee in 
 the following month to again attempt a Northern 
 raid. Taking some seventy thousand men. he moved 
 to the west of Hooker's army and then turned and 
 started for the North. Hooker followed closely after, 
 keeping a little to the right of Lee's line of march so 
 as to better protect Washington, Baltimore. Philadel- 
 phia and other large and important Eastern cities 
 should the Confederates attack them. On reach- 
 ing the Pennsylvania border, after crossing western 
 
THE THIRD YEAR OF THE WAR. 
 
 "5 
 
 Maryland, Lee changed his course towards Philadel- 
 phia. But the Union army (now under General 
 Meade in the place of Hooker) was near enough to 
 interpose itself between that city and the advancing 
 Confederates, and Lee found it awaiting him at 
 Gettysburg. The battle which ensued was one of 
 the most gallantly fought on both sides of any in 
 the war. It lasted three days (July i, 2 and 3) and 
 cost over fifty thousand lives. The result was a 
 victory for Meade, who again and again repulsed the 
 attack of the Confederates and finally drove them 
 from the field. This was the most serious reverse 
 Lee had as yet met with. He returned to Virginia, 
 leaving nearly half the army he had set out with dead 
 behind him, and made no further attempt to invade 
 the North. 
 
 Another great Union victory was won almost sim- 
 ultaneously with that at Gettysburg. As the last 
 shots were being exchanged at that battle. Grant 
 was completing the capture of Vicksburg, the most 
 important of the two points on the Mississippi River 
 still in Confederate hands. The close of 1862 had 
 
 left Grant at Corinth, some little distance northeast 
 of Vicksburg. Between him and that city was a 
 large army under Generals Pemberton and J. E. 
 
 JOSEPH E. HOOKER. 
 
 Johnston, the latter being in command of all the 
 Confederates in the West. 
 
 After several unsuccessful attempts on Vicks- 
 
 GUARDING A BRIDGE ON THE POTOMAC. 
 
ii6 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 burg in other directions, Grant moved a part of liis 
 army across the river at Memphis, descended its 
 western side and recrossed at a point a little south 
 of the city. Pushing northeast he met Pemberton 
 and defeated him in a number of battles and at last 
 
 GEORGE G. MEADE. 
 
 compelled him and his men to take refuge in 
 Vicksburg. Turning then upon the army which 
 Johnston in the meantime had been gathering 
 together to aid Pemberton, Grant drove it back 
 and united his forces with those which he had left 
 
 behind him under General Sherman when he 
 crossed the river. The Union army was now be- 
 tween Vicksburg and Johnston and at once began 
 a close and active siege of the city. Johnston tried 
 to relieve it but was kept at bay by Grant and so 
 could give it no help. Unable either to escape 
 or to obtain assistance, Pemberton, after holding 
 out for six weeks, surrendered and on July 4 gave 
 up the place and with it his army of thirty thou- 
 sand men to Grant. Only Port Hudson now re- 
 mained to the Confederates on the Mississippi, 
 and that was not long in following Vicksburg. For 
 as soon as the news was received of Pembeiton's 
 fate, Port Hudson hastened to make terms with 
 General Banks, who was besieging it at the time, 
 and on July 8 he took possession. The entire river 
 was now completely under federal control and one 
 of the two great objects for which the North had 
 been striving since the very beginning of the war 
 had at length been attained. The result was the 
 dividing and in consequence the weakening of the 
 Confederacy. 
 
 Of the other operations during 1863 the most 
 important were those in Tennessee. Rosecrans 
 was the Union commander there, and in June he 
 
 BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 
 
THE THIRD YEAR OF THE WAR. 
 
 117 
 
 moved against Bragg, who still retained the hold 
 on the eastern part of the State he had gained the 
 preceding year. Bragg slowly fell back across the 
 Georgia boundary, where he was reinforced by a 
 
 end of November the siege of Chattanooga was 
 vigorously pressed without any opportunity offer- 
 ing itself for the escape of those within the appar- 
 ently doomed city. The Confederate army sur- 
 
 SIEGE OF VICKSBURG BY GEN. GRANT. 
 
 part of Lee's army from Virginia. At Chicka- 
 mauga (twelve miles south of Chattanooga) he 
 halted until Rosecrans came up and then attacked 
 him (Sept. 19). The Confederates slightly out- 
 numbered their opponents and after a two days' 
 battle defeated them and compelled them to retire. 
 
 rounding it was large; every passable road leading 
 to it was under Bragg's control ; even the neigh- 
 boring hills of Lookout Mountain and Missionary 
 Ridge were fortified. There seemed to be no more 
 chance of assistance reaching it from without than 
 there was hope of its saving itself from within. Its 
 
 INTERVIEW BETWEEN GENERALS GRANT AND PEMBERTON. 
 
 Rosecrans and his men thereupon shut themselves 
 up in Chattanooga, to which Bragg immediately 
 laid siege. 
 From the latter part of September till near the 
 
 only choice appeared to be between submission 
 and starvation. 
 
 At this juncture Grant arrived. His capture of 
 Vicksburg had fixed all eyes upon him as almost 
 
ii8 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 W. S. ROSENCRANS. 
 
 the only leader who thus far during the war had been 
 uniformly successful in his campaigns, and who, 
 many already believed, would prove to be the man to 
 end the rebellion. He had now been placed in com- 
 mand of all the Western forces of the Union and 
 had come to Chattanooga to see what could be done 
 to relieve the beleaguered city. Collecting an army 
 in the rear of that of Bragg, he soon formed his plan 
 of attack. This was no less an undertaking than 
 to surprise the Confederates by climbmg the two 
 mountains, storming the fortifications they had 
 erected on them and from the vantage-ground thus 
 gained, overlooking as it would Bragg's army, com- 
 pel the enemy to abandon the siege. 
 
 The plan worked to a charm. The " battles above 
 the clouds " were fought on November 23, 24 and 
 25, and were a decisive victory for Grant, who lost 
 but six thousand men against ten thousand of those 
 opposed to him. Bragg relinquished his attack upon 
 the city and retired into Georgia. His retreat from 
 Tennessee was immediately followed by that of Gen- 
 eral Longstreet, who had been besieging Knoxville 
 while Bragg was before Chattanooga. This freed 
 the entire State of Tennessee from the Confederates 
 and they were not able afterwards to regain control 
 of any part of it. From that day to this federal 
 authority has been supreme throughout it. 
 
 Arkansas as well as Tennessee was this year 
 reclaimed from the Confederacy. There had not 
 been many regular engagements in this State during 
 
 the war, most of the fighting being done by guerillas, 
 or irresponsible bodies of armed men who did not 
 form part of the organized army and were not under 
 control of the military authorities. What Confed- 
 erate troops there were in the State were easily 
 driven out by a force sent into it by Grant soon 
 after the surrender of Vicksburg; after which Ar- 
 kansas gave but little trouble. 
 
 O n the coast matters d id not go quite so well. Per- 
 sistent efforts were made during a considerable part 
 of the year to capture Fort Sumter and Charleston, 
 but they were fruitless. The fort was battered to 
 ruin and great damage was done to the city by the 
 cannonading of General Gillmore, the Union com- 
 mander, but he failed either to take the one or to 
 get nearer to the other than the mouth of the river. 
 Sabine Pass and Brownsville, on the Texan coast, 
 were, however, captured by an expedition from New 
 Orleans, and a naval battle was won by the monitor 
 " Weehawken " over the "Atlanta," a Confederate 
 ironclad, somewhat similar to the " Merrimac." but 
 larger and stronger. As the "Atlanta " was pro- 
 ceeding to attack a blockading fleet at the mouth of 
 the Savannah, she encountered the "Weehawken," 
 to which after a sharp but brief fight of less than 
 half an hour she had to surrender (June 17}. 
 
 
 GENERAL LONGSTREET. 
 
NEARING THE END. 
 
 "9 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 NEARING THE END (1S64). 
 
 Their defeats at Gettysburg, Vicksburg and 
 Chattanooga were a heavy blow to the Confederates 
 and crippled them severely. They could ill afford 
 to spare the men lost in those battles. They could 
 not much better dispense with the supplies they had 
 been receiving from beyond the Mississippi and 
 from other districts which had now passed under 
 Union control. The war 
 was bearing down upon the 
 South far more cruelly than 
 upon the North and was 
 taxing its resources to the 
 utmost. A large part of its 
 men had been pressed into 
 the Confederate armies, 
 leaving only a comparative- 
 ly small number to do the 
 work necessary for the sup- 
 port of the women and - 
 children as well as for the -^ 
 maintenance of the soldiers 
 themselves. Indeed often ,j ' 
 the women and children '-^^ 
 were called upon to per- 
 form labor for which they 
 were unfit through lack of 
 men to do it for them. The 
 strictness of the blockade 
 on land and sea shut out 
 goods of every kind and 
 compelled the Southerners 
 to rely almost entirely for 
 what they needed on what 
 they could themselves pro- 
 duce. The absence of man- 
 ufactures in the South 
 forced the people to do 
 without some of the most 
 
 common necessities. Luxuries were unknown. 
 Comforts were rare. The plainest food and cloth- 
 ing became scarce and costly. Cotton, tobacco, 
 rice and the other articles which once found a ready 
 sale at the North and in Europe and which made 
 the wealth of the South now lay unsold on their 
 owners' hands. For though occasionally a ship 
 would successfully run the blockade, it was excep- 
 
 tional, and for the most part the planters were un- 
 able to find a purchaser for their products because 
 they were unable to send them to market. What 
 coin there was when the war began was soon ex- 
 hausted and the paper money issued by the Confed- 
 erate government to take its place rapidly lost its 
 value, so that the people were often unable to buy 
 
 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 
 
 the few things which did escape the blockade 
 through want of means to pay for them. 
 
 It was different at the North. There was no 
 blockade of Union ports, so that goods could still be 
 sent abroad and other goods received in return very 
 much the same as before the war. Confederate 
 cruisers and privateers interfered somewhat with 
 this foreign trade and did it considerable injury, but 
 
120 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ROBERT E. LEE. 
 
 they were not able to stop it or e\-en to very serious- 
 ly diminish it. Northern manufactures prospered 
 as the increased duties, which the enormous war 
 expenses of the government made it necessary to lay 
 upon imports, stimulated home production. The 
 business of the free States suffered little interrup- 
 tion, as the scene of the conflict was so distant from 
 the territory of most of them. And though the 
 taxes were many and heavy, the people were able to 
 
 bear them, and did bear them patiently and cheer- 
 fully, suffering far less under their burdens than did 
 their Southern opponents. 
 
 At the beginning of 1864 everything pointed to a 
 speedy and successful ending of the war by the 
 North. Union armies had split the Confederacy, 
 taken away great slices of its territory, repelled its 
 invasions, defeated it in battle, and were gradually 
 confining it within a smaller and smaller space. Its 
 lack of means and the privations it was undergoing 
 were known to the North and encouraged the gov- 
 ernment to feel that the struggle could not last much 
 
 JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON. 
 
 BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 
 
 longer, through sheer inability of the South to sus- 
 tain it. 
 
 These hopes were not to be quite fulfilled that 
 year, but they were very nearly realized. Immense 
 strides were made by the federal armies, and the 
 close of 1864 saw the South so weakened that its 
 submisson, it was evident to every one, was only 
 a question of a few weeks or at the most of a few 
 months. This was due to Grant, well seconded by 
 Sherman, Sheridan and Thomas, who had most ably 
 supported him in the West and who were now to 
 be of still greater help in the South. 
 
NBA RING THE END (1864). 
 
 In March, 1864, the rank of Lieutenant-General, 
 which had been allowed to lapse on the retirement 
 of General Scott, was revived and conferred upon 
 Grant, and with it went the command of all the land 
 forces of the United States. Grant at once proceed- 
 ed to Virginia to fight Lee and assumed immediate 
 charge of the Army of Potomac. He left Sherman 
 in command of the army which had been collected in 
 Tennessee and which had followed the Confeder- 
 ates when they retreated to Dalton (in northern 
 Georgia) after the battle of Lookout Mountain and 
 who were now under J. E. Johnston in place of 
 Bragg. Sherman had about one hundred thousand 
 men; Grant a little over that number; Johnston 
 some seventy-five thousand, and Lee sixty odd thou- 
 sand. The two Northern armies were thus nearly 
 double the size of the two opposing ones, and the 
 struggle between them constituted the main events 
 of the balance of the war. 
 
 The plan adopted by Grant was for both himself 
 and Sherman to move against the enemy on the 
 same day. Grant with a view to taking Richmond 
 and Sherman for the purpose of driving Johnston 
 out of the Georgia mountains to level ground and 
 there battling with him. By thus acting at the same 
 time and keeping Lee and Johnston both steadily 
 engaged, the armies of the two latter would be pre- 
 vented from aiding each other as they had some- 
 times done before. 
 
 May 5 was the day selected for the joint move- 
 ment. Grant made his advance in three separate 
 divisions: one under General Butler up the James 
 River for an attack upon Petersburg, another under 
 Generals Hunter and Sigel through the Shenandoah 
 valley for the seizure of Lynchburg, and the third 
 and main body under his own command by a more 
 direct route from the Rappahannock River to the 
 Confederate capital. The object of the first two 
 expeditions was to threaten Richmond on the east 
 and west and so to partially divert Lee's attention 
 and to divide his army while Grant was leading 
 the assault from the north. 
 
 Butler, Sigel and Hunter were unable to accom- 
 plish their part of the task. The first became block- 
 aded on a peninsula where he could neither advance 
 nor retreat. The other two were defeated and 
 compelled to abandon their expedition. Grant was 
 in a degree more successful. He gradually forced 
 Lee back closer to Richmond, but he did not do this 
 without much fighting and heavy losses. Lee was a 
 really great general, especially in a defensive cam- 
 paign, and protected himself and his men (who were 
 greatly outnumbered by those under Grant) with 
 the utmost skill, so that the ground won from him 
 
 was gained with great difficulty and only by a costly 
 expenditure of life. In the battles of the Wilder- 
 ness, Spottsylvania Court-House and Cold Harbor, 
 fought in May and June while Grant was slowly 
 pushing his way forward, the latter lost nearly 
 sixty thousand men and Lee not much over half 
 that number. It is but just to add, howev'er, that 
 Lee's men were able to fight for the most part 
 from behind the fortifications which had been erect- 
 ed to defend the approaches to Richmond in every 
 direction, and that Grant's losses chiefly occurred in 
 
 PHILIP HENRY SHERIDAN. 
 
 attacks upon these fortifications, where his men 
 were necessarily much exposed. But Grant was 
 able to constantly recruit his army, which Lee could 
 only do to a very slight extent. 
 
 Beyond Cold Harbor (a little northeast of Rich- 
 mond) Grant found it almost impossible to proceed, 
 as the defences on that side of the Confederate cap- 
 ital proved too strong to be carried by assault. He 
 therefore determined to cross the James River and 
 attempt Richmond on its southern side. This was 
 done, but Lee at the same time moved his army into 
 
122 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Petersburg (twenty miles southeast of Richmond) 
 and there again checked Grant's further progress. 
 From Petersburg to Richmond was a series of 
 well-constructed Confederate fortifications which 
 Grant at various points tried to break through, 
 but was prevented by Lee. Grant then began 
 building opposing fortifications so as to strengthen 
 the line he was now drawing around Richmond, 
 
 an especial interest on account of its picturesque 
 and unexpected ending. The defeat of Sigel and 
 Hunter in the Shenandoah valley had left a road 
 open for a raid upon Washington through Mary- 
 land. Such a raid was made in July by General 
 Early, one of the most dashing cavalry officers in the 
 South, but he found Washington prepared for him 
 and he returned to Virginia unsuccessful. Soon 
 
 
 SHERIDAN AT CEDAR CREEK. 
 
 and the remainder of 1864 was principally devoted 
 by him to this work and to extending his line, with 
 the object of cutting off Lee's communications and 
 supplies and of finally shutting him up in the city 
 itself. 
 
 While Grant was knocking at the gates of Rich- 
 mond a battle took place in the western part of 
 Virginia which, though it had no great effect upon 
 the course of the war, will probably always retain 
 
 after his return he was attacked and defeated at 
 Winchester by Sheridan, who had accompanied 
 Grant to Virginia and had been placed at the head 
 of the Union troops in the Shenandoah valley. 
 Early watched his chance, and just a month later 
 (Oct. 19) surprised Sheridan's army at Cedar Creek 
 and routed it. Sheridan was away at the time, 
 but learned the news at Winchester, twenty miles 
 distant from the battle-field. Taking horse he 
 
NEARING THE END. 
 
 123 
 
 rode furiously toward Cedar Creek and on his way 
 met liis flying men. Rallying them as he galloped 
 past, as much by example as by word, he led them 
 back to the scene of their morning's fight, and sur- 
 prising Early in turn he snatched their brief vic- 
 tory from the Confederates before they had had an 
 opportunity to even taste of its sweets. 
 
 In the meantime Sherman was more than carry- 
 ing out his part of the joint programme assigned 
 him by Grant. He began to move against Johns- 
 ton as had been agreed, in May, but he proceeded 
 slowly and cautiously, as he rated at their full value 
 the great ability and sagacity of his opponent. 
 Johnston proved himself worthy of his reputation, 
 and only fell back as the superior numbers of Sher- 
 man's army threatened to enclose him. Neither 
 suffered the other to gain any advantage and 
 neither was very desirous of fighting a pitched 
 battle in the mountains. In this manner Johnston 
 was gradually pushed back from point to point to 
 Atlanta, each side meeting with about the same 
 loss in the minor engagements fought on the way. 
 But Sherman had been advancing through a hos- 
 tile country and had to have his supplies constantly 
 
 forwarded to him from Chattanooga, and so, to 
 insure receiving them, it was necessary for him as 
 he moved ahead to continually leave guards behind 
 to defend the road over which the supplies were to 
 
 WILLIAM 
 
 SHERMAN. 
 
 come. This consequently weakened his army 
 more and more, so that by the time he reached 
 Atlanta he had not many more men with him than 
 had Johnston. The latter had foreseen this and in 
 
 Sherman's great march through the heart of the south. 
 
124 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 JOHN B. HOOD. 
 
 fact had prolonged his retreat for this very purpose 
 of equalizing the two armies. He was therefore 
 now ready to fight and was about offering Sher- 
 man battle when he was suddenly removed from 
 the command by the Confederate government, 
 which had become impatient at his allowing Sher- 
 man to drive him bacli so far. His place was 
 given to General J. B. Hood, a soldier in every re- 
 spect his inferior. 
 
 On assuming command Hood at once violently 
 attacked Sherman, but was repulsed in each of his 
 three assaults (July). By the end of August the 
 Union army, after much hard fighting, had made 
 its way around to the rear of Atlanta, and on Sep- 
 tember 2 the Confederates withdrew from the city 
 and it was taken possession of by their oppo- 
 nents. Hood then formed the plan of moving 
 towards the North with his army in the hope of 
 tempting Sherman to follow and so changing the 
 scene of war again from Georgia back to Ten- 
 nessee. Sherman did pursue him for a short dis- 
 tance and then returned to Atlanta, leaving Thomas, 
 who was already in Tennessee, to look after Hood. 
 
 The forces of Thomas and Hood were about 
 equal, the former having made considerable addi- 
 tions in Kentucky and Tennessee to the troops sent 
 him by Sherman. The capture of Nashville was 
 the first object of the Confederates, but just be- 
 fore reaching that city they encountered a part of 
 the Northern army under General Schofield. Here 
 (at Franklin) a battle was fought, but though Hood's 
 loss was serious his progress was not stopped and he 
 advanced and began to besiege Nashville. Scarce- 
 ly was the siege fairly under way when Thomas, who 
 
 was within the city, issued forth, fell upon Hood and 
 defeated him so overwhelmingly that his army was 
 scattered in every direction and completely disaj)- 
 peared (Dec. 15 and 16). Of the seventy-five thou- 
 sand veteran soldiers which at the opening of this 
 campaign Johnston had about him at Dalton hardly 
 a corporal's guard now remained to Hood ; the rest 
 were dead, wounded or imprisoned, or else were 
 flying for fear of capture before the horsemen of 
 Thomas. One of the only two great armies left 
 to the Confederacy had entirely melted away. 
 
 When Sherman had once seen Hood well on his 
 way towards the North he knew that he had the 
 whole Confederacy to pick from, excepting only 
 that part of Virginia which was guarded by Lee. 
 His own army consisted of sixty thousand tried 
 and experienced men, and he understood perfect- 
 ly how impossible it would then be to get together 
 any fresh body of Southern troops that could with- 
 stand him for an hour. The course he decided 
 upon in this situation of affairs was to march 
 across Georgia to the sea, capture Savannah, and 
 then turn and make his way to Virginia so as to 
 help Grant finish his work at Richmond. As he 
 was in a region which had not yet been ravaged by 
 war, and which could therefore readily furnish the 
 necessary supplies for the support of his army on 
 its march, he destroyed all railroads and telegraphic 
 communications behind him so that neither friend 
 nor foe could learn of his movements until he had 
 carried out at least part of his plans. Nearly a 
 month was occupied in reaching Savannah, no re- 
 sistance being offered to his progress until, towards 
 
 GEORGE H. THOMAS. 
 
NEARING THE END. 
 
 1 25 
 
 the end of his journey, he arrived at Fort McAllister, 
 erected near the mouth of the Savannah River for 
 the defence of the city. This was easily overcome 
 in a fifteen minutes' attack and Savannah itself 
 soon followed after a siege of only a week (Dec. 21), 
 in ample time for Sherman to send the good news 
 as "a Christmas present " to Lincoln. This closed 
 Sherman's campaign for 1864. It was already near 
 the end of the year, and before making any further 
 move it was really necessary to give his men the 
 rest which their long march had so richly earned for 
 them. Accordingly Sherman did not again take 
 the field until 1865 had opened. 
 
 Though Savannah was the only port captured by 
 the North in 1864, attempts were made upon two of 
 the other three which were still in possession of the 
 Confederates. The attack on Mobile was so far 
 successful as to effectually close it to blockade-run- 
 ners. This was accomplished by Farragut's cap- 
 turing the two forts which guarded it (August), 
 after first defeating and taking the "Tennessee," 
 an ironclad ram which with some gunboats had 
 been stationed in Mobile Bay to aid the forts in 
 defending the city. The other seaport which was 
 attempted was Wilmington, and the expedition 
 against it was jointly conducted by General But- 
 
 ADMIRAL DAVID D. PORTER. 
 
 DAVID GLASCOE FARRAGUT. 
 
 ler and Admiral Porter (December) ; but they 
 found Fort Fisher, by which it was protected, too 
 strong for them. Both of these places (Mobile 
 and Wilmington), however, fell into federal hands 
 shortly after the beginning of the new year. 
 
 Besides the " Tennessee " the South lost another 
 ironclad during 1864. This was the " Albemarle," 
 which had been very active that year on the North 
 Carolina coast, interfering greatly with Union op- 
 erations in that State. It was destroyed one dark 
 night in October by a small naval party under the 
 leadership of Lieutenant Gushing, who at the risk 
 of their own lives blew it up with a torpedo. The 
 Confederates also lost that same year their three 
 principal privateers, the "Alabama," the " Florida " 
 and the "Georgia," all British built and armed, 
 and manned chiefly by Englishmen. These had 
 done much injury to the commerce of the United 
 States, and though others soon took their place 
 the disappearance of these three from the high 
 seas was a cause of congratulation at the time 
 to the North. The British origin of these priva- 
 teers and the half sort of protection they received 
 in English waters aroused considerable resentment 
 against the government of Great Britain, which 
 outlasted the war and was not ended until Eng- 
 land, as will be seen later on, made good part of 
 the damage they had done to American commerce, 
 
126 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE RETURN OF PEACE. 
 
 On February i, 1865, Sherman left Savannah and 
 started north towards Virginia. He had nearly- 
 reached Goldsboro in North Carolina when he was 
 confronted by his old enemy, Johnston, who had 
 been summoned from his retirement and who had 
 hastily got together an army of forty thousand men 
 to try to stem the federal advance. This army was 
 
 and during that pause the conquest of Richmond! 
 was completed. 
 
 Grant had been steadily at work strengthening 
 and extending his line about Petersburg and Rich- 
 mond, keeping Lee no less busy in guarding the de- 
 fences of those cities. But as Grant's line crept 
 slowly around, Lee found it harder and harder with 
 
 THE HOUSE WHERE GENERAL LEE SURRENDERED. 
 
 made up principally of the garrisons of such sea- 
 board towns as still belonged to the Confederates 
 and which, left thus defenceless by the departure of 
 those who had been protecting them, now quickly 
 fell into Northern hands. Johnston threw his whole 
 force against Sherman (March 19) in so sharp an 
 attack that at first the chances seemed in favor of 
 his winning the victory, but Sherman finally beat 
 him off and entered Goldsboro. There the Union 
 army paused to await the arrival of more troops. 
 
 his smaller army to properly oppose it. When there- 
 fore, early in March, Sheridan brought his cavalry 
 up from the Shenandoah valley to assist Grant by 
 operating on the western side of Richmond, Lee 
 was unable to offer any adequate resistance, and 
 Sheridan, by destroying the railroad, canal andr 
 bridges between Lynchburg and the Confederate: 
 capital, was able to still further reduce the supplies 
 of Lee and so embarrass him yet more seriously.. 
 Sheridan then joined Grant, who thereupon pushed 
 
THE RETURN OF PEACE. 
 
 127 
 
 his line another step to the west. Lee met it, but 
 to do so he had to again wealcen his force, which was 
 already weak enough, and this last drain upon it 
 proved a disastrous one. In the game which these 
 two great commanders were playing the superior 
 numbers of Grant were bound to count. He had 
 now one hundred thousand men to Lee's fifty thou- 
 sand, the latter drawn out in a thin line to defend 
 the fortifications which Grant was hourly threaten- 
 
 overtook him, and on April 9. at a little place on the 
 Lynchburg road called Appomattox Court House, 
 Lee tendered his sword to Grant. Seventeen days 
 later Johnston made a similar surrender to Sherman 
 at Raleigh and in the course of the few following 
 weeks the rest of the Confederacy had laid down its 
 arms and the four years' struggle was over. The 
 United States had ceased to be a divided nation and 
 the whole country was one again. 
 
 While the North was still celebrating the fall of 
 
 THE SURRENDER OF GENERAL LEE. 
 
 The time for the final move had at last come. 
 Grant advanced his entire army against Lee's en- 
 trenchments, attacking them simultaneously at 
 every point (April 2). Such a united assault the 
 Confederates were powerless to withstand, and their 
 line broke and gave way. Seeing the hopelessness 
 of any further effort to save the city he had so long 
 shielded, Lee drew off his army in the night towards 
 the west, and on April 3 the Union flag was again 
 raised over Richmond. Lee did not retreat far. 
 Grant had at once hastened after him and soon 
 
 Richmond and the surrender of Lee, and before the 
 opportunity was given it to add Johnston's submis- 
 sion to its jubilation, its rejoicing was suddenly 
 stopped and in an instant turned into mourning 
 by news of the murder of Lincoln. The martyr 
 President, who had safely led his people through the 
 perils and horrors of civil war, had but barely 
 entered upon a second term of office, to which he 
 had been elected by an overwhelming majority of the 
 people, when his life was cut short by the bullet of 
 an assassin. His death was the result of a conspir- 
 
128 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 acy formed by a number of persons in Washington 
 and its vicinity, who thought that by killing the 
 leading members of the administration the federal 
 government would be thrown into a confusion that 
 might give the Confederacy another hope of pro- 
 longing its existence. The head of the conspiracy 
 was an actor, J. Wilkes Booth, and he it was who 
 shot Lincoln in the presence of the audience of a 
 
 No Confederate leader, it is believed, was in any 
 way connected with this crime. 
 
 The tragic end of Lincoln's life gave an emphasis 
 to his virtues and to the services he had rendered 
 his countrymen during the period of their great 
 trial such as perhaps nothing else would have done. 
 No other of our great Presidents had had so few nat- 
 ural advantages in their youth to help fit them for 
 
 RICHMOND, THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL, ENTERED BY THE UNION ARMY. 
 
 public theatre in Washington on the evening of 
 April 14, 1865. Lincoln lived but a few hours, dying 
 early on the following day. Fortunately his was the 
 only life lost. The misfortune was that the one life 
 sacrificed should have chanced to be his. The con- 
 spiracy, with this great exception, miserably failed. 
 The only other person injured was the Secretary of 
 State, William H. Seward, who was slightly wound- 
 ed but who fully recovered. Booth was pursued and 
 in the pursuit was shot and killed ; four of his as- 
 sociates were hung and four of them sent to prison. 
 
 the high office they were afterwards chosen to fill. 
 Not one of them began his duties amid so many 
 difficulties and perplexities. With unwavering pa- 
 tience and industry, with never-failing charity and 
 tenderness, with profound sagacity and wisdom, he 
 unravelled the tangle before him, united the man> 
 different factions of the North, touched and held 
 the hearts of the people, carried them with him and 
 was borne up by them through the dark days of the 
 great war. We can conceive of no American except- 
 ing the great Washington who could for a single 
 
THE RETURN OF PEACE 
 
 129 
 
 hour have taken the place or done the work of 
 Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 The death of Lincoln raised to the presidency 
 for the third time the Vice-President. Up to the 
 outbreak of the Civil War, Andrew Johnson, the 
 new President, had been a Democrat. He had 
 been born in North Carolina, but before reaching 
 manhood had removed to Tennessee. That State, 
 in addition to making him her Governor, had sent 
 him to Congress as a Representative for ten years 
 and as a Senator for five years. Though he was a 
 Southern Democrat he was a Unionist and was the 
 only Senator who refused to follow his State when 
 it seceded. He had done good service during the 
 war as Military Governor of Tennessee, and it was 
 in appreciation of this and of his exceptional loy- 
 alty, as well as in recognition of the support given 
 the federal government by other war Democrats, 
 that the Republicans had placed his name with 
 Lincoln's on their ticket in 1864. Their opponents 
 at that election were General McClellan and George 
 H. Pendleton, nominated on a Democratic platform 
 which declared the war to be a failure and that it 
 ought to be stopped. In this the North did not 
 agree with them and they received very few votes. 
 The seceding States of course took no part in that 
 election. 
 
 The total number of men who were engaged in 
 the war was about four millions, two-thirds on the 
 Northern side and one-third on the Southern. 
 The number of lives lost was in the neighborhood 
 of six hundred thousand, pretty evenly divided be- 
 tween the two parties in the struggle. Of these 
 less than one-half were killed in battle or died from 
 
 LINCOLN MONUMENT, SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS. 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 
 
 wounds received in battle. The others were car- 
 ried off by camp diseases (which are always more 
 fruitful sources of death in warfare than sword or 
 gun) or else died in prison. These were the direct 
 losses. But undoubtedly many others have since 
 passed away whose friends could trace the begin- 
 ning of impaired health to the exposures and suf- 
 ferings undergone on the march or in the trench. 
 
 The United States government paid out nearly 
 eight hundred millions of dollars during the course 
 of the war and owed at its close nearly three thou- 
 sand millions more. In addition to this the North- 
 ern States, cities and towns spent money freely in 
 raising, equipping and transporting troops, and 
 many individuals contributed largely from their 
 private means in providing comforts for the sol- 
 diers on the field or in the hospital. How much 
 was spent by the Confederate government or peo- 
 ple is not known, and we cannot even guess, with 
 any approach to accuracy, at the value of the 
 property destroyed during the struggle. All that 
 we do know is that the total cost of the war in one 
 way or another to the country at large was simply 
 enormous. But vast as this expenditure was there 
 are few Americans to-day who would hesitate in 
 
130 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 saying that lives and money were both well spent 
 in preserving the Union ; and there are probably 
 now as many men in the South as in the North who 
 are heartily glad that the failure of secession in- 
 volved the extinction of slavery. 
 
 Before the conflict was decided and while the 
 war was still in progress, the number of States 
 was enlarged by the admission of West Virginia 
 and Nevada. The first of these had formed the 
 northwestern part of Virginia and was a mountain- 
 ous region, which had been settled principally by 
 emigrants from Ohio and in which there was little 
 slave-holding. It had opposed the secession move- 
 ment and had refused to be bound by the ordi- 
 
 nance when that was adopted by the rest of Vir- 
 ginia, but had remained loyal to the Union and 
 had set up a State government of its own. This 
 Congress soon recognized by giving it (in 1863) the 
 full privileges of statehood. Nevada had been a 
 portion of the territory ceded with California by 
 Mexico in 1848. The discovery of its silver mines 
 in 1858 had attracted many people there, and this, 
 induced Congress in 1864 to make of it a State. 
 Its importance lies almost entirely in its great min- 
 eral wealth, as its soil is too dry for agriculture. 
 Its growth has been slow and its population since 
 its admission has remained the smallest of any of 
 the States. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 After a review before their commanders and 
 the officers of the government in Washington which 
 lasted two days, the armies of the United States 
 in the summer of 1865 were disbanded and the 
 men went back to their homes to resume the occu- 
 pations which they had laid aside when they took 
 up arms. Fifty thousand of them, however, were 
 retained for a while longer in service to preserve 
 order in the Southern States, which were naturally 
 in a very disturbed condition resulting from their 
 having so long been the scene of war. As soon as 
 the discharge of the soldiers had been seen to, the 
 President and Congress were at liberty to devote 
 themselves to the many other matters which were 
 pressing upon their attention for early settlement. 
 
 Among the most important questions thus to be 
 considered and determined were those in regard to 
 the national debt, the rights of the freed men (or 
 negroes who had formerly been slaves) and the gov- 
 ernment of the States which had seceded. The first 
 of these was settled with the least difficulty. It was 
 decided to pay off the debt as rapidly as possible 
 by continuing the high taxes established during 
 the war and which, now that there were no war ex- 
 penses, would yield a revenue much more than 
 sufficient for the ordinary needs of government, 
 and by applying the surplus to diminishing the 
 debt. This has steadily been done until now (1889) 
 nearly two-thirds of the great sum of money bor- 
 rowed by the United States has been repaid to 
 those who loaned it. 
 
 The other two matters were closely connected to- 
 
 gether and were not so easily arranged. The prob- 
 lems to be solved were how to protect the negroes in 
 the enjoyment of the freedom that had been given 
 to them and how to restore to the Southern States 
 their share in the government of the country with- 
 out again putting in peril all that the North had been 
 contending for. The North had been fighting to 
 keep the South in the Union and it had succeeded 
 It was content with this and had no wish, now that 
 the war was over, to punish anyone connected with 
 it. When Lee and Johnston surrendered they were 
 not put under arrest, but were allowed to return 
 with their men to their homes on simply giving 
 their word that they would fight no more. Other 
 officers and soldiers were treated with equal gener- 
 osity. No member of the Confederate Cabinet was 
 taken to task for his part in bringing about the re- 
 bellion. Even the head and chief originator of the 
 secession, Jefferson Davis, though he was detained 
 for a time at Fortress Monroe, was soon released 
 and has since remained at perfect liberty. No per- 
 son was punished for treason ; no one was even tried 
 for it. Every one, high or low, and without regard 
 to his share in the rebellion, has had the same free- 
 dom of action since the war closed as he had when 
 it began. 
 
 But while the North had no revenge to gratify 
 and no disposition to e.xact penalties from those it 
 had defeated, it did not propose to lose the benefits 
 of the victories it had won by readmitting the Con- 
 federates to all their political privileges without any 
 pledges from them. Some guarantees were required 
 
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 131 
 
 that the South would accept the issues settled by 
 the war and not try to reopen them. This was felt 
 to be particularly necessary for the sake of the 
 negroes. The South had wished to keep them 
 slaves and naturally would not regard with much 
 favor their present condition of freedom, and it 
 was feared that, if left to themselves, some of the 
 Southern States might seek to reduce them again 
 to bondage or to something at least very nearly 
 like it. 
 
 On this subject President Johnson and Congress 
 held decidedly different opinions. Though he was 
 a strong Union man, the President 
 was a Southerner and did not care 
 much about the freedmen, but he 
 was an earnest believer in State 
 rights. His theory was that the 
 Southern States had never been out 
 of the Union because they had not 
 been allowed to leave it, and that 
 their (white) citizens had the same 
 right to vote, hold office and exercise 
 their other political powers now that 
 they had always had. He was there- 
 fore an advocate of allowing the 
 Confederates to at once resume their 
 full share in the government with- 
 out imposing any conditions upon 
 them. In accordance with these 
 ideas he, immediately after taking 
 office, appointed provisional govern- 
 ors of the Southern States who called 
 conventions composed only of white 
 men to reorganize their State gov- 
 ernments. These conventions re- 
 pealed the ordinances of secession 
 which had been adopted in i860 
 and 1861 ; ratified the Thirteenth 
 Amendment to the Constitution 
 which abolished slavery (and which 
 the Northern States had accepted 
 earlier in the same year) ; and agreed never to pay 
 any debt which had been contracted in aiding the 
 Confederacy. On this basis all of the Southern 
 States became reorganized during 1865. 
 
 Congress did not dispute that the Southern States 
 were still in the Union ; on that point it agreed with 
 Johnson. What it did claim was that the Confed- 
 erates had voluntarily given up all their political 
 rights when they rebelled, and that these rights 
 must be restored to them before they could again 
 use them. And Congress was determined not to 
 restore these rights until it was satisfied that the 
 freedmen would receive ample protection. 
 
 This resolve was strengthened by the course pur- 
 sued by the Southern States after their reconstruc- 
 tion on Johnson's plan. Fearing that the ex-slaves- 
 would not work now that they had no one to com- 
 pel them to, and that they would become a burden 
 for the white people to support, these States enact- 
 ed laws condemning all idle negroes to prison and to- 
 hard labor. The North considered this as something 
 but little better than slavery under another name 
 and it refused to recognize the State governments 
 which had been thus formed with the President's 
 approval, and the Senators and Representatives 
 
 ANDREW JOHNSON. 
 
 whom they sent to Washington were denied admit- 
 tance by the Republican majority in control of Con- 
 gress. 
 
 Congress wished to secure permanently for the 
 negroes the privilege of voting, and it wished to 
 withhold this privilege from the Confederates, or at 
 least from the prominent ones. In this way, and 
 this way only, it thought, could the freedmen defend 
 themselves from oppression by their former masters. 
 With the ballot in their hands they could control 
 legislation and so look after their own interests. 
 The political power of the South would be trans- 
 ferred from the disloyal whites to the loyal blacks. 
 
132 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 •who would be in sympathy with their RepubHcan 
 friends of the North, and all danger would be re- 
 moved of any further difficulties between the two 
 races or between the two sections of the country. 
 It was some time before Congress could mature a 
 plan for best carrying this idea into effect, but it 
 finally did so early in 1867. Johnson vigorously 
 opposed the measure, but the Republicans were able 
 to pass it over his veto by the two-thirds majority 
 in each branch of Congress required by the Consti- 
 tution. 
 
 The plan of Congress provided for the formation 
 •of entirely new State governments in the South and 
 the adoption of another Amendment to the Con- 
 stitution. This Amendment (which made the Four- 
 teenth) gave the right to vote to all negroes and 
 took it away from all Confederates who had held 
 any important position in the United States army 
 ■or na\% in the federal government or in their States 
 before the war. Congress, however, was given 
 power to restore their political rights to those now 
 deprived of them whenever it should see fit to do so 
 by a two-thirds vote. The Amendment also pledged 
 the people that the national debt should be paid in 
 full and that no part of the Confederate debt should 
 ■ever be acknowledged or redeemed. If the South- 
 ■ern States ratified this Amendment and organized 
 governments satisfactory to Congress, then Con- 
 ;gress would recognize them and admit their Sena- 
 tors and Representatives. But these governments' 
 must be formed by conventions in whose selection all 
 freedmen (and no prominent Confederates) should 
 have a voice. To insure this the President was 
 ■authorized to appoint military governors, who were 
 to supervise the election of the delegates and see 
 that the negroes had the opportunity of voting and 
 that the Confederate leaders were prevented from 
 •doing so. 
 
 Southern whites did not much relish this plan, as 
 they thought it placed the blacks who had once been 
 their slaves too nearly in the position of now be- 
 coming their masters. But it was adopted, and in 
 the course of 1867 and 1868 was accepted by all but 
 four of the States lately in secession. The four 
 exceptions were Virginia, Texas, Mississippi and 
 Georgia, which all stood out against it until 1S70 
 and were therefore without representation in Con- 
 gress during this period. One State, Tennessee, 
 had not waited for this action of Congress before 
 remodelling her government in accordance with 
 Northern ideas, and she had been readmitted in 
 1866, while Congress was still engaged in consider- 
 ing a scheme for the admission of the others. 
 
 The result of the Fourteenth Amendment and of 
 
 the legislation which accompanied it was to give 
 the control of affairs in the South to a body of very 
 ignorant and very inexperienced voters. That they 
 would not use their power very wisely at first might 
 have been expected, and the condition of the 
 Southern States for a number of years after the war 
 was anything but prosperous. Matters, however, 
 have since then gradually, if slowly, improved. 
 The negroes have learned that freedom does not 
 mean idleness and that they have only their own 
 labor to depend upon for their support. More of 
 them are becoming educated and all of them are 
 becoming more industrious. From time to time 
 Congress has removed their disabilities from the 
 Confederates and now Jefferson Davis remains the 
 only one who cannot exercise all the political privi- 
 leges he once enjoyed, and without doubt they would 
 also be restored to him should he apply for them. 
 The Confederates who have thus been received back 
 into citizenship were those best qualified to lead in 
 the arts of peace as well as in the arts of war, and 
 under their guidance their part of the country has 
 developed in many directions and with a rapidity 
 unknown in its earlier history. But before this new 
 era of prosperity began in the South it suffered 
 much from poverty and the ignorantly framed laws 
 enacted by the freedmen in their first days of 
 power. 
 
 The disagreement between Johnson and Congress 
 regarding the treatment of the South soon extend- 
 ed to other questions and constantly grew more 
 bitter. Each viewed every act of the other with 
 hostility and suspicion. The President attempted 
 to thwart the will of Congress by vetoing (or refus- 
 ing to approve or sign) bills which it passed, but this 
 was of little benefit to him and of little harm to the 
 Republicans, as their two-thirds majority in each 
 house enabled them to dispense with his signature 
 to any measure upon which they were united and 
 which they really cared should become a law. One 
 of these bills was the " tenure-of-office " act, pro- 
 hibiting the President from removing any high of- 
 ficial in the government service unless the Senate 
 consented. This became a law in the same month 
 that the reconstruction act was passed, March, 1867. 
 Johnson refused to obey it on the ground that the 
 Constitution had given the President the right of 
 removal and that Congress had no power to take 
 the right away. Accordingly not long afterwards 
 he dismissed Edwin M. Stanton, who had been the 
 Secretary of War since the beginning of Lincoln's 
 administration. For this, as well as for some other 
 acts which it considered contrary to law, the House 
 of Representatives resolved to impeach him. 
 
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 '33: 
 
 The Constitution makes it the duty of the lower 
 branch of Congress, when it believes that any im- 
 portant member of the government has disobeyed 
 the law or been unfaithful to his trust, to accuse 
 him of his offences before the Senate, which then 
 regularly tries him very much as other offenders are 
 tried in courts. This is called impeachment. John- 
 son is the only President of the United States who 
 
 with political troubles. It gave attention as well to- 
 foreign affairs. Among these was a difficulty not 
 with, but in, Mexico. 
 
 Taking advantage of the disturbances in the 
 United States caused by the Civil War, France in 
 the early part of that struggle had sent an army 
 into Mexico, overthrown its republican government, 
 converted it into a monarchy and placed the Archr- 
 
 / 
 
 EDWIN M. STANTON. 
 
 has been impeached, though one or two other of- 
 ficials, less eminent than a President, have been. 
 In the case of Johnson the proceedings lasted near- 
 ly four months (from February to May, 1868) and 
 resulted in his acquittal, as not quite two-thirds of 
 the Senators were convinced of his guilt. A change 
 of a single vote, however, would have deposed him 
 from his office. 
 
 But this administration was not entirely occupied 
 
 duke Maximilian on the throne. Our govern- 
 ment had strongly protested against this as a viola- 
 tion of the principles of the Monroe doctrine, but 
 it was then too busily engaged in fighting its own 
 battles to back up its protest with armed force. 
 France had paid no heed to our objections. She 
 believed, as did also Great Britain at the time, that 
 the rebellion was on too large a scale to be sup- 
 pressed ; that the Confederacy would succeed in es- 
 
134 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tablishing itself ; that the Union would be perma- 
 nently broken up; and that, when it had become 
 ■divided and the war was ended, neither fragment 
 would be able, even if it should care, to interfere 
 with her. She therefore kept her soldiers in Mex- 
 ico to uphold Maximilian in his efforts to rule that 
 •country against the will of its people. 
 
 Events did not turn out exactly as France had an- 
 ticipated. She found that the federal government 
 had the strength to stop secession and crush rebel- 
 lion, and so, when the war was over, she became 
 much more ready to listen to arguments on the ap- 
 plication of the Monroe doctrine than she had been 
 in 1863, and on our renewed demand in 1867 she 
 recalled her troops to France. At his own desire 
 Maximilian was left behind to see if he could gov- 
 ern without the aid of foreign bayonets. The 
 United States had no objections to make to this. 
 If the Mexicans desired him for their emperor they 
 were welcome to him, as long as no European power 
 attempted to compel them to retain him. But 
 they did not want him. As soon as his French pro- 
 tectors were gone, he was attacked, defeated, cap- 
 tured and shot, and Mexico again became a repub- 
 lic. 
 
 Another foreign matter and one of a pleasanter 
 ■character was also arranged at this time. This was 
 the purchase from Russia in 1867 of Alaska for 
 seven millions and two hundred thousand dollars. 
 Alaska is the last of the accessions made to the 
 territory' of the United States and increased its area 
 nearly six hundred thousand square miles. The size 
 of our country is now more than four times what it 
 was at the close of the Revolutionary War. It was 
 then about eight hundred thousand square miles. 
 The Louisiana cession added a little over a million. 
 
 Florida about sixty thousand, Texas nearly four 
 hundred thousand and the Mexican grant not quite 
 five hundred and fifty thousand, so that the total 
 number of square miles now included within it is a 
 trifle over three millions and six hundred thousand. 
 
 During the same year that Alaska was bought 
 and Maximilian put to death the thirty-seventh 
 State entered the Union. Nebraska, like so many 
 of the other Western States, had been part of the 
 Louisiana purchase and had been organized into a 
 Territory by itself at the time of the heated anti- 
 slavery contest for the possession of Kansas (1854). 
 Its growth, however, had not been nearly as rapid 
 as was that of its sister Territory, as it had been ex- 
 plored but little and no one then even suspected 
 that the fertility and richness of its soil would soon 
 make it one of the most productive of the Ameri- 
 can States. 
 
 The last, but by no means the least important, 
 event to be noted in this period is the connecting 
 of Europe with America by telegraph. Efforts to 
 accomplish this had been tried many times before 
 but they had all failed. In 1857 a telegraphic cable 
 was drawn across the bottom of the Atlantic which 
 at first, it was thought, would prove a success. But 
 it did not work satisfactorily, nor did the others that 
 followed it until in 1866 the difficulties were over- 
 come and one was laid which has operated as per- 
 fectly as its predecessors on land had done. This 
 has since then been supplemented by others, and 
 there are now a number of lines between the two 
 continents, so that quick international communi- 
 cation is not subject to the risk of accident to any 
 one wire. The commercial and political benefit that 
 this extension of Morse's invention has been to 
 both countries it is hardly necessary to point out. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE PRESIDENCY OF GENERAL GRANT. 
 
 Johnson's quarrel with Congress brought him 
 great unpopularity and when his term drew towards 
 a close he did not obtain even a nomination for 
 continuance in office. On March 4, 1869, he was 
 succeeded in the presidency by General Grant, whom 
 the Republicans easily elected over the Democratic 
 .candidate, Horatio Seymour, who had lately been 
 Governor of New York. 
 
 A native of Ohio, Grant received at his birth the 
 mame of Hiram Ulysses, but by a mistake he was 
 
 entered as Ulysses S. when he began his military 
 career as a cadet at West Point, and he found it so 
 difficult afterwards to have this official record al-,- 
 tered that he was constrained to use for the rest of 
 his life a name thus thrust upon him by accident. 
 He remained in the army for a few years after 
 graduating from West Point, rising to the positioa 
 of Captain during the course of the Mexican war, 
 and then resigned his commission to enter into 
 business. When the Civil War began he was living 
 
THE PRESIDENCY OF GENERAL GRANT. 
 
 135 
 
 in Illinois and he at once offered his sen'ices to the 
 government. They were accepted and from the 
 start he met with almost unbroken success and 
 steadily rose in rank from that of Colonel to that of 
 General, the latter title being one which Washing- 
 ton alone had borne before and which has since 
 been bestowed upon only two others, Sherman and 
 Sheridan. 
 
 Two months after the inauguration of Grant the 
 Central Pacific Railroad, connecting California with 
 the East, and which had been building since 1862, 
 was completed and thrown open to the public. 
 This was an event of hardly less value than the lay- 
 ing of the Atlantic cable a year or two previous 
 had been. It brought San Francisco and New York 
 nearer together than Boston and Washington had 
 been sixty years before and has been of the same 
 helpfulness in the development of the extreme 
 West that the first steamboats and railroads were 
 in settling the Mississippi region in the early part 
 of the centurj'. Other Pacific roads have since 
 been built, north and south of the first one, so 
 
 the country during the first few years following the 
 war. It was a prosperity in which nearly everyone, 
 at least in the North and West, had a share. Crop 
 failures in Europe gave a good market to our agri- 
 
 HORATIO SEYMUUR. 
 
 cultural products. The heavy taxation retained for 
 the purpose of reducing the national debt stimu- 
 lated manufactures. Gold and silver mines yielded 
 
 ON THE CENTRAL PACIFIC KAILROAD. 
 
 that there are now ample means of communication 
 between the two oceans. 
 
 The completion of the Central Pacific was only 
 one sign of a general prosperity which spread over 
 
 a large quantity of the precious metals. Immigra- 
 tion, which had fallen off during the war, became 
 greater than ever and helped to people the interior 
 of the continent with a class of settlers who in the 
 
136 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 i 
 
 main not only knew how to work but who were 
 only too glad to use the opportunities for well-paid 
 labor offered them by the great republic. 
 
 What Grant's administration will probably always 
 be most closely associated with is the substitution 
 for the first time in history of arbitration in the 
 place of war as a means of settling a serious differ- 
 ence between nations. The United States had a 
 grievance against Great Britain for the sympathy 
 shown by the latter with the Confederates in the 
 opening years of the rebellion. With few excep- 
 tions the ruling classes in England and their lead- 
 ers hoped and believed that the North would be 
 defeated and the Union divided, and they had little 
 hesitancy in freely saying so. Had this sympathy 
 been limited to words, our government would have 
 had no ground for formal complaint, however keen- 
 ly it felt the want of friendliness thus displayed. 
 But the sympathy extended beyond words. For 
 though no open aid was given to the Confederates 
 they were permitted to purchase vessels in Great 
 Britain, and arm and equip them in English har- 
 bors for privateer service, and this we claimed was 
 a violation of the law of nations and rendered the 
 British government liable for the damage inflicted 
 by these vessels upon American commerce. 
 
 England was not disposed to admit the claim and 
 the question was discussed by the two countries 
 for a number of years before any agreement could 
 be reached. Then a treaty was signed at Washing- 
 ton in 1871 which provided among other things 
 that this matter should be submitted to five judges 
 and each side bound itself to abide by their decis- 
 ion. These judges or arbitrators were to be ap- 
 pointed one each by the Emperor of Brazil, the 
 President of the Swiss Confederation, the King of 
 Italy, the Queen of England and the President of 
 the United States. They met at Geneva in 1872 
 and the whole subject was carefully considered, 
 the facts in the case examined and established and 
 the views of each party in the controversy argued 
 at length before them. The conclusion they arrived 
 at was favorable to the American government and 
 fifteen and a half millions of dollars was fixed up- 
 on as the amount of the damage that the United 
 States were justly entitled to, and this sum was ac- 
 cordingly paid over to us by Great Britain. 
 
 It ought to be said in this connection, however, 
 that sympathy with the South was by no means uni- 
 versal in England. While nearly all of those who 
 governed the country were arrayed on the side 
 of the slave-owners, the great body of the common 
 people, the middle classes and the workingmen, be- 
 lieved heartily that the North was in the right and 
 
 that it must and would win in the stupendous 
 struggle that was convulsing the country; and they 
 did not suffer themselves to be moved from this be- 
 lief or to be stirred from the side of free labor for 
 which the Unionists were lighting, though they had 
 almost the strongest reason that men can ever have 
 for wishing that the war was over or that it had 
 never been begun. For to many of them the war 
 meant starvation. It shut out the raw cotton from 
 Great Britain. This compelled the mills in which 
 the cotton was manufactured to close. The clos- 
 ing of the factories threw their hands out of work, 
 and want of work was want of food. But their 
 own sufferings did not deter them from advocat- 
 ing the cause of the North and remaining its 
 true and loyal friends, and it was their influence, 
 voiced by only a few leaders, like John Bright, 
 Thomas Hughes and Richard Cobden, which had 
 held back the English government from publicly 
 recognizing the Confederacy as an independent na- 
 tion. 
 
 The Washington treaty not only disposed of the 
 "Alabama" claims but it also settled the last 
 boundary dispute which has arisen between the 
 two countries, that affecting the extreme north- 
 western point of the United States (between Van- 
 couver's Island and the State of Washington). 
 This was also decided in our favor. But we did not 
 fare so well in the third matter arranged by this 
 same treaty, which had relation to the damages due 
 Great Britain for American fishing in Canadian 
 waters. As in the "Alabama" claims, the deter- 
 mination of the question was left to arbitrators, 
 and they awarded the English government five and 
 a half millions of dollars. 
 
 Before the treaty of Washington was signed an- 
 other Amendment to the Constitution was proposed, 
 and ratified by the people (1870). It forbids any 
 State to deprive a citizen of the privilege of voting- 
 or of any other right on account of " his race, color 
 or previous condition of servitude," and was in- 
 tended to make still more secure the freedom and 
 liberty of the negroes. It is the last Constitutional 
 Amendment which has been adopted and is num- 
 bered the fifteenth. 
 
 Grant's administration lasted for eight years, but 
 the prosperity which marked its opening did not 
 continue with it till the end. In 1871 there was a 
 great fire in Chicago, followed in 1872 by one nearly 
 as disastrous in Boston, in each of which a large part 
 of the city was burnt and many millions of dollars* 
 worth of property destroyed. The next year (1873) 
 a financial panic occurred which produced great 
 distress and a business depression of which the ef- 
 
THE PRESIDENCY OF GENERAL GRANT. 
 
 137 
 
 feet was felt for some years. This was attributed 
 to several causes, the principal one being the same 
 as that which led to the panic in 1857, too rapid 
 railroad building in the West. But there were 
 other reasons for it as well, excessive speculation, 
 ■overproduction of manufactures and the inflated 
 prices for goods of all kinds which had been main- 
 tained since the war. The panic was really a re- 
 action against these prices and resulted in very 
 much lessening them. 
 
 In addition to these commercial and industrial 
 misfortunes there arose also considerable political 
 ■discontent. General Grant's appointments to office 
 were not always thought to be very wise ones even 
 by members of his own party. A number of cases 
 of dishonesty in prominent officials were discovered 
 before his first term ended, and created a feeling of 
 ■dissatisfaction in many Republicans. Others among 
 those who had ortce been his adherents disapproved 
 of the policy of employing federal troops any longer 
 in the South for the protection of the negroes. 
 They held that even if the negroes were ill-treated 
 
 were the Northern States. When, therefore, the 
 Republicans renominated General Grant in 1873, a 
 section of the party, calling themselves Liberal Re- 
 publicans, named Horace Greeley, the editor of the 
 New York Tribune, for the presidency and the 
 Democrats accepted him also as their candidate. 
 
 HORACE GREELEY. 
 
 and prevented from voting, as in some cases they 
 undoubtedly were, it was the duty of the State and 
 not of the national government to correct such 
 evils ; and that the Southern States, having been re- 
 constructed and readmitted, should now be left to 
 themselves and treated in all respects exactly as 
 
 TRIBUNE BUILDING, NEW YORK CITV. 
 
 The movement, however, was a failure and General 
 Grant was given another term. 
 
 His second term witnessed the beginning of a 
 series of centennial celebrations of Revolutionary 
 battles and of events connected with the gaining of 
 our independence and the organizing of our govern- 
 ment which have been continued through the ad- 
 ministrations of the four Presidents who have fol- 
 lowed him. Beginning with the one hundredth 
 anniversary of the fight at Lexington on April 19, 
 1875, the successive steps' in the struggle of the 
 young nation towards freedom and unity have been 
 recalled and fitly honored and commemorated. 
 Bunker Hill, Saratoga and Yorktown, as each came 
 round, were gratefully remembered and observed; 
 but the two celebrations into which the whole 
 people have most heartily entered have been those 
 which marked the throwing aside of the English 
 rule and the adoption in its stead of the Constitu- 
 tional one. On July 4, 1876, the centennial of the 
 Declaration of Independence was greeted with re- 
 joicing in every village, town and city throughout 
 the land; on April 30, 1889, the one hundredth 
 
138 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 anniversary of the inauguration of Washington as 
 the first President of the United States was made 
 a special national holiday that every one might have 
 an opportunity of showing in some way his appreci- 
 ation of the blessings which a century of union and 
 freedom had brought to the people. In New York 
 particularly was this latter day made one of great 
 festivity and splendid display, as it was in that city 
 that the federal government had begun its existence. 
 Besides the processions, orations and monuments 
 with which these centennial anniversaries were 
 marked, an exposition was held at Philadelphia in 
 1876, to which all the world was invited to contrib- 
 ute examples of their products and manufactures 
 that an opportunity might be afforded of comparing 
 the progress made in our short history with that of 
 other nations and of displaying the wonderful re- 
 sources of this country. The exposition was open 
 
 for six months and during that period the large 
 buildings erected for the purpose were daily 
 thronged with great crowds gathered from every 
 quarter of the globe who had come to examine the 
 myriad objects on exhibition. 
 
 Shortly before Grant retired from office the 
 thirty-eighth State was admitted to the Union 
 (1876). Colorado takes its name from the principal 
 river flowing through its western territory', and was 
 formed by uniting a portion of the old Louisiana 
 tract to part of the Mexican grant. Its gold and 
 silver mines led to its first settlement, and its wealth 
 thus far has been derived chiefly from its mineral 
 resources. Of late, however, the raising of cattle 
 for market has become an important industry in 
 Colorado, for which it is excellently adapted as 
 much of its land is better adapted for grazing than 
 for any other purpose. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 MR. HAYES'S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The most closely contested election in American 
 history was that for Grant's successor. The oppos- 
 
 RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 
 
 ing candidates were R. B. Hayes on the Republican 
 side and S. J. Tilden on the Democratic. There 
 
 was no one question dividing the people at the 
 time, as slavery or the tariff had on other occasions ; 
 the platforms of the two parties were pretty much 
 the same ; and the struggle between them was sim- 
 ply one for possession of the government. Their 
 strength was very nearly equal. The Republicans 
 had lost the large majorities with which a few years 
 before they had carried every election, most of the 
 war Democrats who for a while had acted with them 
 having returned to their former allegiance, and a 
 number of moderate Republicans having also left 
 their party on account of the scandals connected with 
 Grant's administration and its policy in the South. 
 The Democrats liad regained control of nearly all of 
 the Southern States and of some of the Northern 
 ones as well. In 1874 they secured the lower branch 
 of Congress. When 1876 arrived they were in an 
 excellent position, they thought, to once more ob- 
 tain the presidency. 
 
 When the election was over it was found that 
 |each candidate had received nearly the same num- 
 ber of votes and for quite a time the result was 
 in a great deal of doubt. Both sides claimed 
 to have carried certain Southern States, and the 
 votes of these States were necessary to give either 
 Mr. Hayes or Mr. Tilden a majority. Congress 
 was not able to decide the question, as neither the 
 Republican Senate nor Democratic House would 
 
MR. HAYES'S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 139 
 
 consent to awarding the presidency to its political 
 opponent. After many plans for solving the diffi- 
 culty had been suggested and thrown aside, the 
 leaders of the two parties agreed to submit the dis- 
 puted votes to a special tribunal to be created for 
 the purpose. This tribunal or court was named the 
 " Electoral Commission " and was composed of five 
 Senators, five Representatives and five judges of 
 the Supreme Court. The various points at issue 
 about the election were laid before it and by a vote 
 of eight to seven were determined in favor of Mr. 
 Hayes, who accordingly in 1877 became the nine- 
 teenth President of the United States. 
 
 Rutherford B. Hayes was a native and resident 
 of Ohio and served with distinction through the 
 entire course of the Civil War. At its close he en- 
 tered the lower branch of Congress and after re- 
 maining there for one term (two years) was chosen 
 governor of his State. To this position he was 
 subsequently twice reelected, and it was to the 
 popularity he gained as Ohio's chief magistrate 
 that he owed his presidential nomination by the 
 Republicans. 
 
 Almost his first act on taking office was to with- 
 draw the federal troops from the Southern States, 
 thus placing them on the same footing as was the 
 North. He had promised this in his inaugural ad- 
 dress and he lost no time in making good his word. 
 Though this did not remove the last trace of the 
 war, it destroyed the last outward sign of Southern 
 subjection to the North, and it greatly helped to 
 restore a cordial feeling between the two sections. 
 The two parts of the country have steadily drawn 
 nearer together since that day and are now united 
 by a much stronger bond than at any other time in 
 their history since the beginning of the great anti- 
 slavery controversy nearly seventy years ago. 
 
 With one exception the administration of Presi- 
 dent Hayes was a very peaceful one. The excep- 
 tion occurred during the first year of his term, in 
 the summer of 1S77, and was occasioned by a gen- 
 eral lowering of the wages of railroad employes 
 throughout the country. The men resisted this re- 
 duction, left the employment of the railroad com- 
 panies and attempted to prevent others from taking 
 their places and trains from being run. This 
 caused disturbances and riots in several States, the 
 most serious ones breaking out in Pennsylvania, 
 particularly at Pittsburg. Order was not restored 
 until the aid of State militia, in some instances also 
 of United States soldiers, had been obtained, and 
 before this was done some millions of dollars' worth 
 of property had been destroyed and a hundred and 
 fifty or more lives lost. 
 
 In national politics the matters of most interest 
 in this period are connected with finance: silver 
 was made a legal tender, a large part of the public 
 debt was refunded, and specie payments were re- 
 sumed. When the government was suddenly called 
 upon in 1861 and 1862 to meet the great expenses 
 of the war, it did so partly by increasing the taxes, 
 partly by borrowing money for wh'ch it gave its 
 bonds, and partly by issuingpaper money with which 
 it paid some of its expenses instead of with gold. 
 This paper money was issued in large quantities 
 both by the government and by national banks es- 
 tablished under authority of the government. As 
 the paper money was only a promise to pay a 
 certain amount of gold at some indefinite time in 
 the future, it was of course of less value than the gold 
 itself, and it quickly drove gold out of circulation. 
 
 SAMUEL J. TILDEM. 
 
 From 1S62 to 1879 specie (or coin) payments were 
 suspended and the money affairs of the nation were 
 conducted with paper currency. By 1879 the gov- 
 ernment found itself in a prosperous enough con- 
 dition again to fulfil its promises, and accordingly 
 it then announced itself prepared to redeem with 
 coin all the paper money presented at the national 
 treasury for payment, and holders of government 
 notes or of bank bills have since that year been able 
 at any time to exchange them for gold. 
 
 The uniform promptness with which the govern- 
 ment had paid the interest on its bonds and the un- 
 precedented rapidity with which it had been reduc- 
 ing the debt gave it excellent credit and it became 
 able to borrow money o'n much better terms than 
 in the days of the war. President Hayes's Secretary 
 of the Treasury, John Sherman, took advantage 
 of this favorable condition to exchange the older 
 bonds as they became due for new ones bearing a 
 
140 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 lower rate of interest, and in this way the country 
 has been yearly saved a considerable sum of mon- 
 ey. Mr. Sherman's successors have continued his 
 policy, and the national debt (that part of it, at least, 
 which is still unpaid) has now been all refunded, 
 much of it at a rate of interest less than one-half 
 of what was paid for the first war loan. 
 
 The resumption of specie payments and the re- 
 funding of the public debt were both acts of which 
 the President heartily approved. But the third 
 financial measure of his administration was adopt- 
 ed by Congress against his judgment and over his 
 veto. Silver dollars had originally been lawful 
 money (or a legal tender for the payment of any 
 debt) as well as gold. There had not been many 
 of them coined, however, and they had not been 
 very generally used, except in small quantities, un- 
 til after the American mines had begun to add so 
 enormously to the silver productof the world. Then 
 the number of them greatly increased and their 
 value naturally somewhat lessened, for any object 
 as a rule grows less valuable as it becomes more 
 plentiful or is more easily procured. But the value 
 of silver not only decreased, it also fluctuated or 
 varied as the yield of the mines each month was 
 more or less. On account of this diminishing and 
 unstable value as compared with that of gold. Con- 
 gress, in 1873, following the example of many of 
 the nations of Europe, demonetized the silver dol- 
 lar, or took away its fixed legal tender character, 
 so that it became simply an article of merchandise, 
 to be bought or sold for the price it was really 
 worth. After a five years' trial of gold as the only 
 standard money, the people became dissatisfied 
 with the change, as they thought the effect was 
 chiefly to benefit the rich bondholders by secur- 
 ing to them the repayment of their loans to the 
 government in gold, and Congress accordingly, in 
 obedience to the wish of the people, in 1878, remon- 
 etized silver. 
 
 Since Morse thirty years before had shown that 
 electricity could be employed in sending messages 
 over a wire, many inventors had been engaged in 
 trying to find other ways in which this wonderful 
 
 agent could be used. And many had been found 
 during these years ; but the most remarkable of all 
 was discovered and put into successful operation 
 shortly after Mr. Haj'es entered upon his presi- 
 dency. The telephone is even a more curious in- 
 vention than the telegraph, as it enables people to 
 talk with each other at a considerable distance 
 apart so that they hear the actual words uttered 
 by the speaker and recognize the tones of his 
 voice. At first only short distances of a few miles 
 were attempted, but more recently it has been ap- 
 plied with satisfactory results at points separated by 
 several hundred miles. If the telephone can be car- 
 ried to the same degree of perfection that the tele- 
 graph has reached, it will rival the latter in value 
 and usefulness, but it is doubtful if it can ever be 
 made to cover as great a number of miles. In the 
 meantime it has become one of the greatest of mod- 
 ern conveniences and in the cities and larger towns 
 few business establishments of any size or impor- 
 tance are without telephonic instruments. 
 
 Lighting by electricity quickly followed talking 
 by electricity, only a year separating the two dis- 
 coveries (1877-78). The electric light has decided 
 advantages over any means of illumination pre- 
 viously employed, as it not only affords a much 
 stronger and clearer light, but in doing so it throws 
 out no heat and does not affect the purity of the sur- 
 rounding air. It is rapidly replacing gas in the 
 streets of cities, in public buildings, and in many 
 offices and mercantile houses, but its cost has thus 
 far prevented its introduction into private dwell- 
 ings except in a few occupied by the wealthier class. 
 
 A beginning was also made at this time in apply- 
 ing electricity as a substitute for steam-power in 
 operating machinery and in drawing railroad cars. 
 While some little progress has been made, it has 
 not yet been developed to the same extent in this 
 line that it has been in other directions. What 
 other services this marvellous force of nature may 
 do for man we cannot now even imagine; but we 
 may feel certain that there remain undiscovered in- 
 numerable ways in which this invisible power will 
 be made to minister to our needs and comforts. 
 
THE CIVIL SERVICE AND THE MORMONS. 
 
 141 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE CIVIL SERVICE AND THE MORMONS. 
 
 On his retiring from office in 1877 General Grant 
 had set out on a tour around the world, during 
 which he had been received with the highest honors 
 and distinction by the people and rulers of the many- 
 countries he had visited on his travels. From this 
 
 GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK. 
 
 journey he had but lately returned when in 1880 
 Republican delegates met in convention at Chicago 
 to choose their candidate to succeed Mr. Hayes, 
 and a large and influential number of them made a 
 strong effort to obtain the nomination for the great 
 General. But since the day Washington had de- 
 clined a third election it had been the unwritten 
 law that no President should serve for more than 
 eight years, and this traditional sentiment proved 
 too powerful to be broken even in favor of the hero 
 of Vicksburg. and the nomination went to General 
 Garfield. In opposition to him the Democrats put 
 forward General Winfield S. Hancock, the senior 
 Major-General in the army and an officer who had 
 won an enviable reputation at Gettysburg. Freder- 
 icksburg and on many another battlefield of the war. 
 He had had no political experience, however, and 
 his opponent had had, and so for this reason the lat- 
 ter was preferred by the people for the presidency. 
 
 James A. Garfield is a striking instance, of which 
 Lincoln is the greatest but by no means the only 
 other example, of a poor boy rising solely by his 
 
 own exertions to the foremost place in our country. 
 And it is the glory of America that such a chance is 
 given to every lad, if he have the ability within him, 
 to gain for himself whatever position he will, with- 
 out let or hindrance from any one else. Indeed, 
 Americans take the greatest pride in those from 
 among themselves who have acquired their fame 
 unaided by fortune or influence, but by the exercise 
 of their own talents and through their own industry 
 and perseverance. 
 
 Born in Ohio in the poorest circumstances and 
 left fatherless while still an infant, Garfield's earli- 
 est years were spent in a hard struggle to obtain' a 
 livelihood. He was obliged to turn to whatever his 
 hand found to do — working on a farm, chopping 
 wood, driving horses on the tow-path of a canal. 
 But in spite of the obstacles in his way he managed 
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 to get time for study and to fit himself for college. 
 After graduation he taught for a while and then be- 
 gan the practice of law, but he had hardly secured 
 a start in that profession when" the outbreak of the 
 Civil War caused him to lay it aside to enter the 
 
142 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 army. There he had risen to the rank of Major- 
 General, when in 1863 he was called from the field 
 to Congress. For eighteen years he was continu- 
 ously a member of the House of Representatives 
 and had just been transferred to the Senate when 
 another revolution of the wheel of fortune placed 
 him in the White House. 
 
 His administration opened at another period of 
 great prosperity to our country, for fortunately 
 those periods in our history have been much more 
 frequent than times of distress. The census taken 
 in the year of his election disclosed a population of 
 
 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 over fifty million people within the boundaries of 
 the United States, an increase of more than eleven 
 millions since the preceding count in 1870 was 
 made. The effects of the financial crisis of 1873 
 had worn away, leaving business on a sounder 
 and healthier basis than ever before. The West- 
 ern railroads, whose building had helped bring 
 about that panic, were now earning money for their 
 owners by carrying supplies to the new settlements in 
 the northern interior of the continent and by trans- 
 porting the produce of that region to its ocean- 
 market. Manufactories were all busy, giving prof- 
 table employment to thousands of hands. The 
 tide of immigration was larger than ever and some 
 of it now was turning towards the South. For the 
 .South was sharing in this prosperity as well as the 
 
 West and North and was making more rapid strides 
 in material advancement than one would have 
 dreamed possible when Lee laid down his arms. 
 
 From the statesmanship he had displayed as a 
 Congressman much was hoped from Garfield as a 
 President, but unhappily no opportunity was given 
 him to show how wise a ruler he could be. For the 
 fourth time in their history the American people 
 were called upon to lament the death of a Presi- 
 dent in oflSce, and for the second time that death 
 was by assassination. On July 2, 1S81, as General 
 Garfield was standing in a railroad station in Wash- 
 ington, he was shot by a disappointed office-seeker 
 named Guiteau, and after suffering greatly for more 
 than two months, died on September 19 at Elberon, 
 N. J., where he had been removed in the hope that 
 the cooler sea-air might benefit him. Until almost 
 the very hour of his death it was thought that the 
 wound might not prove fatal and that possibly he 
 would recover. The patience with which he bore 
 his sufferings upon his bed of pain heightened the 
 admiration in which his character was already held 
 by his countrymen and deepened their affectionate 
 regard for him, and the day of his funeral was as 
 generally observed as a day of mourning as that 
 of Lincoln had been. The murderer was arrested 
 almost in the very act of shooting, and after the 
 death of his victim was tried, convicted and hung 
 for the crime. 
 
 Chester A. Arthur, Garfield's Vice-President and 
 successor, was indisputably the most able of the 
 four men whom accident had placed in the presi- 
 dential chair. He was born in Vermont, but most 
 of his life was spent in New York in the practice of 
 the profession of law. Though he had been promi- 
 nent in political affairs for many years he had held 
 no previous office excepting the collectorship of the 
 port of New York (1871-1879), but he had rendered 
 valuable aid during the war in raising, arming and 
 transporting the quota of troops furnished to the 
 Union armies by the State of his adoption. In pol- 
 itics he belonged to the " stalwart " wing of the Re- 
 publican party which had advocated the renomina- 
 tion of Grant. 
 
 Garfield's death served to direct general attention 
 to what had already been recognized by some few as 
 a growing evil in the conduct of public business. 
 Since Jackson's time every incoming President had 
 been besieged by applicants for office, and the cus- 
 tom had become deeply rooted to change with each 
 administration the great majority of office-holders. 
 With the growth in population and settled territory 
 the number of offices had of necessity also increased, 
 so that there were now a much larger number of 
 
THE CIVIL SERVICE AND THE MORMONS. 
 
 143 
 
 positions to be filled than in the earlier years of the 
 government, and the pressure for appointment be- 
 came correspondingly more severe. The result was 
 in every way bad. Too much of the time of the 
 Presidents and of prominent officials was consumed 
 in considering the various claims presented for this 
 or that place. Patronage became a power in decid- 
 ing nominations and elections. Office-holders knew 
 that they could better their chances 
 of retention and promotion by zeal- 
 ous party work than by a diligent 
 discharge of their regular duties. 
 Public business was not performed 
 with the same care that private bus- 
 iness was, as there was not the same 
 incentive to faithfulness in the one 
 case that there was in the other. It 
 suffered also from the constant re- 
 placement of experienced men by 
 inexperienced ones, as well as from 
 incompetent and negligent place- 
 holders who secured a footing in the 
 service through the favor of some in- 
 fluential party manager. All these 
 and other objections to the four- 
 yearly scramble for office had been 
 felt by the few but not by the 
 many, until Guiteau's miserable bul- 
 let forced them upon the mind of 
 every one. That created a popular 
 sentiment which demanded some 
 remedy for these evils, and out of 
 respect to that sentiment a law was 
 -enacted in 1883 providing for non- 
 partisan appointments to the lower 
 grade of offices by competitive ex- 
 aminations. There has in consequence been some 
 improvement since then in the civil service, but not 
 nearly as much as the friends of the reform desire 
 or hope in time to obtain. 
 
 Another reform was also attempted in this ad- 
 ministration which, like that of the civil service, 
 has been only partially successful. This was the 
 suppression of polygamy among the Mormons in the 
 Territory of Utah. The Mormons are a religious 
 body founded in 1830 by a man named Joseph Smith, 
 ■who claimed to be a prophet, and to have received 
 a new revelation from God in the»" Book of Mor- 
 mon " discovered by him (he said) buried in the 
 
 earth. Among the beliefs of these Mormons was 
 that a man not only might but that he ought to have 
 several wives — which is what the word " polygamy" 
 means. The sect first established itself in Missouri, 
 but public disfavor soon drove it out of that State. 
 It then settled in Illinois, but there it was as rough- 
 ly treated as in Missouri, and so (in 1844) it bought 
 a large tract of land in Utah and removed thither. 
 
 THE MORMON TABERNACLE. 
 
 The United States government has many times en- 
 deavored to compel the Mormons to gi%'e up their 
 objectionable marriage custom, but has never suc- 
 ceeded. 
 
 In 1882 Congress renewed the attempt by pass- 
 ing a much more severe law than any that had 
 previously been enacted for the punishment of those 
 convicted of polygamy. This law, it is thought, has 
 checked the evil a little, but has by no means put 
 an end to it. Were it not for polygamy, Utah 
 would long ago have been given statehood, as its 
 population is much greater than that of many of 
 the States already in the Union. 
 
JJ.4 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 THE MOST RECENT EVENTS. 
 
 Though Mr. Arthur's administration was gener- 
 ally considered a satisfactory one by his party and 
 by the country, he failed to secure a nomination for a 
 second term, the choice falling upon James G. Blaine, 
 
 JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 ■who had been Secretary of State during Garfield's 
 few months of office and who, prior to that, had 
 been United States Senator and Congressman from 
 Maine. There was, however, on various grounds, 
 a good deal of opposition to Mr. Blaine among 
 the Republicans and as a consequence the Dem- 
 ocratic candidate, Mr. Cleveland, was elected. 
 
 Grover Cleveland, the first Democrat to be chosen 
 President since Buchanan (twenty-four years be- 
 fore) was replaced by Lincoln, had been in public 
 life but a comparatively short time when he attained 
 the presidency. The attention of his fellow-citi- 
 zens had been first drawn to him by his excellent 
 management of the aflfairs of Buffalo while Mayor 
 of that city. This had induced the Democrats of 
 New York to nominate him in 1SS2 for the gover- 
 norship of that State. The enormous majority of 
 one hundred and ninety-two thousand by which he 
 was elected to this office at once gave him a fore- 
 most place as a popular leader and two years later 
 earned for him the presidential nomination and 
 succession. 
 
 His first executive act on entering upon his duties 
 
 was to sign the commission restoring to General 
 Grant the military rank which the latter had re- 
 signed on becoming President in 1869. The bill 
 authorizing President Cleveland to do this was. 
 passed by Congress during the closing hours of Mr. 
 Arthur's term, but out of courtesy to his successor 
 Mr. Arthur left to Mr. Cleveland the privilege of is- 
 suing the commission. The country cordially ap- 
 proved of this renewed expression by its represen- 
 tatives of its appreciation and gratitude for Grant's 
 services, but he did not long enjoy the honor which 
 had thus a second time been conferred upon him, 
 as on July 23, 1S85, he died at Mount McGregor, 
 N. Y., from an incurable cancer in the mouth. 
 
 Another act of Mr. Cleveland's which met with, 
 almost as much popular applause was his signature, 
 just before he went out of office (1889), to a bill cre- 
 ating four more States, the largest number ever 
 admitted to theUnion at any one time. These 
 were the States of Washington, Montana, North 
 Dakota and South Dakota. The first of these had 
 been under territoral government since 1853 and 
 had been claimed (with Oregon and Idaho) as one 
 of our possessions since the explorations made by 
 Lewis and Clarke in 1804. Great Britain disputed 
 the claim until 1846, when the question was adjust- 
 ed by treaty. Itssettlement was first stimulated by 
 the discovery of gold in the California country and 
 was rapidly hastened by the building of the Pacific 
 railroads. The fertility of its soil is remarkable and 
 it will undoubtedly soon become one of the rich- 
 est of our agricultural States. The two Dakotas 
 and Montana were all taken from the Louisiana 
 purchase and had been organized as territories 
 since 1861 and 1864 respectively, the Dakotas being 
 under one government and undivided until their 
 admission as States. Montana's wealth is chiefly 
 in its mines; that of the Dakotas in their grain 
 production. Washington and the Dakotas had 
 been entitled from their population to statehood 
 for a number of years before they received it, but 
 Congressional disagreements kept it from them un- 
 til the present time. The addition of these four 
 stars to the American flag in the very year that 
 marked the completion of the first century of the 
 Constitution was considered by every one a most 
 happy coincidence and afforded a further proof of 
 
THE MOST RECENT EVENTS. 
 
 145 
 
 the great expansion of our country during these 
 hundred years — the original thirteen States having 
 now grown to three and a half times that number. 
 
 The differences between Canada and the United 
 States regarding the fisheries off the coast of the 
 former country, which had been disposed of for a 
 time by the Washington treaty of 1871, were re- 
 vived during President Cleveland's administra- 
 tion and caused a little feeling between the people 
 of the two nations. An effort was made to settle 
 them by a fresh agreement drawn up by represen- 
 tatives appointed by England, the Dominion of 
 
 al of the tariff discussion. The finances of the natioa 
 were at this time in a very peculiar condition. 
 Owing to the rapid growth of the population and of 
 the business of the country the revenue of the gov- 
 ernment had become very large and greatly in ex- 
 cess of all its needs. The surplus could no longer 
 be applied, as it had been before, to the payment of 
 bonds of the United States, because all the bonds 
 that were due had been redeemed and the owners- 
 of the bonds which had not yet matured did not 
 wish them paid, as they preferred that investment 
 of their money to any other. In consequence of 
 
 GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 Canada and our government, but the treaty which 
 they drafted did not meet with the approval of the 
 United States Senate (whose consent is needed to 
 give effect to any treaty), and so the difficulties 
 have not yet been removed. A temporary arrange- 
 ment (called a modus vivendi), however, has been 
 mede by which any serious trouble is avoided until 
 a permanent settlement of the matter can be effect- 
 ed by a treaty satisfactory to all the parties. 
 
 But neither the question of admitting the new 
 States, on which the American people were practical- 
 ly agreed, nor the Canadian fishery dispute, on which 
 they held decidedly different opinions, excited any- 
 thing like the interest which was aroused by a renew- 
 
 this the surplus revenue began to accumulate in 
 the national treasury and the government found it- 
 self with more money on its hands than it knew what 
 to do with, and the prospect of having still more from 
 year to year. President Cleveland, thereupon, in a 
 message sent to Congress when it met in December, 
 1887, recommended a reduction in the taxes, espe- 
 cially in the customs duties, so that the national in- 
 come should not exceed the national expenditures 
 and the surplus cease to grow any larger. The 
 Democratic party adopted his views and prepared 
 a bill giving effect to them. This the Republicans 
 opposed from the protectionist standpoint that it 
 would injure the manufacturing industries of tlie: 
 
146 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 r.ountry. They proposed instead to increase the 
 expenditures by morehberal pensions, by more gen- 
 erous appropriations for internal improvements, 
 coast defences and naval vessels and by repaying to 
 loyal States some of the money contributed by them 
 for the prosecution of the war. They also proposed 
 to slightly reduce the revenue by cutting down or 
 abolishing altogether the few internal taxes still in 
 force, and which are now chiefly limited to those 
 levied on the manufacture of tobacco and malt and 
 spirituous liquors. Though the schedule advocated 
 by the Democrats would only have reduced the 
 imports on an average a little more than five per 
 
 land's popular majority was larger than it had been 
 in 1884, he failed, by a change in the votes of some 
 States, to secure the electoral majority. According- 
 ly, on March 4, 1889, Benjamin Harrison became the 
 twenty-third President of the United States. 
 
 In entering upon the second century of its exist- 
 ence the United States finds its people united, con- 
 tented, and prosperous; at profound peace with all 
 the world and looked up to and respected by every 
 nation on the face of the globe. During its short 
 period of life it has made far greater progress in ev- 
 ery direction than was ever before made in the same 
 
 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 
 
 cent., which they claimed would not injure Ameri- 
 can manufactories, it was the principle and not the 
 amount of tariff reduction which the Republicans 
 fought. The question was eagerly debated in Con- 
 gress, in the newspapers, on the platform and by 
 the people for a year, and became the principal 
 issue at the presidential election in 1888. At that 
 election Mr. Cleveland was renominated by the 
 Democrats and General Harrison, a grandson of 
 the ninth President, and a former Senator from 
 Indiana, was put forward in opposition to him by 
 the Republicans. The campaign was vigorously 
 conducted by both sides and proved nearly as ex- 
 citing a one as that of fifty years before when the 
 elder Harrison was a candidate. The result was a 
 victory for the Republicans, for though Mr. Cleve- 
 
 interval of time by any country since history began. 
 The poor and the oppressed of every land have 
 found within it a welcome and a home and a chance 
 to make for themselves such a future as they could 
 never have hoped to obtain in the place of their 
 birth. Self-rule has been tried on a gigantic scale 
 and proved to be not only a possible but the most 
 desirable form, of government yet attempted by 
 mankind. What the future has to disclose it is idle 
 to guess, but we may feel confident that the same 
 wisdom and strength which has enabled our peo- 
 ple to overcome their difficulties in the past will not 
 fail them in conquering those to come, and long be- 
 fore another hundred years have rolled by we may 
 rest assured that the American nation will be far 
 ahead in the race for the leadership of the world. 
 
TABLE OF THE PRESIDENTS. 
 
 147 
 
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148 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 TABLE OF ADMISSION OF STATES. 
 
 1 Delaware accepted the Constitution Dec 
 
 2 Pennsylvania 
 
 3 New Jersey 
 
 4 Georgia 
 
 5 Connecticut 
 
 6 Massachusetts 
 
 7 Maryland 
 
 8 South Carolina 
 
 9 New Hampshire 
 
 10 Virginia 
 
 11 New York 
 
 12 North Carolina 
 
 13 Rhode Island 
 
 14 Vermont admitted to the Union Mar. 4, 
 
 15 Kentucky " " " 
 
 16 Tennessee " " " 
 
 17 Ohio " " " 
 
 18 Louisiana " " " 
 
 19 Indiana " " " 
 
 20 Mississippi " " " 
 
 21 Illinois " " " 
 
 22 Alabama " " " '. 
 
 23 Maine " " " 
 
 24 M issouri " " " 
 
 25 Arkansas " " " 
 
 26 M ichigan " " " 
 
 27 Florida " " " 
 
 28 Texas " " " , 
 
 29 Iowa " " " 
 
 30 Wisconsin " " " 
 
 31 California " " " 
 
 32 Minnesota " " " 
 
 33 Oregon " " " 
 
 34 Kansas " " " 
 
 35 West Virginia " " " 
 
 36 Nevada " " " 
 
 37 Nebraska " " " 
 
 39 North Dakota 
 
 40 South Dakota 
 
 41 Montana 
 
 42 Washington 
 
 Dec. 
 
 7. I 
 
 Dec. 
 
 12, 1 
 
 Dec. 
 
 18, I 
 
 Jan. 
 
 2 I 
 
 Jan. 
 
 9. ' 
 
 Feb. 
 
 6, I 
 
 Apr. 
 
 28, 1 
 
 May 
 
 23, I 
 
 June 
 
 21, I 
 
 June 25, 1 
 
 July 
 
 26, I 
 
 Nov. 
 
 21, I 
 
 May 
 
 29. 1 
 
 Mar. 
 
 4. I 
 
 June 
 
 t. I 
 
 June 
 
 I, I 
 
 Nov. 
 
 29, I 
 
 Apr. 
 
 30, I 
 
 Dec. 
 
 II, I 
 
 Dec. 
 
 10, 1 
 
 Dec. 
 
 .3. I 
 
 Dec. 
 
 14. I 
 
 Mar. 
 
 «5. I 
 
 Aug. 
 
 10, 1 
 
 June 
 
 15. I 
 
 Jan. 
 
 26. I 
 
 Mar. 
 
 3- ' 
 
 Dec. 
 
 29. 1 
 
 Dec. 
 
 28. I 
 
 May 
 
 29. I 
 
 Sept. 
 
 9, I. 
 
 May 
 
 II, li 
 
 Feb. 
 
 I4> li 
 
 Jan. 
 
 29, li 
 
 June 
 
 19. li 
 
 Oct. 
 
 31, i{ 
 
 Mar. 
 
 I, If 
 
 Aug. 
 
 I, li 
 
 Feb. 
 
 22. \l 
 
 Feb. 
 
 22, li 
 
 Feb. 
 
 22, li 
 
 Feb. 
 
 22, li 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 149 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE/ 
 
 Discovery of America by Columbus 1492 
 
 Discovery of South America by Americus Vespu- 
 
 cius 1497 
 
 Discovery of Nortli America by the Cabots 1497 
 
 Discovery of the Gulf of St. Lawrence by the French. 1 504 
 
 Discovery of Florida by Ponce de Leon 1512 
 
 Discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Balboa 14X3 
 
 Exploration of the Atlantic coast by Verrazzano . . . 1524 
 
 Exploration of the St. Lawrence River by Cartier . 1534 
 
 Attempt of the]French to settle on the St. Lawrence. 1540 
 
 Discovery of the Mississippi River by De Soto .... 1541 
 Attempt by the French to settle at Port Royal 
 
 (S. C.) 1562 
 
 Attempt by the French to settle at Fort Carolina 
 
 (Fla.) : 1564 
 
 ■Settlement of St. Augustine (Fla.) by the Spanish . 1565 
 
 Voyage of Frobisher 1576 
 
 Voyage of Drake 1579 
 
 Settlement of Santa F6 (N. M.) by the Spanish .... 1582 
 
 Attempt by Gilbert to settle in Newfoundland .... 1583 
 
 First attempt to settle on Roanoke Island (N. C.) . . 15S5 
 
 Second attempt to settle on Roanoke Island (N. C.) 1587 
 
 Attempt to settle at Buzzard's Bay (Mass.) 1602 
 
 Settlement of Acadia (Nova Scotia) by the French . 1605 
 
 Settlement of Jamestown (Va.) 1607 
 
 Settlement of Quebec by the French 1608 
 
 Discovery of the Hudson River 1609 
 
 Settlement of New York City by the Dutch 1614 
 
 Cultivation of tobacco begun in Virginia 1 61 5 
 
 First American legislature met at Jamestown 161 9 
 
 Introduction of slavery into America (Virginia). . . . 1619 
 Settlement of New Plymouth (Mass.) by the Pil- 
 grims 1620 
 
 Cultivation of cotton begun in Virginia 1621 
 
 Indian massacre at Jamestown 1622 
 
 Settlement of Dover and Portsmouth (N. H.) 1623 
 
 Virginia made a Royal Colony 1624 
 
 Settlement of Salem (Mass.) by the Puritans 1628 
 
 Settlement of Charlestown (Mass.) by the Puritans. 1629 
 
 Settlement of Boston by the Puritans 1630 
 
 Settlement of St. Mary's (Md.) by the Roman Cath- 
 olics , ; 1634 
 
 Settlement of Say brook, Windsor and Wethersfield 
 
 (Conn.) ; 1635 
 
 Banishment of Roger Williams from Massachusetts. 1635 
 
 Settlement of Hartford (Conn.) 1636 
 
 Settlement of Providence (R. I.) 1636 
 
 Founding of Harvard University 1636 
 
 Pequot War in Connecticut 1637 
 
 Settlement of Wilmington (Del.) 1638 
 
 Settlement of New Haven (Conn.) 1638 
 
 Indian disturbance in New York 1643 
 
 Grant of charter to Rhode Island 1644 
 
 Second Indian massacre in Virginia 1644 
 
 Boundary between New York and Connecticut ar- 
 ranged 1650 
 
 Passage of Navigation Act 1651 
 
 Conquest of Delaware by the Dutch of New York . 1655 
 
 Persecution of the Quakers in Massachusetts 1656 
 
 Grant of charter to Connecticut 1662 
 
 Settlement of Elizabeth (N.J.) 1664 
 
 Conquest of New York by the English 1664 
 
 Settlement of North Carolina on'the_Chowan River. 1664 
 Union of Connecticut and New Haven Colonies. . . 1665 
 
 Settlement of Clarendon County (N. C.) 1665 
 
 Settlement of Newark (N. J.) 1666 
 
 Settlement of South Carolina on the Ashley River. 1670 
 
 Holland's brief reconquest of New York 1673 
 
 King Philip's War in New England? 1675 
 
 Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia 1676 
 
 Settlement of Burlington (N. J.) 1677 
 
 Settlement of Charleston (S. C.) 1680 
 
 Settlement of Pennsylvania begun by Penn 1682 
 
 Grant of Delaware to Penn by the Duke of York. . . 16S2 
 
 Settlement of Philadelphia 1683 
 
 Settlement of Annapolis (Md.) 16S3 
 
 Andros appointed Governor of New England 1 686 
 
 Union of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colo- 
 nies' 1691 
 
 Founding of the College of William and Mary (Va.) 1692 
 
 Witchcraft delusion in Salem (Mass.) 1692 
 
 Founding of Yale University 1 701 
 
 Settlement of Detroit (Mich.) by the French 1701 
 
 New Jersey made a Royal Colony 1702 
 
 Settlement of New Orleans (La.) 1718 
 
 Settlement of Baltimore (Md.) 1729 
 
 Separation of North and South Carolina 1 729 
 
 Birth of George Washington Feb. 22, 1732 
 
 Settlement of Savannah (Ga.) 1 733 
 
 Negro plot feared in New York 1 740 
 
 Founding of the College of New Jersey 1746 
 
 Formation of the Ohio Company 1749 
 
 Founding of the University of Pennsylvania 1749 
 
 Georgia made a Royal Colony 1752 
 
 Founding of Columbia College 1754 
 
 Outbreak of the French and Indian War 1754 
 
 Capture of Fort Necessity by the French 1754 
 
 Defeat of Braddock by the French 1755 
 
 Capture of Louisberg from the French 1758 
 
 Capture of Fort Du Quesne from the French 1 758 
 
 Defeat of the English and Americans at Ticonderoga. 1758 
 
 Capture of Fort Frontenac from the French 1758 
 
 Surrender of Quebec by the French 1 759 
 
 Surrender of Montreal by the French 1760 
 
^5° 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 End of French and Ind ian War 
 
 Cession of Canada to Great Britain 
 
 Boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland 
 
 (" Mason and Dixon's line ") arranged 
 
 Passage of the Stamp Act 
 
 Repeal of the Stamp Act 
 
 Passage of the new tax bill 
 
 Arrival of British troops at Boston 
 
 Repeal of duties excepting on tea 
 
 Destruction of tea in Boston harbor 
 
 Closing of the Port of Boston by Parliament 
 
 Meeting of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia. 
 
 Battle of Lexington April 19, 
 
 Capture of Ticonderoga by the Americans. May lo, 
 Capture of Crown Point by the Americans. May 12, 
 Washington appointed Commander-in-chief. June 15, 
 
 Battle of Bunker Hill June 17, 
 
 Capture of Montreal by the Americans. . . .Nov. 13, 
 
 Repulse of the Americans at Quebec Dec. 31, 
 
 Evacuation of Boston by the British March 17, 
 
 Declaration of Independence July 4, 
 
 Battle of Long Island Aug. 27, 
 
 Evacuation of New York by the Americans. Sept. 14, 
 
 Battle of Trenton Dec. 25, 
 
 Battle of Princeton Jan. 3, 
 
 Capture of Ticonderoga by the British July 5, 
 
 Battle of Bennington Aug. 16, 
 
 Battle of Brandy wine Sept. 11, 
 
 Battle of Bemis Heights Sept. 19, 
 
 Capture of Philadelphia by the British. . . .Sept. 26, 
 
 Battle of Germantown Oct. 4, 
 
 Battle of Stillwater Oct. 7, 
 
 Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga Oct. 17, 
 
 Treaty with France Feb. 6, 
 
 Evacuation of Philadelphia by the British. .June 18, 
 
 Battle of Monmouth June 28, 
 
 Capture of Savannah by the British Dec. 29, 
 
 Naval victory of Paul Jones Sept. 23, 
 
 Repulse of Americans at Savannah Sept. 23, 
 
 Capture of Charleston (S. C.) by the British, 
 
 May 12, 
 
 Battle of Camden (N. C.) Aug. 16, 
 
 Treason of Benedict Arnold Sept., 
 
 Execution of Major Andr6 Oct. 2, 
 
 Adoption of the Articles of Confederation. March i, 
 
 Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown Oct. 19, 
 
 Treaty of peace with Great Britain Sept. 3, 
 
 Evacuation of New York by the British. . .Nov. 25, 
 Meeting of the Constitutional Convention at Phila- 
 delphia May 25, 
 
 Adoption of the Ordinance of 1787 July 13, 
 
 Adoption of the Constitution by the Conven- 
 tion Sept. 17, 
 
 Adoption of the Constitution by the ninth State, 
 
 June 21, 
 Meeting of the first Congress at New York . March 4, 
 Inauguration of President Washington. . . .April 30, 
 
 763 
 763 
 
 763 
 765 
 766 
 
 767 
 
 768 
 770 
 773 
 774 
 774 
 775 
 775 
 775 
 775 
 775 
 775 
 775 
 776 
 776 
 776 
 776 
 776 
 777 
 777 
 777 
 777 
 777 
 777 
 777 
 777 
 777 
 778 
 778 
 778 
 778 
 779 
 779 
 
 7S0 
 780 
 7S0 
 780 
 7S1 
 781 
 7S3 
 783 
 
 787 
 787 
 
 787 
 
 78S 
 789 
 789 
 
 Adoption of the first ten Amendments to the Con- 
 stitution 1791 
 
 Admission of the State of Vermont Feb. 18, 1791 
 
 Admission of the State of Kentucky June i, 1792 
 
 Invention of the cotton-gin by Whitney 1/93 
 
 Admission of the State of Tennessee June i, 1796 
 
 Inauguration of President John Adams. . .March 4, 1797 
 Adoption of the eleventh Amendment to the Consti- 
 tution 1 79S 
 
 War with France threatened 1 798 
 
 Passage of the Alien and Sedition Laws June, 1798 
 
 Capture of " L'Insurgente," by the "Constella- 
 tion" Feb. 10, 1799 
 
 Death of Washington Dec. 14, 1799 
 
 Removal of the national capital to Washington, 
 
 June 15, 1800 
 
 Inauguration of President Jefferson March 4, 1801 
 
 Declaration of War by Tripoli May 14, 1801 
 
 Admission of the State of Ohio Nov. 29, 1802 
 
 Purchase of Louisiana from France April 30, 1803 
 
 Adoption of the twelfth Amendment to the Consti- 
 tution 1804 
 
 Expedition of Lewis and Clarke through the Oregon 
 
 country , 1 804 
 
 Destruction of the " Philadelphia" by Lieut. Deca- 
 tur Feb. 3, 1804 
 
 Duel between Hamilton and Burr July II, 1804 
 
 Treaty of peace with Tripoli June, 1805 
 
 Blockade of France proclaimed by England. . .May, 1806 
 Blockade of Great Britain proclaimed by France, 
 
 Nov., iSo6 
 
 Burr accused of treason 1807 
 
 Invention of the steamboat by Fulton . 1807 
 
 British Orders in Council forbidding trade with 
 
 France Nov. 11, 1807 
 
 Napoleon's Milan Decree forbidding trade with 
 
 Great Britain Dec. 17, 1807 
 
 Passage of the Embargo Act Dec. 22, 1807 
 
 Importation of slaves forbidden 1S08 
 
 Passage of the Non-Intercourse Act March i, 1809 
 
 Inauguration of President Madison March 4, 1S09 
 
 Battle of Tippecanoe Nov. 7, 181 1 
 
 Admission of the State of Louisiana April 30, 1812 
 
 Declaration of war against Great Britain. . June 18, tSi2 
 
 The " Essex" captures the " Alert" Aug. 13, lSl2 
 
 Surrender of Detroit by Hull to the British. Aug. 16, 1S12 
 The "Constitution" captures the " Guerriere," 
 
 Aug. 19, 1812 
 
 The "Wasp " captures the " Frolic " Oct. 18, 1812 
 
 The " Wasp " captured by the " Poictiers". .Oct. 18, 1812 
 The "United States" captures the " Macedonian," 
 
 Oct. 25, 1812 
 The " Constitution" captures the " Java". .Dec. 29, 1812 
 
 Massacre at the Raisin River Jan. 22, 1813 
 
 The " Hornet" captures the " Peacock". . .Feb. 24, 1S13 
 The "Chesapeake" captured by the "Shannon," 
 
 June I, 1813 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 151 
 
 Massacre at Fort Mims Aug. 30, 
 
 Perry's victory on Lake Erie Sept. 10, 
 
 Battle of the Thames Oct. 5, 
 
 Battle of Tohopeka March 27, 
 
 The " Essex " captured by the " Phoebe " and the 
 
 "Cherub" March 2S, 
 
 The " Peacock" captures the" Epervier". .April 29, 
 The " Wasp " captures the " Reindeer "... June 28, 
 
 Battle of Lundy's Lane July 25, 
 
 Burning of the City of Washington Aug. 24, 
 
 The "Wasp " captures the " Avon" Sept. I, 
 
 Macdonough's victory on Lake Champlain.Sept. 11, 
 
 Hartford Convention Dec. 1 5, 
 
 Treaty of peace with Great Britain Dec. 24, 
 
 Battle of New Orleans . _ Jan. 8, 
 
 The" President " captured by a British fleet. Jan. 15, 
 The " Constitution" captures the "Cyane" and the 
 
 " Levant" Feb. 20, 
 
 The " Hornet" captures the " Penguin". March 23, 
 The " Peacock" captures the " Nautilus" .June 30, 
 
 Admission of the State of Indiana Dec. 11, 
 
 Inauguration of President Monroe March 4, 
 
 Admission of the State of Mississippi Dec. 10, 
 
 Admission of the State of Illinois Dec. 3, 
 
 Admission of the State of Alabama Dec. 14, 
 
 Passage of the Missouri Compromise Act. March 3, 
 
 Admission of the State of'Maine March 15, 
 
 Purchase of Florida from Spain July i , 
 
 Admission of the State of Missouri Aug. 10, 
 
 First use in America of illuminating gas 
 
 Promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine 
 
 Visit of Lafayette to the United States 
 
 Adoption of a protective tariff 
 
 Inaugurationof President John Q. Adams. .March 4, 
 
 Completion of the Erie Canal Oct. , 
 
 Death of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson . . July 4, 
 
 First railroads built in America 
 
 Adoption of a higher protective tariff 
 
 Inauguration of President Jackson March 4, 
 
 Sect of Mormons founded 
 
 Beginning of the spoils system 
 
 Black Hawk War 
 
 Adoption of new protective tariff 
 
 Attempt at nulliiication by South Carolina 
 
 Adoption of a compromise tariff 
 
 Removal of government money from U. S. Bank. . 
 
 Disagreement with France 
 
 Invention of the reaping machine . , 
 
 Invention of the revolver 
 
 Beginning of the war with the Seminole Indians. . . 
 
 Great fire in New York City 
 
 National debt paid off 
 
 Admission of the State of Arkansas June 15, 
 
 Financial panic 
 
 Admission of the State of Michigan Jan. 26, 
 
 Inauguration of President Van Buren. . . . March 4, 
 Inauguration of President W. H. Harrison. March 4, 
 
 S13 
 S13 
 813 
 S14 
 
 814 
 814 
 814 
 814 
 814 
 814 
 S14 
 S14 
 814 
 815 
 815 
 
 815 
 815 
 815 
 816 
 S17 
 S17 
 81S 
 8ig 
 820 
 820 
 S21 
 S21 
 822 
 823 
 824 
 824 
 825 
 825 
 S26 
 827 
 82S 
 829 
 S30 
 8 30 
 832 
 832 
 S32 
 833 
 833 
 834 
 S34 
 
 S35 
 835 
 835 
 S3 5 
 S36 
 S37 
 837 
 837 
 841 
 
 Death of President Harrison April 6, 1841 
 
 Inauguration of President Tyler April 6, 1841 
 
 Boundary and extradition treaty with Great Britain. 1842 
 
 End of the war with the Seminole Indians 1842 
 
 Invention of the electric telegraph by Morse 1845 
 
 Annexation of Texas March i, 1845 
 
 Admission of the State of Florida March 3, 1845 
 
 Inauguration of President Polk March 4, 1845 
 
 Admission of the State of Texas Dec. 29, 1845 
 
 Invention of the sewing-machine by Elias Howe . . . 1846 
 
 Northwestern boundary decided 1846 
 
 Passage of low tariff act 1846 
 
 First use of ether in surgery 1846 
 
 Declaration of war against Mexico May 13, 1846 
 
 Capture of Monterey Sept. 24, 1846 
 
 Admission of the State of Iowa Dec. 28, 1846 
 
 Battle of Buena Vista Feb. 24, 1847 
 
 Capture of Vera Cruz March 27, 1847 
 
 Battle of Cerro Gordo April 18, 1847 
 
 Capture of Chapultepec Sept. 13, 1847 
 
 Capture of the City of Mexico Sept. 14, 1847 
 
 Discovery of gold in California Jan. 19, 1848- 
 
 Treaty of peace with Mexico Feb. 2, 1848- 
 
 Admission of the State of Wisconsin May 29, 1848 
 
 Inauguration of President Taylor March 5, 1849 
 
 Death of President Taylor July 9, 1850 
 
 Inauguration of President Fillmore July 10, 185a 
 
 Passage of fugitive slave law Sept., 1S50 
 
 Admission of the State of California Sept. 9, 1850 
 
 Inauguration of President Pierce March 4, 1853. 
 
 Repeal of the Missouri Compromise May, 1854 
 
 Financial panic 1857 
 
 Dred Scott decision 1857 
 
 Inauguration of President Buchanan March 4, 1857 
 
 Discovery of silver in Nevada 1858 
 
 Admission of the State of Minnesota May 11, 185S 
 
 Admission of the State of Oregon Feb. 14, 1859. 
 
 Discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania Aug., 1859 
 
 Raid of John Brown Oct., 1859 
 
 Secession of South Carolina Dec. 20, iS6o. 
 
 Secession of ten other States 1 861 
 
 Admission of the State of Kansas Jan. 29, 1861 
 
 Organ izai ion of the Confederacy Feb. 4, 1861 
 
 Inauguration of President Lincoln March 4, i86r 
 
 Evacuation of Fort Sumter April 13, 1861. 
 
 First bloodshed of the Civil War at Baltimore, 
 
 April 19, 1S61 
 Richmond made the Confederate capital.. July 20, i86i 
 
 Battle of Bull Run July 21, 1861 
 
 Capture of Roanoke Island Feb. 8. 1862 
 
 Battle between the " Monitor" and the " Merrimac," 
 
 March 9, 1862 
 
 Battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862 
 
 Capture of New Orleans April 25, 1862 
 
 Capture of Corinth May 30, 1862 
 
 Bragg"s invasion of Tennessee and Kentucky. Sept., 1862 
 Batik- of Antietam Sept. 17, 1862; 
 
^52 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Battle of Fredericksburg Dec. 13 
 
 Emancipation Proclamation Jan. i 
 
 Battle of Chancellorsville May 2 
 
 Admission of the State of West Virginia. . June 20, 
 
 Seizure of Mexico by the French July 
 
 Battle of Gettysburg July 3 
 
 Capture of Vicksburg July 4 
 
 Battle of Chickamauga Sept. 19 
 
 Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge 
 
 Nov. 24 
 
 Battles of the Wilderness May, 
 
 Battles at Spottsylvania Court-House May 
 
 Battle of Cold Harbor June 3 
 
 Battle between the " Kearsarge" and the "Ala- 
 bama" June 19 
 
 Capture of Atlanta Sept. 2, 
 
 Battle of Winchester Sept. 19, 
 
 Battle of Cedar Creek Oct. 19 
 
 Admission of the State of Nevada Oct. 31 
 
 Battle of Nashville Dec. 15 
 
 Capture of Savannah Dec. 21 
 
 Capture of Fort Fisher Jan. 15 
 
 Capture of Charleston Feb. : S 
 
 Battle of Goldsboro March ig 
 
 Capture of Petersburg April 2 
 
 Capture of Richmond April 3 
 
 Surrender of Lee April 9 
 
 Assassination of Lincoln April 14 
 
 Inauguration of President Johnson April 15 
 
 Surrender of Johnston '. April 26 
 
 Capture of Jefferson Davis May it 
 
 Adoption of the thirteenth Amendment to the Con 
 
 stitution Dec. 
 
 Telegraphic cable laid between Europe and Amer- 
 ica July, 
 
 Passage of Reconstruction Acts March 
 
 Evacuation of Mexico by the French March 
 
 Passage of Tenure-of-Office Act March 
 
 Admission of the State of Nebraska March i 
 
 Declaration of amnesty by the President. . .Sept. 8 
 Purchase of Alaska from Russia Oct, 9 
 
 1862 
 1863 
 1863 
 1S63 
 1863 
 1863 
 1863 
 1B63 
 
 1863 
 1864 
 1S64 
 1S64 
 
 1864 
 1864 
 1864 
 1864 
 
 1S64 
 1864 
 1S64 
 1865 
 J 865 
 1865 
 
 1865 
 1865 
 1S65 
 1865 
 1S65 
 1865 
 1S65 
 
 1S65 
 
 1866 
 1867 
 1S67 
 1867 
 1867 
 1S67 
 1S67 
 
 Impeachment of President Johnson Jan. 24, 186S 
 
 Adoption of the fourteenth Amendment to the 
 
 Constitution Ju'yi 1868 
 
 Inauguration of President Grant March 4, 1869 
 
 Completion of the Central Pacific Railroad. May 10, i86g 
 Adoption of the fifteenth Amendment to the Con- 
 stitution March, 1870 
 
 Treaty of Washington (with Great Britain) .May 8, 1871 
 
 Great fire in Chicago Oct. 7, 1871 
 
 Award of " Alabama " damages by Geneva tribunal, 
 
 Sept. 14, 1872 
 
 Great fire in Boston Nov. 9, 1872 
 
 Financial panic ^ 1873 
 
 Demonetization of silver 1873 
 
 Opening of Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, 
 
 May 10, 187'' 
 
 Admission of the State of Colorado Aug. i, 1S76 
 
 Meeting of the Presidential Electoral Commission, 
 
 Feb., 1877 
 
 Invention of the telephone by Bell 1S77 
 
 Inauguration of President Hayes March 4, 1877 
 
 Railroad riots July, 1877 
 
 First use of the electric light 1878 
 
 Remonetization of silver 1S7S 
 
 Resumption of specie payments Jan. 1, 1S7M 
 
 Inauguration of President Garfield March 4, 18S1 
 
 Shooting of President Garfield July 2, 1S81 
 
 Death of President Garfield Sept. 19, i8Sr 
 
 Inauguration of President Arthur Sept. 20, 18S1 
 
 Passage of anti-polygamy law 18S2 
 
 Passage of civil service reform law 1SS3 
 
 Inauguration of President Cleveland March 4, 1SS5 
 
 Rank of General restored to Grant March, 1885 
 
 Death of Grant July 23, 1S85 
 
 Fisheries dispute with Canada 1888 
 
 Tariff agitation 1SS8 
 
 Passage of Act (or admission of States of North 
 Dakota, South Dakota, Washington and Mon- 
 tana Feb. 22, 1 889 
 
 Inaguration of President Benjamin Harrison, 
 
 March 4, 1889 
 
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