IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I IIM 1112.5 m. 36 12.2 12.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 -0 ■ 6" — ► Photographic Sciences Corpordtion 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER. NY 14580 (716) 872-4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographique& The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D D D D D D D □ D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagie Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurie et/ou pellicul^e Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes giographiques an couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur {i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ ReliA avec d'autres documents Tight binding may causa shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure blank leaves added during restoration nry, while lad been )lina, had -currence session to rising the >n was at falling to erved to ^he corn- acted to ce came, » for the cal jeal- nmercial erty and the lack the war r to the Union dissen- obliged NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY continually to press the States for money, to remind them of their obligations. There was not enough of active honesty and patriot- ism left after the war to urge a prompt per- formance of their duties to the Union, how- ever careful the States might be to look out for their own immediate and individual inter- ests. The people were apt to think first of their respective States, not of the Union. They had struggled continuously for many years, had been through an eight years* war, with all the anxieties and deprivations which that implies; and it needed a very sturdy patriotism and a very deep-rooted virtue, widely diffused, to keep up the struggle after the outside pressure was removed. The country was in the same state of weakness, with the same low vitality, in which a man finds himself after a high fever. But when the Union, by gaining this valuable tract of territory, possessed a national domain, — a territory which, thrown open to immigration, would pay the cost of the entire war, — less than ever would it need to call upon the States for money. It possessed something in which every State had an interest, some- thing which nourished that national feeling and pride so sorely needed. J TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS It was a territory which meant very much to the people of the United States. It was within it that France had tried to gain a foot- hold, and, by drawing a chain of settlements and fortified posts around the English Colo- nies, to stifle them or drive them into the sea. As the Colonies grew in population, and there were fewer openings at home for the adventurous and colonising spirit of our fathers, it was to this territory along the Ohio and down the Mississippi that they turned their eyes and gave their thoughts. It was the efforts made for its possession by the French and English which began the last and decisive French war in this country. It was to gain a clear title to it that the Colonies had contributed their blood and their treas- ure, and the victory gained at the fall of New France was theirs as well as England's. And it was this same Northwestern Territory which the skill and bravery of George Rogers Clark and his company had conquered in the Revolutionary War after the British had taken possession, and which was saved to us when the treaty of peace was made in 1783 only by skilful diplomacy. So when all this Northwestern Territory, the land north of the Ohio, became a IL ONS ry much It was a foot- tlements Ish Colo- into the [pulation, ome for it of our ong the lat they houghts. ssion by the last try. It Colonies iir treas- J fall of ngland's. Perritory i Rogers ;d in the ish had laved to nade in ■I I ern itory, :ame a NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY national domain, the new nation had some- thing in which the people had an interest outside of their own particular States. It was one bond of union at a time when the old bonds were loosening. The famous Ordinance of 1787, by which this territory was organised and governed, formed the model for governing the territories afterward acquired. It was the beginning, and it laid the foundation for our system of territorial government. Ii the light of after events, perhaps the most important provision in the ordinance was the prohibition of slavery within the territory. Thus it came about that the States formed within that section of our country were free States at their begin- ning- The Constitution went into effect in 1789, and our government as it is to-day came into being. To the Union under its new estab- lishment Georgia and North Carolina ceded their western lands, and in framing measures for the government of these new territories the main provisions of the Ordinance of 1787 were followed, except that slavery was not forbidden. Up to this time the United States possessed territory only which had been surrendered to TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS it by the States. The national domain was common property contributed by the States themselves, which did not add to the area of the United States taken as a whole. This land, surrendered to the United States, plainly was to be held under territorial gov- ernment only until it developed sufficiently to be fit for local State government. All the acts of Congress and every measure relating to it show this. Every other acquisition since has been of foreign territory ; but, like the North-western Territory, these acquisi- tions, down to that of Alaska, have been domains contiguous to the States then exist- ing, and fitted by the population, which would naturally flow into them, to become like the older States in their people and habits ( f government and thought. It was the natt ral expectation and intention of our people, tipulated in all the treaties of an- nexatioi until that of Alaska, that these dis- tricts te nporarily held under territorial gov- ernment should eventually become Spates. That idea has been connected with all our acquisitions down to the time of the purchase of Alaska. lO lU. CHAPTER 11. LOUISIANA. When the United States under its new form of government was fairly started, it began to grow in territory as well as in other wealth. It inen began to acquire foreign land. The question of the constitutionality of such acquisitions was raised at the outset ; but the first annexation was made notwith- standing, and the validity of the act has never been overruled. The purchase of Louisiana, our first acqui- sition of foreign territory, grew out of the situation of the States, and of the necessity for a seaport for the Northwestern Territory and the Mississippi Territory and the States already formed in that section of the country. These reasons, and the situation of the polit- ical parties at that time, prevented any effec- tive opposition to the transaction. Louisiana was the name given by the French to the region drained by the Mis- sissippi and its tributaries. The territory embraced extended from the AUeghanies to the Rocky Mountains. France claimed all of it by a title of discovery and occupation. II TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS alleging the exploration of the Mississippi to its mouth, and the French settlements made from New Orleans to Canada. The prior discovery of De Soto had passed out of mind, or at any rate had not been followed by occupation, when La Salle, the French- man, and one of the greatest of the early heroes of this country, with a perseverance and endurance never excelled, after repeated trials, thwarted by temporary failure and by embarrassments of every kind, sailed along the Great Lakes, penetrated the wilderness to the Illinois River, then journeyed down that river to the Mississippi, and down the Mis- sissippi to the Gulf of Mexico. His mag- nificent scheme of military and trading posts along the great waterway, of alliances with the Indians, of forming a power which would check the Spanish in an advance from Mexico, and bind the English to their posts east of the Alleghanies, he did not live to put in practice himself; and, fortunately for England and ourselves, it was only entered upon when the great struggle between France and England for the possession of this country began. After seventy-four years of almost continual warfare the French were overcome. II i \li )pi to Imade prior t of owed nch- early ranee >eated id by along ess to ti that Mis- mag- ; posts 5 with which : from posts ve to ly for itered :ween »n of -four rench i-"^ LOUISIANA When the end came, and France was obliged to strip herself of her American possessions, she released to England, in addition to Canada, the country east of the Mississippi down to the Spanish possession of Florida. The vast domain west of the Mississippi she gave to Spain to repay that power for what it had lost in the fight ; for, in the last years of the struggle, Spain had come to the aid of France, and had been bereft of some of her own territory as well. So Spain succeeded to the French title to Louisiana, which name was now confined to the land west of the river. A few Span- i:ih settlements sprang up in this region, but there was no such vigour in Spanish colo- nising as to leave any lasting impression. Tne change was not acceptable to the citizens of New Orleans, who were French in blood and remained so in sympathy. Meanwhile the English Colonies grew apace. Settlers began to penetrate in in- creasing numbers through the Alleghanies into the fertile country of the Ohio and the northwest. Kentucky became settled in a measure. Tennessee I egan to upbuild. The United States came into being ; and the new nation, with all the energy of youth, was »3 !!1 TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS stretching toward the Mississippi, and look- ing longingly down the river to the Gulf. Spain, in the spirit of monopoly, common enough in that age, or fearing for her other possessions along the Gulf, at first tried to restrict the navigation of the Mississippi to her own people, while the whole of the United States along the Mississippi and Ohio felt shut in without the outlet which nature had put at its feet. The free navigation of the Mississippi was a burning question to citizens of Ohio and Kentucky and the then western part of our country. While Spain held New Orleans, there was bound to be trouble unless restrictions on the commerce of the river were removed. For Spain then held the territory on both sides of the river, and the United States nowhere touched the Gulf; Florida, which in those days extended from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, having been returned to Spanish authority after only a short English possession. In the latter days of the Confederation and in the early days of our republic, Spain was an uncomfortable neighbour ; and Wash- ington's administration continued to be full of difficulties with her over the northern boundary of Florida and the navigation of >4 B- W- LOUISIANA the Mississippi. She refused to allow the free navigation of the river until the boun- dary dispute was settled. The people of our then western section were not slow in ex- pressing their feelings upon the situation. At various times Spain tried to foment dis- sensions between Kentucky and Tennessee and the rest of the Union ; but, although she failed to bring about a separation, her acts drove the western settlers to the Presi- dent and Congress with passionate remon- strances. The opinion was openly expressed that there was opposition between the east- ern and western parts of the country, and that the attempts of our government to open the river had been feeble and insincere ; and there were some grounds upon which to base such an opinion. The western men claimed as a merit that they had so long abstained from using the means they possessed for the assertion of " a natural and inalienable right." Such demonstrations of feeling seemed sure to bring us into hostilities with Spain, if they did not kindle difficulties among ourselves; and Spain's alliance with England made her very positive and arrogant in tone. But at length, in 1795, Washington's administra- tion managed to conclude a treaty with Spain »5 \W % TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS which nominally settled the boundary dis- pute and threw open the Mississippi to free navigation, and also gave the people of the United States the privilege of depositing mer- chandise for transshipment in New Orleans, or some other designated port on the river near there, free of duty. While Spain was not very prompt in observing the boundaries laid down in this treaty, the Mississippi problem was settled for the time being. After that the relations of the United States with Spain were fairly friendly, except once when, in John Adams's administration, the right of deposit was interdicted. The Presi- dent had determined to compel Spain to open a depot for American trade in accordance with the treaty, when the right of deposit was restored, whereupon everything was again serene. This state of things con- tinued till 1802. In that year it became known that in 1800 France had madd a secret treaty with Spain under which Louisiana was to be re- stored to France upon certain conditions since fulfilled. Napoleon was then Consul, and, with the rest of his contemporaries, shared an ambition for distant possessions, for colonies whose trade he might monopo- 16 II ■f LOUISIANA lise. Egypt was, c;ven then, a rather un- certain possession. Louisiana, with its vast extent and its natural resources, having formerly belonged to France, the pride of France would be gratified by its return. It would give Napoleon a foothold in America, the control, as he believed and intended, of the commerce of the Great River, with pos- sibilities in the future hardly to be realised. Napoleon had no trouble in bringing Spain to his wishes. He had become too strong to have difficulties raised by that country, and so the treaty was made. In 1802, having fulfilled his part of the agreement, Napoleon got ready to take possession of his American acquisitions. He assembled his vessels and troops, and made some negotia- tions to obtain Florida also ; then he had to wait awhile. The indiscretion of the Span- ish officials allowed the particulars of these negotiations to reach the English ambassador, whereupon British jealousy at once took alarm and raised a mass of obstacles. So, in 1803, he found himself still without possession of Louisiana and on the eve of war with Great Britain. In the event of war at that time Louisiana was vulner- able. To say nothing of what the United >7 TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS States might be tempted to undertake, Eng- land would surely strike there; for not a French soldier was on American soil, and hardly one could be spared from other quarters. A message from George III. to his Parliament, showing preparations for war, dispelled all the colonial dreams of '"he First Consul. It became then his object to dis- pose of Louisiana to the best advantage. Selling it to the United States would help him to som.e needed money and do an ill turn to England. It not only would make the United States a little moie friendly, per- haps, but would make it a power which might threaten England's American posses- sions, and, as he said, a maritime rival which would sooner or later humble England's pride. The Consul very easily came to arrange- ments with the United States. Much as its people disliked to have Spain at the mouth of the Mississippi, they felt that it would be worse to have a strong power like France there, especially in view of what seemed to be her proposed policy. French forces sent to Hayti were believed by many to be destined ultimately for Louisiana, to maintain French dominion supreme there s8 LOUISIANA and extend it if possible. In 1802, acting under French influence, Spain a^ .in closed New Orleans as a place of deposit. This virtually closed the Mississippi to the people of the United States, and was a sample of what might be expected when Napoleon should get possession. When this action of Spain became known, and the people of Kentucky and of the western States and territories began to feel the results of this unfriendly policy, and trade down the river ceased, the pressure upon the administration to take aggressive measures became almost too strong to be withstood. The Federalists taunted Jeffer- son with cowardice. It seemed difficult for them to find words to express their disgust at his lack of action. Perhaps they took this attitude for political reasons, hoping to gain western support ; but we should prefer to believe an honest patriotism moved them. The Mississippi diflSculty was no new thing, as we have seen. Washington had only averted a possible secession of the western States, or war with Spain, by the treaty of 1795, and John Adams stopped at force only because Spain yielded. So the Federal- ists, not having now the responsibility of the 19 TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS government on their shoulders, might well urge the most vigourous measures. Besides, party feeling was high and unreasonable ; and many a Federalist honestly believed that Jefferson and his party were under French influence and ready to cater to Napoleon's wishes. But war did not coincide with Jefferson's policy. Yet, " always a patriot and always intensely partisan," as he was, he was fully sensible of the fact that the presence of the French in New Orleans was perilous to his country as well as to his party. It was the popular sympathy with the French republic, and the bitter aversion to England, which was one factor in the overthrow of the Federalists, who were looked upon by many as being too fond of aristocratic and even monarchical ideas. If France held New Orleans, there was every reason to believe that she soon would be an object of bitter detestation, and the English party here would be in the ascendant. That, apparently, meant ruin to Jefferson's party. The country had not yet become emanci- pated from European politics, and party policies here turned very much upon the question of favouring England or France. i .•;« 20 IONS light well Besides, able; and cved that er French •"Japoleon's cide with J a patriot IS he was, : that the Orleans was as to his pathy with er aversion tor in the who were :oo fond of ideas. If : was every ould be an :he English ant. That, son's party. me emanci- and party 1 upon the France. I CHAPTER III. LOUISIANA (Concluded). But beyond merely a question of party success or failure there was great danger in the proposed French occupation. Jefferson writes as follows to Livingston, our minister to France : " The cession of Louisiana . . . by Spain to France works most sorely on the United States. ... It completely reverses all the political relations of the United States, and will form a new epoch in our political course." And he goes on to speak of France as our natural friend, " as one with which we could never have an occasion of differ- ence. Her growth, therefore," he writes, " we viewed as our own, her misfortunes ours. There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three-eighths of our territory must pass to market ; and from its fertility it will erelong yield more than half of our whole produce, and contain more than half of our inhabitants. France, placing herself in that door, assumes to us the atti- tude of defiance. Spain might have retained zi f ' '1 TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS it quietly for years. Her pacific dispositions, her feeble state, would induce her to increase our facilities there, so that her possession of the place would be hardly felt by us ; and it would not, perhaps, be very long before some circumstances might arise which would make the cession of it to us as the price of something of more worth to her. Not so can it ever be in the hands of France. The impetuosity of her temper, the energy and restlessness of her character, placed in a point of eternal friction with us and our character, which, though quieit and loving peace and the pursuit of wealth, is high- minded, despising wealth in competition with insult or injury, enterprising and ener- getic as any nation on earth, — these circum- stances render it impossible that France and the United States can continue long friends when they meet in so irritable a position." And, certainly, it appeared very ominous to peace when Spain, plainly under French in- fluence, interdicted the right of deposit at New Orleans. It looked very much as if Napoleon was trying to get possession of Louisiana unfettered by any question of treaty obligations entered into by Spain, and that he did not propose to succeed to a condition of affairs brought into being by such a treaty. T >> LOUISIANA In addition to all these objections there was another, and a most grave one, to the possession or acquisition of Louisiana by France. It meant almost certainly the con- quest of that province by England. With England north of the United States, and on its west, and in control of the Mississippi, the United States would be forced into an alliance with her or else into a bitter strug- gle, the end of which would be impossible to foresee. So it appeared that the only way out of the difficulty was for the United States to possess Louisiana for herself. Accordingly, when Jefferson learned of the French treaty with Spain, and was informed of the closing of New Orleans to our mer- chants, aware, too, of the gathering war- clouds in Europe, he saw his opportunity. He made Livingston, who was already on the ground, and James Monroe, ministers plenipotentiary to purchase the Island of New Orleans, as the district around that city was called. At a little earlier date, when Livingston had presented a memorial respect- ing the wishes of the United States as to the navigation of the Mississippi and the acquisi- tion of New Orleans, Napoleon had paid little attention to his representations and 13 i?'"! TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS offers. It was at that time that he had his own purposes to serve, and Louisiana and its trade were wanted for France. When, however, as we have seen, war with England became imminent, his purposes changed. Instead of accepting an offer to buy New Orleans or to arrange a treaty allowing us the privileges held under Spanish agreement, he expressed a desire to sell the whole of Louisiana. Monroe had now arrived in Paris, and no time was lost in coming to terms. Although the envoys had no author- ity to buy more than New Orleans, they per- ceived the benefit which the acquisition of the whole of Louisiana would give the United States. So a treaty was promptly arranged, to be ratified by the respective na- tions, by which Louisiana was ceded to the United States for about ^15,000,000. The territory thus ceded was that re- leased to France by Spain, with its northern and western boundaries indefinite and very elastic. The boundary between Louisiana and Spanish Mexico was not defined until 1 8 19, when the river Sabine was so desig- nated. The treaty stipulated that the Inhabitants of Louisiana " should be incorporated into a4 s in LOUISIANA the Union of the United States, and ad- mitted, as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States. And in the mean time they should be maintained and protected in the free en- joyment of their liberty, property, and the religion which they professed." The ac- quisition carried the United States to the Rocky Mountains, or, if Oregon was in- cluded, as has been claimed, to the Pacific Ocean ; and the region contained a popula- tion of eighty thousand, of which half were slaves. The larger part of this population was, of course, in or about New Orleans. Napoleon soon ratified the treaty on the part of France, and Jefferson, with a natural satisfaction, at once communicated the facts to Congress and laid the treaty before it for ratification and the necessary legislation. He hinted at the possible necessity of a con- stitutional amendment, but he advised his friends to say very little on that point. The annexation naturally met with a bitter opposition from the Federalists, and some of Jefferson's own party doubted its wisdom ; but the mass of the people, partic- J ^ TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS ularly those of the south and west, heartily approved it. The opposition said that "the acquiring territory with money is mean and despicable/' It held that Louisiana was a wilderness of little value, while the popula- tion was slightingly spoken of as a " Gallo- Hispano- Indian omnium gatherum of savages and adventurers, whose pure morals are ex- pected to sustain and glorify our republic." The opposition could not believe that such a class of population was suited to a republi- can form of government, and it did not seem to think of or believe in immigration of our people. As a matter of fact, neither party appreciated the real value of the purchase. Again, the Federalists opposed the annexa- tion because the addition of so much new western and southern territory would give such an undue predominance to southern ideas and institutions as to threaten the destruction of the political influence of the northern and eastern States. Besides the insinuation that Jefferson simply took this method of helping France with a little ready money when it was badly needed by her, the Federalists denied the constitutionality of the measure, although they as a partv, especially when in power, so construed the Constitution 16 T m >» LOUISIANA as to give the government the largest implied powers. The anti-Federalists, or, more prop- erly at this time, the Democratic-Republi- can party, believed in limiting those powers ; but, when it got control of the government and felt its responsibilities, it also became more general in its policy, and favoured the annexation. So, in spite of all opposition, especially since the Federalists were weak in numbers in the Senate, the treaty was ratified, the legislation to carry it into effect passed, and Louisiana became a part of the United States. The Federalists prophesied all manner of evil from this result. Fisher Ames writes to Christopher Gore in October, 1803: "The Mississippi was a boundary somewhat like Governor Powdoin*s whimsical all-surround- ing orb — we were confined within some lim- its. Now, by adding our unmeasured world beyond that river, we rush like a comet into infinite space. In our wild career we may jostle some other world out of its orbit ; but we shall, in every event, quench the light of our own." But the dangers foretold were not realised. Free States, as well as slave States, grew out of Louisiana.. New Eng- land more than the south occupied the »7 I .. . a TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS vacant western lands, and the wealth and prosperity of the great West has come to us by reason of this extension of our boundaries beyond the Mississippi. It has been remarked that Jefferson and some of his party leaders doubted the con- stitutional right of annexation. An amend- ment to the Constitution authorising it was prepared, but was never submitted to the States. The measure was acquiesced in as lying within the treaty powers of the Presi- dent and Senate, or being within the general powers of government, or perhaps as within the power of admitting new States to the Union. The party to which Jefferson be- longed was the party of a strict construction of the Constitution. It believed in limiting the powers of the general government as much as possible and still allow the govern- ment to exist. Yet at its first entrance into control it carried the sovereignty of the na- tional government as far as the Federalists had ever done. " The acquisition of Louisi- ana was an immense help in bringing about just that which " Jefferson and his party had opposed, " the subordination of the State to the Nation." That step was ratified b; Con- gress, and stands as a precedent to-day. 28 Lfe^r^ LOUISIANA It was thus a matter of the gravest im- portance to us, irrespective of the material wealth it brought to the country, in its effect upon the question of the constitutional power of the United States to annex contiguous territory without the consent of the people of that territory. It is difficult to see, if our government has the power thus to annex contiguous territory, why it may not for the same reasons annex territory anywhere. The remoteness of a proposed acquisition, the character of its people, are questions which affect the desirability of annexation, and not the power, if the Louisiana precedent be isccepted. Since the treaty with France provided that t'r ,e inhabitants of Louisiana should be " in- opiorated into the Union," or, in other words, that States should be formed out of it as soon as possible, according to the pro- visions of the Federal Constitution, this new acquisition, like the territories hitherto be- longing to the Union, was held under a trust, as it were, to form States when proper. Per- haps the Louisiana case goes no further as a precedent than that, under a construction of the Constitution adopted by the President and Congress and acquiesced in by the people •9 TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS (and, as we shall see, subsequently followed), the United States has the power to annex territory out of which States are to be formed. It '^; '^-l^- may be said that at that time the powei ' the United States under the Constitution to hold colonies or depend- encies which were not intended to be made into States, and ultimately to have a voice and a vote in our legislative assemblies and in the election of our national officers, was not considered. That may be said to have been left an open question. 30 CHAPTER IV. FLORIDA. Florida presented some of the same aspects from the point of view of the United States as Louisiana. It was a province which had always seemed to furnish a base of operations against the peace and quietness of the people in the Southern States as well as a constant temptation to invasion. Spain was a weak power, and neither preserved order in Florida nor could protect it when citizens of the United States were the aggres- sors. Discovered by Spain in 15 13 and its first town built in 1565, she established only a few settlements within it ; and the greater part of its territory still remained occupied only by Indians until 1763, when Spain ceded it to England in exchange for Cuba which England had taken in the war just ended. It was assumed to extend from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, with the northern boundary unsettled. England divided it into East and West Florida, with the Appalachi- cola as the dividing line. When she made peace with the United States, in 1783, she also made a treaty with Spain by which 3> r I TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS Florida was returned to its former owner. Then a good many settlers from the United States, who had gone there through English inducements while it was under English government, returned to this country. The northern boundary still remained unsettled until it was fixed by the treaty already men- tioned, in 1795, at a line running along the thirty-first parallel from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee, then down that river to Flint River, and then across to the head waters of St. Mary's River. Very slowly and reluctantly Spain withdrew her forces south of that line. The United States began her serious en- croachments upon Florida in 18 10, when, taking advantage of an insurrection of West Florida against Spanish authority, the fed- eral government took possession of some of the principal posts west of the Perdido River, and soon after annexed the part on the east bank of the Mississippi to the territory of Orleans (the southern part of the Louisiana Purchase). The people of West Florida had proposed, when they revolted from Spain, to become annexed to the United States ; but our government seemed to prefer the course taken, leaving the title to negotiation. In FLORIDA spite of the treaty of 1795 fixing the northern boundary, the people on the United States side seemed to feel that they had a claim to the country west of the Perdido, relying upon the claim of France to that district when she held Louisiana. Above all, the action taken gave us land on both sides of the Mississippi. That may have been sufficient for the admin- istration. The next year Congress author- ised the acquisition of the entire province, if Spain would consent to it, or any other power tried to obtain it. Very soon another slice of this land occu- pied by the United States was added to the Mississippi Territory, and so matters re- mained as far as the federal government was concerned until 18 14. This occupation of West Florida gave rise to earnest debates in Congress ; but the country was too much occupied with commercial difficulties and strained relations with England and France to pay the attention to the matter which it deserved. It was another step in the de- velopment of the power of the national government. In 1 8 14, to prevent the British, then at war with the United States, from using Pensacola as a base of supplies, and having 33 r TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS Spanish help in proposed operations against us in the South, Andrew Jackson, then a general in our army, marched against that city, and, defeating the British and Spanish defenders, took possession of it. A couple of days later, when the British were found to have left that section of the country, he restored the city to the Spanish. While Florida was a Spanish province, there were several cases of aggression on the part of our people in the South ; but in i8i8 our government itself ordered an in- vasion, and retained possession for a time on the plea of restoring order. The state of affairs in the province was such as to invite trouble. Spain, upon regaining possession in 1783, never fully reoccupied it. Only a few small military posts here and there nominally held in check a population made up in a great measure of outlaws, smugglers, and buccaneers, while the fierce and warlike Seminoles prevented the colonisation of many of the best sections. The American occupation, in 18 18, came about from the efforts of our government to disperse a band of filibusters, calling themselves patriots, who had landed on an island near the boundary of Georgia with the proclaimed intention of 34 FLORIDA invading East Florida and annexing it to the United States. Practically, their presence there hindered the execution of our revenue laws. Our troops took possession of the country to hold, as our government informed Spain, until that power was able to maintain order. Then difficulties with the Seminoles broke out. These Indians, living on both sides of the line between Florida and Georgia, had committed acts which led Georgia to com- plain to the government at Washington. General Jackson took the field against them, and pursued them into Florida. He himself had no doubt of the complicity of the Span- ish in these Indian outrages and of their fur- nishing supplies to the red men, and so he proceeded to take two or three Spanish forts in Florida and to occupy Pensacola again. This time he appointed a military governor, abolished Spanish revenue laws, and, in gen- eral, proceeded in a vigourous if high-handed course. Although these proceedings caused great excitement and considerable censure, Congress passed a vote of thanks to Jackson ; while the administration, after much hesita- tion, expressed its approbation of his acts. The people made an idol of him ; and this 35 par TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS work in Florida, with his great victory over the British at New Orleans, fixed his popu- larity sufficiently secure to make him Presi- dent ten years or so later. Pensacola and our other captures in Flor- ida were subsequently returned to Spain ; and then, in 1819, Spain agreed to cede the whole province to us for five million dollars. The province had then only a very small popula- tion, with the whites clustered round a few settlements. The greater part was still roamed over by the native Indians. Before Spain would make this treaty, how- ever, she insisted upon defining the boundary between the Louisiana Purchase and Mexico, the latter then in her possession. The United States had made claims so far as the Rio Grande, while Spain allowed only a narrow strip west of the Mississippi. When the Sa- bine River was agreed upon as the boundary, she ceded Florida, as desired. In thus gain- ing Florida, we relinquished any claim we had upon what was afterwards the republic of Texas. Spain had her hands full at the time with the continuous revolutions in her South Amer- ican provinces and in Mexico, and perhaps she made this cession under a species of du- 36 laps du- FLORIDA ress. The acts of the United States officials, particularly those of General Jackson, which had been hailed with delight in the States, had not been such as to give Spain a feeling of security in the possession of Florida ; and she may have regarded the money as worth more to her, under the circumstances, than this doubtful possession. It was 1821 before she ratified the treaty and withdrew her forces. General Jackson already had been appointed governor of the new territory ; and with his characteristic vigour and disregard of conse- quences he, in his own way, rather accele- rated the departure of the Spanish officials. The Florida question was thus settled. If the slave-owners of Southern Georgia and Alabama felt that now a refuge for their run- away property was closed, the Union as a whole could feel that one source of expense was stopped, — through its acquisition of a country which had been a constant danger to the South from the old colonial days. If Spain could iiot or would not maintain order there, our government could and would. This acquisition finished out the south-eastern portion of our domain, and carried our coast line unbroken from Maine to Louisiana. Little question about the constitutional 37 w^ III 1 '! I TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS power of our government to make this an- nexation was raised. The precedent of Louisiana was followed, and made stronger by being followed. As in the case of Loui- siana, the consent of the inhabitants of the ceded territory was not asked. As in that case, it was an act in which the benefit to the United States onlv was considered ; and ar- rangements were made with sovereign power, not with the people governed. The inhabi- tants of the new territory, as we have seen, were not a particularly desirable class ; yet, as in Louisiana, there was every expectation that in time it would develop to a position when it could be properly admitted to the Union as a State, as eventually it was. The annexation of Louisiana and Florida did away with troublesome neighbours, pre- vented further certain irritation and perhaps war. Their acquisition was justified by the circumstances of the times and events ; and, however much such additions to the southern part of the country may have helped that sec- tion and given its peculiar institution added strength, they were also of great benefit to the country at large. Whatever motives were by the opposition attributed to the ad- ministrations which secured these additions, 38 FLORIDA certainly such sectional aggrandisement was not alleged by the people favouring them as the motive ; and there is no evidence to war- rant the belief that it actuated those most concerned. That the annexation of Louisi- ana and Florida dried up the sources of chronic difficulties is reason enough i'or the treaties with France and Spain. As to the particular benefit to the South of the acquisi- tion of Florida, outside of its addition as one more southern State, the most that can be said is that it helped the slave States by shut- ting up what had hitherto been an open door of escape for the slave. And as to Louisiana, if its acquisition did add to the slave-owning States, it also opened the Mississippi to the North, and in so doing made the free States of the Northv/est the richer and more powerful. We come now to annexation, which hardly can stand careful scrutiny as to motives and methods, however beneficial the results may have been. Before, however, treating Texas and the Mexican cession, it will be more convenient to consider the Oregon country. 39 ^ i ' ll CHAPTER V. OREGON. Oregon is the one addition to our domain which has come to us by discovery and oc- cupation, but even then a treaty with Great Britain was required to make the title secure without possible bloodshed. Oregon also reminds us that we are a young country in the New World, for it is since the United States came into existence that white men explored the great river flowing through that territory and settled on Oregon soil. It was the fur trade which first led us to the northwest, and h was the success of the French and the English in the north which stimulated the early interest in Oregon. As Irving has written : " While the fiery and magnificent Spaniard, inflamed with the mania for gold, has extended his discoveries and conquests over those brilliant countries scorched by the ardent sun of the tropics, the ardent and buoyant Frenchman and the cool and calculating Briton have pursued the less srJendid but no less lucrative traflic in furs amidst the hyperborean regions of the Canadas, until they have advanced even 40 I m OREGON within the arctic circle." The spirit which led " the cool and calculating Briton " into the north also caused him to cast his eyes toward the shores of the Pacific, while already his American cousin was trading for otter skins along that coast and carrying them to China for a market. With the Americans in their trading vessels on the Pacific coast, and the English working in that direction through the interior from the East, a struggle for the possession of this territory lying between Russian Alaska and Spanish California became inevitable. It was the trapper and the fur-trader who were to be the pioneers. While we would not undervalue the courage and resolution of the intrepid explorers, we should also give due meed of praise to the trappers and fur-traders who first endured the hardships and dang;ers of frontier life in Oregon, It was their work which carried the ■ ountry's western boundary to the Pacific. They it was who led the way for the settlers who came after them. It was a repetition within the life of our nation of to-day of the trials and strug- gles and final success of the colonists of Massachusetts and Virginia on the Atlantic coast. 41 mn I ' V f:il TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS In 1792 Captain Gray of the ship " Columbia," of Boston, entered the Colum- bia River, and gave it the name of his vessel. He commanded one of ihose traders engaged in the fur trade along the northwest coast from California to the high northern lati- tudes. The coast of Oregon had been seen by many navigators before, and a large river was known to be in that vicinity ; but he seems to have been the first white man who ever sailed into that river and made any exploration of it. He did not go very far up; but, as he sailed away, he met Van- couver, and, telling him of his discovery, left his charts with him. Thereupon Vancouver explored the river for a long distance from its mouth. Captain Gray's report of his exploration upon his return home was so favourable that a desire to secure the country for the Union at once sprang up. Early in 1803 President Jefferson sent a confidential message to Congress, asking for an appropriation for an exploring expedition to the West. The appropriation was granted, and the President designated as leader of the proposed expedi- tion Captain Meriwether Lewis. With him, as associate, was Lieutenant William 42 OREGON Clark, a brother of that George Rogers Clark who had so wonderfully conquered the British in the Northwestern Territory in the Revolution. Jefferson had for many years shown a deep interest in a proper scientific and geo- graphical exploration of the great country west of the Alleghanies ; and now, with the possible acquisition of Louisiana, and his desire for a larger knowledge of Oregon and to insure its possession by this country, he initiated this movement which resulted in Lewis and Clark's expeditic u By the time they were ready to start, in 1804, Louisiana was ours, and their route lay all the way in the territory of the United States. Lewis and Clark set out, in 1804, from the mouth of the Missouri, and sailed up the river to its sources in the Rocky Mountains, crossed the mountains to the left branch of the Columbia, and followed down that river to its mouth where Captain Gray had anchored over twelve years before. Then they returned home the way that they had come. They hid passed through a country almost unknown to white men, had escaped the dangers of Indians, of snow and ice and the mountains, and the perils of unknown I 43 r-f w .'.r- if in if. 1 1 TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS rivers, and had brought back valuable infor- mation, besides adding another link in the chain of our title to Oregon. They were gone something over two years, and richly deserved the President's eulogy given in his message to Congress in 1806. Their story is full of adventure, and has a charm of its own quite aside from the importance of their work. In 18 10, encouraged by Jefferson, John Jacob As«:or formed the Pacific Fur Com- pany, with the object of making a settlement on the Columbia and developing the trade of that region. The company founded Astoria, and made a beginning of its work. It established a few posts along the river, and then was swallowed up by the North- west Fur Company, its English rival in the field. The enterprise was not successful from a business point of view. When the War of 18 1 2 broke out, Astoria and the company's goods there and at its posts were transferred to the English company, osten- sibly to prevent their capture and confiscation by English troops. The evidence goes to show, however, that Astor's far-reaching and far-sighted as well as patriotic enterprise was ruined by an unfortunate selection of partners and the lack of support from our 44 OREGON government. Still, the settlement at Astoria and the operations of the Pacific Fur Com- pany were further steps and important ones in our occupation of Oregon. After the War of 1 812, in spite of a law passed by Congress forbidding British fur- traders to carry on their business upon our territory, the Northwest Fur Company con- tinued to monopolise the trade, holding as it did posts all along the Columbia and its branches. But our people had sufficient in- terest in the matter to claim the whole of the country as far north as the parallel of 54° 40% the southern limit of the Russian possessions in America. England, relying upon her occupation and alleged discovery, also claimed the territory ; and, to settle the matter temporarily, an arrangement was made in 18 18 for a joint occupation for the term of ten years, the people of each nation being thus authorised to trade within and occupy it. This agreement was renewed in 1827 ^^ extend indefinitely, provided that either parry might, after 1828, revoke it upon twelve months' notice. Any possible difficulty with Russia, who owned what is now Alaska and who had es- tablished sundry trading posts in California, ll^ TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS was obviated by a treaty with her in 1824 by which she abandoned all claim to the Pa- cific coast south of 54° 40', the southern limit of Alaska ; while Spain, at the time she ceded Florida to the United States, also released all claims to the Pacific coast north of 42°, the northern boundary of California. The arrangement with England did very well for a time; but in 1842 the "Oregon question," which for twenty years " had been more or less before the eyes and in the thoughts of statesmen at home and abroad," received public notice in a President's mes- sage. President Tyler, in his message to Congress on Dec. 5, 1842, said: "The territory of the United States, commonly called the Oregon Territory, lying on the Pa- cific Ocean, north of the forty-second degree of latitude, to a portion of which Great Brit- ain lays claim, begins to attract the attention of our fellow-citizens ; and the tide of popu- lation, which has reclaimed what was so lately an unbroken wilderness in more con- tiguous regions, is preparing to flow over these vast districts which stretch from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. In the advance of the requirement of individual rights in these lands, sound policy dictates 46 i OREGON that every effort should be resorted to by the two governments to settle their respective claims." The Senate thereupon passed a bill, by a majority of one, for taking possession of the whole of the disputed territory, the title of the United States to which it was declared to be certain, and would not be abandoned. The House, however, refused to concur. The question then became a political one, with all^ the inflammatory appeals to national jealousy, pride, and interest which naturally might be expected under such circumstances. When the Presidential election came round in 1844, it was one of the issues upon which Polk was elected. The cry was, " Fifty-four- forty or fight." If the Texas question was the main issue, the Oregon question added to the excitement of the times. Congressmen made fiery speeches, and the country seemed on the verge of another struggle with Great Britain, when wiser counsels prevailed ; and in 1846 a convention was made by the two countries, which settled the difficulty. Mon- roe and Tyler had suggested a dividing line ; and Polk, although elected with the under- standing that he should insist upon 54° 40', made an offer of compromise ; but it was not until matters had reached an acute stage that 47 r TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS negotiations finally were concluded. It is barely possible that the Mexican difficulty rather urged Polk to a settlement with Eng- land ; and it is to the credit of Daniel Web- ster that, although at that time he held no office in the executive department of the gov- ernment, he still exerted his influence in pri- vate channels abroad to bring about a peaceful solution of the problem. The convention made the parallel of 49° the northern boundary of Oregon, while Vancouver's Island was given to England. Free navigation of Fuca*s Straits and the Columbia River was given to both nations, and rights of actual possession of land on both sides of the boundary line were to be respected by both. It was a natural boun- dary line, since it continued our northern boundary line directly across to the Pacific. Thus this bone of contention between England and the United States was re- moved, — a contention which was aggra- vated by the efforts of a British company to monopolise a trade which the people of the United States felt should be theirs by right of prior occupation as well as discoveiy, and possibly under our construction of the Louisiana Purchase. 48 I OREGON This Oregon Territory is now occupied by the States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. The Pacific coast line soon was extended south by the acquisition of California. So within fifty years our domain had grown from a relatively small district, confined within the Atlantic and the Mississippi, to a country extending from ocean to ocean. The steps which led to the acquisition of Texas and the Mexican territory already were being taken when Oregon became unquestionably our own. 49 CHAPTER VI. TEXAS. The annexation of Texas and the ac- quisition of Mexican territory adjoining it, including California, must be considered together; for they are really parts of one transaction. The acquisition of all this new territory was caused, not by extra-territorial difficulties, as in the case of Louisiana and Florida, but by a desire on the part of a portion of the country to increase its area. Although all our additions of territory thus far, except the Oregon Territory, had been at the South, at least the populous portion of them, and in the opinion of many public men gave that section so great a prepond- erance of influence as to endanger the Union, the demand for still further additions came from that same section. Slavery, and a desire to keep southern influence predomi- nant in the government, were primary causes of the great additions of territory in 1845 and 1848. As the free North grew in strength, the South began to fear that, if it became strong enough to control the govern- ment, it would restrict and finally abolish so I the ac- oining it, :onsidered s of one this new territorial siana and part of a - its area, tory thus d been at rtion of y public prepond- ^ Union, ns came and a jredomi- y causes in 1845 ?rew in lat, if it govern- abolish TEXAS slavery altogether. The Missouri Compro- mise left only a small space for slave States ; while north of 36° 20' was an immense territory rapidly filling up with a population from New England and the North, out of which States would rise, free by the inherited principles of the settlers, and by law if the Missouri Compromise were respected. In other words, it took no prophet's eye to see a time rapidly approaching when the slave States would be in a decided minority. And just at this time a spirit of reform was rampant. It was the age of isms in New England. Prison reform, reforms in crimi- nal law, and poor laws were agitated and undertaken ; while aggressively advocated was the abolition of slavery. A period of intel- lectual growth and moral growth was begin- ning. With the denunciation of slavery per se^ there was also a crusade begun against slavery at the South on the part of the more radical isformers. Societies for the abolition of slavery were found at the South previous to 1835 J bi/.c, after that time, that section ranged itself against them, and the abolition- ists were driven to the North. That party, small but earnest, would give no rest to agitation, and preferred a divided country to 5» TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS allowing slavery protected under their flag. With this feeling springing up against slavery, — a moral feeling all the stronger from rising among a people whose very begin- ning was a moral struggle, — it is not strange if those at the South who believed slavery necessary to its prosperity, felt that sooner or later would come the demand for freedom for the slaves, with all its serious conse- quences to that section of the country. And, further, the South was in danger of losing the predominance which it had held always in the affairs of the Union j and that, especially to a State like South Carolina, was a situation not to be borne. To preserve the balance between slave and free States, more territory south of 36° 20' must be gained. Such land was at hand in Texas. Texas was part of that vast region in North America claimed by Spain by virtue of discovery and occupation, and was consid- ered a part of Mexico. Spanish occupation of Texas was very limited at any time ; for it was in Mexico as it is to-day, and to the north-west of Texas, that Spain made any vis- ible progress. Before an English settler had arrived in America, little armies under Span- ish leaders had penetrated into what is now 1 5a TEXAS New Mexico and Colorado. So early as 1600 the Spanish Jesuits were exploring and establishing their missions in the more north- erly and central part of the region now in- cluded in New Mexico and Arizona. Con- siderable success followed their efforts to Christianise the natives, a rapid emigration set in, and that district became quite flourishing. It was the reports of miner-' 1 wealth which drew these early Spanish adventurers to the wilderness. Spain always was seeking a new El Dorado, and her early expeditions to the North were to find another Mexico. With the soldier and the priest went the gold-hunter and the adventurer. But the Spaniard soon became a taskmaster. He reduced the Ind- ians, those whom he had converted as well as others when he could, to a slavery too cruel to be borne. At last, about 1680, the natives broke into open revolt, and swept the Spanish from the country. Spain did not re- gain possession until eighteen years afterward. About that time the Jesuits explored and planted missions in the country south of the Gila River. They Christianised the natives and reported the great mineral wealth there ; and a large emigration from the South set in, so that a century and a quarter ago that dis- 53 "^ i TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS trict was a thriving Spanish province. But, as usual, the Spanish enslaved the Indians ; and, as had happened earlier, north of them, the slaves revolted, and killed or drove their masters from the country. Then civilisation in that section disappeared, ant* in 1846 only a few Mexicans remained in the old town of Tucson and along the Mesilla Valley. There was less of Spanish occupation of Texas than of the other Spanish possessions north of Mexico. The French unwittingly made a beginning there when La Salle landed at Matagorda Bay instead of the mouth of the Mississippi, as he wished ; and, after some other ineffectual attempts to establish French settlements, a French colony from the Red River located in Texas, and were allowed by the Spanish to stay there. But Spain claimed the province as part of Mexico, and practi- cally made good her ckim. When the United States bought Louisiana, only the moderation of Jefferson and the prudence of the military commanders prevented a collision of armed troops over the matter of the boundary be- tween Mexico and this country. In 18 19, however, as we have seen, the United States withdrew all claims which she had to Texas as a part of Louisiana, by the treaty fixing the Sabine River as t'le boundary. 54 ; MM mumMmBomm nnii RRT^ TEXAS Soon after the acquisition of Louisiana there sprang up an illicit trade with Mexico, through Texas, which was so lucrative that a large number of adventurers engaged in it. When the difficulties between Spain and her American colonies reached a point where re- bellions became frequent, these adventurers, assisted by friends within the United States, made numerous attempts to free Texas and Mexico from Spanish rule ; but Texan inde- pendence did not come from these efforts. The feeling which inspired the:»e filibustering expeditions was doubtless one factor in causing the dissatisfaction displayed in the South and Southwest over the fixing of the eastern boundary of Texas in 1819, Henry Clay and other prominent men who approved that feature of the treaty expressed only a popular sentiment in their sections of the country. M 55 •1 I ! I CHAPTER VII. TEXAS (Concluded). Mexico in the mean time had been fighting for independence, and in 1821 began a revo- lution which ended in her freedom from Spain. During these struggles Texas lost her population, which had been of a floating character, so that by 1822 she was almost wholly deserted. In the next year, however, Stephen F. Austin received from the new nation of Mexico the confirmation of a grant of lands in Texas made by Spain in 1820 to his father, Moses Austin. Already Stephen had conducted a considerable number of col- onists to a site near where the city of Austin now is, and more soon followed. The father was a native of Connecticut, but a resident of Missouri when he received his grant and began the enterprise. It was naturally the principles of Missouri and of the South which governed the early settlers. It is hardly fair to call them merely adventurers because they practically carried slavery with them, or to confuse them with their predecessors in the contraband trade which flourished there before them. Their sympathy was with slavery, 56 II! 1 ^ new TEXAS and probably with them were many doubtful characters ; but there is little in their early history which shows them other than a set of men trying to better themselves in a new country. Later there came among them those whose object may have been simply to add to the power of the South and strengthen its institution of sbvery by annexing the dis- trict to the United States. The South, in truth, favoured the colonisation of Texas, and there is good evidence of a scheme to colonise it and annex it to this country j but such a scheme was necessarily very general in its nature, — rather a strong desire than a well-defined plan. We can hardly believe that the settlement of the territory depended entirely upon the so-called conspiracy to colonise and annex it as an additional slave State. Yet, whatever part the slaveholding interest may have had in its settlement, there is no doubt that very soon after it began to grow there was a sufficiently definite purpose at the South to free it from Mexican author- ity, and then, if possible, to annex it to the United States. The South would not will- ingly allow this territory to become free from slavery, as it would if it remained Mexican, or should come under English protection S7 I lii ! !!{B )| i TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS or dominion, as at one time was thought possible. When the Mexican constitution was adopted, in 1824, Texas was united with Coahuila, hitherto a separate province and one wholly Mexican, and a Mexican was placed as commandant over the department. The injustice displayed by this commandant created difficulties ; but the adoption of a more liberal policy on the part of Mexico smoothed out the trouble for a few years, and Texas prospered. Mexico, however, as we remember, was in a chronic state of revolution by that time ; and in 1830 her government, then in the hands of a dictator, forbade any people from the United States entering Texas as colonists, and suspended all colony contracts which might interfere with the prohibition. From this time forward Mexican jealousy against emigrants from the United States became every month more manifest. Moreover, reckless adventurers united with the Mexican government, and went farther than it did in acts of oppression and outrage upon the colonists. One cause of this jealousy is apparent enough. Texas was almost wholly Ameri- 58 can i in the TEXAS can in population, and hardly could escape the prejudice of Mexican authorities. Then, too, many of the people of the United States felt, and expressed the feeling, that our gov- ernment was all wrong in agreeing to the Sabine as the boundary with Mexico; and that we ought to have kept the whole of Texas, as it rightly, so they said, went with Louisiana. In fact, the United States tried twice in vain to buy Texas from Mexico, once under John Quincy Adams and again under Jackson. However unreasonable the views above quoted may have been, they had their weight at the South, especially since Texas was filling up with people going from our country, leaving friends and families be- hind, and also since Texas within our bounds would be added slave territory. Mexico had abolished slavery, and this meant that Texas would be a free country should it remain under her sovereignty. Mexico knew these facts. Shvi knew that the citizens of Texas were aliens to Spanish or Mexican blood, and she must have felt that the bond which held that State to her was weakening every day. So in defence she took a step which, however ill-advised and unjust it may seem to us now, seemed wise to her then. 59 -rf^ ifJ TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS By 1833, the situation having become un- bearable, the American settlers, who now numbered 20,000, held a convention, and determined to separate from Coabuila. A State constitution was constructed, and an address to the Mexican government prepared requesting admission to the republic as a separate State, and this at a time when Mexico herself, or the party in power there, was making the country a consolidated re- public rather than a federation of States. About this time the Mexicans in Coahuila and Texas quarrelled, ?.nd each set up a different revolutionary government ; but the Americans had no part in this movement. Austin went to Mexico as the agent of Texas, with the constitution and address, but could get no definite satisfaction. Santa Anna, who was then at the head of the government and wanted no separate States under him, simply played with Austin, keep- ing him in Mexico by promises of attention and of allowing the separate State govern- ment desired until he himself could get ready to march to Texas at the head of an army. Austin did succeed in getting the prohibition of immigration from the United States re- moved, and the granting of some other favour- 60 TEXAS able measures ; but that was all. At length he returned to Texas with the belief that only by force could anything like indepen- dence be gained for it, and that war was at hand. In 1835, upon the report of the approach of Mexican troops, the State legislature, which had been guilty of gross frauds, was broken up and the country left without a government. The people were thus obliged either to submit to Santa Anna, in effect a dictator who already had deceived them, or form a government of their own. Being at least American born, they did not hesitate.* Committees of Safety were formed, and then a provisional government; and, after a few skirmishes and battles with the Mexican troops, the latter were driven from the country. That winter a Declaration of Inde- pendence was issued; and on March 17, 1836, a convention of delegates adopted a constitution and elected officers. When Santa Anna heard of the defeat of the troops sent the year before, he himself set out for Texas at the head of an army of 7,500 men. The treacherous massacre at Goliad and the slaughter at the Alamo committed by )iim and his troops created a panic for a time ; 6 1 * TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS but General Houston, the Texan com- mander-in-chief, drew the Mexican leader after him by a series of retreats until he reached San Jacinto. There Santa Anna's forces became divided, and Houston fell upon him, utterly routed his army, and took him prisoner. This ended the war, although neither then nor thereafter did Mexico ac- knowledge the independence of Texas. That new republic proposed annexation to the United States, but the latter was not then ready for it. Yet the sympathy of the American people was with the Texans in their struggle. The bloody deeds at Alamo and Goliad furnished ghastly incentives for such a feeling, and it had been shown prac- tically by the considerable body of troops raised in the States in their aid. With all this sympathy, however, there was a convic- tion, especially at the North, that the South had a selfish interest in the matter. The independence of Texas was recog- nised by the United StrJtes in 1837, while Mexico protested against the actions of its people. She continued to maintain a hostile attitude toward her revolted State, and sought to incite Indian forays ; but she never sent another soldier against it except on one of 6i TEXAS two marauding expeditions. In 1840 Eng- land, France and Belgium also recognised the independence of Texas, and the new republic began to grow rapidly. In 1843 England remonstrated against Mexico's con- duct toward it ; and, as a result, commission- ers for an armistice were appointed. While negotiations were pending President Tyler made propositions for annexation to the United States. Texas took a little time to consider, but finally approved the project j and a treaty of annexation was made. Anxious as Tyler was to put this through, he could not carry the Senate with him ; and the treaty was rejected June 8, 1844. This treaty irritated Mexico, and she broke off her negotiations, and threatened a renewal of hostilities. It displeased England and France, who wanted to see Texas under an English or joint protectorate, without slavery and free from the influence of the United States ; while its rejection humiliated Texas. But Tyler's time came only a little later. Meanwhile Texas found herself burdened with debt ; but her population was increas- ing, and by 1844 her revenues began to increase, so that she seemed to be on the road to prosperity, 63 n i TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS That year the United States elections had resulted in the choice of Polk for President on a platform favoring annexation. Accord- ingly, in the spring of 1845 joint resolutions for annexation were passed through Congress by small majorities, were at once approved by President Tyler just before his term expired, and in July were ratified by a Texan conven- tion called for this purpose. The population of the new State at this time was about 150,000. Although nine years had passed since San Jacinto, and although Mexico never since had sent an army against Texas to compel submission to her, she still refused to ac- knowledge the independence of her former State. The action of the United States she considered an act of war against her, and her minister left Washington ; but actual hostilities between the two countries did not begin at once. When they did break out, it was nominally for other reasons, as we shall see. The annexation of Texas, in the light of her history, can hardly be condemned per se. It was bound to come at some time. Her people, as has been remarked, were mostly Americans who had come in there. All their 64 TEXAS political ideas were American. They were of what we may call, for the sake of a name, the Anglo-Saxon race ; while the Mexi- cans were of another stock. They could have no sympathy with Mexican ideas and politics. It was natural for them to turn to us, as it was natural for us to sympathise with them. Their only tie to Mexico was political. Texas was everything she should not be to make Mexican sovereignty suitable or acceptable. The objection to annexation lay in the time of the act and the surround- ing circumstances. It meant, in all prob- ability and apparently designedly, a war with Mexico which had been at peace with us. It was a direct act of aggression, however extenuating the failure of Mexico to recon- quer the revolted district may have been. The object appeared to many to be not to help a people near of kin to us and our institutions, but through a war of conquest to acquire territory to be devoted to slavery. Mexico's possession meant freedom for the negro, while ours meant slavery. As Henry Clay writes in December, 1 844, " The Whigs were most anxious to avoid a foreign war for the sake of acquiring a foreign territory, which, under the circumstances of the ac- 65 ii TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS quisition, could not fail to produce domestic discord and expose the character of the country, in the eyes of an impartial world, to severe animadversion." 66 rill CHAPTER VIII. THE MEXICAN CESSION. Although the Mexican government an- nounced that it would maintain its right to Texas by force of arms, and all attempts at diplomatic arrangement failed, no outbreak of hostilities occurred until the next year. It seems very much as if the United States were bent on war, and a war of conquest at that. She took the quarrel of Texas di- rectly upon her own shoulders. Besides committing an act of war against Mexico by annexing Texas, she also by so doing, in- volved herself in a dispute over the boundary of that State, and pushed her claims to the utmost limit. Mexico claimed the river Nueces as the western limit, while the United States claimed the land to the Rio Grande. By carrying the boundary to that river, we really annexed a large strip of ter- ritory on which neither an American nor Texan had made a single settlement, and which included a part of the Mexican State of New Mexico. Texas grew in size very rapidly from the time she was a part of Mexico to the time of her annexation to the United States. 67 ^^. ti ' n Itji i 1 r i i' TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS When Texas agreed to the annexation, " the President was requested and authorised to lose no time in establishing a line of fron- tier posts and occupying any exposed portion along the western border of the new State," and General Taylor was sent to Texas with an army of occupation. He halted in a posi- tion north of the Nueces River, and h^ .sted the American flag. Early in 1846 \-c wa*- ordered to the Rio Grande; and, when h- crossed the Nueces to carry out his orders, he entered the disputed territory. This was looked upon by Mexico as a still further in- vasion of her land, — even if she had given up Texas, which she had not, — and a force of Mexican dragoons attacked a small body of our men. This was enough for President Polk and the party in power. We remem- ber that Jefferson had not been so hasty forty years before. On May 11, 1846, war was declared ; and the unequal struggle began. Unequal because the Mexican ar- mies, no matter how much they might out- number ours, no matter that they were fighting for their own country, in sight of their own homes, were always beaten. Un- equal especially, because the government be- hind them was weak, distracted by constant 68 THE MEXICAN CESSION rebellions, a mere shadow. To add to Mex- ico's difficulties, our government practically stirred up a revolution i); Mexican govern- ment, in the midst of the war, by opening a way for Santa Anna — who had been di~ivcn into exile before the war began — to return to Mexico, and realiy inducing him to do so. It was doubtless calculated that Mexico, em- broiled afresh in domestic difficulties, would be a still easier prey for the United States, and that Santa Anna, in return, would favour the ultimate designs of this country. But he disappointed these expectations. Probably he found that a vigourous resistance to Amer ican aggression was the surest road to popu- larity ; and, when he got to Mexico and seized the reins of power, our advance was more vigourously contested than before. Benton, in his " 7'hirty Years' View," thus characterises these intrigues : — " What must history say of the policy and morality of such doings ? The butcher of American prisoners at Goliad, San Patricio, the Old Mission, and the Alamo j the de- stroyer of republican government at home; the military dictator, aspiring to permanent supreme power, — this man to he restored to power by the United States, for the purpose 60 TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS of fulfilling speculations and indemnity cal- culations on which the war was begun ! " . The United States very early made propo- sitions of peace. Nothing came of them, so far as Mexico was concerned ; but here a col- lateral question was raised, which lasted so long as the cause of that war. A bill was introduced into Congress to authorise the President to use three million dollars as he deemed it expedient in negotiating a treaty of peace with Mexico. To this an amend- ment was offered, known as the W 11 mot Proviso, prohibiting slavery in any territory to be acqiiired under that treaty or in any way whacsoever. The bill, with the proviso, passed tne House, but did not reach the Senate in time to pass that session. It was the beginning of the end of slavery. That proviso was notice that a large and increas- ing number of the people were opposed to any further extension of slavery. " It announced a policy which was afterward to be victorious." The war went on until General Scott en- tered the City of Mexico. Th»t settled the contest. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, concluded Feb. 2, 1848, defined fhe terms of peace-, and the war was *rvU;d. As a result, besides confirming our titl^ to Texas, 70 ONS nity cal- n )» e propo- hem, so re a col- asted so bill was rise the s as he a treaty amend- Wilmot erritory in any 3roviso, ch the It was That ncreas- to anv unced a )rious/' ott en- led the [idalgo, terms As A Texas, THE MEXICAN CESSION Mexico ceded to the United States Califor- nia and all the country between that district and Texas which we own to-day except a little strip ceded to us in 1853. ^^^ same stipulation in regard to the people of the country ceded was incorporated in the treaty, as in the case of Louisiana, except that the provision was added that Congress should be th< sole judge of the propriety of the admis- sion / new States formed from the new territory Practically, the United States agreed to form States from that territory so soon as Congress deemed it proper to do so. The United States paid Mexico i^ 15,000,000, and released her from claims of American citizens to an amount of ;^3, 250,000, and itfl-so agreed to protect her northern boundary from the incursions and misconduct of the Indians. The war cost us in round num- bers |> 1 5^,000,000, and, it is said, 25,000 lives, counting the deaths which resulted in every way frotn it. The / of the Mexican War rests upon the army Ai\A t^w? common soldier is enckled to t'tyt most t4 it. The bravery »how.^ !>/ /()im, lilt 4ogg(l^ courage and per- iiiltiif ^ d ifHE^I]ig*f*v-^, were the same as hmf€ 0$mM*^t\%iA the American soldier 7' TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS from the first, and are still shown by him to-day. His general who led the way to Mexico became the next President ; while the party which was responsible for the war — which had made the annexation of Texas a party principle — was utterly defeated when next the people went to the polls. There seemed to be a prospect of further trouble with Mexico in 1853, ^^^ ^^^ Gads- den treaty settled the matter by annexing to the United States some 30,000 square miles along the southern bank of the Gila River. This territory forms the southern part of what is now New Mexico and Arizona. The difficulty all arose over a disputed boundary. The boundary commissioners set ofF the Mesilla Valley as belonging to Mex- ico, whereupon our governor of New Mex- ico objected, claiming that they were in error, and proceeded to take possession of the disputed territory until the boundary could be settled by the United Stales and Mexico. Mexico protested ; and, since Santa Anna was at the head of the govern- ment and unfriendly to us, matters looked somewhat stormy. But a settlement was effected by which this strip was ceded to the United States, and the latter released from 7% m^^rrmmmf ONS by him way to ; while the war Texas d when further - Gads- xing to e miles River. Mrt of rizona. isputed lers set J Mex- r Mex- 'ere in ion of undarv 58 and since overn- looked It was to the from '■I -a THE MEXICAN CESSION the obligation to protect Mexico's northern boundary from the Indians. In return the United States paid Mexico ;;& 10,000,000. This acquisition from Mexico marks our last acquisition of contiguous territory. The annexation of Texas and the land ceded to us by Mexico contained nearly a million square miles in territory, but outside of Texas very sparsely inhabited, very much of it almost unknown. California began to grow with the discovery of its gold mines after its acquisition by us. F"or the purpose for which the war was undertaken the results seem to answer; and yet, in spite of any material advantage gained, the Texan and Mexican business is hardly to our credit. It was very much like the case of a powerful neighbour taking a piece of land he wanted from a weaker neighbour, and paying for it what he pleased. Yet the results even in a moral and political point of view were not wholly undesirable. The Mexican War and the annexation of Texas marked the extreme power of the slave-holding interest at the South, and the exercise of that power solidi- fied the opposition North and West. 7'he institution of slaver)', although it seemed at the time to be reinvigorated, really received 73 I TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS its death-blow then ; any seeming advance which it made then or thereafter was at the expense of a support which it required to exist. Texas was the last slave State to be admitted to the Union. ''What the Aboli- tionists could not do, the slaveholders and their adherents did by opening the eyes of the people and showing them how near they were to the brink of the precipice." The same impulses which drove this coun- try in its course with Mexico were active for some time afterward in efforts to gain additional territory at the South. These efforts lasted until the Civil War ended sla- very ; but private attempts to acquire some of the West Indies or parts of Central America, during that time, ended in disaster and failure, and official intrigues fared no better. Then came the Civil War, as a consequence of the disease in our system which led to the Mexican War ; and we were too busy in trying to build up a new government or saving the Union to think of annexing foreign lands. 74 I CHAPTER IX. ALASKA. After the Civil War we bought Alaska. Up to this point, in the history of our acquisi- tions, we have found that political necessities or advantages, actual or alleged, have been the reasons for annexation. In the case of Alaska it was mainly financial or commer- cial reasons. Alaska was a country which did not touch our boundaries at any point. Although sparsely inhabited except by the natives, from its geographical location and its climate it offered no inducements for a large emigration of our people or of Euro- peans. In other words, while every other addition to our territory would, in the ordi- nary course of growth, become States, this Alaska purchase ''offered little or no pros- pect of ever becoming fit for admission to the Union on an equal footing with the States." And it is questionable whether the recent discovery of gold will make any mate- rial change in the permanent condition of things in that respect. In annexing Alaska, the United States took another step in the direction of acquiring any 75 i TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS territory, wherever situated, the only ques- tion being as to the benefit to be derived from the step. To be sure, the Civil War, just ended, had made the executive and Congress high-handed. It had stretched ex- ecutive power and the federal power to an extreme limit. Its effect had been to cen- tralise power in the federal government; and, with Louisiana and Texas in its memory, the latter found little difficulty in assuming a power to buy Alaska. It is needless to say that the consent of its few civilised inhabi- tants or its natives was no more asked than in any previous case, except that of Texas, where the original proposition of annexation came from that people. And in this con- nection, with the fact that the natural expec- tation was that Alaska should remain under a territorial form of government or be gov- erned directly by the President and Congress, it should not be forgotten that a territorial form of government is practically the gov- ernment of a colony. The government does not rest upon the consent of the gov- erned. And, while in all previous cases such a condition of affairs was to be but a temporary expedient, and the form of govern- ment adopted in most cases allowed enough 76 ALASKA local self-government to familiarise all the people with it and with the principles of the future State government, in Alaska it was expected to be permanent. Whether this is in accordance with the spirit of our institu- tions or not is not to be discussed here. In Alaska the circumstances, geographical or otherwise, of the territory, should be consid- ered. But the question is raised, if, under our Constitution, we may hold commu- nities, because of geographical or climatic conditions likely to keep the number of in- habitants small, under a sort of colonial gov- ernment, — government from Washington and not from themselves, — may we not also hold them in this way because of peculiarities or characteristics in the population ? Alaska is our name for the Russian pos- sessions in America ceded to us in 1867. Russia's title was that of discovery. Bering, in the service of that country, after he found out in 1728 that Asia and North America were not connected by land, started in 1741 on another voyage of discovery. On July 18 of that year " he sighted a rocky range of coast, behind which towered lofty moun- tains, their summits white with perpetual snows," and thus caught his first glimpse n m 11 ' 1 H '1 » I' 1 > 1 ■ _ 1 il ^ ijlii Tp:RRrroRiAL acquisitions of what was afterward known as Russian America. The Russians were soon active in exploration. Search was made for a northeast passage to thj Atlantic, and mer- cantile adventurers examined the coast and islands. In 1783 Russian companies began the fur trade, afterward participated in to some extent by Americans. Russia, how- ever, did not penetrate far inland. The Hudson's Bay Company were already in the field in the interior. In 1825 a treaty fixed the line between British and Russian posses- sions, while the year before (1824) Russia, by treaty with the United States, as stated awhile ago, fixed her southern limit at the parallel of 54° 40'. She also granted to our people certain fishing privileges -, but her gov- ernment so construed the compact as to exclude our vessels from just the places to which they wanted to go, where the fishing was known to be the best. It was the desire of the Pacific Coast for additional privileges that brought about the treaty of 1867, which gave us the whole country. The cod-fishing carried on by vessels from San Francisco had become by that year quite an industry. In 1865 one of the officials of Washington Territory re- 78 ALASKA ■f ported the abundance of cod and halibut in this region of Alaska, and said : " No one who knows these facts for a moment doubts that, if vessels used by the Bank fishermen that sail from Massachusetts and Maine were fitted out here and were to fish on the various banks along this coast, it would even now be a most lucrative business." The legislature of that same territory, by formal resolution, called the attention of the general government to the great value of the fisheries of the Russian American coast, and peti- tioned for the adoption of such measures as would obtain for Americans the right to fish in these waters. The desire to obtain fish- ing-grounds in the western waters, as well as in the eastern, and to gain them free from the entanglements of those in the East, and possibly a desire to have another naval station on the Pacific, as President Johnson in a message to Congress suggested, must have been controlling factors in the mind of the administration in making the treaty, to say nothing of the value of the fur and seal industry. The mineral wealth was of a de- cidedly uncertain character. Russia was quite willing to dispose of her holdings in America. These possessions 79 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V / O Cp. €/ 1.0 I.I 1.25 lltt 1132 Ai IL IM 2.2 li£ IIIIIIO lltt JA III 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY 14580 (716) 872-4503 iV iV II :\ \ % V ^ ^ A ^V w. (/a V. m i TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS would be hard to defend in case of war, es- pecially with England ; and yet it would be at least annoying to lose them through war. They afforded no strength to her, but were rather a weakness. Then she wanted the money. So the transfer was easily brought about. It is quite possible that our own diffi- culties with the reconstruction problems at the time distracted the interest of the public in the transaction, for the treaty ceding the country to us, made March 29, 1867, occasioned very little discussion, and was ratified with sub- stantial equanimity on April 9. When we came to pay over the cash called for by the treaty, there was a little delay. It seemed to many quite a lot of money for a purchase of doubtful value. Congress finally appropri- ated the amount ; and it was charged, but not proven, that quite a corruption fund was necessary to effect this. It is true, however, that a very respectable sum was used in writing up the country in favourable terms. We paid ;^ 7, 2 5 0,000 for it, and acquired about 580,000 square miles of territory, in- habited by some 60,000 people, mostly Esquimaux, — a native population which, like that of our Indians, is diminishing in its contact with civilization. The treaty pro- 80 i i^LASKA vided that such of the civilised inhabitants as remained in Alaska were to have all the rights of citizens of the United States. With this acquisition the United States has, up to this time, remained content so far as any territory on or adjacent to this conti- nent is concerned. The power of our gov- ernme^'t to annex foreign territory seems to be pretty well established by precedent ; but, with the exception of Texas, — which, how- ever, had a population in which the American element was largely predominant, — all our acquisitions, up to the time of and including Alaska, were of sparsely settled countries. Louisiana was no exception ; for nearly all its population was clustered round New Or- leans, leaving an immense space inhabited almost wholly by Indians. Outside of Alaska the acquisitions have opened outlets for immigration from the older States and from abroad ; and the new territories have become American in thought and institu- tions because the pioneers in all these new countries were largely Americans. " They have been a leaven in the European immi- gration which followed. The two elements, acting together, have built up communities capable of taking a place among the «elf- governing States." 8x TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS Whether Alaska be considered an excep- tion, from its peculiar location and from the circumstances which seemed to make its acquisition desirable, or whether it be con- sidered as an established precedent, the re- cent steps in the enlargement of our territory are certainly of a different character from any which have gone before. These acqui- sitions of to-day show that, admitting our constitutional power to acquire territory, we professedly are guided now by different reasons from those in the old days, when our country was younger. ■ 81 :cep- the CHAPTER X. HAWAII. ritory from Thirty-one years elapsed after the pur- chase of Alaska before we entered upon a new career of territorial expansion j and we began by annexing the Hawaiian Islands. In doing this, we took a long step forward, admitting that we can find authority for so doing in the earlier precedents. Since it marks something of a departure from our course of action up to this point, a some- what more extended account of the causes which resulted in this annexation seems de- sirable. Whereas all the former acquisitions had been of territory which seemed suitable for emigration of our people or presented commercial advantages, Hawaii offers little field for emigration, for in 1890 only 4,695 persons owned the land, and more than half the soil had passed into European or Ameri- can hands ; and it would seem that most, if not all, the commercial benefits might have been obtained by a close alliance or protecto- rate. To be sure, political reasons prompted the acquisition of Louisiana and Florida, and indeed, of Texas and the land gained from 83 I TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS Mexico ; but still the land gained was open, and suitable for emigration. In the case of Hawaii this fact is not present ; and political reasons alone governed the action taken. In fact, the annexation was justified on naval grounds or to protect the American interests, already paramount in the islands. The annexation was not accomplished without opposition, and in the end was helped, if not carried through, by supposed necessities arising out of the situation in which we found ourselves in the early part of our war with Spain in 1898. It was really the pressure of a small but energetic minority of American residents and sympa- thisers in Hawaii, rather than the wish of the United States, that inaugurated and main- tained the movement which led to annexa- tion. The Hawaiian Islands are a country two thousand miles away from our coast, and had in 1897 ^ population of 109,020, of which only 5,336 were Americans or British, and 39,504 native or half Hawaiians, who held at least a nominal share in the govern- ment. Portuguese, Germans, Japanese and Chinese made up the rest of the mixed population, — the Japanese and Chinese, to 84 Dns open, rase of olitical taken. naval crests, plished d was pposed ion in \y part It was ergetic ;ympa- ish of main- nnexa- ry two t, to British, 5, who Dvern- >e and mixed se, to and , of HAWAII the number of 46,023, having no part in the government actual or nominal. Loving political freedom as we do, and with our own inborn energy, somehow we have a feeling of compassion, mingled with a tinge of impatience, as we read the history of these islands since Captain Cook dis- covered them in 1778, three years after we had begun the fight for our own indepen- dence. The people are a race redeemed from barbarism. Mr. Schouler speaks of the native Hawaiian as ^^ timid to resist the encroachments of a more powerful race, docile without strong traditions of his own, frail, but well-intentioned in morals " ; and another refers to him as possessing, to an unusual degree, a capacity for fine and ardent enthusiasm for noble ends. The gentle Hawaiians show the distinctive Christian traits, " not always predominant among their more civilised teachers, of simple faith, meekness, self-sacrificing hospitality, and forgiveness of their enemies by whom they have suffered." More than half of them can read and write, — a showing which should particularly commend them to us, especially since this moral and intellectual growth was planted and fostered by American mission- 85, i TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS aries. And we should not forget that it was under native rulers that this uplifting began and was continued. We must feel a sym- pathy for chem as we see how their own government came more and more under the influence and control of foreign residents, chiefly Americans, until the native Hawaiians were relegated to a very subordinate place in their own country. As the Indian here is disappearing before the civilisation of his conquerors, so the Hawaiian is fading away under the protection of the aliens he ad- mitted to his home. When Captain Cook was there, the islands were ruled by separate chiefs independent of each other ; but one of them by his superior ability subdued all the islandL> except two, which yielded their allegiance to his suc- cessor. The first Hawaiian king, as Kame- hameha I., began a dynasty which lasted until the death of Kamehameha V. in 1874 without a successor. The interference by the French in 1837 led to a formal decla- ration of independence in 1840 and the pro- mulgation of a constitution by Kamehameha III. The independence of the islands was recognised in 1844 by England and the United States. Christianity had been intro- 86 HAWAII duced by Kamehameha II.; and the disposi- tion of the islanders was such that the Christian religion made rapid progress, and, with occasional relapses, it has maintained its hold upon them. The influence of the mis- sionary is seen all through these earlier days ; and the influence of his descendants, not wholly directed toward the religious welfare of the natives, has been almost equally strong. Again, in 1849, ^^^ complications with the French occurred ; and hostile preparations were begun, which were interrupted only upon the protests of the English and Amer- ican representatives. When once again, in 1 85 1, the French threatened hostilities, the king, Kamehameha III., found it advisable to strengthen his alliance with the United States ; and, acting upon the advice of Ameri- can missionaries and American residents, he promulgated a new constitution, admitting a small number of foreigners to each of the two houses of the legislature. Annexation to the United States even then was discussed, but afterward abandoned. When Kamehameha V. died, in 1874, without a successor, the legislature, chiefly through external American influence, elected 87 '.ill nil > (I TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS as king, Kalakaua, one of the royal house, over the dowager queen Emma, a daughter of an English physician. In Kalakaua's reign, in 1876, a treaty of reciprocity was arranged with the United States, which developed a marvellous interchange of products on our Pacific coast. The broadening of commerce arising from this act carried to Hawaii a large *-*• amount of American invested capital, together with a fair colony of sojourners more or less constant " from this country. Kalakaua's course as king was hardly on a par with that of his predecessors ; and his dissipation and his government produced a revolution in 1887, which secured a consti- tution so liberal in its treatment of the white residents as to be, to use Mr. Schouler's words, '^ unparalleled in the dealings of civi- lised nations with aliens." Under that con- stitution procured by the white residents, foreigners who took the oath to support the Hawaiian government were permitted to reg- ister as voters with a distinct reservation of allegiance to their own governments. Under it a citizen of the United States could remain such, and still have the right to vote in Hawaiian elections, while he was a resident, by simply swearing to support the government. 88 HAWAII It deprived the sovereign of his absolute veto upon legislation, and took away from him his power under the old constitution of ap- pointing the members of the Upper House. Naturally, actual power passed to the foreign residents, if they kept in accord. In prac- tice the successive kings had appointed white men as ministers, nobles, and judges, in pref- erence to men of their own race, while sons of missionaries and the English-speaking residents in general had always occupied high places and reaped very satisfactory pe- cuniary benefits. With this position already gained, the new constitution made this class still more powerful, as it was also the more aggressive. Matters stood in this way when, in 1891, Kalakaua died while on a tour to the United States, where American interests saw to it that he was entertained right royally. Liliu- okalani, his sister and successor, was pro- claimed queen ; and almost immediately schemes for annexation to the United States began to be formed. The foreign sojourners — American citi- zens still, for the most part — became in- tensely anxious, in the interest of a stable government and of their own pecuniary con- 89 !l f if. I ? I !l TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS cerns as well, that the government cf the United States should be extended over the islands ; while the white residents there, the descendants of missionaries and of offi- cials, naturally preferred a union with a strong government like our own to a possi- ble resumption of power by the natives. They wanted above all a stable government ; and if their sympathies with the annexation movement were not so strong, they were not bitterly opposed to it. The ne;^ queen, Liliuokalani, had an even stronger dislike than her predecessor for the constitution forced upon him in 1887; and she was a less pliable subject than he. Pas- sionate and high-strung as she was, with a strong love for her native subjects and loved by them, with a large native vote which, if it could all be brought out, might swamp the foreign vote, there was a danger that the power of the white residents might become less secure ; and the alien population recog- nized the danger. The queen found herself merely a figure-head in the government, a situation she could hardly abide. Her dis- position was reactionary, and her sympathies entirely with her native people. She had at least inklings of the design to annex her 90 HAWAII whole kingdom to the country whose citi- zens within her own dominion held a good share of the actual po;. r. With such a woman (of little tact and headstrong in dis- pute) as queen, the an^^exation fes-ling grew stronger, until her own imprudence and folly threw the key of the situation into her oppo- nents' hands. 1 9» CHAPTER XI. HAWAII (Concluded). On Jan. 14, 1893, ^^^ legislature was prorogued, not to meet again until May, 1894, having at the last moment turned out of office a ministry favoured by the reformers and the foreign element. The new minis- try thus put in power, which must remain in power until a new legislature should meet, stood for nothing except personal and politi- cal success, so far as we can see. Politics in Hawaii did not seem to be all that could be desired. Charges of corruption were freely made, and personal intrigue was apparent in the doings of the legislature. The new min- istry, in fulfilling pledges probably given to the combination in the legislature which had put them in power, laid before the queen two measures, offensive to our people, but favoured by some local interests there, — a lottery act and an opium license act. The queen, although disliking the acts, affixed her signature to them because she wanted some- thing from the ministry in turn. It was un- fortunate for her that she did so, for it gave her opponents a chance to take " the high 9* HAWAII moral " ground against her ; but we cannot help feeling that, however strong their oppo- sition to these acts was, the annexationists cared more for her action in the matter as an argument against her than for the princi- plij involved. Having signed the bills, the queen brought forward her scheme. Urged by her own people and her own inclinations, but in practical defiance of the whole for- eign element, with a self-reliance which would have been admirable had it not been so indiscreet, she submitted a new constitu- tion, which she wished immediately pro- claimed in place of that of 1887. It was not suv.h an extremely reactionary document. It practically put the supreme law back where it was before the revolution of 1887, but it proposed one or two changes which would necessarily be opposed by the white residents. The queen wished to take away the life tenure of the judiciary, and, most sweeping change of all, to reduce the prop- erty qualification for the suffrage, and pro- vide that only subjects should vote. We can hardly blame her for desiring that last step. The ministry saw that it would not do. Although the right of the sovereign to pro- 93 ■11!I 1 k fir m ■B iii TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS claim a new constitution strictly followed precedent, the changes suggested would pro- duce a revolution in any event. They struck down the safeguards of the rich and intelli- gent foreign element, whose presence and capital had made the prosperity of the whole community. Even the queen felt bound to gain her ministry's consent to promulgate the document ; and, when she failed to ob- tain that, she submitted. "With heartfelt sorrow and yet queenly self-control " she announced to the Hawaiians from her royal balcony that, while she loved her people and would continue to love them, she could not then give them the constitution they wished for, but would do so some time. Even in this she yielded to her ministry after long discus- sion during the rest of the day, and aban- doned in full her purpose at any time to make the wished for changes ; and on the forenoon of the following Monday, January 1 6, public announcement of that fact was made over her own signature. It would seem, therefore, that any need of resistance to her authority on account of her proposed action, now forever abandoned, was obviated ; but the zealous annexationists seized upon the opportunity to effect their 94 HAWAII purpose. The foreign residents assembled in mass meeting and appointed a Committee of Safety with discretionary powers. This committee, on January i6, issued a procla- mation abrogating the monarchical system and establishing a provisional government, consisting of an Executive Council of four " to exist until terms of union with the United States of America have been negoti- ated and acted upon." The council at once assumed control of the government, and obliged the queen to retire to her private res- idence i and all this was accomplished with- out bloodshed. About the only force visible was a body of marines landed from an Amer- ican war vessel in the harbour of Honolulu. It is needless to say that this provisional government represented the foreign, and particularly, the American element at Ha- waii. Commissioners of this government were hurried off to Washington to negotiate a treaty of annexation, and they found there an almost suspiciously favourable reception. The unfortunate part which the United States played in this revolution was the all too prompt recognition of the new government by the resident United States minister at Honolulu, and the landing of American ma- 95 ! - il: iiiif: 1 "'! TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS rines, at his request, ostensibly to protect American interests, but practically to compel submission to the new order of things. Well may the queen complain that, but for the attitude of the accredited minister of a friendly nation, her government might have continued to exist. It cannot be doubted, from a review of the facts, that it was the marine force from our war-ship which made the bloodless revolution successful. A treaty of annexation was concluded by President Harrison's administration and, with a favourable recommendation, laid by him before the Senate on February 15, but later was withdrawn from that body by President Cleveland without action upon it having been taken. President Cleveland sent a commissioner to the Hawaiian Is- lands to investigate, and his message to Congress, upon receiving the commissioner's report, shows his own conviction of the in- justice to the Hawaiians committed in assist- ing the revolution with our troops. Yet political conditions here, the rancour of party feeling, the appeals to a false pride, and, above all, the situation into which affairs at Honolulu had grown, made a solution of the problem difficult. Secretary Gresham's plan, 5,6 HAWAII as outlined in his report, favouring a restora- tion of the political conditions which existed in Hawaii previous to the revolution, so far as United States troops had assisted in that revolution, was attended with almost insup- erable objections. All that the President could do was to withdraw the protectorate over Hawaii which Minister Stevens had established on February 9, pending action by Congress on the treaty of annexation ; and this was done on April 14, 1893. On July 4, 1894, the provisional govern- ment was dissolved, and a republic pro- claimed. The movement for annexation was then more vigourously carried on than before; and on June 16, 1897, another treaty of annexation was sent to the Senate by President McKinley. But this was never acted upon. After that we became involved in war with Spain, and, as one result of that, joint resolutions providing for the an- nexation of Hawaii passed Congress, and were approved by President McKinley, July 7, 1898. The war with Spain, like all other wars, was attended by unexpected results. What- ever may have been in the minds of our public men, certainly in the minds of the 97 i^ TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS people of this country there was no other idea in the early part of 1898 than to free Cuba from Spanish control, — to end the bloodshed and scandal of misrule at our doors. When effecting that object brought us into war with Spain, and when, in the course of that war, Puerto Rico and Manila fell into our hands, a new thought forced itself into the minds of many of our people, a new vision of the future spread itself before their eyes. No longer, with the weakness of youth, would we shelter ourselves behind our ocean barriers, but with the strength of a young manhood we would take up our part in redeeming the world from barbarism. With such views developing in the pop- ular mind, it was easy for the ardent annexationists of Hawaii and the United States to persuade what had hitherto been a reluctant people to consent to a union with Hawaii, to take advantage of our own wrong-doing. For it was alleged with con- siderable vigour that those islands were a needed station on the route to the far-off Philippines, and that, if we were to hold sway at Manila, we scarcely could do without Hawaii. Looking at it in this way, the ac- quisition of tae Hawaiian Islands is a part 98 HAWAII only of a scheme of expansion upon which we have entered, and the supposed necessity of the acquisition may justify the departure from all our traditions which such annexa- tion involves. I do not need to enlarge upon the prob- lems brought to us by this annexation, diffi- cult and unusual with us as they are. With Hawaii we indeed entered upon a new career ; and, in addition to solving the prob- lem of just and decent government at home, — by no means yet finished, — we have taken upon our shoulders the government of new and strange people. Still, the annexation having been accomplished, it behooves us to meet the difficulties as wisely and as best we can. 99 i 3 \ ! \m\ ; ;' J: CHAPTER XII. CONCLUSION. I HAVE dwelt at considerable length upon this Hawaiian annexation, because, in addi- tion to its being a new departure in our history, it is so closely connected with the policy which we are pursuing in regard to acquiring territories in the West Indies and the East. It is not my purpose to enter into any discussion of these latter enlargements of the territory covered by our flag. Their story is fresh in our minds ; and, with Ha- waii, they make another chapter in our his- tory, quite different from what has gone before. In every acquisition, up to those of Puerto Rico and the Philippines, it has been our own interest which has been consulted. Now we are entering upon a career of acquisition for ostensibly a different set of reasons, — the benefit of the people brought under our dominion ; and Hawaii was a step in aid of that object. It is not for me in this place to say where we shall or should stop, nor do I wish to speak of the advan- tages or disadvantages to ourselves of such a course. 100 1 upon addi- in our ith the rard to ies and ter into ;ements Their ,th Ha- )ur his- is gone f Puerto een our insulted, reer of : set of brought was a t for me r should ; advan- f such a CONCLUSION The result of this review of our past shows us, I believe, that our country has grown not only in territory, but in the power of its federal government to extend its sphere and enlarge its boundaries in whatever di- rection it deems proper. There has been hardly a year since the acquisition of Louisi- ana, certainly not since the Mexican War, when the annexation of some island or country has not been proposed or discussed by some of our public men. Cuba, San Domingo, Hayti, and countries in Central America, all have been considered in that connection. It is only in the cases told of in these pages where public sentiment or particular circumstances have brought about a union with our country. It has come to be, not a question of the constitutional power to acquire territory, but the desirability of its acquisition in each particular case. It is for us, the people, to say how far this extension of power shall go and how far we shall feel that we have the strength, or that it is our duty, to carry the benefits of our institutions. Others may sound the note of warning or exhort to further efforts : I have tried only to tell what we have done in the past, and why. The story of our acquisitions of territory lOI TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS is not all creditable to us. It shows us that the type of humanity which our institutions have evolved has been ready, as have the powers of the Old World, in the name of our country to wrong other people weaker than ourselves. This has been partly through ig- norance of the real facts ; but the past should teach us to be on our guard to prevent future actions by the Executive and Congress which are contrary to our professions. The story of our acquisitions shows one thing clearly, that we have acquired foreign terri- tory whenever and wherever we have con- sidered it an advantage to do so, and the consent of the people affected has not been asked. It is too late to doubt the power of our government, under our Constitution to-day, to do so. Whether we wish to limit that power in the future is an entirely differ- ent matter. If the people wish to make such a limitation, they can do so. Our great duty now is to consider well the acqui- sitions we do make, and to treat in accord- ance with the ideals and principles which have animated our truest patriots and wisest statesmen the people who come under our flag. If these people are not fitted to be citizens of self-governing States, all the more 1 02 •NS IS that tutions ,ve the ; of our er than ugh ig- : should prevent Congress ;. The le thing rn terri- ,ve con- and the lot been e power istitution 1 to limit ;ly difFer- to make o. Our he acqui- ti accord- ies which md wisest under our ted to be I the more CONCLUSION do we hold their welfare and happiness and development in our hands i and our duty to them is a trust we cannot abuse if we would be true to our ideals and the hopes of humanity. 103 APPENDIX i ; :n: APPENDIX u CO ,. 1 5,! ii '■ |; f 2: M H M M X H o ^ w s H u, o h Z < O M as h w u o > M « Of O C4 « o H < a a< o Q < o H M h M a H o (/] >3 « c ^• o a 5J h *» "o a ^ 4 iS •- ,5 2 « g -3 I C ** -3 .<« c 3 . 2 i2 &3S o o o o o o o E r4 11 TS 2 CO .2 at •"J o o o o o NO a 9 a. pj 00 r4 WW o T3 I s <= .E e -a <3 o 1^ c o o O C^ • bO lii T3 o o o o .§'^§ ^ *. -c ^ * -a 5 -§'3 .F (4 00 M fti 'S ^ M 00 Area, square miles. so vo On 00 m o en vo U 2 i-i 106 APPENDIX e o t>0 ■: fc! 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