[Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.]

A SHORT HISTORY

OF

THE UNITED STATES

FOR SCHOOL USE

BY

EDWARD CHANNING

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
AUTHOR OF “A STUDENTS’ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES,” ETC.

WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

1908

PREFACE

The aim of this little book is to tell in a simple and concise
form the story of the founding and development of the United
States. The study of the history of one’s own country is a serious
matter, and should be entered upon by the text-book writer, by the
teacher, and by the pupil in a serious spirit, even to a greater
extent than the study of language or of arithmetic. No effort has
been made, therefore, to make out of this text-book a story book.
It is a text-book pure and simple, and should be used as a
text-book, to be studied diligently by the pupil and expounded
carefully by the teacher.

Most of the pupils who use this book will never have another
opportunity to study the history and institutions of their own
country. It is highly desirable that they should use their time in
studying the real history of the United States and not in learning
by heart a mass of anecdotes,–often of very slight importance, and
more often based on very insecure foundations. The author of this
text-book, therefore, has boldly ventured to omit most of the
traditional matter which is usually supposed to give life to a
text-book and to inspire a “love of history,”–which too often
means only a love of being amused. For instance, descriptions of
the formation of the Constitution and of the struggle over the
extension of slavery here occupy the space usually given to the
adventures of Captain John Smith and to accounts of the
institutions of the Red Men. The small number of pages available
for the period before 1760 has necessitated the omission of
“pictures of colonial life,” which cannot be briefly and at the
same time accurately described. These and similar matters can
easily be studied by the pupils in their topical work in such books
as Higginson’s Young Folks’ History, Eggleston’s United
States and its People, and McMaster’s School History.
References to these books and to a limited number of other works
have been given in the margins of this text-book. These citations
also mention a few of the more accessible sources, which should be
used solely for purposes of illustration.

It is the custom in many schools to spread the study of American
history over two years, and to devote the first year to a detailed
study of the period before 1760. This is a very bad arrangement. In
the first place, it gives an undue emphasis to the colonial period;
in the second place, as many pupils never return to school, they
never have an opportunity to study the later period at all; in the
third place, it prevents those pupils who complete this study from
gaining an intelligent view of the development of the American
people. And, finally, most of the time the second year is spent in
the study of the Revolutionary War and of the War for the Union. A
better way would be to go over the whole book the first year with
some parallel reading, and the second year to review the book and
study with greater care important episodes, as the making of the
Constitution, the struggle for freedom in the territories, and the
War for the Union. Attention may also be given the second year to a
study of industrial history since 1790 and to the elements of civil
government. It is the author’s earnest hope that teachers will
regard the early chapters as introductory.

Miss Annie Bliss Chapman, for many years a successful teacher of
history in grammar schools, has kindly provided a limited number of
suggestive questions, and has also made many excellent suggestions
to teachers. These are all appended to the several divisions of the
work. The author has added a few questions and a few suggestions of
his own. He has also altered some of Miss Chapman’s questions.
Whatever there is commendable in this apparatus should be credited
to Miss Chapman. Acknowledgments are also due to Miss Beulah Marie
Dix for very many admirable suggestions as to language and form.
The author will cordially welcome criticisms and suggestions from
any one, especially from teachers, and will be very glad to receive
notice of any errors.

CAMBRIDGE,

March 29, 1900.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION, 1000-1600.

1. The European Discovery of
America.
2. Spanish and French Pioneers in the United
States.
3. Pioneers of England.

II

COLONIZATION, 1600-1660.

4. French Colonists, Missionaries,
and Explorers.
5. Virginia and Maryland.
6. New England.
7. New Netherland and New
Sweden.

III

A CENTURY OF COLONIAL HISTORY, 1660-1760.

8. The Colonies under Charles
II.
9. Colonial Development, 1688-1760.
10. Expulsion of the French.

IV

COLONIAL UNION, 1760-1774.

11. Britain’s Colonial
System.
12. Taxation without Representation.
13. Revolution impending.

V

THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, 1775-1783.

14. Bunker Hill to
Trenton.
15. The Great Declaration and the French
Alliance.
16. Independence.

VI

THE CRITICAL PERIOD, 1783-1789.

17. The Confederation,
1783-1787.
18. Making of the Constitution,
1787-1789.

VII

THE FEDERALIST SUPREMACY, 1789-1801.

19. Organization of the
Government.
20. Rise of Political Parties.
21. The Last Federalist
Administration.

VIII

THE JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICANS, 1801-1812.

22. The United States in
1800.
23. Jefferson’s Administrations.
24. Causes of the War of
1812.

IX

WAR AND PEACE, 1812-1829.

25. The Second War of
Independence, 1812-1815.
26. The Era of Good Feeling,
1815-1824.
27. New Parties and New Policies,
1824-1829.

X

THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY, 1829-1844.

28. The American People in
1830.
29. The Reign of Andrew Jackson,
1829-1837.
30. Democrats and Whigs,
1837-1844.

XI

SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES, 1844-1859.

31. Beginning of the Antislavery
Agitation.
32. The Mexican War.
33. The Compromise of 1850.
34. The Struggle for Kansas.

XII

SECESSION, 1860-1861.

35. The United States in
1860.
36. Secession, 1860-1861.

XIII

THE WAR FOR THE UNION, 1861-1865.

37. The Rising of the Peoples,
1861.
38. Bull Run to Murfreesboro’,
1861-1862.
39. The Emancipation Proclamation.
40. The Year 1863.
41. The End of the War,
1864-1865.

XIV

RECONSTRUCTION AND REUNION, 1865-1869.

42. President Johnson and
Reconstruction, 1865-1869.
43. From Grant to Cleveland,
1869-1889.

XV

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1889-1900.

44. Confusion in
Politics.
45. The Spanish War.

MAPS.

UNITED STATES, SHOWING FORMS OF LAND.
BRITISH DOMINIONS IN NORTH AMERICA.
UNITED STATES IN 1783.
CLAIMS AND CESSIONS.
TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS.
UNITED STATES IN 1800.
UNITED STATES IN 1803.
UNITED STATES IN 1819.
UNITED STATES IN 1830.
UNITED STATES IN 1850.
UNITED STATES IN 1860.
SLAVERY AND SECESSION.
UNITED STATES IN 1900.
DEPENDENCIES OF THE UNITED STATES.
THE WORLD, ETC..

Table of Dates

1815-1824. Era of Good Feeling.
1819. The Florida Treaty.
1820. Missouri Compromise.
1823. The Monroe Doctrine.
1825. The Erie Canal.
1828. Election of Jackson.
1830. The Locomotive.
1832. The Nullification Episode.
1840. Election of William H. Harrison.
1844. The Electric Telegraph.
1845. The Horse Reaper.
1845. Annexation of Texas.
1846. The Oregon Treaty.
1846-1848. The Mexican War (Acquisition of California, New Mexico,
etc.)
1849. California (Discovery of Gold).
1850. Compromise of 1850.
1854. Kansas-Nebraska Act.
1857. The Dred Scott Case.
1861-1865. The War for the Union.
1863. Emancipation Proclamation, Vicksburg, and Gettysburg.
1867. Purchase of Alaska.
1867. Reconstruction Acts.
1868. Impeachment of Johnson.
1876. The Electoral Commission.
1881-1883. Civil Service Reform.
1890. Sherman Silver Law (Repealed, 1893).
1898. The War with Spain.

TO THE TEACHER

The lists of “Books for Study and Reading” contain such titles
only as are suited to the pupil’s needs. The teacher will find
abundant references in Channing’s Students’ History of the
United States (N.Y., Macmillan). The larger work also contains
the reasons for many statements which are here given as facts
without qualification. Reference to the Students’ History is
made easy by the fact that the divisions or parts (here marked by
Roman numerals) cover the same periods in time as the chapters of
the larger work. On the margins of the present volume will be found
specific references to three text-books radically unlike this
text-book either in proportion or in point of view. There are also
references to easily accessible sources and to a few of the larger
works. It is not suggested that any one pupil, or even one class,
shall study or read all of these references. But every pupil may
well read some of them under each division. They are also suited to
topical work. Under the head of “Home Readings” great care has been
taken to mention such books only as are likely to be found
interesting.

The books most frequently cited in the margins are Higginson’s
Young Folks’ History (N.Y., Longmans), cited as
“Higginson“; Eggleston’s United States and its People
(N.Y., Appleton), cited as “Eggleston“, McMaster’s School
History of the United States (N.Y., American Book Co.), cited
as “McMaster“; Higginson’s Book of American Explorers
(N.Y., Longmans), cited as “Explorers“; Lodge and Roosevelt,
Hero Tales from American History, cited as “Hero
Tales“; and Hart’s Source-Book of American History
(N.Y., Macmillan), cited as “Source-Book.” Books containing
sources are further indicated by an asterisk.

THE UNITED STATES

I

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION,
1000-1600

Books for Study and Reading

References.–Parkman’s Pioneers of France (edition
of 1887 or a later edition); Irving’s Columbus (abridged
edition).

Home Readings.–Higginson’s Tales of the Enchanted
Islands of the Atlantic; Mackie’s With the Admiral of the
Ocean Sea (Columbus); Lummis’s Spanish Pioneers; King’s
De Soto in the Land of Florida; Wright’s Children’s
Stories in American History; Barnes’s Drake and his
Yeomen.

CHAPTER I

THE EUROPEAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

Leif Ericson.

1. Leif Ericson discovers America, 1000.–In our early
childhood many of us learned to repeat the lines:–

Columbus sailed the ocean blue
In fourteen hundred, ninety-two.

Leif discovers America, 1000. Higginson,
25-30; American History Leaflets, No. 3.

We thought that he was the first European to visit America. But
nearly five hundred years before his time Leif Ericson had
discovered the New World. He was a Northman and the son of Eric the
Red. Eric had already founded a colony in Greenland, and Leif
sailed from Norway to make him a visit. This was in the year 1000.
Day after day Leif and his men were tossed about on the sea until
they reached an unknown land where they found many grape-vines.
They called it Vinland or Wineland. They Then sailed northward and
reached Greenland in safety. Precisely where Vinland was is not
known. But it certainly was part of North America. Leif Ericson,
the Northman, was therefore the real discoverer of America.

[Illustration: EUROPE, ICELAND, GREENLAND, AND NORTH
AMERICA.]

Marco Polo, Cathay, and Cipango.

2. Early European Travelers.–The people of Europe knew
more of the lands of Asia than they knew of Vinland. For hundreds
of years missionaries, traders, and travelers visited the Far East.
They brought back to Europe silks and spices, and ornaments of gold
and of silver. They told marvelous tales of rich lands and great
princes. One of these travelers was a Venetian named Marco Polo. He
told of Cathay or China and of Cipango or Japan. This last country
was an island. Its king was so rich that even the floors of his
palaces were of pure gold. Suddenly the Turks conquered the lands
between Europe and the golden East. They put an end to this trading
and traveling. New ways to India, China, and Japan must be
found.

Portuguese seamen.

3. Early Portuguese Sailors.–One way to the East seemed
to be around the southern end of Africa–if it should turn out that
there was a southern end to that Dark Continent. In 1487 Portuguese
seamen sailed around the southern end of Africa and, returning
home, called that point the Cape of Storms. But the King of
Portugal thought that now there was good hope of reaching India by
sea. So he changed the name to Cape of Good Hope. Ten years later a
brave Portuguese sailor, Vasco da Gama, actually reached India by
the Cape of Good Hope, and returned safely to Portugal (1497).

Columbus and his beliefs. Higginson, 31-35;
Eggleston, 1-3; American History Leaflets, No. 1.

4. Columbus.–Meantime Christopher Columbus, an Italian,
had returned from an even more startling voyage. From what he had
read, and from what other men had told him, he had come to believe
that the earth was round. If this were really true, Cipango and
Cathay were west of Europe as well as east of Europe. Columbus also
believed that the earth was very much smaller than it really is,
and that Cipango was only three thousand miles west of Spain. For a
time people laughed at the idea of sailing westward to Cipango and
Cathay. But at length Columbus secured enough money to fit out a
little fleet.

Columbus reaches America, 1492. Higginson,
35-37; Eggleston, 3-5.

5. The Voyage, 1492.–Columbus left Spain in August,
1492, and, refitting at the Canaries, sailed westward into the Sea
of Darkness. At ten o’clock in the evening of October 20, 1492,
looking out into the night, he saw a light in the distance. The
fleet was soon stopped. When day broke, there, sure enough, was
land. A boat was lowered, and Columbus, going ashore, took
possession of the new land for Ferdinand and Isabella, King and
Queen of Aragon and Castile. The natives came to see the
discoverers. They were reddish in color and interested
Columbus–for were they not inhabitants of the Far East? So he
called them Indians.

[Illustration: SHIPS, SEA-MONSTERS, AND INDIANS. From an early
Spanish book on America.]

The Indians, Higginson, 13-24; Eggleston,
71-76.
Columbus discovers Cuba.

6. The Indians and the Indies.–These Indians were not at
all like those wonderful people of Cathay and Cipango whom Marco
Polo had described. Instead of wearing clothes of silk and of gold
embroidered satin, these people wore no clothes of any kind. But it
was plain enough that the island they had found was not Cipango. It
was probably some island off the coast of Cipango, so on Columbus
sailed and discovered Cuba. He was certain that Cuba was a part of
the mainland of Asia, for the Indians kept saying “Cubanaquan.”
Columbus thought that this was their way of pronouncing Kublai
Khan–the name of a mighty eastern ruler. So he sent two messengers
with a letter to that powerful monarch. Returning to Spain,
Columbus was welcomed as a great admiral. He made three other
voyages to America. But he never came within sight of the mainland
of the United States.

John Cabot visits North America, 1497.
Higginson, 40-42; Eggleston, 8-10; American History
Leaflets, No. 9.

7. John Cabot, 1497.–While Columbus explored the West
Indies, another Italian sailed across the Sea of Darkness farther
north. His name was John Cabot, and he sailed with a license from
Henry VII of England, the first of the Tudor kings. Setting boldly
forth from Bristol, England, he crossed the North Atlantic and
reached the coast of America north of Nova Scotia. Like Columbus,
he thought that he had found the country of the Grand Khan. Upon
his discovery English kings based their claim to the right to
colonize North America.

Americus Vespucius, his voyages and books.
Higginson, 37-38; Eggleston, 7-8.
The New World named America.

8. The Naming of America.–Many other explorers also
visited the new-found lands. Among these was an Italian named
Americus Vespucius. Precisely where he went is not clear. But it is
clear that he wrote accounts of his voyages, which were printed and
read by many persons. In these accounts he said that what we call
South America was not a part of Asia. So he named it the New World.
Columbus all the time was declaring that the lands he had found
were a part of Asia. It was natural, therefore, that people in
thinking of the New World should think of Americus Vespucius.
Before long some one even suggested that the New World should be
named America in his honor. This was done, and when it became
certain that the other lands were not parts of Asia, the name
America was given to them also until the whole continent came to be
called America.

[Illustration: AMERICUS VESPUCIUS.]

Balboa sees the Pacific, 1513.
Magellan’s great voyage, 1520. Eggleston, 10-11.

9. Balboa and Magellan, 1513, 1520.–Balboa was a
Spaniard who came to San Domingo to seek his fortune. He became a
pauper and fled away from those to whom he owed money. After long
wanderings he found himself on a high mountain in the center of the
Isthmus of Panama. To the southward sparkled the waters of a new
sea. He called it the South Sea. Wading into it waist deep, he
waved his sword in the air and took possession of it for his royal
master, the King of Spain. This was in 1513. Seven years later, in
1520, Magellan, a Portuguese seaman in the service of the Spanish
king, sailed through the Straits of Magellan and entered the same
great ocean, which he called the Pacific. Thence northward and
westward he sailed day after day, week after week, and month after
month, until he reached the Philippine Islands. The natives killed
Magellan. But one of his vessels found her way back to Spain around
the Cape of Good Hope.

CHAPTER 2

SPANISH AND FRENCH PIONEERS IN THE UNITED STATES

Indian traditions.

10. Stories of Golden Lands.–Wherever the Spaniards
went, the Indians always told them stories of golden lands
somewhere else. The Bahama Indians, for instance, told their cruel
Spanish masters of a wonderful land toward the north. Not only was
there gold in that land; there was also a fountain whose waters
restored youth and vigor to the drinker. Among the fierce Spanish
soldiers was Ponce de Leon (Pon’tha da la-on’). He determined to
see for himself if these stories were true.

De Leon visits Florida, 1513. Higginson,
42.
De Leon’s death.

11. Discovery of Florida, 1513.–In the same year that
Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean, Ponce de Leon sailed northward
and westward from the Bahamas. On Easter Sunday, 1513, he anchored
off the shores of a new land. The Spanish name for Easter was La
Pascua de los Flores. So De Leon called the new land Florida. For
the Spaniards were a very religious people and usually named their
lands and settlements from saints or religious events. De Leon then
sailed around the southern end of Florida and back to the West
Indies. In 1521 he again visited Florida, was wounded by an Indian
arrow, and returned home to die.

Discovery of the Mississippi.
Conquest of Mexico.

12. Spanish Voyages and Conquests.–Spanish sailors and
conquerors now appeared in quick succession on the northern and
western shores of the Gulf of Mexico. One of them discovered the
mouth of the Mississippi. Others of them stole Indians and carried
them to the islands to work as slaves. The most famous of them all
was Cortez. In 1519 he conquered Mexico after a thrilling campaign
and found there great store of gold and silver. This discovery led
to more expeditions and to the exploration of the southern half of
the United States.

Coronado sets out from Mexico, 1540.
The pueblo Indians. Source Book, 6.

13. Coronado in the Southwest, 1540-42.–In 1540 Coronado
set out from the Spanish towns on the Gulf of California to seek
for more gold and silver. For seventy-three days he journeyed
northward until he came to the pueblos (pweb’-lo) of the Southwest.
These pueblos were huge buildings of stone and sun-dried clay. Some
of them were large enough to shelter three hundred Indian families.
Pueblos are still to be seen in Arizona and New Mexico, and the
Indians living in them even to this day tell stories of Coronado’s
coming and of his cruelty. There was hardly any gold and silver in
these “cities,” so a great grief fell upon Coronado and his
comrades.

[Illustration: By permission of the Bureau of Ethnology.
THE PUEBLO OF ZUÑI (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]

Coronado finds the Great Plains.

14. The Great Plains.–Soon, however, a new hope came to the
Spaniards, for an Indian told them that far away in the north there
really was a golden land. Onward rode Coronado and a body of picked
men. They crossed vast plains where there were no mountains to
guide them. For more than a thousand miles they rode on until they
reached eastern Kansas. Everywhere they found great herds of
buffaloes, or wild cows, as they called them. They also met the
Indians of the Plains. Unlike the Indians of the pueblos, these
Indians lived in tents made of buffalo hides stretched upon poles.
Everywhere there were plains, buffaloes, and Indians. Nowhere was
there gold or silver. Broken hearted, Coronado and his men rode
southward to their old homes in Mexico.

De Soto in Florida, 1539. Explorers,
119-138.
De Soto crosses the Mississippi.

15. De Soto in the Southeast, 1539-43.–In 1539 a Spanish
army landed at Tampa Bay, on the western coast of Florida. The
leader of this army was De Soto, one of the conquerors of Peru. He
“was very fond of the sport of killing Indians” and was also greedy
for gold and silver. From Tampa he marched northward to South
Carolina and then marched southwestward to Mobile Bay. There he had
a dreadful time; for the Indians burned his camp and stores and
killed many of his men. From Mobile he wandered northwestward until
he came to a great river. It was the Mississippi, and was so wide
that a man standing on one bank could not see a man standing on the
opposite bank. Some of De Soto’s men penetrated westward nearly to
the line of Coronado’s march. But the two bands did not meet. De
Soto died and was buried in the Mississippi. Those of his men who
still lived built a few boats and managed to reach the Spanish
settlements in Mexico.

Other Spanish explorers.
Attempts at settlement.

16. Other Spanish Expeditions.–Many other Spanish
explorers visited the shores of the United States before 1550. Some
sailed along the Pacific coast; others sailed along the Atlantic
coast. The Spaniards also made several attempts to found
settlements both on the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico and on
Chesapeake Bay. But all these early attempts ended in failure. In
1550 there were no Spaniards on the continent within the present
limits of the United States, except possibly a few traders and
missionaries in the Southwest.

Verrazano’s voyages, 1524. Higginson, 44-45;
Explorers, 60-69.
Cartier in the St. Lawrence, 1534-36. Explorers 99-117.

17. Early French Voyages, 1524-36.–The first French
expedition to America was led by an Italian named Verrazano
(Ver-rä-tsä’-no), but he sailed in the service of Francis
I, King of France. He made his voyage in 1524 and sailed along the
coast from the Cape Fear River to Nova Scotia. He entered New York
harbor and spent two weeks in Newport harbor. He reported that the
country was “as pleasant as it is possible to conceive.” The next
French expedition was led by a Frenchman named Cartier (Kar’-tya’).
In 1534 he visited the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In 1535 he sailed up
the St. Lawrence River to Montreal. But before he could get out of
the river again the ice formed about his ships. He and his crew had
to pass the winter there. They suffered terribly, and twenty-four
of them perished of cold and sickness. In the spring of 1536 the
survivors returned to France.

Ribault explores the Carolina coasts, 1562.
French colonists in Carolina. Explorers, 149-156.

18. The French in Carolina, 1562.–The French next
explored the shores of the Carolinas. Ribault (Re’-bo’) was the
name of their commander. Sailing southward from Carolina, he
discovered a beautiful river and called it the River of May. But we
know it by its Spanish name of St. Johns. He left a few men on the
Carolina coast and returned to France. A year or more these men
remained. Then wearying of their life in the wilderness, they built
a crazy boat with sails of shirts and sheets and steered for
France. Soon their water gave out and then their food. Finally,
almost dead, they were rescued by an English ship.

French colonists in Florida.

19. The French in Florida, 1564-65.–While these
Frenchmen were slowly drifting across the Atlantic, a great French
expedition was sailing to Carolina. Finding Ribault’s men gone, the
new colony was planted on the banks of the River of May. Soon the
settlers ate up all the food they had brought with them. Then they
bought food from the Indians, giving them toys and old clothes in
exchange. Some of the colonists rebelled. They seized a vessel and
sailed away to plunder the Spaniards in the West Indies. They told
the Spaniards of the colony on the River of May, and the Spaniards
resolved to destroy it.

Spaniards and Frenchmen.
End of the French settlement, 1565. Explorers, 159-166.

20. The Spaniards in Florida, 1565.–For this purpose the
Spaniards sent out an expedition under Menendez (Ma-nen’-deth). He
sailed to the River of May and found Ribault there with a French
fleet. So he turned southward, and going ashore founded St.
Augustine. Ribault followed, but a terrible storm drove his whole
fleet ashore south of St. Augustine. Menendez then marched over
land to the French colony. He surprised the colonists and killed
nearly all of them. Then going back to St. Augustine, he found
Ribault and his shipwrecked sailors and killed nearly all of them.
In this way ended the French attempts to found a colony in Carolina
and Florida. But St. Augustine remained, and is to-day the oldest
town on the mainland of the United States.

CHAPTER 3

PIONEERS OF ENGLAND

Hawkins’s voyages, 1562-67.

21. Sir John Hawkins.–For many years after Cabot’s
voyage Englishmen were too busy at home to pay much attention to
distant expeditions. But in Queen Elizabeth’s time English seamen
began to sail to America. The first of them to win a place in
history was John Hawkins. He carried cargoes of negro slaves from
Africa to the West Indies and sold them to the Spanish planters. On
his third voyage he was basely attacked by the Spaniards and lost
four of his five ships. Returning home, he became one of the
leading men of Elizabeth’s little navy and fought most gallantly
for his country.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.

Drake on the California coast, 1577-78.
Source-Book, 9.

22. Sir Francis Drake.–A greater and a more famous man
was Hawkins’s cousin, Francis Drake. He had been with Hawkins on
his third voyage and had come to hate Spaniards most vigorously. In
1577 he made a famous voyage round the world. Steering through the
Straits of Magellan, he plundered the Spanish towns on the western
coasts of South America. At one place his sailors went on shore and
found a man sound asleep. Near him were four bars of silver. “We
took the silver and left the man,” wrote the old historian of the
voyage. Drake also captured vessels loaded with gold and silver and
pearls. Sailing northward, he repaired his ship, the
Pelican, on the coast of California, and returned home by
the way of the Cape of Good Hope.

Ralegh and his colonies. Eggleston, 13-17;
Explorers, 177-189.

23. Sir Walter Ralegh.–Still another famous Englishman
of Elizabeth’s time was Walter Ralegh. He never saw the coasts of
the United States, but his name is rightly connected with our
history, because he tried again and again to found colonies on our
shores. In 1584 he sent Amadas and Barlowe to explore the Atlantic
seashore of North America. Their reports were so favorable that he
sent a strong colony to settle on Roanoke Island in Virginia, as he
named that region. But the settlers soon became unhappy because
they found no gold. Then, too, their food began to fail, and Drake,
happening along, took them back to England.

Ralegh’s last attempt, 1587. Explorers,
189-200.

24. The “Lost Colony,” 1587.–Ralegh made still one more
attempt to found a colony in Virginia. But the fate of this colony
was most dreadful. For the settlers entirely disappeared,–men,
women, and children. Among the lost was little Virginia Dare, the
first English child born in America. No one really knows what
became of these people. But the Indians told the later settlers of
Jamestown that they had been killed by the savages.

Ruin of Spain’s sea-power. English History for
Americans, 131-135.

25. Destruction of the Spanish Armada, 1588.–This
activity of the English in America was very distressing to the King
of Spain. For he claimed all America for himself and did not wish
Englishmen to go thither. He determined to conquer England and thus
put an end to these English voyages. But Hawkins, Drake, Ralegh,
and the men behind the English guns were too strong even for the
Invincible Armada. Spain’s sea-power never recovered from this
terrible blow. Englishmen could now found colonies with slight fear
of the Spaniards. When the Spanish king learned of the settlement
of Jamestown, he ordered an expedition to go from St. Augustine to
destroy the English colony. But the Spaniards never got farther
than the mouth of the James River. For when they reached that
point, they thought they saw the masts and spars of an English
ship. They at once turned about and sailed back to Florida as fast
as they could go.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 1

§§ 1-3.–a. To how much honor are the Northmen
entitled as the discoverers of America?

b. Draw from memory a map showing the relative positions of
Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and North America.

c. What portions of the world were known to Europeans in 1490?
Explain by drawing a map.

§§ 4-6.–a. State Columbus’s beliefs about the shape
and size of the earth.

b. What land did Columbus think that he had reached?

c. What is meant by the statement that “he took possession” of
the new land?

d. Describe the appearance of the Indians, their food, and their
weapons.

§§ 7-9.–a. What other Italians sailed across the
Atlantic before 1500? Why was Cabot’s voyage important?

b. Why was the New World called America and not Columbia?

c. Describe the discovery of the Pacific Ocean. Why was this
discovery of importance?

CHAPTER 2

§§ 10-12.–a. What was the chief wish of the Spanish
explorers?

b. How did they treat the Indians?

§§ 13-16.–a. Describe a pueblo. What do the existing
pueblos teach us about the Indians of Coronado’s time?

b. Describe Coronado’s march.

c. What other band of Spaniards nearly approached Coronado’s
men? Describe their march.

d. What other places were explored by the Spaniards?

§§ 17-20.–a. Why did Verrazano explore the
northeastern coasts?

b. Describe Cartier’s experiences in the St. Lawrence.

c. Describe the French expeditions to Carolina and Florida.

d. What reason had the Spaniards for attacking the French?

CHAPTER 3

§§ 21, 22.–a. Look up something about the early
voyages of Francis Drake.

b. Compare Drake’s route around the world with that of
Magellan.

§§ 23-25.–a. Explain carefully Ralegh’s connection
with our history.

b. Was the territory Ralegh named Virginia just what is now the
state of Virginia?

c. What is sea-power?

d. What effect did the defeat of Spain have upon our
history?

GENERAL QUESTIONS

a. Draw upon an Outline Map the routes of all the explorers
mentioned. Place names and dates in their proper places.

b. Arrange a table of the various explorers as follows, stating
in two or three words what each accomplished:–

DATE.	SPANISH.	FRENCH.	ENGLISH.
1492	Columbus
1497			Cabot.

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

a. Columbus’s first voyage, Irving (abridged edition).

b. Coronado’s expedition, Lummis’s Spanish Pioneers.

c. Verrazano and Cartier, Higginson’s Explorers.

d. The “Lost Colony,” Higginson’s Explorers.

e. The England of Elizabeth (a study of any small history of
England will suffice for this topic).

SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER

The teacher is recommended to study sources in preparing her
work, making selections where possible, for the pupil’s use. Some
knowledge of European history (English especially) is essential for
understanding our early history, and definite work of this nature
on the teacher’s part, at least, is earnestly advised.

Encourage outside reading by assigning subjects for individual
preparation, the results to be given to the class. Let the children
keep note books for entering the important points thus given.

Map study and map drawing should be constant, but demand correct
relations rather than finished drawings. Geographical environment
should be emphasized as well as the influence of natural resources
and productions in developing the country and in determining its
history.

In laying out the work on this period the teacher should
remember that this part is in the nature of an introduction.

II

COLONIZATION, 1600-1660

Books for Study and Reading

References.–Fiske’s United States for Schools,
59-133; Eggleston’s United States and its People, 91-113
(for colonial life); Parkman’s Pioneers (for French
colonies); Bradford’s Plymouth Plantation (extracts in
“American History Leaflets,” No. 29).

Home Readings.–Drake’s Making of New England;
Drake’s Making of Virginia and the Middle States;
Eggleston’s Pocahontas and Powhatan; Dix’s Soldier
Rigdale (Pilgrim children); Irving’s Knickerbocker
History; Webster’s Plymouth Oration; Longfellow’s
Myles Standish; Moore’s Pilgrims and Puritans.

CHAPTER 4

FRENCH COLONISTS, MISSIONARIES, AND EXPLORERS

Settlement of Acadia, 1604.
Port Royal.

26. The French in Acadia.–For nearly forty years after
the destruction of the colony on the River of May, Frenchmen were
too busy fighting one another at home to send any more colonists to
America. At length, in 1604, a few Frenchmen settled on an island
in the St. Croix River. But the place was so cold and windy that
after a few months they crossed the Bay of Fundy and founded the
town of Port Royal. The country they called Acadia.

Champlain at Plymouth.
Quebec founded, 1608.
Champlain on Lake Champlain, 1609.
He attacks the Iroquois. Explorers, 269-278.

27. Champlain and his Work.–The most famous of these
colonists was Champlain. He sailed along the coast southward and
westward as far as Plymouth. As he passed by the mouth of Boston
harbor, a mist hung low over the water, and he did not see the
entrance. Had it been clear he would have discovered Boston harbor
and Charles River, and French colonists might have settled there.
In 1608 Champlain built a trading-post at Quebec and lived there
for many years as governor or chief trader. He soon joined the St.
Lawrence Indians in their war parties and explored large portions
of the interior. In 1609 he went with the Indians to a beautiful
lake. Far away to the east were mountains covered with snow. To the
south were other mountains, but with no snow on their tops. To the
lake the explorer gave his own name, and we still call it in his
honor, Lake Champlain. While there, he drove away with his firearms
a body of Iroquois Indians. A few years later he went with another
war party to western New York and again attacked the Iroquois.

French missionaries and traders.
They visit Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.

28. The French on the Great Lakes.–Champlain was the
first of many French discoverers. Some of these were missionaries
who left home and friends to bring the blessings of Christianity to
the Red Men of the western world. Others were fur-traders, while
still others were men who came to the wilderness in search of
excitement. These French discoverers found Lake Superior and Lake
Michigan; they even reached the headwaters of the Wisconsin
River–a branch of the Mississippi.

The Jesuits and their work.

29. The French Missionaries.–The most active of the
French missionaries were the Jesuits. built stations on the shores
of the Great Lakes. They made long expeditions to unknown regions.
Some of them were killed by those whom they tried to convert to
Christianity. Others were robbed and left to starve. Others still
were tortured and cruelly abused. But the prospect of starvation,
torture, and death only made them more eager to carry on their
great work.

[Illustration: CHAMPLAIN’S ATTACK ON AN IROQUOIS FORT.]

The League of the Iroquois.
Their hatred of the French. Its importance.
The missionaries and the Iroquois.

30. The Iroquois.–The strongest of all the Indian tribes
were the nations who formed the League of the Iroquois. Ever since
Champlain fired upon them they hated the sight of a Frenchman. On
the other hand, they looked upon the Dutch and the English as their
friends. French missionaries tried to convert them to Christianity
as they had converted the St. Lawrence Indians. But the Iroquois
saw in this only another attempt at French conquest. So they hung
red-hot stones about the missionaries’ necks, or they burned them
to death, or they cut them to pieces while yet living. For a
century and a half the Iroquois stood between the Dutch and English
settlers and their common enemies in Canada. Few events, in
American history, therefore, have had such great consequences as
Champlain’s unprovoked attacks upon the Iroquois.

CHAPTER 5

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND

New conditions of living in England.
The Virginia Company.

31. The Virginia Company, 1606.–English people were now
beginning to think in earnest of founding colonies. It was getting
harder and harder to earn one’s living in England, and it was very
difficult to invest one’s money in any useful way. It followed,
from this, that there were many men who were glad to become
colonists, and many persons who were glad to provide money to pay
for founding colonies. In 1606 the Virginia Company was formed and
colonization began on a large scale.

The Virginia colonists at Jamestown, 1607.
Higginson, 52, 110-117; Eggleston, 19-28;
Explorers 231-269.
Sickness and death.

32. Founding of Jamestown, 1607. The first colonists
sailed for Virginia in December, 1606. They were months on the way
and suffered terrible hardships. At last they reached Chesapeake
Bay and James River and settled on a peninsula on the James, about
thirty miles from its mouth. Across the little isthmus which
connected this peninsula with the mainland they built a strong
fence, or stockade, to keep the Indians away from their huts. Their
settlement they named Jamestown. The early colonists of Virginia
were not very well fitted for such a work. Some of them were
gentlemen who had never labored with their hands; others were poor,
idle fellows whose only wish was to do nothing whatever. There were
a few energetic men among them as Ratcliffe, Archer, and Smith. But
these spent most of their time in exploring the bay and the rivers,
in hunting for gold, and in quarreling with one another. With the
summer came fevers, and soon fifty of the one hundred and five
original colonists were dead. Then followed a cold, hard winter,
and many of those who had not died of fever in the summer, now died
of cold. The colonists brought little food with them, they were too
lazy to plant much corn, and they were able to get only small
supplies from the Indians. Indeed, the early history of Virginia is
given mainly to accounts of “starving times.” Of the first thousand
colonists not one hundred lived to tell the tale of those early
days.

Sir Thomas Dale.
His wise action.

33. Sir Thomas Dale and Good Order.–In 1611 Sir Thomas
Dale came out as ruler, and he ruled with an iron hand. If a man
refused to work, Dale made a slave of him for three years; if he
did not work hard enough, Dale had him soundly whipped. But Sir
Thomas Dale was not only a severe man; he was also a wise man.
Hitherto everything had been in common. Dale now tried the
experiment of giving three acres of land to every one of the old
planters, and he also allowed them time to work on their own
land.

Tobacco.
Prosperity.

34. Tobacco-growing and Prosperity.–European people were
now beginning to use tobacco. Most of it came from the Spanish
colonies. Tobacco grew wild in Virginia. But the colonists at first
did not know how to dry it and make it fit for smoking. After a few
years they found out how to prepare it. They now worked with great
eagerness and planted tobacco on every spot of cleared land. Men
with money came over from England. They brought many workingmen
with them and planted large pieces of ground. Soon tobacco became
the money of the colony, and the whole life of Virginia turned on
its cultivation. But it was difficult to find enough laborers to do
the necessary work.

White servants.
Criminals.
Negro slaves, 1619.

35. Servants and Slaves.–Most of the laborers were white
men and women who were bound to service for terms of years. These
were called servants. Some of them were poor persons who sold their
labor to pay for their passage to Virginia. Others were unfortunate
men and women and even children who were stolen from their families
and sold to the colonists. Still others were criminals whom King
James sent over to the colony because that was the cheapest thing
to do with them. In 1619 the first negro slaves were brought to
Virginia by a Dutch vessel. The Virginians bought them all–only
twenty in number. But the planters preferred white laborers. It was
not until more that twenty-five years had passed away that the
slaves really became numerous enough to make much difference in the
life of the colony.

Sir Edwin Sandys.
The first American legislature, 1619.

36. The first American Legislature, 1619.–The men who
first formed the Virginia Company had long since lost interest in
it. Other men had taken their places. These latter were mostly
Puritans (p. 29) or were the friends and workers with the Puritans.
The best known of them was Sir Edwin Sandys, the playmate of
William Brewster–one of the Pilgrim Fathers (p. 29). Sandys and
his friends sent Sir George Yeardley to Virginia as governor. They
ordered him to summon an assembly to be made up of representatives
chosen by the freemen of the colony. These representatives soon did
away with Dale’s ferocious regulations, and made other and much
milder laws.

End of the Virginia Company, 1624.
Virginia a royal province.

37. Virginia becomes a Royal Province, 1624.–The
Virginians thought this was a very good way to be governed. But
King James thought that the new rulers of the Virginia Company were
much too liberal, and he determined to destroy the company. The
judges in those days dared not displease the king for he could turn
them out of office at any time. So when he told them to destroy the
Virginia charter they took the very first opportunity to declare it
to be of no force. In this way the Virginia Company came to an end,
and Virginia became a royal province with a governor appointed by
the king.

Intolerance in Virginia.
Persecution of the Puritans.

38. Religious Intolerance.–In 1625 King James died, and
his son Charles became king. He left the Virginians to themselves
for the most part. They liked this. But they did not like his
giving the northern part of Virginia to a Roman Catholic favorite,
Lord Baltimore, with the name of Maryland. Many Roman Catholics
soon settled in Lord Baltimore’s colony. The Virginians feared lest
they might come to Virginia and made severe laws against them.
Puritan missionaries also came from New England and began to
convert the Virginians to Puritanism. Governor Berkeley and the
leading Virginians were Episcopalians. They did not like the
Puritans any better than they liked the Roman Catholics. They made
harsh laws against them and drove them out of Virginia into
Maryland.

Maryland given to Baltimore, 1632.
Settlement of Maryland. Higginson, 121-123;
Eggleston, 50-53; Source-book, 48-51.

39. Settlement of Maryland.–Maryland included the most
valuable portion of Virginia north of the Potomac. Beside being the
owner of all this land, Lord Baltimore was also the ruler of the
colony. He invited people to go over and settle in Maryland and
offered to give them large tracts of land on the payment of a small
sum every year forever. Each man’s payment was small. But all the
payments taken together, made quite a large amount which went on
growing larger and larger as Maryland was settled. The Baltimores
were broad-minded men. They gave their colonists a large share in
the government of the colony and did what they could to bring about
religious toleration in Maryland.

Roman Catholics in England.
Roman Catholics and Puritans in Maryland.
The Toleration Act, 1649.

40. The Maryland Toleration Act, 1649.–The English Roman
Catholics were cruelly oppressed. No priest of that faith was
allowed to live in England. And Roman Catholics who were not
priests had to pay heavy fines simply because they were Roman
Catholics. Lord Baltimore hoped that his fellow Catholics might
find a place of shelter in Maryland, and many of the leading
colonists were Roman Catholics. But most of the laborers were
Protestants. Soon came the Puritans from Virginia. They were kindly
received and given land. But it was evident that it would be
difficult for Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and Puritans to live
together without some kind of law to go by. So a law was made that
any Christian might worship as he saw fit. This was the first
toleration act in the history of America. It was the first
toleration act in the history of modern times. But the Puritan,
Roger Williams, had already established religious freedom in Rhode
Island (p. 33).

Tobacco and grain.
Commerce.
Servants and slaves.

41. Maryland Industries.–Tobacco was the most important
crop in early Maryland. But grain was raised in many parts of the
colony. In time also there grew up a large trading town. This was
Baltimore. Its shipowners and merchants became rich and numerous,
while there were almost no shipowners or merchants in Virginia.
There were also fewer slaves in Maryland than in Virginia. Nearly
all the hard labor in the former colony was done by white servants.
In most other ways, however, Virginia and Maryland were nearly
alike.

CHAPTER 6

NEW ENGLAND

The English Puritans.
Non-Conformists.
Separatists.

42. The Puritans.–The New England colonies were founded
by English Puritans who left England because they could not do as
they wished in the home land. All Puritans were agreed in wishing
for a freer government than they had in England under the Stuart
kings and in state matters were really the Liberals of their time.
In religious matters, however, they were not all of one mind. Some
of them wished to make only a few changes in the Church. These were
called Non-Conformists. Others wished to make so many changes in
religion that they could not stay in the English State Church.
These were called Separatists. The settlers of Plymouth were
Separatists; the settlers of Boston and neighboring towns were
Non-Conformists.

The Scrooby Puritans. Higginson, 55-56;
Eggleston, 34.
They flee to Holland.
They decide to emigrate to America.

43. The Pilgrims.–Of all the groups of Separatists
scattered over England none became so famous as those who met at
Elder Brewster’s house at Scrooby. King James decided to make all
Puritans conform to the State Church or to hunt them out of the
land. The Scrooby people soon felt the weight of persecution. After
suffering great hardships and cruel treatment they fled away to
Holland. But there they found it very difficult to make a living.
They suffered so terribly that many of their English friends
preferred to go to prison in England rather than lead such a life
of slavery in Holland. So the Pilgrims determined to found a colony
in America. They reasoned that they could not be worse off in
America, because that would be impossible. At all events, their
children would not grow up as Dutchmen, but would still be
Englishmen. They had entire religious freedom in Holland; but they
thought they would have the same in America.

BREWSTER’S HOUSE AT SCROOBY.
The Pilgrims held their services in the building on the left,
now used as a cow-house.

The voyage of the Mayflower, 1620.
The Mayflower at Cape Cod.

44. The Voyage across the Atlantic.–Brewster’s old
friend, Sir Edwin Sandys, was now at the head of the Virginia
Company. He easily procured land for the Pilgrims in northern
Virginia, near the Dutch settlements (p. 41). Some London merchants
lent them money. But they lent it on such harsh conditions that the
Pilgrims’ early life in America was nearly as hard as their life
had been in Holland. They had a dreadful voyage across the Atlantic
in the Mayflower. At one time it seemed as if the ship would
surely go down. But the Pilgrims helped the sailors to place a
heavy piece of wood under one of the deck beams and saved the
vessel from going to pieces. On November 19, 1620, they sighted
land off the coast of Cape Cod. They tried to sail around the cape
to the southward, but storms drove them back, and they anchored in
Provincetown harbor.

The Pilgrims Compact, 1620.

45. The Mayflower Compact, 1620.–All the passengers on
the Mayflower were not Pilgrims. Some of them were servants
sent out by the London merchants to work for them. These men said
that as they were outside of Virginia, the leaders of the
expedition would have no power over them as soon as they got on
land. This was true enough, so the Pilgrims drew up and signed a
compact which obliged the signers to obey whatever was decided to
be for the public good. It gave the chosen leaders power to make
the unruly obey their commands.

The Pilgrims explore the coast. Explorers,
319-328.
Plymouth settled. Higginson,58-60; Eggleston, 35-38;
Source-Book, 39-41.
Sickness and death.

46. The First Winter at Plymouth.–For nearly a month the
Pilgrims explored the shores of Cape Cod Bay. Finally, on December
21, 1620, a boat party landed on the mainland inside of Plymouth
harbor. They decided to found their colony on the shore at that
place. About a week later the Mayflower anchored in Plymouth
harbor. For months the Pilgrims lived on the ship while working
parties built the necessary huts on shore. It was in the midst of a
cold New England winter. The work was hard and food and clothing
were not well suited to the worker’s needs. Before the
Mayflower sailed away in the spring one-half of the little
band was dead.

The Pilgrims and the Indians. Explorers,
333-337.
Success of the colony.
New Plymouth colony.

47. New Plymouth Colony.–Of all the Indians who once had
lived near Plymouth only one remained. His name was Squanto. He
came to the Pilgrims in the spring. He taught them to grow corn and
to dig clams, and thus saved them from starvation. The Pilgrims
cared for him most kindly as long as he lived. Another and more
important Indian also came to Plymouth. He was Massasoit, chief of
the strongest Indian tribe near Plymouth. With him the Pilgrims
made a treaty which both parties obeyed for more than fifty years.
Before long the Pilgrims’ life became somewhat easier. They worked
hard to raise food for themselves, they fished off the coasts, and
bought furs from the Indians. In these ways they got together
enough money to pay back the London merchants. Many of their
friends joined them. Other towns were settled near by, and Plymouth
became the capital of the colony of New Plymouth. But the colony
was never very prosperous, and in the end was added to
Massachusetts.

Founders of Massachusetts.
Explorers 341-361; Source-book 45-48, 74-76.
Settlement of Massachusetts, 1630. Higginson, 60-64;
Eggleston, 39-41.

48. The Founding of Massachusetts, 1629-30.–Unlike the
poor and humble Pilgrims were the founders of Massachusetts. They
were men of wealth and social position, as for instance, John
Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall. They left comfortable homes
in England to found a Puritan state in America. They got a great
tract of land extending from the Merrimac to the Charles, and
westward across the continent. Hundreds of colonists came over in
the years 1629-30. They settled Boston, Salem, and neighboring
towns. In the next ten years thousands more joined them. From the
beginning Massachusetts was strong and prosperous. Among so many
people there were some who did not get on happily with the rulers
of the colony.

Roger Williams expelled from Massachusetts.
Higginson, 68-70.
He founds Providence, 1636. Source-book, 52-54.

49. Roger Williams and Religious Liberty.–Among the
newcomers was Roger Williams, a Puritan minister. He disagreed with
the Massachusetts leaders on several points. For instance, he
thought that the Massachusetts people had no right to their lands,
and he insisted that the rulers had no power in religious
matters–as enforcing the laws as to Sunday. He insisted on these
points so strongly that the Massachusetts government expelled him
from the colony. In the spring of 1636; with four companions he
founded the town of Providence. There he decided that every one
should be free to worship God as he or she saw fit.

Mrs. Hutchinson and her friends.
They settle Rhode Island, 1637.

50. The Rhode Island Towns.–Soon another band of exiles
came from Massachusetts. These were Mrs. Hutchinson and her
followers. Mrs. Hutchinson was a brilliant Puritan woman who had
come to Boston from England to enjoy the ministry of John Cotton,
one of the Boston ministers. She soon began to find fault with the
other ministers of the colony. Naturally, they did not like this.
Their friends were more numerous than were Mrs. Hutchinson’s
friends, and the latter had to leave Massachusetts. They settled on
the island of Rhode Island (1637).

The Connecticut colonists.
Founding of Connecticut, 1635-36. Higginson, 71-72.

51. The Connecticut Colony.–Besides those Puritans whom
the Massachusetts people drove from their colony there were other
settlers who left Massachusetts of their own free will. Among these
were the founders of Connecticut. The Massachusetts people would
gladly have had them remain, but they were discontented and
insisted on going away. They settled the towns of Hartford,
Windsor, and Weathersfield, on the Connecticut River. At about the
same time John Winthrop, Jr., led a colony to Saybrook, at the
mouth of the Connecticut. Up to this time the Dutch had seemed to
have the best chance to settle the Connecticut Valley. But the
control of that region was now definitely in the hands of the
English.

Destruction of the Pequods, 1637.

52. The Pequod War, 1637.–The Pequod Indians were not so
ready as the Dutch to admit that resistance was hopeless. They
attacked Wethersfield. They killed several colonists, and carried
others away into captivity. Captain John Mason of Connecticut and
Captain John Underhill of Massachusetts went against them with
about one hundred men. They surprised the Indians in their fort.
They set fire to the fort, and shot down the Indians as they strove
to escape from their burning wigwams. In a short time the Pequod
tribe was destroyed.

[Illustration: JOHN WINTHROP, JR.]

The Connecticut Orders of 1638-39.

53. The First American Constitution, 1638-39.–The
Connecticut colonists had leisure now to settle the form of their
government. Massachusetts had such a liberal charter that nothing
more seemed to be necessary in that colony. The Mayflower Compact
did well enough for the Pilgrims. The Connecticut people had no
charter, and they wanted something more definite than a vague
compact. So in the winter of 1638-39 they met at Hartford and set
down on paper a complete set of rules for their guidance. This was
the first time in the history of the English race that any people
had tried to do this. The Connecticut constitution of 1638-39 is
therefore looked upon as “the first truly political written
constitution in history.” The government thus established was very
much the same as that of Massachusetts with the exception that in
Connecticut there was no religious condition for the right to vote
as there was in Massachusetts.

The New Haven settlers.
New Haven founded, 1638. Higginson, 72-73.

54. New Haven, 1638.–The settlers of New Haven went even
farther than the Massachusetts rulers and held that the State
should really be a part of the Church. Massachusetts was not
entirely to their tastes. They passed only one winter there and
then moved away and settled New Haven. But this colony was not well
situated for commerce, and was too near the Dutch settlements (p.
41). It was never as prosperous as Connecticut and was finally
joined to that colony.

Reasons for union.
Articles of Confederation, 1643.
New England towns. Higginson, 47-79.

55. The New England Confederation, 1643.–Besides the
settlements that have already been described there were colonists
living in New Hampshire and in Maine. Massachusetts included the
New Hampshire towns within her government, for some of those towns
were within her limits. In 1640 the Long Parliament met in England,
and in 1645 Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans destroyed the royal
army in the battle of Naseby. In these troubled times England could
do little to protect the New England colonists, and could do
nothing to punish them for acting independently. The New England
colonists were surrounded by foreigners. There were the French on
the north and the east, and the Dutch on the west. The Indians,
too, were living in their midst and might at any time turn on the
whites and kill them. Thinking all these things over, the four
leading colonies decided to join together for protection. They
formed the New England Confederation, and drew up a constitution.
The colonists living in Rhode Island and in Maine did not belong to
the Confederation, but they enjoyed many of the benefits flowing
from it; for it was quite certain that the Indians and the French
and the Dutch would think twice before attacking any of the New
England settlements.

[Illustration: A CHILD’S HIGH CHAIR, ABOUT 1650.]

Education.

56. Social Conditions.–The New England colonies were all
settled on the town system, for there were no industries which
demanded large plantations–as tobacco-planting. The New Englanders
were small farmers, mechanics, ship-builders, and fishermen. There
were few servants in New England and almost no negro slaves. Most
of the laborers were free men and worked for wages as laborers now
do. Above all, the New Englanders were very zealous in the matter
of education. Harvard College was founded in 1636. A few years
later a law was passed compelling every town to provide schools for
all the children in the town.

CHAPTER 7

NEW NETHERLAND AND NEW SWEDEN

The Dutch East India Company.

57. The Dutch.–At this time the Dutch were the greatest
traders and shipowners in the world. They were especially
interested in the commerce of the East Indies. Indeed, the Dutch
India Company was the most successful trading company in existence.
The way to the East Indies lay through seas carefully guarded by
the Portuguese, so the Dutch India Company hired Henry Hudson, an
English sailor, to search for a new route to India.

Henry Hudson.
He discovers Hudson’s River, 1609. Higginson, 88-90;
Explorers, 281-296.
His death. Explorers 296-302.

58. Hudson’s Voyage, 1609.–He set forth in 1609 in the
Half-Moon, a stanch little ship. At first he sailed
northward, but ice soon blocked his way. He then sailed
southwestward to find a strait, which was said to lead through
America, north of Chesapeake Bay. On August 3, 1609, he reached the
entrance of what is now New York harbor. Soon the Half-Moon
entered the mouth of the river that still bears her captain’s name.
Up, up the river she sailed, until finally she came to anchor near
the present site of Albany. The ship’s boats sailed even farther
north. Everywhere the country was delightful. The Iroquois came off
to the ship in their canoes. Hudson received them most
kindly–quite unlike the way Champlain treated other Iroquois
Indians at about the same time, on the shore of Lake Champlain (p.
20). Then Hudson sailed down the river again and back to Europe. He
made one later voyage to America, this time under the English flag.
He was turned adrift by his men in Hudson’s Bay, and perished in
the cold and ice.

The Dutch fur-traders.
Settle on Manhattan Island.
New Netherland.

59. The Dutch Fur-Traders.–Hudson’s failure to find a
new way to India made the Dutch India Company lose interest in
American exploration. But many Dutch merchants were greatly
interested in Hudson’s account of the “Great River of the
Mountain.” They thought that they could make money from trading for
furs with the Indians. They sent many expeditions to Hudson’s
River, and made a great deal of money. Some of their captains
explored the coast northward and southward as far as Boston harbor
and Delaware Bay. Their principal trading-posts were on Manhattan
Island, and near the site of Albany. In 1614 some of the leading
traders obtained from the Dutch government the sole right to trade
between New France and Virginia. They called this region New
Netherland.

The Dutch West India Company, 1621.
Higginson, 90-96; Explorers, 303-307;
Source-book, 42-44.
The patroons, 1628.

60. The Founding of New Netherland.–In 1621 the Dutch
West India Company was founded. Its first object was trade, but it
also was directed “to advance the peopling” of the American lands
claimed by the Dutch. Colonists now came over; they settled at New
Amsterdam, on the southern end of Manhattan Island, and also on the
western end of Long Island. By 1628 there were four hundred
colonists in New Netherland. But the colony did not grow rapidly,
so the Company tried to interest rich men in the scheme of
colonization, by giving them large tracts of land and large powers
of government. These great land owners were called patroons. Most
of them were not very successful. Indeed, the whole plan was given
up before long, and land was given to any one who would come out
and settle.

Governor Kieft.
Kieft orders the Indians to be killed.
Results of the massacre.

61. Kieft and the Indians, 1643-44.–The worst of the
early Dutch governors was William Kieft (Keeft). He was a bankrupt
and a thief, who was sent to New Netherland in the hope that he
would reform. At first he did well and put a stop to the smuggling
and cheating which were common in the colony. Emigrants came over
in large numbers, and everything seemed to be going on well when
Kieft’s brutality brought on an Indian war that nearly destroyed
the colony. The Indians living near New Amsterdam sought shelter
from the Iroquois on the mainland opposite Manhattan Island. Kieft
thought it would be a grand thing to kill all these Indian
neighbors while they were collected together. He sent a party of
soldiers across the river and killed many of them. The result was a
fierce war with all the neighboring tribes. The Dutch colonists
were driven from their farms. Even New Amsterdam with its stockade
was not safe. For the Indians sometimes came within the stockade
and killed the people in the town. When there were less than two
hundred people left in New Amsterdam, Kieft was recalled, and Peter
Stuyvesant was sent as governor in his stead.

Peter Stuyvesant. Higginson, 97.

62. Stuyvesant’s Rule.–Stuyvesant was a hot-tempered,
energetic soldier who had lost a leg in the Company’s service. He
ruled New Netherland for a long time, from 1647 to 1664. And he
ruled so sternly that the colonists were glad when the English came
and conquered them. This unpopularity was not entirely Stuyvesant’s
fault. The Dutch West India Company was a failure. It had no money
to spend for the defence of the colonists, and Stuyvesant was
obliged to lay heavy taxes on the people.

The Swedes on the Delaware. Higginson,
106-108.
Stuyvesant conquers them.

63. New Sweden.–When the French, the English, and the
Dutch were founding colonies in America, the Swedes also thought
that they might as well have a colony there too. They had no claim
to any land in America. But Swedish armies were fighting the
Dutchmen’s battles in Europe. So the Swedes sent out a colony to
settle on lands claimed by the Dutch. As long as the European war
went on, the Swedes were not interfered with. But when the European
war came to an end, Stuyvesant was told to conquer them. This he
did without much trouble, as he had about as many soldiers as there
were Swedish colonists. In this way New Sweden became a part of New
Netherland.

Summary.
The Chesapeake Colonies.
The New England Colonies.

64. Summary.–We have seen how the French, the Dutch, the
Swedish, and the English colonies were established on the Atlantic
seashore and in the St. Lawrence valley. South of these settlements
there was the earlier Spanish colony at St. Augustine. The Spanish
colonists were very few in number, but they gave Spain a claim to
Florida. The Swedish colony had been absorbed by the stronger Dutch
colony. We have also seen how very unlike were the two English
groups of colonies. They were both settled by Englishmen, but there
the likeness stops. For Virginia and Maryland were slave colonies.
They produced large crops of tobacco. The New England colonists on
the other hand were practically all free. They lived in towns and
engaged in all kinds of industries. In the next hundred years we
shall see how the English conquered first the Dutch and then the
French; how they planted colonies far to the south of Virginia and
in these ways occupied the whole coast north of Florida.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 4

§§ 26, 27.–a. Mark on a map all the places
mentioned in these sections.

b. Describe Champlain’s attacks on the Iroquois.

§§ 28-30.–a. Compare the reasons for the
coming of the French and the Spaniards.

b. What work did the Jesuits do for the Indians?

c. Explain carefully why the hostility of the Iroquois to
the French was so important.

CHAPTER 5

§§ 31, 32.–a. Give two reasons for the revival
of English colonial enterprises.

b. Describe the voyage and early experiences of the
Virginia colonists.

c. Give three reasons for the sufferings of the Virginia
colonists.

§§ 33-35.–a. What do you think of Sir Thomas
Dale?

b. To what was the prosperity of Virginia due? Why?

c. What classes of people were there in Virginia?

§§ 36-38.–a. What is the meaning of the word
“Puritan” (see § 43)? Why is Sir Edwin Sandys regarded as the
founder of free government in the English colonies?

b. Describe the laws of Virginia as to Roman Catholics
and Puritans.

§§ 39-41.–a. Describe Lord Baltimore’s
treatment of his settlers. What do you think of the wisdom of his
actions?

b. How were Roman Catholics treated in England?

c. What is meant by toleration? Who would be excluded by
the Maryland Toleration Act?

d. Describe the likenesses and the differences between
Virginia and Maryland.

CHAPTER 6

§§ 42-47.–a. Describe the voyage of the
Mayflower.

b. What was the object of the Mayflower Compact?

c. Describe the Pilgrims’ search for a place of
settlement.

d. Read Bradford’s account of the first winter at
Plymouth.

e. What did Squanto do for the Pilgrims?

§§ 48-50.–a. What advantages did the founders
of Massachusetts have over those of New Plymouth?

b. Look up the history of England, 1630-40, and say why
so many colonists came to New England in those years.

c. On what matters did Roger Williams disagree with the
rulers of Massachusetts?

d. How are Williams’s ideas as to religious freedom
regarded now?

e. Why was Mrs. Hutchinson expelled from
Massachusetts?

§§ 51-54.–a. How did the Pequod War affect the
colonists on the Connecticut?

b. What is a constitution? Why did the Connecticut people
feel the need of one? Why is the Connecticut constitution
famous?

c. Why did the New Haven settlers found a separate
colony?

§§ 55, 56.–a. What two parties were fighting
in England?

b. Give all the reasons for the formation of the New
England Confederation. What were the effects of this union?

c. Compare the industries of New England with those of
Virginia.

CHAPTER 7

§§ 57-59.–a. Why did the Dutch East India
Company wish a northern route to India?

b. Describe Hudson’s and Champlain’s expeditions, and
compare their treatment of the Iroquois.

c. What attracted the Dutch to the region discovered by
Hudson?

§§ 60-62.–a. What was the object of the Dutch
West India Company? What privileges did the patroons have?

b. Describe the career of Kieft. What were the results of
his treatment of the Indians?

c. What kind of a governor was Stuyvesant? Why was he
unpopular?

§ 63.–a. In what European war were the Swedes and
the Dutch engaged?

b. On what land did the Swedes settle?

c. Describe how New Sweden was joined to New
Netherland.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

a. Mark on a map in colors the lands settled by the
different European nations.

b. Note the position of the Dutch with reference to the
English, and explain the importance of such position.

c. Give one fact about each of the colonies, and state
why you think it important.

d. Give one fact which especially interests you in
connection with each colony, and explain your interest.

e. In which colony would you have liked to live, and
why?

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

a. Champlain’s place in American history (Parkman’s
Pioneers).

b. The First American Legislature and its work (Hart’s
Contemporaries, I., No. 65).

c. Why did the Pilgrims come to America? (Bradford’s
Plymouth).

d. Arrange a table of the several settlements similar to
that described on page 18.

e. Write a composition on life in early colonial days
(Eggleston’s United States, 91-113).

SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER

In treating this chapter aim to make clear the reasons for and
conditions of the settlement of each colony. Vividness can best be
obtained by a study of the writings of the time, especially of
Bradford’s History of Plymouth. Use pictures in every
possible way and molding board as well.

Emphasize the lack of true liberty of thought, and lead the
children to understand that persecution was a characteristic of the
time and not a failing of any particular colony or set of
colonists.

III

A CENTURY OF COLONIAL HISTORY, 1660-1760

Books for Study and Reading

References.–Fiske’s United States for Schools
133-180; McMaster’s School History, 93-108 (life in 1763);
Source-Book, ch. vii; Fisher’s Colonial Era; Earle’s
Child Life.

Home Readings.–Parkman’s Montcalm and Wolfe;
Franklin’s Autobiography; Brooks’s In Leisler’s
Times; Coffin’s Old Times in the Colonies; Cooper’s
Last of the Mohicans; Scudder’s Men and Manners One
Hundred Years Ago.

CHAPTER 8

THE COLONIES UNDER CHARLES II

The Puritan in England. Higginson and Channing,
English History for Americans, 182-195.
The Colonies, 1649-60.

65. The Puritans and the Colonists, 1649-60.–In 1649
Charles I was executed, and for eleven years the Puritans were
supreme in England. During this time the New England colonists
governed themselves, and paid little heed to the wishes and orders
of England’s rulers. After some hesitation, the Virginians accepted
the authority of Cromwell and the Puritans. In return they were
allowed to govern themselves. In Maryland the Puritans overturned
Baltimore’s governor and ruled the province for some years.

The Restoration, 1660. English History for
Americans, 196.
The Navigation Laws.

66. Colonial Policy of Charles II.–In 1660 Charles II
became king of England or was “restored” to the throne, as people
said at the time. Almost at once there was a great revival of
interest in colonization, and the new government interfered
vigorously in colonial affairs. In 1651 the Puritans had begun the
system of giving the English trade only to English merchants and
shipowners. This system was now extended, and the more important
colonial products could be carried only to English ports.

Charles II and Massachusetts.
Massachusetts and the Quakers. Higginson, 80-81.

67. Attacks on Massachusetts.–The new government was
especially displeased by the independent spirit shown by
Massachusetts. Only good Puritans could vote in that colony, and
members of the Church of England could not even worship as they
wished. The Massachusetts people paid no heed whatever to the
navigation laws and asserted that acts of Parliament had no force
in the colony. It chanced that at this time Massachusetts had
placed herself clearly in the wrong by hanging four persons for no
other reason than that they were Quakers. The English government
thought that now the time had come to assert its power. It ordered
the Massachusetts rulers to send other Quakers to England for
trial. But, when this order reached Massachusetts, there were no
Quakers in prison awaiting trial, and none were ever sent to
England.

Charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island,
1662-63.
New Haven absorbed by Connecticut.

68. Connecticut and Rhode Island.–While the English
government was attacking Massachusetts it was giving most liberal
charters to Connecticut and to Rhode Island. Indeed, these charters
were so liberal that they remained the constitutions of the states
of Connecticut and Rhode Island until long after the American
Revolution. The Connecticut charter included New Haven within the
limits of the larger colony and thus put an end to the separate
existence of New Haven.

THE OLDEST CHURCH SOUTH OF THE POTOMAC.

The English conquest of New Netherland, 1664.
Higginson. 97-98.

69. Conquest of New Netherland, 1664.–The English
government now determined to conquer New Netherland. An English
fleet sailed to New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant thumped up and down on
his wooden leg. But he was almost the only man in New Amsterdam who
wanted to fight. He soon surrendered, and New Netherland became an
English colony. The Dutch later recaptured it and held it for a
time; but in 1674 they finally handed it over to England.

New Netherland given to the Duke of York and
Albany.

70. New York.–Even before the colony was seized in 1664,
Charles II gave it away to his brother James, Duke of York and
Albany, who afterward became king as James II. The name of New
Netherland was therefore changed to New York, and the principal
towns were also named in his honor, New York and Albany. Little
else was changed in the colony. The Dutch were allowed to live very
nearly as they had lived before, and soon became even happier and
more contented than they had been under Dutch rule. Many English
settlers now came in. The colony became rich and prosperous, but
the people had little to do with their own government.

Origin of New Jersey, 1664.
Settlement of New Jersey.

71. New Jersey.–No sooner had James received New
Netherland from his brother than he hastened to give some of the
best portions of it to two faithful friends, Sir George Carteret
and Lord Berkeley. Their territory extended from New York harbor to
the Delaware River, and was named New Jersey in honor of Carteret’s
defense of the island of Jersey against the Puritans. Colonists at
once began coming to the new province and settled at
Elizabethtown.

East and West Jersey.
Prosperity.

72. Later New Jersey.–Soon New Jersey was divided into
two parts, East Jersey and West Jersey. West Jersey belonged to
Lord Berkeley and he sold it to the Quakers. Not very many years
later the Quakers also bought East Jersey. The New Jersey colonists
were always getting into disputes with one another, so they asked
Queen Anne to take charge of the government of the province. This
she did by telling the governor of New York to govern New Jersey
also. This was not what the Jersey people had expected. But they
had their own legislature. In time also they secured a governor all
to themselves and became a royal province entirely separate from
New York. Pennsylvania and New York protected the Jersey people
from the French and the Indians, and provided markets for the
products of the Jersey farms. The colonists were industrious and
their soil was fertile. They were very religious and paid great
attention to education. New Jersey became very prosperous and so
continued until the Revolution.

Founding of Carolina, 1663. Higginson,
124-127.

73. The Founding of Carolina.–The planting of New Jersey
was not the only colonial venture of Carteret and Berkeley. With
Lord Chancellor Clarendon and other noblemen they obtained from
Charles land in southern Virginia extending southward into Spanish
Florida. This great territory was named Carolina.

Northern Carolina.
Southern Carolina.

74. The Carolina Colonists.–In 1663, when the Carolina
charter was granted, there were a few settlers living in the
northern part of the colony. Other colonists came from outside
mainly from the Barbadoes and settled on the Cape Fear River. In
this way was formed a colony in northern Carolina. But the most
important settlement was in the southern part of the province at
Charleston. Southern Carolina at once became prosperous. This was
due to the fact that the soil and climate of that region were well
suited to the cultivation of rice. The rice swamps brought riches
to the planters, they also compelled the employment of large
numbers of negro slaves. Before long, indeed, there were more
negroes than whites in southern Carolina. In this way there grew up
two distinct centers of colonial life in the province.

[Illustration: Southern Carolina.]

Indian war.
Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676.

75. Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676.–By this time the Virginians
had become very discontented. There had been no election to the
colonial assembly since 1660 and Governor Berkeley was very
tyrannical. The Virginians also wanted more churches and more
schools. To add to these causes of discontent the Indians now
attacked the settlers, and Berkeley seemed to take very little
interest in protecting the Virginians. Led by Nathaniel Bacon the
colonists marched to Jamestown and demanded authority to go against
the Indians. Berkeley gave Bacon a commission. But, as soon as
Bacon left Jamestown on his expedition, Berkeley declared that he
was a rebel. Bacon returned, and Berkeley fled. Bacon marched
against the Indians again, and Berkeley came back, and so the
rebellion went on until Bacon died. Berkeley then captured the
other leaders one after another and hanged them. But when he
returned to England, Charles II turned his back to him, saying,
“The old fool has killed more men in Virginia than I for the murder
of my father.”

[Illustration: THE HOUSE IN WHICH NATHANIEL BACON DIED. From an
original sketch.]

Greedy Governors.
Founding of William and Mary College, 1691.

76. Virginia after Bacon’s Rebellion.–The Virginians
were now handed over to a set of greedy governors. Some of them
came to America to make their fortunes. But some of them were
governors whom the people of other colonies would not have. The
only event of importance in the history of the colony during the
next twenty-five years was the founding of William and Mary College
(1691) at Williamsburg. It was the second oldest college in the
English colonies.

[Illustration: THE OPENING LINES OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CHARTER
SHOWING ORNAMENTAL BORDER AND PORTRAIT OF CHARLES II.]

King Philip’s War, 1675-76. Higginson,
137-138; Eggleston, 81-89.

77. King Philip’s War, 1675-76.–It was not only in
Virginia and Maryland that the Indians were restless at this time.
In New England also they attacked the whites. They were led by
Massasoit’s son, King Philip, an able and far-seeing man. He saw
with dismay how rapidly the whites were driving the Indians away
from their hunting-grounds. The Indians burned the English villages
on the frontier and killed hundreds of the settlers. The strongest
chief to join Philip was Canonchet of the Narragansetts. The
colonial soldiers stormed his fort and killed a thousand Indian
warriors. Before long King Philip himself was killed, and the war
slowly came to an end.

William Penn.
The Pennsylvania Charter, 1681.

78. William Penn.–Among the greatest Englishmen of that
time was William Penn. He was a Quaker and was also a friend of
Charles II and James, Duke of York. He wished to found a colony in
which he and the Quakers could work out their ideas in religious
and civil matters. It chanced that Charles owed Penn a large sum of
money. As Charles seldom had any money, he was very glad to give
Penn instead a large tract of land in America. In this way Penn
obtained Pennsylvania. James, for his part, gave him Delaware.

Settlement of Pennsylvania, 1682. Higginson,
101-105; Eggleston, 57-60; Source-Book, 67-69.

79. Founding of Pennsylvania, 1682.–William Penn had a
great reputation for honesty and fair dealing among the English
Quakers and among the Quakers on the continent of Europe as well.
As soon as it was known that he was to found a colony, great
numbers of persons came to Pennsylvania from England and from
Germany. In a very short time the colony became strong and
prosperous. In the first place, the soil of Pennsylvania was rich
and productive while its climate was well suited to the growth of
grain. In the second place, Penn was very liberal to his colonists.
He gave them a large share in the government of the province and he
allowed no religious persecution. He also insisted on fair and
honest dealing with the Indians.

Mason and Dixon’s line.
Its importance in history.

80. Mason and Dixon’s Line.–In the seventeenth century
the geography of America was very little understood in Europe–and
the persons who drew up colonial charters understood it least of
all. Charter lines frequently overlapped and were often very
indistinct. This was particularly true of the Maryland and
Pennsylvania boundaries. Penn and Baltimore tried to come to an
agreement; but they never could agree. Years afterward, when they
were both dead, their heirs agreed to have a line drawn without
much regard to the charters. This line was finally surveyed by two
English engineers, Mason and Dixon, and is always called after
their names. It is the present boundary line between Pennsylvania
and Maryland. In colonial days it separated the colonies where
slavery was the rule from those where labor was generally free. In
the first half of the nineteenth century it separated the free
states from the slave states. Mason and Dixon’s line, therefore,
has been a famous line in the history of the United States.

CHAPTER 9

COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT, 1688-1760

New policy of the Stuarts.
Reasons for the new policy.

81. The Stuart Tyranny.–Instead of admiring the growth
of the colonies in strength and in liberty, Charles and James saw
it with dismay. The colonies were becoming too strong and too free.
They determined to reduce all the colonies to royal provinces, like
Virginia–with the exception of Pennsylvania which belonged to
their friend, William Penn. There was a good deal to be said in
favor of this plan, for the colonists were so jealous of each other
that they would not unite against the French or the Indians. If the
governments were all in the hands of the king, the whole strength
of the British colonies could be used against any enemy of
England.

End of the Massachusetts Company, 1684.
Governor Andros of New England, 1688.

82. The Stuart Tyranny in New England.–The Massachusetts
charter was now taken away, and Sir Edmund Andros was sent over to
govern the colony. He was ordered to make laws and to tax the
people without asking their consent. He did as he was ordered to
do. He set up the Church of England. He taxed the people. He even
took their lands from them, on the ground that the grants from the
old Massachusetts government were of no value. When one man pointed
to the magistrates’ signatures to his grant, Andros told him that
their names were worth no more than a scratch with a bear’s paw. He
also enforced the navigation laws and took possession of
Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Plymouth. At the same time he
was also governor of New Hampshire and of New York.

[Illustration: A PROCLAMATION OF 1690 FORBIDDING THE PRINTING OF
NEWSPAPERS WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE GOVERNMENT.]

Flight of James II.
Rebellion against Andros, 1689.

83. The “Glorious Revolution” in America, 1689.–By this
time Charles was dead, and James was King of England. The English
people did not like James any better than the New Englanders liked
Andros. In 1688 they rebelled and made William of Orange and his
wife Mary, James’s eldest daughter, King and Queen of England. On
their part, the Massachusetts colonists seized Andros and his
followers and shut them up in prison (April 18, 1689). The people
of Connecticut and Rhode Island turned out Andros’s agents and set
up their old governments. In New York also Andros’s deputy governor
was expelled, and the people took control of affairs until the king
and queen should send out a governor. Indeed, all the colonies,
except Maryland, declared for William and Mary.

Policy of William and Mary.
The Massachusetts Province charter, 1691.

84. The New Arrangements.–For a year or two William was
very busy in Ireland and on the continent. At length he had time to
attend to colonial affairs. He appointed royal governors for both
Pennsylvania and Maryland. William Penn soon had his colony given
back to him; but the Baltimores had to wait many years before they
recovered Maryland. In New York there was a dreadful tragedy. For
the new governor, Slaughter, was persuaded to order the execution
of the leaders in the rising against Andros. Massachusetts did not
get her old charter back, but she got another charter. This
provided that the king should appoint the governor, but the people
should elect a House of Representatives. The most important result
of this new arrangement was a series of disputes between the king’s
governor and the people’s representatives. Maine and New Plymouth
were included in Massachusetts under the new charter. But New
Hampshire remained a royal province.

Prosperity of the colonies, 1700-60.

85. The Colonies, 1700-60.–During these years immigrants
thronged to America, and the colonies became constantly stronger.
Commerce everywhere developed, and many manufactures were
established. Throughout the colonies the people everywhere gained
power, and had it not been for the French and Indian wars they
would have been happy. Aside from these wars the most important
events of these years were the overthrow of the Carolina
proprietors and the founding of Georgia.

[Illustration: Carolina Rice Fields.]

Bad government of the Carolina proprietors.
Rebellion in Carolina, 1719.
North and South Carolina.

86. North and South Carolina.–The Carolina proprietors
and their colonists had never got on well together. They now got on
worse than ever. The greater part of the colonists were not members
of the Established Church; but the proprietors tried to take away
the right to vote from all persons who were not of that faith. They
also interfered in elections, and tried to prevent the formation of
a true representative assembly. They could not protect the people
against the pirates who blockaded Charleston for weeks at a time.
In 1719 the people of Charleston rebelled. The king then
interfered, and appointed a royal governor. Later he bought out the
rights of the proprietors. In this way Carolina became a royal
province. It was soon divided into two provinces, North Carolina
and South Carolina. But there had always been two separate colonies
in Carolina (p. 52).

General Oglethorpe.
Grant of Georgia, 1732.

87. Founding of Georgia, 1732.–In those days it was the
custom in England to send persons who could not pay their debts to
prison. Of course many of these poor debtors were really
industrious persons whom misfortune or sickness had driven into
debt. General Oglethorpe, a member of Parliament, looked into the
prison management. He was greatly affected by the sad fate of these
poor debtors, and determined to do something for them. With a
number of charitable persons he obtained a part of South Carolina
for a colony, and named it Georgia for George II, who gave the
land. Parliament also gave money. For the government thought it
very desirable to have a colony between the rich plantations of
Carolina and the Spanish settlements in Florida.

Settlement of Georgia, 1733. Higginson,
127-130; Eggleston, 62-65; Source-Book, 71-73.
Progress of the colony.

88. Georgia, 1733-52.–Naturally Oglethorpe had no
difficulty in getting colonists. For the poor debtors and other
oppressed persons were very glad to have a new start in life.
Savannah was founded in 1733. The Spaniards, however, were not at
all glad to have an English colony planted so near Florida. They
attacked the Georgians, and Oglethorpe spent years in fighting
them. The Georgia colonists found it very difficult to compete with
the Carolina planters. For the Carolinians had slaves to work for
them, and the proprietors of Georgia would not let the Georgians
own slaves. Finally they gave way and permitted the colonists to
own slaves. But this so disheartened the Georgia proprietors that
they gave up the enterprise and handed the colony over to the king.
In this way Georgia became a royal province.

CHAPTER 10

EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH

Louis of France and William of Orange.

89. Causes of the French Wars.–At the time of the
“Glorious Revolution” (p. 58) James II found refuge with Louis XIV,
King of France. William and Louis had already been fighting, and it
was easy enough to see that if William became King of England he
would be very much more powerful than he was when he was only
Prince of Orange. So Louis took up the cause of James and made war
on the English and the Dutch. The conflict soon spread across the
Atlantic.

Disadvantages of the English colonists.
Advantages of the French colonists.

90. Strength of the Combatants.–At first sight it might
seem as if the English colonists were much stronger than the French
colonists. They greatly outnumbered the French. They were much more
prosperous and well-to-do. But their settlements were scattered
over a great extent of seacoast from the Kennebec to the Savannah.
Their governments were more or less free. But this very freedom
weakened them for war. The French colonial government was a
despotism directed from France. Whatever resources the French had
in America were certain to be well used.

[Illustration: A “GARRISON HOUSE” AT YORK, MAINE, BUILT IN
1676.]

King William’s War, 1689-97. Eggleston,
122-123.

91. King William’s War, 1689-97.–The Iroquois began this
war by destroying Montreal. The next winter the French invaded New
York. They captured Schenectady and killed nearly all the
inhabitants. Other bands destroyed New England towns and killed or
drove away their inhabitants. The English, on their part, seized
Port Royal in Acadia, but they failed in an attempt against Quebec.
In 1697 this war came to an end. Acadia was given back to the
French, and nothing was gained by all the bloodshed and
suffering.

Queen Anne’s War, 1701-13. Higginson,
143-147; Source-Book, 98-100.

92. Queen Anne’s War, 1701-13.–In 1701 the conflict
began again. It lasted for twelve years, until 1713. It was in this
war that the Duke of Marlborough won the battle of Blenheim and
made for himself a great reputation. In America the French and
Indians made long expeditions to New England. The English colonists
again attacked Quebec and again failed. In one thing, however, they
were successful. They again seized Port Royal. This time the
English kept Port Royal and all Acadia. Port Royal they called
Annapolis, and the name of Acadia was changed to Nova Scotia.

King George’s War, 1744-48.

93. King George’s War, 1744-48.–From 1713 until 1744
there was no war between the English and the French. But in 1744
fighting began again in earnest. The French and Indians attacked
the New England frontier towns and killed many people. But the New
Englanders, on their part, won a great success. After the French
lost Acadia they built a strong fortress on the island of Cape
Breton. To this they gave the name of Louisburg. The New Englanders
fitted out a great expedition and captured Louisburg without much
help from the English. But at the close of the war (1748) the
fortress was given back to the French, to the disgust of the New
Englanders.

La Salle on the Mississippi, 1681.
McMaster, 62-65; Source-book, 96-98.

94. The French in the Mississippi Valley.–The Spaniards
had discovered the Mississippi and had explored its lower valley.
But they had found no gold there and had abandoned the country. It
was left for French explorers more than one hundred years later to
rediscover the great river and to explore it from its upper waters
to the Gulf of Mexico. The first Frenchman to sail down the river
to its mouth was La Salle. In 1681, with three canoes, he floated
down the Mississippi, until he reached a place where the great
river divided into three large branches. He sent one canoe down
each branch. Returning, they all reported that they had reached the
open sea.

La Salle attempts to found a colony.
McMaster, 79-80.
Louisiana settled, 1699.

95. Founding of Louisiana.–La Salle named this immense
region Louisiana in honor of the French king. He soon led an
expedition to plant a colony on the banks of the Mississippi.
Sailing into the Gulf of Mexico, he missed the mouth of the
Mississippi and landed on the coast of Texas. Misfortune after
misfortune now fell on the unhappy expedition. La Salle was
murdered, the stores were destroyed, the Spaniards and Indians came
and killed or captured nearly all the colonists. A few only gained
the Mississippi and made their way to Canada. In 1699, another
French expedition appeared in the Gulf of Mexico. This time the
mouth of the Mississippi was easily discovered. But the colonists
settled on the shores of Mobile Bay. It was not until 1718 that New
Orleans was founded.

The French on the Ohio, 1749. McMaster,
82-86.
The English Ohio Company, 1750.

96. Struggle for the Ohio Valley.–At the close of King
George’s War the French set to work to connect the settlements in
Louisiana with those on the St. Lawrence. In 1749 French explorers
gained the Alleghany River from Lake Erie and went down the Ohio as
far as the Miami. The next year (1750) King George gave a great
tract of land on the Ohio River to an association of Virginians,
who formed the Ohio Company. The struggle for the Ohio Valley had
fairly begun. Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia learned that the
French were building forts on the Ohio, and sent them a letter
protesting against their so doing. The bearer of this letter was
George Washington, a young Virginia surveyor.

George Washington. Scudder’s Washington; Hero
Tales 1-15.
He warns the French to leave the Ohio.

97. George Washington.–Of an old Virginia family, George
Washington grew up with the idea that he must earn his own living.
His father was a well-to-do planter. But Augustine Washington was
the eldest son, and, as was the custom then in Virginia, he
inherited most of the property. Augustine Washington was very kind
to his younger brother, and gave him a good practical education as
a land surveyor. The younger man was a bold athlete and fond of
studying military campaigns. He was full of courage, industrious,
honest, and of great common sense. Before he was twenty he had
surveyed large tracts of wilderness, and had done his work well
amidst great difficulties. When Dinwiddie wanted a messenger to
take his letter to the French commander on the Ohio, George
Washington’s employer at once suggested him as the best person to
send on the dangerous journey.

The French build Fort Duquesne.
Washington’s first military expedition, 1754.

98. Fort Duquesne.–Instead of heeding Dinwiddie’s
warning, the French set to work to build Fort Duquesne
(Dü-kan’) at the spot where the Alleghany and Monongahela join
to form the Ohio,–on the site of the present city of Pittsburg.
Dinwiddie therefore sent Washington with a small force of soldiers
to drive them away. But the French were too strong for Washington.
They besieged him in Fort Necessity and compelled him to surrender
(July 4, 1754).

[Illustration: BRADDOCK’S CAMPAIGN.]

Braddock’s expedition, 1755. Higginson,
152-154; Eggleston, 129-131; Source-book,
103-105.

99. Braddock’s Defeat, 1755.–The English government now
sent General Braddock with a small army of regular soldiers to
Virginia. Slowly and painfully Braddock marched westward. Learning
of his approach, the French and Indians left Fort Duquesne to draw
him into ambush. But the two forces came together before either
party was prepared for battle. For some time the contest was even,
then the regulars broke and fled. Braddock was fatally wounded.
With great skill, Washington saved the survivors,–but not until
four shots had pierced his coat and only thirty of his three
companies of Virginians were left alive.

The French and Indian War.
William Pitt, war minister, 1757.

100. The War to 1759.–All the earlier French and Indian
wars had begun in Europe and had spread to America. This war began
in America and soon spread to Europe. At first affairs went very
ill. But in 1757 William Pitt became the British war minister, and
the war began to be waged with vigor and success. The old generals
were called home, and new men placed in command. In 1758 Amherst
and Wolfe captured Louisburg, and Forbes, greatly aided by
Washington, seized Fort Duquesne. Bradstreet captured Fort
Frontenac, on Lake Ontario. There was only one bad failure, that of
Abercrombie at Ticonderoga. But the next year Amherst captured
Ticonderoga and Crown Point and opened the way to Canada by Lake
Champlain.

[Illustration: WOLFE’S RAVINE. This shows the gradual ascent of
the path from the river to the top of the bluff.]

Capture of Quebec, 1759. Higginson, 154-156;
Eggleston, 137-139; Source-Book, 105-107.
Battle of Quebec.

101. Capture of Quebec, 1759.–Of all the younger
generals James Wolfe was foremost. To him was given the task of
capturing Quebec. Seated on a high bluff, Quebec could not be
captured from the river. The only way to approach it was to gain
the Plains of Abraham in its rear and besiege it on the land side.
Again and again Wolfe sent his men to storm the bluffs below the
town. Every time they failed. Wolfe felt that he must give up the
task, when he was told that a path led from the river to the top of
the bluff above the town. Putting his men into boats, they gained
the path in the darkness of night. There was a guard at the top of
the bluff, but the officer in command was a coward and ran away. In
the morning the British army was drawn up on the Plains of Abraham.
The French now attacked the British, and a fierce battle took
place. The result was doubtful when Wolfe led a charge at the head
of the Louisburg Grenadiers. He was killed, but the French were
beaten. Five days later Quebec surrendered. Montreal was captured
in 1760, and in 1763 the war came to an end.

Peace of Paris, 1763.

102. Peace of Paris, 1763.–By this great treaty, or set
of treaties, the French withdrew from the continent of North
America. To Spain, who had lost Florida, the French gave the island
of New Orleans and all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi. To
Great Britain the French gave up all the rest of their American
possessions except two small islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Spain, on her part, gave up Florida to the British. There were now
practically only two powers in America,–the British in the eastern
part of the continent, and the Spaniards west of the Mississippi.
The Spaniards also owned the island of New Orleans and controlled
both sides of the river for more than a hundred miles from its
mouth. But the treaty gave the British the free navigation of the
Mississippi throughout its length.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 8

§§ 65, 66.–a. What government did England have
after the execution of Charles I? Give three facts about
Cromwell.

b. How did the accession of Charles II affect the
colonies?

c. What laws were made about the commerce of the
colonies?

§ 67.–a. How did the new government of England
regard Massachusetts? Why?

b. Describe the treatment of the Quakers in
Massachusetts.

§ 68.–a. Describe the charters given to Connecticut
and Rhode Island. Why did Connecticut need a charter when she
already had a constitution?

b. What other colony was united with Connecticut?

§§ 69,70.–a. Why did England wish to conquer
New Netherland? Why did not the people of New Amsterdam wish to
fight the English?

b. To whom did Charles give this territory?

§§ 71, 72.–a. Mark on a map the position of
New Jersey.

b. Describe the division of New Jersey and its sale to
the Quakers.

c. Why was the colony prosperous?

§§ 73, 74.–a. Describe the founding of
Carolina.

b. Describe northern and southern Carolina, and note the
differences between them.

§§ 75, 76.–a. What complaints did the people
of Virginia make? Was Bacon a rebel?

b. Describe the later government of Virginia.

c. Why was the founding of William and Mary College
important?

§ 77.–a. What was the cause of King Philip’s
War?

b. What were the results of the war?

§§ 78-80.–a. Find out three facts about the
early life of William Penn. Why did colonists come to
Pennsylvania?

b. What trouble arose with Maryland about the boundary
line?

c. How was Mason and Dixon’s line famous later?

CHAPTER 9

§§ 81-84.–a. Why did Charles and James dislike
the growing liberty of the colonies?

b. What changes did Andros make in New England?

c. Describe the “Glorious Revolution” in America.

d. What changes did William and Mary make in the colonial
governments?

§§ 85-88.–a. How did the Carolina proprietors
treat their colonists? What was the result of their actions?

b. Explain the reasons for the founding of Georgia.

CHAPTER 10

§§ 89,90.–a. Compare the strength of the
English and French colonies. What is a “despotism”?

b. Draw a map showing the position of the English and
French colonies.

§§ 91-93.–a. Mark on a map all the places
mentioned in the text.

b. Describe the expedition against Louisburg.

c. What was the result of these wars?

§§ 94-97.–a. Which country, England, France,
or Spain, had the best claim to the Mississippi valley? Why?

b. Follow route of La Salle on a map, marking each place
mentioned. Describe the settlement of Louisiana.

c. Why did the struggle between England and France begin
in the Ohio valley?

d. Describe Washington’s early training.

§§ 98-101.–a. Where was Fort Duquesne? Why was
its position important? Describe Braddock’s expedition and trace
his route.

b. Mark on a map the important routes to Canada.

c. Describe the capture of Quebec. Why was it
important?

§ 102.–a. What territory did England gain in 1763?
What did Spain gain? What did France lose?

b. What was the great question settled by this war?

GENERAL QUESTIONS

a. Were the New England colonies difficult to govern?
Why?

b. In what respects were the colonial governments alike?
In what respects were they unlike?

c. What events in any colony have shown that its people
desired more liberty?

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

a. The Revolution of 1688 in England and America.

b. Write an account of the life of a boy or girl in any
colony; tell about the house, furniture, dress, school, and if a
journey to another colony is made, how it is made and what is seen
on the way.

c. Arrange a table similar to that described on p.
18.

SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER

In this period the growing difficulties between England and the
colonies can be traced–especially in commercial affairs and in
governmental institutions. Thus many of the causes of the
Revolution may be brought out as well as the difficulties in the
way of colonial union. This may be emphasized by noting the
difference between the English and French colonies.

A MAP OF THE BRITISH DOMINIONS IN NORTH AMERICA., ACCORDING TO
THE TREATY IN 1763,
By Peter Bell, Geographer, 1772.

IV

COLONIAL UNION, 1760-1774

Books for Study and Reading

References.–Fiske’s War of Independence, 39-86;
Scudder’s George Washington; Lossing’s Field-Book of the
Revolution; English History for Americans, 244-284 (English
political history).

Home Readings.–Irving’s Washington (abridged
edition); Cooke’s Stories of the Old Dominion; Cooper’s
Lionel Lincoln; Longfellow’s Paul Revere’s Ride.

CHAPTER 11

BRITAIN’S COLONIAL SYSTEM

England’s early liberal colonial policy.
England’s changed colonial policy.

103. Early Colonial Policy.–At the outset, England’s
rulers had been very kind to Englishmen who founded colonies. They
gave them great grants of land. They gave them rights of
self-government greater than any Englishmen living in England
enjoyed. They allowed them to manage their own trade and industries
as they saw fit. They even permitted them to worship God as their
consciences told them to worship him. But, as the colonists grew in
strength and in riches, Britain’s rulers tried to make their trade
profitable to British merchants and interfered in their government.
On their part the colonists disobeyed the navigation laws and
disputed with the royal officials. For years Britain’s rulers
allowed this to go on. But, at length, near the close of the last
French war Mr. Pitt ordered the laws to be enforced.

Difficulties in enforcing the navigation laws.
James Otis. Eggleston, 163. His speech against writs of
assistance, 1761.

104. Writs of Assistance, 1761.–It was a good deal
easier to order the laws to be carried out than it was to carry
them out. It was almost impossible for the customs officers to
prevent goods being landed contrary to law. When the goods were
once on shore, it was difficult to seize them. So the officers
asked the judges to give them writs of assistance. Among the
leading lawyers of Boston was James Otis. He was the king’s law
officer in the province. But he resigned his office and opposed the
granting of the writs. He objected to the use of writs of
assistance because they enabled a customs officer to become a
tyrant. Armed with one of them he could go to the house of a man he
did not like and search it from attic to cellar, turn everything
upside down and break open doors and trunks. It made no difference,
said Otis, whether Parliament had said that the writs were legal.
For Parliament could not make an act of tyranny legal. To do that
was beyond the power even of Parliament.

Patrick Henry. Eggleston, 162.
His speech in the Parson’s Cause, 1763.

105. The Parson’s Cause, 1763.–The next important case
arose in Virginia and came about in this way. The Virginians made a
law regulating the salaries of clergymen in the colony. The king
vetoed the law. The Virginians paid no heed to the veto. The clergy
men appealed to the courts and the case of one of them was selected
for trial. Patrick Henry, a prosperous young lawyer, stated the
opinions of the Virginians in a speech which made his reputation.
The king, he said, had no right to veto a Virginia law that was for
the good of the people. To do so was an act of tyranny, and the
people owed no obedience to a tyrant. The case was decided for the
clergyman. For the law was clearly on his side. But the jurymen
agreed with Henry. They gave the clergyman only one farthing
damages, and no more clergymen brought cases into the court. The
king’s veto was openly disobeyed.

Proclamation of 1763. McMaster, 110.

106. The King’s Proclamation of 1763.–In the same year
that the Parson’s Cause was decided the king issued a proclamation
which greatly lessened the rights of Virginia and several other
colonies to western lands. Some of the old charter lines, as those
of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, and the Carolinas had
extended to the Pacific Ocean. By the treaty of 1763 (p. 69) the
king, for himself and his subjects, abandoned all claim to lands
west of Mississippi River. Now in the Proclamation of 1763 he
forbade the colonial governors to grant any lands west of the
Alleghany Mountains. The western limit of Virginia and the
Carolinas was fixed. Their pioneers could not pass the mountains
and settle in the fertile valleys of the Ohio and its branches.

CHAPTER 12

TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION

George III.
George Grenville.
The British Parliament.

107. George III and George Grenville.–George III became
king in 1760. He was a narrow, stupid, well-meaning, ignorant young
man of twenty-one. He soon found in George Grenville a narrow,
dull, well-meaning lawyer, a man who would do what he was told. So
George Grenville became the head of the government. To him the law
was the law. If he wished to do a thing and could find the law for
it, he asked for nothing more. His military advisers told him that
an army must be kept in America for years. It was Grenville’s
business to find the money to support this army. Great Britain was
burdened with a national debt. The army was to be maintained,
partly, at least, for the protection of the colonists. Why should
they not pay a part of the cost of maintaining it? Parliament was
the supreme power in the British Empire. It controlled the king,
the church, the army, and the navy. Surely a Parliament that had
all this power could tax the colonists. At all events, Grenville
thought it could, and Parliament passed the Stamp Act to tax
them.

Taxation and representation.
Henry’s resolutions, 1765. Higginson, 161-164;
McMaster, 112-114.

108. Henry’s Resolutions, 1765.–The colonists, however,
with one voice, declared that Parliament had no power to tax them.
Taxes, they said, could be voted only by themselves or their
representatives. They were represented in their own colonial
assemblies, and nowhere else. Patrick Henry was now a member of the
Virginia assembly. He had just been elected for the first time. But
as none of the older members of the assembly proposed any action,
Henry tore a leaf from an old law-book and wrote on it a set of
resolutions. These he presented in a burning speech, upholding the
rights of the Virginians. He said that to tax them by act of
Parliament was tyranny. “Caesar and Tarquin had each his Brutus,
Charles I his Cromwell, and George III”–“Treason, treason,”
shouted the speaker. “May profit by their example,” slowly Henry
went on. “If that be treason, make the most of it.” The resolutions
were voted. In them the Virginians declared that they were not
subject to Acts of Parliament laying taxes or interfering in the
internal affairs of Virginia.

HENRY’S FIRST AND LAST RESOLUTIONS (FACSIMILE OF THE ORIGINAL
DRAFT).

Opposition to the Stamp Act, 1765.
Higginson, 164-165; McMaster, 116.

109. Stamp Act Riots, 1765.–Until the summer of 1765 the
colonists contented themselves with passing resolutions. There was
little else that they could do. They could not refuse to obey the
law because it would not go into effect until November. They could
not mob the stamp distributers because no one knew their names. In
August the names of the stamp distributers were published. Now at
last it was possible to do something besides passing resolutions.
In every colony the people visited the stamp officers and told them
to resign. If they refused, they were mobbed until they resigned.
In Boston the rioters were especially active. They detested Thomas
Hutchinson. He was lieutenant-governor and chief justice and had
been active in enforcing the navigation acts. The rioters attacked
his house. They broke his furniture, destroyed his clothing, and
made a bonfire of his books and papers.

Colonial congresses.
Albany Congress, 1754.
Stamp Act Congress, 1765.

110. The Stamp Act Congress, 1765.–Colonial congresses
were no new thing. There had been many meetings of governors and
delegates from colonial assemblies. The most important of the early
congresses was the Albany Congress of 1754. It was important
because it proposed a plan of union. The plan was drawn up by
Benjamin Franklin. But neither the king nor the colonists liked it,
and it was not adopted. All these earlier congresses had been
summoned by the king’s officers to arrange expeditions against the
French or to make treaties with the Indians. The Stamp Act Congress
was summoned by the colonists to protest against the doings of king
and Parliament.

[Illustration: PATRICK HENRY “I am not a Virginian, but an
American.”]

Declaration of the Rights and Grievances of the
Colonists, 1765. McMaster, 115.

111. Work of the Stamp Act Congress.–Delegates from nine
colonies met at New York in October, 1765. They drew up a
“Declaration of the Rights and Grievances of the Colonists.” In
this paper they declared that the colonists, as subjects of the
British king, had the same rights as British subjects living in
Britain, and were free from taxes except those to which they had
given their consent. They claimed for themselves the right of trial
by jury–which might be denied under the Stamp Act. But the most
important thing about the congress was the fact that nine colonies
had put aside their local jealousies and had joined in holding
it.

Benjamin Franklin.
Examined by the House of Commons.

112. Franklin’s Examination.–Born in Boston, Benjamin
Franklin ran away from home and settled at Philadelphia. By great
exertion and wonderful shrewdness he rose from poverty to be one of
the most important men in the city and colony. He was a printer, a
newspaper editor, a writer, and a student of science. With kite and
string he drew down the lightning from the clouds and showed that
lightning was a discharge of electricity. He was now in London as
agent for Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. His scientific and
literary reputation gave him great influence. He was examined at
the bar of the House of Commons. Many questions and answers were
arranged beforehand between Franklin and his friends in the House.
But many questions were answered on the spur of the moment. Before
the passage of the Stamp Act the feeling of the colonists toward
Britain had been “the best in the world.” So Franklin declared. But
now, he said, it was greatly altered. Still an army sent to America
would find no rebellion there. It might, indeed, make one. In
conclusion, he said the repeal of the act would not make the
colonists any more willing to pay taxes.

Fall of Grenville.
Repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766.
The Declaratory Act, 1766.

113. Repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766.–It chanced that at
this moment George III and George Grenville fell out. The king
dismissed the minister, and gave the Marquis of Rockingham the
headship of a new set of ministers. Now Rockingham and his friends
needed aid from somebody to give them the strength to outvote
Grenville and the Tories. So when the question of what should be
done about the Stamp Act came up, they listened most attentively to
what Mr. Pitt had to say. That great man said that the Stamp Act
should be repealed wholly and at once. At the same time another law
should be passed declaring that Parliament had power to legislate
for the colonies in all cases whatsoever. The Rockinghams at once
did as Mr. Pitt suggested. The Stamp Act was repealed. The
Declaratory Act was passed. In the colonies Pitt was praised as a
deliverer. Statues of him were placed in the streets, pictures of
him were hung in public halls. But, in reality, the passage of the
Declaratory Act was the beginning of more trouble.

The Chatham Ministry.
The Townshend Acts, 1767. McMaster, 117-118.

114. The Townshend Acts, 1767.–The Rockingham ministers
did what Mr. Pitt advised them to do. He then turned them out and
made a ministry of his own. He was now Earl of Chatham, and his
ministry was the Chatham Ministry. The most active of the Chatham
ministers was Charles Townshend. He had the management of the
finances and found them very hard to manage. So he hit upon a
scheme of laying duties on wine, oil, glass, lead, painter’s
colors, and tea imported into the colonies. Mr. Pitt had said that
Parliament could regulate colonial trade. The best way to regulate
trade was to tax it. At the same time that Townshend brought in
this bill, he brought in others to reorganize the colonial customs
service and make it possible to collect the duties. He even
provided that offences against the revenue laws should be tried by
judges appointed directly by the king, without being submitted to a
jury of any kind.

The Sugar Act.
Enforcement of the Navigation Acts.

115. Colonial Opposition, 1768.–Many years before this,
Parliament had made a law taxing all sugar brought into the
continental colonies, except sugar that had been made in the
British West Indies. Had this law been carried out, the trade of
Massachusetts and other New England colonies would have been
ruined. But the law was not enforced. No one tried to enforce it,
except during the few months of vigor at the time of the arguments
about writs of assistance. As the taxes were not collected, no one
cared whether they were legal or not. Now it was plain that this
tax and the Townshend duties were to be collected. The
Massachusetts House of Representatives drew up a circular letter to
the other colonial assemblies asking them to join in opposing the
new taxes. The British government ordered the House to recall the
letter. It refused and was dissolved. The other colonial assemblies
were directed to take no notice of the circular letter. They
replied at the first possible moment and were dissolved.

Seizure of the sloop Liberty, 1768.

116. The New Customs Officers at Boston, 1768.–The chief
office of the new customs organization was fixed at Boston. Soon
John Hancock’s sloop, Liberty, sailed into the harbor with a
cargo of Madeira wine. As Hancock had no idea of paying the duty,
the customs officers seized the sloop and towed her under the guns
of a warship which was in the harbor. Crowds of people now
collected. They could not recapture the Liberty. They seized
one of the war-ship’s boats, carried it to the Common, and had a
famous bonfire. All this confusion frightened the chief customs
officers. They fled to the castle in the harbor and wrote to the
government for soldiers to protect them.

ONE OF JOHN HANCOCK’S BILL-HEADS.

Virginia Resolves, 1769.

117. The Virginia Resolves of 1769.–Parliament now asked
the king to have colonists, accused of certain crimes, brought to
England for trial. This aroused the Virginians. They passed a set
of resolutions, known as the Virginia Resolves of 1769. These
resolves asserted: (1) that the colonists only had the right to tax
the colonists; (2) that the colonists had the right to petition
either by themselves or with the people of other colonies; and (3)
that no colonist ought to be sent to England for trial.

Non-Importation Agreements, 1769.
Partial repeal of the Townshend Acts, 1770.

118. Non-Importation Agreements, 1769.–When he learned
what was going on, the governor of Virginia dissolved the assembly.
But the members met in the Raleigh tavern near by. There George
Washington laid before them a written agreement to use no British
goods upon which duties had been paid. They all signed this
agreement. Soon the other colonies joined Virginia in the
Non-Importation Agreement. English merchants found their trade
growing smaller and smaller. They could not even collect their
debts, for the colonial merchants said that trade in the colonies
was so upset by the Townshend Acts that they could not sell their
goods, or collect the money owing to them. The British merchants
petitioned Parliament to repeal the duties, and Parliament answered
them by repealing all the duties except the tax on tea.

THE “RALEIGH TAVERN”.

CHAPTER 13

REVOLUTION IMPENDING

The British soldiers at New York.
Soldiers sent to Boston, 1768.

119. The Soldiers at New York and Boston.–Soldiers had
been stationed at New York ever since the end of the French war
because that was the most central point on the coast. The New
Yorkers did not like to have the soldiers there very well, because
Parliament expected them to supply the troops with certain things
without getting any money in return. The New York Assembly refused
to supply them, and Parliament suspended the Assembly’s sittings.
In 1768 two regiments came from New York to Boston to protect the
customs officers.

The Boston Massacre, 1770. Higginson,
166-169; McMaster, 118.

120. The Boston Massacre, 1770.–There were not enough
soldiers at Boston to protect the customs officers–if the
colonists really wished to hurt them. There were quite enough
soldiers at Boston to get themselves and the colonists into
trouble. On March 5, 1770, a crowd gathered around the soldiers
stationed on King’s Street, now State Street. There was snow on the
ground, and the boys began to throw snow and mud at the soldiers.
The crowd grew bolder. Suddenly the soldiers fired on the people.
They killed four colonists and wounded several more. Led by Samuel
Adams, the people demanded the removal of the soldiers to the fort
in the harbor. Hutchinson was now governor. He offered to send one
regiment out of the town. “All or none,” said Adams, and all were
sent away.

Town Committees of Correspondence.
Colonial Committees of Correspondence, 1769.

121. Committees of Correspondence.–Up to this time the
resistance of the colonists had been carried on in a haphazard sort
of way. Now Committees of Correspondence began to be appointed.
These committees were of two kinds. First there were town
Committees of Correspondence. These were invented by Samuel Adams
and were first appointed in Massachusetts. But more important were
the colonial Committees of Correspondence. The first of these was
appointed by Virginia in 1769. At first few colonies followed
Massachusetts and Virginia in appointing committees. But as one act
of tyranny succeeded another, other colonies fell into line. By
1775 all the colonies were united by a complete system of
Committees of Correspondence.

The tax on tea. McMaster, 119.

122. The Tea Tax.–Of all the Townshend duties only the
tax on tea was left. It happened that the British East India
Company had tons of tea in its London storehouses and was greatly
in need of money. The government told the company that it might
send tea to America without paying any taxes in England, but the
three-penny colonial tax would have to be paid in the colonies. In
this way the colonists would get their tea cheaper than the people
of England. But the colonists were not to be bribed into paying the
tax in any such way. The East India Company sent over ship-loads of
tea. The tea ships were either sent back again or the tea was
stored in some safe place where no one could get it.

Boston Tea Party, 1773. Higginson, 171-173;
Eggleston, 165; Source-Book, 137.

123. The Boston Tea Party, 1773.–In Boston things did
not go so smoothly. The agents of the East India Company refused to
resign. The collector of the customs refused to give the ships
permission to sail away before the tea was landed. Governor
Hutchinson refused to give the ship captains a pass to sail by the
fort until the collector gave his permission. The commander at the
fort refused to allow the ships to sail out of the harbor until
they had the necessary papers. The only way to get rid of the tea
was to destroy it. A party of patriots, dressed as Indians, went on
board of the ships as they lay at the wharf, broke open the tea
boxes, and threw the tea into the harbor.

Repressive acts, 1774. McMaster, 120.

124. Punishment of Massachusetts, 1774.–The British
king, the British government, and the mass of the British people
were furious when they found that the Boston people had made “tea
with salt water.” Parliament at once went to work passing acts to
punish the colonists. One act put an end to the constitution of
Massachusetts. Another act closed the port of Boston so tightly
that the people could not bring hay from Charlestown to give to
their starving horses. A third act provided that soldiers who fired
on the people should be tried in England. And a fourth act
compelled the colonists to feed and shelter the soldiers employed
to punish them.

The colonists aid Massachusetts. Higginson,
174-177.
George Washington.

125. Sympathy with the Bostonians.–King George thought
he could punish the Massachusetts people as much as he wished
without the people of the other colonies objecting. It soon
appeared that the people of the other colonies sympathized most
heartily with the Bostonians. They sent them sheep and rice. They
sent them clothes. George Washington was now a rich man. He offered
to raise a thousand men with his own money, march with them to
Boston, and rescue the oppressed people from their oppressors. But
the time for war had not yet come although it was not far off.

The Quebec Act, 1774.

126. The Quebec Act, 1774.–In the same year that
Parliament passed the four acts to punish Massachusetts, it passed
another act which affected the people of other colonies as well as
those of Massachusetts. This was the Quebec Act. It provided that
the land between the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Great Lakes
should be added to the Province of Quebec. Now this land was
claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and
Virginia. These colonies were to be deprived of their rights to
land in that region. The Quebec Act also provided for the
establishment of a very strong government in that province. This
seemed to be an attack on free institutions. All these things drove
the colonists to unite. They resolved to hold a congress where the
leaders of the several continental colonies might talk over matters
and decide what should be done.

The First Continental Congress, 1774.

127. The First Continental Congress, 1774.–The members
of the Continental Congress met in Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia,
in September, 1774. Never, except in the Federal Convention (p.
137), have so many great men met together. The greatest delegation
was that from Virginia. It included George Washington, Patrick
Henry, and Richard Henry Lee. From Massachusetts came the two
Adamses, John and Samuel. From New York came John Jay. From
Pennsylvania came John Dickinson. Of all the greatest Americans
only Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were absent.

[Illustration: CARPENTER’S HALL, PHILADELPHIA.]

The American Association, 1774.

128. The American Association, 1774.–It soon became
clear that the members of the Congress were opposed to any hasty
action. They were not willing to begin war with Great Britain.
Instead of so doing they adopted a Declaration of Rights and formed
the American Association. The Declaration of Rights was of slight
importance. But the Association was of great importance, as the
colonies joining it agreed to buy no more British goods. This
policy was to be carried out by the Committees of Correspondence.
Any colony refusing to join the Association should be looked upon
as hostile “to the liberties of this country,” and treated as an
enemy. The American Association was the real beginning of the
American Union.

Resistance throughout the colonies 1774-75.

129. The Association carried out, 1774-75.–It was soon
evident that Congress in forming the Association had done precisely
what the people wished to have done. For instance, in Virginia
committees were chosen in every county. They examined the
merchants’ books. They summoned before them persons suspected of
disobeying “the laws of Congress.” Military companies were formed
in every county and carried out the orders of the committees. The
ordinary courts were entirely disregarded. In fact, the royal
government had come to an end in the Old Dominion.

Parliament punishes Massachusetts, 1774-75.

130. More Punishment for Massachusetts, 1774-75.–George
III and his ministers refused to see that the colonies were
practically united. On the contrary, they determined to punish the
people of Massachusetts still further. Parliament passed acts
forbidding the Massachusetts fishermen to catch fish and forbidding
the Massachusetts traders to trade with the people of Virginia,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and all foreign countries. The
Massachusetts colonists were rebels, they should be treated as
rebels. General Gage was given more soldiers and ordered to crush
the rebellion.

General Gage.
Opposed by the Massachusetts people.

131. Gage in Massachusetts, 1774-75.–General Gage found
he had a good deal to do before he could begin to crush the
rebellion. He had to find shelter for his soldiers. He also had to
find food for them. The Boston carpenters would not work for him.
He had to bring carpenters from Halifax and New York to do his
work. The farmers of eastern Massachusetts were as firm as the
Boston carpenters. They would not sell food to General Gage. So he
had to bring food from England and from Halifax. He managed to buy
or seize wood to warm the soldiers and hay to feed his horses. But
the boats bringing these supplies to Boston were constantly upset
in a most unlooked-for way. The colonists, on their part, elected a
Provincial Congress to take the place of the regular government.
The militia was reorganized, and military stores gathered
together.

[Illustration: APRIL 19, 1775, DRAWN AND ENGRAVED BY TWO MEN WHO
TOOK PART IN THE ACTION. Reproduced through the courtesy of Rev. E.
G. Porter.]

Lexington and Concord, 1775. Higginson,
178-183; McMaster, 126-128; Source-Book, 144-146.

132. Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775.–Gage had
said that with ten thousand men he could march all over
Massachusetts. In April, 1775, he began to crush the rebellion by
sending a strong force to Concord to destroy stores which his spies
told him had been collected there. The soldiers began their march
in the middle of the night. But Paul Revere and William Dawes were
before them. “The regulars are coming,” was the cry. At Lexington,
the British found a few militiamen drawn up on the village green.
Some one fired and a few Americans were killed. On the British
marched to Concord. By this time the militiamen had gathered in
large numbers. It was a hot day. The regulars were tired. They
stopped to rest. Some of the militiamen attacked the regulars at
Concord, and when the British started on their homeward march, the
fighting began in earnest. Behind every wall and bit of rising
ground were militiamen. One soldier after another was shot down and
left behind. At Lexington the British met reinforcements, or they
would all have been killed or captured. Soon they started again.
Again the fighting began. It continued until the survivors reached
a place of safety under the guns of the warships anchored off
Charlestown. The Americans camped for the night at Cambridge and
began the siege of Boston.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 11

§ 103.–a. Name some instances which illustrate
England’s early policy toward its colonies.

b. Explain the later change of policy, giving reasons for
it.

§§ 104, 105.–a. What reasons did Otis give for
his opposition to the writs of assistance? Why are such writs
prohibited by the Constitution of the United States?

b. What is a veto? What right had the King of Great
Britain to veto a Virginia law? Which side really won in the
Parson’s Cause?

§ 106.–What colonies claimed land west of the Alleghany
Mountains? How did the king interfere with these claims?

CHAPTER 12

§§ 107-109.–a. What reasons were given for
keeping an army in America?

b. What is meant by saying that Parliament was “the
supreme power in the British Empire”?

c. Is a stamp tax a good kind of tax?

d. Explain carefully the colonists’ objections to the
Stamp Act of 1765. Do the same objections hold against the present
Stamp tax?

§§ 110-113.–a. Explain the difference between
the Stamp Act Congress and the earlier Congress.

b. What did the Stamp Act Congress do?

c. Give an account of Franklin. What did Franklin say
about the feeling in the colonies?

d. Explain carefully the causes which led to the repeal
of the Stamp Act.

e. Can the taxing power and the legislative power be
separated? What is the case to-day in your own state? In the United
States?

§§ 114-116.–a. How did Townshend try to raise
money? How did this plan differ from the Stamp tax?

b. What was the Massachusetts Circular Letter? Why was it
important?

c. What was the result of the seizure of the
Liberty?

§§ 117, 118.–a. What were the Virginia
Resolves of 1769? Why were they passed?

b. What were the Non-importation agreements?

c. What action did the British merchants take? What
results followed?

CHAPTER 13

§§ 119, 120.–a. Why were the soldiers
stationed at New York? At Boston?

b. Describe the trouble at Boston. Why is it called a
massacre?

§§ 121-123.–a. What was the work of a
Committee of Correspondence?

b. What did the British government hope to accomplish in
the tea business? Why did the colonists refuse to buy the tea?

c. Why was the destruction of the tea at Boston
necessary?

§§ 124-126.–a. How did Parliament punish the
colonists of Massachusetts and Boston? Which of these acts was most
severe? Why?

b. What effect did these laws have on Massachusetts? On
the other colonies?

c. Explain the provisions of the Quebec Act.

d. How would this act affect the growth of the
colonies?

§§ 127-129.–a. What was the object of the
Continental Congress?

b. Why was the Association so important?

c. How was the idea of the Association carried out?

d. What government did the colonies really have?

§§ 130-132.–a. What is a rebel? Were the
Massachusetts colonists rebels?

b. Describe General Gage’s difficulties.

c. What was the result of Gage’s attempt to seize the
arms at Concord?

GENERAL QUESTIONS

a. Arrange, with dates, all the acts of the British
government which offended the colonists.

b. Arrange, with dates, all the important steps which led
toward union. Why are these steps important?

c. Give the chief causes of the Revolution and explain
why you select these.

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

a. The early life of Benjamin Franklin (Franklin’s
Autobiography).

b. The early life of George Washington (Scudder’s
Washington).

c. The Boston Tea Party (Fiske’s War of
Independence).

d. The Nineteenth of April, 1775 (Fiske’s War of
Independence; Lossing’s Field-Book).

SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER

This section is not only the most important but the most
difficult of any so far considered. Its successful teaching
requires more preparation than any earlier section. The teacher is
advised carefully to peruse Channing’s Students’ History,
ch. iv, and to state in simple, clear language, the difference
between the ideas on representation which prevailed in England and
in the colonies. Another point to make clear is the legal supremacy
of Parliament. The outbreak was hastened by the stupid use of legal
rights which the supremacy of Parliament placed in the hands of
Britain’s rulers, who acted often in defiance of the real public
opinion of the mass of the inhabitants of Great Britain.

V

THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, 1775-1783

Books for Study and Reading

References.–Fiske’s War of Independence; Higginson’s
Larger History, 249-293; McMaster’s With the
Fathers.

Home Readings.–Scudder’s Washington; Holmes’s
Grandmother’s Story of Bunker Hill; Cooper’s Lionel
Lincoln (Bunker Hill); Cooper’s Spy (campaigns around
New York); Cooper’s Pilot (the war on the sea); Drake’s
Burgoyne’s Invasion; Coffin’s Boys of ’76; Abbot’s
Blue Jackets of ’76; Abbot’s Paul Jones, Lossing’s
Two Spies.

CHAPTER 14

BUNKER HILL TO TRENTON

Advantages of the British.

133. Advantages of the British.–At first sight it seems
as if the Americans were very foolish to fight the British. There
were five or six times as many people in the British Isles as there
were in the continental colonies. The British government had a
great standing army. The Americans had no regular army. The British
government had a great navy. The Americans had no navy. The British
government had quantities of powder, guns, and clothing, while the
Americans had scarcely any military stores of any kind. Indeed,
there were so few guns in the colonies that one British officer
thought if the few colonial gunsmiths could be bribed to go away,
the Americans would have no guns to fight with after a few months
of warfare.

GRAND UNION FLAG.
Hoisted at Cambridge, January, 1776. The British Union and thirteen
stripes.

Advantages of the Americans.

134. Advantages of the Americans.–All these things were
clearly against the Americans. But they had some advantages on
their side. In the first place, America was a long way off from
Europe. It was very difficult and very costly to send armies to
America, and very difficult and very costly to feed the soldiers
when they were fighting in America. In the second place, the
Americans usually fought on the defensive and the country over
which the armies fought was made for defense. In New England hill
succeeded hill. In the Middle states river succeeded river. In the
South wilderness succeeded wilderness. In the third place, the
Americans had many great soldiers. Washington, Greene, Arnold,
Morgan, and Wayne were better soldiers than any in the British
army.

The Loyalists.

135. Disunion among the Americans.–We are apt to think
of the colonists as united in the contest with the British. In
reality the well-to-do, the well-born, and the well-educated
colonists were as a rule opposed to independence. The opponents of
the Revolution were strongest in the Carolinas, and were weakest in
New England.

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

Boston and neighborhood, 1775-76.
Importance of Dorchester and Charlestown.

136. Siege of Boston.–It was most fortunate that the
British army was at Boston when the war began, for Boston was about
as bad a place for an army as could be found. In those days Boston
was hardly more than an island connected with the mainland by a
strip of gravel. Gage built a fort across this strip of ground. The
Americans could not get in. But they built a fort at the landward
end, and the British could not get out. On either side of Boston
was a similar peninsula. One of these was called Dorchester
Heights; the other was called Charlestown. Both overlooked Boston.
To hold that town, Gage must possess both Dorchester and
Charlestown. If the Americans could occupy only one of these, the
British would have to abandon Boston. At almost the same moment
Gage made up his mind to seize Dorchester, and the Americans
determined to occupy the Charlestown hills. The Americans moved
first, and the first battle was fought for the Charlestown
hills.

[Illustration: A POWDER-HORN USED AT BUNKER HILL.]

Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775. Higginson,
183-188; McMaster, 129-130.

137. Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775.–When the seamen on the
British men-of-war waked up on the morning of June 17, the first
thing they saw was a redoubt on the top of one of the Charlestown
hills. The ships opened fire. But in spite of the balls Colonel
Prescott walked on the top of the breastwork while his men went on
digging. Gage sent three or four thousand men across the Charles
River to Charlestown to drive the daring Americans away. It took
the whole morning to get them to Charlestown, and then they had to
eat their dinner. This delay gave the Americans time to send aid to
Prescott. Especially went Stark and his New Hampshire men, who
posted themselves behind a breastwork of fence rails and hay. At
last the British soldiers marched to the attack. When they came
within good shooting distance, Prescott gave the word to fire. The
British line stopped, hesitated, broke, and swept back. Again the
soldiers marched to the attack, and again they were beaten back.
More soldiers came from Boston, and a third time a British line
marched up the hill. This time it could not be stopped, for the
Americans had no more powder. They had to give up the hill and
escape as well as they could. One-half of the British soldiers
actually engaged in the assaults were killed or wounded. The
Americans were defeated. But they were encouraged and were willing
to sell Gage as many hills as he wanted at the same price.

[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A REVOLUTIONARY POSTER.]

Washington takes command of the army, 1775.
Higginson, 188-193.
Seizure of Ticonderoga and Crown Point.
Evacuation of Boston, 1776.

138. Washington in Command, July, 1775.–The Continental
Congress was again sitting at Philadelphia. It took charge of the
defense of the colonies. John Adams named Washington for
commander-in-chief, and he was elected. Washington took command of
the army on Cambridge Common, July 3, 1775. He found everything in
confusion. The soldiers of one colony were jealous of the soldiers
of other colonies. Officers who had not been promoted were jealous
of those who had been promoted. In the winter the army had to be
made over. During all this time the people expected Washington to
fight. But he had not powder enough for half a battle. At last he
got supplies in the following way. In the spring of 1775 Ethan
Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, with the help of the people of
western Massachusetts and Connecticut, had captured Ticonderoga and
Crown Point. These forts were filled with cannon and stores left
from the French campaigns. Some of the cannon were now dragged by
oxen over the snow and placed in the forts around Boston. Captain
Manley, of the Massachusetts navy, captured a British brig loaded
with powder. Washington now could attack. He seized and held
Dorchester Heights. The British could no longer stay in Boston.
They went on board their ships and sailed away (March, 1776).

[Illustration: SITE OF TICONDEROGA.]

The Canada expedition, 1775-76.
Assault on Quebec.

139. Invasion of Canada, 1775-76.–While the siege of
Boston was going on, the Americans undertook the invasion of
Canada. There were very few regular soldiers in Canada in 1775, and
the Canadians were not likely to fight very hard for their British
masters. So the leaders in Congress thought that if an American
force should suddenly appear before Quebec, the town might
surrender. Montgomery, with a small army, was sent to capture
Montreal and then to march down the St. Lawrence to Quebec.
Benedict Arnold led another force through the Maine woods. After
tremendous exertions and terrible sufferings he reached Quebec. But
the garrison had been warned of his coming. He blockaded the town
and waited for Montgomery. The garrison was constantly increased,
for Arnold was not strong enough fully to blockade the town. At
last Montgomery arrived. At night, amidst a terrible snowstorm,
Montgomery and Arnold led their brave followers to the attack. They
were beaten back with cruel loss. Montgomery was killed, and Arnold
was severely wounded. In the spring of 1776 the survivors of this
little band of heroes were rescued–at the cost of the lives of
five thousand American soldiers.

ARNOLD’S MARCH.

Strength of Charleston.
Fort Moultrie.
Attack on Fort Moultrie, 1776.
Success of the defense

140. British Attack on Charleston, 1776.–In June 1776 a
British fleet and army made an attack on Charleston, South
Carolina. This town has never been taken by attack from the sea.
Sand bars guard the entrance of the harbor and the channels through
these shoals lead directly to the end of Sullivan’s Island. At that
point the Americans built a fort of palmetto logs and sand. General
Moultrie commanded at the fort and it was named in his honor, Fort
Moultrie. The British fleet sailed boldly in, but the balls from
the ships’ guns were stopped by the soft palmetto logs. At one time
the flag was shot away and fell down outside the fort. But Sergeant
Jasper rushed out, seized the broken staff, and again set it up on
the rampart. Meantime, General Clinton had landed on an island and
was trying to cross with his soldiers to the further end of
Sullivan’s Island. But the water was at first too shoal for the
boats. The soldiers jumped overboard to wade. Suddenly the water
deepened, and they had to jump aboard to save themselves from
drowning. All this time Americans were firing at them from the
beach. General Clinton ordered a retreat. The fleet also sailed
out–all that could get away–and the whole expedition was
abandoned.

[Illustration: GENERAL MOULTRIE.]

Defense of New York, 1776.
Battle of Long Island, 1776.
Escape of the Americans.

141. Long Island and Brooklyn Heights, 1776.–The very
day that the British left Boston, Washington ordered five regiments
to New York. For he well knew that city would be the next point of
attack. But he need not have been in such a hurry. General Howe,
the new British commander-in-chief, sailed first to Halifax and did
not begin the campaign in New York until the end of August. He then
landed his soldiers on Long Island and prepared to drive the
Americans away. Marching in a round-about way, he cut the American
army in two and captured one part of it. This brought him to the
foot of Brooklyn Heights. On the top was a fort. Probably Howe
could easily have captured it. But he had led in the field at
Bunker Hill and had had enough of attacking forts defended by
Americans. So he stopped his soldiers–with some difficulty. That
night the wind blew a gale, and the next day was foggy. The British
fleet could not sail into the East River. Skillful fishermen safely
ferried the rest of the American army across to New York. When at
length the British marched to the attack, there was no one left in
the fort on Brooklyn Heights.

Retreat from New York.
Washington crosses the Delaware.

142. From the Hudson to the Delaware, 1776.–Even now
with his splendid fleet and great army Howe could have captured the
Americans. But he delayed so long that Washington got away in
safety. Washington’s army was now fast breaking up. Soldiers
deserted by the hundreds. A severe action at White Plains only
delayed the British advance. The fall of Fort Washington on the end
of Manhattan Island destroyed all hope of holding anything near New
York. Washington sent one part of his army to secure the Highlands
of the Hudson. With the other part he retired across New Jersey to
the southern side of the Delaware River. The end of the war seemed
to be in sight. In December, 1776, Congress gave the sole direction
of the war to Washington and then left Philadelphia for a place of
greater safety.

Battle of Trenton, 1776. Higginson, 203;
Hero Tales, 45-55

143. Trenton, December 26, 1776.–Washington did not give
up. On Christmas night, 1776, he crossed the Delaware with a
division of his army. A violent snowstorm was raging, the river was
full of ice. But Washington was there in person, and the soldiers
crossed. Then the storm changed to sleet and rain. But on the
soldiers marched. When the Hessian garrison at Trenton looked about
them next morning they saw that Washington and Greene held the
roads leading inland from the town. Stark and a few soldiers–among
them James Monroe–held the bridge leading over the Assanpink to
the next British post. A few horsemen escaped before Stark could
prevent them. But all the foot soldiers were killed or captured. A
few days later nearly one thousand prisoners marched through
Philadelphia. They were Germans, who had been sold by their rulers
to Britain’s king to fight his battles. They were called Hessians
by the Americans because most of them came from the little German
state of Hesse Cassel.

[Illustration: Battle of Trenton.]

[Illustration: Battle of Princeton.]

Battle of Princeton, 1777. Source-Book,
149-151.

144. Princeton, January, 1777.–Trenton saved the
Revolution by giving the Americans renewed courage. General Howe
sent Lord Cornwallis with a strong force to destroy the Americans.
Washington with the main part of his army was now encamped on the
southern side of the Assanpink. Cornwallis was on the other bank at
Trenton. Leaving a few men to keep up the campfires, and to throw
up a slight fort by the bridge over the stream, Washington led his
army away by night toward Princeton. There he found several
regiments hastening to Cornwallis. He drove them away and led his
army to the highlands of New Jersey where he would be free from
attack. The British abandoned nearly all their posts in New Jersey
and retired to New York.

CHAPTER 15

THE GREAT DECLARATION AND THE FRENCH ALLIANCE

Rising spirit of independence, 1775-76.

145. Growth of the Spirit of Independence.–The year 1776
is even more to be remembered for the doings of Congress than it is
for the doings of the soldiers. The colonists loved England. They
spoke of it as home. They were proud of the strength of the British
empire, and glad to belong to it. But their feelings rapidly
changed when the British government declared them to be rebels,
made war upon them, and hired foreign soldiers to kill them. They
could no longer be subjects of George III. That was clear enough.
They determined to declare themselves to be independent. Virginia
led in this movement, and the chairman of the Virginia delegation
moved a resolution of independence. A committee was appointed to
draw up a declaration.

[Illustration: FIRST UNITED STATES FLAG. Adopted by Congress in
1777.]

The Great Declaration, adopted July 4, 1776.
Higginson, 194-201; McMaster, 131-135;
Source-Book, 147-149.
Signing of the Declaration, August 2, 1776.

146. The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.–The
most important members of this committee were Benjamin Franklin,
John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. Of these Jefferson was the
youngest, and the least known. But he had already drawn up a
remarkable paper called A Summary View of the Rights of British
America. The others asked him to write out a declaration. He
sat down without book or notes of any kind, and wrote out the Great
Declaration in almost the same form in which it now stands. The
other members of the committee proposed a few changes, and then
reported the declaration to Congress. There was a fierce debate in
Congress over the adoption of the Virginia resolution for
independence. But finally it was adopted. Congress then examined
the Declaration of Independence as reported by the committee. It
made a few changes in the words and struck out a clause condemning
the slave-trade. The first paragraph of the Declaration contains a
short, clear statement of the basis of the American system of
government. It should be learned by heart by every American boy and
girl, and always kept in mind. The Declaration was adopted on July
4, 1776. A few copies were printed on July 5, with the signatures
of John Hancock and Charles Thompson, president and secretary of
Congress. On August 2, 1776, the Declaration was signed by the
members of Congress.

[Illustration: Battle of Brandywine.]

Battle of Brandywine 1777. McMaster,
137-138.
Battle of Germantown, 1777.

147. The Loss of Philadelphia, 1777.–For some months
after the battle of Princeton there was little fighting. But in the
summer of 1777, Howe set out to capture Philadelphia. Instead of
marching across New Jersey, he placed his army on board ships, and
sailed to Chesapeake Bay. As soon as Washington learned what Howe
was about, he marched to Chad’s Ford, where the road from
Chesapeake Bay to Philadelphia crossed Brandywine Creek. Howe moved
his men as if about to attempt to cross the ford. Meantime he sent
Cornwallis with a strong force to cross the creek higher up.
Cornwallis surprised the right wing of the American army, drove it
back, and Washington was compelled to retreat. Howe occupied
Philadelphia and captured the forts below the city. Washington
tried to surprise a part of the British army which was posted at
Germantown. But accidents and mist interfered. The Americans then
retired to Valley Forge–a strong place in the hills not far from
Philadelphia.

The army at Valley Forge, 1777-78.

[Illustration: “The Glorious WASHINGTON and GATES.” FROM
TITLE-PAGE OF AN ALMANAC OF 1778. To show condition of
wood-engraving in the Revolutionary era.]

Baron Steuben.

148. The Army at Valley Forge, 1777-78.–The sufferings
of the soldiers during the following winter can never be
overstated. They seldom had more than half enough to eat. Their
clothes were in rags. Many of them had no blankets. Many more had
no shoes. Washington did all he could do for them. But Congress had
no money and could not get any. At Valley Forge the soldiers were
drilled by Baron Steuben, a Prussian veteran. The army took the
field in 1778, weak in numbers and poorly clad. But what soldiers
there were were as good as any soldiers to be found anywhere in the
world. During that winter, also, an attempt was made to dismiss
Washington from chief command, and to give his place to General
Gates. But this attempt ended in failure.

Burgoyne’s campaign, 1777. Eggleston,
178-179; McMaster, 139-140; Source-Book, 154-157.
Schuyler and Gates.

149. Burgoyne’s March to Saratoga, 1777.–While Howe was
marching to Philadelphia, General Burgoyne was marching southward
from Canada. It had been intended that Burgoyne and Howe should
seize the line of the Hudson and cut New England off from the other
states. But the orders reached Howe too late, and he went southward
to Philadelphia. Burgoyne, on his part, was fairly successful at
first, for the Americans abandoned post after post. But when he
reached the southern end of Lake Champlain, and started on his
march to the Hudson, his troubles began. The way ran through a
wilderness. General Schuyler had had trees cut down across its
woodland paths and had done his work so well that it took Burgoyne
about a day to march a mile and a half. This gave the Americans
time to gather from all quarters and bar his southward way. But
many of the soldiers had no faith in Schuyler and Congress gave the
command to General Horatio Gates.

Battle of Bennington, 1777. Hero Tales,
59-67.

150. Bennington, 1777.–Burgoyne had with him many
cavalrymen. But they had no horses. The army, too, was sadly in
need of food. So Burgoyne sent a force of dismounted dragoons to
Bennington in southern Vermont to seize horses and food. It
happened, however, that General Stark, with soldiers from New
Hampshire, Vermont, and western Massachusetts, was nearer
Bennington than Burgoyne supposed. They killed or captured all the
British soldiers. They then drove back with great loss a second
party which Burgoyne had sent to support the first one.

Battle of Oriskany, 1777.

151. Oriskany, 1777.–Meantime St. Leger, with a large
body of Indians and Canadian frontiersmen, was marching to join
Burgoyne by the way of Lake Ontario and the Mohawk Valley. Near the
site of the present city of Rome in New York was Fort Schuyler,
garrisoned by an American force. St. Leger stopped to besiege this
fort. The settlers on the Mohawk marched to relieve the garrison
and St. Leger defeated them at Oriskany. But his Indians now grew
tired of the siege, especially when they heard that Arnold with a
strong army was coming. St. Leger marched back to Canada and left
Burgoyne to his fate.

First battle of Freeman’s Farm, 1777.
Second battle of Freeman’s Farm, 1777.
Surrender of the British at Saratoga, 1777.

152. Saratoga, 1777.–Marching southward, on the western
side of the Hudson, Burgoyne and his army came upon the Americans
in a forest clearing called Freeman’s Farm. Led by Daniel Morgan
and Benedict Arnold the Americans fought so hard that Burgoyne
stopped where he was and fortified the position. This was on
September 19. The American army posted itself near by on Bemis’
Heights. For weeks the two armies faced each other. Then, on
October 7, the Americans attacked. Again Arnold led his men to
victory. They captured a fort in the centre of the British line,
and Burgoyne was obliged to retreat. But when he reached the
crossing place of the Hudson, to his dismay he found a strong body
of New Englanders with artillery on the opposite bank. Gates had
followed the retiring British, and soon Burgoyne was practically
surrounded. His men were starving, and on October 17 he
surrendered.

The Treaty of Alliance, 1778.

153. The French Alliance, 1778.–Burgoyne’s defeat made
the French think that the Americans would win their independence.
So Dr. Franklin, who was at Paris, was told that France would
recognize the independence of the United States, would make
treaties with the new nation, and give aid openly. Great Britain at
once declared war on France. The French lent large sums of money to
the United States. They sent large armies and splendid fleets to
America. Their aid greatly shortened the struggle for independence.
But the Americans would probably have won without French aid.

The British leave Philadelphia 1778.
Battle of Monmouth, 1778.

154. Monmouth, 1778.–The first result of the French
alliance was the retreat of the British from Philadelphia to New
York. As Sir Henry Clinton, the new British commander, led his army
across the Jerseys, Washington determined to strike it a blow. This
he did near Monmouth. The attack was a failure, owing to the
treason of General Charles Lee, who led the advance. Washington
reached the front only in time to prevent a dreadful disaster. But
he could not bring about victory, and Clinton seized the first
moment to continue his march to New York. There were other
expeditions and battles in the North. But none of these had any
important effect on the outcome of the war.

[Illustration: Clark’s Campaign 1777-1778]

Clark’s conquest of the Northwest, 1778-79. Hero
Tales, 31-41.

155. Clark’s Western Campaign, 1778-79.–The Virginians
had long taken great interest in the western country. Their hardy
pioneers had crossed the mountains and begun the settlement of
Kentucky. The Virginians now determined to conquer the British
posts in the country northwest of the Ohio. The command was given
to George Rogers Clark. Gathering a strong band of hardy
frontiersmen he set out on his dangerous expedition. He seized the
posts in Illinois, and Vincennes surrendered to him. Then the
British governor of the Northwest came from Detroit with a large
force and recaptured Vincennes. Clark set out from Illinois to
surprise the British. It was the middle of the winter. In some
places the snow lay deep on the ground. Then came the early floods.
For days the Americans marched in water up to their waists. At
night they sought some little hill where they could sleep on dry
ground. Then on again through the flood. They surprised the British
garrison at Vincennes and forced it to surrender. That was the end
of the contest for the Northwest.

[Illustration: WEST POINT IN 1790.]

Benedict Arnold.
His treason, 1780 Higginson, 209-211; McMaster,
144

156. Arnold and André, 1780.–Of all the leaders
under Washington none was abler in battle than Benedict Arnold.
Unhappily he was always in trouble about money. He was distrusted
by Congress and was not promoted. At Saratoga he quarrelled with
Gates and was dismissed from his command. Later he became military
governor of Philadelphia and was censured by Washington for his
doings there. He then secured the command of West Point and offered
to surrender the post to the British. Major André, of
Clinton’s staff, met Arnold to arrange the final details. On his
return journey to New York André was arrested and taken
before Washington. The American commander asked his generals if
André was a spy. They replied that André was a spy,
and he was hanged. Arnold escaped to New York and became a general
in the British army.

CHAPTER 16

INDEPENDENCE

Invasion of the South.
Capture of Charleston, 1780.

157. Fall of Charleston, 1780.–It seemed quite certain
that Clinton could not conquer the Northern states with the forces
given him. In the South there were many loyalists. Resistance might
not be so stiff there. At all events Clinton decided to attempt the
conquest of the South. Savannah was easily seized (1778), and the
French and Americans could not retake it (1779). In the spring of
1780, Clinton, with a large army, landed on the coast between
Savannah and Charleston. He marched overland to Charleston and
besieged it from the land side. The Americans held out for a long
time. But they were finally forced to surrender. Clinton then
sailed back to New York, and left to Lord Cornwallis the further
conquest of the Carolinas.

Battle of Camden, 1780.

158. Gates’s Defeat at Camden, 1780.–Cornwallis had
little trouble in occupying the greater part of South Carolina.
There was no one to oppose him, for the American army had been
captured with Charleston. Another small army was got together in
North Carolina and the command given to Gates, the victor at
Saratoga. One night both Gates and Cornwallis set out to attack the
other’s camp. The two armies met at daybreak, the British having
the best position. But this really made little difference, for
Gates’s Virginia militiamen ran away before the British came within
fighting distance. The North Carolina militia followed the
Virginians. Only the regulars from Maryland and Delaware were left.
They fought on like heroes until their leader, General John De
Kalb, fell with seventeen wounds. Then the survivors surrendered.
Gates himself had been carried far to the rear by the rush of the
fleeing militia.

Battle of King’s Mountain, 1780. Hero Tales,
71-78.

159. King’s Mountain, October, 1780.–Cornwallis now
thought that resistance surely was at an end. He sent an expedition
to the settlements on the lower slopes of the Alleghany Mountains
to get recruits, for there were many loyalists in that region.
Suddenly from the mountains and from the settlements in Tennessee
rode a body of armed frontiersmen. They found the British soldiers
encamped on the top of King’s Mountain. In about an hour they had
killed or captured every British soldier.

[Illustration: THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGNS.]

General Greene.
Morgan’s victory of the Cowpens, 1781.

160. The Cowpens, 1781.–General Greene was now sent to
the South to take charge of the resistance to Cornwallis. A great
soldier and a great organizer Greene found that he needed all his
abilities. His coming gave new spirit to the survivors of Gates’s
army. He gathered militia from all directions and marched toward
Cornwallis. Dividing his army into two parts, he sent General
Daniel Morgan to threaten Cornwallis from one direction, while he
threatened him from another direction. Cornwallis at once became
uneasy and sent Tarleton to drive Morgan away, but the hero of many
hard-fought battles was not easily frightened. He drew up his
little force so skillfully that in a very few minutes the British
were nearly all killed or captured.

[Illustration: GENERAL MORGAN THE HERO OF COWPENS.]

Greene’s retreat.
The Battle of Guilford, 1781.

161. The Guilford Campaign, 1781.–Cornwallis now made a
desperate attempt to capture the Americans, but Greene and Morgan
joined forces and marched diagonally across North Carolina.
Cornwallis followed so closely that frequently the two armies
seemed to be one. When, however, the river Dan was reached, there
was an end of marching, for Greene had caused all the boats to be
collected at one spot. His men crossed and kept the boats on their
side of the river. Soon Greene found himself strong enough to cross
the river again to North Carolina. He took up a very strong
position near Guilford Court House. Cornwallis attacked. The
Americans made a splendid defense before Greene ordered a retreat,
and the British won the battle of Guilford. But their loss was so
great that another victory of the same kind would have destroyed
the British army. As it was, Greene had dealt it such a blow that
Cornwallis left his wounded at Guilford and set out as fast as he
could for the seacoast. Greene pursued him for some distance and
then marched southward to Camden.

Greene’s later campaigns, 1871-83.

162. Greene’s Later Campaigns.–At Hobkirk’s Hill, near
Camden, the British soldiers who had been left behind by Cornwallis
attacked Greene. But he beat them off and began the siege of a fort
on the frontier of South Carolina. The British then marched up from
Charleston, and Greene had to fall back. Then the British marched
back to Charleston and abandoned the interior of South Carolina to
the Americans. There was only one more battle in the South–at
Eutaw Springs. Greene was defeated there, too, but the British
abandoned the rest of the Carolinas and Georgia with the exception
of Savannah and Charleston. In these wonderful campaigns with a few
good soldiers Greene had forced the British from the Southern
states. He had lost every battle. He had won every campaign.

Lafayette and Cornwallis, 1781.

163. Cornwallis in Virginia, 1781.–There were already
two small armies in Virginia,–the British under Arnold, the
Americans under Lafayette. Cornwallis now marched northward from
Wilmington and added the troops in Virginia to his own force;
Arnold he sent to New York. Cornwallis then set out to capture
Lafayette and his men. Together they marched from salt water across
Virginia to the mountains–and then they marched back to salt water
again. Cornwallis had called Lafayette “the boy” and had declared
that “the boy should not escape him.” Finally Cornwallis fortified
Yorktown, and Lafayette settled down at Williamsburg. And there
they still were in September, 1781.

The French at Newport, 1780.
Plans of the allies, 1781.

164. Plans of the Allies.–In 1780 the French government
had sent over a strong army under Rochambeau. It was landed at
Newport. It remained there a year to protect the vessels in which
it had come from France from capture by a stronger British fleet
that had at once appeared off the mouth of the harbor. Another
French fleet and another French army were in the West Indies. In
the summer of 1781 it became possible to unite all these French
forces, and with the Americans to strike a crushing blow at the
British. Just at this moment Cornwallis shut himself up in
Yorktown, and it was determined to besiege him there.

THE UNITED STATES IN 1783.

The Siege of Yorktown.

The march to the Chesapeake.
Combat between the French and the British fleets.
Surrender of Yorktown, October 19, 1781. Higginson,
211-212.

165. Yorktown, September-October, 1781.–Rochambeau led
his men to New York and joined the main American army. Washington
now took command of the allied forces. He pretended that he was
about to attack New York and deceived Clinton so completely that
Clinton ordered Cornwallis to send some of his soldiers to New
York. But the allies were marching southward through Philadelphia
before Clinton realized what they were about. The French West India
fleet under De Grasse reached one end of the Chesapeake Bay at the
same time the allies reached the other end. The British fleet
attacked it and was beaten off. There was now no hope for
Cornwallis. No help could reach him by sea. The soldiers of the
allies outnumbered him two to one. On October 17, 1781, four years
to a day since the surrender of Burgoyne, a drummer boy appeared on
the rampart of Yorktown and beat a parley. Two days later the
British soldiers marched out to the good old British tune of “The
world turned upside down,” and laid down their arms.

Treaty of Peace, 1783.

166. Treaty of Peace, 1783.–This disaster put an end to
British hopes of conquering America. But it was not until
September, 1783, that Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay
brought the negotiations for peace to an end. Great Britain
acknowledged the independence of the United States. The territory
of the United States was defined as extending from the Great Lakes
to the thirty-first parallel of latitude and from the Atlantic to
the Mississippi. Spain had joined the United States and France in
the war. Spanish soldiers had conquered Florida, and Spain kept
Florida at the peace. In this way Spanish Florida and Louisiana
surrounded the United States on the south and the west. British
territory bounded the United States on the north and the
northeast.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 14

§§ 134-136.–a. Compare the advantages of the
British and the Americans. Which side had the greater
advantages?

b. Explain the influence of geographical surroundings
upon the war.

c. Why were there so many loyalists?

§§ 137-139.–a. Mold or draw a map of Boston
and vicinity and explain by it the important points of the
siege.

b. Who won the battle of Bunker Hill? What were the
effects of the battle upon the Americans? Upon the British?

c. Why was Washington appointed to chief command?

d. What were the effects of the seizure of Ticonderoga on
the siege of Boston?

§§ 140, 141.–a. Why did Congress determine to
attack Canada? b. Follow the routes of the two invading
armies. What was the result of the expedition?

c. Describe the harbor of Charleston. Why did the British
attack at this point?

d. What was the result of this expedition?

§§ 142, 143.–a. What advantage would the
occupation of New York give the British?

b. Describe the Long Island campaign.

c. Why did Congress give Washington sole direction of the
war? Who had directed the war before?

§§ 144, 145.–a. Describe the battle of
Trenton. Why is it memorable?

b. Who were the Hessians?

c. At the close of January, 1777, what places were held
by the British?

CHAPTER 15

§§146, 147.–a. What had been the feeling of
most of the colonists toward England? Why had this feeling
changed?

b. Why was Jefferson asked to write the Declaration?

c. What great change was made by Congress in the
Declaration? Why?

d. What truths are declared to be self-evident? Are they
still self-evident?

e. What is declared to be the basis of government? Is it
still the basis of government?

f. When was the Declaration adopted? When signed?

§§ 148, 149.–a. Describe Howe’s campaign of
1777.

b. What valuable work was done at Valley Forge?

§§ 150-153.–a. What was the object of
Burgoyne’s campaign? Was the plan a wise one from the British point
of view?

b. What do you think of the justice of removing
Schuyler?

c. How did the battle of Bennington affect the campaign?
What was the effect of St. Leger’s retreat to Canada?

d. Describe Arnold’s part in the battles near
Saratoga.

§§ 154, 155.–a. What was the effect of
Burgoyne’s surrender on Great Britain? On France? On America?

b. What were the results of the French alliance?

c. Describe the battle of Monmouth. Who was Charles
Lee?

§ 156.–a. Describe Clark’s expedition and mark on a
map the places named. b. How did this expedition affect the
later growth of the United States?

§ 157.–a. Describe Arnold’s career as a soldier to
1778. b. What is treason? c. Was there the least
injustice in the treatment of André?

Chapter 16

§§ 158, 159.–a. Why was the scene of action
transferred to the South? b. What places were captured?
c. Compare the British and American armies at Camden. What
was the result of this battle?

§§ 160-163.–a. Describe the battle of King’s
Mountain. b. What was the result of the battle of the
Cowpens? c. Follow the retreat of the Americans across North
Carolina. What events showed Greene’s foresight? d. What
were the results of the battle of Guilford? e. Compare the
outlook for the Americans in 1781 with that of 1780.

§§ 164-166. a. How did the British army get to
Yorktown? b. Describe the gathering of the Allied Forces.
c. Describe the surrender and note its effects on America,
France, and Great Britain.

§ 167.–a. Where were the negotiations for peace
carried on? b. Mark on a map the original territory of the
United States. c. How did Spain get the Floridas?

General Questions

a. When did the Revolution begin? When did it end?
b. Were the colonies independent when the Declaration of
Independence was adopted? c. Select any campaign and discuss
its objects, plan, the leading battles, and the results. d.
Follow Washington’s movements from 1775-82. e. What do you
consider the most decisive battle of the war? Why?

Topics For Special Work

a. Naval victories. b. Burgoyne’s campaign.
c. Greene as a general. d. Nathan Hale. e. The
peace negotiations.

Suggestions

The use of map or molding board should be constant during the
study of this period. Do not spend time on the details of battles,
but teach campaigns as a whole. In using the molding board the
movements of armies can be shown by colored pins.

The Declaration of Independence should be carefully studied,
especially the first portions. Finally, the territorial settlement
of 1783 should be thoroughly explained, using map or molding
board.

VI

The Critical Period, 1783-1789

Books for Study and Reading

References.–Higginson’s Larger History, 293-308;
Fiske’s Civil Government, 186-267; McMaster’s With the
Fathers.

Home Readings.–Fiske’s Critical Period, 144-231,
306-345; Captain Shays: A Populist of 1786.

Chapter 17

The Confederation, 1783-1787

Disunion and jealousy. Source-Book,
161-163.

167. Problems of Peace.–The war was over. But the future
of the American nation was still uncertain. Indeed, one can hardly
say that there was an American nation in 1783. While the war
lasted, a sense of danger bound together the people of the
different states. But as soon as this peril ceased, their old
jealousies and self-seekings came back. There was no national
government to smooth over these differences and to compel the
states to act justly toward one another. There was, indeed, the
Congress of the Confederation, but it is absurd to speak of it as a
national government.

Formation of the Articles of Confederation.
Weakness of the Confederation. McMaster, 163.

168. The Articles of Confederation, 1781.–The
Continental Congress began drawing up the Articles of Confederation
in June, 1776. But there were long delays, and each month’s delay
made it more impossible to form a strong government. It fell out in
this way that the Congress of the Confederation had no real power.
It could not make a state or an individual pay money or do anything
at all. In the course of a few years Congress asked the states to
give it over six million dollars to pay the debts and expenses of
the United States. It received about a million dollars and was
fortunate to get that.

Distress among the people.

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

Paper money.

170. Paper Money.–Most of the state legislatures did
what they were asked to do. They printed quantities of paper money.
They paid the public expenses with it, and sometimes lent it to
individuals without much security for its repayment. Before long
this paper money began to grow less valuable. For instance, on a
certain day a man could buy a bag of flour for five dollars. In
three months’ time a bag of flour might cost him ten dollars. Soon
it became difficult to buy flour for any number of paper
dollars.

Tender laws.

171 Tender Laws.–The people then clamored for “tender
laws.” These were laws which would make it lawful for them to
tender, or offer, paper money in exchange for flour or other
things. In some cases it was made lawful to tender paper money in
payments of debts which had been made when gold and silver were
still in use. The merchants now shut up their shops, and business
almost ceased. The lawyers only were busy. For those to whom money
was owed tried to get it paid before the paper money became utterly
worthless. The courts were crowded, and the prisons were filled
with poor debtors.

Stay laws.

172. Stay Laws.–Now the cry was for “stay laws.” These
were laws to prevent those to whom money was due from enforcing
their rights. These laws promptly put an end to whatever business
was left. The only way that any business could be carried on was by
barter. For example, a man who had a bushel of wheat that he did
not want for his family would exchange it for three or four bushels
of potatoes, or for four or five days of labor. In some states the
legislatures passed very severe laws to compel people to receive
paper money. In one state, indeed, no one could vote who would not
receive paper money.

[Illustration: STATE STREET, BOSTON, ABOUT 1790. The Boston
Massacre occurred near where the two-horse wagon stands.]

Disorder in Massachusetts.

173. Shays’s Rebellion, 1786-87.–In Massachusetts,
especially, the discontent was very great. The people were angry
with the judges for sending men to prison who did not pay their
debts. Crowds of armed men visited the judges and compelled them to
close the courts. The leader in this movement was Daniel Shays. He
even threatened to seize the United States Arsenal at Springfield.
By this time Governor Bowdoin and General Lincoln also had gathered
a small force of soldiers. In the midst of winter, through
snowstorms and over terrible roads, Lincoln marched with his men.
He drove Shays from place to place, captured his followers, and put
down the rebellion. There were risings in other states, especially
in North Carolina. But Shays’s Rebellion in Massachusetts was the
most important of them all, because it convinced the New Englanders
that a stronger national government was necessary.

CLAIMS AND CESSIONS.

Claims of the states to Western lands.
McMaster, 155.
Hero Tales, 19-28.
Opposition of Maryland and of other states.

174. Claims to Western Lands.–The Confederation seemed
to be falling to pieces. That it did not actually fall to pieces
was largely due to the fact that all the states were interested in
the settlement of the region northwest of the Ohio River. It will
be well to stop a moment and see how this came about. Under their
old charters Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, Carolina, and
Georgia had claims to lands west of the Alleghanies. Between 1763
and 1776 the British government had paid slight heed to these
claims (pp. 75, 89). But Daniel Boone and other colonists had
settled west of the mountains in what are now the states of
Kentucky and Tennessee. When the Revolution began the states having
claims to western lands at once put them forward, and New York also
claimed a right to about one-half of the disputed territory.
Naturally, the states that had no claims to these lands had quite
different views. The Marylanders, for example, thought that the
western lands should be regarded as national territory and used for
the common benefit. Maryland refused to join the Confederation
until New York had ceded her claims to the United States, and
Virginia had proposed a cession of the territory claimed by
her.

The states cede their claims to the United States.
McMaster, 159-160.

175. The Land Cessions.–In 1784 Virginia gave up her
claims to the land northwest of the Ohio River with the exception
of certain large tracts which she reserved for her veteran
soldiers. Massachusetts ceded her claims in 1785. The next year
(1786) Connecticut gave up her claims. But she reserved a large
tract of land directly west of Pennsylvania. This was called the
Connecticut Reserve or, more often, the Western Reserve. South
Carolina and North Carolina ceded their lands in 1787 and 1790, and
finally Georgia gave up her claims to western lands in 1802.

Reasons for the ordinance.
Passage of Ordinance of 1787. McMaster, 160-162;
Source-Book, 169-172.
Passage of Ordinance of 1787. McMaster, 160-162;
Source-Book, 169-172.

176. Passage of the Ordinance of 1787.–What should be
done with the lands which in this way had come into the possession
of the people of all the states? It was quite impossible to divide
these lands among the people of the thirteen states. They never
could have agreed as to the amount due to each state. In 1785
Congress took the first step. It passed a law or an ordinance for
the government of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio River. This
ordinance was imperfect, and few persons emigrated to the West.
There were many persons who wished to emigrate from the old states
to the new region. But they were unwilling to go unless they felt
sure that they would not be treated by Congress as the British
government had treated the people of the original states. Dr.
Cutler of Massachusetts laid these matters before Congress and did
his work so well that Congress passed a new ordinance. This was in
1787. The ordinance is therefore called the Ordinance of 1787. It
was so well suited to its purpose that nearly all the territories
of the United States have been settled and governed under its
provisions. It will be well to study this great document more at
length.

Provisions of the Ordinance of 1787.

177. The Ordinance of 1787.–In the first place the
ordinance provided for the formation of one territory to be called
the Territory Northwest of the Ohio. But it is more often called
the Northwest Territory or simply the Old Northwest. At first it
was to be governed by the persons appointed by Congress. But it was
further provided that when settlers should arrive in sufficient
numbers they should enjoy self-government. When fully settled the
territory should be divided into five states. These should be
admitted to the Confederation on a footing of equality with the
original states. The settlers in the territory should enjoy full
rights of citizenship. Education should be encouraged. Slavery
should never be permitted. This last provision is especially
important as it saved the Northwest to freedom. In this way a new
political organization was invented. It was called a territory. It
was really a colony; but it differed from all other colonies
because in time it would become a state on a footing of entire
equality with the parent states.

Chapter 18

Making Of The Constitution, 1787-1789

Weakness of the Confederation.
Meeting of the Federal Convention, 1787.

178. Necessity for a New Government.–At this very moment
a convention was making a constitution to put an end to the
Confederation itself. It was quite clear that something must be
done or the states soon would be fighting one another. Attempt
after attempt had been made to amend the Articles of Confederation
so as to give Congress more power. But every attempt had failed
because the consent of every state was required to amend the
Articles. And one state or another had objected to every amendment
that had been proposed. It was while affairs were in this condition
that the Federal Convention met at Philadelphia in May, 1787.

James Madison.

179. James Madison.–Of all the members of the
Convention, James Madison of Virginia best deserves the title of
Father of the Constitution. He drew up the Virginia plan which was
adopted as the basis of the new Constitution. He spoke convincingly
for the plan in the Convention. He did more than any one else to
secure the ratification of the Constitution by Virginia. He kept a
careful set of Notes of the debates of the Convention which
show us precisely how the Constitution was made. With Alexander
Hamilton and John Jay he wrote a series of papers which is called
the Federalist and is still the best guide to the
Constitution.

[Illustration: JAMES MADISON.]

Washington President of the Convention.
Franklin.

180. Other Fathers of the Constitution.–George
Washington was chosen President of the Convention. He made few
speeches. But the speeches that he made were very important. And
the mere fact that he approved the Constitution had a tremendous
influence throughout the country. The oldest man in the Convention
was Benjamin Franklin. His long experience in politics and in
diplomacy with his natural shrewdness had made him an unrivaled
manager of men. From all the states came able men. In fact, with
the exception of John Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and
Thomas Jefferson, the strongest men in political life were in the
Federal Convention. Never in the history of the world have so many
great political leaders, learned students of politics, and shrewd
business men gathered together. The result of their labors was the
most marvelous product of political wisdom that the world has ever
seen.

[Illustration: THE OLD STATE HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA. Meeting place
of the Continental Congress and of the Federal Convention–now
called Independence Hall.]

The Virginia plan.
Pinckney’s plan.
Vote for a national government.

181. Plans for a National Government.–As soon as the
Convention was in working order, Governor Randolph of Virginia
presented Madison’s plan for a “national” government. Charles
Pinckney of South Carolina also brought forward a plan. His scheme
was more detailed than was Madison’s plan. But, like it, it
provided for a government with “supreme legislative, executive, and
judicial powers.” On May 30 the Convention voted that a “national
government ought to be established, consisting of a supreme
Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary.” It next decided that the
legislative department should consist of two houses. But when the
delegates began to talk over the details, they began to
disagree.

The New Jersey plan.

182. Disagreement as to Representation.–The Virginia
plan proposed that representation in one branch of the new Congress
should be divided among the states according to the amount of money
each state paid into the national treasury, or according to the
number of the free inhabitants of each state. The Delaware
delegates at once said that they must withdraw. In June Governor
Patterson of New Jersey brought forward a plan which had been drawn
up by the delegates from the smaller states. It is always called,
however, the New Jersey plan. It proposed simply to amend the
Articles of Confederation so as to give Congress more power. After
a long debate the New Jersey plan was rejected.

[Illustration: Benjamin Franklin. “He snatched the lightning
from Heaven, and the sceptre from tyrants.” –TURGOT.]

Representation in the House of Representatives.
McMaster, 167.
Representation in the Senate.

183. The Compromise as to Representation.–The discussion
now turned on the question of representation in the two houses of
Congress. After a long debate and a good deal of excitement
Benjamin Franklin and Roger Sherman proposed a compromise. This
was, that members of the House of Representatives should be
apportioned among the states according to their population and
should be elected directly by the people. In the Senate they
proposed that each state, regardless of size, population, or
wealth, should have two members. The Senators, representing the
states, would fittingly be chosen by the state legislatures. It was
agreed that the states should be equally represented in the Senate.
But it was difficult to reach a conclusion as to the apportionment
of representatives in the House.

The federal ratio.

184. Compromise as to Apportionment.–Should the members
of the House of Representatives be distributed among the states
according to population? At first sight the answer seemed to be
perfectly clear. But the real question was, should slaves who had
no vote be counted as a part of the population? It was finally
agreed that the slaves should be counted at three-fifths of their
real number. This rule was called the “federal ratio.” The result
of this rule was to give the Southern slave states representation
in Congress out of all proportion to their voting population.

Power of Congress over commerce.
Restriction as to slave-trade.

185. Compromise as to the Slave-Trade.–When the subject
of the powers to be given to Congress came to be discussed, there
was even greater excitement. The Northerners wanted Congress to
have power to regulate commerce. But the Southerners opposed it
because they feared Congress would use this power to put an end to
the slave-trade. John Rutledge of South Carolina even went so far
as to say that unless this question was settled in favor of the
slaveholders, the slave states would “not be parties to the Union.”
In the end this matter also was compromised by providing that
Congress could not prohibit the slave-trade until 1808. These were
the three great compromises. But there were compromises on so many
smaller points that we cannot even mention them here.

[Illustration: SIGNING OF THE CONSTITUTION, SEPTEMBER 17, 1787.
From an early unfinished picture. This shows the arrangement of the
room and the sun behind Washington’s chair.]

Franklin’s prophecy.

186. Franklin’s Prophecy.–It was with a feeling of real
relief that the delegates finally came to the end of their labors.
As they were putting their names to the Constitution, Franklin
pointed to a rising sun that was painted on the wall behind the
presiding officer’s chair. He said that painters often found it
difficult to show the difference between a rising sun and a setting
sun. “I have often and often,” said the old statesman, “looked at
that behind the President, without being able to tell whether it
was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to
know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.” And so indeed it
has proved to be.

Strength of the Constitution. McMaster,
168-169.

187. The Constitution.–It will be well now to note some
of the points in which the new Constitution was unlike the old
Articles of Confederation. In the first place, the government of
the Confederation had to do only with the states; the new
government would deal directly with individuals. For instance, when
the old Congress needed money, it called on the states to give it.
If a state refused to give any money, Congress could
remonstrate–and that was all. The new government could order
individuals to pay taxes. Any one who refused to pay his tax would
be tried in a United States court and compelled to pay or go to
prison. In the second place the old government had almost no
executive powers. The new government would have a very strong
executive in the person of the President of the United States.

Interpretation of the Constitution.
John Marshall’s decisions.

188. The Supreme Court.–But the greatest difference of
all was to be found in the Supreme Court of the United States
provided in the Constitution. The new Congress would have very
large powers of making laws. But the words defining these powers
were very hard to understand. It was the duty of the Supreme Court
to say what these words meant. Now the judges of the Supreme Court
are very independent. It is almost impossible to remove a judge of
this court, and the Constitution provides that his salary cannot be
reduced while he holds office. It fell out that under the lead of
Chief Justice John Marshall the Supreme Court defined the doubtful
words in the Constitution so as to give the greatest amount of
power to the Congress of the United States. As the laws of the
United States are the supreme laws of the land, it will be seen how
important this action of the Supreme Court has been.

[Illustration: OPENING LINES OF THE CONSTITUTION.]

Opposition to the Constitution. Source-Book,
172-175.

189. Objections to the Constitution.–The great strength
of the Constitution alarmed many people. Patrick Henry declared
that the government under the new Constitution would be a national
government and not a federal government at all. Other persons
objected to the Constitution because it took the control of affairs
out of the hands of the people. For example, the Senators were to
be chosen by the state legislatures, and the President was to be
elected in a round-about way by presidential electors. Others
objected to the Constitution because there was no Bill of Rights
attached to it. They pointed out, for instance, that there was
nothing in the Constitution to prevent Congress from passing laws
to destroy the freedom of the press. Finally a great many people
objected to the Constitution because there was no provision in it
reserving to the states or to the people those powers that were not
expressly given to the new government.

[Illustration: CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.]

Opponents of the Constitution.
The first ten amendments.

190. The First Ten Amendments.–These defects seemed to
be so grave that patriots like Patrick Henry, R.H. Lee, Samuel
Adams, and John Hancock could not bring themselves to vote for its
adoption. Conventions of delegates were elected by the people of
the several states to ratify or to reject the Constitution. The
excitement was intense. It seemed as if the Constitution would not
be adopted. But a way was found out of the difficulty. It was
suggested that the conventions should consent to the adoption of
the Constitution, but should, at the same time, propose amendments
which would do away with many of these objections. This was done.
The first Congress under the Constitution and the state
legislatures adopted most of these amendments, and they became a
part of the Constitution. There were ten amendments in all, and
they should be studied as carefully as the Constitution itself is
studied.

Constitution adopted. Higginson, 216;
Source-Book, 175-180.

191. The Constitution Adopted, 1787-88.–In June, 1788,
New Hampshire and Virginia adopted the Constitution. They were the
ninth and tenth states to take this action. The Constitution
provided that it should go into effect when it should be adopted by
nine states, that is, of course, it should go into effect only
between those states. Preparations were now made for the
organization of the new government. But this took some time.
Washington was unanimously elected President, and was inaugurated
in April, 1789. By that time North Carolina and Rhode Island were
the only states which had not adopted the Constitution and come
under the “New Roof,” as it was called. In a year or two they
adopted it also, and the Union of the thirteen original states was
complete.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 17

§§ 168, 169.–a. What were the chief weaknesses
of the Confederation? Why did not Congress have any real power?

b. How did some states treat other states? Why?

§§ 170-173.–a. Explain the distress among the
people.

b. Describe the attitude of the British government and
give some reason for it.

c. Why did the value of paper money keep changing?

d. What were the “tender laws”? The “stay laws”?

e. Give some illustration of how these laws would affect
trade.

§ 174.–a. Describe the troubles in
Massachusetts.

b. What was the result of this rebellion?

§§ 175-178.–a. What common interest did all
the states have?

b. What did Maryland contend? State carefully the result
of Maryland’s action. Describe the land cessions.

c. How did the holding these lands benefit the United
States?

d. Give the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787. What was
the result of the declaration as to slaves?

e. What privileges were the settlers to have? Why is this
Ordinance so important?

CHAPTER 18

§§ 179-181.–a. What difficulties in the United
States showed the necessity of a stronger government?

b. How could the Articles of Confederation be
amended?

c. What was the important work of Madison?

d. What was the advantage of having Washington act as
President of the Convention?

§§ 182, 183.–a. Explain fully the provisions
of the Virginia plan. What departments were decided upon?

b. Why did New Jersey and Delaware oppose the Virginia
plan? What were the great objections to the New Jersey plan?

§§ 184-186.–a. What is a compromise? What are
the three great compromises of the Constitution?

b. Explain the compromise as to representation. What does
the Senate represent? What the House?

c. Define apportionment. What do you think of the wisdom
of the compromise as to apportionment? What of its justice?

d. Why was there a conflict over the clause as to
commerce? How was the matter settled?

§§ 187-189.–a. What events at first seemed to
disprove Franklin’s prophecy?

b. Compare the Constitution with the Articles of
Confederation and show in what respects the Constitution was much
stronger.

c. Explain how the new government could control
individuals.

d. What were some of the duties of the President? Of
Congress? Of the Supreme Court?

§§ 190-192.–a. What is the difference between
a national and a federal government? Was Henry’s criticism
true?

b. Study the first ten amendments and state how far they
met the objections of those opposed to the Constitution.

c. Repeat the Tenth Amendment from memory.

d. How was the Constitution ratified?

e. How did the choice of Washington as first President
influence popular feeling toward the new government?

GENERAL QUESTIONS

a. Why should the people have shown loyalty to the states
rather than to the United States?

b. Analyze the Constitution as follows:–

	EXECUTIVE.	LEGISLATIVE.	JUDICIARY.
Method of Appointment or Election
Term of Office.
Duties and Powers.

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

The career of any one man prominent in the Convention, as
Madison, Hamilton, Franklin, Washington, Robert Morris, etc. Write
a brief biography.

SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER

This period should be taught very slowly and very thoroughly, as
it demands much more time than any of the earlier periods. A clear
understanding of the Constitution is of the most practical value,
not merely to enable one to comprehend the later history, but also
to enable one to understand present duties. Note carefully the
“federal ratio” and the functions of the Supreme Court. Use the
text of the Constitution and emphasize especially those portions of
importance in the later history.

This work is difficult. It should therefore be most fully
illustrated from recent political struggles. Let the children
represent characters in the Convention and discuss the various
plans proposed. Encourage them also to suggest transactions which
might represent the working of the tender laws, the commercial
warfare between the states, the “federal ratio” etc. Especially
study the first ten amendments and show how they limit the power of
the general government to-day.

TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS 1783-1853.

VII

THE FEDERALIST SUPREMACY, 1789-1801

Books for Study and Reading

References.–Higginson’s Larger History, 309-344;
Eggleston’s United States and its People ch. xxxiv (the
people in 1790); McMaster’s School History, ch. xiv (the
people in 1790).

Home Readings.–Drake’s Making of the West;
Scribner’s Popular History, IV; Coffin’s Building the
Nation; Bolton’s Famous Americans; Holmes’s Ode on
Washington’s Birthday; Seawell’s Little Jarvis.

CHAPTER 19

ORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT

The first way of electing President. Constitution,
Art. II, §I; McMaster, 170-171.
Washington and Adams.

192. Washington elected President.–In the early years
under the Constitution the Presidents and Vice-Presidents were
elected in the following manner. First each state chose
presidential electors usually by vote of its legislature. Then the
electors of each state came together and voted for two persons
without saying which of the two should be President. When all the
electoral votes were counted, the person having the largest number,
provided that was more than half of the whole number of electoral
votes, was declared President. The person having the next largest
number became Vice-President. At the first election every elector
voted for Washington. John Adams received the next largest number
of votes and became Vice-President.

[Illustration: FEDERAL HALL, 1797. Washington took the oath of
office on the balcony.]

Washington’s journey to New York. Higginson,
217-218.

193. Washington’s Journey to New York.–At ten o’clock in
the morning of April 14, 1789, Washington left Mt. Vernon and set
out for New York. Wherever he passed the people poured forth to
greet him. At Trenton, New Jersey, a triumphal arch had been
erected. The school girls strewed flowers in his path and sang an
ode written for the occasion. A barge manned by thirteen pilots met
him at the water’s edge and bore him safely to New York.

Washington inaugurated President, 1789.
Source-Book, 181-183.
The oath of office.

194. The First Inauguration, April 30, 1789.–Long before
the time set for the inauguration ceremonies, the streets around
Federal Hall were closely packed with sightseers. Washington in a
suit of velvet with white silk stockings came out on the balcony
and took the oath of office ordered in the Constitution, “I will
faithfully execute the office of President of the United States,
and will to the best of my Ability preserve, protect, and defend
the Constitution of the United States.” Cannon roared forth a
salute and Chancellor Livingston turning to the people proclaimed,
“Long live George Washington, President of the United States.”
Reëntering the hall Washington read a simple and solemn
address.

Jefferson, Secretary of State.
Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. Eggleston, 215.
Knox, Secretary of War.
Randolph, Attorney-General.

195. The First Cabinet.–Washington appointed Thomas
Jefferson Secretary of State. Since writing the Great Declaration,
Jefferson had been governor of Virginia and American minister at
Paris. The Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton. Born
in the British West Indies, he had come to New York to attend
King’s College, now Columbia University. For Secretary of War,
Washington selected Henry Knox. He had been Chief of Artillery
during the Revolution. Since then he had been head of the War
Department. Edward Randolph became Attorney General. He had
introduced the Virginia plan of union into the Federal Convention.
But he had not signed the Constitution in its final form. These
four officers formed the Cabinet. There was also a Postmaster
General. But his office was of slight importance at the time.

[Illustration: WASHINGTON’S WRITING-TABLE]

Federal Officers.
Jay, Chief Justice.

196. Appointments to Office.–The President now appointed
the necessary officers to execute the national laws. These were
mostly men who had been prominent in the Revolutionary War. For
instance, John Jay (p. 126) was appointed Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court, and General Lincoln (p. 134) was appointed Collector
of Customs at Boston. It was in having officers of its own to carry
out its laws, that the new government seemed to the people to be so
unlike the old government. Formerly if Congress wanted anything
done, it called on the states to do it. Now Congress, by law,
authorized the United States officials to do their tasks. The
difference was a very great one, and it took the people some time
to realize what a great change had been made.

Titles. Higginson, 222.

197. The Question of Titles.–The first fiercely
contested debate in the new Congress was over the question of
titles. John Adams, the Vice-President and the presiding officer of
the Senate, began the conflict by asking the Senate how he should
address the President. One senator suggested that the President
should be entitled “His Patriotic Majesty.” Other senators proposed
that he should be addressed as “Your Highness, the President of the
United States and Protector of their Liberties.” Fortunately, the
House of Representatives had the first chance to address Washington
and simply called him “Mr. President of the United States.”

Ceremonies. Higginson, 222-224.
Monarchical appearances.

198. Ceremonies and Progresses.–Washington liked a good
deal of ceremony and was stiff and aristocratic. He soon gave
receptions or “levees” as they were called. To these only persons
who had tickets were admitted. Washington stood on one side of the
room and bowed stiffly to each guest as he was announced. When all
were assembled, the entrance doors were closed. The President then
slowly walked around the room, saying something pleasant to each
person. In 1789 he made a journey through New England. Everywhere
he was received by guards of honor, and was splendidly entertained.
At one place an old man greeted him with “God bless Your Majesty.”
This was all natural enough, for Washington was “first in the
hearts of his countrymen.” But many good men were afraid that the
new government would really turn out to be a monarchy.

Struggle over protection, 1789. Source-Book,
183-186.

199. First Tariff Act, 1789.–The first important
business that Congress took in hand was a bill for raising revenue,
and a lively debate began. Representatives from New England and the
Middle states wanted protection for their commerce and their
struggling manufactures. Representatives from the Southern states
opposed all protective duties as harmful to agriculture, which was
the only important pursuit of the Southerners. But the Southerners
would have been glad to have a duty placed on hemp. This the New
Englanders opposed because it would increase the cost of rigging
ships. The Pennsylvanians were eager for a duty on iron and steel.
But the New Englanders opposed this duty because it would add to
the cost of building a ship, and the Southerners opposed it because
it would increase the cost of agricultural tools. And so it was as
to nearly every duty that was proposed. But duties must be laid,
and the only thing that could be done was to compromise in every
direction. Each section got something that it wanted, gave up a
great deal that it wanted, and agreed to something that it did not
want at all. And so it has been with every tariff act from that day
to this.

The first census.
Extent of the United States, 1791.
Population of the United States, 1791.

200. The First Census, 1791.–The Constitution provided
that representatives should be distributed among the states
according to population as modified by the federal ratio (p. 142).
To do this it was necessary to find out how many people there were
in each state. In 1791 the first census was taken. By that time
both North Carolina and Rhode Island had joined the Union, and
Vermont had been admitted as the fourteenth state. It appeared that
there were nearly four million people in the United States, or not
as many as one hundred years later lived around the shores of New
York harbor. There were then about seven hundred thousand slaves in
the country. Of these only fifty thousand were in the states north
of Maryland. The country, therefore, was already divided into two
sections: one where slavery was of little importance, and another
where it was of great importance.

Vermont admitted, 1791.
Higginson 229.
Kentucky admitted, 1792. Higginson, 224-230.

201. New States.–The first new state to be admitted to
the Union was Vermont (1791). The land which formed this state was
claimed by New Hampshire and by New York. But during the Revolution
the Green Mountain Boys had declared themselves independent and had
drawn up a constitution. They now applied to Congress for admission
to the Union as a separate state. The next year Kentucky came into
the Union. This was originally a part of Virginia, and the
colonists had brought their slaves with them to their new homes.
Kentucky, therefore, was a slave state. Vermont was a free state,
and its constitution forbade slavery.

[Illustration: CENTER OF POPULATION]

Origin of the National Debt. For details, see
McMaster, 198-200.
Bonds.

202. The National Debt.–The National Debt was the price
of independence. During the war Congress had been too poor to pay
gold and silver for what it needed to carry on the war. So it had
given promises to pay at some future time. These promises to pay
were called by various names as bonds, certificates of
indebtedness, and paper money. Taken all together they formed what
was called the Domestic Debt, because it was owed to persons living
in the United States. There was also a Foreign Debt. This was owed
to the King of France and to other foreigners who had lent money to
the United States.

Hamilton as a financier.
His plan.
Objections to it.

203. Hamilton’s Financial Policy.–Alexander Hamilton was
the ablest Secretary of the Treasury the United States has ever
had. To give people confidence in the new government, he proposed
to redeem the old certificates and bonds, dollar for dollar, in new
bonds. To this plan there was violent objection. Most of the
original holders of the certificates and bonds had sold them long
ago. They were now mainly held by speculators who had paid about
thirty or forty cents for each dollar. Why should the speculator
get one dollar for that which had cost him only thirty or forty
cents? Hamilton insisted that his plan was the only way to place
the public credit on a firm foundation, and it was finally
adopted.

[Illustration: ALEXANDER HAMILTON. “He smote the rock of the
national resources and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He
touched the dead corpse of the public credit and it sprang upon its
feet.”–WEBSTER.]

The state debts. Source-Book, 186-188.
Hamilton’s plan of assumption.
Objections to it.
Failure of the bill.

204. Assumption of State Debts.–A further part of
Hamilton’s original scheme aroused even greater opposition. During
the Revolutionary War the states, too, had become heavily in debt.
They had furnished soldiers and supplies to Congress. Some of them
had undertaken expeditions at their own expense. Virginia, for
example, had borne all the cost of Clark’s conquest of the
Northwest (p. 116). She had later ceded nearly all her rights in
the conquered territory to the United States (p. 135). These debts
had been incurred for the benefit of the people as a whole. Would
it not then be fair for the people of the United States as a whole
to pay them? Hamilton thought that it would. It chanced, however,
that the Northern states had much larger debts than had the
Southern states. One result of Hamilton’s scheme would be to
relieve the Northern states of a part of their burdens and to
increase the burdens of the Southern states. The Southerners,
therefore, were strongly opposed to the plan. The North Carolina
representatives reached New York just in time to vote against it,
and that part of Hamilton’s plan was defeated.

[Illustration: AN OLD STAGECOACH. The house was built in Lincoln
County, Kentucky, in 1783.]

Question of the site of the national capital.
Jefferson and Hamilton.
The District of Columbia.

205. The National Capital.–In these days of fast express
trains it makes little difference whether one is going to
Philadelphia or to Baltimore–only a few hours more or less in a
comfortable railroad car. But in 1791 it made a great deal of
difference whether one were going to Philadelphia or to Baltimore.
Traveling was especially hard in the South. There were few roads or
taverns in that part of the country, and those few were bad. The
Southerners were anxious to have the national capital as far south
as possible. They were also opposed to the assumption of the state
debts by the national government. Now it happened that the
Northerners were in favor of the assumption of the debts and did
not care very much where the national capital might be. In the end
Jefferson and Hamilton made “a deal,” the first of its kind in our
history. Enough Southerners voted for the assumption bill to pass
it. The Northerners, on their part, agreed that the temporary seat
of government should be at Philadelphia, and the permanent seat of
government on the Potomac. Virginia and Maryland at once ceded
enough land to form a “federal district.” This was called the
District of Columbia. Soon preparations were begun to build a
capital city there–the city of Washington.

[Illustration: A LADY OF THE “REPUBLICAN COURT.”]

Hamilton’s plan for a United States bank.
McMaster, 201.
Jefferson’s argument against it.
The bank established.

206. The First Bank of the United States.–Two parts of
Hamilton’s plan were now adopted. To the third part of his scheme
there was even more opposition. This was the establishment of a
great Bank of the United States. The government in 1790 had no
place in which to keep its money. Instead of establishing
government treasuries, Hamilton wanted a great national bank,
controlled by the government. This bank could establish branches in
important cities. The government’s money could be deposited at any
of these branches and could be paid out by checks sent from the
Treasury. Furthermore, people could buy a part of the stock of the
bank with the new bonds of the United States. This would make
people more eager to own the bonds, and so would increase their
price. For all these reasons Hamilton thought the bank would be
very useful, and therefore “necessary and proper” for the carrying
out of the powers given by the Constitution to the national
government. Jefferson, however, thought that the words “necessary
and proper” meant necessary and not useful. The bank was not
necessary according to the ordinary use of the word. Congress
therefore had no business to establish it. After thinking the
matter over, Washington signed the bill and it became a law. But
Jefferson had sounded the alarm. Many persons agreed with him, many
others agreed with Hamilton. Two great political parties were
formed and began the contest for power that has been going on ever
since.

CHAPTER 20

RISE OF POLITICAL PARTIES

Formation of the Federalist party. McMaster,
202.

207. The Federalists.–There were no political parties in
the United States in 1789. All the leading men were anxious to give
the new Constitution a fair trial. Even Patrick Henry supported
Washington. Many men, as Alexander Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris,
believed a monarchy to be the best form of government. But they saw
clearly that the American people would not permit a monarchy to be
established. So they supported the Constitution although they
thought that it was “a frail and worthless fabric.” But they wished
to establish the strongest possible government that could be
established under the Constitution. This they could do by defining
in the broadest way the doubtful words in the Constitution as
Hamilton had done in the controversy over the bank charter (p.
162). Hamilton had little confidence in the wisdom of the plain
people. He believed it would be safer to rely on the richer
classes. So he and his friends wished to give to the central
government and to the richer classes the greatest possible amount
of power. Those who believed as Hamilton believed called themselves
Federalists. In reality they were Nationalists.

Formation of the Republican party.

208. The Republicans.–Thomas Jefferson, James Madison,
Albert Gallatin, and their friends entirely disagreed with the
Federalists on all of these points. They called themselves
Republicans. In the Great Declaration Jefferson had written that
government rested on the consent of the governed. He also thought
that the common sense of the plain people was a safer guide than
the wisdom of the richer classes. He was indignant at the way in
which Hamilton defined the meaning of phrases in the Constitution.
He especially relied on the words of the Tenth Amendment. This
amendment provided that “all powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states are
reserved to the states respectively or to the people.” Jefferson
thought that phrases like “not delegated” and “necessary and
proper” should be understood in their ordinary meanings. He now
determined to arouse public opinion. He once declared that if he
had to choose between having a government and having a newspaper
press, he should prefer the newspaper press. He established a
newspaper devoted to his principles and began a violent and
determined attack on the Federalists, calling them monarchists.
These disputes became especially violent in the treatment of the
questions which grew out of the French Revolution.

The French Revolution, 1789.

209. The French Revolution.–In 1789 the French people
rose against their government. In 1792 they imprisoned their king
and queen. In 1793 they beheaded them, and set up a republic. The
monarchs of Europe made common cause against this spirit of
revolution. They made war on the French Republic and began a
conflict which soon spread to all parts of the world.

Effect of the French Revolution on American
politics. McMaster, 206-207.
Federalists and Republicans.

210. The French Revolution and American
Politics.–Jefferson and his political friends rejoiced at the
overthrow of the French monarchy and the setting up of the
Republic. It seemed as if American ideas had spread to Europe. Soon
Jefferson’s followers began to ape the manners of the French
revolutionists. They called each other Citizen this and Citizen
that. Reports of French victories were received with rejoicing. At
Boston an ox, roasted whole, bread, and punch were distributed to
the people in the streets, and cakes stamped with the French
watchwords, Liberty and Equality, were given to the children. But,
while the Republicans were rejoicing over the downfall of the
French monarchy, the Federalists were far from being happy.
Hamilton had no confidence in government by the people anywhere.
Washington, with his aristocratic ideas, did not at all like the
way the Republicans were acting. He said little on the subject, but
Lady Washington expressed her mind freely and spoke of Jefferson’s
followers as “filthy Democrats.”

Genet at Charleston.
His contest with the government.

211. Citizen Genet.–The new French government soon sent
an agent or minister to the United States. He was the Citizen
Genet. He landed at Charleston, South Carolina. He fitted out
privateers to prey on British commerce and then set out overland
for Philadelphia. Washington had recently made a tour through the
South. But even he had not been received with the enthusiasm that
greeted Genet. But when Genet reached Philadelphia, and began to
confer with Jefferson about getting help from the government, he
found little except delay, trouble, and good advice. Jefferson
especially tried to warn Genet not to be over confident. But Genet
would not listen. He even appealed to the people against
Washington, and the people rallied to the defense of the President.
Soon another and wiser French minister came to the United
States.

The Treaty of Alliance of 1778.
The Neutrality Proclamation, 1793.

212. The Neutrality Proclamation, 1793.–Washington and
his advisers had a very difficult question to settle. For the
Treaty of 1778 with France (p. 115) gave to French ships the use of
United States ports in war time, and closed those ports to the
enemies of France. The treaty might also oblige the United States
to make war on Great Britain in order to preserve the French West
India Islands to France. It was quite certain, at all events, that
if French warships were allowed to use American ports, and British
warships were not allowed to do so, Great Britain would speedily
make war on the United States. The treaty had been made with the
King of France. Could it not be set aside on the ground that there
was no longer a French monarchy? Washington at length made up his
mind to regard it as suspended, owing to the confusion which
existed in France. He therefore issued a Proclamation of
Neutrality. In this proclamation he warned all citizens not to aid
either of the fighting nations. It was in this way that Washington
began the policy of keeping the United States out of European
conflicts (p. 224).

Internal revenue taxes.
The Whiskey Rebellion, 1794. McMaster, 203-204.

213. The Whiskey Insurrection, 1794.–The increasing
expenses of the government made new taxes necessary. Among the new
taxes was an internal revenue tax on whiskey. It happened that this
tax bore heavily on the farmers of western Carolina and western
Pennsylvania. The farmers of those regions could not take their
grain to the seaboard because the roads were bad and the distance
was great. So they made it into whiskey, which could be carried to
the seaboard and sold at a profit. The new tax on whiskey would
make it more difficult for these western farmers to earn a living
and to support their families. They refused to pay it. They fell
upon the tax collectors and drove them away. Washington sent
commissioners to explain matters to them. But the farmers paid no
heed to the commissioners. The President then called out fifteen
thousand militia-men and sent them to western Pennsylvania, under
the command of Henry Lee, governor of Virginia. The rebellious
farmers yielded without fighting. Two of the leaders were convicted
of treason. But Washington pardoned them, and the conflict ended
there. The new government had shown its strength, and had compelled
people to obey the laws. That in itself was a very great thing to
have done.

Relations with Great Britain. McMaster,
207-209; Source-Book, 188-190.
Jay’s Treaty, 1794.

214. Jay’s Treaty, 1794.–Ever since 1783 there had been
trouble with the British. They had not surrendered the posts on the
Great Lakes, as the treaty of 1783 required them to do. They had
oppressed American commerce. The American states also had broken
the treaty by making laws to prevent the collection of debts due to
British subjects by American citizens. The Congress of the
Confederation had been too weak to compel either the British
government or the American states to obey the treaty. But the new
government was strong enough to make treaties respected at home and
abroad. Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to London to
negotiate a new treaty. He found the British government very hard
to deal with. At last he made a treaty. But there were many things
in it which were not at all favorable to the United States. For
instance, it provided that cotton should not be exported from the
United States, and that American commerce with the British West
Indies should be greatly restricted.

Contest over ratification of Jay’s Treaty,
1795.

215. Ratification of Jay’s Treaty, 1795.–After a long
discussion the Senate voted to ratify the treaty without these two
clauses. In the House of Representatives there was a fierce debate.
For although the House has nothing to do with ratifying treaties,
it has a great deal to do with voting money. And money was needed
to carry out this treaty. At last the House voted the necessary
money. The British surrendered the posts on the Great Lakes, and
the debts due to British subjects were paid. Many people were very
angry with Jay and with Washington for making this treaty. Stuffed
figures of Jay were hanged, and Washington was attacked in the
papers as if he had been “a common pickpocket”–to use his own
words.

[Illustration: SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF UNITED STATES 1795]

Treaty with Spain, 1795.
Right of deposit.

216. The Spanish Treaty of 1795.–France and Great
Britain were not the only countries with which there was trouble.
The Spaniards held posts on the Mississippi, within the limits of
the United States and refused to give them up. For a hundred miles
the Mississippi flowed through Spanish territory. In those days,
before steam railroads connected the Ohio valley with the Eastern
seacoast, the farmers of Kentucky and Tennessee sent their goods by
boat or raft down the Mississippi to New Orleans. At that city they
were placed on sea-going vessels and carried to the markets of the
world. The Spaniards refused to let this commerce be carried on. In
1795, however, they agreed to abandon the posts and to permit
American goods to be deposited at New Orleans while awaiting
shipment by sea-going vessels.

Washington declines a third term.
His Farewell Address.

217. Washington’s Farewell Address.–In 1792 Washington
had been reëlected President. In 1796 there would be a new
election, and Washington declined another nomination. He was
disgusted with the tone of public life and detested party politics,
and desired to pass the short remainder of his life in quiet at Mt.
Vernon. He announced his intention to retire in a Farewell Address,
which should be read and studied by every American. In it he
declared the Union to be the main pillar of independence,
prosperity, and liberty. Public credit must be carefully
maintained, and the United States should have as little as possible
to do with European affairs. In declining a third term as
President, Washington set an example which has ever since been
followed.

CHAPTER 21

THE LAST FEDERALIST ADMINISTRATION

Hamilton’s intrigues against Adams.
Adams elected, President, 1796.

218. John Adams elected President, 1796.–In 1796 John
Adams was the Federalist candidate for President. His rival was
Thomas Jefferson, the founder and chief of the Republican party.
Alexander Hamilton was the real leader of the Federalists, and he
disliked Adams. Thomas Pinckney was the Federalist candidate for
Vice-President. Hamilton suggested a plan which he thought would
lead to the election of Pinckney as President instead of Adams. But
Hamilton’s scheme did not turn out very well. For by it Jefferson
was elected Vice-President. Indeed, he came near being President,
for he had only three less electoral votes than Adams.

Relations with France, 1796-97. McMaster,
210-212; Source-Book, 191-194.
The French government declines to receive an American minister.

219. More Trouble with France.–France was now (1796-97)
governed by five chiefs of the Revolution, who called themselves
“the Directory.” They were very angry when they heard of Jay’s
Treaty (p. 168), for they had hoped that the Americans would make
war on the British. James Monroe was then American minister at
Paris. Instead of doing all he could to smooth over this
difficulty, he urged on the wrath of the Directory. Washington
recalled Monroe, and sent in his stead General Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney of South Carolina. The Directory promptly refused to
receive Pinckney, and ordered him to leave France. News of this
action of the Directory reached Philadelphia three days after
Adams’s inauguration.

Adams’s message, 1797.
A commission sent to France, 1797.
The X.Y.Z. Affair, 1797-98.

220. The X.Y.Z. Affair, 1797-98.–Adams at once summoned
Congress and addressed the members in stirring words. He denied
that the Americans were a “degraded people, humiliated under a
colonial sense of fear … and regardless of national honor,
character, and interest.” It seemed best, however, to make one more
effort to avoid war. Adams therefore sent John Marshall, a Virginia
Federalist, and Elbridge Gerry, a Massachusetts Republican, to
France. They were to join Pinckney and together were to negotiate
with the French Directory. When they reached Paris three men came
to see them. These men said that America (1) must apologize for the
President’s vigorous words, (2) must lend money to France, and (3)
must bribe the Directory and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. These
outrageous suggestions were emphatically put aside. In sending the
papers to Congress, the three men were called Mr. X., Mr. Y., and
Mr. Z., so the incident is always known as the “X.Y.Z. Affair.”

Excitement in America.

221. Indignation in America.–Federalists and Republicans
joined in indignation. “Millions for defense, not one cent for
tribute,” was the cry of the day. French flags were everywhere torn
down. “Hail Columbia” was everywhere sung. Adams declared that he
would not send another minister to France until he was assured that
the representative of the United States would be received as “the
representative of a great, free, powerful, and independent
state.”

Washington appointed Commander-in-chief. Hamilton
and Adams.
The navy.
Naval warfare, 1798-99. McMaster, 213-214.

222. War with France, 1797-98.–The organization of a
provisional army was now at once begun. Washington accepted the
chief command on condition that Hamilton should have the second
place. There were already a few vessels in the navy. A Navy
Department was now organized. The building of more warships was
begun, and merchant vessels were bought and converted into
cruisers. French privateers sailed along the American coasts and
captured American vessels off the entrances of the principal
harbors. But this did not last long. For the American warships
drove the privateers to the West Indies and pursued them as they
fled southward. Soon the American cruisers began to capture French
men-of-war. Captain Truxton, in the Constellation, captured
the French frigate L’Insurgent. Many other French vessels
were captured, and preparations were made to carry on the naval war
even more vigorously when a treaty with France was signed.

Another commission sent to France.
The treaty of 1800.

223. Treaty with France, 1800.–This vigor convinced the
French that they had been hasty in their treatment of the
Americans. They now said that if another minister were sent to
France, he would be honorably received. Adams wished to send one of
the American ministers then in Europe, and thus end the dispute as
soon as possible. But the other Federalist leaders thought that it
would be better to wait until France sent a minister to the United
States. Finally they consented to the appointment of three
commissioners. Napoleon Bonaparte was now the ruler of France. He
received the commissioners honorably, and a treaty was soon signed.
On two points, however, he refused to give way. He declined to pay
for American property seized by the French, and he insisted that
the treaty of 1778 (pp. 115, 166) was still binding on both
countries. It was finally agreed that the Americans should give up
their claims for damages, and the French government should permit
the treaty to be annulled. John Adams always looked upon this
peaceful ending of the dispute with France as the most prudent and
successful act of his whole life. But Hamilton and other
Federalists thought it was treachery to the party. They set to work
to prevent his reëlection to the presidency.

Repressive Laws. McMaster, 211-212.
The naturalization act.
The alien acts.
The Sedition Act.

224. Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798.–The Federalists,
even if they had been united, would probably have been defeated in
the election of 1800. For they had misused their power to pass
several very foolish laws. The first of these laws was the
Naturalization Act. It lengthened the time of residence in the
United States from five to fourteen years before a foreign
immigrant could gain the right to vote. This law bore very harshly
on the Republicans, because most of the immigrants were
Republicans. Other laws, called the Alien Acts, were also aimed at
the Republican immigrants. These laws gave the President power to
compel immigrants to leave the United States, or to live in certain
places that he named. The worst law of all was the Sedition Act.
This was aimed against the writers and printers of Republican
newspapers. It provided that any one who attacked the government in
the press should be severely punished as a seditious person.
Several trials were held under this law. Every trial made hundreds
of persons determined to vote for the Republican candidate at the
next election.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions 1798-99.
McMaster, 212-213.
Jefferson and Madison on the Constitution.
The Kentucky Resolutions of 1799.

225. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, 1798-99.–In the
exciting years before the Revolutionary War the colonial
legislatures had passed many resolutions condemning the acts of the
British government (see pp. 77, 84). Following this example
Jefferson and Madison now brought it about that the Virginia and
Kentucky legislatures passed resolutions against the Alien and
Sedition Acts. They declared that the Constitution was a compact
between the states. It followed from this that any state could
determine for itself whether any act of Congress were
constitutional or not. It followed from, this, again, that any
state could refuse to permit an Act of Congress to be enforced
within its limits. In other words, any state could make null or
nullify any Act of Congress that it saw fit to oppose. This last
conclusion was found only in the Kentucky Resolutions of 1799. But
Jefferson wrote to this effect in the original draft of the
Kentucky Resolutions of 1798. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
called the voter’s attention to the Federalist abuse of power and
did much to form public opinion.

Death of Washington, 1799.

226. Death of Washington, 1799.–In the midst of this
excitement George Washington died. People forgot how strongly he
had taken the Federalist side in the last few years, and united to
do honor to his memory. Henry Lee spoke for the nation when he
declared that Washington was “first in war, first in peace, and
first in the hearts of his countrymen.” To this day, we commemorate
Washington’s birthday as we do that of no other man, though of late
years we have begun to keep Lincoln’s birthday also.

Election of 1800. McMaster, 215.
Jefferson and Burr.
The election in the House of Representatives.

227. Election of 1800.–It was for a moment only that the
noise of party conflict was hushed by the death of America’s first
President. The strife soon began anew. Indeed, the election of 1800
was fought with a vigor and violence unknown before, and scarcely
exceeded since. John Adams was the Federalist candidate, and he was
defeated. Jefferson and Burr, the Republican candidates, each
received seventy-three electoral votes. But which of them should be
President? The Republican voters clearly wished Jefferson to be
President. But the Federalists had a majority in the House of
Representatives. They had a clear legal right to elect Burr
President. But to do that would be to do what was morally wrong.
After a useless struggle the Federalists permitted Jefferson to be
chosen, and he was inaugurated on March 4, 1801.

[Illustration: PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, 1790. “Observe good faith
and justice towards all nations.” —Farewell Address.]

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 19

§§ 192-194.–a. Describe the method of electing
President employed at first.

b. Describe Washington’s journey to New York and the
inaugural ceremonies, and compare them with the inauguration of the
last President.

§§ 195, 196.–a. In whose hands do appointments
to federal offices lie?

b. What was the great difference mentioned in § 196?
Why was the difference so great?

§§ 197, 198.–a. Why was Washington “stiff and
aristocratic”?

b. Would Washington have accepted the title of king? Give
the reasons for your answer.

§§ 199-202.–a. Give the reasons for the
different views expressed in Congress as to customs duties. What
are customs duties?

b. Explain how slavery influenced the views of the
Southern members.

c. Compare the extent and population of the United States
in 1791 with the extent and population to-day.

d. What two new states were admitted in 1791-92? What was
their attitude on slavery? What changes would their admission make
in Congress?

§§ 203, 204.–a. Explain carefully Hamilton’s
plan. What were its advantages? What is meant by the phrase “public
credit”?

b. What is meant by the phrase “assumption of the state
debts”?

§§ 205, 206.–a. What question arose concerning
the site of the national capital? How was it settled? Was this a
good way to settle important questions?

b. Why did Hamilton want a Bank of the United States? Was
this bank like one of the national banks of to-day?

CHAPTER 20

§§ 207, 208.–a. Compare carefully the
principles of the Federalists and the Republicans. Which party
would you have joined had you lived then? Why? Which ideas prevail
to-day?

b. Discuss Jefferson’s views as to the value of
newspapers.

§§ 209-212.–a. Why did the Republicans
sympathize with the French Revolution?

b. How was the action of the Republicans regarded by
Washington? By Hamilton?

c. Why did Washington issue the Proclamation of
Neutrality?

§ 213.–a. What is the difference between a tax laid
by a tariff on imported goods and an internal revenue tax?

b. How was the rebellion suppressed? Compare this with
Shays’s Rebellion.

§§ 214-216.–a. State the reasons for the
trouble with Great Britain. How was the matter settled?

b. Explain the trouble over the traffic on the
Mississippi.

c. How was this matter settled?

§ 217.–a. Why did Washington decline a third
term?

b. What are the important points in his Farewell
Address?

c. How far has later history proved the truth of his
words?

CHAPTER 21

§ 218.–a. How did Hamilton set to work to defeat
Adams? Do you think his action justifiable?

b. What was the result of Hamilton’s intrigues?

§§ 219-221.–a. To what was the refusal to
receive Pinckney equivalent? Describe the X. Y. Z. Affair.

b. What is a bribe? How must bribery in political life
affect a government?

c. How was the news of this affair received in America?
What does this show about the feeling of both parties toward the
government?

§§ 222, 223.–a. Describe the preparations for
war. Why was a Navy Department necessary?

b. Why was France wise to make peace with the United
States?

c. How was the matter finally settled?

§§ 224, 225.–a. Describe the Naturalization
Act.

b. What power did the Alien Act give the President? What
danger is there in such power?

c. What is sedition? Compare the Sedition Act with the
First Amendment.

d. What were the theories on which the Kentucky and
Virginia Resolutions were based?

§§ 226, 227.–a. What position does Washington
hold in our history? Why is it deserved? b. Describe the
election of 1800. Why was it fought so bitterly? c. Why
should disputes as to elections for President go to the House?
d. How was it known that Jefferson’s election was the wish
of the voters?

GENERAL QUESTIONS

a. Write an account of life in the United States about
1790, or life in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Charleston.
b. Prepare a table of the two political parties mentioned,
with dates and account of origin. As you go on, note upon this
table changes in these parties and the rise of new ones. c.
On an Outline Map color the thirteen original states and then fill
in, with dates, new states as they are admitted. Write on each
state F. for free or S. for slave, as the case may be.

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

a. Early life of Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, or
Hamilton. b. Washington’s Farewell Address.

SUGGESTIONS

In this period we meet two questions, which are still important,
tariff legislation and political parties. In connection with the
Tariff Act of 1789 (§ 200), touch upon the industries of the
different sections of the country and explain how local interests
affected men’s actions. Show how compromise is often necessary in
political action.

It is a good plan to use Outline Maps to show the important
lines of development, as the gradual drifting apart of the North
and the South on the slavery question.

Illustrate by supposed transactions the working of Hamilton’s
financial measures. By all means do not neglect a study of
Washington’s Farewell Address. Particular attention should be given
to the two views of constitutional interpretation mentioned in
§ 207, and considerable time should be spent on a study of
§§ 224 and 225.

THE UNITED STATES IN 1800.

VIII

THE JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICANS, 1801-1812

Books for Study and Reading

References.–Higginson’s Larger History, 344-365;
Scribner’s Popular History, IV, 127-184; Schouler’s
Jefferson.

Home Reading.–Coffin’s Building the Nation;
Drake’s Making the Ohio Valley States; Hale’s Man Without
a Country and Philip Nolan’s Friends.

CHAPTER 22

THE UNITED STATES IN 1800

Area.
Population.

228. Area and Population, 1800.–The area of the United
States in 1800 was the same as at the close of the Revolutionary
War. But the population had begun to increase rapidly. In 1791
there were nearly four million people in the United States. By 1800
this number had risen to five and one-quarter millions. Two-thirds
of the people still lived on or near tide-water. But already nearly
four hundred thousand people lived west of the Alleghanies. In 1791
the centre of population had been east of Baltimore. It was now
eighteen miles west of that city (p. 157).

Philadelphia.
New York.
The new capital.

229. Cities and Towns in 1800.–Philadelphia was the
largest city in the United States. It had a population of seventy
thousand. But New York was not far behind Philadelphia in
population. Except these two, no city in the whole United States
had more than thirty thousand inhabitants. The seat of government
had been removed from Philadelphia to Washington. But the new
capital was a city only in name. One broad long street,
Pennsylvania Avenue, led from the unfinished Capitol to the
unfinished White House. Congress held its sessions in a temporary
wooden building. The White House could be lived in. But Mrs. Adams
found the unfinished reception room very convenient for drying
clothes on rainy Mondays. A few cheaply built and very
uncomfortable boarding-houses completed the city.

Roads, coaches, and inns.
Traveling by water.

230. Traveling in 1800.–The traveler in those days had a
very hard time. On the best roads of the north, in the best coach,
and with the best weather one might cover as many as forty miles a
day. But the traveler had to start very early in the morning to do
this. Generally he thought himself fortunate if he made twenty-five
miles in the twenty-four hours. South of the Potomac there were no
public coaches, and the traveler generally rode on horseback. A few
rich men like Washington rode in their own coaches. Everywhere,
north and south, the inns were uncomfortable and the food was poor.
Whenever it was possible the traveler went by water. But that was
dangerous work. Lighthouses were far apart, there were no public
buoys to guide the mariner, and almost nothing had been done to
improve navigation.

THE “CLERMONT,” 1807.

The first steamboat.
Fulton’s steamboat, 1807. Higginson, 241-242.

231. The Steamboat.–The steamboat came to change all
this. While Washington was still President, a queer-looking boat
sailed up and down the Delaware. She was propelled by oars or
paddles which were worked by steam. This boat must have been very
uncomfortable, and few persons wished to go on her. Robert Fulton
made the first successful steamboat. She was named the
Clermont and was launched in 1807. She had paddle wheels and
steamed against the wind and tide of the Hudson River. At first
some people thought that she was bewitched. But when it was found
that she ran safely and regularly, people began to travel on her.
Before a great while steamboats appeared in all parts of the
country.

Western pioneers.
Settlements on the Ohio. Eggleston, 232-234;
Higginson, 243.

232. Making of the West.–Even before the Revolutionary
War explorers and settlers had crossed the Alleghany Mountains. In
Washington’s time pioneers, leaving Pittsburg, floated down the
Ohio River in flatboats. Some of these settled Cincinnati. Others
went farther down the river to Louisville, in Kentucky, and still
others founded Wheeling and Marietta. In 1811 the first steamboat
appeared on the Western rivers. The whole problem of living in the
West rapidly changed. For the steamboat could go up stream as well
as down stream. Communication between the new settlements, and New
Orleans and Pittsburg, was now much safer and very much easier.

Cotton growing.
Beginning of exportation, 1784.

233. Cotton Growing in the South.–Cotton had been grown
in the South for many years. It had been made on the plantations
into a rough cloth. Very little had been sent away. The reason for
this was that it took a very long time to separate the cotton fiber
from the seed. One slave working for a whole day could hardly clean
more than a pound of cotton. Still as time went on more cotton was
grown. In 1784 a few bags of cotton were sent to England. The
Englishmen promptly seized it because they did not believe that so
much cotton could be grown in America. In 1791 nearly two hundred
thousand pounds of cotton were exported from the South. Then came
Whitney’s great invention, which entirely changed the whole history
of the country.

[Illustration: THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. As designed by Thomas
Jefferson.]

Eli Whitney.
His cotton gin, 1793. McMaster, 195-196.

234. Whitney’s Cotton Gin, 1793.–Eli Whitney was a
Connecticut schoolmaster. He went to Georgia to teach General
Greene’s children. He was very ingenious, and one day Mrs. Greene
suggested to him that he might make a machine which would separate
the cotton fiber from the cotton seed. Whitney set to work and soon
made an engine or gin, as he called it, that would do this. The
first machine was a rude affair. But even with it one slave could
clean one hundred pounds of cotton in a day. Mrs. Greene’s
neighbors promptly broke into Whitney’s shop and stole his machine.
Whitney’s cotton gin made the growing of cotton profitable and so
fastened slavery on the South. With the exception of the steam
locomotive (p. 241) and the reaper (p. 260), no invention has so
tremendously influenced the history of the United States.

Early manufactures.

235. Colonial Manufactures.–Before the Revolutionary War
there were very few mills or factories in the colonies. There was
no money to put into such undertakings and no operatives to work
the mills if they had been built. The only colonial manufactures
that amounted to much were the making of nails and shoes. These
articles could be made at home on the farms, in the winter, when no
work could be done out of doors.

New manufactures established.
Invention of cotton spinning machinery.

236. Growth of Manufactures, 1789-1800.–As soon as the
new government with its wide powers was established, manufacturing
started into life. Old mills were set to work. While the Revolution
had been going on in America, great improvements in the spinning of
yarn and the weaving of cloth had been made in England. Parliament
made laws to prevent the export from England of machinery or
patterns of machinery. But it could not prevent Englishmen from
coming to America. Among the recent immigrants to the United States
was Samuel Slater. He brought no patterns with him. But he was
familiar with the new methods of spinning. He soon built spinning
machinery. New cotton mills were now set up in several places. But
it was some time before the new weaving machinery was introduced
into America.

CHAPTER 23

JEFFERSON’S ADMINISTRATIONS

Jefferson’s political ideas. Higginson 239;
McMaster, 216.
Republican simplicity.

237. President Jefferson.–Thomas Jefferson was a
Republican. He believed in the republican form of government. He
believed the wisdom of the people to be the best guide. He wished
the President to be simple and cordial in his relations with his
fellow-citizens. Adams had ridden to his inauguration in a coach
drawn by six cream-colored horses. Jefferson walked with a few
friends from his boarding house to the Capitol. Washington and
Adams had gone in state to Congress and had opened the session with
a speech. Jefferson sent a written message to Congress by a
messenger. Instead of bowing stiffly to those who came to see him,
he shook hands with them and tried to make them feel at ease in his
presence.

Proscription of Republicans by the Federalists.
Adams’s midnight appointments.

238. The Civil Service.–One of the first matters to take
Jefferson’s attention was the condition of the civil service. There
was not a Republican office-holder in the government service.
Washington, in the last years of his presidency, and Adams also had
given office only to Federalists. Jefferson thought it was
absolutely necessary to have some officials upon whom he could
rely. So he removed a few Federalist officeholders and appointed
Republicans to their places. Adams had even gone so far as to
appoint officers up to midnight of his last day in office. Indeed,
John Marshall, his Secretary of State, was busy signing commissions
when Jefferson’s Attorney General walked in with his watch in hand
and told Marshall that it was twelve o’clock. Jefferson and
Madison, the new Secretary of State, refused to deliver these
commissions even when Marshall as Chief Justice ordered Madison to
deliver them.

The Judiciary Act, 1801.
Repealed by Republicans.
Jefferson and appointments.

239. The Judiciary Act of 1801.–One of the last laws
made by the Federalists was the Judiciary Act of 1801. This law
greatly enlarged the national judiciary, and Adams eagerly seized
the opportunity to appoint his friends to the new offices. The
Republican Congress now repealed this Judiciary Act and “legislated
out of office” all the new judges. For it must be remembered that
the Constitution makes only the members of the Supreme Court sure
of their offices. Congress also got rid of many other Federalist
officeholders by repealing the Internal Revenue Act (p. 167). But
while all this was done, Jefferson steadily refused to appoint men
to office merely because they were Republicans. One man claimed an
office on the ground that he was a Republican, and that the
Republicans were the saviors of the republic. Jefferson replied
that Rome had been saved by geese, but he had never heard that the
geese were given offices.

[Illustration: THOMAS JEFFERSON.] “Honest friendship with all
nations, entangling alliances with none, … economy in the public
expense, the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation
of the public faith.”–Jefferson’s First Inaugural.

Expenses diminished.
Internal taxes repealed.
Army and navy reduced.
Part of the debt paid. McMaster, 217-218.

240. Paying the National Debt.–Jefferson was especially
anxious to cut down the expenses of the government and to pay as
much as possible of the national debt. Madison and Gallatin worked
heartily with him to carry out this policy. The repeal of the
Internal Revenue Act took much revenue from the government. But it
also did away with the salaries of a great many officials. The
repeal of the Judiciary Act also put an end to many salaries. Now
that the dispute with France was ended, Jefferson thought that the
army and navy might safely be reduced. Most of the naval vessels
were sold. A few good ships were kept at sea, and the rest were
tied up at the wharves. The number of ministers to European states
was reduced to the lowest possible limit, and the civil service at
home was also cut down. The expenses of the government were in
these ways greatly lessened. At the same time the revenue from the
customs service increased. The result was that in the eight years
of Jefferson’s administrations the national debt shrank from
eighty-three million dollars to forty-five million dollars. Yet in
the same time the United States paid fifteen million dollars for
Louisiana, and waged a series of successful and costly wars with
the pirates of the northern coast of Africa.

The Spaniards in Louisiana and Florida.
McMaster, 218-219.
France secures Louisiana.

241. Louisiana again a French Colony.–Spanish territory
now bounded the United States on the south and the west. The
Spaniards were not good neighbors, because it was very hard to make
them come to an agreement, and next to impossible to make them keep
an agreement when it was made. But this did not matter very much,
because Spain was a weak power and was growing weaker every year.
Sooner or later the United States would gain its point. Suddenly,
however, it was announced that France had got back Louisiana. And
almost at the same moment the Spanish governor of Louisiana said
that Americans could no longer deposit their goods at New Orleans
(p. 170). At once there was a great outcry in the West. Jefferson
determined to buy from France New Orleans and the land eastward
from the mouth of the Mississippi.

[Illustration: JACKSON SQUARE, NEW ORLEANS.]

[Illustration: ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.]

Napoleon’s policy.
He offers to sell Louisiana.

242. The Louisiana Purchase, 1803.–When Napoleon got
Louisiana from Spain, he had an idea of again founding a great
French colony in America. At the moment France and Great Britain
were at peace. But it soon looked as if war would begin again.
Napoleon knew that the British would at once seize Louisiana and he
could not keep it anyway. So one day, when the Americans and the
French were talking about the purchase of New Orleans, the French
minister suddenly asked if the United States would not like to buy
the whole of Louisiana. Monroe and Livingston, the American
ministers, had no authority to buy Louisiana. But the purchase of
the whole colony would be a great benefit to the United States. So
they quickly agreed to pay fifteen million dollars for the whole of
Louisiana.

Louisiana purchased, 1803. Higginson,
244-245; Eggleston, 234; Source-Book, 200-202.
Importance of the purchase.

243. The Treaty Ratified.–Jefferson found himself in a
strange position. The Constitution nowhere delegated to the United
States power to acquire territory (p. 164). But after thinking it
over Jefferson felt sure that the people would approve of the
purchase. The treaty was ratified. The money was paid. This
purchase turned out to be a most fortunate thing. It gave to the
United States the whole western valley of the Mississippi. It also
gave to Americans the opportunity to explore and settle Oregon,
which lay beyond the limits of Louisiana.

THE UNITED STATES IN 1803.

Lewis and Clark, 1804-6. Higginson, 245-247;
McMaster, 219-221; Source-Book, 206-209.
The mouth of the Oregon.

244. Lewis and Clark’s Explorations.–Jefferson soon sent
out several expeditions to explore the unknown portions of the
continent. The most important of these was the expedition led by
two army officers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, brother of
General George Rogers Clark (p. 116). Leaving St. Louis they slowly
ascended the muddy Missouri. They passed the site of the present
city of Omaha. They passed the Council Bluffs. The current of the
river now became so rapid that the explorers left their boats and
traveled along the river’s bank. They gained the sources of the
Missouri, and came to a westward-flowing river. On, on they
followed it until they came to the river’s mouth. A fog hung low
over the water. Suddenly it lifted. There before the explorers’
eyes the river “in waves like small mountains rolled out in the
ocean.” They had traced the Columbia River from its upper course to
the Pacific. Captain Gray in the Boston ship Columbia had
already entered the mouth of the river. But Lewis and Clark were
the first white men to reach it overland.

Amendment as to the election of President.
The Twelfth Amendment, 1804.

245. The Twelfth Amendment, 1804.–Four presidential
elections had now been held under the method provided by the
Constitution. And that method had not worked well (pp. 171, 176).
It was now (1804) changed by the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment
which is still in force. The old machinery of presidential electors
was kept. But it was provided that in the future each elector
should vote for President and for Vice-President on separate and
distinct ballots. The voters had no more part in the election under
the new system than they had had under the old system. The old
method of apportioning electors among the states was also kept.
This gives to each state as many electors as it has Senators and
Representatives in Congress. No matter how small its territory, or
how small its population, a state has at least two Senators and one
Representative, and, therefore, three electors. The result is that
each voter in a small state has more influence in choosing the
President than each voter in a large state. Indeed, several
Presidents have been elected by minorities of the voters of the
country as a whole.

Jefferson reëlected, 1804.
Strength of the Republicans.

246. Reëlection of Jefferson, 1804.–Jefferson’s
first administration had been most successful. The Republicans had
repealed many unpopular laws. By the purchase of Louisiana the area
of the United States had been doubled and an end put to the dispute
as to the navigation of the Mississippi. The expenses of the
national government had been cut down, and a portion of the
national debt had been paid. The people were prosperous and happy.
Under these circumstances Jefferson was triumphantly
reëlected. He received one hundred and sixty-two electoral
votes to only fourteen for his Federalist rival.

[Illustration: STEPHEN DECATUR.]

CHAPTER 24

CAUSES OF THE WAR OF 1812

The African pirates. Higginson, 237-239;
Eggleston, 228-229.
Tribute paying.
Jefferson ends this system.
Hero Tales, 103-113.

247. The North Africa Pirates.–Stretching along the
northern shores of Africa from Egypt westward to the Atlantic were
four states. These states were named Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and
Morocco. Their people were Mohammedans, and were ruled over by
persons called Deys or Beys, or Pachas. These rulers found it
profitable and pleasant to attack and capture Christian ships. The
cargoes of the captured vessels they sold at good prices, and the
seamen and passengers they sold at good prices too–as slaves. The
leading powers of Europe, instead of destroying these pirates,
found it easier to pay them to let their ships alone. Washington
and Adams also paid them to allow American ships to sail unharmed.
But the pirates were never satisfied with what was paid them.
Jefferson decided to put an end to this tribute paying. He sent a
few ships to seize the pirates and shut up their harbors. More and
more vessels were sent, until at last the Deys and Beys and Pachas
thought it would be cheaper to behave themselves properly. So they
agreed to release their American prisoners and not to capture any
more American ships (1805). In these little wars American naval
officers gained much useful experience and did many glorious deeds.
Especially Decatur and Somers won renown.

European fighters attack American commerce.
McMaster, 224-226.

248. America, Britain, and France.–Napoleon Bonaparte
was now Emperor of the French. In 1804 he made war on the British
and their allies. Soon he became supreme on the land, and the
British became supreme on the water. They could no longer fight one
another very easily, so they determined to injure each other’s
trade and commerce as much as possible. The British declared
continental ports closed to commerce, and Napoleon declared all
British commerce to be unlawful. Of course under these
circumstances British and Continental ships could not carry on
trade, and American vessels rapidly took their places. The British
shipowners called upon their government to put an end to this
American commerce. Old laws were looked up and enforced. American
vessels that disobeyed them were seized by the British. But if any
American vessel obeyed these laws, Napoleon seized it as soon as it
entered a French harbor.

Impressment. Eggleston, 240.

249. The Impressment Controversy.–With the British the
United States had still another cause of complaint. British
warships stopped American vessels and took away all their seamen
who looked like Englishmen. These they compelled to serve on
British men-of-war. As Americans and Englishmen looked very much
alike, they generally seized all the best-looking seamen. Thousands
of Americans were captured in this way and forced into slavery on
British men-of-war. This method of kidnaping was called
impressment.

The embargo, 1807. Eggleston, 241;
McMaster, 226-227, 228.
Failure of the embargo. Source-Book, 209-211.

250. The Embargo, 1807-1809.–Jefferson hardly knew what
to do. He might declare war on both Great Britain and on France.
But to do that would surely put a speedy end to all American
commerce. In the old days, before the Revolutionary War, the
colonists had more than once brought the British to terms by
refusing to buy their goods (pp. 84, 85). Jefferson now thought
that if the people of the United States should refuse to trade with
the British and the French, the governments both of Great Britain
and of France would be forced to treat American commerce properly.
Congress therefore passed an Embargo Act. This forbade vessels to
leave American ports after a certain day. If the people had been
united, the embargo might have done what Jefferson expected it
would do. But the people were not united. Especially in New
England, the shipowners tried in every way to break the law. This
led to the passing of stricter laws. Finally the New Englanders
even talked of seceding from the Union.

[Illustration: AN EARLY STEAM FERRYBOAT, ABOUT 1810.]

Outrage on the Chesapeake, 1807.
McMaster, 227.

251. The Outrage on the Chesapeake, 1807.–The
British now added to the anger of the Americans by impressing
seamen from the decks of an American warship. The frigate
Chesapeake left the Norfolk navy yard for a cruise. At once
the British vessel Leopard sailed toward her and ordered her
to stop. As the Chesapeake did not stop, the Leopard
fired on her. The American frigate was just setting out, and
everything was in confusion on her decks. But a coal was brought
from the cook’s stove, and one gun was fired. Her flag was then
hauled down. The British came on board and seized four seamen, who
they said were deserters from the British navy. This outrage
aroused tremendous excitement. Jefferson ordered all British
warships out of American waters and forbade the people to supply
them with provisions, water, or wood. The British offered to
restore the imprisoned seamen and ordered out of American waters
the admiral under whose direction the outrage had been done. But
they would not give up impressment.

Madison elected President, 1808.]

252. Madison elected President, 1808.–There is nothing
in the Constitution to limit the number of times a man may be
chosen President. Many persons would gladly have voted a third time
for Jefferson. But he thought that unless some limit were set, the
people might keep on reëlecting a popular and successful
President term after term. This would be very dangerous to the
republican form of government. So Jefferson followed Washington’s
example and declined a third term, Washington and Jefferson thus
established a custom that has ever since been followed. The
Republicans voted for James Madison, and he was elected President
(1808).

[Illustration: MODERN DOUBLE-DECKED FERRYBOAT.]

Non-Intercourse Act, 1809.

253. The Non-Intercourse Act, 1809.–By this time the
embargo had become so very unpopular that it could be maintained
only at the cost of civil war. Madison suggested that the Embargo
Act should be repealed, and a Non-Intercourse Act passed in its
place. Congress at once did as he suggested. The Non-Intercourse
Act prohibited commerce with Great Britain and with France and the
countries controlled by France. It permitted commerce with the rest
of the world. There were not many European countries with which
America could trade under this law. Still there were a few
countries, as Norway and Spain, which still maintained their
independence. And goods could be sold through them to the other
European countries. At all events, no sooner was the embargo
removed than commerce revived. Rates of freight were very high and
the profits were very large, although the French and the British
captured many American vessels.

The Erskine treaty.
The British minister Jackson. Source-Book, 212-213

254. Two British Ministers.–Soon after Madison’s
inauguration a new British minister came to Washington. His name
was Erskine, and he was very friendly. A treaty was speedily made
on conditions which Madison thought could be granted. He suspended
non-intercourse with Great Britain, and hundreds of vessels set
sail for that country. But the British rulers soon put an end to
this friendly feeling. They said that Erskine had no authority to
make such a treaty. They refused to carry it out and recalled
Erskine. The next British minister was a person named Jackson. He
accused Madison of cheating Erskine and repeated the accusation.
Thereupon Madison sent him back to London. As the British would not
carry out the terms of Erskine’s treaty, Madison was compelled to
prohibit all intercourse with Great Britain.

Still another policy. McMaster, 229-230.
French trickery.
British trickery.

255. British and French Trickery.–The scheme of
non-intercourse did not seem to bring the British and the French to
terms much better than the embargo had done. In 1810, therefore,
Congress set to work and produced a third plan. This was to allow
intercourse with both Great Britain and France. But this was
coupled with the promise that if one of the two nations stopped
seizing American ships and the other did not, then intercourse with
the unfriendly country should be prohibited. Napoleon at once said
that he would stop seizing American vessels on November 1 of that
year if the British, on their part, would stop their seizures
before that time. The British said that they would stop seizing
when Napoleon did. Neither of them really did anything except to
keep on capturing American vessels whenever they could get a
chance.

Indians of the Northwest. Eggleston,
242.
Tecumthe.

256. Indian Troubles, 1810.–To this everlasting trouble
with Great Britain and France were now added the horrors of an
Indian war. It came about in this way. Settlers were pressing into
Indiana Territory west of the new state of Ohio. Soon the lands
which the United States had bought of the Indians would be
occupied. New lands must be bought. At this time there were two
able Indian leaders in the Northwest. These were Tecumthe, or
Tecumseh, and his brother, who was known as “the Prophet.” These
chiefs set on foot a great Indian confederation. They said that no
one Indian tribe should sell land to the United States without the
consent of all the tribes of the Confederation.

Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811.

257. Battle of Tippecanoe.–This determined attitude of
the Indians seemed to the American leaders to be very dangerous.
Governor William Henry Harrison of Indiana Territory gathered a
small army of regular soldiers and volunteers from Ohio, Kentucky,
and Indiana. He marched to the Indian settlements. The Indians
attacked him at Tippecanoe. He beat them off and, attacking in his
turn, routed them. Tecumthe was not at the battle. But he
immediately fled to the British in Canada. The Americans had
suspected that the British were stirring up the Indians to resist
the United States. The reception given to Tecumthe made them feel
that their suspicions were correct.

[Illustration: MEDAL PRESENTED TO HENRY CLAY.]

Henry Clay.
John C. Calhoun.

258. The War Party in Congress.–There were abundant
reasons to justify war with Great Britain, or with France, or with
both of them. But there would probably have been no war with either
of them had it not been for a few energetic young men in Congress.
The leaders of this war party were Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun.
Clay was born in Virginia, but as a boy he had gone to Kentucky. He
represented the spirit of the young and growing West. He was a true
patriot and felt angry at the way the British spoke of America and
Americans, and at the way they acted toward the United States. He
was a very popular man and won men to him by his attractive
qualities and by his energy. Calhoun was a South Carolinian who had
been educated in Connecticut. He was a man of the highest personal
character. He had a strong, active mind, and he was fearless in
debate. As with Clay so with Calhoun, they both felt the rising
spirit of nationality. They thought that the United States had been
patient long enough. They and their friends gained a majority in
Congress and forced Madison to send a warlike message to
Congress.

Madison’s war message, 1812. McMaster>,
231; Source-Book, 214-216.

259. Madison’s Reasons for War, 1812.–In his message
Madison stated the grounds for complaint against the British as
follows: (1) they impressed American seamen; (2) they disturbed
American commerce by stationing warships off the principal ports;
they refused to permit trade between America and Europe; (4) they
stirred up the western Indians to attack the settlers; (5) they
were really making war on the United States while the United States
was at peace with them. For these reasons Madison advised a
declaration of war against Great Britain, and war was declared.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 22

§§ 228, 229.–a. Draw a map showing the states
and territories in 1800.

b. How and why had the center of population changed since
1791? Where is it now?

c. Why did so many people live near tide water? Do the
same reasons exist to-day?

§§ 230-232.–a. What were the “best roads” in
1800?

b. Describe the dangers and discomforts of traveling in
1800.

c. What were the early steamboats like?

§§ 233, 234.–a. What fact hindered the growth
of cotton on a large scale in colonial times?

b. How did Whitney’s cotton gin change these
conditions?

§§ 235, 236.–a. Why had manufacturing received
so little attention before the Revolution?

b. How did the new government encourage
manufacturing?

CHAPTER 23

§ 237.–a. How did Jefferson’s inauguration
illustrate his political ideas?

b. Compare his method of opening Congress with that
employed by Washington and Adams. Which method is followed
to-day?

§§ 238.–a. What is the Civil Service? How had
Washington and Adams filled offices? Was their action wise?

§§ 239.–a. Explain the Judiciary Act of
1801.

b. What power has Congress over the Judiciary?
(Constitution, Art. III).

§§ 240.–a. What was Jefferson’s policy toward
expenses? How did he carry it out? What was the result of these
economies?

b. Was the reduction of the navy wise? What conditions
make a large navy necessary?

§§ 241-244.–a. When and how had Louisiana
changed hands since its settlement? Why were the Spaniards poor
neighbors?

b. How did the United States acquire Louisiana?

c. Trace on a map the boundaries of the Louisiana
Purchase. Compare its value to-day with the price paid.

d. What important discoveries did Lewis and Clark
make?

§§ 245, 246.–a. Give instances which
illustrate the disadvantages of the old way of electing the
President and Vice-President.

b. Explain carefully the changes made by the Twelfth
Amendment, and show how a President may be elected by a minority of
the voters.

CHAPTER 24

§§ 247.–a. Describe the doings of the African
pirates. Why had Washington and Adams paid them?

b. Describe Jefferson’s action and state the results.

§§ 248, 249.–a. Compare the power of France
and Great Britain at this time.

b. How did they try to injure one another? How did they
treat American ships?

c. Explain the impressment of sailors by the British.

§§ 250, 251.–a. Describe the difficulties of
Jefferson’s position.

b. Give instances of refusal to buy British goods and the
results.

c. Explain the Embargo Act. Why was it a failure?

d. Describe the outrage on the Chesapeake. Was the
offer of the British government enough? What more should have been
promised?

§§ 252, 253.–a. What were Jefferson’s
objections to a third term? What custom was established by these
early Presidents?

b. Where have we found Madison prominent before?

c. Explain the difference between the Embargo Act and the
Non-Intercourse Act.

§§ 254, 255.–a. Describe the attempt to renew
friendly intercourse with Great Britain.

b. What do you think of Napoleon’s treatment of the
United States?

§§ 256.–a. What caused the trouble with the
Indians?

b. Describe Harrison’s action. How were the British
connected with this Indian trouble?

§§ 257-259.–a. How did all these affairs
affect the relations between the United States and Great
Britain?

b. Explain the attitude of Clay and Calhoun.

c. What is meant by the “rising spirit of
nationality”?

d. Illustrate, by facts already studied, the reasons
given in Madison’s message.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

a. How has machinery influenced the history of the United
States?

b. Draw a map showing the extent of the United States in
1802 and 1804.

c. What were the four most important things in
Jefferson’s administrations? Why do you select these?

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

a. Robert Fulton or Eli Whitney.

b. Exploration of the Northwest.

c. War with the African pirates.

d. Life and manners in 1800.

SUGGESTIONS

The purchase of Louisiana and the early development of the West
are leading points in this period. With the latter must be coupled
the important inventions which made such development possible.
Commercial questions should receive adequate attention and should
be illustrated by present conditions.

Jefferson’s attitude toward both the Louisiana Purchase and the
enforcement of the Embargo Act is an illustration of the effect
which power and responsibility have on those placed at the head of
the government. This can also be illustrated by events in our own
time.

IX

WAR AND PEACE, 1812-1829

Books for Study and Reading

References.–Higginson’s Larger History, 365-442;
Scribner’s Popular History, IV; Lossing’s Field-Book of
the War of 1812; Coffin’s Building the Nation,
149-231.

Home Readings.–Barnes’s Yankee Ships; Roosevelt’s
Naval War of 1812; Seawell’s Midshipman Paulding;
Holmes’s Old Ironsides; Goodwin’s Dolly Madison.

CHAPTER 25

THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, 1812 1815

American plan of campaign, 1812.
Objections to it.

260. Plan of Campaign, 1812.–The American plan of
campaign was that General Hull should invade Canada from Detroit.
He could then march eastward, north of Lake Erie, and meet another
army which was to cross the Niagara River. These two armies were to
take up the eastward march and join a third army from New York. The
three armies then would capture Montreal and Quebec and generally
all Canada. It was a splendid plan. But there were three things in
the way of carrying it out: (i) there was no trained American army;
(2) there were no supplies for an army when gathered and trained;
and (3) there was a small, well-trained and well-supplied army in
Canada.

[Illustration: DETROIT, ABOUT 1815.]

Hull’s march to Detroit.
His misfortunes.
He surrenders Detroit, 1812.

261. Hull’s Surrender of Detroit, 1812.–In those days
Detroit was separated from the settled parts of Ohio by two hundred
miles of wilderness. To get his men and supplies to Detroit, Hull
had first of all to cut a road through the forest. The British
learned of the actual declaration of war before Hull knew of it.
They dashed down on his scattered detachments and seized his
provisions. Hull sent out expedition after expedition to gather
supplies and bring in the scattered settlers. Tecumthe and the
other Indian allies of the British captured one expedition after
another. The British advanced on Detroit, and Hull surrendered. By
this disaster the British got control of the upper lakes. They even
invaded Ohio.

[Illustration: PERRY’S BATTLE FLAG.]

Battle of Lake Erie 1813. McMaster, 234-235.
Battle of the Thames, 1813.

262. Perry’s Victory on Lake Erie, 1813.–But the British
triumph did not last long. In the winter of 1812-13 Captain Oliver
Hazard Perry built a fleet of warships on Lake Erie. They were
built of green timber cut for the purpose. They were poor vessels,
but were as good as the British vessels. In September, 1813, Perry
sailed in search of the British ships. Coming up with them, he
hoisted at his masthead a large blue flag with Lawrence’s immortal
words, “Don’t give up the ship” (p. 212), worked upon it. The
battle was fiercely fought. Soon Perry’s flagship, the
Lawrence, was disabled and only nine of her crew were
uninjured. Rowing to another ship, Perry continued the fight. In
fifteen minutes more all the British ships surrendered. The control
of Lake Erie was now in American hands. The British retreated from
the southern side of the lake. General Harrison occupied Detroit.
He then crossed into Canada and defeated a British army on the
banks of the river Thames (October, 1813).

[Illustration: THE “CONSTITUTION.” From an early painting of the
escape of the Constitution from the British fleet. The men
in the boat are preparing to carry out a small anchor.]

The Constitution.
Chased by a British fleet, 1812.
She escapes.

263. The Frigate Constitution.–One of the first
vessels to get to sea was the Constitution, commanded by
Isaac Hull. She sailed from Chesapeake Bay for New York, where she
was to serve as a guard-ship. On the way she fell in with a British
squadron. The Constitution sailed on with the whole British
fleet in pursuit. Soon the wind began to die away. The
Constitution’s sails were soaked with water to make them
hold the wind better. Then the wind gave out altogether, Captain
Hull lowered his boats and the men began to tow the ship. But the
British lowered their boats also. They set a great many boats to
towing their fastest ship, and she began to gain on the
Constitution. Then Captain Hull found that he was sailing
over shoal water, although out of sight of land, so he sent a small
anchor ahead in a boat. The anchor was dropped and men on the ship
pulled in the anchor line. This was done again and again. The
Constitution now began to gain on the British fleet. Then a
sudden squall burst on the ships. Captain Hull saw it coming and
made every preparation to take advantage of it. When the rain
cleared away, the Constitution was beyond fear of pursuit.
But she could not go to New York, so Captain Hull took her to
Boston. The government at once ordered him to stay where he was;
but, before the orders reached Boston, the Constitution was
far away.

Constitution and Guerrière,
1812.
Reasons for the victory.

264. Constitution and Guerrière,
1812.–For some time Hull cruised about in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. One day he sighted a British frigate–the
Guerrière–one of the ships that had chased the
Constitution. But now that Hull found her alone, he steered
straight for her. In thirty minutes from the firing of the first
gun the Guerrière was a ruinous wreck. All of her
masts and spars were shot away and most of her crew were killed or
wounded. The Constitution was only slightly injured, and was
soon ready to fight another British frigate, had there been one to
fight. Indeed, the surgeons of the Constitution went on
board of the Guerrière to help dress the wounds of
the British seamen. The Guerrière was a little
smaller than the Constitution and had smaller guns. But the
real reason for this great victory was that the American ship and
the American guns were very much better handled than were the
British ship and the British guns.

Wasp and the Frolic.
Effect of these victories.

265. The Wasp and the Frolic, 1812.–At
almost the same time the American ship Wasp captured the
British brig Frolic. The Wasp had three masts, and
the Frolic had only two masts. But the two vessels were
really of about the same size, as the American ship was only five
feet longer than her enemy, and had the lighter guns. In a few
minutes after the beginning of the fight the Frolic was a
shattered hulk, with only one sound man on her deck. Soon after the
conflict a British battleship came up and captured both the
Wasp and her prize. The effect of these victories of the
Constitution and the Wasp was tremendous. Before the
war British naval officers had called the Constitution “a
bundle of sticks.” Now it was thought to be no longer safe for
British frigates to sail the seas alone. They must go in pairs to
protect each other from “Old Ironsides.” Before long the
Constitution, now commanded by Captain Bainbridge, had
captured the British frigate Java, and the frigate United
States, Captain Decatur, had taken the British ship
Macedonian. On the other hand, the Chesapeake was
captured by the Shannon. This victory gave great
satisfaction to the British. But Captain Lawrence’s last words,
“Don’t give up the ship,” have always been a glorious inspiration
to American sailors.

[Illustration]

Plan of campaign, 1814.
Battle of Lundy’s Lane, 1814.

266. Brown’s Invasion of Canada, 1814.–In the first two
years of the war the American armies in New York had done nothing.
But abler men were now in command. Of these, General Jacob Brown,
General Macomb, Colonel Winfield Scott, and Colonel Ripley deserve
to be remembered. The American plan of campaign was that Brown,
with Scott and Ripley, should cross the Niagara River and invade
Canada. General Macomb, with a naval force under McDonough, was to
hold the line of Lake Champlain. The British plan was to invade New
York by way of Lake Champlain. Brown crossed the Niagara River and
fought two brilliant battles at Chippewa and Lundy’s Lane. The
latter battle was especially glorious because the Americans
captured British guns and held them against repeated attacks by
British veterans. In the end, however, Brown was obliged to
retire.

Invasion of New York.
Battle of Plattsburg, 1814.

267. McDonough’s Victory at Plattsburg, 1814.–General
Prevost, with a fine army of veterans, marched southward from
Canada, while a fleet sailed up Lake Champlain. At Plattsburg, on
the western side of the lake, was General Macomb with a force of
American soldiers. Anchored before the town was McDonough’s fleet.
Prevost attacked Macomb’s army and was driven back. The British
fleet attacked McDonough’s vessels and was destroyed. That put an
end to Prevost’s invasion. He retreated back to Canada as fast as
he could go.

[Illustration: FORT McHENRY.]

Burning of Washington, 1814.
“The Star-Spangled Banner.”

268. The British in the Chesapeake, 1814.–Besides their
operations on the Canadian frontier, the British tried to capture
New Orleans and the cities on Chesapeake Bay. The British landed
below Washington. They marched to the capital. They entered
Washington. They burned the Capitol, the White House, and several
other public buildings. They then hurried away, leaving their
wounded behind them. Later on the British attacked Baltimore and
were beaten off with great loss. It was at this time that Francis
Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner.” He was detained on
board one of the British warships during the fight. Eagerly he
watched through the smoke for a glimpse of the flag over Fort
McHenry at the harbor’s mouth. In the morning the flag was still
there. This defeat closed the British operations on the
Chesapeake.

[Illustration: FLAG OF FORT McHENRY. Fifteen stars and fifteen
stripes–one of each for each state.]

Jackson’s Creek campaign, 1814.

269. The Creek War.–The Creek Indians lived in Alabama.
They saw with dismay the spreading settlements of the whites. The
Americans were now at war. It would be a good chance to destroy
them. So the Creeks fell upon the whites and murdered about four
hundred. General Andrew Jackson of Tennessee commanded the American
army in the Southwest. As soon as he knew that the Creeks were
attacking the settlers, he gathered soldiers and followed the
Indians to their stronghold. He stormed their fort and killed most
of the garrison.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. From a sketch by one of
Jackson’s staff.]

Battle of New Orleans, 1815.
Hero Tales, 139-147.

270. Jackson’s Defense of New Orleans, 1814-15.–Jackson
had scarcely finished this work when he learned of the coming of a
great British expedition to the mouth of the Mississippi River. He
at once hastened to the defense of New Orleans. Below the city the
country greatly favored the defender. For there was very little
solid ground except along the river’s bank. Picking out an
especially narrow place, Jackson built a breastwork of cotton bales
and rubbish. In front of the breastwork he dug a deep ditch. The
British rushed to the attack. Most of their generals were killed or
wounded, and the slaughter was terrible. Later, they made another
attack and were again beaten off.

Naval combats, 1814.

271. The War on the Sea, 1814.–It was only in the first
year or so of the war that there was much fighting between American
and British warships. After that the American ships could not get
to sea, for the British stationed whole fleets off the entrances to
the principal harbors. But a few American vessels ran the blockade
and did good service. For instance, Captain Charles Stewart in the
Constitution captured two British ships at one time. But
most of the warships that got to sea were captured sooner or
later.

The privateers. Hero Tales, 129-136.

272. The Privateers.–No British fleets could keep the
privateers from leaving port. They swarmed upon the ocean and
captured hundreds of British merchantmen, some of them within sight
of the shores of Great Britain. In all, they captured more than
twenty-five hundred British ships. They even fought the smaller
warships of the enemy.

Treaty of peace, 1814.

273. Treaty of Ghent, 1814.–The war had hardly begun
before commissioners to treat for peace were appointed by both the
United States and Great Britain. But they did nothing until the
failure of the 1814 campaign showed the British government that
there was no hope of conquering any portion of the United States.
Then the British were ready enough to make peace, and a treaty was
signed at Ghent in December, 1814. This was two weeks before the
British disaster at New Orleans occurred, and months before the
news of it reached Europe. None of the things about which the war
was fought were even mentioned in the treaty. But this did not
really make much difference. For the British had repealed their
orders as to American ships before the news of the declaration of
war reached London. As for impressment, the guns of the
Constitution had put an end to that.

[Illustration: THE OLD STATE HOUSE. Where the Hartford
Convention met.]

New England Federalists.
Hartford Convention, 1814.

274. The Hartford Convention, 1814.–While the New
commissioners were talking over the treaty of peace, other debaters
were discussing the war, at Hartford, Connecticut. These were
leading New England Federalists. They thought that the government
at Washington had done many things that the Constitution of the
United States did not permit it to do. They drew up a set of
resolutions. Some of these read like those other resolutions drawn
up by Jefferson and Madison in 1798 (p. 175). The Hartford debaters
also thought that the national government had not done enough to
protect the coasts of New England from British attacks. They
proposed, therefore, that the taxes collected by the national
government in New England should be handed over to the New England
states to use for their defense. Commissioners were actually at
Washington to propose this division of the national revenue when
news came of Jackson’s victory at New Orleans and of the signing of
the Treaty of Ghent. The commissioners hastened home and the
Republican party regained its popularity with the voters.

[Illustration: A REPUBLICAN SQUIB ON THE HARTFORD
CONVENTION.]

Gains of the war.
The American nation.

275. Gains of the War.–The United States gained no
territory after all this fighting on sea and land. It did not even
gain the abolition of impressment in so many words. But what was of
far greater importance, the American people began to think of
itself as a nation. Americans no longer looked to France or to
England as models to be followed. They became Americans. The
getting of this feeling of independence and of nationality was a
very great step forward. It is right, therefore, to speak of this
war as the Second War of Independence.

[Illustration: JAMES MONROE.]

CHAPTER 26

THE ERA OF GOOD FEELING, 1815-1824

Monroe elected President, 1816, 1820.
Characteristics of the Era of Good Feeling. McMaster,
260.

276. The Era as a Whole.–The years 1815-24 have been
called the Era of Good Feeling, because there was no hard political
fighting in all that time–at least not until the last year or two.
In 1816 Monroe was elected President without much opposition. In
1820 he was reëlected President without any opposition
whatever. Instead of fighting over politics, the people were busily
employed in bringing vast regions of the West under cultivation and
in founding great manufacturing industries in the East. They were
also making roads and canals to connect the Western farms with the
Eastern cities and factories. The later part of the era was a time
of unbounded prosperity. Every now and then some hard question
would come up for discussion. Its settlement would be put off, or
the matter would be compromised. In these years the Federalist
party disappeared, and the Republican party split into factions. By
1824 the differences in the Republican party had become so great
that there was a sudden ending to the Era of Good Feeling.

Hard times, 1816-18.
Emigration to the West, 1816-18. McMaster, 241, 266-273.
Four states admitted, 1816-1819.
Maine and Missouri apply for admission.

277. Western Emigration.–During the first few years of
this period the people of the older states on the seacoast felt
very poor. The shipowners could no longer make great profits. For
there was now peace in Europe, and European vessels competed with
American vessels. Great quantities of British goods were sent to
the United States and were sold at very low prices. The demand for
American goods fell off. Mill owners closed their mills. Working
men and women could find no work to do. The result was a great rush
of emigrants from the older states on the seaboard to the new
settlements in the West. In the West the emigrants could buy land
from the government at a very low rate, and by working hard could
support themselves and their families. This westward movement was
at its height in 1817. In the years 1816–19, four states were
admitted to the Union. These were Indiana (1816), Mississippi
(1817), Illinois (1818), and Alabama (1819). Some of the emigrants
even crossed the Mississippi River and settled in Missouri and in
Arkansas. In 1819 they asked to be admitted to the Union as the
state of Missouri, or given a territorial government under the name
of Arkansas. The people of Maine also asked Congress to admit them
to the Union as the state of Maine.

Objections to the admission of Missouri.

278. Opposition to the Admission of Missouri.–Many
people in the North opposed the admission of Missouri because the
settlers of the proposed state were slaveholders. Missouri would be
a slave state, and these Northerners did not want any more slave
states. Originally slavery had existed in all the old thirteen
states. But every state north of Maryland had before 1819
either put an end to slavery or had adopted some plan by which
slavery would gradually come to an end. Slavery had been excluded
from the Northwest by the famous Ordinance of 1787 (p. 135).
In these ways slavery had ceased to be a vital institution north of
Maryland and Kentucky. Why should slavery be allowed west of the
Mississippi River? Louisiana had been admitted as a slave state
(1812). But the admission of Louisiana had been provided for in the
treaty for the purchase of Louisiana from France. The Southerners
felt as strongly on the other side. They said that their slaves
were their property, and that they had a perfect right to take
their property and settle on the land belonging to the nation.
Having founded a slave state, it was only right that the state
should be admitted to the Union.

[Illustration: (Map) Missouri Compromise of 1820]

This Missouri Compromise, 1820. Higginson,
254-256; Eggleston, 258-261.
Both states admitted, 1820. McMaster,274-276.

279. The Missouri Compromise, 1820.–When the question of
the admission of Maine and Missouri came before Congress, the
Senate was equally divided between the slave states and the free
states. But the majority of the House of Representatives was from
the free states. The free states were growing faster than were the
slave states and would probably keep on growing faster. The
majority from the free states in the House, therefore, would
probably keep on increasing. If the free states obtained a majority
in the Senate also, the Southerners would lose all control of the
government. For these reasons the Southerners would not consent to
the admission of Maine as a free state unless at the same time
Missouri was admitted as a slave state. After a long struggle Maine
and Missouri were both admitted–the one as a free state, the other
as a slave state. But it was also agreed that all of the Louisiana
purchase north of the southern boundary of Missouri, with the
single exception of the state of Missouri, should be free soil
forever. This arrangement was called the Missouri Compromise. It
was the work of Henry Clay. It was an event of great importance,
because it put off for twenty-five years the inevitable conflict
over slavery.

THE UNITED STATES IN 1819

Reasons for the purchase of Florida.
Jackson invades Florida, 1818.
The Florida purchase, 1819.

280. The Florida Treaty, 1819.–While this contest was
going on, the United States bought of Spain a large tract of land
admirably suited to negro slavery. This was Florida. It belonged to
Spain and was a refuge for all sorts of people: runaway negroes,
fugitive Indians, smugglers, and criminals of all kinds. Once in
Florida, fugitives generally were safe. But they were not always
safe. For instance, in 1818 General Jackson chased some fleeing
Indians over the boundary. They sought refuge in a Spanish fort,
and Jackson was obliged to take the fort as well as the Indians.
This exploit made the Spaniards more willing to sell Florida. The
price was five million dollars. But when it came to giving up the
province, the Spaniards found great difficulty in keeping their
promises. The treaty was made in 1819, but it was not until 1821
that Jackson, as governor of Florida, took possession of the new
territory. Even then the Spanish governor refused to hand over the
record books, and Jackson had to shut him up in prison until he
became more reasonable.

[Illustration: OLD HOUSES, ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA.]

Formation of the Holy Alliance.
It interferes in Spanish affairs.
The Spanish Americans colonists rebel against Spain.
Russian attempts at colonization.

281. The “Holy Alliance.”–Most of the people of the
other Spanish colonies were rebelling against Spain, and there was
a rebellion in Spain itself. There were rebellions in other
European countries as well as in Spain. In fact, there seemed to be
a rebellious spirit nearly everywhere. This alarmed the European
emperors and kings. With the exception of the British king, they
joined together to put down rebellions. They called their union the
Holy Alliance. They soon put the Spanish king back on his throne.
They then thought that they would send warships and soldiers across
the Atlantic Ocean to crush the rebellions in the Spanish colonies.
Now the people of the United States sympathized with the Spanish
colonists in their desire for independence. They also disliked the
idea of Europeans interfering in American affairs. “America for
Americans,” was the cry. It also happened that Englishmen desired
the freedom of the Spanish colonists. As her subjects Spain would
not let them buy English goods. But if they were free, they could
buy goods wherever they pleased. The British government therefore
proposed that the United States and Great Britain should join in a
declaration that the Spanish colonies were independent states. John
Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, was Monroe’s Secretary of State.
He thought that this would not be a wise course to follow, because
it might bring American affairs within European control. He was all
the more anxious to prevent this entanglement, as the Czar of
Russia was preparing to found colonies on the western coast of
North America and Adams wanted a free hand to deal with him.

The Monroe Doctrine, 1822. McMaster,
262-265.
Action of Great Britain. End of European interference in
America.

282. The Monroe Doctrine, 1823.–It was under these
circumstances that President Monroe sent a message to Congress. In
it he stated the policy of the United States as follows: (1)
America is closed to colonization by any European power; (2) the
United States have not interfered and will not interfere in
European affairs; (3) the United States regard the extension of the
system of the Holy Alliance to America as dangerous to the United
States; and (4) the United States would regard the interference of
the Holy Alliance in American affairs as an “unfriendly act.” This
part of the message was written by Adams. He had had a long
experience in diplomacy. He used the words “unfriendly act” as
diplomatists use them when they mean that such an “unfriendly act”
would be a cause for war. The British government also informed the
Holy Allies that their interference in American affairs would be
resented. The Holy Alliance gave over all idea of crushing the
Spanish colonists. And the Czar of Russia agreed to found no
colonies south of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes north
latitude.

Meaning of the Monroe Doctrine.

283. Meaning of the Monroe Doctrine.–The ideas contained
in Monroe’s celebrated message to Congress are always spoken of as
the Monroe Doctrine. Most of these ideas were not invented by
Monroe or by Adams. Many of them may be found in Washington’s
Neutrality Proclamation, in Washington’s Farewell Address, in
Jefferson’s Inaugural Address, and in other documents. What was new
in Monroe’s message was the statement that European interference in
American affairs would be looked upon by the United States as an
“unfriendly act,” leading to war. European kings might crush out
liberty in Europe. They might divide Asia and Africa among
themselves. They must not interfere in American affairs.

CHAPTER 27

NEW PARTIES AND NEW POLICIES, 1824-1829

End of Monroe’s administrations.

284. End of the Era of Good Feeling.–The Era of Good
Feeling came to a sudden ending in 1824. Monroe’s second term as
President would end in 1825. He refused to be a candidate for
reëlection. In thus following the example set by Washington,
Jefferson, and Madison, Monroe confirmed the custom of limiting the
presidential term to eight years. There was no lack of candidates
to succeed him in his high office.

J.Q. Adams

285. John Quincy Adams.–First and foremost was John
Quincy Adams of Massachusetts. He was Monroe’s Secretary of State,
and this office had been a kind of stepping-stone to the
presidency. Monroe had been Madison’s Secretary of State; Madison
had been Jefferson’s Secretary of State; and Jefferson had been
Washington’s Secretary of State, although he was Vice-President
when he was chosen to the first place. John Quincy Adams was a
statesman of great experience and of ability. He was a man of the
highest honor and intelligence. He was nominated by the
legislatures of Massachusetts and of the other New England
states.

[Illustration: John C. Calhoun.]

W.H. Crawford.
Tenure of Office Act.
The Crawford machine.

286. William H. Crawford.–Besides Adams, two other
members of Monroe’s cabinet wished to succeed their chief. These
were John C. Calhoun and William H. Crawford. Calhoun soon withdrew
from the contest to accept the nomination of all the factions to
the place of Vice-President. Crawford was from Georgia and was
Secretary of the Treasury. As the head of that great department, he
controlled more appointments than all the other members of the
cabinet put together. The habit of using public offices to reward
political friends had begun in Pennsylvania. Washington, in his
second term, Adams, and Jefferson had appointed to office only
members of their own party. Jefferson had also removed from office
a few political opponents (p. 187). But there were great
difficulties in the way of making removals. Crawford hit upon the
plan of appointing officers for four years only. Congress at once
fell in with the idea and passed the Tenure of Office Act, limiting
appointments to four years. Crawford promptly used this new power
to build up a strong political machine in the Treasury Department,
devoted to his personal advancement. He was nominated for the
presidency by a Congressional caucus and became the “regular”
candidate.

Henry Clay.
Andrew Jackson.

287. Clay and Jackson.–Two men outside of the cabinet
were also put forward for Monroe’s high office. These were Andrew
Jackson of Tennessee and Henry Clay of Kentucky. Clay and Calhoun
had entered politics at about the same time. They had then believed
in the same policy. Calhoun had abandoned his early ideas. But Clay
held fast to the policy of “nationalization.” He still favored
internal improvements at the national expense. He still favored the
protective system. He was the great “peacemaker” and tried by means
of compromises to unite all parts of the Union (p. 222). He loved
his country and had unbounded faith in the American people. The
legislatures of Kentucky and other states nominated him for the
presidency. The strongest man of all the candidates was Andrew
Jackson, the “Hero of New Orleans.” He had never been prominent in
politics. But his warlike deeds had made his name and his strength
familiar to the voters, especially to those of the West. He was a
man of the people, as none of his rivals were. He stood for
democracy and the Union. The legislatures of Tennessee and other
states nominated Jackson for the presidency.

The election of 1824.
It goes to the House of Representatives.
The House chooses Adams.

288. Adams chosen President, 1824.–The election was
held. The presidential electors met in their several states and
cast their votes for President and Vice-President. The ballots were
brought to Washington and were counted. No candidate for the
presidency had received a majority of all the votes cast. Jackson
had more votes than any other candidate, next came Adams, then
Crawford, and last of all Clay. The House of Representatives,
voting by states, must choose one of the first three President.
Clay, therefore, was out of the race. Clay and his friends believed
in the same things that Adams and his friends believed in, and had
slight sympathy with the views of Jackson or of Crawford. So they
joined the Adams men and chose Adams President. The Jackson men
were furious. They declared that the Representatives had defeated
the “will of the people.”

[Illustration: JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.]

Adams appoints Clay Secretary of State.
Charges of a bargain.
Weakness of Adams’s administration.

289. Misfortunes of Adams’s Administration.–Adams’s
first mistake was the appointment of Clay as Secretary of State. It
was a mistake, because it gave the Jackson men a chance to assert
that there had been a “deal” between Adams and Clay. They called
Clay the “Judas of the West.” They said that the “will of the
people” had been defeated by a “corrupt bargain.” These charges
were repeated over and over again until many people really began to
think that there must be some reason for them. The Jackson men also
most unjustly accused Adams of stealing the nation’s money. The
British government seized the opportunity of Adams’s weak
administration to close the West India ports to American
shipping.

Early tariff laws.
The tariff of 1816.
Tariff of 1824.

290. Early Tariffs.–Ever since 1789 manufactures had
been protected (p. 155). The first tariff rates were very low. But
the Embargo Act, the non-intercourse law, and the War of 1812 put
an end to the importation of foreign goods. Capitalists invested
large amounts of money in cotton mills, woolen mills, and iron
mills. With the return of peace in 1815, British merchants flooded
the American markets with cheap goods (p. 220). The manufacturers
appealed to Congress for more protection, and Congress promptly
passed a new tariff act (1816). This increased the duties over the
earlier laws. But it did not give the manufacturers all the
protection that they desired. In 1824 another law was drawn up. It
raised the duties still higher. The Southerners opposed the passage
of this last law. For they clearly saw that protection did them no
good. But the Northerners and the Westerners were heartily in favor
of the increased duties, and the law was passed.

Agitation for more protection, 1828.
Scheme of the Jackson men.
Tariff of 1828.

291. The Tariff of Abominations, 1828.–In 1828 another
presidential election was to be held. The manufacturers thought
that this would be a good time to ask for even higher protective
duties, because the politicians would not dare to oppose the
passage of the law for fear of losing votes. The Jackson men hit
upon a plan by which they would seem to favor higher duties while
at the same time they were really opposing them. They therefore
proposed high duties on manufactured goods. This would please the
Northern manufacturers. They proposed high duties on raw materials.
This would please the Western producers. But they thought that the
manufacturers would oppose the final passage of the bill because
the high duties on raw materials would injure them very much. The
bill would fail to pass, and this would please the Southern cotton
growers. It was a very shrewd little plan. But it did not work. The
manufacturers thought that it would be well at all events to have
the high duties on manufactured goods–perhaps they might before
long secure the repeal of the duties on raw materials. The Northern
members of Congress voted for the bill, and it passed.

Election of 1828.
Jackson elected President. McMaster, 301.

292. Jackson elected President, 1828.–In the midst of
all this discouragement as to foreign affairs and this contest over
the tariff, the presidential campaign of 1828 was held. Adams and
Jackson were the only two candidates. Jackson was elected by a
large majority of electoral votes. But Adams received only one vote
less than he had received in 1824. The contest was very close in
the two large states of Pennsylvania and New York. Had a few
thousand more voters in those states cast their votes for Adams,
the electoral votes of those states would have been given to him,
and he would have been elected. It was fortunate that Jackson was
chosen. For a great contest between the states and the national
government was coming on. It was well that a man of Jackson’s
commanding strength and great popularity should be at the head of
the government.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 25

§§ 260-262.–a. Explain by a map the American
plan of campaign and show its advantages and disadvantages.

b. Describe Perry’s victory. How did this turn the scale
of war?

§§ 263-265.–a. Describe the escape of the
Constitution from the British fleet. Describe the
destruction of the Guerrière and of the
Frolic. What was the reason for the American successes?

b. Why was the effect of these victories so great?

c. Why did the capture of the Chesapeake cause so
much delight in England? Why are Lawrence’s words so inspiring?

§§ 266, 267.–a. Compare the second plan for
the invasion of Canada with the earlier one.

b. Discuss the events of Brown’s campaign and its
results.

c. Compare Prevost’s campaign with Burgoyne’s. Why was it
unsuccessful?

d. What do Perry’s and McDonough’s victories show?

§§ 268.–a. Why were the British attacks
directed against these three portions of the country?

b. Describe the attack on Washington. Was the burning of
the public buildings justifiable?

c. Read the “Star-Spangled Banner” and explain the
allusions.

§§ 269, 270.–a. Describe Jackson’s plans for
the defense of New Orleans. Why were they so successful?

b. Why did not this success of the Americans have more
effect on the peace negotiations?

§§ 271, 272.–a. Why were most of the naval
conflicts during the first year of the war? What is a blockade?
What is a privateer?

b. What work did the privateers do?

§ 273.–a. Why was so little advance made at first
toward a treaty of peace?

b. Why was the news of the treaty so long in reaching
Washington?

c. What was settled by the war?

§ 274.–a. Were the Federalists or the Republicans
more truly the national party?

b. What propositions were made by the Hartford
Convention? If such proposals were carried out, what would be the
effect on the Union?

c. Compare the principles underneath these resolutions
with those of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.

§275.–a. Note carefully the effect of this war.

b. Why is it called the Second War of Independence?

CHAPTER 26

§§ 276, 277.–a. What is meant by the Era of
Good Feeling? Is this period more important or less important than
the period of war which preceded it? Why?

b. What matters occupied the attention of the people?

c. What shows the sudden increase in Western
migration?

§§ 278, 279.–a. State carefully the objections
to the admission of Missouri on the part of the Northerners. Why
did the Southerners object to the admission of Maine?

b. Trace on a map the line between the free states and
the slave states. Why was slavery no longer of importance north of
this line? Why was it important south of this line?

c. Why were the free states gaining faster than the slave
states?

d. Explain the Missouri Compromise. How did the
Compromise postpone the conflict over slavery?

§ 280.–a. Why was Florida a danger to the United
States?

b. What people in the United States would welcome the
purchase of Florida?

c. What does this section show you as to Jackson’s
character?

§ 281.–a. Why was the Holy Alliance formed? What
did the allies propose as to America?

b. How was this proposal regarded by Americans? Why?

c. How was it regarded by Englishmen? Why?

§§ 282, 283.–a. Explain carefully the four
points of Monroe’s message.

b. Were these ideas new? What is an “unfriendly act”?

c. What action did Great Britain take? What was the
result of the declarations of the United States and Great
Britain.

d. What was the new point in Monroe’s message?

e. Do we still keep to the Monroe Doctrine in all
respects?

CHAPTER 27

§§ 284-288.–a. Who were the candidates for
President in 1824? Describe the qualities and careers of each of
them. For whom would you have voted had you had the right to vote
in 1824?

b. How were these candidates nominated? What is a
caucus?

c. Describe the Tenure of Office Act. Should a man be
given an office simply because he has helped his party?

d. In what respects was Jackson unlike the early
Presidents?

e. What was the result of the election? Who was finally
chosen? Why? If you had been a Representative in 1824, for whom
would you have voted? Why?

f. What is a majority? A plurality?

§ 289.–a. Why was the appointment of Clay a
mistake?

b. What charges were made against Adams?

c. Describe the misfortunes of Adams’s
administration.

§§ 290, 291.–a. How are manufactures
protected?

b. Why were the protective tariffs of no benefit to the
Southerners?

c. Why was an attempt for a higher tariff made in
1828?

d. Explain the plan of the Jackson men. Why did the plan
fail?

§ 292.–a. Describe the election of 1828.

b. How was Jackson fitted to meet difficulties?

GENERAL QUESTIONS

a. Why was the navy better prepared for war than the
army?

b. Why did slaveholders feel the need of more slave
territory in the Union?

c. Jackson has been called “a man of the people.” Explain
this title.

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

a. Early life of Andrew Jackson (to 1828).

b. A battle of the War of 1812, e.g. Lake Erie, Lundy’s
Lane, Plattsburg, New Orleans, or a naval combat.

c. The frigate Constitution.

d. The career of Clay, of Calhoun, of J.Q. Adams, or of
Monroe.

SUGGESTIONS

The results of the War of 1812 should be carefully studied and
compared with the proposals of the Hartford Convention. These last
can be taught by comparison with the Kentucky and Virginia
Resolutions.

To the Missouri Compromise much time and careful explanation
should be given. Touch upon the economic side of slavery, and
explain how the continued supremacy of the slave power was
threatened.

The Monroe Doctrine is another difficult topic; but it can be
explained by recent history.

The election of 1824 can be carefully employed to elucidate the
mode of electing President, and the struggle over the tariffs can
be illustrated by recent tariff contests.

[Illustration: FLAG ADOPTED IN 1818. A star for each state and a
stripe for each of the original states.]

UNITED STATES IN 1830.

X

THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY, 1829-1844

Books for Study and Reading

References.–Scribner’s Popular History, IV;
Lodge’s Webster; Coffin’s Building the Nation,
251-313.

Home Readings.–Roosevelt’s Winning of the West;
Hale’s Stories of Inventions; Wright’s Stories of
American Progress.

CHAPTER 28

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN 1830

Changes in conditions.]

293. A New Race.–Between the election of President
Jefferson and the election of President Jackson great changes had
taken place. The old Revolutionary statesmen had gone. New men had
taken their places. The old sleepy life had gone. Everywhere now
was bustle and hurry. In 1800 the Federalists favored the British,
and the Republicans favored the French. Now no one seemed to care
for either the British or the French. At last the people had become
Americans. The Federalist party had disappeared. Every one now was
either a National Republican and voted for Adams, or a Democratic
Republican and voted for Jackson.

Population, 1830.
Area, 1830.
Growth of the cities.
Settlement of the West.

294. Numbers and Area.–In 1800 there were only five and
one-half million people in the whole United States. Now there were
nearly thirteen million people. And they had a very much larger
country to live in. In 1800 the area of the United States was about
eight hundred thousand square miles. But Louisiana and Florida had
been bought since then. Now (1830) the area of the United States
was about two million square miles. The population of the old
states had greatly increased. Especially the cities had grown. In
1800 New York City held about sixty thousand people; it now held
two hundred thousand people. But it was in the West that the
greatest growth had taken place. Since 1800 Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri had all
been admitted to the Union.

Difficulties of transport over the Alleghanies.
McMaster, 252, 280-282.
The Cumberland Road.

295. National Roads.–Steamboats were now running on the
Great Lakes and on all the important rivers of the West. The first
result of this new mode of transport was the separation of the West
from the East. Steamboats could carry passengers and goods up and
down the Mississippi and its branches more cheaply and more
comfortably than people and goods could be carried over the
Alleghanies. Many persons therefore advised the building of a good
wagon road to connect the Potomac with the Ohio. The eastern end of
this great road was at Cumberland on the Potomac in Maryland. It is
generally called, therefore, the Cumberland Road. It was begun at
the national expense in 1811. By 1820 the road was built as far as
Wheeling on the Ohio River. From that point steamboats could steam
to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, St. Louis, or New Orleans. Later on, the
road was built farther west, as far as Illinois. Then the coming of
the railroad made further building unnecessary.

The Erie Canal, 1825. McMaster, 282-284.
De Witt Clinton.
Results of the building of the Erie Canal.

296. The Erie Canal.–The best way to connect one
steamboat route with another was to dig a canal. The most famous of
all these canals was the one connecting the Hudson River with Lake
Erie, and called the Erie Canal. It was begun in 1817 and was
completed so that a boat could pass through it in 1825. It was De
Witt Clinton who argued that such a canal would benefit New York
City by bringing to it the produce of the Northwest and of western
New York. At the same time it would benefit the farmers of those
regions by bringing their produce to tide water cheaper than it
could be brought by road through Pennsylvania. It would still
further benefit the farmers by enabling them to buy their goods
much cheaper, as the rates of freight would be so much lower by
canal than they were by road. People who did not see these things
as clearly as De Witt Clinton saw them, spoke of the enterprise
most sneeringly and called the canal “Clinton’s big ditch.” It very
soon appeared that Clinton was right. In one year the cost of
carrying a ton of grain from Lake Erie to the Hudson River fell
from one hundred dollars to fifteen dollars. New York City soon
outstripped all its rivals and became the center of trade and money
in the United States. Other canals, as the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal, were marvels of skill. But they were not so favorably
situated as the Erie Canal and could not compete with it
successfully.

[Illustration: CONESTOGA WAGON AND TEAM.]

The first railroads. McMaster, 285-289.

297. Early Railroads.–The best stone and gravel roads
were always rough in places. It occurred to some one that it would
be better to lay down wooden rails, and then to place a rim or
flange on the wagon wheels to keep them on the rails. The first
road of this kind in America was built at Boston in 1807. It was a
very rude affair and was only used to carry dirt from the top of a
hill to the harbor. The wooden rails soon wore out, so the next
step was to nail strips of iron on top of them. Long lines of
railroads of this kind were soon built. Both passengers and goods
could be carried on them. Some of them were built by private
persons or by companies. Others were built by a town or a state.
Any one having horses and wagons with flanged wheels could use the
railway on the payment of a small sum of money. This was the
condition of affairs when the steam locomotive was invented.

AN EARLY LOCOMOTIVE.

Invention of the locomotive, 1830.
Hardships of early railroad travel.

298. The Steam Locomotive.–Steam was used to drive boats
through the water. Why should not steam be used to haul wagons over
a railroad? This was a very easy question to ask, and a very hard
one to answer. Year after year inventors worked on the problem.
Suddenly, about 1830, it was solved in several places and by
several men at nearly the same time. It was some years, however,
before the locomotive came into general use. The early railroad
trains were rude affairs. The cars were hardly more than
stagecoaches with flanged wheels. They were fastened together with
chains, and when the engine started or stopped, there was a
terrible bumping and jolting. The smoke pipe of the engine was very
tall and was hinged so that it could be let down when coming to a
low bridge or a tunnel. Then the smoke and cinders poured straight
into the passengers’ faces. But these trains went faster than canal
boats or steamboats. Soon the railroad began to take the first
place as a means of transport.

A LOCOMOTIVE OF TO-DAY.

Use of hard coal.
Growth of the cities.

299. Other Inventions.–The coming of the steam
locomotive hastened the changes which one saw on every side in
1830. For some time men had known that there was plenty of hard
coal or anthracite in Pennsylvania. But it was so hard that it
would not burn in the old-fashioned stoves and fireplaces. Now a
stove was invented that would burn anthracite, and the whole matter
of house warming was completely changed. Then means were found to
make iron from ore with anthracite. The whole iron industry awoke
to new life. Next the use of gas made from coal became common in
cities. The great increase in manufacturing, and the great changes
in modes of transport, led people to crowd together in cities and
towns. These inventions made it possible to feed and warm large
numbers of persons gathered into small areas. The cities began to
grow so fast that people could no longer live near their work or
the shops. Lines of stagecoaches were established, and the coaches
were soon followed by horse cars, which ran on iron tracks laid in
the streets.

AN EARLY HORSE CAR.

Growth of the school system.
Dictionary.”
American men of letters.
American men of science.

300. Progress in Letters.–There was also great progress
in learning. The school system was constantly improved. Especially
was this the case in the West, where the government devoted one
thirty-sixth part of the public lands to education. High schools
were founded, and soon normal schools were added to them. Even the
colleges awoke from their long sleep. More students went to them,
and the methods of teaching were improved. Some slight attention,
too, was given to teaching the sciences. In 1828 Noah Webster
published the first edition of his great dictionary. Unfortunately
he tried to change the spelling of many words. But in other ways
his dictionary was a great improvement. He defined words so that
they could be understood, and he gave the American meaning of many
words, as “congress.” American writers now began to make great
reputations. Cooper, Irving, and Bryant were already well known.
They were soon joined by a wonderful set of men, who speedily made
America famous. These were Emerson, Lowell, Longfellow, Holmes,
Hawthorne, Prescott, Motley, Bancroft, and Sparks. In science,
also, men of mark were beginning their labors, as Pierce, Gray,
Silliman, and Dana. Louis Agassiz before long began his wonderful
lectures, which did much to make science popular. In short,
Jackson’s administration marks the time when American life began to
take on its modern form.

[Illustration: NOAH WEBSTER.]

CHAPTER 29

THE REIGN OF ANDREW JACKSON, 1829-1837

Jackson’s early career.
His “kitchen cabinet”.

301. General Jackson.–Born in the backwoods of Carolina,
Jackson had early crossed the Alleghanies and settled in Tennessee.
Whenever trouble came to the Western people, whenever there was
need of a stout heart and an iron will, Jackson was at the front.
He always did his duty. He always did his duty well. Honest and
sincere, he believed in himself and he believed in the American
people. As President he led the people in one of the stormiest
periods in our history. Able men gathered about him. But he relied
chiefly on the advice of a few friends who smoked their pipes with
him and formed his “kitchen cabinet.” He seldom called a regular
cabinet meeting. When he did call one, it was often merely to tell
the members what he had decided to do.

Party machines.
The Spoils System.

302. The Spoils System.–Among the able men who had
fought the election for Jackson were Van Buren and Marcy of New
York and Buchanan of Pennsylvania. They had built up strong party
machines in their states. For they “saw nothing wrong in the
principle that to the victors belong the spoils of victory.” So
they rewarded their party workers with offices–when they won. The
Spoils System was now begun in the national government. Those who
had worked for Jackson rushed to Washington. The hotels and
boarding-houses could not hold them. Some of them camped out in the
parks and public squares of the capital. Removals now went merrily
on. Rotation in office was the cry. Before long Jackson removed
nearly one thousand officeholders and appointed political partisans
in their places.

The North and the South. McMaster,
301-304.

303. The North and the South.–The South was now a great
cotton-producing region. This cotton was grown by negro slaves. The
North was now a great manufacturing and commercial region. It was
also a great agricultural region. But the labor in the mills,
fields, and ships of the North was all free white labor. So the
United States was really split into two sections: one devoted to
slavery and to a few great staples, as cotton; the other devoted to
free white labor and to industries of many kinds.

The South and the tariff, 1829.
Calhoun’s “Exposition.”

304. The Political Situation, 1829.–The South was
growing richer all the time; but the North was growing richer a
great deal faster than was the South. Calhoun and other Southern
men thought that this difference in the rate of progress was due to
the protective system. In 1828 Congress had passed a tariff that
was so bad that it was called the Tariff of Abominations (p. 231).
The Southerners could not prevent its passage. But Calhoun wrote an
“Exposition” of the constitutional doctrines in the case. This
paper was adopted by the legislature of South Carolina as giving
its ideas. In this paper Calhoun declared that the Constitution of
the United States was a compact. Each state was a sovereign state
and could annul any law passed by Congress. The protective system
was unjust and unequal in operation. It would bring “poverty and
utter desolation to the South.” The tariff act should be annulled
by South Carolina and by other Southern states.

[Illustration: DANIEL WEBSTER, 1833.]

Hayne’s speech, 1830.
Webster’s reply to Hayne.

305. Webster and Hayne, 1830.–Calhoun was Vice-President
and presided over the debates of the Senate. So it fell to Senator
Hayne of South Carolina to state Calhoun’s ideas. This he did in a
very able speech. To him Daniel Webster of Massachusetts replied in
the most brilliant speeches ever delivered in Congress. The
Constitution, Webster declared, was “the people’s constitution, the
people’s government; made by the people and answerable to the
people. The people have declared that this constitution … shall
be the supreme law.” The Supreme Court of the United States alone
could declare a national law to be unconstitutional; no state could
do that. He ended this great speech with the memorable words,
“Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.”

Tariff of 1832.
“Nullified” by South Carolina, 1833.
Jackson’s warning.
He prepares to enforce the law.
The Force Bill, 1833.

306. Nullification, 1832-33.–In 1832 Congress passed a
new tariff act. The South Carolinians decided to try Calhoun’s
weapon of nullification. They held a convention, declared the act
null and void, and forbade South Carolinians to obey the law. They
probably thought that Jackson would not oppose them. But they
should have had no doubts on that subject. For Jackson already had
proposed his famous toast on Jefferson’s birthday, “Our federal
Union, it must be preserved.” He now told the Carolinians that he
would enforce the laws, and he set about doing it with all his
old-time energy. He sent ships and soldiers to Charleston and
ordered the collector of that port to collect the duties. He then
asked Congress to give him greater power. And Congress passed the
Force Bill, giving him the power he asked for. The South
Carolinians, on their part, suspended the nullification ordinance
and thus avoided an armed conflict with “Old Hickory,” as his
admirers called Jackson.

Tariff of 1833.

307. The Compromise Tariff, 1833.–The nullifiers really
gained a part of the battle, for the tariff law of 1832 was
repealed. In its place Congress passed what was called the
Compromise Tariff. This compromise was the work of Henry Clay, the
peacemaker. Under it the duties were to be gradually lowered until,
in 1842, they would be as low as they were by the Tariff Act of
1816 (p. 231).

Second United States Bank, 1816.
Jackson’s dislike of the bank.

308. The Second United States Bank.–Nowadays any one
with enough money can open a national bank under the protection of
the government at Washington. At this time, however, there was one
great United States Bank. Its headquarters were at Philadelphia and
it had branches all over the country. Jackson, like Jefferson (p.
163), had very grave doubts as to the power of the national
government to establish such a bank. Its size and its prosperity
alarmed him. Moreover, the stockholders and managers, for the most
part, were his political opponents. The United States Bank also
interfered seriously with the operations of the state banks–some
of which were managed by Jackson’s friends. The latter urged him on
to destroy the United States Bank, and he determined to destroy
it.