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HISTORY 
 
 The United States 
 
 WRITTEN FOR THE 
 
 CHAUTAUQUA READING CIRCLES. 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD E. HALE: 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 CHAUTAUQUA PRESS, 
 
 C. L. S. C. Department, 
 
 805 Broadway. 
 
 1887. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 The United States 
 
 WRITTEN FOR. THE 
 
 CHAUTAUQUA READING CIRCLES. 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD E. HALE. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 CHAUTAUQUA PRESS, 
 
 C. L. S. C. Department, 
 
 805 Broadway. 
 
 1887. 
 
£l.1« 
 
 l4<a.k 
 
 Kduc. Ufei* 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 The required books of the C. L. S. C. are recommended by 
 a Council of six. It must, however, be understood that recom- 
 mendation does not involve an approval by the Council, or by 
 any member of it, of every principle or doctrine contained in the 
 book recommended. 
 
 EDUCATION DEFT 
 
 Copyright 1CC7, by Phillips & Hunt, So 5 Broadway, New York. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAeE 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 First Voyages of Discovery 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Virginia 30 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Settlement of New England — Plymouth 41 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Settlement of Massachusetts 50 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Philip's War 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 New York, 1609 71 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Government of New England Changed 80 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Carolinas and Virginia — 1680-1700 91 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 New York and Pennsylvania 99 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 New England for Sixty Years ro8 
 
 924187 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Southern Colonies from 1700-1754 118 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The French and Indian War 126 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Colonial Irritation 138 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Boston Massacre 146 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The Boston Tea Party 150 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Washington in Command 164 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Declaration of Independence 169 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Burgoyne and the Campaign of 1777 173 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 1778-1779 178 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 The War at Sea 183 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 The French Alliance 191 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 End of the War 205 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Settlement of the West 214 
 
CONTENTS. 5 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Valley of the Mississippi and Texas 22 4 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 The Federal Constitution 2 4 2 
 
 CPIAPTER XXVI. 
 Washington's Presidency 2 53 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Three Steps of Progress 2 59 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 The Early Diplomacy of the United States 2 «5 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 Adams, Jefferson, and Madison 2 7 6 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 The War of 1812 2 93 
 
PREFAG-E 
 
 THE preparation of a history of the United States for 
 the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle has 
 been a real pleasure. Of course the council understand, when 
 they place as short a book as this in the hands of readers, 
 that those readers will wish to refer to the more full studies 
 which illustrate either the general subject or special details 
 which will have interest to different persons in different local- 
 ities. The master work of Mr. Bancroft, which brings the 
 history of America down to the adoption of the Constitution, 
 will be — or should be — within reach, in some public library, 
 of each of our readers in America. The Popular History of 
 the United States, edited under the masterly care of Mr. 
 Sydney H. Gay, one of the first of American historians, brings 
 the history down to the end of the Civil War. It is the work 
 of many writers, of whom Mr. Gay is easily the chief, and it 
 may be referred to as an authority of the first class. In each 
 neighborhood local histories of value will be found ; and it 
 was one of not the least advantages of the series of centennial 
 celebrations which covered the years from 1863 to 1883 that 
 they called the attention of students in every part of the 
 United States to the materials yet to be found for the proper 
 understanding of the history of the country. Such local 
 histories should be sought for by our readers wherever they 
 are, and will make an agreeable accompaniment to the study 
 of the general history which is now in their hands. 
 
 It is quite safe to say that we understand the history of our 
 own country better than it was ever understood before ; and 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 while there are still many things concealed which we should 
 be glad to know, time, as it passes, uncovers more which were 
 hidden by the prudence or timidity of the past, so that, on the 
 whole, we are gainers in the matter of history as time goes by. 
 I< must be confessed that the habit of the American mind 
 has not, on trie- wh'cle, been favorable for the writers of his- 
 tory, who would ;co]lect*. those suggestions or illustrations by 
 which we make the past appear on our canvas in the light 
 of to-day. The first settlers in the country were, perhaps, 
 too much engaged with the hard duties of pioneers, to be able 
 to give much time to the description of those picturesque 
 and romantic surroundings which their successors would be 
 so glad to look upon. It happens, oddly enough, that it is 
 more often from the rapid sketch of some traveler, who is not 
 bound down by the cares of pressing daily duty, that we are 
 apt to catch what the artists would call the broken lights 
 which give distinctness, vividness, and even interest, to the 
 picture of the past which we are trying to re-create. Fortu- 
 nately for us, it happens, in some instances, that the work of 
 such travelers can be found. In particular we owe to the 
 French writers, of the period of the Revolution and of the 
 generation which follows it, some hints on the method of 
 daily life in America which it would be difficult to gain from 
 the more studied and serious business papers which our 
 fathers have left to us. 
 
 It is not too late for us to express the wish and the hope 
 that the students in the Chautauqua course will thus under- 
 take the preservation of the materials of local history in the 
 neighborhoods in which they live. There can scarcely be 
 named a part of the United States— perhaps there cannot be 
 named a part of the United States— where careful conversa- 
 tion with the aged, careful exploration of the public records, 
 and careful investigation of files of old letters, or of old books 
 of account, would not bring to light much which would have 
 historic value for the writer, whoever he may be, who is to 
 undertake the work in another generation which has been 
 undertaken in the book which is now in the reader's hands. 
 
PREFACE. 9 
 
 The writing of our history is no longer the gathering to- 
 gether of the traditions of a few colonists landing from 
 Europe on the eastern shore of America. The nation of 
 to-day is a nation which is to seek its origin not only in the 
 history of Great Britain and Ireland ; but in the history of 
 France, of Spain, of Holland, of Germany, of Russia, and of 
 Mexico. The early efforts at colonization have been made 
 from different motives, by men of wholly different training, 
 and in very different ways. The original memoirs and au- 
 thorities which explain them are to be found in very different 
 places and languages. Nothing can be more fascinating than 
 to study such origins in the early documents which still exist, 
 or in the traditions which will not exist long. And we cannot 
 but recommend such study to the faithful student of the his- 
 tory of the United States. 
 
 There are some points in our history which will always, 
 probably, be more or less doubtful, and be matters for discus- 
 sion among conscientious students. But there are many 
 points, which would have been spoken of thus doubtfully a 
 generation ago, which may now be considered as quite def- 
 initely settled. The first of these is the arrival of the North- 
 men on our coast at the end of the tenth century of the 
 Christian era. Even when Mr. Irving wrote his Life of 
 Columbus, such a discovery of America seemed matter 
 rather for legend, and perhaps only of fancy. But the reader 
 of American history to-day should understand that the fact 
 may be considered as settled beyond doubt, and that the 
 questions which arise are simply questions of detail as to what 
 may have been the farthest point gained by these Northern 
 explorers. On the other side of the continent it has been 
 made equally clear, by the investigations of the Californian 
 antiquaries, that vessels from Asia could have arrived on the 
 western coast in any of the centuries from Marco Polo's time 
 down, and, probably, for many centuries before. All the old 
 questions about the peopling of this continent from any stock 
 different from the stocks which peopled Europe and Asia 
 
 may thus be dismissed where they belong. The opening of 
 1* 
 
IO PREFACE. 
 
 the archives of different European countries to investigation 
 throws more and more light on such fictions as have sur- 
 rounded the voyages of Verrazano and others, and, on the 
 whole, the history of the mythical century, as we have ven- 
 tured to call it, is better understood now than it was fifty 
 years ago. 
 
 Of the colonial history proper, careful studies were early 
 made in each of the colonies. But, with the passion for scien- 
 tific historical investigation which belongs to our time, a great 
 deal is done in every year to make those histories more human, 
 if we may so say, and intelligible. Such work, for instance, 
 as Mr. Weeden's great book on the History of Commerce 
 brings under one point of view subjects of which, in the 
 past, the study has been only fragmentary, disjointed, and 
 unsatisfactory in proportion. 
 
 Of the Revolution, of its causes, its methods, and its results, 
 we certainly know much more than Judge Marshall knew, or 
 even George Washington, or any of the men of their times. 
 The governments in possession of European archives are no 
 longer coy about opening to students the papers in their pos- 
 session. We know, for instance, that George the Third was 
 his own enemy, and the enemy of Great Britain. We know 
 something of the divided councils of England, and of the 
 causes which led to division ; of the policies of France and 
 Spain and the other countries of Europe. We are able to 
 make a study much more complete than was in the power of 
 Mr. Botta, Mr. Grahame, Judge Marshall, or any other of the 
 earlier historians. 
 
 In the study of our own political history there is unques- 
 tionably great difficulty. One is tempted to say that the 
 American statesman has a habit of secretiveness which did 
 not belong to Sully, or to the Walpoles, or even the Pitts, of 
 other generations. One is tempted to say that because certain 
 measures cannot be fully discussed before the great audience 
 of all the people of America, the real discussion of them is 
 left to the privacy of confidential language, leaving no sign 
 behind. It seems as if this happened more often than in 
 
PREFACE. 1 1 
 
 Europe. But perhaps this is what historians always say of 
 two or three generations before the time they write in. This 
 is certain, that with the passage of years we obtain more 
 and more side lights, sometimes from very unexpected sources, 
 as to the methods, and even as to the actions, of the men who 
 came most into the public eye in the first generations of the 
 Federal Union. It is more and more certain that these men 
 were not as important as they thought themselves, and as 
 their times thought them. It is more and more certain that 
 the People of the United States governs the United States. 
 It directs the fortunes of the United States even where the 
 magistrates of its election, who are after all but the servants 
 of its will, have not rightly comprehended what is the true 
 destiny of the republic. It is certainly a curious and instruct- 
 ive truth that the three great victories of America, in the first 
 thirty years after the formation of the Federal Constitution, 
 were victories in no sort premeditated by the chief magistrates 
 of America, and to which it may be said their administration 
 of government did not in any way contribute. The creation 
 of the great industry by which cotton was raised and sent over 
 the world — the opening and maintenance of the immense 
 maritime prosperity of thirty years — the marvelous emigra- 
 tion by which the valley of the Mississippi has been made 
 the store-house from which the world is fed — these are the 
 three important features of the first fifty years of American 
 history. In regard to each of them we may say that the ad- 
 ministration which had charge of the " government" of the 
 country knew little of the causes which led to it, or of the 
 methods by which it was developed. So far as it could it 
 did much to check them. But the People is wiser than any 
 man of the people ; and the People, under the direction of 
 the God who always smiles on well-meant endeavor, carried 
 them through. 
 
 The careful reader will see, in more than one instance, that 
 the same subject has been referred to, and even the same 
 statement repeated, in different chapters of this book. It is 
 proper to say here that this is not an accident or oversight, 
 
12 PREFACE. 
 
 but that this repetition of statement has been decided on, as, 
 on the whole, convenient to such readers as will have this 
 book in hand. It would, of course, have been quite in my 
 power to have referred the reader from chapter to chapter, or 
 from page to page, for the details which I have preferred to 
 repeat. But my object has been to present to him, what he is 
 told, in the way easiest for him ; and I have been willing to 
 sacrifice the appearance of elaborate finish, if I could give to 
 him the information which he wished, in the form most con- 
 venient to him. EDWARD E. HALE. 
 Roxbury, Mass., May 5, 1887. 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 First Voyages of Discovery. 
 
 Northmen's Discoveries — The Icelandic Accounts — Life in Rhode Island — 
 Expedition Around Cape Cod and Into Massachusetts Bay — Skrael- 
 lings — Return to Greenland — Another Expedition Entered Buzzard's 
 Bay — Skeleton in Armor — Columbus's Discovery — Charter to John 
 and Sebastian Cabot — Venetian Discoveries — Mythical Period of His- 
 tory — Juan Ponce de Leon's Discovery of Florida — Verazzano — De 
 Soto Landed in Florida— De Soto's Death and Burial in the Missis- 
 sippi River — Failure of Spanish Attempt to Colonize Florida — Rumors 
 and Expeditions in Search of Great Wealth in Northern Mexico — Set- 
 tlement of Santa Fe and St. Augustine — Landing of Sir Francis Drake 
 on Pacific Coast — Huguenots — Sir John Hawkins — Menendez — 
 Revenge on the Spaniards — Storming of San Mateo — Defeat of the 
 Spanish — Lane's Settlement at Roanoke— That Island Abandoned — 
 Arrival of Sir Richard Grenville — First English Child Born in What 
 is Now the United States — Gosnold's Expedition and Settlement of 
 Cuttyhunk. 
 
 THE earliest discovery of the coast of the United States 
 was made by the Northmen. These bold navigators, 
 having made themselves quite at home in Iceland, crossed to 
 Greenland, and early in the eleventh century one of their ex- 
 peditions pressed farther south and reached the coasts of Nova 
 Scotia and, probably, of Massachusetts. The only narrative 
 which is preserved is in poetical language and has in it the 
 elements of legend. There is great controversy in regard to 
 it and to its claims as history. At the present moment, how- 
 ever, the balance of opinion among well-informed people 
 
 
14 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 supposes that an expedition led by Leif, a Norse prince, in 
 the year iooo of the Christian era, passed as far south as what 
 is now known as Mount Hope Bay, at the head of Narra- 
 gansett Bay, in Rhode Island. 
 
 The Icelandic accounts go into a good deal of detail as to 
 the aspect of the shores, and different enthusiasts point out 
 one and another spot which they consider to be well described 
 now. The most definite sign, however, which is given as to 
 their locality is an intimation that, on the shortest day of the 
 year, the sun rose at half-past seven in the morning and set 
 at half-past four. If this observation had been made with 
 mathematical correctness, and with instruments of perfection, 
 the latitude of the point where they spent the winter would 
 be 41 degrees, 24 minutes and 10 seconds, which is about 
 that of Mount Hope Bay. Their own phrase is, ''There came 
 no frost in the winter to this country, and the grass hardly 
 withered there." They thought the nature of the country 
 was so good that cattle would not require house feeding. 
 With our more luxurious agriculture this seems a remarkable 
 statement to make of southern New England. But it is quite 
 within the memory of living men that horses were left with- 
 out shelter in the open air through the winter in Rhode 
 Island. 
 
 Leif, having determined to spend the winter here, divided 
 his company into two parties, one of which should be a party 
 of explorers, while the other watched the country. They 
 took turns in this duty. A German named Tyrker returned 
 from one of these expeditions in great excitement. At first 
 the Icelanders thought he was out of his mind. But he said 
 at last, in their own language, " I have not been far off, but 
 still I have something new to tell. I find vines and grapes." 
 "Is that true, my foster father?" said Leif. "True it is," he 
 said. " I grew up in a land where there is no want of either 
 vines or grapes." 
 
 This is the picturesque account which is given of the dis- 
 covery of grapes in the new land, which gave it the name of 
 Yinland. This statement has been thought to show that the 
 
NORTHMEN. 1 5 
 
 explorers must have come well down into the New England 
 region, and verifies the statement made with regard to lat- 
 itude. The discovery proved to them to be an important one. 
 They gathered the grapes in great quantities and heaped 
 them upon the stern boat of their vessel. They filled the hold 
 of the vessel with timber which would be valuable in Green- 
 land, and with this cargo returned home in the spring. 
 
 In fact, as Dr. Gray informs us, the Fox grape of the New 
 England shore may be traced as far north as Massachusetts, 
 and, possibly, in New Hampshire. The Vitis cestivalis, which 
 is also eatable, may be found in New Brunswick. The Frost 
 grape, which is scarcely eatable, runs into Lower Canada. 
 There is some doubt whether it can be found in Nova Scotia. 
 Certainly it would be hard to load a boat with its clusters. 
 
 In the next year, the year 1002, the brother of Leif, named 
 Thorvald, who is said to have been the ancestor of the great 
 sculptor Thorvaldsen, repeated the voyage with a crew of 
 thirty men. He found the booths still standing which his 
 brother had put up, and he, as his brother had done, went 
 into winter quarters in this pleasant land. He found salmon 
 and other fish in those waters ; and here again is an accurate 
 description of what he would have found were he at the head 
 of Narragansett Bay. In the spring Thorvald coasted to the 
 westward and is supposed to have gone as far as New York, 
 where he found another lake through which a river flowed to 
 the sea. This is supposed to describe the Tappan-sea of the 
 Dutch. On one occasion they saw a shed built of wood, for 
 the housing of corn ; but they saw no people. 
 
 Having remained the next winter, Thorvald started in his 
 ship for a more extended expedition. He is supposed to 
 have doubled Cape Cod from the south and entered Massa- 
 chusetts Bay. At the head of that bay he met with natives 
 for the first time. These natives are described as "skrael- 
 lings." They were small men, and are described as the 
 Northmen describe the Esquimaux Indians. The impression 
 has thus been given that at this early period the coast of New 
 England was possessed by a race which we now know only 
 
1 6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 in the Arctic regions, and subsequently dispossessed by the 
 Algonquin race of Indians whom the English found there 
 afterward. But of this conquest by the Algonquins no trace 
 has been found in their legends neither are any skeletons 
 of Esquimaux found in the Indian burial-places of New 
 England. 
 
 The Northmen stole upon nine skraellings unawares and 
 captured eight of them, whom they killed in cold blood. The 
 ninth escaped. He brought back with him his fellows to 
 avenge the murder. The Northmen fled to their ships. 
 After the running battle it proved that Thorvald had been 
 wounded. He died there, and was buried, as is supposed, on 
 a cape which looks out on Boston Bay. At his head and feet 
 they planted crosses. They sailed back around Cape Cod 
 to Vinland, and in the next spring they returned to Green- 
 land. In the spring or summer of 1005 another expedition 
 sailed, but did not succeed in finding Vinland, or, indeed, 
 any land. But in the year 1007 a party of three ships and 
 140 men and women tried the adventure again. They recog- 
 nized the points discovered before ; they noticed islands 
 which are supposed to have been Nantucket and Martha's 
 Vineyard, and they entered Buzzard's Bay. Here they spent 
 their first winter. But they were not sufficiently provisioned, 
 and one party undertook to return to Iceland. They never 
 reached it, however, and it was rumored that they were re- 
 duced into slavery in Ireland. The other two ships sailed 
 farther on and made other explorations. The travelers made 
 a settlement which might have been permanent but for an 
 attack of the natives. They are described as being black 
 and fierce, with coarse hair, large eyes and broad cheeks. 
 The expression " broad cheeks" is a good description of the 
 American Indians. After one and another skirmish and 
 severe attack their colony was given up in the year 1010. 
 
 In the next year Freydis, an energetic woman who had 
 been in the early expeditions, led out another colony and 
 arrived at the place, which by this time was well known, 
 where Leif had built his booths. But, if the Saga is to be 
 
EARLY VOYAGES. 1 7 
 
 believed, the party having quarreled, more than half of them 
 were murdered in a horrible treachery, and with the spring 
 the survivors returned to Greenland or Iceland. With this 
 piece of savage barbarism the history of ten years of coloniza- 
 tion ends somewhat suddenly. 
 
 The whole history is so romantic that every effort has been 
 made to corroborate it from the indications now or recently 
 to be found in New England. Of these the most interesting 
 besides those which have been mentioned was the discovery 
 near Fall River of the "skeleton in armor," which gives the 
 subject of one of Mr. Longfellow's early poems. But, by a 
 misfortune, this skeleton and the armor were burned in a 
 museum before critical attention had been called to the 
 Sagas which gave us this description. For some time it was 
 supposed that there was another monument of the Northmen 
 in the wind-mill still standing on the little public square at 
 Newport ; but more careful investigation showed that this was 
 built as a wind-mill in the second generation of English set- 
 tlements. There remains to be noticed here a curiously 
 inscribed rock on the shore in Berkley, in Massachusetts, near 
 the place where it is supposed the Northmen settled. But 
 the marks heavily cut in this granite, although evidently the 
 work of men, resemble so closely the marks on Indian 
 blankets, and even on rocks in different parts of the United 
 States, that no real argument can be drawn from them. 
 
 There are many traditions existing in early European his- 
 tory of voyages made across the Atlantic, in which it is sup- 
 posed that the explorers discovered a new land. But for the 
 purposes of the history of the United States, which is what 
 engages us, these need not be examined in detail. It is sup- 
 posed that the success of the Norse adventure was one of the 
 encouragements which Columbus had for the great discovery 
 in which, on the nth of October, 1492, he revealed, for prac- 
 tical purposes, the western continent to the Old World. His 
 success was followed by the grant of Henry VII. in England 
 of a charter to John and Sebastian Cabot to sail westward to 
 attempt a similar discovery. It is now quite freely said that 
 
1 8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the French fishermen of the coast of Biscay had been in the 
 habit of taking fish off the banks of Newfoundland long be- 
 fore that time. It may well be that in such fishing they 
 were acquainted with one and another point on the north- 
 eastern coast of America where they could land and dry their 
 fish ; and it may be that such points were not considered of 
 any great importance, as they offered but little that was 
 tempting for colonization. Whether the Cabots had any 
 information from such persons is not known. What is cer- 
 tain is that as early as the ioth of August, 1497, there is a 
 memorandum in King Henry's private accounts that ten 
 pounds was to go to " hym that found the new isle." On the 
 24th of the same month the Venetian ambassador in England 
 wrote home that a " Venetian who is a very good mariner, 
 and has good skill in discovering new islands, has returned 
 safe, and has found two very large and fertile islands ; having 
 likewise found the seven cities four hundred leagues from 
 England on the west. In the spring his majesty means to 
 send him with fifteen or twenty ships." These dates are 
 given because they are certain dates. What is very perplex- 
 ing in the narrative is that an early map is found in which it 
 is distinctly said that Cabot made this discovery in the year 
 of the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, 1494 ; three years 
 earlier than the date given in the account book and in the 
 Venetian letter. But this map cannot be regarded as of the 
 very first authority, because in another of its inscriptions it 
 says that the great discovery was made in the year 1544. 
 The date as given by Hakluyt, the great English historian, 
 is 1497, and this date must be taken as the historical date 
 when the Cabots made their landing which they marked as 
 Prima Vista. So far as may be inferred from the small map, 
 which is the earliest representing their voyage, they struck 
 the continent somewhere near the eastern point of the Island 
 of Cape Breton, not a great way from the fortress afterward 
 so distinguished in American history, Louisburg, ' The island 
 of Newfoundland, which might seem to bear the name of 
 being the first point of discovery, was observed in one of these 
 
PONCE DE LEON. I9 
 
 early voyages, but it is not the point which is indicated on the 
 Cabots' map as Prima Vista. 
 
 From this time, at the end of the fifteenth century, to the be- 
 ginning of the seventeenth, come in a hundred years which 
 have been well called the mythical period of our history. It is 
 in those hundred years, almost mysterious, that poets might 
 place their imagined histories, and that the really adventurous 
 novelist might run wild without much chance of correction. 
 It is even a matter of question who first laid down the outline 
 of the present coast of the United States. Sebastian Cabot 
 probably made a voyage far south. He went as far as 36 de- 
 grees of northern latitude, which is about the latitude of South- 
 ern Florida. But although he landed in some places and 
 found copper among the natives, and although he captured 
 some of them, he left no outline of the shore which is now 
 known. Good authorities even doubt whether he ever sailed 
 south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
 
 The first narrative of any adventure in which we know 
 Europeans to have made any considerable progress in the 
 United States of to-day, after the time of the Northmen, is 
 that by Juan Ponce De Leon. He had heard legends in the 
 West India Islands of a fountain of perpetual youth which 
 was to be found in Florida. That peninsula had not then re- 
 ceived its name. He sailed from Porto Rico with three ships, 
 in March, 15 12, to discover it ; and, passing one of the little 
 "keys" on the south of Florida on Easter Sunday, which the 
 Spaniards call " The Feast of Flowers," he named the land 
 Florida because it was covered with flowers. His account of 
 the new discovery represented it as a very important one, and 
 he was made its first governor on condition that he would 
 colonize it, which, in 15 21, he attempted to do, but in a fight 
 with the Indians he was killed. In 15 19 Garay, the Spanish 
 Governor of Jamaica, explored the gulf coast and discovered 
 that Florida was not an island, as Ponce De Leon had sup- 
 posed. In these expeditions Fernandina was the northern 
 point touched by the Spanish, and on some of the old maps 
 there is a blank left between the northern point of Florida 
 
20 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 as it now exists and the region which we call the British 
 Provinces. How that blank was filled on the maps of the 
 world is still a question. 
 
 There is a narrative, which finds its place in most of the 
 histories, of an exploration made by a pirate named Verraz- 
 ano who sailed under a commission from the King of France. 
 According to his own account, he struck the land on the 34th 
 parallel in the spring of 1524. According to the same 
 account he sailed to the 50th degree of northern latitude. 
 In the older histories he is generally called the first discoverer 
 of the Atlantic coast of the United States. But as he says 
 he found lilies and roses in New Jersey in the month of April, 
 as he found the Indians in Rhode Island making wine and oil 
 before the sixth of May, as every other detail in this expedi- 
 tion is such as a vivid imagination supplies readily and 
 easily, it must be doubted whether any facts are at the 
 bottom of his narrative. 
 
 It really seems probable that the conjecture of Mr. Stevens 
 is to be taken as the basis of real history. This writer sup- 
 poses that, while the geographers of the East were still under 
 the impression that America was a part of Asia, some one, who 
 knew that the land of Asia in those latitudes was unbroken 
 by any deep strait, drew in an imaginary line of the United 
 States, from Florida to what was called the land of the Bac- 
 alaos. Mr. Stevens supposes that subsequent navigators when 
 they touched the real coast of the United States improved 
 upon this imaginary line. In this way it may be said, almost 
 without a paradox, that the Atlantic coast of the United 
 States was never at any one moment, or by any one voyage, 
 discovered to Europe. 
 
 Had there been any rumor or hope of discovery of gold 
 in these cases the Spaniards would have pressed their dis- 
 coveries in that direction. But, in truth, they were more 
 tempted elsewhere. An expedition in quest both of gold and 
 other wealth was led out from the West Indies in 1528 by 
 Pamphilo de Narvaez. He landed in, or near, Tampa Bay 
 two days before Easter, and from that time he and his com- 
 
DE SOTO. 21 
 
 panions, becoming more and more wretched in different 
 extremities, explored the region north of the Gulf of Mex- 
 ico. To us of to-day the most interesting result of this 
 expedition is that four survivors, who were made slaves by 
 the Indians, wandered from tribe to tribe for six years, and, 
 having passed through our present Texas and the Mexican 
 province of Sonora, came out at last on the northern settle- 
 ments of the Spaniards, near the Gulf of California. It was 
 the information which these people gave with regard to the 
 somewhat civilized Indians, of whom the remnants exist in 
 the Zunis and Moquis of to-day, which set the Spaniards 
 upon exploration in that region. 
 
 But before these survivors were heard from, Hernando 
 De Soto, one of the followers of Pizarro, in Peru, had obtained 
 a gift of the province of Florida from the crown, and landed 
 with nearly a thousand men for its settlement. They arrived 
 in Tampa Bay on May 30, 1539. 
 
 De Soto for two or three years was engaged in wars with the 
 natives, in marches to and fro, and in the attempt to discover 
 the site where he should establish a great empire. At last he 
 died on the shore of the Mississippi River, on May 21, 1542, 
 and was buried in its waters. 
 
 On July 2, 1543, the wretched remnant of the expedition, 
 372 persons, embarked in boats which they had built on its 
 shore, sailed down into the Gulf of Mexico, and at last 
 reached the Spanish colony of Panuco on the shore of the 
 Gulf of Mexico. Twenty years after, yet another Spanish 
 expedition attempted to colonize Florida; but this expedition 
 also failed, and returned to Mexico in 156 1. 
 
 The arrival in the north of Mexico of the four unfortunate 
 men who had escaped from the expedition of Narvaez set 
 the whole of the City of Mexico, and of the other parts of 
 the country inhabited by Spaniards, in a blaze. These men 
 had brought with them what were more exaggerated even than 
 most travelers' stories. They gave accounts of well-built cities 
 several stories high, of people who had silver and gold quite 
 without limit, and decorated themselves with turquoises. The 
 
22 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 governor of that time thought that there was a new Peru 
 open to him upon the North, and fitted out quite a strong 
 expedition under the command of a cavalier named Coronado. 
 This expedition started for the North in the spring of the 
 year 1540. At the same time an expedition was sent to explore 
 the then unknown Gulf of California, of which the opening 
 had been discovered a short while before by Cortes himself. 
 The maritime expedition followed up the eastern coast of 
 California, and opened up the river known to us as the Colorado 
 River. But they made no connection with the expedition 
 which had proceeded by land. This party, after crossing the 
 Desert of Sonora, came into the country which has quite 
 within our generation been opened up to general travel, and 
 found the well-built cities, but did not find the amount of 
 gold and silver and turquoises which they had expected. The 
 next summer a strong party of horsemen pressed as far East 
 as the Mississippi River and returned. After a year or two 
 of such occupancy Coronado himself died from a fall from 
 a horse, and the remains of the party, dissatisfied with the 
 almost constant fighting with the hardy natives, and with the 
 inadequate return for such adventure, retired upon Mexico. 
 The half-civilized inhabitants of the cities of which we know 
 the relics, in the city of Zuni, now were left for centuries 
 unmolested. At the end of this century, however, about the 
 year 1580, an expedition of travelers struck the River Del 
 Norte and followed it as far as our present city of Santa Fe. 
 That city, founded by Onate about 1595, and St. Augustine, 
 in Florida, are the oldest cities in the United States. 
 
 Between the return of the expedition of Coronado and 
 the outfit of the expedition which was to settle Santa Fe, a 
 celebrated English voyager came to the western shore of the 
 United States. It thus happened that this country, which was 
 destined to use the English language and to be inhabited 
 by races of an English origin, first came into the real pos- 
 session of the English Crown by Sir Francis Drake's taking 
 possession, in the name of Queen Elizabeth, of a bay in the 
 Pacific. The geographers are not wholly agreed as to what the 
 
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 23 
 
 port was on that coast, where Drake landed, repaired his ship 
 and took possession in the queen's name. It must have been 
 either Jack's Bay, just outside the Bay of San Francisco, or 
 the Bay of San Francisco itself. But the somewhat broken 
 description which we have of the harbor does not very per- 
 fectly describe either of these bays as they exist at present. 
 What is certain is, that, in that latitude of 37J degrees, or as 
 near it as the rude instruments of the time would show, Drake 
 landed in June, 1579, careened his vessel, the Victory, which 
 needed cleaning and repairs sadly, and established a camp, 
 where he rested for five weeks. The simple natives of the 
 country thronged around the Englishmen in large numbers, 
 supposing that they were gods, and offering sacrifice to them. 
 But Drake, with a stern renunciation, refused to receive their 
 worship. He, however, received them very cordially, made 
 them presents, and edified them by inviting them to be 
 present when he and his rough companions attended divine 
 worship. They represented that it was their wish to make 
 him their king ; but Drake explained to them that he was him- 
 self but the subject of a higher power. He thought he made 
 them understand who Queen Elizabeth was, and interested 
 them when he took possession of that region, which he called 
 Nova Albion, in her name. To their regret, after his ship 
 was repaired, he departed for the West and crossed the ocean 
 to the East Indies. The English Crown never made any 
 claim for this territory under the pretext of Drake's discov- 
 eries. It was reserved for the descendants of Drake's coun- 
 trymen, nearly three centuries afterward, to take possession 
 of California by conquest, after it had long been in the hands 
 of the Spaniards. 
 
 The ill-success of Ponce De Leon and of De Soto would 
 have discouraged other Spanish efforts in Florida, or on the 
 coast of what we now call South Carolina, but for the passion 
 of religious hatred, which proved to be stronger even than the 
 thirst for gold. As early as the year 1562, under the patron- 
 age and foresight of the great Admiral Coligni, a small French 
 colony established itself at the mouth of the St. John River. 
 
24 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The settlers were Huguenots. They took possession in the 
 name of the King of France and built a little fort which they 
 called Charles Fort. The place has been recognized in later 
 times. It is at a spot known as Archer's Creek, a few miles 
 from Beaufort, South Carolina, in the Bay of Port Royal. 
 The settlers chose wisely, if a good harbor justified their 
 choice. But after two years of various adventure they removed 
 their colony to what they knew as the River of May, which 
 is our St. John's River ; and here they established themselves 
 at Fort Caroline, of which, also, the site is well known. In 
 the year 1565, Laudonniere, their energetic leader, saw, to his 
 delight, a fleet approaching at a time when his colony was 
 sadly in need of succor. He supposed that these were 
 vessels bringing him help from Coligni. It proved that it 
 was an English fleet under the command of Sir John Hawkins, 
 who was the first man to engage England in the slave trade. 
 Hawkins left one of his vessels behind him, and the colony 
 took heart by his visit. A few days after, the expected relief 
 arrived from France. Laudonniere, who had done every 
 thing for the colony, was displaced under false charges and 
 Ribault was named as his successor. Ribault learned at once 
 that the charges made against Laudonniere were false, and 
 offered to build another fortress for his own company. But 
 before the offer could be tested the new comers and the old 
 comers were fighting for their lives. 
 
 Menendez, a Spanish commander, had led a crusade 
 against these heretics, and with a party much stronger than 
 theirs had come upon the coast to destroy them. He stormed 
 the little fort and massacred all of the prisoners whom he 
 could take, with one or two exceptions. " Two youths, and 
 the fifer, trumpeters and drummers were spared. The rest 
 were put to the sword, judging this to be expedient for the 
 service of God, our Lord, and Your Majesty." Ribault's beard 
 was sent to Spain as a trophy. His head was divided into 
 four quarters and stuck up on lances at the corners of the 
 fort. The place of the massacre is known to this day as the 
 "Bloody River of Matanzas." 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE. 25 
 
 Having thus crushed the heretics Menendez laid out and 
 established the town of St. Augustine. It was on the festival 
 day of that saint, the 28th of August, that the Spanish fleet 
 had run into the river of St. John. Three years passed away, 
 and he and his Spaniards had forgotten their own treachery 
 and cruelty, when three small vessels, which proved to be 
 French, arrived in the river. They were under the com- 
 mand of De Gourgues, a French Huguenot of high reputa- 
 tion, who had heard of the massacre of his countrymen. He 
 had recruited a party with the single purpose of taking re- 
 venge. Landing on the shore of Florida he put himself in 
 communication with the Indians, who had already learned to 
 hate the Spaniards, and was received by them with delight. 
 Their warriors were all called in to join the French. De 
 Gourgues surprised the Spanish fort exactly as Menendez had 
 surprised Fort Caroline, and in a few moments the massacre 
 of three years ago had been revenged, and only fifteen Span- 
 iards were left alive of that little garrison. The soldiers on 
 the other side of the river easily understood what had taken 
 place. They were alarmed, as they well might be. They 
 fled for their lives, but the French and the Indians fell upon 
 them, and of this party also only the same number, fifteen, 
 were saved. 
 
 Encouraged by this success De Gourgues and his party 
 stormed San Mateo, the other Spanish fort, and scarcely any 
 of this garrison escaped. When the carnage was over nearly 
 four hundred Spaniards lay unburied. Before their burial 
 De Gourgues dealt with those who still lived. Near him 
 were the trees on which Menendez hanged his prisoners with 
 the inscription, " I do this not as unto Frenchmen, but as to 
 Lutherans." To the same trees De Gourgues now led his 
 prisoners for execution, and placed over them the inscription, 
 u I do not this as unto Spaniards, nor as unto Maranes, but 
 as unto traitors, robbers and murderers." 
 
 He destroyed the fort which he had taken and bade good- 
 bye to/his Indian allies. " I am willing to live longer," said 
 an old woman, ''for I have seen the French return and the 
 2 
 
 i> 
 
26 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Spaniards killed." He did not dare attack the stronger forti- 
 fication at St. Augustine, and withdrew just in time. For the 
 Spanish king had heard of his expedition and had sent out a 
 fleet in pursuit. It did not, however, overtake him. 
 
 A few years after, in 1570, a little Spanish colony was at- 
 tempted, by some devoted Jesuits, on the Rappahannock ; but 
 these men were killed by the Indians in the first winter. 
 Thus was it that the only Spanish stations within the present 
 limits of the United States at the end of the sixteenth cent- 
 ury were the little colony at San Augustine and the settle- 
 ment at Santa Fe, in the valley of the river Del Norte. 
 
 Meanwhile, as early as 1553, there was formed in London 
 a mercantile company for western or north-western dis- 
 covery. From that period to our own time there was hope 
 in England of discovering a passage to China through the 
 north of North America. It was not until the year 1853 that 
 McClure, an English captain, passed around North America 
 from Behring Strait to Baffin's Bay. Before that time Sir John 
 Franklin, as we now know, had discovered a passage from 
 sea to sea, but he and his crew all died without carrying 
 the news of their discovery to England. Much of McClure 's 
 journey was made on foot on the ice ; but it is now known, 
 as it was hoped by the London merchants who formed the 
 North-west Company, that the ocean of the Pacific and that 
 of the Atlantic unite on the northern shore of the American 
 continent. 
 
 In one and another effort to discover this passage various 
 expeditions were fitted out for the last half of the sixteenth 
 century. In 1583 Walter Raleigh, one of the remarkable 
 men of his time, took a warm interest in one of these expe- 
 ditions. Humphrey Gilbert, who had won great honor in the 
 conquest of Ireland, and as a soldier elsewhere, was put in 
 command of a squadron of five ships. They sailed from En- 
 gland for a voyage really in quest of gold. But, in very rough 
 weather on the dangerous coast of Nova Scotia, they lost their 
 largest vessel and were obliged to return to England. Gil- 
 bert himself was lost in the Golden Hind, a vessel of only ten 
 
COLONY IN CAROLINA. 27 
 
 tons burden. He was last seen sitting in the stern of the 
 boat, for it was nothing more, with a book in his hand, and 
 to the hail of the other vessel answered, " We are as near 
 heaven by sea as by land." They were his last words, and 
 they have become proverbial. 
 
 Raleigh was not discouraged. He sent out another expe- 
 dition in 1584, under Amadas and Barlow. They were di- 
 rected to go farther south, and by way of the Canaries and 
 the West Indies they made the shore of North Carolina on 
 the 4th of July. They landed at an island which they called 
 Wocokon. After landing and examining the keys and creeks 
 of the neighborhood they were visited by Indians, who were 
 friendly, and were cordially received. They were charmed 
 with all they saw of the country, with the trees and fruits 
 and especially the grapes, the Indian corn, the fish, the game 
 and the people. The Indians themselves were not unwilling 
 to return to England with them, and two of the natives were 
 carried back that they might see the grandeur of the country 
 from which the whites had sailed. A large bracelet of North 
 Carolina pearls was brought for Sir Walter Raleigh. Such 
 success was new in this navigation. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was interested, and permitted Raleigh to 
 give the name of "Virginia" to the country which he had 
 discovered, in honor of her own virgin reign. A large expe- 
 dition was fitted out next year with the intention of estab- 
 lishing a colony, which was put under the charge of Ralph 
 Lane. Ralph Lane was a soldier who also had served in Ire- 
 land. He thought very highly of himself, but seems to have 
 had none of the qualifications of a real leader. Some able 
 men, however, went with Lane, the most interesting of whom, 
 in after history, are Hariot, a distinguished mathematician, and 
 Sir Richard Grenville, who commanded the fleet, and whose 
 name is mixed in with all the history of Elizabeth and her 
 time. The squadron was three months in crossing the At- 
 lantic. In making the coast of North Carolina we now know 
 that they made the most dangerous and difficult coast on the 
 American shore. But they were not unfortunate in their 
 
28 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 landing, and with good hope the colony established itself on 
 the island now, as then, known as Roanoke Island. Traces 
 of their work may be found on this island to this day. Gren- 
 ville returned with the fleet and Lane was left with his men 
 for the foundation of the new State. 
 
 It is hard to say whether it was Lane's incapacity or the 
 cowardice of his people which prevented the success of the 
 colony from which Raleigh had hoped so much. What is 
 certain is, that after spending one winter on Roanoke Island, 
 and making sundry adventures in travel in the next summer, 
 they seized eagerly on the opportunity offered them when 
 Drake touched, with a squadron, on their shore, to go home 
 to England. Drake offered to leave them a vessel, which 
 would have been all that they needed for their success. But 
 they were tired of their new home, and departed in confusion, 
 "as if they had been chased thence by a mighty army." 
 
 They had hardly been gone a fortnight when Sir Richard 
 Grenville arrived with three ships well provided with supplies. 
 He found no colony there, but left fifteen men to hold pos- 
 session and returned. Raleigh, not yet discouraged, sent out 
 one hundred and fifty men in the year 1587. The governor 
 was John White, who instantly quarreled with the admiral, 
 Ferdinando. They did not find the fifteen men whom Gren- 
 ville had left. They did find the bones of one man. A part 
 of them remained while White returned to England to ask 
 for further assistance. Three years after, in 1590, he landed 
 again in Virginia with the help which he had promised. But 
 the colony had disappeared. On the 18th of August, 1587, 
 while White was still with them, a girl, who was christened 
 Virginia, was born. She was the first child of English par- 
 ents born in the region which we call the United States. Ro- 
 mance and art have remembered her name, and it is supposed 
 that she grew up to womanhood among the Indians. There 
 are tantalizing approaches to some knowledge of this handful 
 of people. In a tract written by Strachey he says : " Before 
 I have done I will tell you the story of the lost colony." 
 And this is the last that is heard of them, for in Strachey's 
 
CUTTYHUNK ISLAND. 
 
 2 9 
 
 book, as we now have it, there is no further allusion to 
 them. 
 
 Another company of adventurous London merchants sent 
 out an expedition under Gosnold, in the year 1602, who ex- 
 plored the more northern part of the region which we call 
 the United States, to 
 which the general 
 name of Virginia was 
 then given. They also 
 proposed a settlement, 
 and, finding an island 
 which was not inhab- 
 ited, they established 
 themselves there. 
 These early adventur- 
 ers were all afraid of 
 savages, and preferred 
 islands, with all their 
 inconveniences, for 
 their homes. The 
 site of Gosnold's set- 
 tlement is perfectly 
 known. It is a little 
 island, unfrequented 
 to this day, called Cut- 
 tyhunk Island, near 
 the mouth of the Buz- 
 zard's Bay of our pres- 
 ent geography. In a 
 lake in this island was 
 a second island, and on this they built their fort, of which eager 
 antiquarians can still find some relics. After remaining, how- 
 ever, a few weeks, they found they had not sufficient food to 
 carry them through the winter, and they returned to England. 
 
 All these unsuccessful efforts, however, led up, even by their 
 failure, to the successful enterprise of 1607, which resulted in 
 the planting of the present State of Virginia. 
 
 DISCOVERIES RaJ 
 
30 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Virginia. 
 
 Permanent Settlement of Virginia — John Smith — Trouble in the Colony — 
 Smith Taken Prisoner — Pocahontas — New Charter — Decision to Aban- 
 don Jamestown — Tobacco — First Cargo of Negroes — Right of Self- 
 government — Indian Attack — Arrival of Lord Baltimore — Settlement 
 of Maryland — Proprietary Charter — Island of Kent — Loss of Charter 
 by Virginia — Change from King to Commonwealth. 
 
 THE first permanent settlement in Virginia was made by 
 the London Company in the summer of 1607. Three 
 vessels sailed from England on the 19th of December, 1606, 
 the largest of but one hundred tons burden, and the others 
 much smaller. The colony numbered one hundred and five 
 men, and there were no women. Most of the men were so- 
 called " gentlemen " with no knowledge of hard work and little 
 inclination for it ; there were, however, in the number several 
 brave and noble men with spirit to carry through a great en- 
 terprise. 
 
 Among them was John Smith, who, then at the age of 
 twenty-eight, had already behind him a career of adventure. 
 He was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1579. From his 
 childhood a roving disposition showed itself in him. At 
 thirteen he planned running away to sea. At fifteen he was 
 far from home, fighting in the Low Countries. When he came 
 back he built himself a hut in the forest. Soon he returned 
 to his wanderings on the Continent. He was robbed, nearly 
 starved, thrown into the sea from a ship in which he had 
 embarked on the Mediterranean, and only saved by 
 his own exertions in swimming. He fought the Turks in 
 Transylvania, was taken prisoner and sent as a slave to Con- 
 stantinople. His mistress, a Turkish princess, fell in love 
 
JAMESTOWN. 31 
 
 with him, but her brother, in whose charge she placed him, 
 employed the Christian favorite to thresh corn for him. 
 Smith beat out the master's brains with the flail given him 
 for another purpose, put on the clothes of the dead man and 
 escaped from the place on his horse, returning to England 
 through Europe with new adventures at every turn. 
 
 The rumors about the New World which filled the air and 
 occupied every mind at that time were sure to excite the 
 ardor of such a man as John Smith. His energy and good 
 spirits made him a good leader, but he was impatient of con- 
 trol and turbulent. Before the end of the long voyage of 
 four months there were discontent and insubordination in the 
 little band, to which Smith added no small share. 
 
 The London council, which sent out the colonists, gave 
 them their instructions in a sealed box, containing also the 
 names of their number who were to be their leaders. This 
 led, naturally, to difficulty on the voyage, as they did not 
 know whom to obey. All dissensions, all griefs, however, 
 were dissipated by the joyful sight of land, and in the best of 
 spirits they sailed into Chesapeake Bay on the 26th of April, 
 1607, and after seventeen days spent in looking for a suitable 
 place to plant the colony, they fixed on the site still known 
 as Jamestown, which they so named in honor of their king, 
 as they had given the names of his sons Henry and Charles 
 to the capes they first saw and sailed between. 
 
 It was May, and lovely weather in a lovely climate. For a 
 time all went well. The Indians were at first friendly to 
 them and brought them food of all kinds — very grateful to 
 them after the short rations compelled by their protracted 
 voyage. They received venison, turkeys, Indian corn, and all 
 the early berries soon came in perfection. Every body set 
 cheerfully to work cutting down trees, making gardens, be- 
 ginning the new life with hearty good-will. Among the 
 directions they found in the box was the order to seek at once 
 that entrance to the "South Sea " which all men in those days 
 believed to be near the Atlantic shore. An expedition was 
 fitted out for this purpose, and pushed as far as the falls on 
 
32 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the James River, where Richmond now is. But here the ex- 
 plorers turned back. Captain Christopher Newport, who 
 commanded the little fleet, had now to return with it to En- 
 gland. He sailed on the 21st of June, and left the colony 
 with no resources outside their own. Their ships were gone 
 and they had no chance to withdraw from their situation. 
 
 It was a summer of great hardship. Want of food and 
 proper shelter caused illness, increased by the effect of a 
 climate different from that at home. There was much dis- 
 sension among the leaders and those they led. Edward 
 Wingfield had been chosen president from the number ap- 
 pointed to be the council. He was now accused of keeping 
 for his own use the best of the food, although he says in his 
 defense that he "never had but one squirrel roasted, yet was 
 that squirrel given " to him. He was deposed, but his suc- 
 cessors found it no easier to administer affairs to the satisfac- 
 tion of the colony. John Smith was foremost among the 
 discontented, but his energy was of the greatest service. He 
 gathered supplies from the Indians, who were no longer so 
 friendly as at first, and when they refused to trade he compelled 
 them to do so by force of arms. The authority long accepted 
 for Smith's adventures with the Indians is his own General 
 History, in which he describes them in detail. Other writers 
 of the time omit some of the features of the story which give 
 it the color of romance, and for this reason they are some- 
 what discredited. 
 
 Smith was taken prisoner by the Indians. The story is 
 that he filled them with amazement by the wonderful things 
 he told them about the compass, and by a written letter which 
 he sent to the fort. When the answer came back the savages 
 looked with wonder upon paper which could speak of itself, 
 and began to regard him as a superior being. They dressed 
 themselves in their best war-paint and danced before him, 
 and men, women and children crowded to see the white man 
 with a beard and with clothes on. However, when he was 
 brought before the king, Powhatan, it was decided that he 
 must be slain. His head was laid upon two great stones, and 
 
POCAHONTAS. 33 
 
 men stood ready to beat his brains out, when the king's little 
 daughter got her arms about his head, " and laid her own upon 
 his to save him from death, whereat the king was contented he 
 should live to make him hatchets and her bells and beads." 
 This was Pocahontas, who could have been but eight or nine 
 years old at this time. She was afterward married to an 
 Englishman ; not to John Smith, as a fairy tale would have 
 had it, but to Mr. John Rolfe. Her name was changed to 
 Rebecca, and she went to England, where she was presented 
 at court and received much attention as a heroine and an In- 
 dian princess. It is said she had been told that John Smith 
 was dead. When he was brought to her in London, she cov- 
 ered her face with her hands and remained silent for a long 
 time. 
 
 Pocahontas, the Lady Rebecca, was baptized into the 
 Christian church. She died just as she was about to return 
 to her native country, at about twenty-three years of age. 
 She left one son, and the Rolfes of Virginia are proud to 
 claim her as their ancestress. 
 
 In the autumn of 1608 Smith was made president of the 
 colony. He kept it at least from starvation but could pre- 
 serve but a feeble life in it. Captain Newport came and 
 went, bringing provisions and new colonists ; but these were 
 often men of little service in the way of work. The next 
 year Smith met with an accident which put an end to his 
 career in Virginia. By an explosion of gunpowder he was so 
 burned and injured that he had to go to England for surgical 
 aid. 
 
 After this he made two voyages to America, but never 
 again returned to Virginia. He passed the rest of his life in 
 England, and published several books, of which the General 
 History of Virginia is one. 
 
 Meantime a new charter was asked and granted for the 
 colony, with larger powers and privileges than the first had 
 allowed. A fleet of nine ships, carrying five hundred people, 
 was dispatched in May, 1609, with Sir Thomas Gates as ad- 
 miral, who was to assume supreme command on arrival and 
 2* 
 
34 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 thus supersede Smith. The fleet was dispersed by a storm, 
 and the admiral's ship was supposed to be lost, for nothing 
 was heard of her till the next spring. In May Gates reached 
 Jamestown, having spent the winter comfortably at Bermuda, 
 where he was cast ashore with his one hundred and fifty com- 
 panions. When he arrived in Virginia, of the five hundred 
 whom Smith had left at Jamestown six months before only 
 sixty were alive. He landed and ordered the bell to be rung as 
 a summons to church for all the people who could crawl out 
 to welcome him. Service was held in " zealous and sorrowful 
 prayer." The whole place was a scene of desolation ; pali- 
 sades were torn down, gates were broken off their hinges, 
 houses pulled to pieces for fire-wood, because the people were 
 afraid to go into the forest for fuel. 
 
 Gates decided that the only tiling to do was to abandon 
 Jamestown and go to some place out of the way of the 
 Indians and within reach of succor from England. The whole 
 colony were actually embarked on their vessels, and were wait- 
 ing for the ebb-tide, when they were intercepted by tidings of 
 the arrival of Lord de la Warre, with three ships and plentiful 
 supplies. The colonists turned back, and at night were in 
 their old quarters, faint at heart, and with much doubt what 
 was to follow. This was the very lowest ebb in the fortunes 
 of the little colony on the shore of Virginia. 
 
 The true value of Virginia was now becoming better known 
 in England ; the mildness of its climate, the fertility of its soil, 
 the value of its products. The colony began at last to achieve 
 some degree of prosperity under the judicious management 
 of successive rulers. Tobacco began to yield a profitable 
 harvest, for the use of it, introduced by Raleigh as a fashion 
 at court, had become common throughout England. 
 
 This crop was a source of wealth, and land for it was plen- 
 tiful, but the land was useless without laborers. In 1619 
 a Dutch ship arrived at Jamestown with a cargo of negroes 
 from the coast of Guinea, and they were eagerly welcomed 
 at good prices by the planter. 
 
 In the same year, for the first time, the right of self-govern- 
 
LORD BALTIMORE. 35 
 
 ment was given to the colonists. They were called upon to 
 send representatives from each of the towns, hundreds or 
 plantations, to meet with governor and council and decide 
 upon all matters relating to the colony. The first legislative 
 assembly met in the church at Jamestown, on the 3d of 
 July, 1 61 9. It consisted of twenty-two representatives, be- 
 sides the governor and his council. 
 
 In the spring of 1622 a sudden calamity threatened the 
 prosperity of the colony. For years there had been unbroken 
 peace with the Indians, and the English had scattered them- 
 selves without fear over the country, in free intercourse with 
 the natives. Powhatan, the friendly king, was dead, and his 
 brother, now the most powerful chief in Virginia, hated the 
 English and grudged their existence in the land to which his 
 race had an exclusive right. On the morning of the 22d of 
 March, with no warning whatever, the savages, instigated by 
 the chief, fell upon the whites wherever they found them, 
 sparing neither age nor sex, with a horrid joy. The attack 
 was chiefly outside of Jamestown, for there the people were 
 put upon their guard by a converted Indian, who had been 
 urged by his brother to do his part in the massacre. Instead 
 of this the Indian told the plot to his master, who hurried 
 across the river from his plantation to the town and warned 
 the authorities in time for them to arm the place. This saved 
 the larger part of the colonists, but within an hour's time 
 about three hundred and fifty of them were killed. 
 
 Probably in the spring of 1629, George Calvert, Lord Bal- 
 timore, arrived at Jamestown from Newfoundland, where he 
 had a colony called Avalon. Discouraged there by the 
 hard climate and barren soil, he had come to look for a 
 pleasanter spot for his purpose, and he found it on the shores 
 of Chesapeake Bay. But the government in Virginia regarded 
 him and his project with little favor. Lord Baltimore was a 
 Catholic, and his plan was likely to interfere with the freedom 
 of religion which the Jamestown colony had hitherto enjoyed. 
 The usual oath of supremacy and allegiance was tendered to 
 him by them. But they were not sorry when he declined to 
 
36 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 take it, and they then asked him to take shipping to New 
 England by the earliest opportunity. He left their colony, 
 but afterward obtained a charter with grant of land around 
 the head of Chesapeake Bay, on which (he himself dying in- 
 opportunely) his son, Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, planted 
 a colony in the year 1634, under the leadership of his brother 
 Leonard. The name Terra Marice — Maryland, was given the 
 colony in honor of the queen. 
 
 It was a Roman Catholic colony, an asylum for persecuted 
 Romanists. Under the charge of Father White and his fellow 
 priests it took firm root and flourished. The Virginians heard 
 of the new settlement with natural indignation, and their op- 
 position grew to open conflict. But the new colony was by 
 no means wholly Catholic. Lord Baltimore, to whom the 
 powers of the sovereign had been delegated, had apparently 
 no idea of restricting the emigration, and as a matter of fact 
 a strong Puritan party grew up in the new settlement. This 
 induced disturbances, of which there were not a few. 
 
 The charter under which Maryland was settled was of the 
 kind known as " proprietary " — that is, the king made over 
 his rights to a proprietor in whom was vested power almost 
 regal. He was not absolutely to reign over the colonists, but 
 to settle with them what sort of government should be estab- 
 lished in the same manner that the king would otherwise have 
 done. Baltimore does not seem to have done much in this 
 respect, but the commission as governor granted to Leonard 
 Calvert gave him power to call assemblies, to veto or approve 
 laws made by them, and to act as judge. The people, as had 
 been the custom in Massachusetts and Plymouth, at first all 
 attended the assemblies, but subsequently delegated their 
 power to deputies. The customs in this matter were some- 
 what curious; we find that any one dissatisfied with the elec- 
 tion of deputy from his county was allowed to go and sit 
 in the assembly himself, if he so desired, and the proprietor 
 had the right to name as many deputies as he chose. Hence 
 quarrels arose. More would have arisen had Baltimore been 
 more inclined than he was to press Romanism on his colonists. 
 
MARYLAND. 37 
 
 The Marylanders quarreled with Virginia over the Island 
 of Kent, in Chesapeake Bay, where one Clayborne had settled 
 himself, to assert the claim of Virginia to the island as well 
 as for trade with the Indians. The island was within the 
 boundaries of Calvert's patent. A slight skirmish took place 
 and the matter was referred to England. Later on, on the 
 outbreak of the civil war at home, disputes arose in Maryland. 
 Clayborne seems to have thought that he could gain redress 
 from the Parliament which the king had not granted him for 
 the Puritans in Maryland, who were opposed to Baltimore on 
 principle. Many disturbances took place during the time of 
 the Commonwealth, but Baltimore, although a Catholic, was 
 able to keep his patent, though with various vicissitudes. 
 The Puritans in the colony became very strong, being 
 strengthened by accessions from Virginia. On the occasion 
 when Stone, the proprietary governor, differed with the Par- 
 liamentary Commissioners who had been sent out to subdue 
 all the Colonies, they sided with the commissioners and 
 drove the governor out of the colony. But the home gov- 
 ernment upheld Baltimore in his rights, which seem to have 
 been all that that tolerant nobleman desired, and his brother, 
 Phillip Calvert, was made governor and succeeded in obtain- 
 ing the upper hand in affairs. 
 
 There is not much else of importance in this century to 
 chronicle in regard to Maryland. The inhabitants pursued 
 their own business, and, to their great happiness, did not be- 
 come involved in any Indian wars. Curiously enough, though 
 the colony was founded by a Roman Catholic, there were, 
 toward the end of the century many severe laws against 
 papists. Baltimore himself lost all civil rights in his own 
 colony. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, however, 
 his successor became Protestant, and obtained his full rights 
 again. 
 
 To resume our sketch of Virginia: Shortly after the great 
 massacre came another misfortune upon the colony. Their 
 charter was taken from them, and they were reduced to un- 
 conditional dependence on the king's will. The Virginians 
 
38 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 had been by no means backward in resisting sundry oppres- 
 sive proceedings of James I., and in revenge for this, or rather 
 to take away the possibility of such proceedings in fu- 
 ture, a writ of quo warranto was entered against the charter, 
 which was declared forfeited. The change was, however, 
 more in form than in fact. The royal governor, Sir Francis 
 Watt, was retained, and the right of the assembly to meet 
 and legislate was not questioned. The Virginia Company 
 thus being dissolved, the people asked for a new patent stat- 
 ing the form of government. Although no such protection 
 was granted, no attempt was made by Charles I., who came 
 to the throne at about this time, to deprive Virginia of any of 
 her liberties, and in his reign the country flourished and pros- 
 pered with little occurring for chronicling. After the great 
 massacre no Indian disturbances occurred for twenty years. 
 In 1644 another Indian war of small importance broke out, 
 but was easily put an end to. The Virginians treated the In- 
 dians with very great justice and wisdom, and reaped the 
 benefit thereof. 
 
 We may here with advantage take a view of the colony 
 now established forty years. Its character was peculiar. Vir- 
 ginia is a country of rivers. Innumerable rivers and creeks 
 flow into the numerous bays and indentations of the coast 
 line. The result of this was that the planters naturally kept 
 to the river banks. They scattered all over the country, for 
 every-where was there easy access to the sea, so that every- 
 where was it easy to dispose of the crops. Thus there was 
 not in Virginia that consolidation to be noticed in the north- 
 ern colonies ; the state of the country was exactly the reverse. 
 The country was filled with very small settlements at some 
 little distance from each other, lying at that time almost en- 
 tirely between the James and the York rivers. The num- 
 ber of inhabitants had at last considerably increased, 
 although at first curtailed by the massacres and starvations of 
 the earlier years. By the year 1650 there were perhaps 
 15,000 people, whites and blacks. This population was 
 made up in general of two classes : the rich, well-to-do plant- 
 
VIRGINIA PROSPEROUS. 39 
 
 ers, and the poorer class of English, often transported for 
 crime or sold into the colony as slaves for a term of years. 
 There seems to have been no middle class. The colony was 
 prosperous and contented as far as its worldly affairs were 
 concerned. The houses were not seldom substantial build- 
 ings of brick or stone. The soil brought forth abundantly 
 not only tobacco, but almost every necessity of life. In 
 fact, so much corn w r as produced that much was exported to 
 New England. There was abundance of game in the woods, 
 so that no one need fear want. On the whole there was no 
 small reason for the general affection felt by the Virginians 
 for their country. 
 
 The change from king to commonwealth was effected with- 
 out serious results as far as Virginia was concerned. Not 
 that the Virginians were totally indifferent to the change, 
 caring little who were their rulers, so they were allowed to 
 cultivate their corn and tobacco. Far from it. There was 
 in Virginia a very strong Royalist element; so strong that it 
 is not infrequently taken as representing the colony. Berkeley, 
 the governor, was a stanch old Royalist to the last; but there 
 were also many to whom the Puritan ideas in religion were 
 not disagreeable, and there were more in whom the spirit of 
 independence and freedom had grown to such an extent that 
 they welcomed with pleasure the deposition of the Stuarts. 
 The first proceedings of Virginia on the execution of Charles 
 I. were of a Royalist character, and it seems to have been 
 generally thought in England that the colony would serve as 
 a Royalist refuge. But upon the arrival of a Parliamentary 
 fleet under Dennis the other element was put in power, and 
 with the aid of such as were indifferent to either party the 
 change was made with no trouble, and the colony was surren- 
 dered to the commissioners sent out for that purpose. The 
 assembly continued in existence and power, but the old gov- 
 ernor was displaced and the commissioners chose a new one. 
 Under the new system affairs were carried on with the same 
 tranquillity which had marked the previous ten years. The 
 principal thing of importance to note at this time was the 
 
40 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 passing by Parliament of the Navigation Act, which gave 
 form to a colonial policy to which great Britain held until 
 the Revolution. The purpose of the original act was to keep 
 the colonial trade to England, that all the advantages there- 
 from might accrue to the mother country. Although the 
 navigation acts of later times often aroused much resistance, 
 it does not appear that the Virginians offered any objec- 
 tions to the operations of this first one, except as far as eva- 
 sion may be held to be objection. 
 
SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND. 41 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Settlement of New England— Plymouth. 
 
 English Reformation — The Name Puritan — The Beginning of the Puritans 
 — Later History of the Puritans — Presbyterian Puritans — Brown and 
 the Independents — The Puritans go to Holland — Thoughts of Going 
 to America — They Set Out — They Anchor at Provincetown — A New 
 Government — They Land at Plymouth — A Hard Winter — The Indians 
 — Different Settlements — Growth of the Plymouth Colony — Their 
 Form of Government. 
 
 TO understand the settlement of New England we must 
 have some knowledge of the course of the Reformation 
 in England. In that country the reformatory tendencies 
 were twofold. In the first place, there were those who desired 
 for political reasons, more than religious, to throw off the 
 supremacy of the Papal see, and with it various abuses which 
 had crept into the Roman Church. In the second, there 
 were those who, for purely religious reasons of conscience, 
 wished to reform the Church of Fmgland into what they 
 deemed, from a purely theological stand-point, a purer and 
 better Church. To this latter class belonged the Puritans. 
 There were many of that stamp who could not be called by 
 that name, but the whole of the Puritan body would come 
 fairly under our last head. 
 
 The word Puritan is used as the general name for that 
 large body of men of very diverse views and opinions, at dif- 
 ferent times as well as at the same time, who found it impos- 
 sible for them to conform conscientiously to all the usages of 
 the Church of England in the period of the Reformation of 
 that Church from Romanism to Anglo-Catholicism. The 
 name is none of the best, but time and association have given 
 it a place in the minds, not to say the affections, of English- 
 speaking people that will not easily be filled by any substitute. 
 
42 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The term did not come into general use until 1566, or there- 
 abouts, but by historians it is generally referred back to the 
 year 1550. 
 
 Not that the Puritan spirit was not earlier manifested in 
 English history. We see elements of the Puritan idea in 
 Anglo-Saxon writing, in the writings of Wicklif, and in his 
 followers, the Lollards. But the date 1550 is generally taken 
 as that of the first " public manifestation of Puritanism as an 
 element in church politics." It was in this year that Dr. 
 Hooper, on being named Bishop of Gloucester, refused to 
 wear the garments prescribed for his consecration by the reg- 
 ulations of the Church of England, then being reformed with 
 cautious sagacity by Edward, under the advice of Archbishop 
 Cranmer. Hooper at first desired to be allowed consecration 
 without the garments, relics of popery, as he considered them, 
 and, failing this, he wished to be allowed to refuse the bish- 
 opric. Neither of these alternatives was allowed. Hooper, 
 after argument, persuasion and imprisonment, consented to 
 wear the habits at his consecration, and again when he 
 preached at court shortly afterward. But except for those 
 two times he was allowed to discard them. We may call him 
 a Puritan, yet he was a bishop in the Church of England. 
 Such a position would have been a strange anomaly ninety 
 years afterward, when the Puritans, as a party, were clamoring 
 for the abolishment of the episcopal office in the Church. 
 Other of Edward's bishops and many of Elizabeth's were 
 Puritans of Hooper's type. 
 
 Puritanism afterward appeared in different forms. In 1554 
 many English Protestants had fled from their country under 
 the Marian persecution and had taken refuge with the Cal- 
 vinist churches of the continent. At this time John Knox 
 and William Whittingham, under the severe views of the 
 Church at Geneva, led some of the more advanced of the 
 Puritans in a fierce attack upon the prayer-book used by the 
 Church, known as King Edward's prayer-book. Many whom 
 we should call Puritans were not in sympathy with this move- 
 ment ; for, although they held the same principles as the 
 
\jup. ^/muU 
 
 BROWNISTS. 43 
 
 reformers, they were ruled by the stronger desire to see the 
 Church of England triumph in its reformation, and were, 
 therefore, led to accept what they could not approve. But 
 at this time all the Puritans were unwilling to separate from a 
 " church where the Word and sacraments were truly preached." 
 
 Later still, when Elizabeth, having been several years upon 
 the throne, was seeking to enforce conformity to the church 
 of which she was the supreme governor under Christ, a num- 
 ber of Puritans felt called upon to separate themselves from 
 a church which imposed on them practices which they held 
 to be not deducible from Scripture, and, therefore, not to be 
 endured, and to form a church independent of it. They 
 were known as "Separatists." This was in 1566. 
 
 In 1572 a new element in English Puritanism took a definite 
 shape, the desire to convert the Church of England into a 
 Presbyterian establishment. Of this movement Cartwright 
 is the historical landmark. Presbyterianism became at once 
 a vigorous branch of Puritanism, though it by no means ab- 
 sorbed all its strength. Many Puritans were Presbyterians ; 
 all Presbyterians were Puritans. But at this time it was a 
 minority of the Puritan body which desired a Presbytery. 
 Later, in 1642, the Presbyterians made up the greater part of 
 the Puritans. 
 
 About the year 1582 Robert Brown set a going a movement 
 from which he himself retired, leaving with it as a precious 
 legacy a nickname which clung with a stigmatizing hold for 
 more than a generation. Brown was an " Independent." 
 This word, and the words independence and independency, Li 
 came into our language with him. He separated himself from 
 the Establishment, holding (if we can tell exactly what he 
 held) that each congregation of the faithful gathered together 
 for the worship of God constituted a Church. We must still 
 call the Brownists, or Separatists, or Independents, Puritans, 
 though in their earlier days they were "a sect of outlaws be- 
 yond the pale of ordinary Puritanism." In line after Brown, 
 though not allowing themselves to be his followers, came the 
 Amsterdam Separatists, from 1603 onward ; the congregation 
 
44 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 that migrated from Scrooby to Leyden, and from Leyden 
 sailed in the Mayflower; eventually the Puritans of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay Company and the new model army of Oliver 
 Cromwell. 
 
 But Presbyterians and Independents by no means made up 
 all the Puritans from 1572 to 1642. The main body were 
 anti-prelatists merely, opposed to many of the usages of the 
 Church of England, yet remaining members of that Church, 
 bearing the strongest affection for it mingled with a desire for its 
 reform in some matters. They desired simply reform in the 
 Church, and no such sweeping reform of the Church as was 
 urged by Cartwright and Brown. Even of the settlers of 
 Boston and Salem many professed their fondest affection for 
 the Church of England, and became Independent merely 
 because three thousand miles of ocean rolled between them 
 and that Church. 
 
 Such were the different stages in the development of En- 
 glish Puritanism. It had always for its object one thing: the 
 true perception of religious truth without regard to conse- 
 quences. Those who could not find it within the Church of 
 England were earnest enough to separate themselves from 
 that Church, that they might worship God in a manner not 
 displeasing to him. Of these Separatist congregations there 
 were several toward the end of Elizabeth's reign and the 
 beginning of that of James I. One of them was gathered 
 at Scrooby, in the north of England, on the borders of three 
 counties, York, Lincoln and Nottingham. This Church, gath- 
 ered together under the care of John Robinson and Richard 
 Clifton, desired nothing save freedom to worship in their own 
 way. This was not to be found in England. James I. was 
 showing himself by no means lenient with those who could 
 not agree with the Establishment. The Scrooby congrega- 
 tion came to the idea that they would give up home, coun- 
 try and every thing, for their religion's sake, and emigrate to 
 Holland, where, already, some two or three churches had 
 sought shelter from English persecution. But even this was 
 hardly allowed them. Attempting to escape by night, as 
 
EMIGRATION TO NEW ENGLAND. 45 
 
 though criminals, they were discovered and prevented. A 
 second attempt was more successful, and in 1608 the little 
 Church found itself in Amsterdam, whence they shortly moved 
 to Leyden, the university city of Holland. 
 
 In Leyden they remained twelve years. They lived quietly 
 and obscurely, tolerated, and perhaps encouraged, by the 
 inhabitants. Each man found some occupation to which he 
 might turn his hand to gain a livelihood. But as they saw 
 their children growing up to manhood and womanhood in a 
 strange country, speaking a strange language, and having but 
 little familiarity with that country which they still held dea-r, 
 though self-exiled from it — as time went on in this manner, it 
 was more and more borne in upon them that it was not the 
 will of God that they should gradually subside and become 
 amalgamated with the Dutch people around them, but that 
 they ought to take some steps whereby they might enjoy the 
 freedom of the Gospel and at the same time forward the 
 honor and prosperity of their own dear native country, and, 
 perchance, be the means of conveying Christianity to the 
 heathen of America. They thought of emigrating in a body 
 to some part of the New World, where they might be at lib- 
 erty to keep pure their primitive form of worship and yet, at 
 the same time, live under the shelter and protection of the 
 English flag, and contribute by their lives to the glory and well- 
 being of their stepmother country. After some discussion 
 of the advantages of the valley of the Oronoco, to which 
 Raleigh's adventures had called attention, it was hoped that 
 they might be able to settle as a separate community on the 
 territory of the Virginia Company. 
 
 Negotiations were at once set on foot, and, not to be tedious 
 in narrating details, after some hard bargaining with such 
 adventurers as were willing to provide funds for the journey, 
 and after vain endeavors to obtain a royal charter under which 
 they might live and erect some form of government, they at 
 last reached the time of departure. All of the Leyden con- 
 gregation were not to go. There were many who, for various rea- 
 sons, could not find it in their hearts to venture every thing in 
 
46 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 an untried experiment of settlement in a new world. Indeed, 
 these were the majority of the congregation, and, such being 
 the case, the pastor of the flock, John Robinson, remained 
 at Leyden with those who were left behind, while William 
 Brewster, the elder, was to cross the seas with the band of 
 exiles. With them went also William Bradford, a man of 
 consideration among them, who was afterward for many 
 years the governor of their colony, and with them also 
 went the soldier, Miles Standish, destined to command their 
 humble armies and to take charge of such defensive warfare 
 a?s might be necessary in a wild and unknown country. So, 
 on August 5, 1620, one hundred and twenty of them, having 
 gathered at Southampton, whither they had crossed from Ley- 
 den by way of Defthaven, set sail for America in two vessels, 
 the Mayflower and the Speedwell. They had not, however, 
 proceeded far before the Speedwell sprung a leak, and it was 
 necessary to return for repairs. Having started once again, 
 it became evident after some days that the Speedwell was 
 unfit for the ocean passage, and that it would be dangerous 
 for her to go on. The company was, therefore, divided. Such 
 as desired to go back were put on board the Speedwell, which 
 returned to England. The rest, one hundred in number, 
 went forward in the Mayflower. 
 
 According to the patent granted to them by the Virginia 
 Company it had been the intention to settle somewhere to 
 the south of Cape Cod. But the shipmaster, having to wrestle 
 with unmanageable storms, could do nothing better than to 
 land them just inside that cape in what is now the harbor 
 of Provincetown. It was thought at the time that he had 
 been hired by the Dutch, who were then settled on the Hud- 
 son River, to keep this English settlement at some distance 
 from them, but there is nothing to show that this was the case. 
 
 Having dropped anchor inside Cape Cod, before leaving 
 the ship they took a most decisive step : they created a gov- 
 ernment for themselves. Having had no form of government 
 prescribed for them by any superior power, being in a new 
 land — as it were, new-born people with, practically, no author- 
 
SETTLEMENT OF PLYMOUTH. 47 
 
 ity over them save that of the God whom they worshiped — 
 they had strength enough to conceive of the simplest form of 
 government, founded in truly American principles: the equal 
 rights of the people. The document drawn up and signed 
 by them on the 15th of November, 1620, is in these words : 
 
 " In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are un- 
 derwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, 
 King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France 
 and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. having under- 
 taken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian 
 faith, and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant 
 the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these 
 presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and 
 one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a 
 civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, 
 and furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and by virtue hereof 
 to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordi- 
 nances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as 
 shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general 
 good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission 
 and obedience." 
 
 To this compact every man in the party put his name. It 
 is, with reason, regarded with the greatest interest, because it 
 is a perfect illustration of a government proceeding from the 
 people by their own consent, and it is the first instance in 
 history where a government is thus formed, in writing, at one 
 time, by the expressed consent of the governed. 
 
 Having thus formed themselves into a body politic they 
 set about to find a spot for settlement. After having ex- 
 plored a great part of Cape Cod they finally settled upon a 
 harbor on the mainland, to which they gave the name 
 Plymouth, the last town they had seen in the Old England 
 and the first in the New. Here they landed on the nth of 
 December (the 21st, according to new style), and here they at 
 once set to work to build them houses to shelter them from 
 the winter. The Mayflower was to remain with them till 
 spring. That winter bore with great severity upon the colony. 
 Nearly one half of them had perished before the Mayfloiver 
 
48 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 set out on her return voyage to England. Yet of the few 
 who were left not one returned in the ship ; not one but was 
 strong in the hope of the new plantation. As summer came 
 on the hardships ceased. More settlers were brought over, 
 and in two or three years the colony was so well established 
 that it was no longer a question, when winter came on, as to 
 whether there would be any left alive to see the spring, but 
 a certain rude prosperity had begun to prevail. 
 
 The colony was, on the whole, fortunate in its connection 
 with the natives of the country. It happened that some few 
 years before their settlement a great pestilence had passed 
 over the tribes of Eastern Massachusetts, thinning their num- 
 bers terribly. So the English settlers had but little to fear from 
 their strength. Such Indians as there were seemed friendly. 
 Their first meeting was of a hostile nature, but shortly after, 
 the Pilgrims coming into relations with Massasoit, a firm league 
 of friendship was made, which was truly kept. Not that 
 there were not occasional disturbances, but the fault of these 
 hardly lay with the Plymouth settlers ; for as the years 
 passed other English emigrants settled in New England. In 
 1622 a settlement was begun by one Weston at a place called 
 Wessagusset, about thirty miles to the north of Plymouth, on 
 the sea-coast. Some sixty men were landed and remained 
 there for two winters; but they were not men of the same 
 stamp as the Plymouth settlers, and the plan utterly failed, 
 though not before Weston's men had by their unjust treat- 
 ment aroused the Indians to hostilities which were not 
 quelled until Standish had taken the field against them. This 
 settlement failed, and so did another, sent out by Captain Wol- 
 laston. This latter was made near Quincy, and here it was 
 that Morton, of Merrymount, raised his May-pole, and created 
 such scandal that all the settlers on the coast banded together 
 against him and sent him back again to England; for by 
 this time (1625) there were many stray settlers along the New 
 England shore. At Cape Ann, as we shall see hereafter, were 
 certain West of England fishermen. Further north, on the 
 Piscataqua, were small settlements of a few men, and in one 
 
BUSINESS ARRANGEMENTS. 49 
 
 or two places were solitary men living at some part or other 
 of the coast, of whom we know little more than the name. 
 One more scheme for colonization we ought to note. In 
 1623 the Plymouth Company, thinking that some effort should 
 be made for colonization, fitted out a small expedition under 
 Robert Gorges, the son of Ferdinando Gorges, a man much 
 interested in American settlement at that time. But this 
 plan, like others, came to nothing, and the Pilgrims at Plym- 
 outh were practically the only settlers in New England be- 
 fore the time of the settlement of Salem and Boston by the 
 Massachusetts Bay Company. 
 
 They grew and increased slowly. In the ten years between 
 1620 and 1630 their numbers had increased, from the handful 
 settled at Plymouth, so that two or three new towns had been 
 settled, and their prosperity was, in a simple way, secured. 
 They were busied chiefly with agriculture, but carried on 
 certain trading operations with the Indians both on the Ken- 
 nebec, in what is now Maine, where they came in contact 
 with the French, and on the Connecticut, where they found 
 the Dutch pioneers. Their political condition had by no 
 means fallen from the high standard set at Provincetown. 
 They had obtained no charter, and the basis of their govern- 
 ment lay in the consent of the governed. A governor and an 
 assistants were the executive, while the colony itself met in 
 general court to form the legislative body. The magistrates 
 of the towns passed judgment on small causes and the more 
 important cases were heard before the governor and assist- 
 ants, with a jury of colonists. At the time of their starting, 
 the funds for the expedition had been provided by cer- 
 tain adventurers in London to whom the proceeds of the 
 adventure of the colony were to accrue in return for their ad- 
 vance. But this arrangement proved unsatisfactory. The 
 returns from the colony were small, and the adventurers be- 
 came discontented, lost their interest and did little to assist 
 the colonists. But in 1627 these adventurers were bought 
 out by certain of the leading colonists, and henceforth the 
 Colonists were debtors to no man save themselves. 
 3 
 
50 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Settlement of Massachusetts. 
 
 The Massachusetts Bay Colony— An Attempt to Colonize Cape Ann— 
 Salem— The Charter— Preparations for Further Emigration— The 
 Emigrants— They Land at Charlestown— Boston— The Colony Thrives 
 —Roger Williams— He Makes a New Settlement— The ■ Pequods— 
 Mrs. Anne Hutchinson— More Settlements— The Different Settle- 
 ments Make a Confederacy— Missionary Work Among the Indians- 
 John Eliot— The Quakers— Position of the Colonies. 
 
 O UCH was the beginning of the settlement of New England. 
 O The Pilgrims having found no rest for their consciences 
 except in separation from the Church of England, and finding 
 that such religious worship as seemed to them right was not 
 to be tolerated in England, had made their escape to Hol- 
 land. But not liking the thought of ending their lives in 
 a foreign land, they had sought in New England an oppor- 
 tunity for that form of religion which they had found impos- 
 sible in England. 
 
 Religious views of much the same nature were influential 
 in the steps which led to the settlement of the Massachusetts 
 Bay Colony. There were many in England who saw no re- 
 ligious or civil freedom in that country, and they turned their 
 eyes across the Atlantic imagining that there they should 
 at least be free of courts, of high commissioners and of star 
 chambers. These were not views of religious liberty, of re- 
 ligious freedom, as we use the words. There was no idea of 
 liberty of conscience. Pilgrims and Puritans alike crossed 
 the Atlantic to worship as they thought right. They had no 
 idea, when they found what power was in their hands, of 
 allowing indiscriminate freedom of worship. It is well to bear 
 this in mind throughout any study of New England history. 
 But it was not from religious causes alone that the movement 
 
SETTLEMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS. 5 1 
 
 sprung which resulted in the settlement of Salem and Bos- 
 ton. 
 
 The West of England men had for some time adventured 
 in the New England fisheries, which they found profitable. 
 But the ships made each cruise from England and returned 
 thither each year with their " catch." The only landings they 
 made in New England were for the purpose of drying their 
 fish, that they might bring it safely home with them. It oc- 
 curred to the Rev. John White, of Dorchester, a famous Pu- 
 ritan divine (who had other views in mind as well), that it 
 would be no bad plan to form a company, which should settle 
 a few men at some convenient point on the New England 
 shore, who should be able to assist the fishing crews by pro- 
 viding quarters for the sailors when on shore, and gain 
 supplies by hunting and planting. It was also held that some 
 religious influence might be brought to bear on the mariners. 
 A company was formed, known as the Dorchester Advent- 
 urers, which at once sent out, in the year 1623, an expedi- 
 tion which made a settlement on Cape Ann. But no success 
 followed; in fact, everything went wrong ; and in three years' 
 time the colony was abandoned by all the settlers save four 
 — Roger Conant, Peter Palfrey, John Balch and John New- 
 bury. At the earnest solicitation of the Rev. John White these 
 four men remained, to be reinforced by new settlers. Mr. 
 White, with the greater number of the English Puritans, 
 looked on New England as a possible refuge from unbearable 
 persecutions, and to him it seemed of importance that any 
 foothold once made should be retained. 
 
 The Dorchester Company had evidently failed ; but there 
 were others interested. Puritans all over the country began 
 to consider whether it might not be possible to make some- 
 thing of this opportunity. In London the matter was dis- 
 cussed from a commercial as well as a religious stand-point, 
 and there were many who thought that here was a scheme 
 which deserved assistance. By such means funds to a con- 
 siderable amount were collected, and the right man appear- 
 ing at that moment, John Endicott by name, he was named 
 
52 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 as governor of the new party which was to reinforce the rem- 
 nant at Cape Ann. A patent was obtained from the " Grand 
 Council for New England," and in the summer of 1628 a 
 considerable party was sent out, which formed a settlement 
 at Naumkeag, whither Conant and the others had removed. 
 The colony, consisting of about sixty persons, settled them- 
 selves here for the winter, and gave the name of Salem, the He- 
 brew word for peace, to their habitation. 
 
 In England the enterprise became further enlarged. 
 Certain from Boston, in Lincolnshire, joined themselves to it, 
 and the company was incorporated and obtained a royal 
 charter under the name of the " Governor and Company of 
 the Massachusetts Bay in New England." Matthew Cradock 
 was named in the charter as governor. The idea was like 
 that of the other trading companies: a governing body in En- 
 gland was to oversee and direct the proceedings of such set- 
 tlements as might be made in the New World. 
 
 The constitution of the company was as follows: Certain 
 persons were named in the charter as constituting the com- 
 pany and were given power to join to themselves such as they 
 deemed proper. These " freemen " were to elect their gov- 
 ernor and deputy and eighteen assistants, who were to form 
 a sort of executive board for the transaction of all busi- 
 ness which could not well come before the whole company at 
 its stated meetings, which were to occur four times a year. 
 The oaths of supremacy and allegiance might, not must, be 
 administered to freemen by the governor, deputy, and two 
 assistants. The company had power to transport settlers, 
 who might be settled anywhere within the territory allowed ; 
 namely, a tract of land extending from a line drawn three 
 miles north of the Merrimac River to another three miles 
 south of the Charles, and from the Atlantic to the South Sea. 
 Within this territory the company had power to establish such 
 offices as they deemed necessary and to take such steps as 
 were necessary for the planting and defense of their settle- 
 ment. Nothing was said of religion or religious matters. The 
 company was strictly forbidden to do any thing inconsistent 
 
SETTLEMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS. 53 
 
 with the laws of England. Such was the main purport of 
 the charter. 
 
 It was intended for the organization and use of a trading 
 company, but it proved entirely sufficient for the government 
 of a colony, and it was under this charter that Massachusetts 
 lived for fifty-five years. The charter having been obtained 
 a reinforcement was sent to Salem. The greater number of 
 the patentees were Puritans, and the character of the settle- 
 ments was of the same nature. Two Puritan ministers, 
 Skelton and Higginson, were sent out, and every thing went 
 well. Thus far the governing body was in England, and the 
 colony sent out by them had little character save that of a 
 trading or fishing station. The next year, however, an im- 
 portant change was made. 
 
 The charter made no stipulations as to where the meetings 
 of the company were to be held. It had probably been 
 always in the minds of the principal members of the com- 
 pany to make of their settlement an asylum for religious per- 
 secution, although no such idea was openly mentioned. But 
 circumstances forced them on. The state of affairs in En- 
 gland was such that many Puritans made up their minds that 
 they could no longer remain in the country. A large num- 
 ber of the company resolved to emigrate. It was decided to 
 take the charter to New England with them; to hold the 
 meetings of the company there, and so to secure a far greater 
 measure of self-government than could have been otherwise 
 hoped for. Certain proposals to that end were read before 
 a meeting of the company, a number of gentlemen pledged 
 themselves to emigrate if an arrangement could be made 
 whereby the charter might be transferred to America, and a 
 new board of officers was chosen. John Winthrop was elected 
 governor, and Humphrey, who was afterward replaced by 
 Thomas Dudley, deputy; for neither Cradock nor Humphrey 
 proposed to emigrate. Measures were at once adopted for 
 carrying through the new plan. This was in the summer and 
 fall of the year 1629. 
 
 On April 7, 1630, preparation having been diligently made 
 
54 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 throughout the winter, John Winthrop and his company, 
 numbering about seven hundred persons, set sail in eleven 
 ships for New England. The expedition was one of greater 
 importance and moment in the eye of the world than the 
 humble voyage of the Mayflower, but history does not make 
 such a distinction. The leaders in the enterprise were per- 
 sons of consideration. John Winthrop was a man of good 
 family and of some property, bred to the law and accustomed 
 to the best society in England. Dudley had been stew- 
 ard of the estates of the Earl of Lincoln. Johnson, one of 
 the assistants, was the son-in-law of the same nobleman. 
 Theophilus Eaton had been at one time minister to Denmark. 
 Vassar, Bradstreet and Saltonstall were men of family and 
 estate. Many of the emigrants were graduates of the uni- 
 versities. Though by no means the highest persons of the 
 realm, they were persons of reputation and estate, of intelli- 
 gence and education. Added to this, they were ruled by 
 steady and sincere religious purposes. They were members 
 of the Church of England, and in their parting address, while 
 asking prayer and good wishes for the success of their under- 
 taking, they spoke of their necessary separation from the 
 country where that Church " specially resideth, with much 
 sadness of heart and many tears." 
 
 After a passage of about nine weeks the Arbella, the chief 
 ship (named after the Lady Arbella Johnson, wife of one of 
 the assistants), anchored in Salem harbor and was shortly 
 after joined by the rest of the fleet. After a short stay at 
 Salem they proceeded to pitch upon a place of settlement, 
 and in the end of June they landed at Mishawum, shonly 
 after called Charlestown, and settled at that place. Many 
 of them subsequently moved across the Charles River to the 
 Peninsula of Shawmut, to which the name Boston was after- 
 ward given, in recollection of the town in Lincolnshire from 
 which many of them had come. Others settled near at hand, 
 some in Newtown, afterward Cambridge, and at Dorchester, 
 Roxbury and Watertown. In each town the settlers at once 
 entered into church covenants. On August 23 the first court 
 
FREEDOM OF OPINION. 55 
 
 of assistants was held, and in October was held the first gen- 
 eral court at Boston, to which many of the settlers had moved 
 from Charlestown in search of a good supply of water. The 
 colony was well and fairly started. 
 
 Such was the beginning of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; 
 perhaps the best instance of the working out of the Puritan 
 ideal of a State, although at this time the ideals of the found- 
 ers may not have been well rounded. As time went on the 
 details were more thoroughly elaborated, and through a 
 period of thirty years we may trace the rise of what we may 
 call the Puritan Ideal Commonwealth. The basis of the 
 structure was implicit obedience to the law of God in all 
 things. Government and morals, in private life as well as 
 public, were ordered by the rule of the Scriptures. For 
 thirty years the colony of Massachusetts, being allowed to do 
 much as it pleased, strengthened itself on this basis. The 
 Commonwealth was purged and purified by the casting out 
 of Roger Williams, Mrs. Hutchinson, the Quakers, and such 
 others as dissented from the general opinions of the people. 
 It was strengthened by its geographical enlargement and by 
 its victories over the Indians, whom it subsequently received 
 as children for religious teaching. Its freedom of outside in- 
 terference was in many ways asserted. The rise of this ideal 
 continued for thirty years. After that time we see its grad- 
 ual downfall, beginning with the restoration of Charles II. 
 and culminating in the usurpation of Andros and the pro- 
 vincial charter. 
 
 The colony, being once begun, grew rapidly. In about ten 
 years all emigration from England had ceased; but even by 
 this time the growth had been large, both geographically and 
 in population. The settlers had pushed inland, up the rivers 
 and into the country. They had also spread up and down the 
 coast. In 1640 they numbered perhaps fifteen times the thou- 
 sand which had come with Winthrop and before. 
 
 The first instance of the colony's strengthening itself 
 against itself, of which other instances will occur, was in the 
 expulsion of Roger Williams. Williams was a young clergy- 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 man who settled first at Boston and then at Salem, whose 
 views seemed to his brother ministers and to many of the 
 people harmful and dangerous. He was expostulated with 
 quietly at first, and then with more vigor. Being found ob- 
 durate he was banished. It is not for our purpose necessary 
 to consider whether his views were or were not absolutely 
 more correct than those of his persecutors. The point is 
 that the will of the colony resolved to assert itself, and to en- 
 force that conformity which they thought necessary, in much 
 the same way that Archbishop Laud had attempted to en- 
 force the conformity he thought necessary. Other things in 
 the colony pointed in the same direction. The franchise was 
 allowed only to church members, and church members were 
 admitted only on satisfactory proof of the orthodoxy of their 
 views and lives. 
 
 As for Roger Williams, he traveled through the forests in 
 the winter, and coming out of the Massachusetts patent and 
 to the head of Narragansett Bay he purchased land of the 
 Indians, to whom he was not unknown, and with a few friends 
 settled a town to which he gave the name of Providence. 
 Instead of following the example of his Massachusetts neigh- 
 bors, who having fled from intolerance in England would 
 have no toleration in America, he and those with him allowed 
 the widest liberty of conscience to those who might choose 
 to join them. In another direction also did the settlers 
 spread, though not for like reasons. The inhabitants of the 
 towns near Boston, finding themselves cramped for room for 
 all their cattle, turned their eyes to the rich meadows of the 
 Connecticut River, and in the year 1634 they crossed the 
 country and settled in three towns on that river. The next 
 year they were joined by others, and being outside of the 
 bounds of the Massachusetts and Plymouth patents they set 
 up a government for themselves, resembling in character, as 
 was natural, that of the jurisdictions they had left. 
 
 For the first few years after the settlement of Massachusetts 
 there were no Indian troubles, but with the settlement of 
 Connecticut the colonists came in contact with the Pequods, 
 
MRS. HUTCHINSON. 57 
 
 a tribe which inhabited the southern part of New England, 
 and Indian outrages finally led to what was known as the 
 Pequod war. Massachusetts and Connecticut banded to- 
 gether against their savage foes. The Pequods strove to 
 form an alliance with the Narragansetts, but the Narragan- 
 sett chieftains were deterred from war by the counsels of 
 Roger Williams, who thus found an opportunity of returning 
 good for evil. The Pequods, left alone to cope with the En- 
 glish, who were joined by the Mohegans, a tribe of Connect- 
 icut Indians, were utterly destroyed. The English made an 
 expedition into their country, captured and burned their chief 
 town, and pursued the scattered remnants of the tribe, and 
 thus the Pequod nation was removed from the face of New 
 England. 
 
 The danger from without was no sooner removed than 
 Massachusetts was threatened from within. More unorthodox 
 views appeared, emanating from Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, the 
 brilliant wife of a considerable merchant of Boston. The 
 people, keenly alive to religious controversy, arrayed them- 
 selves on the different sides. Mrs. Hutchinson found coun- 
 tenance in Mr. John Wheelwright, the minister of Braintree, 
 her brother-in-law, in John Cotton, one of the ministers of 
 the church at Boston, and in Henry Vane, the young gov- 
 ernor of the Commonwealth. But the clergy of the colony 
 were almost unanimous against her, and the congregations in 
 general followed their pastors. Vane also left the colony for 
 England before affairs had come to a crisis. Mrs. Hutchin- 
 son and Mr. Wheelwright were tried and banished, and their 
 adherents lost their civil rights. The colony had once more 
 purified itself, and strengthened itself in its aspirations toward 
 the ideal in the minds of its chief men. 
 
 Mrs. Hutchinson and many of those who thought as she 
 did removed from Massachusetts Bay, and, purchasing of 
 the Indians the largest island in Narragansett Bay, they set- 
 tled there. They made but a turbulent settlement for a time, 
 quarreling with each other, separating and joining again. 
 
 Mrs. Hutchinson subsequently moved to Long Island, where 
 3* 
 
58 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 she was some little time after murdered in an Indian war. 
 Gorton planted Warwick, in Rhode Island, in 1642. Wheel- 
 wright, on leaving Massachusetts settled a few miles from 
 its northern line at what is now Exeter, in the State of New 
 Hampshire. There were other settlements here on the Pis- 
 cataqua River, notably Dover and Strawberry Bank. New 
 Haven was also settled at about this time by a party of strict 
 Puritans coming from England under Davenport. They set 
 up a system of government even more rigid than that of 
 Massachusetts. The Bible, and more particularly the Old 
 Testament, was taken as the guide for all things. The new 
 colony prospered, and was able to send out settlers along Long 
 Island Sound and also inland. Connecticut also had ex- 
 tended up and down the Connecticut Valley. 
 
 There were in the year 1642 more than twenty-five thou- 
 sand English inhabitants in New England. They were gath- 
 ered together in separate jurisdictions and scattered all over 
 the country. Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New 
 Haven were the most considerable of the governments. 
 There were three separate groups in Rhode Island, and along 
 the New Hampshire and Maine shore was a scattered string 
 of settlements, subject to no government at all. The chief 
 men in the leading colonies saw a need of some union. The 
 French and the Dutch were possible enemies on the north and 
 the south ; the Indians were always at the border. The four 
 chief colonies joined themselves into a confederacy for mutual 
 offense and defense. The Rhode Island settlements and the 
 few towns to the north were refused admittance, for the spirit 
 of their government was by no means in keeping with the 
 Puritan ideal. The Confederacy was loose in its nature — that 
 is, the individual colonies delegated to the general govern- 
 ment certain powers in peace and war, but reserved to them- 
 selves the care of their own internal affairs. Two commis- 
 sioners from each colony made up the governing body of the 
 New England Confederation, forming a board both executive 
 and legislative in its nature. The great difficulty in the case 
 lay in the great preponderance of Massachusetts, which, hav- 
 
- 
 
 ELIOT AND MAYHEW. 59 
 
 ing almost twice as many inhabitants as all the other three 
 colonies put together, would be likely to assert a superiority 
 which was by no means in keeping with the ideas of the smaller 
 colonies in the matter. The articles of confederation gave 
 equal power to all four members. But, as it proved, Massa- 
 chusetts was continually endeavoring to overstep the bounds 
 of that instrument, and thereby endangering the existence of 
 the union. Although the confederation lasted for twenty- 
 three years, there was much disagreement, owing to the over- 
 bearing, though highly excusable, behavior of the Massachu- 
 setts colony. 
 
 We should by no means give a fair view of the growth of 
 the colonies if we omitted mention of the missionary work 
 done among the Indians. As the Massachusetts colony grew 
 too strong to fear any danger from the red men, she gradually 
 assumed the . position of mother over them as far as their 
 religious welfare was concerned. The story of the labors of 
 her earnest ministers among the Indians is the most pathetic 
 episode to be found in the history of the colony. The pict- 
 ure of the stern Puritans, their hearts reaching out in pity 
 for the wretched spiritual condition of these poor heathen, 
 and endeavoring in their own hard and bungling way to do what 
 needs all the sympathy and tenderness that human nature is 
 capable of, gives us a half-inspiring, half-melancholy view of 
 the character of the Puritan ideal, which should be taken into 
 consideration when we think of some of its blacker qualities. 
 No idea of their fond hopes and longings in this direction 
 can be gained better than that got from the quaint names of 
 the little pamphlets which described their struggles and 
 reverses and their humble successes. " The Day Breaking 
 if not the Sun Rising," comes first ; next in order are "Clear 
 Sunshine" and the "Glorious Sunshine." 
 
 The first efforts were made by Thomas Mayhew, who, in 
 1644, went to work among the Indians in Martha's Vineyard. 
 In 1646 John Eliot made his first attempt. Assembling cer- 
 tain of the Indians he went among them on Sunday after- 
 noons with some friends, and preached and prayed with them 
 
60 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and endeavored to answer such questions as they might ask. 
 The Indians were interested, and sometimes would ask such 
 questions as puzzled the worthy divine. Others were con- 
 tumacious. "Who made sack?" asked one on hearing of 
 the powers of the Creator. For years the work went on. 
 The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was formed in 
 England. An Indian college was established at Harvard, for 
 the training of ministers who might carry the Gospel to their 
 own people. Eliot translated the Bible into the Indian lan- 
 guage. Later the "praying Indians," as they were called, 
 were gathered together into towns, and Daniel Gookin was 
 chosen to be ruler over them. Progress was slow, but the 
 generous men hoped greater things and had faith. But their 
 hopes were destined to remain unfulfilled. In 1672 there 
 were among the Indians fourteen towns and two churches, 
 and eleven hundred " souls yielding obedience to the Gos- 
 pel." But the number declined. Ten years afterward there 
 were but four praying towns, and afterward the numbers 
 rapidly declined. In Plymouth, too, the work was not pro- 
 ductive of more lasting results. But the movement must be 
 remembered as showing a bright side to the Puritan char- 
 acter. 
 
 We must, however, now take up a darker topic. Wc have 
 seen how zealous were the inhabitants of Massachusetts for 
 purity of religious thought as they understood it. Roger 
 Williams and Mrs. Hutchinson are examples of the colony's 
 purging itself of such evil elements. In the same line is the 
 episode of the Quakers. These people, rising into notice 
 in England through their sincere if eccentric views, were 
 attracted to New England by the idea borne in upon them 
 that it was necessary for them to bear their testimony to a 
 people where the inner light, as they esteemed it, was not 
 permitted to shine. They courted persecution and received 
 it. The punishment of one drew many. The rulers of the 
 colony looked on their appearance with the same disfavor 
 with which they beheld all other difference with their relig- 
 ious opinions. Holding strongly to their idea of what was 
 
INDEPENDENCE. 6l 
 
 right, they could not in that age see with complacency the 
 spread of religious views opposed to them. For the sake of 
 the souls committed to their hands they could not remain 
 still. The Quakers were whipped, mutilated and banished. 
 They returned again and again. Persecution only served to 
 strengthen their desire to bear their testimony against such 
 unrighteousness. At last four of them, on returning to Mas- 
 sachusetts after repeated banishment, were hanged. Even 
 the most extreme measures were better than the spread of 
 heresy; such was the opinion of Endicott, then governor 
 and of Norton. But they had gone in this too far, and pop- 
 ular sentiment forbade the continuance of such harshness. 
 The Quakers conquered. 
 
 We must look at both sides in considering the Puritan 
 proceedings against the Quakers. We must not content our- 
 selves with saying that the Puritans were bigoted and fanat- 
 ical. We must acknowledge also that it appeared to them 
 that the presence of the Quakers endangered the structure 
 of that Commonwealth to sustain which they held to be 
 their highest duty in the sight of God, before which all other 
 considerations were not to be thought of for a moment. 
 Undoubtedly the Puritans were harsh, bigoted, fanatical, cruel. 
 They were also earnest, sincere, religious, and firm to their 
 idea of right. 
 
 The Quaker invasion of Massachusetts shows us the Pur- 
 itan Commonwealth at its height. The State was founded on 
 the law of God. None but truly religious persons had a 
 hand in shaping its course. It had spread over the country 
 and had prospered largely in its planting and its commerce. 
 Having overcome its Indian neighbors it was endeavoring to 
 raise this wretched people into a better state. And it had 
 never hesitated to purge itself in the harshest manner in order 
 to keep pure those doctrines on which rested the whole 
 foundation of the State. 
 
 It may seem curious that a mere colony should have been 
 able to place itself in such a position. In truth, the colony 
 had, up to this time, been virtually independent of England. 
 
62 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The people had defied the English power when their charter 
 was demanded. They had refused to allow the English flag 
 to be spread over their towns. They administered justice in 
 the name of God and not in that of the king. They coined 
 money themselves. They had denied the right of appeal to 
 England from the judgments pronounced by their own courts. 
 They paid her no taxes. In a word, they were and for some 
 years had been practically an independent State. To appre- 
 ciate this clearly we must recall to mind some of the chief 
 events of English history since the settlement of Boston in 
 1630. 
 
PHILIP'S WAR. 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Philip's War. 
 
 King Philip's War — Suspicions of Plymouth Colony — Indian Alarm at 
 Swansea — Neutrality of Narragansett — Danger in Connecticut — Mas- 
 sachusetts — Troops March for Rhode Island — Defeat of Narragansetts 
 — Burning of Lancaster — Burning of Marlboro — Battle in Pawtuxet — 
 Critical Contest. 
 
 THE most critical incident in the first century of New- 
 England life was that of Philip's war. Philip was an 
 Indian chief, whose native name was Metacom or Metacomet. 
 He was one of two sons of Massasoit, the early friend of the 
 Plymouth colonists, at whose request the famous names Al- 
 exander and Philip had been given to these two young men, 
 with fit explanations as to the greatness of the Greek chief- 
 tains who had formerly borne them. Alexander was the 
 older of the two, but he died not long after his father, and 
 Philip succeeded to such rights and power as he had, as 
 sachem of his tribe. 
 
 Rightly or wrongly, the heads of the Plymouth colony very 
 early suspected Philip of intriguing against them with the 
 Dutch of New York, who were always feeling their way along 
 Long Island Sound. It was even thought that Philip com- 
 municated with the more distant French on the northern and 
 western frontier. Between the valley of the St. Lawrence 
 and the settlements in Massachusetts and New Hampshire 
 there was a wild wilderness region, only used by the Indians 
 as a hunting-ground. But there were paths through it, per- 
 fectly well known; the distance is not great, and a dread was 
 felt even then of a possible invasion from Frenchmen, a dread 
 which another generation fully justified. 
 
 Philip himself, once and again, tried to persuade the people 
 
64 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of Plymouth that they did him injustice. He came to one 
 and another quite important conference with them and gave 
 securities of different kinds that should bind him to keep the 
 peace with them and others. But they never lost sight of 
 him, and it would seem that their leaders never ceased to 
 suspect him. Meanwhile he gained more influence among 
 his own people than any other chieftain known to us, at any 
 period of New England history. 
 
 For many years there was thus a sensitive feeling between 
 the Plymouth colonists and Philip, and this sensitive feeling 
 extended to a less degree into the Massachusetts Colony. 
 The bolt fell at last in June, 1675. In that year and the 
 next the colonists of New England fought, as they believed, 
 for their lives and their very existence against the Indians, 
 who were thoroughly aroused to making every effort in their 
 power. It is curious now to observe that this was just a 
 hundred years before the great struggle which resulted in the 
 independence of the United States. But when that struggle 
 came, men were so engaged in the crisis itself that thus far no 
 one has found in the history of 1775 any allusion to the fact 
 that, in the marshaling of men, they were celebrating the 
 centennial anniversary of the most critical moment in the 
 history of their infant State. 
 
 On the 2istof June, 1675, Win slow, the Governor of Plym- 
 outh, sent a letter by express to Leverett, the Governor of 
 Massachusetts Bay, to say to him that the Indians had 
 alarmed the people of Swansea, and that they had retreated 
 to their block house. Swansea was a frontier town on the 
 edge of Rhode Island. The Massachusetts Council assembled 
 at once and sent delegates to the Narragansetts, with whom 
 they were in alliance, ordering them not to come into any 
 league with Philip. They at once ordered the militia of 
 Boston and the neighboring towns to draft a hundred able- 
 bodied soldiers for an expedition, and these men were sum- 
 moned to meet at six in the evening on the 25th of June. On 
 the next day Dennison was appointed their commander, and 
 under Captain Henchman and Captain Prentiss they marched 
 
DANGER AT SWANSEA. 6$ 
 
 south against what enemy they might find. Meanwhile the 
 Plymouth men had sent a body of troops to protect Swansea, 
 and on the 24th, 25th and 26th days of June the first blood 
 was shed by the Indians, who killed five or six persons. It 
 will be difficult now to say how far the Nipmucks and the Nar- 
 ragansetts at first engaged in the controversy. They declared 
 that they were innocent of any complicity, but public opin- 
 ion in New England at that time was sternly and bitterly 
 against all Indians, and the declaration of these men was 
 never received as any thing but a blind. Boston at once 
 raised eight companies of troops, and in all eight hundred 
 and fifty men were called out to suppress the rising of the 
 Indians, whatever it might be. 
 
 Whatever had been Philip's plans, he was alarmed by the 
 rallying of the forces of Massachusetts and of Plymouth. 
 Almost immediately after the affair at Swansea, Mendon, in 
 the western part of the Massachusetts Bay settlements, was 
 attacked by some Nipmuck Indians. This was a tribe dif- 
 ferent from the tribe of which Philip was the immediate chief. 
 The colonists of both colonies were satisfied that a general 
 movement was attempted against them. Hutchinson, with 
 twenty troopers, went on an errand of peace to meet a great 
 party of Nipmucks at Brookfield. He did not find them at 
 the place agreed upon. Going farther in search of them he 
 fell into an ambuscade, was wounded himself, and eight of 
 his party were killed. This was an evidence that the Nip- 
 mucks meant serious war. Hutchinson's party retreated to 
 Brookfield, where they were at once besieged and were in 
 great danger. But they were relieved by a party of forty- 
 seven horsemen under Willard. Philip at once came across 
 to the Nipmucks and congratulated them on their successes. 
 From this time certainly his tribe and the Nipmucks were 
 allies. 
 
 The Narragansetts, however, had bound themselves to re- 
 main neutral in this contest. When, in September, commis- 
 sioners from the colonies of Massachusetts and New England 
 and Plymouth met they still hoped that the Narragansetts 
 
66 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 were not their enemies. They agreed to raise a thousand 
 soldiers for a war which " had been in the first rise a defen- 
 sive war, but must now, like other wars, be a war of attack as 
 well as defense." It is supposed that at this time the num- 
 ber of colonists in New England and the number of Indians 
 was about equal. The Indians were acquainted with fire- 
 arms, and, through the whole contest which followed, had 
 little difficulty in providing themselves with ammunition. 
 
 The commissioners of the colony held a session almost con- 
 tinuous through the weeks of a sad and anxious autumn. The 
 inhabitants of the frontier villages up and down the Connect- 
 icut lived in danger, and one after another was abandoned. 
 The head-quarters of the Massachusetts men were at Hadley. 
 A party of them was sent to Deerfield, which had been aban- 
 doned, to bring in the grain which the settlers had left there. 
 This party was under Lothrop. They succeeded in their 
 immediate object and proceeded on their return with the grain 
 and some furniture of the inhabitants, marching slowly, while 
 their rear was protected by a company under Mosely. At 
 about seven o'clock in the morning of the 18th of September, 
 as they stopped to gather grapes at " Bloody Brook," as the 
 place has been called ever since, they were assailed by Ind- 
 ians, and all but seven or eight were killed. The company 
 was known as the " Flower of Essex," being a body of picked 
 men from this county on the seashore. Mosely heard the 
 firing, marched to relieve his comrades and was able to carry 
 away the wounded. He buried the dead and retired on 
 Hadley. After this attack Springfield, Hadley, Northamp- 
 ton and Hatfield were the only towns which the English 
 held on the Connecticut River. These towns were attacked 
 once and again, but after October there were no serious at- 
 tacks, and it was supposed that the Indians had fallen back 
 upon the Narragansetts. From this time the commissioners 
 believed no longer that the Narragansetts were their friends. 
 
 It seems probable that the success of the Nipmucks on the 
 Connecticut River emboldened them. At first they had 
 affected a willingness to give up the hostile Indians whom 
 
OVERTHROW OF THE NARRAGANSETTS. 67 
 
 they were protecting. But when the day for the surrender 
 arrived they failed to keep their promise. The commission- 
 ers at once determined to raise an additional force of a thou- 
 sand men to fight against the Narragansetts. They gave the 
 Narragansetts fair notice of this, intimating that they must 
 make reparation for damages in the past, with security for 
 future fidelity. On the 9th of December the Massachusetts 
 troops marched for Rhode Island. They were joined by two 
 companies from Plymouth, five from Connecticut, and fifty 
 allies from the Mohegans. Governor Winslow took the com- 
 mand at the place known as Pettyquamscot, where the En- 
 glish had their farthest garrison. They knew that the Nar- 
 ragansetts were to be found at their fastness eighteen miles to 
 the westward. 
 
 This place is singularly well adapted for the necessities of 
 savage warfare. It reminds one of the points described in 
 the life of King Alfred of England as the strongholds of the 
 Saxons against the Danes, or the Danes against the Saxons. 
 An island of five or six acres is surrounded by a large swamp, 
 which can only be approached on certain artificial causeways. 
 On the inner side of this swamp the Indians had driven rows 
 of palisades, and the only entrance between these palisades was 
 a rude bridge four or five feet from the ground and water. This 
 bridge was protected by a block house. The English force 
 attacked on the 19th of December. They had marched from 
 their block house at five in the morning. They had spent 
 the night without shelter under the open sky. Their march 
 of eighteen miles was through wet snow, and they arrived at 
 the savage fortress at one in the afternoon. There was no 
 opportunity for stategy. The place must be taken by storm 
 if taken at all. Accordingly they stormed in column over the 
 bridge. Johnson, of Roxbury, was shot at the head of his 
 company. Davenport, of Boston, entered the inclosure only 
 to be killed. Gardner, of Salem, a third captain, and two of 
 the Connecticut captains were killed at once. Bradford, a 
 major of Plymouth, was wounded. Mason, another Connect- 
 icut captain, was wounded, and died of his wounds in a few 
 
68 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 days. These losses of officers show how close was the 
 conflict. But the English were all lost if they did not keep 
 on. They continued the conflict for two or three hours. It 
 is said that they once drove their assailants out of the fort, 
 and that they rallied and regained their ground. But as the 
 day closed the English held it in triumph. They finished 
 their work by setting fire to the wigwams inclosed in the fort. 
 Of the thousand men who joined in the attack seventy were 
 killed and a hundred and fifty wounded. With the loss of 
 the wigwams they had no place left them for shelter. They 
 did not dare spend the night in the open air with their 
 wounded, and in anew storm of snow they marched back to the 
 town of Wickford, where they found shelter in Smith's plan- 
 tation. 
 
 By this summary act the force of the Narragansetts was com- 
 pletely broken. It was thought at the time that Philip was in 
 the action, but it afterward proved that this was not true. 
 
 Not many weeks passed before Lancaster, a town only 
 thirty-five miles west from Boston, which had nearly three 
 hundred inhabitants living in fifty houses, was attacked at 
 sunrise and, excepting two fortified houses, was burned. The 
 house of Rowlandson, the minister, became a fortress, in 
 which several of the people took refuge. Twelve of them 
 were killed and only one of them escaped, and the rest of 
 them were taken captives. Mrs. Rowlandson, with her daugh- 
 ter, a child of six years old, was among these. The child 
 died after some days, but the mother remained with the sav- 
 ages for three months. She was then ransomed for twenty 
 pounds and joined her husband. Her narrative is one of the 
 most interesting accounts which we have of these calamities, 
 and shows, better, perhaps, than any other authority we can 
 consult, the nature of the life of the New England Indians of 
 that time. The town of Marlboro was the next to suffer, on 
 the 26th of March ; and at the same time, in a battle in Paw- 
 tuxet, fifty Englishmen and eight Indians were killed by a 
 party of Narragansetts. On the same day several of the En- 
 glish, who were going to Springfield to divine service, fell into 
 
turner's FALLS. 69 
 
 ambush and were killed. Through the spring and summer of 
 1676 such predatory warfare was carried on, and ten or 
 twelve towns more were wholly or partially destroyed. The 
 warfare continued in the Narragansett country and on the 
 western frontier of Massachusetts. At last, on the 18th of 
 May, Turner, of Boston, in command of an English force, 
 heard of a large party at the falls of the river Connecticut 
 which now bear his name, and with a party of nearly two 
 hundred men surprised them at daylight. Three hundred of 
 the Indians perished. The English lost only one man. But 
 in Turner's retreat, for he did not dare to hold his position, his 
 column was surrounded and he was himself killed, with more 
 than forty of his men. Emboldened by this success the In- 
 dians attacked Hatfield and fired several buildings. But the 
 garrison was relieved from Hadley and the Indians driven 
 away. 
 
 A little after, Talcott, with a considerable English force, 
 attacked a strong Indian force and routed them, and after 
 this experience the western frontier of Massachusetts was 
 comparatively free from danger. On the whole, the cam- 
 paign had been disadvantageous to the Indians. In Plymouth 
 a large number of them surrendered. Toward midsummer, 
 however, Philip was heard of, and it was evident that he was 
 proposing to attack Taunton, in the southern part of eastern 
 Massachusetts. Strong parties were sent against him. and 
 his own men failed to support him. Church, a successful 
 Indian fighter, pressed him close, and in the immediate neigh- 
 borhood of Mount Hope, which had always been recognized 
 as Philip's head-quarters, the king met his fate. A friendly 
 Indian, who had been named Alderman, was stationed with 
 an Englishman at a point where it was thought the fugitives 
 must pass, when they saw Philip running. The Englishman's 
 gun missed fire ; the Indian's took effect. A bullet passed 
 through the heart of the chief and he fell dead with his gun 
 under him. Although other outrages followed, with the death 
 of Philip the war came substantially to a close. 
 
 The contest was critical. The colonists fought for their 
 
70 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 existence. Almost every able-bodied man was under arms, 
 and it has been estimated that one tenth of their soldiers were 
 killed. It is to be observed that in the whole struggle their 
 governments made no appeal to England. They did not ask 
 for a single soldier, nor for an ounce of powder, nor for an- 
 other gun beyond what they had. They felt it was their 
 battle. They regarded themselves as independent of the 
 Crown, and they wanted none ol the Crown's assistance. If 
 they must succumb without its aid, they would succumb. 
 This proud independence was observed at the time, and is 
 important as explaining the attitude of the descendants of the 
 same men in another century. 
 

 HENRY HUDSON. ?I 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 New York, 1 609. 
 
 United Netherlands— Henry Hudson's Expedition— His Return to Europe 
 — Nahant and Block Island — Purchase of Manhattan— System of Pa- 
 troons — Contest of Flags Between the Dutch and English — Removal 
 of Van T wilier— Appointment of William Keift— Increase of Emigra- 
 tion — Trouble with the Indians — War Between the Iroquois and Al- 
 gonquins — General Treaty of the Hostile Tribes — Warlike Move- 
 ments of Dutch and English. 
 
 AT the end of a long war to throw off the yoke of Spain, 
 the United Netherlands in the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century found themselves the commercial leaders of the 
 world. They had nearly a hundred thousand sailors in their 
 service and, for commerce and war, a fleet of three thousand 
 ships. Under the Dutch standard navigators and explorers of 
 all nations might sail in search of riches and for discovery. 
 
 Henry Hudson was probably a native of London. He 
 was a friend of Captain John Smith, and other adventurers of 
 the time whose thoughts turned constantly upon new routes to 
 India. Under the direction of an English company, he had 
 made two voyages in search of a north-western passage across 
 the Northern Ocean, when the report of these enterprises in- 
 duced the directors of the Dutch East India Company to 
 send for him to come to Amsterdam. In January, 1609, they 
 signed a contract to furnish him with a small vessel, about 
 three hundred dollars for his expenses, and the promise of a 
 suitable reward should he find a practicable passage. 
 
 They wanted him to go by the northern shore of Asia, and 
 on the 6th of April, 1609, Hudson started, with not more than 
 twenty men, in the Half-Moon along the cost of Norway to- 
 ward the North Cape ; but then, contrary to his instructions, 
 
72 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 he turned his ship toward the American coast, and after sailing 
 along the shore near Cape Cod, and as far south as Chesa- 
 peake Bay, he sailed away north again, and on the 2d of 
 September came to anchor. Here he saw an island with low 
 hills, and what they thought were three great rivers. Indians 
 crowded to the shore and put off in canoes to welcome them. 
 Hudson explored the wide river, hoping, doubtless, to find it 
 the longed-for passage to the South Sea; but, persuaded at 
 last that it was only a stream flowing far from the north, he 
 turned about, not far from Albany, and descended it again. 
 He named it the River of the Mountains ; but since then it 
 has received the name of its discoverer, and it is the Hudson, 
 
 He sailed away at once and returned to Europe, expect- 
 ing to report to his Dutch employers. But the English gov- 
 ernment, which had waked up to the fact of his enterprise, 
 refused to let him leave the country (for he had put into an 
 English port), reminding him that Englishmen owed their serv- 
 ices to their own nation. To his country Hudson sacrificed 
 his life, for in an English voyage a year afterward, he was aban- 
 doned by his ship's crew in a small boat, among the ice fields 
 of the great bay which bears his name. 
 
 Neverthelesss, the Half -Moon found its way to Amsterdam 
 and a few Dutch merchants engaged a part of her crew to go 
 back again to bring them furs from the savages. The trade 
 proved highly successful, and Manhattan Island became the 
 chief station for the little Dutch vessels which came and went 
 up and down the river, bargaining with the Indians for good 
 furs in exchange for beads, knives and hatchets. The river 
 at first was called Mauritius, after Maurice of Orange. 
 
 The Dutch seamen explored the neighborhood, went as far 
 along the coast as the promontory of Nahant, on the New 
 England shore, and left their traces in the names of Block 
 Island, and Cape May. A trading company was formed which 
 was given control over a region which was named "New 
 Netherland," which included the sea-coast between 40 and 50 
 degrees. The profits were enormous for its Amsterdam pro- 
 prietors. It established friendly relations with all the Indians 
 
MANHATTAN AND PLYMOUTH. 73 
 
 it met, and with a few exceptions lived in harmony with them 
 without seeking to establish any firm footing in the land. 
 
 In 162 1 the States General of the Netherlands chartered 
 the great West India Company, which formally took posses- 
 sion of New Netherlands, thus superseding the work of smaller 
 traders. Early in March, 1623, the ship New Netherland 
 sailed from Holland carrying the first colonists, in the true 
 meaning of the word. They were Walloons, a people of French 
 origin, who have lived for generations in the Southern Nether- 
 lands. They professed the reformed religion, and being per- 
 secuted for their faith, like the Puritans, they longed for a 
 country of freedom which they could call their own. 
 
 Three of their governors in turn managed the growing 
 colony. One of them, Peter Minuit, bought the whole Island 
 of Manhattan from the Indians for about twenty-five dollars, 
 and all the chief interests of New Netherland became centered 
 in this spot. The houses of the colonists were only cottages 
 built of wood and bark. There was one stone building 
 thatched, the head-quarters for the colony, and a large quad- 
 rangular building of defense, Fort Amsterdam. 
 
 In 1628 the island of Manhattan had a population of two 
 hundred and seventy colonists. It had sent friendly greet- 
 ings and even an embassador to the English colony at Plym- 
 outh, who exchanged congratulations with Governor Bradford. 
 This dignitary was courteous but somewhat stiff, not hesitat- 
 ing to say that he thought the Dutch had no right to the land 
 they occupied. There was, however, no serious dispute, and 
 friendly relations continued between Manhattan and Plym- 
 outh. 
 
 The prosperity of the colony was greatly endangered by 
 the establishment by the Amsterdam Company of the system 
 of "patroons" — large landed proprietors with almost unlimit- 
 ed powers, protected and defended by the company. These 
 proprietors bought from the Indians and took possession of 
 large tracts of land which they ruled like absolute lords, and 
 sought also so large a share in the profitable trade with the 
 Indians that the whole progress of the colony was hindered. 
 
74 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 In the spring of 1633 a new difficulty arose. Wouter Van 
 Twiller was the new director of the colony sent out from the 
 company at Amsterdam. He was fat and fussy, narrow in 
 perception, and quite unfitted for his post ; but he was mar- 
 ried to a Van Rensselaer, of the chief family of the patroons. 
 Soon after he arrived an English vessel, the William, en- 
 tered the harbor, bringing as supercargo one Jacob Elkins, 
 who had been there before as commandant of Fort Orange in 
 the Dutch company's orders. He had now entered the En- 
 glish service, and brought his new masters to the old place to 
 show them the rich possessions there. 
 
 The William anchored in the bay, and Director Van Twil- 
 ler accepted with pleasure the polite invitation of the En- 
 glish captain to dinner. This passed off pleasantly; but after- 
 ward Elkins announced that they were going up the river to 
 trade with the Indians and to see for themselves, as he boldly 
 remarked, " the land that belonged to the English," since 
 Hudson, the Englishman had discovered it. 
 
 Van Twiller was greatly excited and ran up and down, be- 
 side himself. He caused the flag of Orange to be raised on 
 the fort and saluted three times, whereupon the English cap- 
 tain ran up the English flag on board the William and had 
 that saluted three times, after which he weighed his anchor 
 and sailed away up stream before the eyes of the director 
 and under the flag of the Prince of Orange. Van Twiller 
 could think of nothing better to do than to open a barrel of 
 wine before his door and drink bumper after bumper, urging 
 his people to do the same for the love of him and the Prince 
 of Orange. 
 
 After hesitating several days Van Twiller managed to send 
 off some soldiers from the fort in pursuit of Elkins, who com- 
 pelled him to return, and the William was then ordered to 
 leave the harbor. 
 
 On her return to England the owners of the William made 
 complaint, with demand for damages, since the object of its 
 voyage had been defeated by the Dutch. The application 
 was denied and a controversy arose, but the matter was 
 
INDIAN WAR. 75 
 
 for the time dismissed by the Dutch and English govern- 
 ments. 
 
 For the first twenty years of its settlement Manhattan was 
 little else than a mere trading post, yet it increased in some 
 degree. The incompetent governor, Van Twiller, grew more 
 and more imbecile in his management of public affairs, al- 
 though with all his imbecility he managed himself to grow 
 rich. In 1637 he was removed and his successor appointed, 
 William Kieft, of Amsterdam. This was no great improve- 
 ment; for he came with a bad reputation for honesty, though 
 a good one for skill in the management of his own affairs. 
 
 The chamber at Amsterdam in 1638 for the first time 
 opened the New Netherland trade to competition, virtually 
 free, which greatly increased emigration. Ship after ship 
 brought colonists, people of all conditions, who had suddenly 
 come to regard the new country as a land of promise. From 
 the other colonies also came recruits. Many came from Vir- 
 ginia, bringing with them cherry and peach trees and their 
 better method of tobacco culture. Prosperity c&me with the 
 new-comers and showed them to be a better class of people 
 than their predecessors. Healthy and rapid progress was 
 now to be looked for. 
 
 But a terrible calamity was about to check this prosperity. 
 The Dutch had hitherto treated the Indians with wisdom and 
 justice, but the management of Kieft's administration was 
 different. Guns and ammunition had been unwisely sold to 
 the natives, and when quarrels arose these were used against 
 the settlers. In return for attacks by the Raritans upon a 
 settlement Kieft offered a bounty for every head of a Raritan 
 Indian that should be brought to him. 
 
 About the same time the Indians of Connecticut were 
 roused against English and Dutch alike, and every-where 
 arose the dread of a general Indian war. 
 
 A war among the savages themselves was the beginning. 
 The Indians who inhabited the Atlantic slope and the basin 
 of the lakes were divided into two great families — the Iroquois 
 and the Algonquins. Among all the Indians of the New 
 

 — % 
 
 y6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 World there were none so politic and intelligent, so fierce and 
 brave, as the true Iroquois, the people of the Five Nations of 
 New York. They were a terror to all the surrounding tribes; 
 their speech and lineage were different from that of the Algon- 
 quins, to whom belonged the tribes of river Indians who 
 lived along the Hudson, and the Narragansetts and other New 
 England tribes. These latter tribes all trembled at the name 
 of Mohawk, the eastern tribe of the Five Nations, and paid 
 them tribute. 
 
 These were the enemies who came sweeping down upon the 
 Algonquins, armed with guns the Dutch had furnished. 
 Without resistance these southern Indians fled through the 
 woods, seeking refuge with the white men, although they 
 themselves had been lately hostile. Humanity urged that 
 they should find protection, but Kieft, and those who shared 
 his views, resolved to attack them. A frightful massacre en- 
 sued of the defenseless Indians fleeing before another enemy 
 of their own hue. 
 
 The results, though terrible, were but natural. The Algon- 
 quin people every-where rose against the whites. Every 
 swamp and wood in the country seemed to swarm with en- 
 raged savages. A short peace was followed by renewed hos- 
 tilities. A band of savages attacked the little house of Anne 
 Hutchinson, near New Rochelle, and she and her whole 
 family were murdered, except one granddaughter, who was 
 carried away captive. The people naturally attributed these 
 misfortunes to Kieft, for although proclamation was made for 
 a solemn fast in acknowledgment that it was " owing to their 
 sins," they all accused the director, and not themselves. The 
 terror lasted through a long winter, savages lurking every- 
 where, houses in flames, women and children starving, the 
 Indians every-where keeping away from bodies of organized 
 troops, so that resistance availed but little. 
 
 In the beginning of 1644 two Indian villages were surprised 
 and sacked. Other successes followed, and at last a decisive 
 blow was struck in Connecticut which silenced the eastern 
 tribes. In another year the Indians themselves began to 
 
ENGLISH POLICY. 77 
 
 show a wish for peace, and on the 30th of August, 1645, tne 
 citizens of New Amsterdam assembled on the ground now 
 known as the Battery, witnessed the smoking of the pipe of 
 peace, and the conclusion of a general treaty of all the hos- 
 tile tribes. 
 
 On the 6th day of September New Netherland held a day 
 of thanksgiving for the ending of the long and terrible Indian 
 war. Sixteen hundred savages had been killed; but there 
 was not a single Dutch settlement that had not been attacked 
 and almost always destroyed. 
 
 Now, however, in spite of the check the country had re- 
 ceived, courage began to revive, houses were rebuilt, and 
 lands cultivated once more. Best of all, the origin of all 
 their misfortunes, Kieft, the director, was, after a second 
 urgent appeal, recalled by the company at home. His suc- 
 cessor was appointed, and the anxious colonists of Manhattan 
 were greatly encouraged. 
 
 The Dutch had settled along the river banks rather than 
 along the sea-shore, chiefly because it was more convenient 
 for the Indian trade. Thus by a glance at the map we may 
 see that the English settlements in New England and those 
 in Maryland, Virginia and Carolina were separated by the 
 two lines of Dutch settlements on the Hudson and the Dela- 
 ware. It was not unnatural that the English authorities 
 should have felt that some time or other New Netherland 
 must come into their hands if their American colonies were 
 to be what they desired. The colonists themselves in a 
 measure desired the same thing, for though there had been no 
 open rupture with the Dutch there had been not infrequent 
 disputes. There was no particular ground, however, on 
 which the English could claim the territory save that of 
 prior discovery. But this objection weighed but little with 
 Charles II., and in 1664, in time of peace, Colonel Nicolls 
 and certain other commissioners left England charged with 
 various duties, and, among other things, directed to assert 
 the English claim of possession on account of discovery by 
 the Cabots. These commissioners had with them a force of 
 
78 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 nearly five hundred men, and they were ordered to recruit 
 more in New England. The Massachusetts men refused to 
 have any thing to do with the business (for the commission- 
 ers had other and unpopular business with the colonists of 
 the bay); but the Connecticut men were not unwilling to 
 march against the Dutch, whom they had never considered 
 very pleasing neighbors. In August, 1664, the English fleet 
 appeared before New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant the wooden- 
 legged was in command of the town; but the place was in no 
 condition for defense. There were no walls to defend, no 
 men to defend them, and no arms or ammunition to defend 
 them with. In other words, the place was very weakly forti- 
 fied. Stuyvesant, however, was plucky enough for any thing, 
 and resolved to try to defend his trust. He received a letter 
 from Colonel Nicolls, the English commander, but would 
 have nothing to do with the proposition and tore the paper 
 up. But the people of the town, thinking that something was 
 going on, gathered together the pieces and read them. Then, 
 on hearing the terms which Nicolls offered, they begged Stuy- 
 vesant to surrender. But Sutyvesant stumped about and 
 swore that he would defend the place to the last. He was, 
 however, the only man of that opinion, and finding out that 
 he was utterly deserted he submitted to the terms offered. 
 He marched out with the garrison with the honors of war and 
 the English took possession. The other towns followed the 
 example, and the conquest of the New Netherland was com- 
 plete. The towns on the Delaware also surrendered, and the 
 country afterward known as " The Jerseys " was made over 
 to Berkeley and Carteret and a new company. The name of 
 the province was changed to New York and the name of the 
 town also; for to James, Duke of York, afterward King of 
 England, was the province all granted by Charles II., to whom 
 power was given to make laws and in all ways to look to the 
 good of the colonists. Nicolls was the first governor, succeed- 
 ed shortly by Lovelace. This last was governor in 1672, when 
 war broke out between England and Holland, in which year 
 a Dutch fleet appeared before New York and captured the 
 
ENGLISH COLONIES. 79 
 
 place as easily as the English had done eight years be- 
 fore. The name was changed again, this time to Orange, in 
 honor of William of Orange, the stadtholder. The Dutch, 
 however, only held the province through the war, and at the 
 peace it was given back to England. 
 
 It formed the necessary connecting link between New En- 
 gland and the southern colonies. Without New York the 
 colonies could never have united; could never have grown 
 strong enough to shake off their allegiance to the mother 
 country. But all this was then in the future. Probably 
 there was no thought in England or the colonies save rejoic- 
 ing at the appropriation of New York. The Duke of York 
 again took charge of it, and named as governor Sir Edmund 
 Andros, a man of some name in American history, of whom 
 we shall hear again. 
 
80 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Government of New England Changed. 
 
 The Restoration of Charles II. — His Demands on Massachusetts — Terms 
 With Other Colonies — A Commission Sent to New England — It Ar- 
 rives at New York — Passes to Boston — The General Court Meets — 
 Controversy With the Commission — Yictory of the General Court — 
 Decline of the Puritan Spirit — Its Causes — Its Progress — The Years 
 Following the Commission — Maine and New Hampshire — Mason's 
 Claim and that of Gorges — The Massachusetts Charter Declared 
 Null and Void — The Controversy Ends by the Failure of the Col- 
 onists — James II. 's Plan — Sir Edmund Andros — His Success at First 
 — Popular Rising — Andros Imprisoned — William and Mary Pro- 
 claimed. 
 
 T 
 
 HE restoration of Charles II. was looked upon by the 
 men of New England with some apprehensions. Nev- 
 ertheless the two houses of the Massachusetts General Court 
 drew up addresses which were forwarded to the king, who 
 returned an answer couched in general terms but not unfavor- 
 able. But although nothing was at this time done, it was 
 evident that a change in the management of colonial affairs 
 was to take place. The king was formally proclaimed by all 
 the colonies in the summer of 1660. At the same time Mas- 
 sachusetts drew up a sort of bill of rights and duties in which 
 the colony clearly stated its position. She also resolved to 
 send agents to England to present that position to the king. 
 Bradstreet and Norton were graciously received by Charles, 
 and returned with a royal letter in which he promised to 
 respect their charter, but made certain demands which were 
 the subjects of discussion for the ensuing years. In the first 
 place it was commanded that the franchise should not be con- 
 fined to church members. Next, the episcopal form of wor- 
 ship should be allowed. The colonists were also required to 
 
CHARLES'S COMMISSION. 8 1 
 
 take the oath of allegiance, and it was lastly demanded that 
 justice should be administered in the name of the king. The 
 colonists felt that their liberty was gone if they granted these 
 demands. 
 
 The other colonies were, on the whole, gainers by the Res- 
 toration. Rhode Island received a royal charter. So also 
 Connecticut, to which New Haven, was joined, not without 
 much opposition on the part of the smaller colony. The 
 union was finally acceded to only with the fear that worse 
 would befall them. 
 
 It was finally decided in England to send a commission 
 to regulate affairs in New England and New York. The 
 four commissioners, Nicolls, Cartwright, Carr and Maverick, 
 arrived in the country in July, 1664. Their object was 
 twofold. They w r ere, first, to assert the claim of England 
 to New Netherland and to demand of the New England 
 colonies assistance in enforcing that claim ; and, second, 
 they were to see to the state of things in the New England 
 colonies and to provide for the " settling the peace and 
 security of the said country according to their good and 
 sound discretions." That is to say, in other words (as was 
 put forward in certain private instructions received by them), 
 they were to see how the colonies stood with respect to the 
 king ; to see whether there was any ground for questioning 
 their charters, and to proceed in every way that they might 
 think best, toward the further establishing of the king's au- 
 thority in those parts. 
 
 The commissioners set to work first in regard to New 
 Netherland, and having demanded and obtained assistance 
 from Connecticut, they departed for the island of " Man- 
 hadoes," as it was called, with the success already narrated. 
 On their return (Nicolls remaining in New York, of which 
 he had been appointed the governor) the other three devoted 
 themselves to prosecuting their duties, as far as regarded the 
 colonies of Plymouth, Connecticut and Rhode Island, reserv- 
 ing Massachusetts to the end, as probably more contumacious. 
 And in these colonies they met, on the whole, with success, 
 
82 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 their demands being quietly acceded to, though in some cases 
 subsequently ignored. In May, 1665, they all four met in 
 Boston to consider what might best be done with the Massa- 
 chusetts Bay Colony. 
 
 It being about the time of the meeting of the General 
 Court the commissioners presented certain papers to such 
 of the magistrates and deputies as had already assembled, 
 setting forth their instructions ; recapitulating the results of 
 the New Netherland expedition, complaining that the king's 
 letter, by them already transmitted, had not been made public, 
 desiring a map whereby they might settle the boundaries of 
 the colonies as they had been ordered, and in a general way 
 stating their position. 
 
 At the election the next day Bellingham was elected gov- 
 ernor, and, the General Court meeting, about seventy were 
 admitted freemen who were not church members, contrary to 
 the usual practice. Communications now were opened be- 
 tween the commissioners and the court. But the court would 
 not agree to any thing that could satisfy the commissioners. 
 Nor could the commissioners be satisfied with the manner in 
 which the previous demands of the king had been acceded 
 to. The communications resulted in nothing at all. Another 
 proceeding, however, was of more importance. The com- 
 missioners took upon themselves, in accordance with their 
 instructions, to declare their readiness to hear a certain case 
 in which appeal was made from the judgment of the colony. 
 The General Court protested against such a proceeding, for 
 the commissioners proposed to hold the trial without a jury. 
 The commissioners, however, insisted, and set an hour for the 
 hearing. At the hour appointed a messenger from the Gen- 
 eral Court appeared and forbade the people " in his majesty's 
 name and by the authority of his royal charter," to countenance, 
 or abet, or consent to any such proceedings. The commis- 
 sioners did not insist; they saw that the colony was stubborn 
 and that their proceedings were of no avail, and, witli a pro- 
 test, they left the town. They proceeded to the north, where 
 they attempted disturbances in the settlements on the New 
 
DECLINE OF PURITANISM. 83 
 
 Hampshire and Maine coast, as will be elsewhere recorded. 
 Then they dispersed ; Nicolls and Maverick going to New 
 York, and Carr to Delaware, where he had private interests, 
 while Cartwright returned to England with the report of the 
 commissioners. 
 
 Although it would at first seem as though the visit of the 
 royal commissioners had ended in a victory for the Massa- 
 chusetts colony, on looking upon events with reference to 
 subsequent history, it seems as though from this point we 
 must date the beginning of the downfall of that high ideal 
 government, which had existed in the minds of the founders 
 of Massachusetts, and had been partially carried out by the 
 settlement of that Commonwealth. From this point we must 
 date the beginning of that determined attack by the Stuart 
 kings which finally robbed Massachusetts of so much of 
 the freedom she had now for almost forty years enjoyed. 
 From this point we may also date the beginning of that weak- 
 ening of the Puritan spirit which finally, in the eighteenth 
 century, disappeared before the new spirit which may be 
 called the Revolutionary idea. 
 
 The principal causes of this decline are not difficult to 
 note. In the first place the old generation was passing 
 away. Winthrop, Dudley, Endicott and many more of those 
 great men who had conceived the principles of the ideal 
 Puritan Commonwealth were by this time dead. Such ideals 
 are not created in every generation. The events of the earlier 
 years of the century were such as to call forward the highest 
 and noblest qualities of the Englishmen of that day. Their 
 immediate descendants could do little more than to endeavor 
 to preserve the ideals of the fathers. And even this pres- 
 ervation in the case of New England was by no means easy. 
 It was not as though Massachusetts were guarded round about, 
 so that no one could obtain entrance thereto save the Puritans. 
 As the colony grew in strength and prosperity, the number 
 of those who had no stake in the colony save a material one 
 became largely augmented, and the growth of this material 
 spirit was one of the causes of the decline of the Puritan 
 
84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ideal. But more important than either of these was the fact 
 that the Commonwealth and Protectorate in England were 
 now a thing of the past, and that a Stuart was once more on 
 the throne. Charles II. and his brother, James II., were not 
 men to see with complacency the growth of this Common- 
 wealth in New England. The bent of their minds led them 
 to think, naturally, of repressing it. Nor were there lacking 
 those who should encourage such ideas. There were many 
 in England who looked to America as a means of repairing 
 fortunes broken by the Civil War. There were many who, 
 through the strictness of the Massachusetts Colony, had many 
 a grievance against the Puritan Commonwealth. So there 
 were by no means wanting those whom personal interest en- 
 couraged to stand by the side of their lord, the king, and 
 say daily to him, "My lord, remember the Athenians." 
 
 We shall see in the next few pages the manner in which 
 the decline proceeded. The commercial and geographical 
 increase of strength was, as we have seen, turned against the 
 Puritan spirit. The strengthening of the colony in relation 
 to the Indians, both in war and in religion, was of no avail. 
 The colony was no longer allowed to strengthen herself in- 
 ternally by casting forth dissentients and keeping out intrud- 
 ers. She was forced to take to herself those who had little 
 sympathy with her spirit. The franchise was to be no longer 
 confined to church members, and the strictness of the prim- 
 itive Puritan worship was to be broken in upon by the tolera- 
 tion of other sects. And, lastly, the virtual independence of 
 the colony in regard to England was destroyed, and the prerog- 
 ative of the king was vigorously asserted in many ways, revers- 
 ing the Puritan idea that the law of God was to be preferred 
 to that of the king, and enforcing with vigor a very different 
 state of things. 
 
 For ten years after the visit of the royal commissioners affairs 
 went on in Massachusetts without the slightest connection 
 with England. Nor did England prosecute her attempts 
 upon her colony. There is nothing to chronicle in the prog- 
 ress of the dispute between the two countries; for scarcely 
 
EDWARD RANDOLPH. 85 
 
 any political connection existed. There was no rumor of 
 English encroachment on the New England colonies beyond 
 the demand of Andros, who had been made Governor of 
 New York, on the colony of Connecticut for a portion of her 
 territory as belonging to his master, the Duke of York. 
 
 Maine and New Hampshire had not been included in the 
 charter of Massachusetts ; both had come in a manner under 
 her rule. The four towns on the Piscataqua, " in the patent 
 of New Hampshire," were in 1641 taken under the jurisdic- 
 tion of the Bay Colony at their own request. And that juris- 
 diction had been pressed farther along the coast of Maine, 
 where Sir Ferdinando Gorges had conflicting claims as pro- 
 prietor. The visit of the royal commissioners into those 
 parts had been for the purpose of stirring up disaffection for 
 the Massachusetts government, whereby there might be 
 ground for complaint against the colony in England. But at 
 that time there had been but little success in that direction. 
 
 Ten years afterward, however, in England the claims of 
 Mason and of Gorges were both revived, and memorials were 
 offered to the Committee of the Privy Council to whose 
 charge colonial matters were delegated. Complaint was also 
 made, by the London merchants and others, of the violation 
 of the navigation laws, to which Massachusetts, as well as 
 Virginia, had been subject; and, as it seemed a favorable 
 opportunity, it was resolved to bring up once more the case 
 against Massachusetts and to endeavor again to assert the king's 
 authority there in a manner more suitable to his prerogative 
 than that which now obtained. A letter was written to the 
 colony and sent by the hand of one Edward Randolph. This 
 man proved himself in the course of the next twelve or thir- 
 teen years the persistent enemy of the colony. On this ex- 
 cursion he did his business, but met with little success; for 
 the letter was written in a mild spirit and the colony hardly 
 saw fit to mend its ways. Randolph complained of the in- 
 fraction of the navigation laws, and was in return told by 
 Governor Leverett, an old Parliamentary soldier, that by their 
 charter they made their own laws, and that the laws of Par- 
 
86 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 liament did not concern them. The colony sent two agents 
 back to England with an address for King Charles, but did 
 nothing in the way of changing their customs. 
 
 The story of the consequent proceedings is too long to enter 
 upon in detail. As time passed on the king became more 
 and more determined, and the colony was forced to a measure 
 of compliance. One by one the points demanded were given 
 up, but grudgingly, and one at a time did Massachusetts sur- 
 render her old independent laws. New Hampshire was taken 
 from her by a decision of the crown lawyers, but she succeeded 
 in retaining Maine by a composition with Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges. At this time, in the colony, there was no longer the 
 unbroken front which had been shown to previous encroach- 
 ments of England. Among the descendants of the founders 
 of the colony there were some who were scarcely worthy of 
 their distinguished fathers. There were left many who were 
 ready steadfastly to maintain the liberties of Massachusetts as 
 granted in the charter, but there was also a small party of 
 those who held for the king, and also a larger party of those 
 who preferred submission in time, hoping thereby to gain 
 more than they could hope for if an open breach took place. 
 Yet the colony, though crippled in this manner, would not 
 accede to all the demands of the crown, and finally it seemed 
 evident to the king that extreme measures must be taken. 
 It was determined to begin legal proceedings to see whether 
 the Puritans had not exceeded their lawful powers in the inter- 
 pretation and execution of their patent. A writ of quo war- 
 ranto was issued June 27, 1683, and the colony was sum- 
 moned to show cause why the charter should not be declared 
 null and void. No defense was attempted, and sixteen 
 months later a decree was entered vacating the charter. 
 
 The government of Massachusetts had now no legal stand- 
 ing. The right over the country reverted to the crown, in 
 which it had resided when the charter had just issued. The 
 long struggle between the colony and the crown had ended, 
 and the Massachusetts men were entirely at the mercy of the 
 king, to be treated as he saw fit. At first, however, no 
 
EDMUND ANDROS. 87 
 
 change was made, and the old government was temporarily- 
 continued. 
 
 Charles II. died after a few months, and his brother, James 
 II., succeeding him, at first continued the old form of govern- 
 ment for the time and subsequently joined Massachusetts, 
 Maine and New Hampshire into one province, for the ruling 
 of which he appointed a council, Randolph being a member, 
 at the head of which was placed as president Joseph Dudley, 
 the son of Thomas Dudley, the second governor of the colony. 
 The difference between this man and his father shows us how 
 the general character of the Puritan colony had declined. 
 Thomas Dudley may represent the men of the days of the 
 settlement of the country, the sturdy Puritans, with their 
 firm ideas about God and government. Joseph Dudley cared 
 more for the favor of the English court than he did about the 
 liberties of his own country. The contrast is most instructive. 
 
 There are few events during the presidency of Dudley. 
 Every body was waiting to see what would come next. Con- 
 necticut and Rhode Island feared that their charters were to 
 be taken from them. In Massachusetts, men waited to see 
 what would come next. The government was by no means 
 utterly subservient. Randolph met with much difficulty in 
 carrying out his duties as collector of customs, and the little 
 Episcopal Church which was immediately formed found it 
 hard to find a place for worship. The presidency was but a 
 temporary expedient and satisfied no one. 
 
 It was the idea of James II. to unite all the northern col- 
 onies under one government; for, as is easily seen, he would 
 thereby have more control over his foreign possessions. Ac- 
 cordingly, in 1 686, as had been expected, the charter of Con- 
 necticut was annulled, and the next year that of Rhode Island 
 was delivered up. In 1686 Sir Edmund Andros, who had 
 been governor of New York, was made governor of Maine, 
 New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Plymouth,* and was sent 
 to America with orders to join Connecticut to the other col- 
 
 * It must be recollected that Plymouth never had a charter. 
 
88 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 onies under him. It was part of the plan to join New York 
 also, so that all the northern colonies should be under the 
 rule of one man, and he one who might be depended on to 
 carry out the king's will. 
 
 Andros was such a man. As soon as he had established 
 himself at Boston he set to work at once to create such a 
 manner of government as would be to the mind of his master. 
 It goes without saying that his proceedings were distasteful 
 to the colonists. Among his earliest acts were some espe- 
 cially displeasing to the inhabitants in regard to the introduc- 
 tion of the service of the Anglican Church. A congregation 
 had been gathered, but, being refused the use of any of the 
 meeting-houses, it had worshiped in a room in the town- 
 house. Andros was by no means satisfied. He sent for the 
 ministers and demanded that an arrangement should be made 
 whereby the Episcopal Church might meet in one of the 
 Puritan meeting-houses. The ministers answered that their 
 consciences could by no means permit this. Andros did not 
 insist at the time, but later, on Good Friday, he sent to de- 
 mand the keys of the Old South Meeting-house, that it 
 might be used for divine worship. The request was refused, 
 but he managed, through the sexton, to obtain entrance into 
 the building, and henceforth services were held there regu- 
 larly at such times on Sunday as it was not required by the 
 regular congregation. Another proceeding of the new gov- 
 ernor's, and one which the inhabitants justly looked upon as 
 most dangerous, was in regard to arbitrary impositions of taxes; 
 for, there being no general court, the taxes were laid by the 
 governor and council. Several towns refused to elect the 
 officers who should collect them, and were at once severely 
 taken order with, their principal men being tried and heavily 
 fined. Another arbitrary act of the governor's was concern- 
 ing land tenures. All tenure of land, he held, had depended 
 on the old charter. This being vacated he held that all right 
 in the soil had returned to the crown, and he therefore forced 
 all persons who desired valid title to obtain it of him; and 
 this confirmation of old deeds was rendered a very expensive 
 

 REVOLUTION. 89 
 
 affair. In fact, all administration of justice was rendered 
 particularly difficult and expensive in many ways, both by 
 extortionate fees, by ordering all records to be kept at Boston, 
 by not printing the laws, and by various other ways, all 
 which served to stir up the people. 
 
 Early in the year 1689 the governor returned from an ex- 
 pedition into Maine. He had so far succeeded well in carry- 
 ing out the orders of his master. He had journeyed into 
 Plymouth and Connecticut and had established his rule there 
 firmly. The latter colony had been deprived of its charter, 
 and Rhode Island had been forced to deliver up hers. New 
 York had been added to the Dominion of New England, and 
 every-where the arbitrary government which he had been 
 bidden to set up had seemed to succeed well. 
 
 In March, 1689, news arrived of the landing in England of 
 the Prince of Orange. It was nothing but a rumor, and no 
 one could say what would be his success or how the venture 
 might turn out. But it was sufficient encouragement for the 
 inhabitants of Massachusetts, so goaded by the tyranny of 
 Andros, that they were ready for very desperate measures. 
 The principal men of the colony seem to have been in con- 
 ference already. On the 1 8th of April a revolution was effected. 
 The beacon on Beacon Hill was lighted, the people met, 
 and the captain of the frigate in the harbor was arrested. 
 Andros was in the fort on Fort Hill. Later in the morning a 
 number of the principal men of the colony, with a company 
 of militia, entered the town-house. Randolph and many of 
 the government were arrested and put in jail. The jailer 
 was put there too, and all were watched over by one Scates, 
 a bricklayer. 
 
 The gentlemen deliberating in the town-house drew up a 
 statement of their case and read it to the crowd assembled 
 before the building. Word was sent to order Andros to sur- 
 render under threat of an assault of the fort. He was taken 
 and lodged in a private house, and many with him were put in 
 the jail. The next day the castle was seized and the frigate 
 in the harbor. The Andros government was at an end. A 
 
90 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 provisional government was adopted under the style of the 
 " Council for the Safety of the People." Bradstreet, the last 
 governor under the old charter, was elected their president. 
 By them a convention was summoned of delegates from the 
 various towns, by whom it was decided that the old charter 
 should be revised, and that those who had held office under 
 it should provisionally resume those offices until a permanent 
 government should be arranged. At about this time a ship 
 arrived from England with orders to proclaim William and 
 Mary. The colony obeyed with very great joy; there was a 
 great parade in Boston and a great dinner at the town-house, 
 and the day was passed with great acclamation and thanks- 
 giving. 
 
 With even more ease was the revolution consummated in 
 the other colonies; for in most of them there was no one to 
 make resistance. In Plymouth the old government was set up 
 when news came of what had been done in Boston. So also 
 in Connecticut. In each elections were held for the General 
 Court, and the governor and magistrates who had been in 
 office under the old system were temporarily confirmed in 
 those positions. 
 
 
THE CAROLINAS AND VIRGINIA. 91 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Carolinas and Virginia— 1 680-1700. 
 
 Early History of the Carolinas — The Coast at First Neglected — Charles II. 's 
 Charter — Locke's Fundamentals— They Are Never Put in Force — Vir- 
 ginia Without a Governor — Sir William Berkeley Appointed — Oppres- 
 sion of the Colonists— War With Indians — Nathaniel Bacon — His 
 Popularity — Conflict With Berkeley — Compromise Secured — Berkeley 
 Leaves the Province to Bacon — A Convention — Bacon's Unexpected 
 Death — End of the Insurrection — Colonel Jeffrey Succeeds Berkeley 
 — Berkeley's Death — Culpepper Appointed Governor — Foundation of 
 Williamsburg, and the College of William and Mary. 
 
 THE early history of the Carolinas is not an easy one to 
 apprehend. Made up of small enterprises with no 
 purpose higher than that of personal advancement, lacking 
 any great principles, or indeed any principle which may serve 
 as the clue through the labyrinth, lacking any great men or 
 great events to give color to the narrative, we find ourselves 
 in a network of details about settlements, Indian fights and 
 quarrels, which is difficult to disentangle and present in an in- 
 telligible form. 
 
 The region south of Virginia had been in a measure neg- 
 lected in the work of American colonization. The ex- 
 amples of Ribault and Raleigh in the sixteenth century had 
 not been followed until late in the seventeenth. But by 1660, 
 although no very definite efforts had been made at coloniza- 
 tion, there had been different and disconnected settlements 
 made on various parts of the shore south of Virginia. A set- 
 tlement was made from Virginia on the Albemarle River, 
 which finally became the colony of North Carolina. A settle- 
 ment of New England men was planted near Cape Fear, but 
 on account of fear of the Indians it was given up. On the 
 same spot, some years later, a settlement was made by emi- 
 
92 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 grants from the Barbadoes. These men finally deserted this 
 place and mingled with a settlement made from England 
 some years before, near the present site of Charleston. These 
 settlements had no given forms of government nor any claim 
 to their land save that of " squatters." 
 
 This was the condition of the country when Charles II. 
 made over thevvhole region for nearly five hundred miles 
 south of Virginia to a number of noblemen of England. 
 These men had the same position as that of Lord Baltimore — 
 that is, they were proprietors ; and Carolina, as it was then 
 called, was made a proprietary colony. Among the proprie- 
 tors were Lord Clarendon, Lord Albemarle and Lord Ashley, 
 -' afterward Earl of Shaftesbury. They at once set to work to 
 devise a scheme of government, and with the assistance of 
 John Locke, who subsequently became famous for other 
 things, they devised the most singular frame of government 
 which we have met with in America. It was called the 
 " Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina," and was in effect 
 a statement of the proposed constitution of society in the new 
 colony. The political and religious system was carefully laid 
 down and the system of land tenure, together with provisions 
 for the administration of justice. The government contem- 
 plated was to be an aristocracy, at the head of which were to 
 be the proprietors. The country was to be divided into coun- 
 ties, each made up of eight " seignories," eight " baronies," 
 and twenty-four colonies, each to consist of twelve thousand 
 acres. The proprietors were to own the " seignories," the 
 common people the "colonies." The "baronies" were to 
 belong to the subordinate nobility, which was of two classes — 
 first, the " landgraves ; " second, the " caciques." Besides the 
 " seignories," the proprietors (or their heirs) were to possess 
 the following offices : Palatine, chancellor, chief justice, con- 
 stable, admiral, treasurer, high steward and chamberlain, and 
 each of these officials was to be assisted by a court, in which 
 the "landgraves," the "caciques," and the "commons " were 
 to be represented. We have gone so far in our descriptions 
 of the Fundamental Constitutions merely to give an idea of 
 
THE CAROLINAS. 93 
 
 the utter inappropriateness of the instrument to the small, 
 scattered and struggling colonies which had passed under the 
 rule of the proprietors. Although made by themselves, the 
 proprietors seem to have appreciated the absurdity of their 
 frame of government, for they never heartily endeavored to 
 put it into force. And as for the colonists, they would have 
 nothing to do with it, and made up assemblies which passed 
 laws to suit themselves. 
 
 Not that the proprietors did not make any use of their 
 constitution and charter. They at once sent out as many 
 colonists as they could tempt, and with them they sent out 
 Sayle as deputy-governor, and other officers, for the 
 already existing colonies. But they could come to no sort 
 of agreement with the colonists already on the spot. In 
 North Carolina especially the settlers were a turbulent set. 
 One of the laws of that colony prohibited the collection in 
 its borders of any debt incurred outside of the State. The 
 place became, therefore, a great refuge, and in consequence 
 the population was rough and wild. The government over them 
 had been at first only temporary, the proprietary governors 
 always affirming that the Fundamental Constitutions were to 
 be put into force. This declaration rendered things unsettled 
 more. South Carolina improved more than North Carolina, 
 notably through the introduction of the culture of rice, 
 which was found to be particularly fitted to its soil and cli- 
 mate. But neither colony was far advanced in any way at 
 the beginning of the eighteenth century. 
 
 During the period in which England was preparing herself 
 for the restoration of the king by putting aside the new Pro- 
 tector, Richard Cromwell— from the spring of 1659 till that of 
 1660— Virginia was without a governor. In March the Gen- 
 eral Assembly took upon itself to elect Sir William Berkeley, 
 who had been superseded by the Parliamentary commission. 
 He was confirmed by a commission from the king, Charles II., 
 upon his restoration. 
 
 Berkeley ruled his colony with an iron hand. With him 
 religion meant conformity to the Established Church. He 
 
%) 
 
 94 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 hated non-conformity and set himself against any appeal to hu- 
 man reason in matters of belief. Puritans and Quakers he 
 detested, and regarded their departure from his colony as a 
 good riddance. He says, " I thank God there are no free 
 schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have them these 
 hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience into 
 the world, and printing has divulged them and libels against 
 the best governments. God keep us from both." 
 
 The colonists under his rule were oppressed, industry was 
 paralyzed, taxes were enormous. Only some pretext for re- 
 volt was needed to rouse the people to resistance. The In- 
 dians on the frontier were becoming troublesome, yet Gov- 
 ernor Berkeley, who perhaps thought such reports were 
 exaggerated, would make no effort to check them. The col- 
 onists, determined to defend themselves, avenged upon some 
 Indians — very likely the wrong ones — the murder of one of 
 their colonists. Retaliation followed. All the Indian tribes 
 in the neighborhood were aroused. The colonists of Mary- 
 land and Virginia united in an expedition, and a thousand 
 men were sent out under Colonel John Washington, of Vir- 
 ginia, the great-grandfather of George Washington, and Major 
 Thomas Freeman, of Maryland. There was no conflict, only 
 a parley, during which the whites allowed their rage to blind 
 them so far as to execute at once the five chiefs who came to 
 make peace, although they were entitled to safe conduct 
 under all the rules of war. Public opinion even then con- 
 demned the act, and Washington was publicly rebuked by 
 the governor. But revenge lay in the hands of the Indians, 
 who spread dismay all through Virginia. The condition of 
 the colonists was deplorable, in constant danger of attack 
 from the savages, who lurked throughout the land. Yet 
 Berkeley remained strangely indifferent to the sufferings of 
 the colonists, and dead, apparently, to their appeals for pro- 
 tection. 
 
 A young man named Nathaniel Bacon became greatly 
 moved by the distress of the people around him, and when, 
 in the early spring, savages killed two persons upon his own 
 
BERKELEY AND BACON. Q$ 
 
 plantation, he was roused to action. He swore to avenge 
 the death of his overseer, and, without any commission from 
 the governor, gathered together a considerable force, with 
 which he moved toward the wilderness, attacked a fortified 
 village, burned it, and put one hundred and fifty Indians to 
 death. 
 
 This act of Bacon's made him popular enough to be elected 
 for the new Assembly in spite of his defiance of the gov- 
 ernor, but it did not prevent his arrest by the order of that 
 dignitary when he came to Jamestown for the meeting of the 
 burgesses. Yet he was allowed to take his seat in that body, 
 and Berkeley, who seems to have had a tender feeling for the 
 young man, in the presence of the whole house extended his 
 forgiveness to him, which Bacon received kneeling, after 
 admitting his crime and begging pardon of God, the king 
 and the governor. 
 
 But this reconciliation between the wily old man and the 
 fiery youth was brief. In a few days the rumor ran through 
 the town that Bacon had fled, and soon after the news 
 came that the rebel was marching upon the town with four 
 or five hundred men. It is supposed that Bacon had reason 
 to suspect Berkeley of treachery, and this is the only excuse 
 for his own breaking faith. It was a scene of wild excitement 
 when the governor and council went forth into the street to 
 treat with the rebel leader, who had taken his position, pro- 
 tected by his troops, near the State House. Berkeley and 
 Bacon were both enraged. The governor bared his breast 
 and cried, " Shoot me ! 'Fore God, fair mark ! shoot me ! " 
 
 For a moment Bacon controlled himself, and replied with 
 something of respect. But when the governor turned away, 
 followed by his council, the fury of the rebel burst forth, and 
 he shouted, " Damn my blood ! I'll kill governor, council, 
 Assembly and all ! " 
 
 Fusils were pointed at the windows crowded with anxious 
 faces, the pieces were cocked, when someone waved a " hand- 
 kercher " at a window and called out that they should be satis- 
 fied. This person was recognized as an influential citizen. 
 
g6 history of the united states. 
 
 The soldiers lowered their arms and were marched away, and 
 thus ended the scene. 
 
 Berkeley was forced to a compromise, and Bacon's com- 
 mission was promptly passed by the burgesses and confirmed 
 by governor and council. Not only this, but many other 
 concessions were made by the Assembly for the benefit of the 
 people. 
 
 Bacon now speedily brought together the thousand men 
 allowed him by the commission, and set out for a vigorous 
 campaign against the Indians ; but the contest soon turned 
 to one between his authority and that of the governor. 
 Berkeley could not let him alone ; he proclaimed him an out- 
 law and marched against him and his thousand men, but was 
 driven from his position and left the province to his oppo- 
 nent, now virtually Governor of Virginia and remarkably 
 popular. Bacon issued a call for a convention, which was 
 responded to by a large assembly of the leading men of the 
 province. Their deliberations were those of a grave body 
 of men who had begun a war of independence ; for the move- 
 ment had grown from a simple desire to protect themselves 
 from the inroads of Indians to a determination to throw off 
 unreasonable restraint. 
 
 The result was a determined attack upon Berkeley, who 
 resisted it with varying success. In the end he and his ad- 
 herents gave up all hope of overcoming the rebels, and one 
 night, in the dark, governor, officials, troops, all departed 
 from Jamestown with the townspeople and their household 
 goods. When Bacon entered the next morning he found the 
 town absolutely deserted and bare of all provisions, and since 
 there was no longer any profit in holding the place he de- 
 cided to destroy it. That night flames utterly consumed the 
 first English town built in America. The first church that 
 ever was in Virginia was burned to the ground. The place 
 was never rebuilt. 
 
 Bacon was now master, and might carry on his schemes 
 of liberty and progress for the colony and push further his 
 Indian victories. But in the very height of his success, and 
 
bacon's death. 97 
 
 on the threshold of new enterprises, a trifling illness which 
 he had neglected in the heat of contest began to gain upon 
 him. Nothing checked the progress of the disease, and on 
 the ist day of October, 1676, not more than six months from 
 the beginning of his exciting career, he died. 
 
 The insurrection he had so boldly pushed forward was 
 without a leader. No one was fitted to his task. The in- 
 spiration of the violent, enthusiastic Bacon was wanting, and 
 despondency and panic prevailed. The rebellion suddenly 
 died out. The followers of a lost cause scattered to their 
 homes, and Berkeley lost little time in availing himself of the 
 situation. He was reinstated in power and used it without 
 mercy. 
 
 As an active argument the rebellion was at an end; it 
 lasted only in the minds and memories of the people, who 
 secretly clung to the cause of their lost leader. The insur- 
 rection had cost the colony a hundred thousand pounds, the 
 loss of many lives, and a turbulent summer season ; it de- 
 veloped in the people a knowledge of their own power and 
 of the possibility of independence which should bear fruit in 
 another generation. Nor was the triumph of Berkeley last- 
 ing. In the beginning of the next year came from England 
 a small fleet bringing Colonel Herbert Jeffreys, armed with a 
 commission to succeed Sir William Berkeley in his office of 
 governor, with commissioners to investigate the causes of the 
 rebellion. 
 
 When this fleet returned to England Berkeley went with 
 it, leaving forever the scene of his arbitrary power. The old 
 cavalier was ill and broken in spirit. He sank rapidly after 
 he arrived, without seeing the king, with whom he would fain 
 have pleaded his cause. In a few weeks he died, broken- 
 hearted and disgraced, " which shuts up this tragedy," as an 
 old writer says in his conclusion of it. 
 
 The condition of the colony was by no means improved 
 after Bacon's rebellion. Culpepper, who came out shortly 
 afterward as governor, had no particular interest in the col- 
 ony beyond carrying out the orders with which he had been 
 5 
 
98 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 intrusted. He was not a Virginian and cared very little 
 about Virginia. He was ordered in his instructions to curtail 
 the popular power so as to leave little more than a mere 
 show of self-government. The franchise was restricted. The 
 calling of assemblies was rendered dependent on the crown, 
 and when assembled they had no power to originate legislation 
 but only to confirm or reject laws drafted by the crown. 
 Culpepper was desirous of standing well with both sides — 
 the colony and the home government ; so he applied the laws 
 which had been intrusted to him as leniently as he might, and 
 returned to England, leaving a deputy. He returned shortly, 
 but in a year or two was superseded by Lord Howard, of Ef- 
 fingham. By this time James II. had come to the throne, and 
 Howard's proceedings in the colony bore a strong resem- 
 blance to those of his master in England and his co-laborer, 
 Sir Edmund Andros, in New England. 
 
 The revolution of 1688 made little change in the Virginia 
 colony. Their energies had been exhausted by Bacon's re- 
 bellion, and they gained nothing by the change in dynasty 
 at home. Howard continued to be governor, although, as he 
 preferred to reside in England, he was generally represented 
 by deputy. He was succeeded by Sir Edmund Andros in 
 1692. Virginia was not fortunate in her royal governors. 
 
 We should note here the founding of the town of Williams- 
 burg as capitol of the colony, and more especially the estab- 
 lishment, in 1692, of the second college in the country, to 
 which was given the name of William and Mary, in honor of 
 the new dynasty. 
 
NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA. 99 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 New York and Pennsylvania. 
 
 Quakers — New Jersey — Second Attempt to Colonize by William Penn in 
 Pennsylvania — Delaware — Peace in America — Struggle Between Peo- 
 ple and Proprietors — Non-warlike Character of the People — Leisler 
 in New York — Attack on Schenectady — Suppression of Piracy — Ex- 
 ecution of Kidd — Governor and Assembly. 
 
 IN studying the settlement of New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
 vania we again meet with the people called Quakers, no 
 longer the eccentric individuals, half-deluded by religious 
 excitement, and half-crazed by ill-treatment, who gave the 
 Puritans of Massachusetts so favorable a chance to show 
 which side they would take in the great question of tolera- 
 tion ; no longer the fanatic and turbulent religious zealots 
 who by their wild proceedings called to recollection the 
 atrocities of the Anabaptists at Munster. William Penn was 
 the son of an admiral who served England well. Bred up with 
 care, he received the usual education of his day, and went to 
 Oxford, as did other sons of English gentlemen. But here 
 he showed tendencies toward religious views which seemed 
 strange and uncouth to his immediate contemporaries. For- 
 eign travel improved his natural advantages, and when he 
 came back from the Continent he was as refined and elegant 
 a gentleman as any in England. Imagine the astonishment 
 of his friends when it was found that he had embraced the 
 doctrines of the " man in leathern breeches " — that he had be- 
 come a member of a contemned and almost unknown sect. 
 Yet so it was. Penn was, indeed, the most eminent of the 
 English Quakers, as far as worldly position is concerned, and 
 above the average in manners and intellect. Yet it seems no 
 less doubtful that in twenty years the body of Friends had 
 
100 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 immeasurably improved, and now were something far more 
 noble and dignified than if represented only by the sack- 
 cloth wearers of whom we hear in previous history. 
 
 New Jersey was at first a part of that large tract of country 
 granted by Charles II. to his brother, James, Duke of York. 
 By this latter the country was sold to two of those noblemen, 
 about the court of Charles II., whose minds turned toward 
 making a fortune in America. Lord Berkeley and Sir George 
 Carteret obtained a piece of territory of great value, contain- 
 ing nearly all the sea-coast in the whole grant. There were at 
 the time but few settlers in the country, some Dutch, some 
 Swedes, some New Englanders. The territory, with New 
 York, passed into the hands of the Dutch during the war in 
 1673, but at the peace of Breda again reverted to England, 
 then to the Duke of York again, and so to the former pro- 
 prietaries. But affairs by no means prospered, and Berkeley 
 sold his share to certain Quakers, who had a desire to set up 
 a colony in the New World as a refuge for their persecuted 
 sect. With this aim in view they applied to their co-proprie- 
 tary, Sir George Carteret, for a division of the territory, and 
 as a consequence two colonies were made — East and West 
 New Jersey. The Quakers at once set to work to colonize 
 West New Jersey, their share, which was almost uninhabited 
 and thus suitable for new colonization. In the latter years of 
 Charles II. many Quakers emigrated and settled in the coun- 
 try. Some years after the purchase of West New Jersey, Sir 
 George Carteret died, and his assigns sold his rights in the 
 other Jersey to twelve Quakers, who, encouraged by the suc- 
 cess of the co-religionists, desired to imitate them. In both 
 these purchases William Penn had a share, but no attempt 
 was made to make this latter colony distinctly Quaker, for 
 there were already many settlers in the region. Certain 
 Scotchmen associated themselves in the venture, and many 
 Scotch emigrated. In both the colonies was there liberty of 
 worship and of political rights. No taxes were to be laid 
 without the consent of the people. The proprietaries had the 
 right of appointment of officers and the right of veto. Such 
 
NEW JERSEY. IOI 
 
 was the history of the settlement of the Jerseys. The ar- 
 rangements described lasted until 1702, when the proprietaries, 
 who had not wholly made good their views in the matter* 
 and who had become weary of the many disputes which had 
 from time to time arisen, sold their rights to the crown. The 
 two colonies were joined, and a royal government was ar- 
 ranged for New Jersey much on the pattern of the other royal 
 provinces. 
 
 The experiments in New Jersey having failed of success for 
 more reasons than one, William Penn desired to try once 
 more under rather more encouraging conditions. In 1680 
 he obtained from Charles II. a grant of land, to which the 
 name of Pennsylvania was given, and a charter as proprietary 
 thereof. The deed of land included forty thousand square 
 miles of the territory between Maryland and New York. Like 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania was a distinctly bounded territory. 
 The other colonies as a rule were held to run to the Pacific, 
 and hence the necessity of the cessions of public land after 
 the Revolutionary War. Pennsylvania had a western bound- 
 ary. As soon as Penn set forward the scheme for his colony 
 large numbers of Quakers were ready to emigrate. The pro- 
 visions for government were of the broadest character. There 
 was to be perfect liberty of conscience. There was to be 
 political freedom. There was to be judicial protection for 
 the Indian as well as the white man. Emigration became 
 active at once and so continued for some years. Before the 
 end of the century the colony numbered twenty thousand. 
 The first settlers went forth in i68i r / Jjsj' tho/next yjgaft* Penn 
 himself followed, with others. The -government had already 
 been established by commissioners." stoit, out by him,". and '-an 
 assembly had been called. As soon as Penn arrived a body of 
 laAv was drawn up on the principles which he had set forward. 
 He proceeded to deal with the Indians. Having purchased 
 his land of Charles II. in deference to the public law of the 
 time, Penn proceeded, in accordance with his own ideas of 
 equity, to purchase it again of the Indian owners. With these 
 last, said he, the English would always be just, and would 
 
102 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 always be at peace. As in West New Jersey, the Indians 
 promised to be faithful friends of the whites. " You are our 
 brothers," the chiefs had then said, " and we will live like 
 brothers with you. We will have a broad path for you and us 
 to walk in. If an Englishman falls asleep in this path the 
 Indian shall pass him by and say, 'He is an Englishman; he 
 is asleep; let him alone.' " And Penn now said to the Indians, 
 " We are the same as if one man's body were to be divided 
 into two parts; we are all one flesh and blood." At a little 
 distance from the great tree at Shackamaxon under which the 
 compact was made Penn named the site for the city of Phila- 
 delphia, and ordered a house to be built for himself. 
 
 Lower down the river were " the three counties on the 
 Delaware," as they were called. Originally settled by the 
 Dutch, who had been driven away by the Indians, the country 
 had passed into the hands of the Swedes in the time of Gus- 
 tavus Adolphus. For some time it was held by them, but 
 came later into the possession of the Dutch, and, then, when 
 New Netherlands changed hands, into the power of the En- 
 glish. It was regarded as a part of the province of the Duke 
 of York, but Penn had managed to gain that prince's assent 
 to have it added to his other domain, for he saw the necessity 
 of having free access to the ocean. 
 
 Penn remained in America for two years. At the end of 
 that time, having made a fair beginning, he returned to En- 
 gland for a time. He had organized and arranged the form 
 of government for his colony; he had made stable arrange- 
 ments' with the Ir.diaW; he had succeeded in carrying through 
 his plans to the contentment and satisfaction of his settlers. 
 The only tVoubJeb had lvln with Maryland, on the south, re- 
 garding boundaries, and on the north with New York, as to 
 the jurisdiction of certain territory. He left the government 
 of the province to the president, secretary, and a council. 
 While he was absent matters did not run as smoothly as be- 
 fore, owing to dissatisfaction on the part of the settlers with 
 the officers whom he had left. Affairs were by no means set- 
 tled by the appointment of some new officials. Not only were 
 
PENNSYLVANIA. IO3 
 
 there political quarrels, but religious disturbances were added. 
 A violent schismatic, George Keith by name, was confined in 
 prison on account of his proceedings, and, though it appears 
 that the colony acted by no means severely, the affair was 
 magnified in England, and the government was taken from 
 Penn and transferred to a royal commission. Fletcher, the 
 royal governor, proceeded to endeavor to carry through cer- 
 tain innovations, and affairs were in a very bad position. In 
 1694, however, Penn received justice at the hands of William 
 and Mary, and received back the government, for which he 
 sent out a deputy, who managed to arrange matters to the 
 satisfaction of the people. In 1699 Penn himself came out 
 from England, intending to pass the remainder of his life in 
 his colony. New changes in the form of government were 
 made; but in 1701, Penn, learning that attempts were being 
 made in England to take away his patent, once more sailed 
 for that country and never returned. 
 
 In the succeeding history of Pennsylvania there are two 
 tendencies noticeable. One is the continual struggle betw.een 
 the people and the proprietaries ; the other is the indifference 
 displayed, on account of Quaker principles, to any connection 
 with the warlike proceedings of the other colonies. Penn- 
 sylvania, being at peace with the Indians within her bound- 
 aries, made no contributions, or reluctant contributions at 
 best, to the various expeditions which the other colonies made 
 against the French and Indians, and took no part in the con- 
 stant struggles with French or Spanish which disturbed the 
 northern and southern colonies. The colony was practically 
 self-governed, the power of the proprietaries was reduced to 
 a minimum, and, though there were constant disagreements 
 in regard to many matters, the colony on the whole flourished 
 exceedingly. 
 
 In the southern colonies the Revolution had been accepted 
 easily, and the events of 1688 had hardly caused any change 
 save that of governors. In the northern colonies, gathered 
 all together into one province and oppressed by the rigorous 
 rule of Sir Edmund Andros, the ending of one system and the 
 
I 
 
 104 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 beginning of another was not effected without some little 
 disturbance. We have already traced the proceedings in New 
 England. 
 
 In New York a more lengthened struggle took place. The 
 people of that colony were by no means homogeneous. There 
 were Dutch, English, and New Englanders, and many others. 
 On the news of William's landing in England and of the 
 imprisonment of Andros the lieutenant-governor practically 
 abdicated. Jacob Leisler, a captain in the militia and a man 
 of influence among the Dutch, seized the power and pro- 
 claimed the Prince of Orange. The temporary government 
 set up by him and his followers was confirmed by King 
 William. But he was by no means the representative of the 
 whole colony. The richer Dutch proprietors, the remains of 
 Nicholson's government, and many of the English in the 
 province, were bitterly opposed to him. His proceedings 
 were not such as to reconcile opposition. He was harsh and 
 arbitrary and knew but little of government. The militia 
 sided with him, and he seized upon the town of New York 
 and the fort, while his opponents retired to Albany, where 
 they too proclaimed William III., and set forth their intention 
 not to submit to Leisler. This continued for some time. In 
 1691 a governor was sent from England, Slaughter by name; 
 but he was preceded by Major Ingoldsby with troops, who 
 demanded of Leisler the surrender of the fort. Leisler re- 
 fused, for Ingoldsby held no commission from the governor. 
 
 ' Protesting his readiness to obey the governor, or his order, 
 Leisler held the fort against the British troops, and even fired 
 on them. On Slaughter's arrival he surrendered, and was at 
 once imprisoned, and he and seven of the principal of his 
 adherents were tried for murder and treason and found 
 guilty. All were reprieved save Leisler and Milbourne, his 
 son-in-law. Slaughter was persuaded, while drunk, to sign 
 
 i ■- the warrants for their death, and both were hanged. It was 
 a cruel and unnecessary act, though, perhaps, justified by 
 technicalities. 
 
 During the administration of Leisler occurred one of the 
 
SCHENECTADY. 105 
 
 most famous of the many Indian massacres in the history of 
 the French and Indian wars. 
 
 The town of Schenectady lies sixteen or seventeen miles 
 west from Albany, on the Mohawk River. In 1690 it was 
 the frontier town of the colony next the Mohawk country. 
 It was palisaded ; having two gates, one facing toward Albany 
 and the other toward the west. Within the palisade were 
 nearly eighty houses, the dwellings of the inhabitants, about 
 two hundred in number, nearly all Dutch, and therefore at 
 this time were all standing for Leisler, and at variance with 
 Captain T aim age and such Connecticut militiamen in the 
 block house as were under orders from Albany, where the 
 anti-Leislerites had control. The village, being divided 
 against itself, took no thought of any danger and left both 
 gates open. 
 
 Count Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, now saw an 
 auspicious time for an attack on the southern colonies, desir- 
 ing both to encourage his Indian allies and to strike terror 
 into the Mohawks, whom he was now tempting to leave the 
 English and join him. He prepared to attack the frontier 
 homes of Maine, New Hampshire, and New York. The last 
 named expedition was ready first. Starting from Montreal 
 in the middle of winter, about two hundred men, some 
 Indians and some Canadians, took their way southward. 
 They reached Lake Champlain and held their way toward 
 the head of the lake on the ice. Here they had a council. 
 The Indians demanded the object of the expedition. The 
 leaders said they were to attack Albany. The Indians 
 grumbled and the whole expedition apparently thought it a 
 dangerous undertaking, for, on proceeding farther south, where 
 the road parted, they all took the left-hand road leading to 
 Schenectady. The weather was very bad. They took more 
 time in reaching Schenectady from this point than it had 
 taken all the way from Montreal. They waded in the snow 
 and mud up to their knees. As they approached the town 
 it became colder. They were in a miserable condition, for 
 
 they did not dare to light a fire for fear of alarming the 
 5* 
 
( 
 
 • 
 
 ■ ■■ t : F r 1 
 
 106 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 inhabitants. They crossed the river on the ice a little above 
 the town, and about midnight stood before the western gate, 
 where, it is said, the inhabitants had erected a snow man to 
 serve as guard for the gate. But this guard gave no alarm, 
 and the French and Indians entered the palisade and sur- 
 rounded the houses. At a given signal they rushed upon the 
 inhabitants. It was the night after a festivity, and the Dutch 
 were sleeping soundly. The massacre was cruel in the 
 extreme. Men, women and children were killed to the num- 
 ber of almost half the inhabitants. A few escaped, one of 
 them jumping on a horse and riding out of the east, gate to 
 Albany, where he gave the alarm. The rest were made prison- 
 ers and the town was set on fire, and the war party started for 
 Canada. At Albany a pursuit was organized, but with no 
 important results. The pursuers started several days behind 
 their foes. Following them rapidly, they came on a detached 
 party of Indians, near Montreal, and cut them to pieces. 
 
 This was one of the worst blows that was struck from 
 Canada until the great French and Indian war. It is typical 
 enough of the fighting which continued with uncertain ces- 
 sations for half a century more. Fletcher, who succeeded 
 Slaughter as governor, was not unsuccessful in his Indian 
 wars. The Mohawks repaid the French expedition by war 
 parties that reached almost to Montreal, and Major Peter 
 Schuyler, with two hundred and fifty English, Dutch, 
 Mohawks and Mohegans made a raid which penetrated Can- 
 ada, did much harm, and retreated in safety, though they 
 narrowly escaped being utterly destroyed. 
 
 In other respects, however, Fletcher was not successful, 
 and the colony was well pleased when he was recalled and 
 the Earl of Bellomont was appointed in his stead. This noble- 
 man came to the New World desiring to do his best in 
 government. He was only partially successful. He was 
 given the government of New York, Massachusetts, and New 
 Hampshire, and one of his chief desires was to be able to sup- 
 press the piracy which existed on the coast. But here he 
 was not wholly successful. William Kidd, who had been 
 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. IO? 
 
 sent out to suppress the pirates, saw more profit in joining 
 them. Bellomont had been implicated with him before he 
 had been sent out, and he now, of course, particularly desired ^L 
 to bring Kidd to justice. This was done and Kidd was exe- ■ 
 cuted. But a certain amount of suspicion attached itself to 
 Bellomont in the transaction. He died while in office, 
 in 1701. 
 
 New York history, for the next fifty years, is to be 
 traced, chiefly, in the Indian wars and in the quarrels between 
 governor and Assembly. The royal governors were perpet- 
 ually endeavoring to compel the people to acknowledge more 
 and more the power of the king and parliament, and the people 
 were as vigorous to assert their own rights. The reluctance of 
 the Assembly to vote the governor a regular salary, and the 
 attempts to enforce the navigation laws and other matters, 
 make up a continued state of quarreling. The French, too, 
 had more easy access to New York than to the other colo- 
 nies, by the way of Lake Champlain and Lake George, and, 
 although there were no more massacres tike that at Schenec- 
 tady, there were almost continual Indian troubles. 
 
108 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 New England for Sixty Years. 
 
 The Government of Massachusetts — Sir William Phips — Capture of Port 
 Royal — Unsuccessful Expedition Against Quebec — The New Charter 
 — Maine and New Hampshire — Capture of York — Witchcraft — A 
 Special Commission for the Trial — Connecticut Under the Old Charter 
 — Foundation of Yale College — Expedition to Jamaica — Capture of 
 Louisburg. 
 
 THE government made by the men of Massachusetts 
 Bay after the suppression of Andros was only a temporary 
 makeshift, and as such was it understood on all hands. The 
 charter, having been vacated by regular process of law, could 
 not be resumed, as had those of Connecticut and Rhode Isl- 
 and. This provisional government lasted, however, for more 
 than three years, and for that length of time the minds of 
 men were unsettled, it being in noway certain what manner of 
 charter William of Orange might be ready to grant. It must 
 by no means be imagined that, because William was him 
 self opposed to the Stuarts, his ideas as to colonial govern- 
 ment would be diametrically opposed to theirs. There 
 was not, on the whole, so very great difference in their 
 general principles in that respect. Both held to the econom- 
 ical principles of the day in supposing that the colony must 
 enrich the mother country, and both were disinclined, by 
 nature, to part with any portion of their prerogative in govern- 
 ing any of their subjects. In one respect William would be 
 an improvement — there would be no danger of religious in- 
 tolerance. But as for the dependency of Massachusetts, and 
 the Navigation act, it was probable that they would be in- 
 sisted upon as vigorously by William as they had been by 
 Charles and James. 
 
SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. IO9 
 
 For the present, however, Sir William Phips, who came over 
 with the order for the proclamation of William and Mary, also 
 bore with him the expression of the king's pleasure that the 
 provisional government should continue until other arrange- 
 ments might be made. 
 
 Sir William Phips is a romantic figure in the history of this 
 period. Born in 1650, in a little settlement on the Kennebec 
 River, one of twenty-six children by one mother, he received 
 little or no education. He passed his youth in farm labor. 
 On attaining manhood, however, he became a ship-carpenter, 
 moved down to Boston, married a widow older and richer 
 than himself, learned to read and write, and became confident 
 of rising in the world, though still at a loss as to the exact 
 means. About this time his mind became full of a sufficiently 
 wild project for going to the West Indies in search of a sunk- 
 en Spanish ship laden with silver, which had been wrecked 
 some half a century before. He carried this scheme through. 
 He went to England, obtained by some means a king's ship, 
 and after one unsuccessful attempt obtained the treasure, worth 
 a million and a half dollars in the value of money in that 
 day. With this he returned to England, where he was knight- 
 ed and offered a position in the royal navy. But he preferred 
 to return to New England, and did so. 
 
 At this time the Maine and New Hampshire frontier was 
 suffering from French and Indian raids. The colony deter- 
 mined to strike a blow at Port Royal, from whence issued 
 privateers to the damage of their commerce. Sir William 
 Phips was given the command of the expedition and achieved 
 success. That is to say, Port Royal surrendered, and the 
 French fort at the mouth of the St. John was taken and 
 destroyed. But his success in this direction inspired the col- 
 ony to undertake a more difficult expediton, which turned 
 out less fortunately. This was nothing less than an attempt 
 to capture Quebec, the stronghold and capital of New France. 
 From Montreal, Three Rivers and Quebec, the French and 
 Indian war parties found little difficulty in making raids on 
 the exposed English colonies on the Connecticut River or on 
 
lb 
 
 1 10 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the back settlements of New Hampshire and Maine. The 
 English found it difficult to retaliate. From Boston to Que- 
 bec by land was no easy expedition, and no victory short of 
 one at Quebec would do service. But the English had the ad- 
 vantage by sea. From Boston, as it proved afterward, New 
 Englanders could be put on board ships and landed at Port 
 Royal, at Louisburg, or at Quebec, where operations might be 
 conducted with no small success. Such, however, was not the 
 lot of the present expedition. When Phips, after many trials 
 and delays, cast anchor off Quebec, he found himself before a 
 superior force, sheltered behind impregnable fortifications. 
 After some fruitless cannonading and some land fighting he 
 had nothing to do but to turn round and race back to New 
 England. Nothing came of the expedition save the depletion 
 of the Massachusetts treasury and the consequent issue of 
 paper money, the first in a long series of disastrous financial 
 experiments. 
 
 On his return from Quebec Phips was sent by the colony 
 to England, to assist Mather and the other agents in their la- 
 bors in getting as favorable a charter as possible from the 
 king. On the 14th of May, 1692, he returned to Boston with 
 the new charter, being himself commissioned as governor of 
 the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The new charter was by 
 no means as favorable in respect to the independence of 
 Massachusetts as had been the former one, as interpreted by 
 its patentees. But it had been difficult for Mather to procure 
 one even so good. The old colonies of Massachusetts and 
 Plymouth, together with Maine, Nova Scotia, and such coun- 
 try as was included between them, were to constitute the Prov- 
 ince of Massachusetts Bay. The governor, lieutenant-gov- 
 ernor and secretary were to be named by the king for an 
 indefinite period. The legislative department consisted of 
 a council of twenty-eight, named at first by the king, and a 
 house of representatives made up of deputies elected two 
 by each town. This was small measure for the people who 
 had been accustomed to name the governor, assistants and dep- 
 uties themselves. In the Legislature, so made up, all bills 
 
INDIAN RAIDS. Ill 
 
 required the assent of the governor and were subject also to 
 the veto of the king within three years. The governor 
 was commander-in-chief of the militia and had the appoint- 
 ment of military officers. He had also the appointment of 
 all judges and officers of justice, subject to confirmation by 
 the council. The qualification for the ballot was no longer re- 
 ligious, but depended on property. Liberty of conscience was 
 granted to all Protestants. In certain cases appeal lay to the 
 king in council in England. This charter took more away 
 from the independency of the colonies than had been de- 
 manded of them by Charles II. 
 
 The French and Indian wars continued with much vigor 
 on the frontier to the north and with slight abatements for 
 half a century. Being nearest to Canada, Maine and New 
 Hampshire were by far the most exposed of all the New 
 England colonies, more, even, than New York ; for at the very 
 north of the line of towns on the Hudson which made up 
 that colony stood Albany, far too formidable to fear any 
 slight Indian raids such as desolated the border country of 
 New England. Even in the time of Andros the French had 
 made such common cause with the Indians of Maine, that 
 the governor had been forced to make an expedition against 
 them ; and after the Revolution, at the approach of war be- 
 tween France and England, the fury and vigor of this frontier 
 warfare increased. Count Frontenac was at this time at the 
 head of affairs in Canada ; a strong and able old man, well 
 used to handling the Indians, and as capable of doing what 
 could be done in his position as any governor New France 
 ever had. 
 
 The capture of York, January 25, 1692, is a good example 
 of the fearful sufferings of attackers and attacked in this bor- 
 der warfare. A hundred and fifty converted Indians, urged 
 on by the French priests, took the war-path in the dead of win- 
 ter, well provided with guns and ammunition. After a long 
 and terrible march they neared York, one of the frontier set- 
 tlements, a town of perhaps then a few hundred inhabitants. 
 The morning after their arrival a heavy snow fell. Surround- 
 
y ^^iZtL 
 
 
 112 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ing the village early in the evening they attacked it from both 
 sides. One party rushed into the block house, where the 
 women were gathered, others ran through the other houses, kill- 
 ing or taking captive all whom they met. About a hundred 
 of both sexes were killed, about eighty were taken into cap- 
 tivity, and the rest fled into two or three fortified houses, where 
 they were not attacked. The Indians shortly after withdrew, 
 and after setting the town on fire, and destroying all the farm- 
 houses and cattle in the fields around, took up their march 
 into the forest with their booty. Such terrors were not uncom- 
 mon in Maine or New Hampshire. There were many more 
 atrocious massacres, many more vigorous defenses ; but this is 
 a fair illustration of the terrors of frontier life at this time and 
 for many years. The reader knows that New Hampshire was 
 now no part of the province of Massachusetts Bay, the claims 
 of Mason having been declared valid by the law officers of 
 England. New Hampshire was, therefore, a proprietary prov- 
 ince, the proprietor at this time being Samuel Allen, who 
 had purchased the title from Mason. He received the. royal 
 commission as governor, but the government of the province 
 was organized by John Usher, who had been appointed Lieu- 
 tenant-governor. 
 
 The first proceeding of the Provincial Government of 
 Massachusetts was one whose consequences have covered the 
 Commonwealth with an undeserved infamy. We refer to the 
 court commissioned by Phips to try the witchcraft cases. 
 The belief in witchcraft in those days was in every Christian 
 country well-nigh universal. In England, not long before 
 this, witches in considerable numbers had suffered death by 
 fire, and in New England there had been three or four exe- 
 cutions for the same cause before the breaking out of what is 
 generally known as " the Witchcraft Delusion." The people 
 of that day saw much that was supernatural in the phenom- 
 ena of this world; they solved a portion of the mystery by 
 ascribing it to the devil and his agents, finding authority in 
 their interpretation of Scripture. During the usurpation of 
 Andros there had been a case of witchcraft in Boston, 
 
SALEM WITCHCRAFT. 113 
 
 wherein a wretched Irish woman, on the evidence of four 
 young children whom she was supposed to mysteriously tor- 
 ture, was tried, condemned, and executed. Cotton Mather, 
 one of the leading ministers of the colony, though at that 
 time still young, became intensely interested in the case, and 
 his credulous excitment aroused the feelings of the people. 
 Some three or four years afterward, in " Salem Village," 
 another case occurred. The children of Samuel Parris, the 
 clergyman of " Salem Village," became greatly affected 
 through the evil agency of witches. They underwent pullings 
 and pinchings and prickings ; they cried out, imitating the 
 noises of dogs or cats; they were thrown into convulsions and 
 spasms. They interrupted public worship by their cries. The 
 case was inquired into and they confessed that they had been 
 bewitched, and finally named three old women as the causes 
 of their afflictions. The accused were at once examined and 
 committed to jail for trial. The children cried out against 
 some others, women of most excellent character. Many 
 other accusations followed. Among those arrested were 
 Burroughs, a minister, English, a well-to-do merchant, Mill- 
 ard, the constable, who had arrested some of the earlier 
 witches, but who was now convinced of his error. These 
 were all lodged in jail with others, making nearly a hundred 
 in number at the arrival of the royal governor. 
 
 Phips at once, with no especial authority for so doing, 
 constituted a special commission for the trial of the accused. 
 William Stoughton, a bigoted and narrow man, was made the 
 chief justice. The court at once organized and proceeded to 
 its work. Bridget Bishop was tried, and shortly hanged. A 
 month later five more women were executed. At the next 
 session six were condemned and hanged, among them Bur- 
 roughs, the minister, and during the next month nine more 
 were executed. All this was done at Salem. The epidemic 
 had not as yet spread farther. But in the autumn many at 
 Andover were accused. The charge of witchcraft ran riot 
 through Essex County. Over four hundred persons had 
 been " cried out " upon. Of these some had saved them- 
 
114 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 selves by confession, some were in jail awaiting trial, and many 
 more were under accusation. Twenty had been executed. 
 Nor did the brute creation escape the infection. Two dogs 
 had been found guilty of acting as accomplices in the crime 
 and had paid the extreme penalty. But the end of such 
 absurdities was near. Accusations were made of persons 
 high in position and of known purity of life. Mrs. Hale, the 
 wife of the minister of Beverly, and even Lady Phips were 
 suspected. But at this time the special commission had 
 adjourned for two months. Before it could convene again, the 
 General Court had met and had arranged the regular legal 
 establishment according to the charter. This court pro- 
 ceeded more slowly. Only a few of the presentments were 
 followed up. Only a few of these accused were found guilty, 
 and all the condemned were pardoned. The public mind 
 began to see the delusion it had labored under. It began to 
 be clear to sensible persons that they had been cruelly mis- 
 taken, in following as far as they had done the wicked fancies 
 of children and their credulous relations. The witchcraft 
 delusion was over. Many of those prominent in it recog- 
 nized their error and confessed their failing with true grief 
 of heart. Some were still firm, but the general feeling of the 
 community was as though men had been delivered from a 
 nightmare. 
 
 The administration of Sir William Phips was by no means 
 successful. He quarreled with every one, was recalled in 
 1694 to answer complaints, and died the next year. Stough- 
 ton, the lieutenant-governor, was at the head of the admin- 
 istration for some time, and was shortly after succeeded by 
 the Earl of Bellomont, who was in time succeeded by Joseph 
 Dudley, the former president of the country. During his 
 administration and those immediately following almost the 
 only point to be noted by the general reader, is a long-con- 
 tinued quarrel between succeeding governors and assemblies. 
 The governors, in accordance with their instructions, always 
 demanded a fixed salary. The Assembly invariably refused 
 such a concession and forced each governor to content him- 
 
CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND. I I 5 
 
 self with yearly grants of such sums as seemed good to them. 
 The governor desired to be independent. The assemblies 
 desired to have some control over him. The point of princi- 
 ple involved was that a fixed grant would be in the nature 
 of a tax imposed by another authority, and to this they were 
 unwilling to submit. The assemblies insisted on their right — ^ 
 to tax themselves and grant their own money as they chose. 
 The time was taken up in perpetual broils and bickerings. 
 
 Such was, fortunately, not the condition of Connecticut, 
 whose history, however, through this period is not more 
 eventful than that of Massachusetts. On the accession of 
 William and Mary the colony sent a congratulatory address 
 and requested a confirmation of its charter, which had been 
 revoked in a less formal manner than that of Massachusetts. 
 No answer was given to this request, and Connecticut con- 
 tinued to exist very happily under her old charter, by which 
 she had more measure of liberty than was granted in Massa- Ll~ 
 chusetts. The colonists enjoyed a government wholly their 
 own, there were no royal nominees to quarrel with the rep- 
 resentatives of the people, and the administration of the col- 
 ony was carried on quietly and successfully. Connecticut 
 was spared the misery of the Indian inroads which desolated 
 the frontier towns to the north-east and north-west. Her 
 inhabitants had but little connection with the Indian wars on 
 this account, and knew nothing of such misfortunes as the 
 failure of the expedition to Quebec. We should not neglect 
 to note the foundation in 1701 of Yale College. 
 
 The history of their neighbors in Rhode Island was not so 
 peaceful. The people had not had so much pleasure in the 
 revolution, for the firm and arbitrary rule of Andros had 
 been a not unpleasant change from the constant quarrelings 
 among themselves which had previously gone on. They 
 resumed their charter, which they had given up, and it served 
 them very well for all practical purposes, even down so 
 far as 1840. There were constant quarrels between them 
 and their neighbors. Phips differed with them in regard to 
 their militia, which he pretended to have the right to com- 
 
Il6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 mand. Connecticut quarreled about the boundary line. 
 Bellomont, who had the extermination of piracy at heart, 
 found much to complain of in Rhode Island, whose deeply 
 indented shore offered most convenient resort for buccaneers. 
 All over the coast of Rhode Island are places where men say 
 that " Kidd buried his treasure." Indeed, the Rhode Island- 
 ers at this time had no very good reputation on the high 
 seas. The vessels commissioned as privateers in the late war 
 with France had, it was charged, been nothing better than 
 pirates sailing on their cruises to " Madagascar and the seas 
 of India," as Bellomont remarked, by whose booty the place 
 had " been greatly enriched." The Rhode Islanders were 
 not vigorous in the Indian wars, from which they suffered lit- 
 tle, alleging their danger from attack by sea ; but when, in 
 1740, the expedition to Jamaica was set on foot, they were by 
 no means unwilling to furnish men and vessels for what 
 seemed at first to be a congenial occupation. 
 
 The most important of the military proceedings of the 
 New England colonies during this period was the capture of 
 Louisburg, the French stronghold in the Island of Cape 
 Breton. In 1744 the French seized the English settlement 
 at Canseau and threatened Annapolis, which had then for a 
 long time been in English hands. They carried their prison- 
 ers to Louisburg. On their return on parole the prisoners 
 gave word to Shirley, then governor of Massachusetts, of the 
 weakness of the place. Shirley decided to attempt its cap- 
 ture. The Legislature upheld him, though by a majority of 
 one only. An army was rapidly made up. Connecticut 
 and New Hampshire sent men to join the Massachusetts 
 levies. New York and Pennsylvania sent a small store of 
 provisions and ammunition. The expedition, one hundred 
 vessels and nearly four thousand men, reached Cape Breton 
 about the end of April, 1745, and was there joined by an 
 English squadron, under Commodore Warren, which was of 
 great service throughout the siege in keeping away such rein- 
 forcements as were sent from France. A landing was 
 effected near Louisburg on the last day of April. 
 
LOUISBURG TAKEN. WJ 
 
 The town was a fortified place of great strength, though 
 not well garrisoned. The walls were more than twenty feet 
 high and twice as thick at the base, and mounted one hun- 
 dred and eighty-three pieces of ordnance. Besides these 
 there was an island battery defending the harbor with thirty 
 guns. The garrison consisted of sixteen hundred men, of 
 whom only a third were regular soldiers, the others being 
 country militia. The New Englanders had little or no 
 knowledge of war in general, or of siege operations in par- 
 ticular. Their commander was William Pepperell, a merchant, 
 and their officers were all volunteers chosen from among 
 the soldiers, and having no more knowledge of arms than 
 their men. They had but eighteen cannon and three mortars. 
 But, forcing a landing with great vigor, they established them- 
 selves before the town, compelling the French to desert an 
 important outpost of which they at once seized the guns. 
 They undertook no scientific siege works, but erected bat- 
 teries on the land side of the city, and encamped in the open 
 air, having no tents. With various fortunes the siege contin- 
 ued. It was finally decided to attempt to storm the walls 
 while the fleet kept up a vigorous bombardment. At this 
 moment a French man-of-war sailed into the harbor with 
 military supplies and was at once captured by the English 
 fleet before the eyes of the town. The effect was good for 
 the New Englanders. The place capitulated on the 17th of 
 June, a day or two afterward. On entering the town the 
 victors were amazed at seeing the strength of the place. This 
 was a great and mighty achievement for New England. The 
 French endeavored to recover it, but without success. At 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, however, when peace was made Louisburg 
 was restored, greatly to the disappointment of the vigorous 
 colonists, who had spent such efforts in its capture. 
 
Il8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The Southern Colonies from 1700-1754. 
 
 Position of Virginia — Exploring Spirit of Alexander Spotswood — Knighted 
 by George I. — Dinwiddie as Governor — Condition of Maryland and 
 the Carolinas — Religious Difficulties — Resources of the Carolinas — 
 Pirates — English Settlements —Oglethorpe's Plan for a Colony — Ger- 
 man Emigrants — The Colonial Laws — War With Spain— Attack on 
 St. Augustine — Oglethorpe Returns to England — Georgia Becomes a 
 Royal Province. 
 
 VIRGINIA, as well as Maryland and Pennsylvania, 
 possessed one advantage over her neighbors to 
 the north and south. From the Indian war in Bacon's 
 time until Braddock's defeat near Fort Duquesne she en- 
 joyed uninterrupted peace. The power of the Indians with- 
 in her borders was utterly broken. There were no French 
 on her frontiers, as with New York and New England; there 
 were no Spaniards, as was the case with the Carolinas and 
 Georgia ; nor was the colony of such a character as to invite 
 attack in any one of England's continental wars during these 
 years. Virginia presented no definite point of attack, and no 
 expeditions were made against her. The population had in- 
 creased, material prosperity had long since begun, the gov- 
 ernors were, on the whole, of a worthy character, and the lot 
 of the colony was comparatively happy. The only jars came 
 from the constant and petty quarrels of the burgesses with 
 the governor on matters of small moment. It is probable, 
 however, that the position of the burgesses in this respect had 
 a good effect in training the people to political thoughtfulness. 
 Alexander Spotswood, who came to Virginia as deputy- 
 governor* in 1 710, was of Scotch parentage and trained in 
 
 * Lord Orkney was titular governor from 1704-1744, but he remained in England, re- 
 ceiving £1,200 as profit for so doing. The governing was done by others. 
 
SIR ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD. 1 19 
 
 the English army. He seems to have been one of the best 
 of the colonial governors, his thoughts given to the welfare 
 of the province, for which he did much in various ways, 
 although the people were by no means always ready to adopt 
 his proposals. His mind, " so long engaged in the immense 
 field of European politics," could not rest within the narrow 
 boundaries set by the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Virginia 
 planters, and he often turned his thoughts to the broad region 
 beyond the Alleghanies, at this time unknown and unexplored 
 by white men. He resolved to do something in the way of 
 exploration, and easily gathered together a party of the choice 
 spirits of the Old Dominion with whom he set forth to cross 
 the mountains and see the country beyond. They crossed 
 the Blue Ridge and, it is said, the Alleghanies beyond, and 
 descended into the fertile country of Kentucky, with which 
 they were delighted. They returned, with glowing accounts 
 of the region, " to recount their discoveries to those who had 
 not in person enjoyed them." Spotswood was knighted by 
 George I. as a reward for this proceeding, and was given as 
 a coat of arms a golden horseshoe with the motto, " Sic jurat 
 transcendere montes." And tradition runs that at Williams- 
 burg was then founded the order known as the " Knights of 
 the Golden Horseshoe," though neither history nor fable has 
 further account of the matter. 
 
 In 1723 Spotswood was superseded and retired to his 
 plantations in Spotsylvania. He was followed by Drysdale, 
 and he by Gooch, under whose government the province fared 
 well. In 1752 Robert Dinwiddie was sent out; he acted as 
 deputy-governor for six years. He was an energetic and 
 zealous man, but it does not appear that his abilities were 
 great or that his proceedings were always in the right direc- 
 tion. He was by no means regretted when he retired. As 
 soon as he arrived he got into difficulties with the burgesses, 
 with whom he was, to begin with, unpopular through former 
 proceedings as collector of customs. But the chief matter of 
 note in Dinwiddie's administration is the beginning of active 
 relations with the great western country. Dinwiddie by no 
 

 ^^urc^ * 
 
 
 1 20 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 means followed Spotswood in his romantic ride with the 
 Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, but others passed the 
 mountains at first for trade and exploration. The Virginia 
 traders swarmed across the mountains to traffic with the In- 
 dians and there met with the French, with results which will 
 be stated in another chapter. 
 
 In Maryland the latter part of the seventeenth century was 
 one of decline. The proprietary had been displaced after 
 the Revolution and the colony had been taken by the crown. 
 The result was that the toleration which had so long existed 
 in the colony was for a time at an end. The Anglican Church 
 was established by law, and taxes were laid for its mainte- 
 nance. In addition to this, although other Protestant sects 
 were tolerated, Roman Catholics and Quakers were severely 
 used. These two elements were strong in the colony, and the 
 effect of the royal policy was not good. In 17 15 the then 
 Lord Baltimore became a Protestant, and the proprietary 
 rights were vested, at his death, in his son. For a long time 
 after his, some forty years or so, events in Maryland passed 
 smoothly. As in Virginia, there were no Indian wars nor fear 
 of foreign disturbance, and the only difficulties arose from 
 the disagreements between the governors and the Assembly. 
 
 In the history of the Carolinas in the first half of the 
 eighteenth century it is difficult to fix upon any leading prin- 
 ciple. The government of the Quaker Archdale, in 1695-6, 
 had been most satisfactory to all concerned, and in the years 
 immediately following the good relations between the colony 
 and its neighbors and its proprietors had not been disturbed. 
 In the opening years of the next century, however, certain 
 tendencies and desires were manifest among the proprietors 
 and their adherents which promised disturbance. The mat- 
 ter of religious toleration seemed as though it might prove a 
 stumbling-block. Immediately after Archdale's departure 
 liberty of conscience had been decreed to all forms of Chris- 
 tians save Romanists. In 1704, by means of political chi- 
 canery an act was passed in the Assembly whereby all 
 dissenters from the Church of England were disfranchised, 
 
THE CAROLINAS. 121 
 
 and political power was reserved to those who would conform 
 to that Church. The proprietors were well pleased to assent 
 to this plan. Not so ready, however, were the colonists them- 
 selves ; for two thirds of them were non-conformists, and 
 such a majority could by no means see with complacency 
 such an absolute disfranchisement of themselves. They ap- 
 pealed to England, having small success with the proprie- 
 taries, and received some redress. The acts were declared 
 void by the crown and were repealed. The result of the 
 proceedings, however, was that the Church of England be- 
 came and remained the established Church in the province. 
 
 Besides the religious troubles there were political disturb- 
 ances. At one time there were in existence in North Caro- 
 lina two distinct governments, one claiming power from the 
 people, the other from the proprietaries. Civil war was im- 
 minent, and the proprietary governor called for assistance 
 from the royal governor of Virginia. No open outbreak took 
 place, however, but it became evident that the proprietors 
 and the people could not live together peaceably. The con- 
 tinual conflict was not wholly ended when, in 1729, the pro- 
 prietors sold their rights to the crown. 
 
 In spite of these quarrels and factions the two colonies in- 
 creased largely in prosperity. In South Carolina the suc- 
 cessful cultivation of the rice plant brought wealth to the 
 colony, as well as many Negro slaves, whose services were 
 necessary and pleasing to the planters. In North Carolina 
 this staple did not so largely flourish ; but here the forests of 
 pine afforded occupation to many of the inhabitants. Masts 
 and timber, tar and turpentine were profitable commodities. 
 The hunters on the frontiers obtained large numbers of val- 
 uable furs, for which they found a ready sale. A romantic 
 aspect is cast over the history of the country by the constant 
 appearance of pirates on the shores. They made their head- 
 quarters on the coasts of North Carolina, where they not in- 
 frequently were in partnership with the authorities. Of these 
 marauders the most famous was the notorious Ned Teach, 
 
 who was known by the title of Blackbeard. Benjamin 
 6 
 
122 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Franklin, in Boston, is the chief means of preserving for pos- 
 terity the fame of this terrible freebooter. Among his earliest 
 feats was the composition and printing of the Ballad of 
 Blackboard, of which, unfortunately, little is known by an- 
 tiquarians. The desperate character of the buccaneer is well 
 expressed in the following lines, which are, perhaps, from 
 Franklin's ballad. Teach gives his orders in case of capture 
 by royal ships : 
 
 " And when we no longer can strike a blow, 
 Then fire the magazine, boys, and up we go. 
 'Tis better to swim in the sea below 
 Than to hang in the air and feed the crow, 
 Said jolly Ned Teach, of Bristol." 
 
 Teach's real name is said by some to have been John rather 
 than Ned. His character seems to have been vicious and 
 revolting. It is related that his favorite amusement was to 
 personate " a fiend for the entertainment of his crew," and 
 that he " once gave them a scenic display intended to repre- 
 sent the regions of the damned." His ship was engaged by 
 an English man-of-war in 1718, and he himself was killed in 
 the action. 
 
 The English settlements at this time extended along the 
 American coast from Nova Scotia to the Savannah River. 
 The English claimed farther — as far as the St. John's. 
 
 Just south of this was the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, 
 the oldest on the continent. But about the year 1732 it was 
 resolved to settle the country between the Savannah and the 
 St. John's rivers for reasons of various kinds. 
 
 First of all it was thought well to have a species of military 
 colony as a barrier between South Carolina and the Span- 
 iards. This wish fell in well with a scheme fprmed by 
 James Oglethorpe. This man, an English gentleman of po- 
 sition, holding high rank in the army, and a member of Par- 
 liament, was a philanthropist of the noblest nature. He had 
 served on a commission for examining into the jails of En- 
 gland, and had there seen such horrors that all his sympathies 
 had been aroused, and principally for those who were con- 
 
• 
 
 GEORGIA. 123 
 
 fined for debt. At this time in England, as well as elsewhere, 
 the remedy for debt was imprisonment until payment could 
 be made. The debtors' prisons were crowded with men who 
 had committed no crime save that of being either unfortunate 
 or unfit for the competitions of business. For these Ogle- 
 thorpe conceived the idea of founding a colony in America. 
 He heard, too, with indignation, of the sufferings of not a few 
 Protestants in the Catholic countries of the continent of 
 Europe, and to these also he offered the shelter of his 
 colony. 
 
 A charter was granted in 1732, a board of trustees was ap- 
 pointed guardian, for twenty-one years, of the province, which 
 was to be named Georgia, after George II., and they were to 
 hold it " in trust for the poor." These trustees were given 
 the power to appoint the Legislature and judiciary. The land 
 was to be open to all save Romanists. 
 
 In the month of November Oglethorpe set sail with the 
 first band of emigrants for Charleston. Staying there but a 
 short time he proceeded southward to the Savannah River, 
 and here, about ten miles from the sea, he established a town 
 on high ground and gave to it the same name as that of the 
 stream. Affairs were successfully started. The streets were 
 regularly laid out and small houses were built. The Indians 
 appeared on the scene and welcomed Oglethorpe to such 
 land as they did not themselves want. With them Oglethorpe 
 signed a treaty, and he always treated them with great justice 
 in his subsequent dealings with them. 
 
 At first the colony seemed to prosper. The second year, 
 1734, the settlers were reinforced by a colony of German 
 Protestants, who having been driven out of the dominions of 
 the Bishop of Salzburg, had been invited over to Georgia 
 with liberal offers of land, subsistence for a year, and tolerance 
 in matters of religion. They reached Charleston in May and 
 went on to Savannah, where they encamped until they should 
 find a residence ; but shortly they settled themselves at a 
 place to which they gave the name Ebenezer. The same 
 year the town of Augusta was settled. 
 
"> 
 
 124 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 In the summer Oglethorpe sailed for England. In his ab- 
 sence certain discontents arose which had been concealed 
 before, and on his return the colonists presented demands 
 for the abolition of those laws which they thought very preju- 
 dicial to the advancement of the colony. In the first place, 
 there was a law that there should be no rum imported, which 
 cut off the trade with the West India Islands, of which rum 
 was one of the chief productions. In the second place, there 
 was a law against Negro slavery, for it was thought best that 
 the settlers should move among a class of good white work- 
 men. But the example of South Carolina was pernicious. In 
 the third place, the land was granted in tail male only; where- 
 by it could not easily be transferred, which caused a good 
 deal of discontent. 
 
 Oglethorpe on his return brought with him a good rein- 
 forcement of settlers. More Moravians came over to join 
 those who had previously arrived. A settlement of Scotch 
 Highlanders was also made at the southern part of the colony, 
 on the Altamaha River. With Oglethorpe came also John 
 and Charles Wesley. 
 
 Oglethorpe in a short time began a journey among the vari- 
 ous towns of the province. Passing southward he built at 
 Frederica a fort to protect a small settlement which he planted 
 there. From this place, with certain of the Highlanders from 
 Darien, the settlement just above, he made a journey farther 
 south to mark out the English claims for a frontier. He 
 planted two forts — one, Fort St. Andrews, on Cumberland 
 Island, in the Altamaha; the other, Fort St. George, on Amelia 
 Island, in the St. John's. But this last had to be abandoned. 
 Returning home he made alliance with the Chickasaws, 
 whereby the southern frontier was much strengthened. 
 
 A year or two after war broke out between England and 
 Spain. Georgia was the only one of the American colonies 
 which was near enough the Spanish power to feel any effects 
 from it. The Spaniards in Florida had already threatened 
 Oglethorpe and his colony, though he had managed to avert 
 any serious danger. But in 1739 war was declared. Rather 
 
SIEGE OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 12$ 
 
 than wait for an attack Oglethorpe resolved to take the offen- 
 sive himself. He had, on his last return from England, 
 brought with him a regiment of six hundred men, recruited 
 especially for colonial service, and now, with additions from 
 the Carolina militia and with various Indian allies, he started 
 an expedition against' St. Augustine. But the place was too 
 strong and too well garrisoned for him to do any thing, and 
 he was compelled to withdraw into Georgia, whither, a year 
 or two after, the Spaniards followed him. In July, 1742, a 
 fleet of thirty-six vessels, containing forces from Cuba, 
 entered the St. Mary's to capture Frederica. The English 
 had no great force and were compelled to abandon their 
 camp and gather into the town. For three weeks there was 
 fighting in which the Spaniards had decidedly the disad- 
 vantage. Toward the end of the month they withdrew. 
 
 The next year Oglethorpe returned to England, where he 
 remained, never coming back to Georgia. Affairs did not 
 go so well after he had gone, and in his absence the laws on 
 which he had laid especial stress were suffered to fall into 
 disuse. Slaves were imported, and rum also, and the male 
 entail was gradually dropped. The government after his de- 
 parture went on for eight years under a president and four 
 assistants appointed by the trustees. But affairs did not run 
 very smoothly, and in 1752 the trustees gave up their charter 
 to the government and Georgia became a royal province. 
 
126 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. . 
 
 The French and Indian War. 
 
 The Four Divisions — Expeditions Against the French — Affairs in the 
 West — George Washington — Border Fighting — Braddock's Defeat — 
 William Johnson — Defeat of the French at Champlain — An Expedi- 
 tion Planned Against Fort Niagara — The Succession of English 
 Commanders — Capture of Oswego — Siege and Surrender of Fort 
 William Henry — William Pitt — Admiral Boscowen Arrives with 
 Re-enforcements — Capture of Louisburg — Fort Frontenac and Fort 
 Duquesne— Death of Lord Howe — Repulse of the English at Ticon- 
 deroga — English Plans — The Fall of Quebec — Surrender of Montreal 
 End of the War. 
 
 THE " Seven Years' War" is, as has been said, generally 
 called the " French and Indian War " by the early 
 American writers. In tracing its history it is well to remem- 
 ber the four lines on which attack and defense were made. 
 The French and English in America were separated by a 
 wild barrier of forests and mountains. It was only where 
 this natural barrier was penetrated by some natural highway 
 that attack could be readily made by either party. Accord- 
 ingly we find the scenes of the warfare to be distributed in 
 four divisions. In the first place, at the junction of the Alle- 
 ghany and Monongahela rivers, was Fort Duquesne, the key 
 to the valley of the Ohio. The headwaters and tributaries of 
 the Potomac and the Susquehanna afforded to the English a 
 means of passage across the Alleghany Mountains, and thus 
 Fort Duquesne was an object of importance. Again, another 
 natural roadway through the mountains was afforded by the 
 Hudson River, dividing at Albany into two distinct paths; the 
 one along the Mohawk River, pointing west toward Oswego 
 and Niagara, the other by the waters of Lake Champlain, ex- 
 tending north to the heart of Canada, guarded only by the 
 
FRENCH ENCROACHMENTS. \2J 
 
 Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point. And, once more, Can- 
 ada was approachable by sea, and the River St. Lawrence 
 afforded access to the citadel of Quebec. On these four 
 lines, then, was the battle to be fought. Twice were expedi- 
 tions sent by the English against Fort Duquesne. Forts 
 Niagara and Frontenac were always objects of attack. Lake 
 George was the scene of constant struggle, and Louisburg and 
 Quebec eventually succumbed to expeditions sent by sea. 
 Generally the English took the offensive. For this part they 
 had some advantages. They occupied the inside frontiers 
 with ready inter-communication by sea. The distance be- 
 tween Boston and Yorktown was nothing compared with the 
 distance between Quebec and Fort Duquesne. But the 
 French position, though the outside, was very strong. When 
 the English reached Fort Duquesne or Fort Frontenac they 
 found nothing but a fort to take ; but from these points the 
 French had been able to strike easily the frontier settlements 
 of Pennsylvania and New York. An expedition through the 
 woods of northern New England against Quebec and Mont- 
 real would have been nonsensical ; yet from Quebec and 
 Montreal, time and again, war parties would start to ravage 
 the frontier towns of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. 
 
 It was in the West that the settlers first came into conflict. 
 The valley of the Ohio had proved good trading ground, and 
 by 1754 the English had become well accustomed to the 
 road thither. Pickanillany, an Indian village on the Miami 
 under the rule of the chief Old Britain (or as the French 
 called him, La Demoiselle), was wholly under their influence. 
 But France had accustomed herself to look on the broad 
 region between Quebec and New Orleans, west of the mount- 
 ains, as her own property. True, she did nothing with it save 
 erect here and there a fort, and affix here and there the arms 
 of Louis XV., but the English encroachments on it were 
 none the less to be withstood. So it was at this point that 
 the first fighting took place. There was no declaration of 
 war, but each side was in earnest. The English built a fort 
 where Pittsburg now stands. The French captured it, de- 
 
128 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 molished it, and built a new one which they named after their 
 governor, the Marquis Duquesne. This was as much as a 
 declaration of war. At Wills Creek at this time were certain 
 Virginia troops under one George Washington. Washington 
 crossed the mountains, hoping to be able to collect enough 
 settlers and Indians to attack the fort. At some little distance 
 from Fort Duquesne the party fell in with a detachment of 
 French under Coulon de Jumonville. A skirmish took place 
 in which Jumonville was killed and both parties retired. 
 Expecting to be attacked, Washington intrenched himself at 
 " Fort Necessity." And here the French came against him 
 with greatly superior force. After some sharp fighting Wash- 
 ington was obliged to capitulate, and with his Virginians was 
 allowed to march out with the honors of war and retired east 
 of the Alleghanies. The first point had been gained by the 
 French. English influence west of the Alleghanies was over- 
 thrown. 
 
 The English were roused to action. In the winter of 1754— 
 55 a fierce border war raged along the western settlements of 
 Pennsylvania and Virginia. In the spring new preparations 
 were made for the capture of Fort Duquesne. Forces had 
 been sent out from England, and with them a general. Ed- 
 ward Braddock was a brave officer of some experience in war, 
 but knowing little of the manner to be pursued in border 
 fighting. The unhappy result of the expedition which he 
 commanded is well known. Gathering at Wills Creek a 
 considerable force of English regulars, Virginia troops, with 
 a quantity of horses and wagons, Braddock began his ad- 
 vance with difficulty through the forest. There were con- 
 tinual delays and difficulties. Finally Braddock left his 
 impedimenta in the rear and pressed on with a light col- 
 umn. 
 
 The expedition was sufficient in number to overawe the 
 French. In the fort the ruling opinion was that it would be 
 necessary to retire. But finally Contrecceur, the commander, 
 at the instance of Captain Beaujeu, resolved to lay an am- 
 buscade for the English as they forded the Monongahela. 
 
BRADDOCK S DEFEAT. 1 29 
 
 Beaujeu was in command. Although the English had 
 reached the ford before the French the ambuscade was still 
 made. The success was complete. The English regulars, 
 marching in ranks as if on parade, presented a fair mark for 
 the bullets of the French and Indians who lay concealed be- 
 hind the trees in front and on each side of them. The ad- 
 vance guard was almost destroyed, and when the main body 
 came up nothing could be done to save the day. The regu- 
 lars could not fight as the occasion demanded. Some little 
 fighting was done by the provincials in border fashion, but 
 finally the British turned and fled. Braddock was severely 
 wounded, as were most of his officers. On meeting General 
 Dunbar, who had been left behind with the baggage, no stop 
 was made, but the retreat continued. Braddock himself died 
 on the way and was buried in the woods, while the army 
 marched over his grave, that it might not be found by the 
 savages. The expedition was a total and miserable failure. 
 The French still held the West, and with their savage allies 
 they still made barbarous inroads on the border settle- 
 ments. 
 
 The same year another expedition was planned. Lake 
 George (called by the French Lake St. Sacrament), and Lake 
 Champlain, with the River Richelieu, made a tempting path- 
 way to Quebec. The French, however, commanded it. For 
 some years Crown Point (as the English called Fort Fred- 
 erick) had been a standing menace to the northern colonies. 
 An expedition was planned by the energetic Shirley. A force 
 of three thousand provincial troops was raised and the com- 
 mand given to William Johnson, afterward knighted for his 
 services. This man was chosen chiefly for his influence over 
 the Indians, which was great. He lived in a fortified house 
 in the Mohawk country with a Dutch wife, and was known as 
 an English chief throughout the Five Nations. But he was 
 nothing of a soldier. The provincial force gathered at Al- 
 bany and prepared to march northward. 
 
 The French, on their side, had no notion of waiting to be 
 
 attacked. Baron Dieskau, a German officer of repute, had 
 6* 
 
130 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 command of the forces at Crown Point — some thirty-five hun- 
 dred all told ; French, Canadians, and Indians. These last 
 gave him some trouble. He led out his forces, however, and 
 marched down the eastern side of the lake to surprise the 
 English, who were marching slowly northward from Albany. 
 Both sides sent out scouting parties, who were constantly 
 skirmishing. Finally, on reaching the southern end of the 
 lake, the French obtained information of their whereabouts 
 and prepared an ambush. Johnson had with him at this time 
 about twenty-five hundred, of whom three hundred were 
 Mohawk Indians, who did but little fighting. The English 
 advance party of about a thousand men fell into the ambush, 
 and for a moment it seemed as though they must be utterly 
 routed. But they recovered and fell back in fair order on 
 the camp where the rest of the English lay intrenched be- 
 hind a rough fortification of logs. The French followed 
 closely and the battle became general. The English re- 
 ceived their first assault behind their intrenchments. Then 
 a charge was ordered and the French and Indians broke and 
 fled. Dieskau was wounded and captured. 
 
 This was a success as far as it went, but Johnson did not 
 follow up his advantage. He encamped at the battlefield, 
 where he occupied himself in strengthening the fort which he 
 named William Henry. Here he stayed until November 27, 
 when the greater part of his army dispersed to their homes. 
 Little was gained except whatever prestige came from a bar- 
 ren victory. 
 
 This same summer an expedition was planned against Fort 
 Niagara. Shirley, with a considerable force, reached the En- 
 glish fort at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, which was to serve as 
 base of operations. But Fort Frontenac, on the other side of 
 the lake, was a formidable post to leave in the rear, and 
 though Shirley had some thoughts of attempting its capture 
 nothing was done. He returned to Albany in the fall, leaving 
 seven hundred men at Oswego. The first year of the war 
 had not resulted very successfully for the English. 
 
 The next year war was formally declared, and the Marquis 
 
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1756. 131 
 
 de Montcalm was sent out to command the French. He in- 
 spired confidence in the whole colony. Under his direction 
 the unfinished fort at Ticonderoga was completed, and for 
 some time stood as the French outpost on this line of attack. 
 Generals were also sent from England. Shirley, who was 
 hard at work planning an expedition against Frontenac and 
 Niagara, was ordered to resign his command to Colonel Webb, 
 who was to come from England. Webb in turn was to turn 
 the command over to General Abercrombie, who was to fol- 
 low him. Abercrombie was to give up the command to the 
 Earl of Loudon, the real commander-in-chief. The reasons 
 for this singular arrangement do not at present appear. 
 Meanwhile, none of his successors having appeared, Shirley 
 carried on the preparations for the campaign in accordance 
 with his own ideas. He busied himself principally in looking 
 after Oswego, the proposed base for operations on Lake On- 
 tario. In the meanwhile an expedition under the command 
 of John Winslow was set on foot for the attack of Crown 
 Point, and an army of five thousand New England soldiers 
 collected at Albany for that purpose. 
 
 There was much done early in the season with a view to- 
 ward strengthening the post at Oswego, and a considerable 
 skirmish took place in May, in which the English got some- 
 thing the better. Loudon, however, on his arrival, determined 
 to give up that part of the plan and to confine his operations 
 to the attack on Crown Point. He proposed, however, to 
 send re-enforcements to Oswego. But Montcalm was before- 
 hand with him. Sailing from Fort Frontenac in August with 
 three thousand men and several cannons he appeared before 
 Oswego, which proved to be utterly incapable of defense, and 
 surrendered in two or three days' time. The blow to the En- 
 glish was severe. It injured their prestige with the Indians, 
 it secured the French communications with Niagara, Detroit 
 and Fort Duquesne, and it left Montcalm free to concentrate 
 his forces at Ticonderoga. 
 
 In this direction the English, although great preparations 
 had been made, did nothing. A vigorous war of skirmishes 
 
132 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 was carried on by Indians and rangers on either side of Lake 
 George, but no effective blow was struck. The next year, 
 however, the crushing blow came. Loudon planned an at- 
 tack on Louisburg which, owing to stormy weather as well as 
 other things, came to nothing. Montcalm turned his whole 
 attention toward Lake Champlain. Fort William Henry was 
 garrisoned by a comparatively small force. Webb lay at Fort 
 Edward with such troops as had been left by Loudon. In 
 July he collected all the force that was available at Ticon- 
 deroga for a descent on Fort William Henry. A large num- 
 ber of Indians were present, as well Christian Indians from 
 the missions as tribes from the far West. There were also 
 Canadians, colonial regulars, and French troops. The expe- 
 dition left Ticonderoga in August and shortly appeared be- 
 fore Fort William Henry, where Munro was in command with 
 two thousand men. The French numbered seventy-five hun- 
 dred. Not far distant, at Fort Edward, General Webb had a 
 small force, but he did not think it best to weaken his army 
 by re-enforcing Munro, for their combined forces could not 
 have equaled the French. 
 
 The French proceeded to open trenches for a formal siege. 
 They had with them cannon and mortars which soon made a 
 breach in the fort. Munro replied gallantly with his cannon, 
 but learning from W T ebb that he could expect no re-enforce- 
 ment from him he finally decided to accept Montcalm's 
 offers for a capitulation. The garrison were to be allowed 
 to march out to Fort Edward on promise not to subsequently 
 serve against the French. On the way, however, the savage 
 allies of Montcalm broke all bounds and precipitated them- 
 selves on the English, massacring a large number. The sur- 
 vivors finally reached Webb at Fort Edward. Fort William 
 Henry was dismantled and burned, and the French and In- 
 dians retired to Canada. 
 
 So far the tide of the war had been decidedly in favor of 
 the French. The English attempts on Forts Duquesne and 
 Niagara had been failures. They had accomplished literally 
 nothing. True, the French had been defeated in the first year 
 
LOUISBURG TAKEN. 133 
 
 of the war at Fort William Henry, but their subsequent ex- 
 peditions had been more successful and the demolition of 
 Oswego and Fort William Henry had been two severe blows. 
 
 The next year, 1758, the tide changed a little. In England 
 William Pitt had been called to the direction of the war, and 
 under his energetic combinations the campaign was planned / 
 with great zeal. Canada was to be attacked by all approaches, 
 an English army and fleet were to besiege the citadel of Louis- 
 burg, a joint expedition was to attack Ticonderoga, and a 
 third army was to strive to avenge the defeat of Braddock at 
 Fort Duquesne. Some measure of success remained to the 
 English at the end of the campaign. 
 
 On the 2d of June, Admiral Boscawen, with an English 
 fleet, appeared off the coast of Cape Breton. He was in com- 
 mand of twenty-three ships-of-the-line, eighteen frigates, and 
 five other ships. Under his convoy was a fleet of transports, 
 which carried General Amherst and his army of eleven thou- 
 sand English regulars, with five hundred provincials. It was 
 an overpowering force. Drucour, the French commander, 
 had with him in the town but five thousand French and 
 Canadian regulars, with such assistance as he could get from 
 the inhabitants and from a number of Indians — a branch of 
 the French army never famous for siege operations. 
 
 The siege was bitterly contested and lasted longer than 
 might have been expected. The English forced a landing at 
 the west of the town, although the weather was so rough that 
 it took several days for them to get all their heavy guns 
 ashore. The town was then invested in regular form. The 
 heavy siege guns soon rendered the fortress indefensible, and 
 on the 26th of July the town surrendered. It was the first 
 great English success of the war, and all England and all 
 the English colonies rejoiced. Yet the expedition had not 
 wholly succeeded. The brave resistance of the French had 
 delayed the surrender so that there was no time for Boscawen 
 and Amherst to move on Quebec, toward which James Wolfe, 
 the brigadier-general under Amherst, cast longing eyes. 
 
 This success on the right was balanced later in the season 
 
 ' 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 by others almost as important on the left. Later in the sea- 
 son, in the middle of August, Bradstreet, with a force of pro- 
 vincials, made his way to the deserted post of Oswego. Here 
 his men, joined by a few Indians, embarked in boats which 
 they had brought with them, and started across the lake for 
 Fort Frontenac. The French were not expecting an attack, 
 and there were hardly two hundred men in the fort. Brad- 
 street had with him more than ten times the number. He 
 effected a landing and the FYench surrendered. The fort was 
 dismantled, and the expedition returned to Albany. Later in 
 the season Fort Duquesne succumbed. General Forbes had 
 been sent against it with a force composed of provincials 
 from the southern colonies, some regulars, among them some 
 Scotch Highlanders, and a regiment of Royal Americans, 
 so called — king's troops recruited in the colonies. Forbes, 
 warned by the example of Braddock, made his way slowly 
 and with great caution through the forests of western Penn- 
 sylvania. It was not till the end of November that he reached 
 the fort, and then the French had gone. Too few to resist suc- 
 cessfully, and compelled by lack of provisions, they had been 
 forced to retire after having burned and blown up the works. 
 A temporary defense was built and garrisoned by the English, 
 the name was changed to Pittsburg, and the English retired. 
 
 By these successes the English had made material advance. 
 The French, left and right, had been driven in. But the blow 
 aimed at the center had failed. Montcalm still held Ticon- 
 deroga. The plans made by Pitt for the campaign had for 
 their chief part an expedition against Canada on this line. It 
 should have been successful. The forces gathered at Fort 
 William Henry were very large. There were six thousand 
 regulars. Pitt had this year called on the colonies for twenty 
 thousand men. Of these nearly ten thousand were to be 
 employed on the expedition against Ticonderoga. A large 
 number of boats had been prepared to carry them up Lake 
 George. On the 5th of July the army embarked, and the 
 great flotilla of over a thousand boats began its journey down 
 the lake. The expedition was well provided with artillery, 
 
ATTACK ON QUEBEC. 1 35 
 
 and everything seemed to augur well for the reduction of the 
 French stronghold. Abercrombie was in command, but the 
 life of the army was General Lord Howe. They landed at 
 the northern end of the lake on the 6th and took up their 
 march across country toward the southern end of Lake 
 Champlain. Here a crushing disaster befell them. Lord 
 Howe, marching with Major Israel Putnam at the head of the 
 army, was shot and killed in a skirmish with an outlying party 
 of the French. The whole army felt the blow. 
 
 Abercrombie pressed his men on, intent on forcing the 
 French position by storm. It seems to have been the one way 
 in which success was doubtful. Montcalm had intrenched 
 himself strongly just outside of the fort and withstood the 
 English attack for seven hours. The battle was desperate and 
 bloody. At the end the English, having made nothing and 
 having lost one fourth of their number, were ordered to 
 retire, though still strong enough to have captured the fort 
 by siege. The expedition returned to Fort William Henry 
 and the campaign was given up as a failure. 
 
 But this was the last French success in the war. Their 
 efforts seemed to grow more feeble as the English increased 
 in vigor. Provisions and men were scarce. Jealousy and 
 intrigue disordered their counsels. They were not supported 
 from home. One more campaign finished the war. 
 
 The English took the offensive on every point. A large 
 army and fleet were sent against Quebec, rendered more easy 
 of access by the fall of Louisburg. Amherst was to attack 
 Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Oswego was to be rebuilt 
 and Fort Niagara was to be reduced. And Fort Duquesne, 
 or Pittsburg, was to be strengthened and garrisoned. All 
 these plans were carried out with great vigor. 
 
 The upper town of Quebec is a place of great natural 
 strength. It stands high above the river, on a steep cliff, 
 easily made inaccessible, protected on the south, east and 
 north by the St. Lawrence and the St. Charles rivers. To 
 the west of the city is the plateau on which are the Plains of 
 Abraham. To the north is the river St. Charles, beyond 
 
136 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 which was the entrenched camp of the French army under 
 Montcalm, stretching down the river for two miles, as far 
 as the Falls of Montmorenci. In the river opposite the 
 French camp is the Island of Orleans. Here the English 
 landed on the 26th of June an army of some nine thousand 
 men, under command of Wolfe — who was to become famous 
 here — assisted by a large fleet. 
 
 The undertaking was difficult, and the summer wore away 
 while the British lay on the Island of Orleans, no further 
 advanced than the day they landed. A vigorous attack made 
 on the French camp near the Falls of Montmorenci was a 
 failure. The lower town was reduced to ruins by the En- 
 glish guns, but no impression was made on the citadel. In 
 September Wolfe resolved that a great risk must be run, and 
 determined to attack the town from the west. About five 
 thousand of his troops were secretly conveyed above the city. 
 Then, early in the morning of the 13th, the expedition floated 
 down the river in boats, till they reached the point agreed 
 upon, above the city. Twenty-four volunteers scaled the cliffs 
 by a steep and narrow path, and the rest of the army fol- 
 lowed. By daylight the English, thirty-five hundred strong, 
 stood on the Plains of Abraham — a mile distant from Quebec. 
 Montcalm had been taken by surprise. He mustered his 
 forces as soon as possible and appeared before the city to 
 give battle. The fortune of war was with the English. The 
 French were broken and fled. The two leaders, Wolfe and 
 Montcalm, were both killed in the battle. But the English 
 remained masters of the field. They entrenched themselves, 
 and the city surrendered the next day. 
 
 The fall of Quebec was the fall of Canada. The other 
 expeditions set on foot had succeeded. General Prideaux 
 had reached Oswego, and, leaving half his force to hold that 
 place, had proceeded and laid siege to Niagara with the rest. 
 The French were defeated in sundry skirmishes and the 
 place fell. Meanwhile Amherst had gathered his forces at 
 Fort William Henry and sailed down Lake George to Ticon- 
 deroga, which was abandoned by the French at his approach. 
 
END OF THE WAR. 
 
 137 
 
 Crown Point was also evacuated, and the English were mas- 
 ters of this road to Canada. It had been Amherst's intention 
 to advance on Montreal 
 
 FRENCH & INDIAN 
 WAR 
 
 and Quebec, but the sea- 
 son was too far advanced 
 for him to do so. The 
 campaign closed with 
 Canada virtually in the 
 hands of the English. 
 The next year the French 
 attempted to recapture 
 Quebec, but the place 
 was successfully held 
 against them. That same 
 year three simultaneous 
 attacks were directed 
 against Montreal : Mur- 
 ray was to advance from 
 Quebec and Haviland by 
 way of Lake Champlain, 
 while Amherst sailed 
 down the St. Lawrence 
 from Lake Ontario. A 
 junction was effected ; 
 Montreal was invested 
 by seventeen thousand 
 men, and the town ca- 
 pitulated. By the terms of the surrender all Canada passed 
 over to the English. All French troops were to be sent to 
 France, with any others who might desire to go with them. 
 
 Thus was the war in America ended. The Peace of Paris, 
 signed three years later, confirmed the conditions, and the 
 English colonies were at last rid of their dangerous rivals on 
 the north and west. Not a few keen-sighted men, in different 
 parts of the world, saw in this freedom from alarm and men- 
 ace, in this possibility of endless increase, the sure signs of 
 American independence. 
 
 t 
 
138 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Colonial Irritation. 
 
 The Prospect of Peace— George III.— System for Taxing America— The 
 Stamp Act— The Navigation Act— Protest Against the Act— Passage of 
 the Stamp Act— Continental Congress— Attack on the House of Gov- 
 ernor Hutchinson— Sons of Liberty— Rockingham Ministry in Power- 
 Speech of William Pitt— Repeal of the Stamp Act— Statues of Pitt 
 and George III.— The Mutiny Act— The Tea Act— Irritation of the 
 Colonists — A Garrison in Boston. 
 
 WAR was over, and it seemed as if danger from foreign 
 enemies was over. Especially in the northern and 
 middle colonies was the danger of incursions from the savages 
 on their northern and western frontiers at an end. 
 
 For more than a generation the English colonists had been 
 more than a match for any force which the Indians could 
 bring against them without the help of white men, but while 
 there were magazines of French arms and ammunition to 
 rely upon the frontiers were never safe. Political jealousy and 
 priestly bigotry were enough to excite the Indians who lived 
 between the French and the English, and the familiar phrase 
 which has come into that history, which speaks of the incur- 
 sions or conflicts as belonging " to French-and-Indian-wars," 
 shows how natural and complete was the alliance between the 
 two. This alliance was now dissolved, and apparently dis- 
 solved forever. The colonists were to deal with the Indians 
 alone, and they knew that, so dealing, they were quite sure of 
 peace. There is a curious letter from Washington, written 
 to an English correspondent in 1763, in which he says that 
 the quiet of all life in the colonies is such that he really 
 has nothing to say which will interest a friend on the other 
 side of the water. 
 
REVENUE FROM STAMPS. 1 39 
 
 The folly of George III., a young prince who had come 
 to the throne but a few years before, broke up all this 
 seeming tranquillity. His grandfather, George II., was a 
 soldier. He was not much more than a soldier, but he 
 was a man who did dare to go into battle and who under- 
 stood more or less of the strategy which belonged to the 
 military art of his time. George III.'s father had died while 
 George II. lived. When, in 1760, the grandson inherited 
 the throne of England, it was with a young man's enthusi- 
 asm, hopes and ambitions. 
 
 Benjamin West, who spent the greater part of his life in 
 London, is the authority for an anecdote which is probably 
 true. He says that the young king was anxious to rival in 
 London the visible grandeurs of the Court of France. He 
 had formed the idea that he should like to build a palace 
 which might bear some comparison with the glories of Ver- 
 sailles. To do riiis, as he and his favorites knew, required a 
 larger revenue than English parliaments were used to vote 
 to English sovereigns. New revenue must be sought for 
 somewhere. With the audacity of youth and inexperience 
 they conceived the idea of drawing revenue from these col- 
 onies which extended so largely upon the map, and for whom 
 an army directed by Chatham had done such great things. 
 Here was, according to Mr. West, the origin of the system 
 for taxing America. 
 
 In the ministry of Grenville and North, in 1763, a bill was 
 introduced in Parliament which would test the whole ques- 
 tion of a possible revenue to be derived from the English 
 colonies. It required that for all commercial transactions 
 and all instruments of record stamps must be used as they 
 were used in England. The earliest reference, in the English 
 archives, to this project, is at the date of July 5, 1763. The 
 next spring, on the 10th of March, Grenville was prime min- 
 ister. As an amendment to the Sugar Act he introduced a 
 resolution in these fatal words : " It may be proper to charge 
 stamp duties on the colonies and plantations." This resolu- 
 tion challenged little attention in Parliament. But it was 
 
-K 
 
 140 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 now a general custom for each colonial assembly to maintain 
 an agent in London who should attend to its affairs. Frank- 
 lin was such an agent for Pennsylvania. These agents, of 
 course, notified their principals of the proposition, and then 
 waited on Grenville promptly, to tell him that any scheme 
 for internal taxation would be intolerable to America. Gren- 
 ville answered that he had given the colonies, by his resolu- 
 tion, a year to indicate any other mode of contributing to 
 this charge which might be agreeable to them. 
 
 The Sugar Act, to which this resolution regarding stamps 
 was added, was a renewal of an act which had been passed 
 thirty years before. The general theory of English commerce 
 was the old fatal and absurd theory, that all commerce must 
 be conducted for the benefit of the mother country. What 
 is known as the " Navigation Act " was the basis of English 
 legislation. On the theory of the Navigation Act, if Massa- 
 chusetts wished to send fish to the West India islands the 
 fish must be shipped to London, and from England re-shipped 
 to the islands. But from the very beginning the colonies had 
 disregarded the act. Cromwell had assented to its violation, 
 and subsequent statutes had* confirmed the exception thus 
 made. Under the act of 1734, which expired in 1764, a duty 
 was imposed on foreign molasses. Under the new act which 
 Grenville now introduced, this duty was reduced from six 
 pence a gallon to three pence, and new duties were imposed 
 on coffee, pimento, East India goods and wines, when admit- 
 ted into the colonies. While the colonies had never dissented 
 from the imposition of duties on navigation which were in- 
 tended to protect the English islands, by the disadvantageous 
 pressure upon the products of the Spanish islands, they saw 
 at once that the new duty was proposed for the raising of 
 revenue. The resolution with regard to stamps, which was 
 added to an act in itself so unpopular, showed that this was 
 the purpose of the government. 
 
 While these two details were considered in England as 
 absolutely unimportant they set the whole of America in a 
 blaze. "If our trade may be taxed, why not our lands ? " said 
 
STAMP ACT PASSED. 141 
 
 Sam. Adams. "Why not the produce of our lands? and, in 
 short, every thing we possessor make use of?" The reader 
 will remember that it was only a hundred and twenty years 
 since John Hampden had gone to battle and to death to 
 maintain the principle that the subject could not be taxed by 
 the king unless he had an opportunity to vote on the law 
 which taxed him. Precisely the same question was now 
 brought before the colonies. 
 
 It was by no means a new question in the colonies; and 
 with a curious jealousy the legislative assemblies had always 
 refused the slightest proposal of their governors to raise a 
 revenue which they themselves had not voted. In 1762 the 
 House of Representatives in Massachusetts had said : " It 
 would be of little consequence to the people whether they 
 were subject to George or to Louis, the king of Great Britain 
 or the French king, if both were as arbitrary as both would 
 be if both could levy taxes without Parliament." Every 
 colony which had an opportunity protested against the act 
 and its principle. The agents were instructed to ask for a 
 hearing before the House of Commons, and in one or an- 
 other form the different assemblies sent their protests to 
 London. 
 
 Grenville was, therefore, fairly warned. He had given his 
 year's notice to the colonies, and this was the result. But he 
 introduced the Stamp Act, and it was passed by a full house 
 on March 22, 1765. The cheapest stamp was to be one shil- 
 ling. For more important documents the prices ranged 
 upward. This act was to be enforced after the first Tuesday 
 in October. 
 
 The summer of 1765 was, therefore, a summer of tremen- 
 dous excitement through all the colonies. At the suggestion 
 of Massachusetts, nine assemblies appointed their delegates 
 to meet in a Continental Congress at New York, to consider 
 the exigency. Meanwhile the piles of stamped paper which 
 were to produce this new revenue arrived in the different sea- 
 ports. Mobs of people in those towns waited on the collect- 
 ors who were appointed to sell the stamps and compelled 
 
i) 
 
 *£is* 
 
 
 142 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 them to decline. The Congress met in the old City Hall in 
 Wall Street, in New York. It consisted of twenty-eight del- 
 egates. They agreed together on thirteen resolutions, express- 
 ing, in strong language, the conviction "that no taxes ever 
 have been or can be constitutionally imposed on the people 
 of these colonies but by their respective legislatures." And, 
 again, that "all supplies to the crown being free gifts of the 
 people, it is unreasonable and inconsistent with the spirit of 
 the British Constitution for the people of Great Britain to 
 grant to his majesty the property of the colonists." These 
 resolutions were forwarded to England. Similar resolutions 
 were passed in many of the colonial assemblies. 
 
 It proved, at once, that it would be impossible to enforce 
 the use of stamped paper. In most of the towns where it 
 was to be sold the agents were compelled to resign. In Bos- 
 ton the mob entered the house of Oliver, the agent, and 
 broke his windows. This outrage was not checked. The 
 mob gathered courage and attacked the house of his brother- 
 in-law, Governor Hutchinson, entered it, and threw every 
 thing into the street. In this wild riot some important doc- 
 uments bearing on American history were lost. Hutchinson 
 was singularly hated by the people, because he was of New 
 England blood and they thought they had a right to com- 
 mand his sympathy. It would be fair to say that unless men 
 held office under the crown they were unanimous in their 
 opposition to the statute. In New York an association called 
 the "Sons of Liberty " was formed, which led the opposition. 
 Similar associations were formed in other provinces. When 
 a vessel arrived with stamps for use in Connecticut she was 
 boarded, the stamps were seized and were set on fire. In 
 Philadelphia the stamp distributor resigned so soon as he 
 found that the Sons of Liberty proposed to visit him. In 
 Maryland, Hood, who was to distribute them, was burned in 
 effigy, and fled to New York. The Sons of Liberty waited on 
 him and compelled him to resign his office and swear that 
 he would not resume it. In short, in every province the use 
 of stamps proved impossible, and it seems to be sure that no 
 
THE ROCKINGHAM MINISTRY. 143 
 
 stamp was ever used upon any instrument in America. The 
 parcels were, in many instances, shipped back to England, 
 and it is within the memory of this generation that in some 
 clearing of the house in one of the English departments 
 these packages were found and the stamps given away as 
 curiosities to persons interested in history. 
 
 Meanwhile in England a change had been made in the 
 cabinet. What was known as the Rockingham ministry came 
 into power — a cabinet which was independent of the Earl of 
 Bute, a Scotch lord, who had been supposed to have an undue 
 influence over the young king. When Parliament came to- 
 gether in December the Rockingham ministry did not know 
 its own mind as to the American disturbances. On this 
 occasion William Pitt appeared for the first time in a year. 
 He made a speech in the formal debate on the address to the 
 crown. "In my opinion," he said, "this kingdom has no 
 right to lay a tax upon the colonies. The Americans are the 
 sons, not the bastards of England." In this speech he made 
 a prophecy which became celebrated, that the rotten part of 
 the constitution, by which he meant the system of rotten 
 boroughs, would not last for a century. In fact, it was de- 
 stroyed by the " Reform Bill " in 1831. At the end of such 
 an attack there was silence. General Conway, who had voted 
 against the Stamp Act and now led the ministry, then rose. 
 He said that he agreed with almost every word that Pitt had 
 said. Grenville defended the stamp system. He said that 
 the American hatred to it was to be found in the factions of 
 the House. Pitt replied. In his reply he used words which 
 school-boys still repeat at school exhibitions : "I rejoice that 
 America has resisted. Three millions of people, so dead to 
 all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, 
 would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the 
 rest." 
 
 The House went into what was called a careful inquiry on 
 the subject. Franklin was examined at its bar. It was agreed 
 on all hands that the Stamp Act should be repealed. It was 
 supposed that this would satisfy the Americans. The repeal 
 
144 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 was passed by the strong vote of 275 to 167. And, indeed, 
 the news of the repeal was received with enthusiasm through 
 the colonies. It was thought that a new change had come in. 
 The town of Boston ordered full-length portraits of Conway 
 and of Barre to be hung up in Faneuil Hall, which was its 
 place of meeting. The Assembly of Virginia voted a statue 
 of George III., and Maryland proposed one of Pitt. The 
 State of New York ordered statues to both Pitt and the king, 
 and these statues were set up in August, 1770. 
 
 But all this enthusiasm was really misplaced ; for by the 
 side of the repeal of the Stamp Act a declaratory act was 
 passed, declaring that Parliament had power over the colonies 
 in all cases whatsoever. The Sugar Act had not been modified, 
 with its provision creating a revenue and for revenue pur- 
 poses. The Mutiny Act directed that the colonial assemblies 
 should provide quarters, with " fire, candles, vinegar, salt, 
 bedding, utensils for cooking, beer or cider, and rum," for the 
 troops who might be sent to America. Meanwhile the Rock- 
 ingham ministry had dissolved. In the changes made, which 
 2- cannot be called partisan so much as personal, the opponents 
 to the colonies gained new force. Charles Townshend came 
 into power, and he had a theory of colonial taxation which he 
 supposed he could carry through. He died in the year 1767, 
 but he lived long enough to introduce the celebrated Tea Act, 
 on which, as it happened, the discussions of after years turned. 
 
 In the limited space of this history it is impossible to go 
 into the details of the irritation which was kept up now, for 
 a series of years, after the suspicion had once gained ground 
 that Parliament meant to make money out of the colonies. It 
 was now a question under the Mutiny Act, now a quarrel about 
 the quartering of soldiers, now an obnoxious message from a 
 home secretary to a governor, which continued the exaspera- 
 tion. The men who controlled England had no knowledge 
 of the colonies. On the other hand, the people of New En- 
 gland, for a century, had hardly known what a soldier was in 
 time of peace. They were themselves accustomed to serve 
 in their own train bands. They were disciplined to arms, 
 
GARRISONS. 145 
 
 that they might serve as a militia. They had volunteered 
 freely, even for distant enterprises, as the reader knows ; but 
 when war ended, or when the days of "annual training " were 
 over, the soldier was a soldier no longer. No one wore a 
 uniform ; no one presumed on any rights which were not 
 shared by all men. To a New Englander, then, to see a body 
 of men arrive from another country, dressed in unifrom and 
 carrying weapons when all was at peace, was a sight as ab- 
 surd as if they had been clad in the armor of the Middle Ages 
 and were riding up and down like Amadis in quest of adven- 
 tures. To quarter a body of soldiers in a New England town, 
 even though those soldiers were paid from a distant treasury, 
 was a constant reminder of the force on which their distant 
 king relied. It was a reminder which they did not like, and 
 the mere presence of such a force was a constant exaspera- 
 tion. 
 
 Such is one instance of the offense which the government 
 in London was constantly giving to the colonists in America. 
 To send a regiment into garrison in a provincial town in En- 
 gland was a favor to that town, and the regiment was received 
 with a certain interest and enthusiasm. But to send a regi- 
 ment as a garrison into the town of Boston was an insult 
 which excited and exasperated every person in Boston every 
 day that such occupation continued. 
 7 
 
146 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 3 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Boston Massacre. 
 
 Boston Massacre — Selectmen Wait on the Governor — A Demand that 
 the Troops Be Withdrawn — Consent of Governor Hutchinson — Sam. 
 Adams's Regiment — Trial of Preston — Protest of the Colonies Against 
 Taxation — Lord North Prime Minister. 
 
 IN Boston this irritation came to its height, after endless 
 altercations between the people and the royal troops 
 and seamen, on the 3d of March, 1770. A party of soldiers 
 and a party of rope-makers of the town agreed to meet in a 
 sort of duel, and fought with clubs near midnight. Several 
 men on each side were badly wounded. The next night an 
 attempt was made to renew this fight, which was suppressed 
 with some difficulty. The next night, the 5th of March, a 
 day which became historical, two young men tried to pass a 
 sentinel at the foot of Cornhill, near where the statue of 
 Samuel Adams stands to-day. The sentinel tried to stop them 
 and a struggle ensued. The encounter was itself trifling, but 
 it called out the neighbors, and a file of troops in defense of 
 the sentry. The English officers succeeded in drawing their 
 men back into the barracks, but there was no one to withdraw 
 the mob of people. They observed another sentinel, who was 
 stationed in front of the Custom House. This building was 
 in what is now called State Street, then King Street, on the 
 northern side. A boy pointed at this sentry as being a man 
 who had knocked him down lately, and the mob began to 
 pelt him with snow-balls and other missiles. The soldier 
 tried to enter the building for protection, but the door was 
 locked ; and he was obliged to call for the main guard, whose 
 station was within hearing. The officer in command sent six 
 men to his/ relief. He also sent for Captain Preston, the offi- 
 
BOSTON MASSACRE. 1 47 
 
 cer of the day. Meanwhile rumors of a fight called together 
 an immense crowd. The bells were ringing as if for fire. 
 Preston joined the file of six men with six other men. They 
 fell back in a curved line in front of the Custom House. 
 Preston knew and the mob knew that by the law of England 
 his men must not fire without the order of a civil magistrate. 
 He behaved with moderation and judgment all through. 
 The mob dared the soldiers to fire. <v Come on, lobster-backs." 
 " Come on, bloody-backs." These were allusions to the hated 
 red coat. " Fire if you dare." " Damn you, why don't you 
 fire ? " At last a soldier received a severe blow from a club. 
 He leveled his piece and fired. Immediately after, seven or 
 eight more of the soldiers fired. Three of the people were 
 killed, two others were mortally wounded, and six slightly 
 wounded. The rest of the mob fled and Preston was able to 
 withdraw his men without injury. The incident seemed to be 
 over, but in reality the Revolutionary War had begun. 
 
 The drums beat to arms, and the Twenty-ninth regiment 
 formed in King Street. On the other hand, Hutchinson ad- 
 dressed the people from the balcony of the State House. He 
 promised a full investigation in the morning. A citizens' 
 guard of a hundred men took charge of the streets, and peace 
 was restored. Early in the morning Preston gave himself up 
 for trial. 
 
 The Selectmen of Boston at once waited on the governor 
 and council. They said that such a fight was the consequence 
 which they had always anticipated from the'presence of a body 
 of soldiers in a peaceful town. They said that the troops must 
 be withdrawn from Boston, or they would not be responsible 
 for the consequences. Hutchinson said that the troops were 
 under military orders, and that he could not remove them; that 
 they were under the command of General Gage, at New York. 
 But, with the fatal facility of a weak man, he said that Colonel 
 Dalrymple would withdraw to the castle the Twenty-ninth 
 regiment, which had had the fights with the people. The 
 town meeting in Faneuil Hall pronounced this answer unsat- 
 isfactory. Sam. Adams, at the head of a committee of citizens, 
 
148 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 waited upon Hutchinson again. Hutchinson renewed the 
 proposal that one regiment should be sent away. Adams an- 
 swered at once that if there was power to remove one regi- 
 ment there was power to remove two, and that nothing less 
 would satisfy the people. Hutchinson gave way, and the 
 regiments were removed to Castle William, in the harbor. 
 By this act the outbreak of the Revolution was postponed for 
 five years. 
 
 The young king," George III., who was trying these little 
 experiments at absolute government, heard with disgust of the 
 failure of this effort to quarter soldiers in a free town. He 
 always called these two regiments " Sam. Adams's regiments " 
 afterward. It was perhaps at this moment that he first heard 
 Adams's name, and it is probably from this moment that 
 Samuel Adams, who is, in fact, the father of American inde- 
 pendence, was always regarded with particular dislike by 
 George III., who should be remembered as the author of the 
 American Revolution. By this is meant that, had it not been 
 for the preposterous wish of George III. to intermeddle with the 
 constitutional order of things which he found, the separation of 
 America from England, in itself unavoidable, would have hap- 
 pened at a different time and under very different conditions. 
 
 Preston was tried for murder. He was defended by Quincy 
 and Adams, two patriot lawyers, and was acquitted. Two of 
 the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter, the rest were 
 acquitted. Under the inhuman law of that time these two 
 poor fellows were branded in the hand. Hutchinson, the weak 
 governor, who could have pardoned them, said this was of little 
 consequence to the prisoners, and he thought it most advisable 
 not to interfere. 
 
 The act drawn by Townshend's direction for the taxation 
 of the colonies proposed importation duties on tea, glass, 
 paper and colors. Against these the colonies had protested 
 in every way. They had materially checked the trade with 
 England by combinations of the patriots who refused to re- 
 ceive foreign goods. From the severity of these combinations 
 they gave way gradually, so that they would receive such other 
 
LORD NORTH. 149 
 
 manufactures of England as they needed, but would not re- 
 ceive the articles on which the taxes were to be paid. In 
 1769 the Duke of Grafton urged in the cabinet a remission 
 of all these duties. His colleagues, however, insisted on 
 maintaining the duty on tea " for the sake of the principle," 
 as was said. But the cabinet agreed that the circular on the 
 subject should contain as encouraging expressions as were 
 possible. The Duke of Grafton afterward complained that 
 these encouraging expressions were never sent to the colonies; 
 that the circular letter which was sent was calculated to do 
 all the mischief possible. And he charges that these changes 
 were made at the direct instance of the king. This is proba- 
 bly true. In all the history of that time matters were com- 
 plicated by the existence of a set of men who were called 
 "the king's friends," who surrounded the person of George 
 III., and who took care that not even the cabinet, which was 
 theoretically responsible, should have its own way fully, if 
 that way crossed the royal will. Meanwhile, George III. had 
 shown the first symptoms of the insanity under which he after- 
 ward broke down. 
 
 With the spring of 1770 the Grafton ministry broke up and 
 Lord North became prime minister. This was on the 27th of 
 January. The " king's friends " were to control England for 
 the next twelve years, and the history of the next twelve 
 years, with the loss of the American colonies, is the result of 
 that control. The American reader studies with curious pains 
 the details of the intrigues on which depended the fate of 
 his own country. He finds, to his surprise, that hardly any 
 man in England knew any thing about the colonies or cared 
 much for them or for theirs. The government had no policy. 
 It was committed to retaining the tea tax, partly to show that 
 it had the right of taxation and partly because it would main- 
 tain the favorable consideration of the great East India Com- 
 pany. But matters of local policy, local intrigues, and per- 
 sonal cabals, occupied the statesmen of England so much 
 that they could scarcely devote an hour to the consideration 
 of the condition of their colonies. 
 
150 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Boston Tea Party. 
 
 Massachusetts Assembly — Town Meetings — Destruction of Tea in Boston 
 Harbor — Hearing Before the Privy Council — Recall of Hutchinson — 
 Refusal of All the Sea-ports to Receive Tea— Boston Port Bill — Vir- 
 ginia Assembly- Continental Congress — Re-inforcement of Governor 
 Gage — Percy's Brigade — Provincial Assembly— English Troops March 
 to Lexington— Go On to Concord — Retreat to Boston — English Loss — 
 Continental Congress Meets for the Second Time — George Washing- 
 ton Appointed Commander-in-Chief — Battle of Bunker Plill. 
 
 READING as we read, with a knowledge of the event, we 
 search through correspondence and memoirs for some 
 hint of what was to follow. Such bodies as the Assembly of 
 Massachusetts, led by eager patriots, had always some quar- 
 rel with the crown governor. But on the whole the storm 
 seemed to have lulled. It might have passed over for a 
 time but for the alliance of the king's friends with the East 
 India Company. 
 
 This company was acquiring the importance under 
 which, not long after, it attained its Eastern empire. It was 
 burdened with seventeen million pounds of tea, partly 
 because the Americans had refused to drink tea which paid 
 the English duty. Lord North had to lend the company a 
 million and a half of money to save it from bankruptcy. 
 The teas in England had already paid six pence per pound 
 of import duty. Lord North offered to the company to repay 
 them these duties as a drawback on all teas exported to 
 America. He thus gave to the Americans what they 
 wanted — a suspension of the Navigation Act — so far as teas 
 were concerned. And to this plan Parliament consented. The 
 directors of the East India Company knew America better 
 
PRIVY COUNCIL. 151 
 
 than Lord North did. They begged to be permitted to land 
 the tea free in America, and offered to give up for this privi- 
 lege the drawback which the government offered. But the 
 king said, " There must be one tax to keep up the right." 
 It was but three pence a pound. It was only one half of 
 what the English subject paid. But the English subject who 
 agreed to pay it had his vote in the House of Commons. 
 The American subject had not. There was the difference. 
 " The tax is but three pence," said James Otis in the speech 
 assigned to him ; " but it was for half a penny that Hampden 
 resisted." The company chartered its own ships and 
 freighted them for America, consigning them to different 
 sea-ports. 
 
 While this was passing the public feeling in Massachusetts 
 was made more bitter by the discovery of twelve letters 
 written by Hutchinson and Oliver to the government through 
 these years of controversy. It was proved from these letters 
 that these two Americans had proposed the introduction of 
 troops. Hutchinson had said in one that he doubted if it 
 were possible that the people of a colony should enjoy all 
 the liberty of the parent state. One of the letters proposed 
 the establishment of a patrician order. Nothing could have 
 more excited the colonies. It proved that they were 
 wounded in the house of their friends. Echoes of this 
 excitement even reached London. The Massachusetts 
 Assembly prayed the king to remove Hutchinson and Oli- 
 ver, who were governor and lieutenant-governor. His Coun- 
 cil met in the fullest meeting remembered to hear the peti- 
 tion. After it had been presented and supported by Mr. 
 Dunning, Mr. Wedderburn spoke, as solicitor-general, in reply. 
 Much of his speech was a coarse attack on Franklin, whom 
 he charged with being a thief. The council pronounced 
 the petition of the House of Representatives of Massachu- 
 setts groundless and scandalous. But the younger Pitt in 
 the House of Commons afterward expressed the opinion of 
 history when he called it " a scene in the cock-pit." Wal- 
 pole wrote this epigram on the interview: 
 
152 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 "Sarcastic Sawney, swollen with spite and prate, 
 On silent Franklin poured his venal hate, 
 The calm philosopher without reply 
 Withdrew, and gave his country liberty." 
 
 Franklin wore that day a suit of clothes of a stuff then 
 called Manchester velvet. He laid by the clothes with the 
 determination that he would never wear them till Wedder- 
 burn's insults were revenged. And it was ten years after- 
 ward that he put them on, when, as Plenipotentiary of 
 America, he signed, with the English Plenipotentiary, the 
 treaty in which England acknowledged the independence of 
 of his country. 
 
 This incident was the more exciting because the news had 
 only just arrived in London of the destruction of three car- 
 goes of tea in the harbor of Boston. 
 
 For all these years of controversy, the Massachusetts 
 Assembly, when it met, and the Boston town meeting 
 at any time of the year, were the chief visible or official 
 opponents of the English government. The smaller towns 
 did not hesitate in their meetings to assert the right of sov- 
 ereignties which were well-nigh independent. And there is 
 many a record of a vote in a New England town meeting 
 directing the selectmen to buy powder, or to build a powder- 
 house, when the vote meant war against the king and the 
 men who voted knew that this was its meaning. 
 
 In Boston the town meetings were led by Samuel Adams 
 and men who agreed with him. They had instituted a sys- 
 tem of correspondence which kept them in connection with 
 all the towns in the colony, and eventually was extended to 
 all the patriotic assemblies in the different colonies. The 
 arrival of the hated tea in the harbor of Boston was an 
 occasion quite important enough to demand the attention of 
 a town meeting. Such a meeting was called, and the 
 neighboring towns were invited to send representatives to it. 
 
 The meeting was regarded, however, as a formal meeting 
 of the " town of Boston." As such it acted, and it gave the 
 instruction of the " town " to the consignees of the tea ships to 
 
TEA PARTY. 1 53 
 
 send them back to England. The consignees replied that 
 they could not pass the fort in the harbor without a permit 
 from Governor Hutchinson. The " town " bade them obtain 
 such a permit at once, and they attempted to do so. 
 
 But the governor had stolen to his country house, ten 
 miles away. The consignees followed him there, and he 
 refused the technical permit. He knew, of course, that the 
 king's ministers would regard it as given in weak compli- 
 ance to a mob, as they regarded the transfer of " Sam 
 Adams's regiments," three years before. The consignees 
 returned to Boston with news of his refusal. 
 
 Meanwhile the town meeting had been in session all day. 
 The sun had long set when the news from Milton came. 
 Sam Adams arose and said " This meeting can do nothing 
 more to save the country.'' It was voted that the meeting be 
 dissolved. At that moment a war-whoop sounded outside of 
 the meeting-house where the assembly was gathered. The 
 crowd rushed out to see a body of men rudely disguised as 
 Mohawk Indians, on their way to the ships. Another body 
 from the south end of the town joined them. The arrange- 
 ments had been carefully concerted, probably in the secrecy 
 of Masonic Lodge rooms. In all, a body of forty or fifty 
 young men met at the wharves where the tea vessels lay. 
 The population of the town followed, from the meeting-house 
 and elsewhere. The " Indians " set a guard to keep all others 
 from the ships. They took possession of the vessels. With 
 the skill of men used to the business they hoisted the tea chests 
 from the holds. They spilt them open with axes and threw 
 the tea into the water. Before midnight all the tea was 
 floating on the waves, and with the ebb tide was taken out 
 to sea.* 
 
 The work of destruction had been done under a clear 
 moon, in sight of half the town. The governor was away. 
 The military commander at Fort William did not, perhaps, 
 know what was passing. If he did know he did not venture 
 
 ♦Specimens of it, preserved carefully in bottles as it was gathered on beaches 
 are still shown. 
 
 7* 
 

 154 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 to interfere. This was the answer of the town of Boston to 
 the crown. 
 
 Such was the news which had arrived in London two days 
 only before the important meeting of the privy council to 
 consider American affairs. It will be well understood that it 
 had its share in calling out the scornful refusal of the privy 
 council to listen to the petition of Massachusetts, and that it 
 gave point and sarcasm to the invective of Wedderburn. 
 The cause of Massachusetts had, indeed, been prejudged be- 
 fore the hearing. 
 
 It is to be said to Franklin's credit that he did not permit 
 the insult heaped upon him to check him in the steadfast 
 efforts which he made for reconciliation. In the House of 
 Lords the Earl of Buckinghamshire said that Franklin was in 
 London not as the agent of a province, but as an embassador 
 from the States of America. "Such language is wild," said 
 the Earl of Stair, in reply, and urged a more conciliatory tone. 
 Franklin himself lost favor at home by urging that compensa- 
 tion should be made for the tea; and in England, where he 
 remained more than a year, he did his best to soften preju- 
 dices and to explain the true necessities of the case. But 
 even Franklin did not know how determined was the enemy 
 of America. This enemy was the king himself. On the 4th 
 of February the king sent for General Gage, who held the 
 command of the English forces in America, but was at this 
 time in London. He expressed his readiness to return at a 
 day's notice. "They will be lions," he said, "while we are 
 lambs; " and, again, he told the king that, if four regiments 
 were sent to Boston, they would prevent any disturbance. 
 The king believed him, and said he would enforce the claim 
 of authority at all hazards. He said that the folly which 
 gave way about the Stamp Act had increased the American 
 pretensions. He found nothing objectionable in the letters 
 of Hutchinson. He said the address of Massachusetts was 
 the nut of falsehood and malevolence. On the 7th of Febru- 
 ary he received the report of the privy council, and dismissed 
 the petition as groundless, vexatious and scandalous. 
 
THE BOSTON PORT BILL. 1 55 
 
 So soon as Lord North could prepare his measures for the 
 punishment of Boston he did so. He introduced bills by 
 which the port of Boston was to be closed against foreign 
 commerce. The army was to be posted again in the town. 
 Hutchinson, as a civilian, was called to London, and General 
 Thomas Gage, the Governor of New York and commander of 
 the military force in America, was made Governor of Massa- 
 chusetts. He was at this time in London and was at once 
 sent to Boston. All this meant that the government intended 
 to repress, by force, the disobedience to the home legislation. 
 It was, virtually, a declaration of war. 
 
 Meanwhile all the seaboard colonies had thrown in their 
 lot with Massachusetts. Each seaport had refused to receive 
 the tea. It was sent home, or it was stored and kept under 
 guard. But it may be doubted if a cup of tea was ever 
 made from it in America ; and it seems certain that not a 
 penny of revenue was ever collected from this fatal enter- 
 prise in which the English government undertook the duties 
 of exporting merchandise. 
 
 So soon as the Boston Port Bill became known assurances 
 of sympathy were sent to Boston from the other colonies. 
 With them the colonists sent money and food for the 
 support of the people thrown out of work by the closing of 
 the port. The other New England harbor towns offered to 
 receive Boston vessels without harbor charges. They scorned 
 the temptation to build up a prosperity for themselves at the 
 expense of their suffering friends. 
 
 In the Virginia Assembly, George Washington, who had 
 been a leading member for fifteen years, said he would gladly 
 raise a regiment of a thousand men, and march with them to 
 Boston, in any effort to break up the tyranny which had 
 made of that town a garrison. The ist of June, when the 
 Port Bill took effect, was celebrated as a day of fasting 
 throughout the colonies. In Washington's diary are the 
 words, " Fasted all day." 
 
 Both sides prepared for war. The English government re- 
 moved to Boston regiments from other points of America, 
 
156 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and re-enforced Governor Gage from England, so that before 
 the end of the year he had eleven regiments — more than five 
 thousand soldiers — in a town of which the resident population 
 was only ten or twelve thousand. It was difficult to provide 
 barracks for them. Percy's brigade spent the winter in tents 
 on Boston Common. 
 
 On the other side, every town in New England was train- 
 ing its militia to arms. Picked companies of " Minute-men," 
 to be ready to march at a moment's notice, received special 
 discipline. On the 1st day of September Gage sent a force 
 by water five miles up the Mystic River to bring in some 
 powder from a powder-house. The echo to the act was the 
 march on Boston of thousands of men in arms, who were 
 summoned by the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts 
 Assembly. So soon as it was known that he marched no 
 farther this movement was countermanded. The patriot 
 leaders had determined that he should not march inland. 
 Occasionally he sent an officer into the country to gather 
 news. Such a messenger found that he had to travel as 
 secretly as a spy to conceal his position and his object, and 
 that the whole country was determined that no military move- 
 ment inland should be made. 
 
 But this was not a quarrel of the colony of Massachusetts 
 alone, nor of New England. It never had been. On the 
 5th of September a congress of fifty-five representatives from 
 eleven colonies, called at the suggestion of the Sons of Lib- 
 erty, of New York, met at the Carpenters' Hall in Phila- 
 delphia. It chose Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, its president, 
 and assumed the title of Congress. Patrick Henry, George 
 Washington, both Adamses, Gadsden and Rutledge, all of 
 whom afterward filled such important trusts, were members. 
 They agreed that each colony should have one vote, because 
 Congress could not u procure proper materials for ascertain- 
 ing the importance of each colony." They resolved to meet 
 in secret session. They discussed the very difficult subject 
 ^y. of their real relation to the crown of England, and they found 
 already a wide difference of opinion. They voted, but not 
 
CONGRESS IN SESSION. 1 57 
 
 unanimously, an approval of the opposition of Massachusetts 
 to the late acts of Parliament, and that all America ought to 
 support Massachusetts in such opposition. By a very narrow- 
 majority, as an act of concession, they recognized a certain 
 imperial character in Parliament ; but they named eleven 
 acts of Parliament as violations of the rights of the colonies. 
 They resolved to import no merchandise from Great Britain or 
 Ireland after the ist of December, and not to export anything 
 to those countries, or the West Indies, with the single excep- 
 tion of rice. They agreed to import no slaves after that time 
 nor purchase any imported — " We will wholly discontinue the 
 slave trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor 
 will we hire our vessels or sell our commodities to those who 
 are concerned in it." 
 
 Congress refused to petition Parliament again ; but it sent 
 addresses to the people of all the provinces of America and 
 to the people of Great Britain. It appointed a second Con- 
 gress to meet in May. 
 
 While Congress sat the men of Massachusetts watched the 
 governor and his army. Each side was resolved that the 
 first open act in war should come from the other. No one 
 expected that such a strain could last long; -but neither party 
 meant to give the first stroke. Massachusetts, however, was 
 already practically independent of the crown. Since the 
 governor had prorogued the General Court a " Provincial 
 Assembly," which was really the same thing, had been chosen, 
 and met without his orders. This body when it adjourned 
 appointed a committee of five to be the executive of the State 
 in its recess. It took the visible sign of sovereignty by 
 directing the people not to pay their taxes to the royal treas- 
 urer, but to a treasurer appointed by itself. And the people 
 did so. If any thing could have shown the English ministry 
 that they were really independent this should have done so; 
 for here the whole business of government went on among a Ll- 
 people who refused to recognize the royal governor. Justice 
 was administered, the regular courts were conducted, roads 
 were built, schools were kept, taxes paid and spent with the 
 
153 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 same regularity as for one hundred and fifty years before. 
 But in all this not a penny was contributed at the order of 
 the king or his ministers. 
 
 The Provincial Assembly and the Committee of Safety 
 had made stringent orders for the discipline of the military 
 force of the colony. More than this, they had made some 
 purchases of military stores, not considerable in amount, but 
 important as showing their purpose. They had, without 
 secrecy, directed that these stores, among which were some 
 cannon with powder and shot for their use, and some pro- 
 visions for soldiers on a campaign, should be stored at 
 Concord. 
 
 If Gage were to show any sign of governing, here was the 
 point of his attack. He could not well break up a court of 
 justice held under the authority of the people, but he assured 
 himself of the existence of these military stores at Concord, 
 and thought he should feel the temper of the people and 
 alarm them by seizing them. As the snow and ice melted 
 away, int he spring of 1775, he showed that he was not im- 
 prisoned in Boston, by what he called u a military promenade " 
 one day — going out with one or two regiments by one road, 
 on the south of the town, returning on another. The patri- 
 ots were on the watch. They declared that if he had gone 
 further he should have been driven back by their Minute- 
 men. He sent one or two detachments out by water, but 
 withdrew them at once. The declaration of the Americans 
 was soon to be tested. 
 
 On the night of the 18th of April a force of about eight 
 hundred light infantry of the English army were quietly 
 placed in boats and rowed across the mouth of Charles 
 River to the place now known as East Cambridge. About 
 midnight they took up their march toward Concord, about 
 eighteen miles northwest from them. They passed West 
 Cambridge, where the Committee of Safety were, at three 
 o'clock. They did not know that the executive of the colony 
 was almost in their hands. But these gentlemen only escaped 
 from their beds by their windows, without wasting time in 
 
LEXINGTON. 1 59 
 
 dressing. The country behind them was more thoroughly 
 aroused. Paul Revere had waited at Charlestown till two lan- 
 terns in the North Church taught him that the expedition had 
 moved by water. He knew then that Concord was the ob- 
 ject. Toward that town he rode, notifying the local popular 
 leaders on his way. The Minute-men turned out promptly, 
 though in the middle of the night. At four o'clock in the 
 morning Parker's company paraded seventy strong on Lex- 
 ington Green. Not hearing of any enemy he directed them 
 to go into the meeting-house to sleep; and it was not till day- 
 break that, on the advance of the English, they were again 
 called out and formed as a company. 
 
 Major Pitcairn, of the English marines, came forward and 
 bade them disperse. Parker himself saw that he was wholly 
 outnumbered, and gave no order to fire. Neither commander 
 meant to precipitate the contest, and neither of them did. 
 The word was given by higher authority. 
 
 It seems probable that some Lexington man, without orders 
 from his captain, pulled his trigger. The gun flashed in the 
 pan. At the flash the foremost file of English fired. Eight 
 Americans fell dead; among these the soldier who had drawn 
 the pent-up fire of years. Their companions returned the 
 fire. One Englishman was killed. At Parker's command 
 his company retired. The English cheered, and continued 
 their advance to Concord. It was now day. 
 
 The English force entered Concord about three hours 
 afterward. The Minute-men of Concord withdrew before 
 them from the village and joined the companies of other 
 towns of Middlesex county, gathering just outside the town 
 on the north side of Concord River. The English placed a 
 guard on the bridge and began searching for the artillery and 
 other stores. A part of these had been removed or con- 
 cealed; a part were found and set on fire. The commanders of 
 the American Minute-men, who were increasing in number 
 with every hour, on seeing the smoke from Concord, resolved 
 to force the bridge. The Acton company had the honor of 
 leading the way. The English fired. Davis, the captain of 
 
l6o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the Acton company, was killed. His men advanced over his 
 body, drove off the English company, and knew that war had 
 begun. 
 
 In face of such a force, increasing constantly, Colonel 
 Smith, the English commander, could not tarry. He took 
 his wounded men and began to retire on Boston. The 
 Minute-men from all the towns of eastern Massachusetts were 
 waiting for him and searching for him. The Minute-men of 
 Middlesex, who had formed at Concord, were pushing him. 
 At every point of vantage men who knew every inch of the 
 country attacked him. His retreat became a flight. He was 
 wounded himself, and could no longer direct the movements. 
 His jaded men, on the run in their panic, welcomed with joy 
 at Lexington a re-enforcement under Lord Percy. 
 
 Percy had marched from Boston at nine in the morning, 
 through Roxbury and Cambridge, and arrived at Lexington 
 just in time to save the wreck of the first division. But he 
 saw that he must not linger. He took what he could of the 
 wounded under his escort and returned to Cambridge in as 
 good order as he might. But every stone wall was lined with 
 fire, and night had fallen, when, to the anxious people of 
 Boston waiting upon Beacon Hill, the return of the two ex- 
 peditions was indicated by the flash of the musketry on the 
 north side of the bay. Percy withdrew into the peninsula 
 of Charlestown, stationed artillery on Charlestown Neck, and 
 the flight of the English army was over. 
 
 Gage had begun the war and had been driven back to his 
 quarters. 
 
 The English loss was 73 men killed, 174 wounded and 26 
 taken prisoners. The American companies lost 49 men killed, 
 39 wounded and 5 prisoners. 
 
 Meanwhile the country was roused. North, west and south 
 quick couriers took the news; and before night towns as far 
 west as the Connecticut were sending their contingents of 
 Minute-men toward Boston. General Ward, the head of the 
 Massachusetts militia, took command. He guarded Boston 
 Neck and Charlestown Neck, that the English should not 
 
THE CONTINENTAL ARMY. l6l 
 
 come out by land. He built forts on Charles River to pre- 
 vent their coming by water. He cut off all provisions from 
 Boston. What is called the siege of Boston began. 
 
 The Continental Congress met, meanwhile, for the second 
 time in Philadelphia. As the delegates gathered, men ob- 
 served that George Washington, the first delegate from Vir- 
 ginia, was in the uniform of the provincial troops of that 
 colony — the old blue and buff of the best days of England. 
 He had traveled, on horseback, from his home to Phila- 
 delphia in this dress. George Washington was widely known 
 as the Virginia Patriot. For fifteen years he had been the 
 leading member of the Virginia Assembly. He had com- 
 manded her forces in the end of the last war. At this time 
 he was the richest man in America. In the discussion at 
 tending the Port Bill he had offered to equip a regiment and 
 march with it to Boston, at his own expense, if his services 
 were needed there to preserve the liberties of America. 
 
 When the delegates to the Congress were chosen most men 
 still hoped that a dignified protest would move England; 
 would change the ministry, perhaps ; would certainly procure 
 redress. Almost all men had great confidence in the young 
 king. We know now that he was his own worst enemy and 
 America's, but good men then thought that he was hood- 
 winked by bad men, and only needed to be enlightened. 
 Congress had hardly met, however, when the news of Lex- 
 ington and Concord came. On that news the Massachusetts 
 Assembly met. Besides their forces the regiments of New 
 Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut were in the be- 
 sieging army. The Assembly urged Congress to assume this 
 army as its own and appoint its general officers. This was 
 to make the army national, or, as the fine phrase was, " Con- 
 tinental." 
 
 All men understood that, while the resistance at Lexington, 
 and even the pursuit which followed the retreat from Concord, 
 might possibly be regarded as accident, unauthorized, such an 
 act as the recognition of an army was the declaration of war. 
 
 General Ward and his army could not wait the decision 
 
1 62 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of this point. By a bold movement he precipitated the battle 
 of Bunker Hill. The English had withdrawn from the pe- 
 ninsula of Charlestown and left it unfortified, though it 
 could have been held by twenty men. Ward and his ad- 
 visers profited by their oversight. On the night of the 16th 
 of June he sent a force of fifteen hundred men, of Massa- 
 chusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire troops, to seize 
 and fortify Bunker Hill, behind the town of Charlestown. If 
 he could hold this hill he could drive the English navy from 
 the harbor of Boston. The men carried with them entrench- 
 ing tools, and before daylight a considerable entrenchment 
 was thrown up on Breed's farm, a spur of Bunker Hill which 
 approached nearest Boston. 
 
 Gage was taken entirely by surprise; but he acted promptly, 
 even rashly. He had been largely re-enforced since the day 
 of Lexington, and had with him Generals Howe, Burgoyne 
 and Clinton. They made a bold resolution to attack the 
 American redoubt in front ; but they were not ready to attack 
 till the afternoon. The works grew stronger every hour. 
 At the first attack the English troops broke and ran. They 
 were mostly men who had never been under fire. A second 
 attack was as disastrous. It was not till the third attack that 
 Howe, who had discovered the weak spot in the American 
 line, pressed them in the rear of the redoubt while Pigot at- 
 tacked in front. These attacks could have been resisted, 
 perhaps, but the little garrison had exhausted its supply of 
 powder. Prescott, the American commander, withdrew his 
 men to Bunker Hill, where Putnam was fortifying. The 
 English did not follow. The Connecticut contingent, with 
 Stark and the New Hampshire men, had thrown up on the 
 east a work which they defended till the failure of the re- 
 doubt compelled them also to withdraw. 
 
 Never was a victory won at such cost. The attacking 
 force of 2,500 men lost 1,054 in killed and wounded. Bur- 
 goyne wrote home, under the seal of secrecy, that the privates 
 misbehaved. But the charge is hardly made out when we 
 read that of one company of the Fifty-second, led by Howe in 
 
BUNKER HILL. 1 63 
 
 person, every man was wounded or killed. The American 
 loss was 150 killed, 270 wounded and 30 prisoners. In a 
 certain sense the battle decided the war ; for from this mo- 
 ment the English never undervalued their enemy; and it has 
 been said that from this moment the English troops were 
 never led to the attack of fortified works in the Revolution. 
 The attack at Groton is possibly an exception, but the large 
 fort there was held by only a handful of men. Burgoyne 
 wrote home after the battle of Bunker Hill that " The men 
 in all the corps having twice felt the enemy to be more for- 
 midable than they expected, it will require some training 
 before they can be prudently intrusted in many exploits 
 against such odds." 
 
1 64 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Washington in Command. 
 
 Congress Meets in May — Ticonderoga and Crown Point — News from Lex- 
 ington, Concord and Boston — Address of the Massachusetts Assembly 
 — George Washington — His Appearance in Blue and Buff — His Ap- 
 pointment as Commander-in-Chief of the " Continental" Army — Gates 
 and Lee Appointed to Important Posts — Washington Takes Command 
 July 3 — Powder Supply Low— Arnold's Quebec Expedition — It Fails, 
 After Some Successes — The Heights of Dorchester — Evacuation of Bos- 
 ton — " Hostibus Primo Fugatis " — Lee Sent to New York, Then to 
 Charleston — Sea and Land Force Sent by the Enemy to Take Charles- 
 ton — Attack Begun by Clinton — Spirit of the Carolinians — English 
 Forces Obliged to Withdraw. 
 
 THE Continental Congress met on the ioth of May. Had 
 its members known it, the very night before its meeting 
 Ethan Allen with a band of volunteers from the " Hampshire 
 Grants," the region which we now call Vermont, with the 
 assistance of a company under Arnold from Connecticut, had 
 seized the king's fort at Ticonderoga. Their possession of 
 Crown Point followed. The munitions of war thus taken were 
 of great value, as it proved, to the army besieging Boston. 
 
 The Congress at once received the news of the march on 
 Lexington, of the uprising of the people, and of the retreat 
 of the English force and the consequent siege of Boston by 
 the Minute-men of the four New England colonies. The 
 Provincial Assembly of Massachusetts addressed Congress 
 most seriously and earnestly by the delegates of that colony. 
 Massachusetts begged Congress to assume the army as its 
 own, and to appoint its general officers. In conversation and 
 in public address they soon pointed out George Washington, 
 of Virginia, himself a member of Congress, as the commander- 
 in-chief whom they would prefer. 
 
n^ 
 
 SIEGE OF BOSTON. 
 
 165 
 
 Washington, as has been said, had shown, in his decided 
 way, what he thought the character of the contest. To go to 
 Philadelphia and to attend the sessions of Congress he had 
 assumed the blue and bufTuniform of the Virginia troops, whom 
 he had led in battle to such purpose in the late war. It was the 
 uniform of England's 
 armies in England's 
 best days. The colors 
 of this uniform have 
 been the symbolic col- 
 ors of the parties of lib- 
 eral opinion in England 
 from the days of Crom- 
 well to our own. By 
 assuming a military 
 dress Washington ex- 
 pressed his opinion. 
 He had expressed that 
 opinion in the House of 
 Burgesses of Virginia. 
 
 On the 15th of June 
 he w T as appointed com- 
 mander-in-chief of the 
 patriot army, and Con- 
 gress assumed that 
 army as the army of 
 "the Continent." This 
 phrase, adopted now 
 for the United States, 
 conveyed the hope that 
 Canada and the prov- 
 ince of Nova Scotia would join them. Florida, now under 
 the English flag, seemed also to these men to belong to the 
 nation which was opposing the Parliament. Washington had 
 not sought, nor had he expected, this appointment. He ac- 
 cepted it with great modesty, and in private said that he was 
 sure that his public reputation would decline from this day. 
 
; 
 
 1 66 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Several major-generals and brigadier-generals were appointed, 
 an effort being made to meet the wishes of the different colonies. 
 Gates and Lee, two Englishmen, of whose military capacity 
 high opinions were entertained, were named to important posts. 
 This selection proved afterward to be a great misfortune. Lee 
 proved a traitor and Gates caballed against the commander- 
 in-chief. Both have found their true place in history. 
 
 General Washington arrived at the camp on the 2d of 
 July, and took command in form on the 3d. He appointed 
 Ward, who was his senior major-general, to command on the 
 right wing, which commanded the land approach to Boston. 
 The left of Washington's army commanded Charlestown 
 Neck, by which also the English army could have marched 
 into the country. In fact, on the critical day of Lexington 
 Lord Percy had marched out by the one route and returned 
 by the other. Washington's army thus extended twelve miles 
 from the north-east by a broken line toward the south. 
 
 Not long after his arrival the discovery was made — almost 
 fatal — that the Americans' stock of powder was much less than 
 had been supposed. They had not nine rounds for every 
 man they had under arms. It is said that Washington was 
 silent for a considerable time after this revelation was made. 
 Every effort was made to conceal the need even from the 
 army. Every effort was made to supply it, and with such 
 success that in October Washington felt strong enough to 
 detach Arnold, a spirited brigadier, who had joined in the 
 conquest of Ticonderoga, for an attack on Quebec. He was 
 to join Schuyler, who was in command on Lake Champlain. 
 
 Arnold pushed bravely and promptly through the wilder- 
 ness of Maine. He arrived on the banks of the St. Lawrence 
 in December. He climbed the Heights of Abraham, as Wolfe 
 had done, and drove the little English force into the city.j 
 He then sent to the other army, which had in the meantime 
 taken St. John and Montreal, news of his success, and, under 
 General Montgomery, they joined him. On Christmas day 
 the American army attacked the city. But Montgomery was 
 killed and the little force was thrown back from the fortifica- 
 
SOUTHERN AFFAIRS. 1 67 
 
 tions. As soon as spring opened Washington re-enforced them 
 largely ; but, unhappily for their cause, the small-pox broke 
 out in the army. General Thomas, a brave and successful 
 leader, died with it, and the army suffered. It fell back step 
 by step, and at the end of 1776 abandoned Canada. Success 
 at Quebec, which at one time seemed probable, would have 
 changed the history of the war ; for there the Americans 
 would have found just the munitions of war which they so 
 much needed. 
 
 Washington had himself been more successful. On the 
 night of the 5th of March, 1776, General Ward detached 
 General Thomas, the same who has been spoken of, to seize 
 two hills in Dorchester which commanded Boston harbor on 
 the south. Thomas built such strong works that General 
 Howe did not dare attack them. The English admiral, 
 however, could not remain in the harbor while the Americans 
 held them. Howe notified Washington at once that if he 
 would not molest town or shipping he would leave at once 
 without injuring the town. This promise he kept, and on the 
 17th of March, 1776, the liberating army marched into Bos- 
 ton in triumph. Congress ordered a medal of gold struck 
 for Washington. It bears a portrait of him and the mottoes 
 Bostonium Recuperatum and Hostibus Pritno Fugatis. For 
 three months the country was left with hardly a foreign sol- 
 dier on its soil. 
 
 The American leaders knew that the English government 
 would make its next great effort at New York. So soon as 
 the English fleet left the harbor of Boston, therefore, Wash- 
 ington began to dispatch his army to New York, and sent 
 Lee to that city to take charge of its defense against an 
 enemy. Lee never deceived himself or his superiors as to 
 the possibility of holding the island of New York against 
 such a naval force as the English could command. But he 
 attempted to make it what he called disputable ground, and 
 he succeeded. He was, however, soon called farther south. 
 
 General Clinton, who was next in command to Howe, and 
 who knew America well, had been put in command of a land 
 

 - ^ &kf& 
 
 168 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 force, which, with the co-operation of a large English fleet, was 
 to take the city of Charleston, in South Carolina, and so secure 
 a foothold in the southern States for the army which had 
 been dislodged from the northern. The plan was the favorite 
 plan of the king, who selected seven regiments who were to 
 carry it out, and put them under Earl Cornwallis, a brilliant 
 young officer, who had friends at court who never forgot him. 
 Clinton, from Halifax, to which place of refuge Howe had 
 retired, joined this force, and took command of it at Wil- 
 mington, in North Carolina. To meet it Lee was summoned 
 from the north and took the command of the Americans on 
 the 4th of June, at Charleston. But the detail of the history 
 seems to show that the issue was due not to him, but to the 
 spirit of the Carolinians and the people of Charleston. Lee 
 *- had not then learned, and never did learn, what is the real 
 force of a people determined to fight for its rights. He was 
 always hampered, and on this occasion he hampered those 
 under his command, by the technicalities — to which he gave 
 too much importance — of his military education. 
 
 On the 28th of June the English moved to the attack by 
 water and by land. The Admiral, Parker, had ten ships — two 
 of them of fifty guns. Clinton landed the soldiers on Long 
 Island — to the north of Sullivan's Island — on which Colonel 
 Moultrie had built, and was still building, the fort which from 
 that day took his name. Lee seems to have doubted whether 
 he could hold it, but the Carolinians staked all on their suc- 
 cess — and succeeded. After a very close fire the squadron 
 was withdrawn with a terrible loss of men. Clinton was at 
 no moment able to cross the creek which separated him from 
 Sullivan Island. And thus this strong and well-equipped 
 expedition was withdrawn — having been beaten off by the 
 brave opposition of the people of the province; who had really 
 no assistance from the Continental army. Recriminations 
 most bitter followed between the English Admiral Parker, 
 who was himself wounded, and the commanders of the land 
 forces. Such was the first news which George III. was to 
 receive of the new campaign. 
 
FALSE POSITION. 1 69 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Congress in a False Position— Public Opinion Changes— Resolutions of 
 Independence and Signature of the Declaration— Arrival of the Howes 
 in New York Harbor— "The Olive Branch "—It Does Not Answer 
 the Purpose— Howe's Army Landed on Long Island — Beats the 
 Americans There— Washington Is Obliged to Abandon New York- 
 Battle of White Plains— Both Armies Move Southward— Washington 
 Crossing the Delaware— Battles of Trenton and Princeton — With- 
 drawal of Comwallis— Washington at Morristown. 
 
 THUS far the war had been carried on by the colonies 
 under the declaration, often publicly made, that they 
 had no quarrel with the king, but that they fought against his 
 wicked ministry. Indeed, the Continental Congress, while it 
 commissioned the officers of the army to fight against his 
 troops, also sent a petition to him representing, as subjects 
 might represent, the wrongs of his American colonies. But 
 every day showed that it was impossible to maintain this de- 
 lusion. No one, indeed, did more to dispel it than George 
 III. himself, who was from the beginning to the end of the 
 controversy the most resolute and blind enemy of the new- 
 born States. 
 
 As the winter of 1775 and the spring of 1776 passed by, 
 men felt more and more that the position was a false one. 
 In February, 1776, men summoned to do jury service in 
 Massachusetts under the old form, by "King George III.," 
 refused to serve, because they said they owed him no alle- 
 giance and would render him no service. At the same time 
 Thomas Paine, who had recently arrived from England, pub- 
 lished a pamphlet called Common Sense, which stated simply 
 that as the colonies were independent, and did not mean to 
 obey the king, they had better say so. This pamphlet was 
 8 
 
170 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 every-where read. Different State assemblies began to urge 
 Congress to take this position. It was the position which 
 Samuel Adams had looked forward to for years, and to which 
 he and men like him had tried to educate the country. 
 
 Under the steady pressure of the people the Congress fol- 
 lowed, rather than led, a fixed and unerring demand. On 
 the 2d of July, 1776, the thirteen States, in Congress assem- 
 bled, resolved unanimously that the " Thirteen colonies are, 
 and of right ought to be, independent States." The dele- 
 gates signed the well-known Declaration of Independence. 
 The day on which the document was engrossed and signed by 
 
 WWJHJ 
 
 most of them was the Fourth of July, and that day has ever 
 since been celebrated as the birthday of the nation. 
 
 When the Declaration was signed, the nation, as has been 
 said, had hardly a foreign soldier on its soil. But not many 
 days after General Howe re-appeared, with a fleet commanded 
 by Lord Howe, his brother, in the harbor of New York. A 
 part of this force was the Boston army, recruited and re- 
 freshed at Halifax. A part was from England and a part was 
 Clinton's force from Carolina. Altogether, the army num- 
 
TRENTON. 
 
 171 
 
 bered thirty-one thousand men; the largest army ever on foot 
 in one place in America until the civil war of 186 1. 
 
 The two Howes announced at once that they had brought 
 "the olive branch." They had, indeed, large promises tend- 
 ing to reconciliation. But the English government had not 
 yet contemplated a Declaration of Independence, and they 
 had no credentials which permitted them to acquiesce in it. 
 After an informal interview with a committee of Congress, there- 
 fore, the " olive branch " was withdrawn, and General Howe 
 landed his army on Long Island a little south of Brooklyn. 
 
 Washington had occupied New York and Brooklyn with 
 the Continental army, and had fortified both places. He 
 was, however, largely outnumbered. 
 The whole Continental army was not 
 equal to Howe's, and considerable de- 
 tachments of it were in Canada and at 
 the north. Howe attacked the force 
 on Long Island with spirit, beat it in 
 the battle of Long Island, August 27, 
 and drove it within its works at Brook- 
 lyn. The loss of the Americans was 
 severe — nearly three hundred killed 
 and wounded and almost one thousand 
 prisoners. Howe lost only three hun- 
 dred and sixty-seven men. When the MSB l s u g 
 news of this victory reached England he was made Sir William 
 Howe by the concession of the title of a Knight of the Bath. 
 
 Washington withdrew his army to New York. The En- 
 glish frigates ran by the island in spite of his efforts to stop 
 them by his batteries. He gradually withdrew his force up 
 Manhattan Island, fighting as he went, but finally yielded the 
 island, excepting Fort Washington, to Howe, in the latter part 
 of October. Howe followed him to White Plains, where a bat- 
 tle indecisive in results was fought on the 28th of October. 
 Howe then determined to cross the Jerseys, perhaps with a 
 view of attacking Philadelphia. Washington crossed the North 
 River above him and retired before him, crossing the Delaware. 
 
 15 
 
.- ! /v- 
 
 ^;#w : ^1 
 
 172 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 In this change of position he lost Fort Washington, with 
 two thousand men, and was obliged to abandon Fort Lee. 
 These were the two points, one on Harlem Heights, the other 
 opposite, where the Americans had hoped to hold the passage 
 of the Hudson River. 
 
 Winter was coming on. With the year ended the enlist- 
 j ment of Washington's army. Repeated defeats had discour- 
 aged them. Lee, the second in command, was taken prisoner 
 while the retreat went on. It has since proved that Lee was 
 in treacherous correspondence with the enemy. 
 
 It was then that Washington turned upon the force so 
 largely his superior. " Now is the time to clip their wings," 
 he said, "when they are so far spread." On the morning of 
 the 26th of December he surprised the advanced post at 
 Trenton and took one thousand prisoners. A few days after 
 he cut the English line of supplies at Princeton, in New 
 Jersey, and took five hundred prisoners. Cornwallis, in com- 
 mand of the English, withdrew hastily to Brunswick, to pro- 
 tect the supplies of the army there, and Washington, who had 
 meanwhile re-enlisted a considerable part of his army, took 
 up his winter quarters somewhat to the north of Brunswick, 
 at Morristown. 
 
burgoyne's plans. 173 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Burgoyne and the Campaign of 1777. 
 
 New York Becomes the Center of English Operations — General Sir John 
 Burgoyne — His Expedition at First Successful — Americans Defeated 
 at Ticonderoga and Hubbardston — Burgoyne's Detachments Beaten 
 at Bennington and Oriskany — Massachusetts and Connecticut 
 Strengthen Gates's Army — Burgoyne's Unsuccessful Attempts to 
 Break the Americans — His Surrender at Saratoga — Howe Engages 
 Washington at the Southward — Battle of the Brandy wine — Congress 
 Obliged to Leave Philadelphia to Howe — Battle of Germantown — 
 Skirmishing During the Autumn — Washington's Winter Quarters at 
 Valley Forge. 
 
 SO soon as the American question came into the hands of 
 military men they advised the English government to 
 make New York the center of their operations. So long as 
 there had been a theory that Boston had been the only point 
 really in rebellion it was natural that the principal force for 
 the suppression of that rebellion should be stationed there. 
 But when it was evident that the "Continent" was in arms, 
 the English arrangements, like those of their enemies, were 
 made on a continental scale. 
 
 General John Burgoyne had a certain reputation as a mili- 
 tary, man founded on very slight performances. He returned 
 to England in 1775 and advised the re-enforcement of Canada 
 by an expedition under his own command, which should be 
 strong enough to move down the Hudson River, and, as the 
 dream of the time suggested, cut off New England from what 
 were thought to be the more loyal colonies of the Middle 
 States and the south. 
 
 Fortune favored Burgoyne at the beginning. The small- 
 pox had more than decimated the Continental army in Can- 
 ada. It had lost its best generals, with the exception of Ar- 
 
174 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 nold, in the death of Montgomery and Thomas. It had re- 
 tired from the bold attack on Quebec, and in June it aban- 
 doned Montreal. Schuyler, who was for the time in com- 
 mand, was well satisfied to hold Ticonderoga and Crown 
 Point, at the southern end of Lake Champlain, and to defend 
 that highway into Canada through which his army had passed 
 so confidently the year before. 
 
 As 1777 began, Burgoyne, with a well-appointed and suffi- 
 cient army, followed up the English advantage. In a mag- 
 nificent fleet he sailed south along Lake Champlain. St. 
 Clair, who was the American commander, abandoned Crown 
 Point, but he hoped to hold Ticonderoga. By a bold push, 
 however, Burgoyne seized the Sugar Loaf hill, above the 
 fortress, which St. Clair had supposed inaccessible. It com- 
 manded the works entirely, and thus Ticonderoga, the key to 
 New York, was lost by the Americans as suddenly as it had 
 been gained two years before. St. Clair retired through the 
 woods, covering his rear with a force of thirteen hundred 
 men, commanded by Francis. They were overtaken at Hub- 
 bardston and defeated. Francis and fifty men were killed 
 and three hundred men were taken prisoners, Schuyler 
 seemed, to the indignant people of New England, to be able 
 to do nothing but retreat. The executive of Massachusetts 
 assailed him with contemptuous letters, and told him frankly 
 that their militia would not serve under him. He and his 
 superiors were obliged to give way under this storm of indig- 
 nation. Gates, now the second in command to Washington, 
 became commander to the northern army, as it was called. 
 What was more to the point, as it proved, Arnold and Lincoln 
 were directed to serve under him. 
 
 Burgoyne slowly advanced, keeping a line of communica- 
 tion with Canada. Partly to feed his army, partly to discour- 
 age rebellion, he sent out large foraging parties, as they must 
 be called, to the west and east. Both parties were badly led 
 and came to misfortune. In Vermont, Bauin and Breyman, 
 Hessian commanders, were met and beaten at Bennington by 
 the militia of the " Hampshire Grants " under General Stark. 
 
BURGOYNES SURRENDER. 175 
 
 They lost nearly one thousand men. At Oriskany St. Leger 
 hardly escaped from the militia of the Americans under 
 Herkimer and Willett. 
 
 Burgoyne himself, with the military precision of an Aus- 
 trian general of Daun's time, moved slowly toward the Hudson 
 and crossed it. He hoped for co-operation from Howe at New 
 York, and always said that he had been encouraged to expect 
 it. But no aid came from the south. The western counties 
 of Massachusetts and Connecticut stripped themselves to the 
 last man that they might strengthen Gates. Lincoln, the 
 Massachusetts general, and Arnold, from Connecticut, were 
 in front of Burgoyne. Burgoyne attempted to break the 
 Americans in the battle of Stillwater, on the 19th of Septem- 
 ber, but he lost more than six hundred and fifty men and was 
 driven back to his lines. On the 7th of October he renewed 
 the attempt, to fail again. Meanwhile his retreat to Lake 
 Champlain was cut off. He had an army here in a wilder- 
 ness and he could not even feed it. He received no news 
 from Clinton, whom Howe had detached to assist him, and the 
 great result was, that on the 13th of October he opened com- 
 munications for a surrender with Gates, and on the 17th his 
 army laid down their arms as prisoners of war. Five thousand 
 seven hundred and fifty men were included in the capitu- 
 lation. 
 
 The great news flew to every part of the country. The 
 government of Massachusetts sent a special messenger with 
 it to Franklin, in France. The chaise which bore the for- 
 tunate messenger from Nantes rattled up into the court-yard 
 of Franklin's house at Passy, near Paris, and the young man 
 sprang to the ground. Franklin had come out to welcome 
 him. "Is it true, sir," said Franklin, " that Howe has entered 
 Philadelphia?" "It is, sir," said the modest messenger. 
 "But I have greater news than that. General Burgoyne and 
 his army are prisoners of war." 
 
 The battles of Saratoga have been ranked together among 
 the fifteen decisive battles of the world's history. France no 
 longer doubted as to an American alliance. She announced 
 
(f)^Acl<fa %^^<^ 
 
 176 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 herself publicly as the friend of the insurgents, whom she had 
 before assisted secretly. After this the question of formal 
 independence was only a question of time. 
 
 Meanwhile, Howe had supposed that he should best assist 
 Burgoyne by drawing Washington to the south, away from 
 the Northern army. It was afterward said that the despatches 
 which ordered him to move directly north to meet Burgoyne 
 were left, unsent, in a pigeon-hole in the English war-office, 
 because Lord George Germaine, the minister of the colonies, 
 did not like the hand-writing and ordered them copied. It 
 is said that the copy was forgotten and Howe left to follow 
 his own purpose. 
 
 From a military point of view that purpose can be well 
 defended. But it was Washington to whom Howe was op- 
 posed ; and Washington was so true to the nation and so 
 indifferent to his own reputation that he stripped himself of 
 every available man and of all necessary supplies to strengthen 
 Gates, who, so soon after, appeared as his rival. When Howe 
 sailed, with most of his army, from New York, Washington 
 thought for a moment that he was threatening Boston. But 
 the squadron was soon reported at the south-west, and Wash- 
 ington then moved his army to cover Philadelphia. For five 
 weeks of doubt Howe's squadron did not appear. Men even 
 thought he had gone so far as Charleston. But at the end of 
 August it was announced that he was in Chesapeake Bay. 
 He thus avoided the American fortifications on the Delaware 
 and drew Washington even farther from the north. 
 
 Washington attempted to resist his progress at the River 
 Brandywine, and fought a battle there on the nth of Sep- 
 tember. But his generals were out-maneuvered by the skill 
 of Cornwallis and Knyphausen, and he was forced to retreat 
 and leave Howe an open passage to Philadelphia. Congress, 
 meanwhile, removed with its papers to Lancaster. On the 
 4th of October Washington attacked Germantown, a suburb 
 of Philadelphia. For a moment he seemed to have succeeded, 
 but again his generals retired, and he was obliged to acknowl- 
 edge another failure to Congress and the country. But he 
 
VALLEY FORGE. 1 77 
 
 lost nothing in reputation. In Europe the steadiness of the 
 attack on Germantown, immediately after a defeat, was no- 
 ticed as a proof that this was an army, and not an armed mob, 
 which he commanded. And for many weeks the country 
 held the opinion, which John Adams expressed in a private 
 letter, that "Howe was in his hands." When the news of 
 Burgoyne's surrender arrived in Pennsylvania, in the enthu- 
 siasm of victory the American leaders wrote to their friends 
 that they might soon expect to hear of a second capitulation. 
 This was not to be. The American forts on the Delaware, 
 which were relied upon to separate the English army from 
 its supplies, gave way, and the autumn afterward was spent 
 in skirmishes, which sometimes almost claim the dignity of 
 battles, between foraging parties of the English, and Amer- 
 ican light troops who tried to check them. When winter 
 came Washington took his army into winter quarters at Val- 
 ley Forge, not far west of Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill ; 
 a post from which he could observe every movement into 
 the country by Howe, had that indolent commander made 
 any. 
 
 8* 
 
78 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1778-1779. 
 
 The Alliance with France — Clinton's Appointment to Howe's Position — 
 The Battle of Monmouth — Arrival of a French Fleet — Advantages 
 of the Alliance — Reasons for British Inactivity — Military Exploits at 
 the North and South — Results of the Year 1779. 
 
 SO soon as the critical news of the success at Saratoga 
 arrived in France the king and his cabinet gave way to 
 the pressure of public opinion and announced their willing- 
 ness to recognize America as independent, and to make a 
 treaty of alliance with her. This treaty was not at once ac- 
 companied by an open declaration of war with England. 
 Lord North hoped, for a moment, that he might yet conciliate 
 the colonies and reserve the whole power of England for a 
 war with France. He sent new commissioners, with larger 
 powers than before, to induce Congress to make terms of 
 peace, this time recognizing that body as the executive of 
 America. But he was too late, as he always was in such 
 proposals. 
 
 General Howe had owed his advancement in the army to the 
 fact that he was a descendant, by an illegitimate line, of 
 George I. He had shown courage at Quebec and at Bunker 
 Hill, and of the latter battle he had borne away the honors. 
 He had been named as Gage's successor after Gage was with- 
 drawn, and after his own signal success at Brooklyn he had 
 been knighted. But he was indolent, and lacked enterprise. 
 He had failed in his own theory of relieving Burgoyne by tak- 
 ing away his enemy, and as the winter passed he also was 
 recalled to England and Sir Henry Clinton was appointed to 
 succeed him. Clinton knew America well. He was the son 
 of one of the royal governors of New York. 
 
 Clinton knew that a French fleet was approaching him. 
 
DESTAINGS SQUADRON. 1 79 
 
 He left Philadelphia with his whole army of fourteen thou- 
 sand men and marched across the Jerseys to New York, 
 closely followed and watched by Washington. At Monmouth 
 Washington attacked him, or ordered an attack. Lee insisted 
 on his right to command the attacking party after it had been 
 assigned to Lafayette. Lee's misbehavior, or his treachery, 
 discouraged the attack after it seemed to begin successfully, 
 and Washington met him in full retreat. Washington gave 
 him a rebuke which showed his impetuosity when he was 
 excited, took command of the retreating forces and restored 
 the hope of victory. But it was too late to win all the hon- 
 ors. The terrible heat of that summer's day was long made a 
 proverb in America. Each party claimed the victory, and the 
 losses, which were considerable on each side, showed that it 
 had been a bravely contested field. Each side lost nearly 
 four hundred men. 
 
 At the beginning of the year the French government 
 detached a strong fleet under the Count D'Estaing into 
 American waters. It was hoped and supposed that by 
 breaking up the supremacy of the English by sea the Amer- 
 ican armies might be the superior by land. Had D'Estaing 
 arrived a few days earlier all might have happened which was 
 hoped for ; for his fleet was superior to the English, and had 
 he cooped them up in the Delaware bay the English army in 
 Philadelphia might have been starved, or beaten in the field. 
 
 But Clinton had already withdrawn to New York, sending 
 his fleet round to the bay of New York. They left the Del- 
 aware only a few days before D'Estaing's arrival. D'Estaing 
 followed them, and bravely attempted to enter New York har- 
 bor; but the pilots declined to take in such heavy vessels,, 
 and after lying a few days in the offing he went to Rhode 
 Island, where, on his approach, the English burned twenty of 
 their vessels to keep them from his hands. 
 
 General Sullivan, with the militia of Massachusetts and 
 Rhode Island, at once attempted an attack on the English 
 force at Newport, with the assistance of D'Estaing's squadron. 
 But at this juncture Lord Howe, the English admiral, boldly 
 
l80 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 threatened D'Estaing, who went to sea to fight him. The 
 action was indecisive, but D'Estaing took up his way to Bos- 
 ton harbor to refit. Sullivan and his army considered them- 
 selves deserted. He attacked the English lines with courage, 
 however, but without success, and on the news of English 
 re-enforcements withdrew. The English general, not finding 
 D'Estaing or Sullivan, destroyed New Bedford, which he 
 rightly considered a nest of privateers. 
 
 The Americans generally were disappointed that the ad- 
 vantages of the French alliance were so slight ; but such 
 disappointment was unreasonable. French stores clothed and 
 armed the Continental army that year. A fortunate capture of 
 English store-ships enabled Massachusetts to fit out D'Estaing 
 for the West Indies. His supremacy at sea kept the English 
 squadron virtually on the defensive. In short, the rest which 
 the country gained from all critical operations for the year 
 1778 was the legitimate result of the French alliance. 
 
 In one of Cowper's poems, which was written about this 
 period, he speaks of the English army as drugged at New 
 York. Doubtless his amazement at the inaction of an army 
 so costly and so largely supplied was shared by m$st of his 
 countrymen. Such inaction was not due wholly to the indo- 
 "X lence of generals, though it was convenient to assign it to 
 that cause. The king was always arbitrary, and determined 
 to persevere in his mad colonial system even after wiser men 
 saw its absurdity. Lord North was anxious for conciliation. 
 But he already knew the fatal secret of the king's incipient 
 insanity, and he dared not thwart him. Meanwhile the im- 
 mense force of American privateers was sweeping the seas. 
 Rates of insurance became formidable, and the merchants of 
 London were no longer enthusiastic supporters of the war. 
 They were bearing its charges and knew they were. All these 
 reasons conspired in compelling Lord North to hold the king's 
 rage in check as well as he could, while, on the other hand, 
 he dared not make peace. The confused condition of things 
 in which he found himself after Burgoyne's defeat and the 
 open French alliance accounts for a certain languor in his 
 
MASSACRE OF WYOMING. l8l 
 
 prosecution of the war. In another chapter the reader will 
 learn how active was the work of the American cruisers at 
 sea, and how much it had to do in depressing in England the 
 rage for conquest. In the very year of which we have sketched 
 the passage, the stores which were intended for the English 
 fleet were, in fact, captured by Massachusetts cruisers, were 
 taken into Boston harbor, and were used, as has been said, for 
 the outfit of D'Estaing's fleet on its way to the West Indies. 
 
 It was, however, in this summer, when the larger armies 
 were more at rest, that in the beautiful valley of Wyoming, 
 on the upper Susquehanna, the terrible massacre took place 
 which is indissolubly connected with that name. In the au- 
 tumn of the same year the Indians of the Six Nations, who 
 had to revenge themselves for the losses they had suffered at 
 Oriskany, attacked and burned Cherry Valley, in New York. 
 In May of the same summer Captain Rogers Clark, one of 
 the brave pioneers of Kentucky, had surprised and seized 
 the English forts in what is now the State of Illinois. 
 
 As 1779 opened the English thought to carry the scene of 
 the war to the South, where, as they supposed, they had more 
 allies than at the North. Colonel Campbell was sent with 
 two thousand men to reduce Savannah, and proceeded to do 
 so. Lincoln was then appointed by Congress to command 
 the American forces. The English raised some loyalist 
 troops, and these and the patriot militia kept up what we 
 have since learned to call a " Guerrilla Contest " through 
 Georgia and both the Carolinas, with great bitterness on each 
 side. On the nth of May, General Provost, in command of 
 the English, summoned Charleston to surrender. But his 
 demand was refused, and after threatening the city for some 
 time he retired upon Savannah. 
 
 At the North, Governor Tryon, with a body of loyalists, as 
 they were called, and enough English regiments to make up 
 three thousand men, seized and plundered New Haven and 
 Norwalk, only to withdraw again. Clinton had already taken 
 the forts on the Hudson at Stony Point and Verplanck's 
 Point. Under Washington's direct orders General Wayne, 
 
I 
 
 1 82 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 already known as " Mad Anthony," stormed Stony Point at 
 midnight on the 15th of July and took five hundred prison- 
 ers and fifteen pieces of cannon. On the 19th of August 
 Major Lee (Light Horse Harry) surprised Paulus Hook, now 
 Jersey City, and carried off its garrison. 
 
 In August the State of Massachusetts, acting on its own 
 account, undertook to assert its own empire on the Penobscot 
 River, where its government then extended, as the Province of 
 Maine belonged to it. With a fleet of three Continental ves- 
 sels, three ships of the State navy and thirteen privateers, she 
 sent a thousand men to reduce the English post there. But 
 the fort proved too strong for capture by assault, and while 
 squadron and army waited for slower approach they were 
 shut in by an English fleet of five ships. Saltonstall, the 
 American commander, thought this too strong a force to re- 
 sist, and burned his fleet, which consisted of smaller vessels. 
 The sailors and troops returned home by land, Lovel and Sal- 
 tonstall, their commanders, sadly disgraced by their failure. 
 
 With such events, of which none were of critical impor- 
 tance, the year 1779 passed by. Men were discouraged 
 that nothing more important followed on the sacrifices of the 
 war. But, on the other hand, where the armies were not in 
 the presence of each other — that is to say, in three fourths of 
 the country, men went on with the ordinary pursuits of agri- 
 culture as if the new nation were at peace. The Eastern 
 States, cut off as they were from the fisheries to which they 
 were accustomed, were fitting out their vessels as privateers 
 and went in quest of more dangerous game. They not only 
 crippled the commerce of England, but they opened new 
 channels for their own and considerably enriched the coun- 
 try by the prizes which they brought in. 
 
 All men knew, however, that France must enter the con- 
 flict on a larger scale in another year. The year 1779 had 
 seen an inefficient plan for a French descent upon the Irish 
 coast or that of Jersey, which did not, however, assume any 
 considerable proportions. More efficient co-operation with 
 America was proposed for 1780. 
 
NAVAL WARFARE. 1 83 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The War at Sea. 
 
 Seizure of English Vessels — Commissions Given to Privateers and Equip- 
 ment of Vessels — Navy of Twenty-six Vessels — Numerous Privateers 
 — Important Captures — Ezekiel Hopkins and His Captures — John Paul 
 Jones — Depredations on the English Coast — Wickes of the Reprisal 
 — His Prizes off the French Coast — Complaints of Lord Stormont, and 
 Connivance of Vergennes — Wickes is Lost on the Home Voyage — Gus- 
 tavus Conyngham Sails from Dunkirk — He Captures the Harwich 
 Packet — He and Ilis Crew Detained as Prisoners, but Soon Released 
 — Subsequent Exploits in the Narrow Seas — Captured and Imprisoned 
 in England — His Escape — Miserable Condition of American Prison- 
 ers in England — Black Prince and Princess and Feamot — John Paul 
 Jones of the Ranger Cruises on the Scotch Coast — Bon Homme Ric/iard 
 — Expedition on the English Coast with Four Other Vessels — Baltic 
 Fleet, Convoyed by the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough — 
 Jones's Victoiy. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after the battle of Lexington had begun 
 the war, the seizure of one or two English vessels by the 
 people of the sea-ports of the New England States made the 
 first steps in what became a very important part of the con- 
 test. As the reader already knows, Washington commissioned 
 vessels in the first summer of his command. The State of 
 Massachusetts gave commissions to privateers also, and 
 other States followed the same example. It was the earnest 
 wish of John Adams that the country should go with spirit 
 into the formation of a navy; and as early as the 13th of 
 October, 1775, Congress authorized the equipment of two 
 cruisers, and before the end of that year directed that fifteen 
 vessels should be built. Many of these vessels never got to 
 sea, having been blockaded in the rivers where they were 
 built, and burned to escape capture from the enemy. But 
 from this time forward the navy and the privateers bore an 
 
.y) {^..A^ff^^f 
 
 I84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 important part in the war, and probably the injuries which 
 they inflicted upon the commerce of England had a larger 
 share than any successes on the land in changing the public 
 opinion of England with regard to the independence of 
 America. 
 
 Before October, 1776, the little navy consisted of 26 vessels, 
 which mounted 526 guns. The force of privateers was very 
 much larger. These vessels cruised in all parts of the Atlan- 
 tic. Before the 1st of February, 1777, 2 5° English vessels 
 in the West India trade alone had been captured by the 
 Americans. Their value was estimated at ten million dol- 
 lars. In the year 1777, 467 vessels of the English commercial 
 fleet were captured. Nearly half of the fleet which traded 
 directly between Ireland and the West Indies was taken; 
 and of the vessels in the African trade only 40 escaped out 
 of 400. The next year the captures were even larger. 
 Before the end of 1780 the largest of the three admiralty 
 districts of Massachusetts had condemned 818 prizes in all. 
 In the next year, 1781, the port of Salem alone sent to sea 59 
 privateers. Of these, 12 carried 20 guns or more. The 
 whole fleet, from that port only, carried nearly 4,000 men, 
 and mounted 746 guns. 
 
 It will be seen, then, that the privateer fleet of the country 
 was much larger than what was called the national navy. 
 It was also, on the whole, much more successful. It is 
 impossible, in such a history as this, to go into the details of 
 the different adventures, whether of the navy or of the priva- 
 teers. We must be satisfied by giving some slight account of 
 the more important expeditions and their results. The 
 school of the navy and the privateer service proved a very 
 valuable training for the future of the country. And many 
 men who afterward distinguished themselves in naval war- 
 fare learned their first lesson in the hardships of these 
 voyages. 
 
 The appointments made to the navy begin with a list of 
 officers named by Congress on the 22d of December, 1775. 
 Of these Ezekiel Hopkins, of Rhode Island, was the com- 
 
EZEKIEL HOPKINS. 1 85 
 
 mander-in-cbief. Hopkins was then put in charge of a little 
 squadron which was sent to the Bahamas, in the hope, 
 which was not disappointed, of obtaining a supply of pow- 
 der and other munitions, so much needed, from the capture 
 of the English forts there. On his return with his little 
 fleet Hopkins engaged a small English squadron off Block 
 Island, with an indecisive result. He incurred popular dis- 
 pleasure on account of his failure in this transaction, and 
 eventually he was practically dropped from the lists of the 
 navy. But he showed the mistake of those who superseded 
 him by the spirit with which he engaged in the privateer 
 service, in which he had great success. It is said of him 
 that in a vessel under his command he once actually joined 
 the West India fleet under convoy of an English officer, and 
 that every night he captured one vessel of that fleet and sent 
 a prize crew on board until he had made ten different prizes, 
 when he withdrew himself successfully. It is said that of 
 the prizes taken in this single expedition the value was a 
 million dollars. 
 
 Among the lieutenants commissioned in this first list of 
 naval officers was John Paul Jones. He served under Hop- 
 kins in these early battles, and afterward, in command of a 
 small vessel, took several prizes in and near the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence. On his return to America he was disappointed 
 at finding that the rank assigned him was very low, and he 
 made a personal visit to Philadelphia and there obtained the 
 command of the cruiser Ranger, which he took to Europe. 
 This was just after Burgoyne's defeat, and he had hoped to 
 be able to carry the news of that great event to the American 
 commissioners in Paris. In this he was disappointed. But 
 he refitted the Ranger for sea, and in the next year took the 
 Drake, an English vessel of nearly equal force, and brought 
 her into harbor. This action gave him great distinction 
 among the people of France, who were very cordially dis- 
 posed toward America, and put him in position to seek a higher 
 command. There was at one time some prospect of his 
 receiving this command in the French navy. But circum- 
 
1 86 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 stances made this impossible, and another arrangement was 
 made for him. 
 
 The American cruisers had been a terror on the English 
 coast for more than a year before. The depredations of Cap- 
 tain Conyngham, in particular, had wrought a panic in the 
 maritime circles. 
 
 When Franklin, Deane and Lee were chosen to constitute 
 the American mission in Paris, one of their various duties 
 was to be the procuring of ships for the American navy. It 
 was also thought possible that cruisers might be fitted out on 
 the continent to sail under American commissions and harass 
 the English trade. The second of these plans proved more 
 easy than the first. Franklin sailed from America on the 27th 
 of October, 1776, in the frigate Reprisal, of which Wickes 
 was captain. He reached Nantes on the 7th of December. 
 The voyage was not a long one, nor had it been eventful. 
 Twice had the Reprisal been chased by English cruisers, but 
 at no time had there been any imminent danger. Wickes had 
 also made prizes of two English ships which he came upon 
 shortly after reaching the coast of France. These he disposed 
 of as quickly as possible and proceeded to refit his ship. In 
 the meantime he went about the seaports of western France 
 to see if there might not be some ships for sale in one or an- 
 other which would be suitable for use in the American navy. 
 It had been expected that some such ship should be obtained 
 and that Wickes should be put in command of it. He recom- 
 mended Nicholson as a good man to take command of the 
 Reprisal, in case he should be provided for. When his ship 
 was ready, in the summer of 1777, he went to sea and picked 
 up some five prizes, with which he returned to L'Orient. 
 These captures created much disturbance. Lord Stormont, 
 the English Ambassador, complained bitterly to the French 
 court that American vessels should be allowed to refit in 
 French ports and then issue thence to prey upon English 
 commerce. The whole proceeding was, in truth, an open vio- 
 lation of the neutrality of France, of which that nation would 
 have undoubtedly taken some serious notice had she not 
 
FRENCH NEUTRALITY. 1 87 
 
 been favorably disposed toward the Americans, whom, indeed, 
 she was secretly aiding by money and munitions in their 
 struggle. Although Vergennes, the French minister, was in- 
 clined to wink at these acts of Wickes, he was forced by his 
 regard for appearances to do something. He sent orders to 
 L'Orient that Wickes should quit that port within twenty- 
 four hours. This could not be done, for the Reprisal was 
 hauled up for repairs. In time, however, Wickes left L'Orient 
 and sailed for Nantes, where he went on with his refitting. 
 Being ordered out of Nantes he returned to L'Orient, and 
 joining the Lexington, privateer, and the Dolphin, cutter, he 
 sailed on another cruise as successful as the first. They had 
 captured seventeen prizes, when they were chased by a large 
 ship-of-war. Wickes escaped to St. Malo after throwing his 
 guns overboard to lighten his ship. He was much irritated by 
 the behavior of the English ship. " They pay very little re- 
 gard to the laws of neutrality," he writes, " as they chased me 
 and fired as long as they dared stand in, for fear of running 
 ashore." Wickes himself was one of the most flagrant vio- 
 lators of neutrality, though he seems to have been quite un- 
 conscious of it. His proceedings in French ports were as 
 much breaches of neutrality as was the Englishman's chasing 
 him within the maritime league which is reserved by inter- 
 national law. These were, however, Wickes's last exploits. 
 He shortly sailed for America. He never reached his own 
 country, however, for he and his ship were lost on the return 
 voyage off the banks of Newfoundland, where all on board, 
 but one, perished. For themselves these operations were of 
 no very great importance. Wickes inflicted no very great 
 damage on English commerce, although he made some stir. 
 The next achievement of the American navy was more im- 
 portant. 
 
 Deane, one of the commissioners in Paris, had long had at 
 heart the fitting out of an expedition to cruise in the channel 
 and pick up the English merchantmen. In conjunction with 
 William Hodge he fitted out a small lugger at Dunkirk and 
 commissioned Gustavus Conyngham as captain. Conyngham 
 
1 88 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 sailed in the summer of 1777, and, coming across the mail 
 packet from Harwich, he easily made prize of it and returned 
 to Dunkirk. This expedition was such a breach of neutrality 
 that the French court could not let it pass unnoticed. The 
 packet was returned, and Conyngham and his crew were 
 detained as prisoners. They did not remain in confinement 
 long, however. Deane and Hodge fitted out another vessel for 
 Conyngham, and, obtaining his release and that of his crew, 
 they sent him to sea again, assuring the French court that the 
 voyage was for trading purposes only. Conyngham, as soon 
 as he got to sea, made prize of every thing he could. He 
 hovered about the English towns and endeavored to burn the 
 town of Lynn, but unsuccessfully. He was finally driven from 
 the narrow seas and found refuge in Corunna, whence he sailed 
 for America. On the way he was so unfortunate as to be capt- 
 ured by the Galatea and carried a prisoner into New York. 
 Thence he was sent prisoner to England to be tried as a 
 pirate, for it was pretended that he had had no commission 
 when he captured the Harwich packet. But being confined 
 in the Mill Prison, Plymouth, he succeeded in breaking out, 
 with some fifty of his fellow-prisoners, and making his way to 
 Amsterdam. 
 
 This is a proper place to say a word in regard to the 
 American prisoners who were confined in England. They 
 consisted of seamen taken in merchantmen or in ships-of- 
 war. There were about a thousand of them, more or less, 
 and their condition was most miserable. Franklin was unre- 
 mitting in his labors to effect an exchange. He had at his 
 control some few English prisoners, but for a long time he 
 could not arrange a cartel. The reason of this seems to be 
 that as long as France was at peace with England there was 
 no way of securing the prisoners taken on the French coast 
 by American cruisers. They could not be confined on shore; 
 they were too numerous to be kept on shipboard. Hence 
 they were generally discharged on giving their word, each that 
 he would release one American prisoner. But these paroles 
 were repudiated, and not unjustly, by the English authorities. 
 
JOHN PAUL JONES. 1 89 
 
 Thus Franklin could not collect any considerable number of 
 English prisoners, and no exchange could be effected. After 
 France declared for America the English became more will- 
 ing to make the exchange, for the Englishmen captured by 
 the American cruisers were put into French prisons. A cartel 
 was finally brought about and a number of the prisoners were 
 exchanged. 
 
 The Black Prince, privateer, and her consorts, the Black 
 Princess and the Fcamot, were fitted out in the port of 
 Dunkirk in the spring of 1778 by the agents of the com- 
 missioners at Paris. They were commanded generally by 
 Irishmen, and their crews were composed of English, Irish 
 and Scotch, who were to be found in numbers floating around 
 Dunkirk, and also with such American seamen as might be 
 found. They were most successful, and probably paid for 
 themselves many times over. The Black Prince and Princess 
 are said to have taken eighty prizes in the course of a single 
 year. The original Black Prince was wrecked and lost, but 
 her owners built a new vessel which bore the old name. 
 
 But the greatest exploits of the American navy abroad 
 were performed by John Paul Jones. Jones, as has been 
 said, had sailed from Philadelphia in the Ranger. She was a 
 ship of eighteen guns. On this vessel he displayed the Stars 
 and Stripes for the first time that that flag had been used on 
 shipboard. He had a short passage, in the course of which 
 he captured two prizes, and, at once opening communications 
 with Franklin, proposed various schemes for annoying the 
 English shipping and ravaging the English coast. In the 
 spring he sailed in the Ranger to cruise on the Scotch 
 coast. He was foiled in his attempt to burn Lynn Haven, 
 but on his return he met and captured the Drake, an English 
 ship-of-war of twenty guns, with which he returned to Brest. 
 
 He very much desired to command the Indian, a frigate at 
 that time on the stocks in Amsterdam. But this vessel, though 
 begun for the United States, had been turned over to the 
 French. Jones still hoped that it might be commissioned 
 in the American service, and that he might receive the 
 
I90 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 command. He continued in this hope through the summer 
 of 1778. The Ranger was sent home under Lieutenant Simp- 
 son. Jones's trials were numerous. In February, 1779, 
 however, he succeeded in obtaining a ship, the Due de Duras, 
 which he rechristened Le Bon Homme Richard, in memory of 
 ''Poor Richard." He thought he owed the command to the 
 saying, "If you would have your business done, go yourself. 
 If not, send." The vessel belonged to the King of France, 
 but the crew was made up of Englishmen. An expedition 
 was planned for descent on the English coast, and four other 
 vessels were placed under him : the American frigate, the 
 Alliance, and the French vessels, the Pallas, the Vengeance, 
 and the Cerf. It was proposed that Lafayette should accom- 
 pany the expedition with a land force, but this part of the 
 plan was given up. The expedition set sail the 14th of Au- 
 gust. They cruised for some time with indifferent fortune 
 till the 23d of September, when they came across the Baltic 
 fleet off Scarborough, under convoy of the Serapis, of forty- 
 four guns, and the Countess of Scarborough, of twenty-two. 
 Jones at once engaged the Serapis, signalling to the Alliance 
 to come to his assistance. The Pallas engaged the Countess 
 of Scarborough. The other vessels of the squadron were not 
 in sight. The fight between the Bon Homme Richard and the 
 Serapis was hardly contested. The Serapis finally surrendered, 
 but the Bon Ho?nme Richard was so battered that she sunk 
 two days afterward. The Alliance, under Captain Laudais, 
 behaved in a most singular manner during the engagement. 
 Laudais was accused of firing into the Bon Ho?nme Richard 
 instead of the Serapis. He proved to be insane, and made 
 much trouble for Franklin at Paris. 
 
 The news of the victory over the Serapis was received with 
 great delight in America and in France. Jones, who came 
 shortly to Paris, was made a lion, and received great attention 
 from the court and the people. 
 
FRANKLIN IN FRANCE. 191 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The French Alliance. 
 
 Franklin Arrives in France — Silas Deane's Early Negotiations — The Treaty 
 of Alliance — D'Estaing's Fleet — Large Combinations — Army Under 
 Rochambeau — It Arrives at Rhode Island — The Campaign in Carolina 
 — Lord Cornwallis — Gates's Defeat at Camden — His Flight — Events 
 at the North — Arnold's Treason — Campaign of 1781 — Cornwallis Ad- 
 vances to Virginia — Death of Phillips — Lafayette in Command — Clin- 
 ton Recalls Cornwallis — The Combination Against Him — De Grasse's 
 Fleet — Washington Deceives Clinton — He Moves from New York — A 
 Day at Mount Vernon — Siege of Yorktown — Cornwallis Besieged — He 
 Surrenders — Greene's Campaign of 1781 — The News of Yorktown Re- 
 ceived in Europe — Lord North — "All Is Over." 
 
 THE American cause had been popular in France ever 
 since the war began. The national hatred of England 
 contributed to a liking for her enemy, and the very severe terms, 
 which England had exacted in the peace of 1763, still rankled 
 in the minds of French statesmen and soldiers. The new phi- 
 losophy of human nature which was coming into fashion had 
 its part in bringing about a national enthusiasm for the insur- 
 gents. When, at the end of 1776, Franklin arrived in France, 
 he was welcomed with enthusiasm. His portrait was seen 
 every-where. Poor Richard's Maxims were translated into 
 French, and Franklin's society was widely sought. He availed 
 himself of his popularity to obtain such private and public 
 help for his countrymen as was possible. 
 
 Silas Deane, who preceded him, had set on foot a secret 
 negotiation which resulted in a gift of two million livres — about 
 four hundred thousand dollars — privately paid from the royal 
 treasury to the treasury of Congress. A second arrangement 
 was made, by which the farmers general of the kingdom, who 
 had the monopoly of the tobacco trade, were to receive from 
 
 1/ 
 
9 
 
 I Q2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Congress a quantity of tobacco and to pay for it in military 
 stores. But through the year 1777 all such negotiations and 
 promises were made with the greatest secrecy, as France was, 
 in public, maintaining her neutrality. She even affected to 
 exclude the American cruisers from her ports, excepting as 
 she had to give them her hospitality when they were in abso- 
 lute need of shelter for repairs. 
 
 As has been already said, however, the news of the capitu- 
 lation of Burgoyne turned the scale. Franklin and his asso- 
 ciates were at once told that the government was ready to recog- 
 nize American independence, to receive them as envoys, and 
 to negotiate a treaty. Spain, which was closely allied with 
 France, made similar intimations. The first result of the 
 treaty was the welcome to French ports of American prizes; the 
 second was the equipment of the fleet under D'Estaing, of 
 which the history of one year's cruise has been told. 
 
 As the year 1779 came to a close the American envoys 
 begged for more extensive assistance, and ventured to show 
 how it might end the war. 
 
 They had the invaluable help of Lafayette, who was 
 popular at court, very popular in America, and who had crossed 
 to France to do what he could in this cause. His enthusiasm 
 and Franklin's steady wisdom overcame all delays, and the 
 Count De Rochambeau, an officer of high rank, was ordered to 
 America in command of nearly six thousand picked men. 
 They were conveyed in a fleet under Admiral Ternay, and a 
 second fleet was to follow them. 
 
 This superb expedition sailed in April. The seamanship 
 of those days was not as prompt as that of to-day, and it was 
 not until the 10th of July that the fleet arrived off the bay 
 of Rhode Island, the men already sick with scurvy and 
 the fleet in poor condition for battle. Lafayette had preceded 
 them. He had agreed that if Newport were free from an 
 English fleet there should be a white flag displayed on each 
 of the headlands of Narragansett Bay. As the fog lifted which 
 for a time shrouded the coast the French Admiral saw, to his 
 delight, the promised signals, and at once entered the harbor 
 
AMERICAN REVERSES. 193 
 
 of Newport. He landed his men, who were welcomed by the 
 Americans. He established barracks for them at Newport 
 and Providence, and opened his communication with General 
 Washington. 
 
 Washington had refrained from any active operations until 
 his allies should arrive. Clinton was glad enough to be un- 
 molested. Indeed, there had already begun a difference of 
 opinion as to the English plan of campaign, which the next 
 year resulted in ruin. Of all the English officers who held 
 high command in America, Lord Cornwallis, afterward gover- 
 nor of India, showed most spirit and military genius. He 
 had had the advantage of training in the military schools of 
 the continent of Europe. He distinguished himself at Brook- 
 lyn and at the Brandywine, and, when he afterward returned 
 to England to propose his plans, he was listened to, much as 
 Burgoyne had been when he came on a not dissimilar errand. 
 
 Cornwallis was a favorite with Lord George Germaine, who 
 was master of colonial affairs, and thus played well the part of 
 evil genius of England. Cornwallis succeeded in obtaining 
 what was virtually an independent command, as he construed 
 his instructions. He was to push the English successes at 
 the south. True, he was nominally subordinate to Sir Henry 
 Clinton at New York, but he was permitted to communicate 
 directly with London, and in his use of this permission he 
 eventually entangled Clinton and compelled him to play a 
 part second to his own. 
 
 The fall of Charleston, on the 12th of April, was the first 
 signal of the success of the new plans of the English. The 
 news arrived in France soon after Rochambeau sailed. " It 
 is impossible to do anything," wrote Marie Antoinette to her 
 mother, "when the American troops are such cowards." Lin- 
 coln, who commanded at Charleston, was obliged to surren- 
 der, and his garrison became prisoners of war. 
 
 Gates was appointed to succeed him, and hurried to take 
 the independent command for which he had hungered since 
 his great success at Saratoga and after the failure of the Con- 
 way cabal. Cornwallis had a well-equipped army of five thou- 
 
194 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 sand men. Of the Continental army, Lincoln had surrendered 
 almost all the southern contingent in the fall of Charleston. 
 Washington detached with Gates more than two thousand 
 men from his own force. A regiment of artillery was added 
 at Petersburg. Virginia ordered twenty-five hundred addi- 
 tional soldiers, and the small force of three hundred men at 
 Williamsburg joined the army which was to meet Cornwallis. 
 Gates, eager to meet his enemy, marched them in midsummer 
 toward Camden, in South Carolina, where Lord Ravvdon com- 
 manded a consider- 
 able English force. 
 Cornwallis heard of 
 his approach, 
 strengthened and 
 joined Rawdon, and 
 awaited the Ameri- 
 can army. On the 
 14th of August Gates 
 approached Camden. 
 He seems to have sup- 
 posed himself at the 
 head of seven thou- 
 sand men. On that 
 day he detached four 
 hundred with Sump- 
 ter, a spirited south- 
 ern partisan, who had 
 four hundred more 
 men. But, in fact, Gates had but three thousand and fifty-two 
 men ready for duty. 
 
 With these he attacked the English lines by anight attack, 
 which did not succeed. The next day he renewed the attack, 
 beginning with a body of raw Virginia and North Carolina 
 militia, who broke and fled, bearing Gates with them. From 
 this moment he held no command. The remainder of the 
 army, consisting largely of the Maryland and Delaware Con- 
 tinentals under De Kalb, maintained its ground for a long 
 
ARREST OF ANDRE. I95 
 
 time, and even drove back Rawdon's division. But in Gates's 
 flight the battle was really lost. 
 
 The English force was severely reduced by the loss of five 
 hundred of their men. The Continental loss was quite as 
 heavy, and the discouragement of defeat and flight was added. 
 De Kalb lived but three days. Nearly one-half of his divis- 
 ion were killed or wounded. Soon after, Sumpter, who had 
 the largest force of Americans left in Carolina, was surprised 
 by Tarleton, who took two or three hundred of his party 
 prisoners. Thus disastrous was the summer of 1780 to the 
 American prospects in the Carolinas. 
 
 At the north it had soon been determined that, while 
 Washington held the passes of the Hudson and watched the 
 English in New York, the combined forces should not make 
 any attempt at present. Extreme poverty was one reason for 
 this inaction. The second French fleet, which, with Ternay's 
 fleet, would outnumber the English, was expected. Until 
 its arrival no combined effort was thought advisable. The 
 English government, however, had succeeded in blockading 
 it at Toulon. It never joined Ternay, and as a result of this 
 prompt action in Europe the joint American campaign was 
 deferred for another year. 
 
 As Washington returned to his army from an interview 
 with Rochambeau at Hartford, in Connecticut, his unexpected 
 arrival at West Point discovered the saddest treason of the 
 war — the plot by which General Arnold, who commanded at 
 West Point, proposed to deliver it to Clinton. From that 
 time the name of Arnold has been hated by his countrymen. 
 It may be doubted whether any American child has received 
 the name of "Benedict" — which was his name — since this 
 treason was discovered. Washington's party arrived at Ar- 
 nold's quarters at breakfast, he himself having been delayed 
 while he inspected some works. As they breakfasted Arnold 
 received a note, which told him that Andre, the adjutant- 
 general of the English army, with whom he had been in trea- 
 sonable conversation only two days before, had been arrested, 
 and was then in the hands of one of his officers. Arnold had 
 
I96 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 not a moment to lose. He ordered his barge, and by flutter- 
 ing a flag of truce was received on the English frigate Vul- 
 ture, which lay below his lines. Washington arrived just too 
 late to intercept his flight. 
 -~> Andre was tried by court-martial and was justly sentenced 
 to be hanged as a spy. His talent for war and for literature 
 has awakened sympathy for him wherever his story has been 
 known. But civilized war is impossible if such offenses as 
 his are not to be expiated ; and a close study of his negotia- 
 tions with Arnold and his correspondence afterward does not 
 leave to him the character either of a martyr or a hero — or 
 even a gentleman. 
 
 "Whom can we trust now?" said Washington, sadly; for he 
 had, it might be said, singled out Arnold for preferment, by 
 way of recompensing him for affronts he had received from 
 Congress. He sent to Newport and recalled Heath, who had 
 been sent there to confer with Rochambeau, and he put the 
 fortress in Heath's charge. 
 
 Cornwallis, meanwhile, had had the tact and skill to put his 
 army into light marching order. He had caught the lesson of 
 the long distances of America, as the American commanders 
 had learned it generations before. Cornwallis, with the En- 
 glish officers, and, on the other side, the French officers of 
 Rochambeau 's contingent, introduced into European warfare 
 the new tactics of light infantry. And, in this generation, 
 these words are almost the only memorial to military men that 
 there ever was a " Heavy Infantry" in the military establish- 
 ments. Banastre Tarleton, a spirited cavalry officer, who did 
 not escape the reputation of cruelty, was Cornwallis's second. 
 As the English army gained ground he stripped the stables 
 of the southern planters, so that it was literally true, as Corn- 
 wallis said in one of his letters, that he went about stealing 
 tobacco with an army on race-horses. 
 
 After he had crushed Gates the way to Virginia seemed 
 tempting, and was open. Fie was himself convinced that the 
 true policy for the English was to abandon New York and 
 make a strong position in Virginia. Without giving Sir Henry 
 
 •j 
 
LAFAYETTE IN VIRGINIA. 1 97 
 
 Clinton any fair notion of his plan, and acting merely under 
 his general instructions from England, he determined on 
 what he called "solid operations in Virginia," taking it for 
 granted that if he established a foot-hold in that State Clin- 
 ton would meet him there, or would largely re-enforce him. 
 Leaving the American army under Greene on his left, he 
 pushed for Norfolk and effected a junction, as he had pro- 
 posed, with the corps under Phillips and Arnold, which had 
 just landed there for a raid. Phillips died just at this time, 
 on the 13th of May, at Petersburg. As he lay dying a shot 
 from one of Lafayette's cannon passed through the house. 
 "Can I not die in peace ? " he said. It was a matter of curious 
 interest to Lafayette that his father had died from a shot 
 directed by a battery under the command of Phillips, at the 
 battle of Minden. 
 
 Cornwallis assumed the command of the united English 
 force, which was now much larger than the Americans could 
 collect. Arnold did not remain with him personally, but 
 retired to New York. Cornwallis crossed the James River, 
 near the junction with the Appomatox, and sought to engage 
 Lafayette. Lafayette was on his first considerable independent 
 command. He had replaced Steuben, whose more slow or 
 solid ways had dissatisfied the Virginians. But Lafayette al- 
 ways made himself popular, and he had brought with him a 
 body of light troops who were the flower of the army. He 
 showed great intelligence and spirit. He gave Cornwallis no 
 opportunity to engage him, but did what he could, with so 
 small a force, to encourage the country and to assist the 
 planters in removing horses and other property before the 
 spoilers came. It was of this summer campaign that Corn- 
 wallis wrote home that he marched up and down stealing 
 tobacco. 
 
 Meanwhile he was eagerly awaiting Clinton's arrival, with 
 the prospect it gave for what he called " solid operations " in 
 Virginia. He seems to have even hoped that Clinton would 
 march in force from New York across the country, though such 
 a march must have been made either in face of Washington 
 
- / 
 
 198 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and Rochambeau, or pursued by them. Sir Henry Clinton 
 was, naturally enough, offended by such high-handed insub- 
 ordination. He would lend himself to no such scheme. And 
 at Hanover Court House, about thirty miles north of James 
 River, Cornwallis received Clinton's positive orders not to 
 risk a march across Pennsylvania, nor to expect him to make 
 such a march, but to establish a post on the lower Chesa- 
 peake and await orders. Offended and hurt, Cornwallis 
 obeyed these orders and retired before Lafayette to York 
 River. 
 
 Lafayette's force was inferior, but he pushed Cornwallis, 
 where he could, with spirit and courage. He wrote to Wash- 
 ington that if he could join him with a re-enforcement, and if 
 a French fleet could blockade the Chesapeake, every thing 
 might be hoped. Washington needed no such quickening. 
 He had written the most urgent personal letter to whoever 
 might be in command of that fleet in the West Indies. For- 
 2 tunately the letter reached De Grasse in time, and he at once 
 obeyed the summons. The great game of war has seldom 
 seen the union of the important pieces take place with more 
 precision. Cornwallis reached Yorktown and began to fortify 
 himself on the 8th of August. Lafayette followed him closely. 
 The French fleet arrived in the Chesapeake and hemmed in 
 Cornwallis and the English vessels there. Cornwallis wrote 
 to Clinton some letters which were intercepted, and others 
 which went through. In all of them he fixed a period, not 
 far distant, as the latest to which he could hold the post if he 
 were not relieved. Washington saw, to his joy, that the great 
 combination was now possible for which he had so earnestly 
 hoped when he wrote to the French admiral. 
 
 The army of Rochambeau had recovered from the voyage 
 which had so disabled it, and had been moved from Narra- 
 gansett Bay to the Hudson River. Strong reconnoissances 
 threatening New York, so strong sometimes as to bring on 
 skirmishes, had been made, which had kept the English gar- 
 rison and that of outlying posts on the alert. Really intend- 
 ing to push his way into New York with the strong com- 
 
CORNWALLIS IN YORKTOWN. I99 
 
 bined force under his command, if any opportunity offered, 
 it was easy for Washington to give Clinton the fear that 
 measures were in progress for such an attack. In truth, he 
 was threatening the city all through the summer. When, on 
 the 19th of August, he received news that Cornwallis had 
 taken position at York River, he was able to deceive Clinton 
 for many days as to his purposes in that direction. 
 
 A large French and American contingent was rapidly moved 
 southward on the roads back from observation, while close 
 observation was maintained on the city. Washington him- 
 self and his army had crossed the Delaware before Clinton 
 knew that he had at all re-enforced Lafayette. Washington, 
 with his staff, traveled a little in advance of the French 
 commander. When he arrived at Chester he met with the 
 great news that the French fleet under the Count de Grasse 
 had arrived in the lower Chesapeake. He returned on 
 his road that he might tell this himself to Rochambeau. 
 Rochambeau saw him waving his hat and showing the great- 
 est delight. " A child who has just received every thing he 
 longs for would not have felt more enthusiasm. He was 
 content for the moment to be a citizen, happy in the good 
 fortune of his country." Such are the words of a French 
 officer who witnessed the scene. 
 
 Fifteen hundred men were carried down Chesapeake Bay 
 in boats to the mouth of the James River. The rest went 
 to Annapolis by the aid of the French frigates, and then 
 marched overland. Washington himself on this journey 
 made his first visit to Mount Vernon since the war began. 
 It was more than six years since he had seen his princely 
 home. He was able to entertain the French general and his 
 staff with the hasty hospitality of a single day. He and 
 Rochambeau had ridden sixty miles in the saddle in one day. 
 He then resumed the critical march with his friends, and by 
 the same roads on- which he had ridden every year for fifteen 
 years, when he served in the Virginia Assembly, he took them 
 to Williamsburg to the command of his and their armies. 
 
 Lafayette had already welcomed Saint-Simon, who was 
 
200 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 in charge of the first French contingent. On the arrival of 
 a force utterly superior to his own Cornwallis risked noth- 
 ing more in the field but withdrew behind the fortifications 
 which he had built to defend Yorktown. The American and 
 French generals immediately examined the ground and laid 
 out the works by which it might be regularly approached. 
 The American army, thus far trained to what have been called 
 skirmishes on a large scale, was to see the progress of a reg- 
 ular siege, conducted with all the system of scientific and 
 technical war. 
 
 The allied army surrounded the town on the 30th of Septem- 
 ber. The French held the right of the besiegers' position, the 
 Americans the left. Cornwallis availed himself of every oppor- 
 tunity of annoying the men at work, but fire was not opened 
 on him till the 9th of October. For four days the fire was 
 incessant; his batteries were, one by one, made useless and 
 his cannon dismounted. On the 15th he wrote to Clinton 
 that he could not recommend any great risk to army or fleet 
 in coming to his relief. On the night of the 16th he 
 attempted to cross the York River, hoping to surprise the 
 French force at Gloucester, on the north side, and escape 
 into the upper country of Virginia. But a violent storm 
 deranged the crossing and made it impossible. This failure 
 compelled him to offer surrender on the 17th. The terms of 
 capitulation were agreed upon on the 19th, and the whole 
 army surrendered as prisoners of war. 
 
 Cornwallis had left the Carolinas for u solid operations in 
 Virginia " almost as if indifferent to Greene, who was opposed 
 to him. Greene wisely left him to his fate in Virginia while 
 he attempted the recovery of the posts held by the English 
 at the south. In this endeavor he spent the spring and 
 summer of 1781. "We fight, get beaten, and fight again," he 
 said. His defeats differed from Gates's, at Camden, in this: 
 that he did not himself run away after thetn. When Corn- 
 wallis moved north,* he left Greene on his left. Charles 
 
 * The movement has been compared in later times to Sherman's advance into Georgia 
 in 1865, leaving Hood behind him in Tennessee. 
 
SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS. 201 
 
 James Fox said rightly, in Parliament, that if the English 
 army had been vanquished it would have retired to the sea 
 exactly as it did after a victory. The English still held gar- 
 risons at Augusta, in Georgia; at Camden, in South Carolina; 
 and at the post called Ninety-six, about forty miles north 
 of Augusta, on the Saluda River. When Greene was 
 encamped at Hobkirk's Hill, not far from the old battle 
 ground of Camden, he was attacked by Lord Rawdon. 
 Each party lost about three hundred men, and Greene was 
 forced to retreat General Marion, however, with a re-en- 
 forcement from Greene's army, took the English fort on the 
 San tee, below Camden, and that post was, in consequence, 
 abandoned by Rawdon. Marion followed up his success 
 and attacked and took Fort Granby with three hundred and 
 fifty men. Lord Rawdon was thus compelled to withdraw to 
 Charleston, leaving garrisons at Ninety-six and at Augusta. 
 Greene besieged Ninety-six; but Rawdon, re-enforced, 
 marched to its relief, and Greene, after an unsuccessful 
 attempt to storm the place, was obliged to withdraw. Raw- 
 don could not, however, hold a post so far from his base. 
 He withdrew the garrison and their loyalist friends. He 
 himself soon after sailed for England. He was captured by 
 a French frigate, and thus had an opportunity of seeing the 
 surrender at Yorktown of his old chief, Cornwallis. 
 
 Greene, after recruiting his army, attacked the English 
 again at Eutaw, on the 8th of September, and this time suc- 
 cessfully. They broke and fled before him. But in their 
 retreat a party of them held as a fortress a large brick house, 
 where they covered the flight of their friends. In the effort to 
 drive them from this fastness, Greene lost a large number 
 of men, among them Colonel Washington, the spirited cav- 
 alry officer who had on the American side rivaled the feats 
 of the English Tarleton. The American loss in this hard- 
 fought battle was five hundred and fifty-four. The English 
 lost more than a thousand men. The result of the battle was 
 that the remainder of the English army was withdrawn into 
 
 Charleston. Whether beaten or defeated Greene always 
 9* 
 
202 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 attained his object. And when Cornwallis surrendered at 
 Yorktown, Charleston was the only post in South Carolina 
 held by his enemy. 
 
 Cornwallis had tried to notify Clinton that his case was hope- 
 ^ less, but Clinton did not fail his insubordinate general when 
 y the issue came. He sent him message after message to as- 
 sure him of his support. Hardest task of all, he drove up 
 the English admirals to all possible speed in preparing a 
 naval force which might possibly open the way into the 
 Chesapeake. He embarked five thousand men, going with 
 them himself. On board the fleet, as an officer of the 
 navy, they had William, afterward King of England, the 
 third son of George III. In this " untoward " begin- 
 ning he was to take his first lesson in the trade of " king- 
 craft." When, at last, the admiral would put to sea, they 
 sailed; but they were too late. Off Cape Charles they met 
 the news of the surrender, and Clinton returned to New 
 York. 
 
 The French admiral at once fitted out a fast frigate to 
 take the joyful news to France. She had a quick run, and 
 on the 20th of November it was announced in Paris, and 
 from Paris in every part of Europe. It came from Paris to 
 London on the 24th. " How did Lord North take it ? " 
 This was the question which some one put to Lord George 
 Germaine. "As he would have taken a cannon ball in his 
 heart," said Lord George. " He threw up his hands and 
 cried ' All is over.' " 
 
 All was over; though at the time all men did not under- 
 stand this. Conway introduced in Parliament a resolution, 
 which passed by a majority of nineteen, that they who 
 advised a continuation of war with America were enemies of 
 their country. Lord North and his cabinet resigned. Lord 
 George Germaine had been sacrificed before — the evil genius 
 of George III and of England. Lord Shelburne came into 
 power at the head of the new ministry. He was an old 
 friend of Franklin's, and through their mutual friends they 
 had kept up some communication after Franklin went to 
 
ARNOLD AT NEW LONDON. 203 
 
 France. With Franklin he entered into personal correspond- 
 ence at once, and the negotiation of a treaty began on the 
 basis of the acknowledgment of the independence of the 
 United States. 
 
 As a miserable offset to the great success by which the 
 war was really ended, Sir Henry Clinton was able to send 
 home the account of a marauding expedition on the coast of 
 Connecticut. If any thing could add to Arnold's disgrace 
 it was his willingness to take command of an enterprise which 
 aimed at his old home in New London. He even made use 
 of his local knowledge of the place to direct the troops 
 which were sent to destroy it. It is said that Cornwallis 
 refused to have him under his command in Virginia, and 
 that he returned from the Virginia expedition of the spring 
 because Cornwallis compelled him to do so. This was in 
 May. At the beginning of September he was put in com- 
 mand of seventeen hundred men, for an expedition against 
 Connecticut. It has been suggested, and is perhaps prob- 
 able, that Clinton thought that such an expedition might recall 
 Washington from his march, which was already begun. 
 Arnold landed at the mouth of the Thames River, where it 
 flows into Long Island Sound, on the 6th of September. He 
 divided his force into two columns, and one column marched 
 up each side of the river. Arnold commanded that on the 
 west side. No efficient resistance was made to him and he 
 took and burned the town of New London. On the eastern 
 side the militia of the immediate neighborhood had gath- 
 ered, but had not nearly force enough even to man the 
 parapets of Fort Griswold, an earthwork which had been 
 erected for defense. Mad with liquor, the assailants, num- 
 bering nearly seven hundred men, poured over the earth- 
 works, and, as resistance was useless, Ledyard, the American 
 commander, ordered his men to throw down their aims. He 
 surrendered to Major Bromneld, the English commanding 
 officer, after Eyre, the colonel, had been wounded. The 
 officer at once stabbed him with his own sword, and this 
 seems to have been the signal for a massacre of the whole of 
 
204 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the garrison. Eighty-seven were killed and thirty were 
 wounded. Of these only three had been killed before Led- 
 yard gave the order to surrender. 
 
 Arnold said that the burning of the town was an accident. 
 As has been remarked, however, it was a consistent accident; 
 for Groton, on the other side of the river, was burned also. 
 After this success he withdrew with his force to New 
 York. 
 
FINANCIAL PROBLEMS. 205 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 End of the War. 
 
 Undecided Position of the Country — Weakness of the Confederation — Con- 
 dition and Defects of Congress — Articles of Confederation — The 
 Finances of the Confederacy — Paper Money — The Word "Con- 
 tinental " — First and Second Issues of Bills — Virtually a Tax on the 
 User — Issues in 1779 — The Currency Loses All Value — Injustice to 
 the Soldiers — Their Dissatisfaction — The Newburg Letters — Washing- 
 ton's Reply to Them— End of the Crisis— The English Evacuate New 
 York — Washington Resigns his Commission. 
 
 THE United States, after their victory, were in a disagree- 
 able position. They were not at peace. They were 
 not at war. Clinton would not send word to Washington 
 that he might send his army home. Washington did not dare 
 say to the King of France that he might call his soldiers 
 home. On the other hand, the different States were very 
 unwilling to send their regiments to a distance to a war which 
 was never to be fought. The people were slow about paying 
 taxes, as if the war was ended. Yet commerce was interrupted. 
 Prizes were taken at sea. The fisheries were no more open 
 to American crews than they had been in the severest mo- 
 ments of the war. 
 
 It was thus that some of the severest strains of the whole 
 contest came in those years of half peace. The weakness of 
 the Confederation became more apparent, as it was no longer 
 concealed behind the smoke and the success of battle. In 
 truth, its power had never been any thing but the reflex of an 
 excited and unanimous public opinion. When there was no 
 active enemy's army as the object for opposition the excite- 
 ment which had quickened unanimity died. Each State fell 
 back to the not easy problem of improving its now shattered 
 fortunes. 
 
206 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The Congress itself was surprised, in the beginning, when 
 it became an executive body. It had not been chosen for 
 any such purpose. Never was success more marvelous than 
 it had gained — considering its utter inability, in theory, for 
 the task it had in hand. 
 
 Forty or fifty gentlemen, mostly strangers to each other, 
 and with no common system of law or administration behind 
 them, had been chosen to unite in fit remonstrances to a king to 
 whom they all owed allegiance. These gentlemen found them- 
 selves of a sudden making war against him, declaring the inde- 
 pendence of the nation, and, though with no authority directly 
 given by that nation, raising an army and a navy, commission- 
 ing officers, sending out envoys and making alliances with other 
 nations. Never was a more complete illustration of the way 
 in which a government is made because there must be a gov- 
 ernment. After two or three years, because the Congress 
 saw that on paper it had no power, by gradual approach and 
 after difficult and critical negotiation the ''Articles of Con- 
 federation," as they are called, were agreed upon. 
 
 It may be fairly said that they did more harm than good. 
 They were framed on the theory which should leave every 
 State virtually independent. While Congress could vote that 
 each State should supply this and that necessary contingent 
 for the national service, Congress had no power to carry out 
 its vote or to enforce any demand. The original Congress 
 had borrowed money, first in small sums, and had pledged 
 the honor of the nation in payment. Really, under the Arti- 
 cles of the Confederation the Congress could pledge noth- 
 ing more. It has been truly said that it could not command 
 the money to buy the quills which made the pens with which 
 its laws were written. 
 
 On March i, 1781, after long delays, the Articles of Con- 
 federation nominally went into effect. The public creditors, 
 especially the soldiers of the army, imagined, perhaps, that 
 they now had a real authority to deal with instead of the 
 shadow of a name ; but in fact Congress had almost no 
 treasury and could command no money. 
 
CONTINENTAL CURRENCY. 207 
 
 Its financial resources up to this time had been of two 
 forms, both resting on the fascinating but unsubstantial basis 
 of debt. Beginning with an innocent little loan of $25,000, 
 Congress had borrowed more and more wherever it could find 
 a lender. Franklin, John Adams and the commissioners in 
 Europe had steadily kept before the knowledge of Europe 
 an understanding of the great wealth of America, especially 
 of the value of its public lands. From the beginning the 
 interest on the foreign loans was generally well paid. As 
 soon as Robert Morris directed the treasury its accounts were 
 carefully kept. 
 
 At home, where large sums of money were not ready for 
 borrowing, Congress also borrowed, unintentionally, by the 
 system of paper money. So soon as the movements of armies 
 brought the colonies into closer relations with each other, 
 while the downfall of legitimate commerce withdrew gold and 
 silver from its operations, there was real need of a convenient 
 circulating medium. Congress issued its own currency, which 
 took the name, which it has since retained, of the " Continental 
 Currency." It is a pity that the most frequent use at the 
 present time of the word "Continental " should be its famil- 
 iar use as the name of a piece of worthless paper money. 
 In the beginning it was not so. " Continental " then stood 
 for all things national — the army, the foreign treaties, the uni- 
 form of the troops — and, therefore, it was the name of the 
 national currency. 
 
 After more than a century the people of the United States, 
 with a vast territorial extension, supporting a population not 
 more dense than that of the sea-board in the Revolution, with 
 enormous demands for trade not then known, keeps in cir- 
 culation for its convenience about eight hundred millions of 
 paper money; nearly fifteen dollars for each individual. The 
 people can have gold or silver for this money, but it prefers 
 to use this amount of paper. It is not, then, surprising that 
 in 1775, when the first issue of Continental paper began, the 
 country with a population of three millions easily floated a 
 million dollars, and afterward a second million, without any per- 
 
208 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ceptible depreciation. In the midst of other changes, with 
 the help of strong patriotic excitement, the sum of $2,000,000 
 was so convenient an addition to the commercial resources 
 of a nation which had every thing to do that the paper main- 
 tained a value even with that of silver. 
 
 Here is a temptation such as statesmen have not always 
 met well, and which monarchs less pressed than the " Con- 
 tinental Congress " have not resisted. When, in another 
 year, Congress needed more money, it was convenient to rely 
 on the printing-press, " its unsubsidized ally," to furnish it. 
 New issues were ordered. Of course, as more money was 
 made than commerce really needed, the price of money fell. 
 What was worse, the English government issued counterfeits 
 of it, and it was found necessary to recall the issue and sub- 
 stitute notes of another pattern. The whole issue, old and 
 new, was worth no more than the old issue was worth be- 
 fore the new was added. 
 
 But what was important to Congress was that they and 
 their treasurer and their paymasters held the new issue till 
 they had paid it out. The losers were not the people who 
 made the money, but the people who had taken it. A man 
 found on the 1st of June that the dollar which had been worth 
 six shillings on the 1st of May, was only worth five shillings. 
 He was the loser, but Congress lost nothing. 
 
 Virtually this man, without meaning it, or even knowing it, 
 paid a tax of one shilling to Congress as that month of May 
 passed. Congress was richer and he was poorer by that sum. 
 
 Repeating this process, Congress continued issuing paper 
 money, always promising to pay " hard dollars," until before 
 the end of 1779 it had issued two hundred millions in paper. 
 At this time one hundred paper dollars were worth only two 
 and a half dollars in silver. It is interesting to observe that 
 the circulation which the country needed was about five 
 million dollars, or one and a half dollars for each inhabitant. 
 The process could be carried no farther. It was fatal to hon- 
 est trade. Men paid debts by giving half or one quarter of 
 what they had borrowed. It was demoralizing ; for the na- 
 
I / Z*Zl*~ ruf^u ***** c&v^ 
 
 DEPRECIATED CURRENCY. 209 
 
 tion declared, on every bill, that it would do what it was 
 wholly impossible for it to do. Necessity, after the very first, 
 was the only excuse; but as Congress had no power to tax 
 men it had the tyrant's plea of necessity when, in this in- 
 direct way, it raised for the national defense a very consider- 
 able sum by what was virtually a tax, though hardly supposed 
 to be so. 
 
 The goose was at last killed which laid the golden egg. 
 The last issues of the Continental currency now exist in the 
 large sheets in which they were printed. It was not even 
 worth the while of the man who received the sheet from the 
 treasury to cut it into separate bills. It was one large bill to 
 circulate for what it would bring. Before the year 1782 a 
 specie currency was largely in use, with some paper circulated 
 by the States and of use in the payment of State taxes. The 
 payment of gold by the French commissaries for the sup- 
 plies they required gave some assistance in furnishing a cur- 
 rency, and every suucessful adventure by a privateer, or 
 every shipment of tobacco to Europe which slipped through 
 the enemy's cruisers, relieved, by so much, the drain on the 
 country for specie, which began, of course, when the natural 
 currents of trade were disturbed by the war. 
 
 In no quarter was the depreciation of the currency, whether 
 of the nation or of a State, more disastrous than with the 
 soldiers of the army. These men were now enlisted for three 
 years, or to the end of the war. They were not largely paid, 
 though some of them had received considerable bounties at 
 the beginning. To be paid year by year in a currency which, 
 as all men knew, was losing in value every day, was an insult. 
 But in most instances the treasurers of the States, or the 
 treasury of Congress, had nothing better than such paper to 
 offer. 
 
 With the beginning of the summer of 1783 it was certain 
 that no military measures of an aggressive character would 
 be attempted. The Continental army was reduced to the 
 lowest scale, and for that year the country had in service only 
 13,456 men. The largest Continental force ever upon the rolls 
 
2IO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 was 46,891, in 1776. In that year 42,000 militia were called 
 out also. The army held, in 1783, the garrisons which had 
 been established. Its principal force was still above New 
 York. If it were ever to make a claim for reasonable justice 
 upon the Congress whom it had so faithfully served now was 
 the time. It is clear enough that, in the enforced leisure of 
 such a summer, there would be constant difficulties among the 
 officers and men as to what Congress had done, might do, 
 ought to do, and might be made to do. 
 
 Such discussions reached a crisis and found expression 
 which attracted public notice in some letters circulated 
 among the officers, which were at the time anonymous. But 
 little secrecy, however, was kept regarding them, and per- 
 haps little was intended. General Armstrong, an aid of Gen- 
 eral Gates, afterward readily acknowledged the authorship of 
 the most important. They were well written, and expressed 
 with little or no exaggeration the history of the treatment 
 which the army had received from Congress. Indeed, it 
 would be hard to express this too severely if the truth were 
 told. The overt act which the " Newburg Letters," as they 
 were called, suggested, was that the army should refuse to 
 disband unless its rightful dues were paid. Congress was to 
 be notified that this army continued to exist, and could con- 
 tinue to exist, with arms in its hands. It had the power until 
 it disbanded. Let it refuse to disband and it could obtain 
 its due. Such was the writer's proposal. He suggested a 
 meeting on the nth of March. 
 
 There is much in the Newburg letters which appeals to 
 the sense of justice. It is easy to understand that this should 
 appeal very loudly to men who felt that they had been disre- 
 garded and annoyed. 
 
 This was the moment when, if the army acted on the les- 
 son taught by its insults and wrongs, it would take for new- 
 born America the position which Cromwell's army took for 
 England, and its leader, whoever he might be, would be the 
 General Monk who should determine on the next dynasty. 
 To take a name from ancient history, the leader of this army 
 
RETIREMENT OF WASHINGTON. 211 
 
 might make himself a Caesar. To take it from modern his- 
 tory, he might make himself a Napoleon. 
 
 And the man was there ; but his name was not Cromwell, 
 Monk, Caesar or Napoleon. His name was Washington. 
 
 So soon as the first of the Newburg letters was issued 
 Washington referred to it in general orders, in terms which 
 seemed strong enough for the emergency. He certainly did 
 not mean to exaggerate its importance. He asked the repre- 
 sentatives of the army to meet him on the 15th of the month 
 instead of holding a meeting on the nth, as had been pro- 
 posed. Armstrong and his friends, however, seized on the 
 moderation of these terms to affect the impression in a sec- 
 ond letter that he was on their side. If he had meant more 
 he would have said more, they say with sufficient ingenuity. 
 In this last letter they assented to his proposal for a meeting, 
 and their meeting was abandoned. 
 
 When the meeting took place Washington opened it him- 
 self in a spirited speech. He asked if the anonymous writer 
 of the letters was not an emissary from New York, attempt- 
 ing the ruin of the country. He urged patience, begged the 
 officers to rely on the justice of Congress and to give one 
 more proof of patriotism and virtue. He pledged his own 
 exertions in their behalf, and then retired. Gates took the 
 chair. If, as is likely enough, he had countenanced the 
 anonymous letters, he had the gratification of putting to the 
 vote of the meeting the resolutions which passed. They 
 stated the grievances of the army, but rejected with disdain 
 the proposal of the letters and avowed the confidence of the 
 officers in Congress. The crisis was over. A committee 
 was appointed to wait upon Congress with a fit statement of 
 grievances. But these grievances were not formulated as 
 demands. The crisis was over. 
 
 This great service was the last which Washington rendered 
 to his country as commander-in-chief. He was now to lay 
 down the charge which he had so willingly taken on the 17th 
 of June, more than eight years before. The ratification of the 
 treaty was at last completed in Europe. A courteous note 
 
<o 
 
 212 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 from Sir Guy Carleton, the English commander, notified 
 Washington that the English garrison would be withdrawn 
 from New York on the 25th of November. As post after 
 post of English soldiers was withdrawn successively, an ad- 
 vance party of Americans took their places. Washington 
 sent to Carleton a courteous note to wish him and his a 
 pleasant passage, and thus closed the correspondence with 
 the enemy, which had begun when he proposed an exchange 
 of prisoners with Gage, and Gage had written an impertinent 
 letter back to him, refusing to communicate w r ith traitors. In 
 the interval the chief command of the English army had 
 changed three times. The American army had had but one 
 chief commander. 
 
 A few days after the American troops had taken possession 
 of New York Washington himself bade farewell to the 
 officers and army in an affecting parting and began his jour- 
 ney to his home. It was a triumphal march. The country 
 was eager to express its joy for peace and independence, and 
 found this a fit occasion. 
 
 As he entered a town or city the chief magistrates met 
 him with an address of thanks and welcome. Such scientific 
 or literary societies as existed, and the representatives of 
 religious bodies or of colleges, joined in the general expres- 
 sion of gratitude. These addresses had more than a pass- 
 ing interest. They show how the national feeling had ex- 
 tended, since the time, hardly ten years before, when the 
 divided colonies first sent their delegates to a national Con- 
 gress. Washington acknowledged their addresses with mod- 
 esty and dignity. Copies of them, preserved by his care, are 
 now in the Department of State. 
 
 The Continental Congress, from whose predecessors Wash- 
 ington had received his commission, was sitting at Annapolis, 
 the capital of Maryland. As this body, which had created 
 an army and a navy, ceased to have such large visible duties, 
 it sank every day more and more in the contempt of the peo- 
 ple at large. It became migratory, and had left Philadelphia 
 on the occasion of some turbulent political public demonstra- 
 
WASHINGTON RESIGNS. 21 3 
 
 tions. To Washington, Annapolis was almost home. In his 
 earlier days it had been his custom to go there with his wife 
 every year from Mount Vernon, which is not far away, to join 
 in the gayeties which accompanied the annual meeting of 
 the Assembly. Here, in the Assembly chamber, Congress 
 met to receive his commission back from the hands which had 
 held it so triumphantly. He had assumed it with the expres- 
 sion of his full knowledge that he was incompetent for the 
 charge to which it appointed him. He resigned it with 
 cordial thanks to the brave and steadfast men who had given 
 him success in his charge, and with gratitude to the Prov- 
 idence which from such slight beginnings had created a 
 nation. \ j 
 
 It will be necessary in the next chapter to follow the his- 
 tory of the great region to the west. The first steps of that 
 history had been taken while the sea-board colonies were 
 engaged in war. 
 
214 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Settlement of the West. 
 
 French Claims— The English Conquest— Exploration in Kentucky— Chris- 
 topher Gist and Daniel Boone— George Washington— First Settlement 
 —Henderson and Transylvania— General Rogers Clarke— Vincennes— 
 Cahokia— Kaskaskia— Indian Wars in Kentucky— The English Forts 
 After the Revolution— Tennessee— The North-west Territory— Ohio- 
 Indiana — Illinois — Michigan. 
 
 ^RAWING a straight line along the map of the United 
 -L' States, from Quebec to New Orleans, one would find 
 the original thirteen States lying almost entirely to the east 
 of it. To the west the country had been claimed by France, 
 by the right of discovery. La Salle had explored the Illinois 
 country and the Louisiana country also. Marquette and 
 Joliet had wandered over the country about the upper waters 
 of the Mississippi. The French had thus a claim, according 
 to the public law of the time, to the whole of that great 
 country to the north and west of the Ohio and Mississippi 
 rivers. The English colonies, it may be noticed, also laid 
 claim to a great part of this territory, for their charters gave 
 them right from sea to sea. But the French had taken steps 
 to possess the country. It was the plan of the governors of 
 New France to link the two capitals, Quebec and New 
 Orleans, by a chain of forts by which to hold these posses- 
 sions. And there had been, before the French and Indian 
 war, forts and settlements built on this plan at Natches, 
 Cahokia and Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi, a fort on the 
 Wabash, Fort Miamis on the Miami, a town at Detroit, as 
 well as Forts Niagara, Duquesne, Toronto and Frontenac. 
 Here is the chain of French posts by which New France, as 
 this region was often called, was to be held. 
 

 2l6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 French war, was received by the Indians with honor, and 
 returned with good accounts of the country. 
 
 The first permanent settlement in Kentucky was made in 
 1774 by James Harrod, with a company who passed down the 
 Ohio, and thence some way inland, where they founded 
 Harrodsburg. The next year Boone built a fort, and soon 
 others were built. To obtain titles to land was the great 
 object of their excursions. Colonel Henderson and others, 
 in 1775, obtained a tract of land from the Cherokees, em- 
 bracing all of the present State of Kentucky east of the Ken- 
 tucky river. They at once proceeded to occupy it. Daniel 
 Boone, leading forth a party, built a fort, which was named 
 Boonesborough. Henderson sent out a call for a congress of 
 delegates from the settlements in the surrounding country, 
 which met at Boonesborough and adopted the name of 
 " Transylvania." They drew up laws for self-government 
 among them; one for punishment of profane swearing and 
 Sabbath-breaking, and another for the preserving the breed 
 of horses. Daniel Boone carried the passage of a bill for the 
 preservation of game. But this government of Transylvania 
 did not last. The grant from the Cherokees was in truth 
 worthless. The whole country was held at the time to belong 
 to Virginia. It had been hitherto neglected, or considered as 
 part of the country of Fincastle. In 1777, however, the whole 
 of what is now the State of Kentucky was made into the 
 county of that name. Henderson and his Transylvanians 
 received a grant of land at the north of the Green River to 
 quiet them for the loss of the ^10,000 which they had paid 
 for the worthless Transylvanian patent. 
 
 George Rogers Clark had been sent in 1776 to Virginia, 
 from Harrodsburg, to see what could be acomplished in re- 
 gard to the erection of a country. On his return he saw much 
 of the country and traveled far north of the Ohio, among 
 the French villages in Illinois. The Revolutionarv War had 
 now begun, and the old French forts throughout the north- 
 west were held by English garrisons. Hamilton, the Governor 
 at Detroit, had heard of the Kentucky settlements and meant 
 
CLARK S SUCCESSES. 2\J 
 
 to disperse them. In 1778 Clark received a commission from 
 Virginia to bring men for operations to the north of the Ohio. 
 With one hundred and fifty backwoodsmen he traversed the 
 Illinois country, taking possession of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, 
 on the Mississippi, and Vincennes, on the Wabash, the inhab- 
 itants of which swore allegiance to the United States. Vin- 
 cennes was, however, seized again by a force of Indians and 
 regulars under Hamilton, who thought to make it the base of 
 operations against Virginia. The next year Clark, hearing of 
 a good opportunity, marched against him, leaving only a few 
 men in the village at Kaskaskia. Hamilton had weakened 
 his force by sending out war parties. Clark entered the vil- 
 lage of Vincennes without difficulty, and the inhabitants 
 assisted him in the reduction of the fort. Hamilton and some 
 eighty men surrendered. Clark followed up his success by 
 the capture of some reinforcements which were marching 
 from Detroit. The conquered country, which came in the 
 territory claimed by Virginia, was organized under the name 
 of the county of Illinois. To every one of Clark's men was 
 granted two hundred acres of land by the legislature of Vir- 
 ginia. Meanwhile the inhabitants of Kentucky had not been 
 unmolested. Although the territory which they occupied had 
 not, before their settlement, been the home of any Indian 
 tribes, yet Indian raids from the north were frequent; all the 
 more so when the English agents stirred the tribes up to the 
 warpath. In 1782 Simon Girty, a famous partisan chief, 
 crossed the Ohio with five or six hundred Indians, and at- 
 tempted the surprise of Bryan's Station ; but, deceived by a 
 noise within the fort, he came to the conclusion that his 
 approach had been discovered, and therefore he proceeded 
 to besiege the post rather than attempt to carry it by storm. 
 There were only fifty men within, besides women and chil- 
 dren. Messengers were at once sent to the various stations, 
 whose forces only broke through the Indian lines with the 
 utmost difficulty. The garrison of the fort managed to supply 
 itself with water, and, by a sortie, gained an advantage over 
 the enetny. Girty withdrew, in the hope of surprising, on 
 10 
 
3 
 
 2l8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 their approach, the reinforcements which it was thought 
 would respond to the call of the messengers who had escaped ; 
 but the ambush was unsuccessful, and the reinforcement 
 reached the fort with small loss. Girty then summoned the 
 fort to surrender, and on its refusal withdrew. The Ken- 
 tuckians at once sallied out to pursue, and, shortly afterward, 
 coming across Girty and his band, they made a reckless 
 attack and were cut to pieces, with the loss of one-half their 
 number. The loss was severe, but the colonists rallied under 
 it, and the next year, under the command of Colonel Clark, 
 a thousand men ravaged the country north of the Ohio in 
 such fashion that no more Indian raids were attempted for 
 some time. 
 
 When the Revolutionary war closed, the Kentuckians natu- 
 rally expected the evacuation of the western posts of the 
 English, on the Great Lakes and elsewhere in the territory 
 conceded to be within the United States. They were, how- 
 ever, disappointed in this. The English still held the posts. 
 Steuben, who was sent to receive the surrender of the posts, 
 was told that no orders had arrived to deliver them up. In 
 truth, the English held these posts for some years, pending 
 the carrying out by the United States of another article of 
 the Treaty of Peace which remained long unexecuted — the 
 payment to English merchants of debts contracted before 
 the war, collection of which was obstructed by many States 
 in ways which the Federal Government, in its then weak con- 
 dition, could not prevent. 
 
 The early history of Tennessee is that of the State of 
 " Franklin," sometimes called Frankland, and is curious and 
 interesting : As early as 1758, before the settlement of Ken- 
 tucky, the inhabitants of North Carolina had crossed the 
 mountains and settled in the fertile region of the Cumberland 
 River, until by 1784 there were, perhaps, ten thousand of them. 
 In this year the State of North Carolina passed an act whereby 
 her western lands were ceded to the United States. There 
 were many reasons for this in the minds of the legislature, but 
 the act aroused profound dissatisfaction in the minds of the 
 
TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY. 219 
 
 inhabitants of the ceded counties, which increased when 
 Congress, at that time a long way off, as things were, did noth- 
 ing at all about it. The frontiersmen were deserted. They 
 had no government, no militia, nothing. They at once gath- 
 ered together, called conventions, and elected delegates, and, 
 meeting at Jonesborough, they made themselves into an in- 
 dependent State, to which they gave the name of " Franklin," 
 and proceeded to adopt a constitution and send a petition to 
 Congress to be admitted into the Union. They had some 
 difficulties about these measures, and they were by no means 
 completed when the North Carolinians changed their minds 
 and thought they would rather keep their western lands to 
 themselves. The legislature, therefore, repealed the act of 
 cession, and arrangements were made for the administration 
 of justice, and for the militia of the frontier counties. There 
 were shortly two sets of authorities in Franklin. There were 
 two sets of law-makers. There were two sets of judges, who 
 greatly disturbed their respective legal proceedings. There 
 were two sets of taxgatherers, a superfluity which rendered 
 both impracticable. Not to be too long, the result, which 
 could hardly be doubtful, came in 1787. The better or- 
 ganization of the older State prevailed, and the rude ar- 
 rangements of the mountaineers fell to pieces. Sevier, the 
 Governor of the short-lived State, was put on trial for trea- 
 son. Various exciting events followed. Sevier was rescued 
 and pardoned. He subsequently returned "to his country, 
 where he was quite as popular as ever. As for the former 
 Franklin, North Carolina again ceded it to the United States 
 in 1789, at which time it was organized under the name of the 
 Territory of Tennessee. In 1779 it was admitted as a State. 
 Kentucky had been admitted some years earlier. In the 
 years immediately following the close of the Revolutionary 
 war, the desire of separation from Virginia had grown more 
 and more general. Virginia was not disinclined to allow the 
 young country to set up for itself, and in 1786 her General 
 Assembly passed an act of session whereby Kentucky might 
 be separated from Virginia provided that before the first of 
 
220 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 June, 1787, Congress should vote her admission into the Union. 
 This Congress by no means did; it was not so much that there 
 was opposition to the admission of Kentucky, but Congress 
 acted slowly, and the matter needed due consideration. Mean- 
 while the Kentuckians grew impatient and turned their atten- 
 tion in another direction, as will be seen in another chapter. 
 They had to look west and south as well as east and north. 
 
 In 1 79 1 Congress finally passed an act whereby Kentucky 
 became a State. There was no opposition in Kentucky to 
 the arrangement. All the Spanish intrigues had probably 
 been merely either a last resort of men who would have pre- 
 ferred to become a part of the United States, or schemes of 
 uninfluential adventurers. 
 
 North of the Ohio, the territory east of the Mississippi was 
 known under the general name of the North-west Territory. 
 The right to it under the old charters was utterly confused. 
 Massachusetts, as the reader knows, had a claim to the South 
 Sea, as wide, at least, as the longer part of Massachusetts is 
 to-day; Virginia had a similar claim; and hardly less than 
 hers was the claim of New York and that of Connecticut. 
 All these, however, had been ceded to the United States by 
 acts of patriotism and self-devotion on the parts of the States 
 which held them. 
 
 When the Revolutionary War was at an end, and the atten- 
 tion of the nation could be turned to this region, a great im- 
 pulse for emigration across the Alleghanies set in. Although 
 the State of Kentucky had been by this time so thickly pop- 
 ulated that it was seeking admission to the Union, the rich 
 and fertile country between the Ohio and the Great Lakes 
 was still unsettled. Congress was busy with schemes for its 
 government, but it had not yet been settled. There were 
 some few garrisoned forts in the country. Near the old 
 French Fort Venango, on French Creek, was Fort Franklin. 
 Fort Vincennes was on the Wabash. Fort Steuben was near 
 the Ohio River, opposite the present site of Louisville. 
 There were not a few settlers on the banks of the Ohio, but 
 the interior was still unoccupied by white men. 
 
MARIETTA. 221 
 
 In 1785 Benjamin Tupper returned to New England from 
 a surveying trip in the Ohio with his mind full of the splen- 
 did country which he had seen. Conferring with his friend 
 Rufus Putnam, the two put before the public the scheme of 
 the Ohio Company. In the early part of 1786 a notice ap- 
 peared in certain of the Massachusetts newspapers calling 
 the attention of old soldiers of the war, and such others as 
 might be able to profit by the land ordinances of Congress, to 
 a scheme for settling the Ohio country. A meeting was called 
 of delegates from all over the State, who adopted a plan for 
 the raising of money for the purchase of western land and 
 the settlement thereof. One million dollars were to be raised 
 in thousand-dollar shares within the year. The next year, a 
 sufficient sum being raised, the directors met to consider 
 plans. A memorial had been presented to Congress for the 
 purchase of lands, and now Manasseh Cutler was sent to 
 New York to further the bargain. 
 
 Congress was by no means indisposed to accede to the de- 
 sires of the company. It desired to have the western lands 
 settled, and was particularly desirous that those lands should 
 be settled by a hardy set of veterans, and it was also pleased 
 at finding something to occupy the disbanded army. Yet 
 there were difficulties in the way. But Cutler seems to have 
 been skillful in negotiation, as he was in many other respects, 
 and in October, 1787, the government sold five million acres 
 of land on the Ohio. Of this, one million and a half were for 
 the Ohio Company. The price per acre was one dollar of 
 United States certificates, worth about twelve cents. 
 
 The company immediately set vigorously to work. The \£- 
 first colony was ready to start in a month. They started from *J 
 Hartford, spent the winter in the neighborhood of Pittsburg, 
 and when the river opened they set out down the stream in 
 a flat-boat, which they named the Mayflower. They landed 
 near the confluence of the Ohio and the Muskingum. In a 
 few months they were joined by another company, under 
 Cutler. The settlement thus made was called Marietta, in 1 
 honor of the Queen of France. Shortly after this, a little 
 
222 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 farther down the river, another settlement was made, with 
 the eccentric name of Losantiville, which anyone conversant 
 with Latin, Greek, and French will easily understand means 
 " the city opposite the mouth " of the Licking River. This 
 was settled on land bought of Congress by one Symmes, 
 with whom were interested certain others. 
 
 These were the first settlements, but they were not long the 
 only ones. A strong tide of emigration began to flow in the 
 direction of the Ohio country. The Ohio Company in New 
 England sent large numbers. The private owners of tracts 
 also sent many. In the year 1788 as many as ten thousand 
 emigrants are said to have passed Marietta on their way 
 down stream. But it must be remembered that the western 
 part of New York and of Pennsylvania were at that time un- 
 settled, and that they had to be filled up, as well as the im- 
 mense tract now included in the States of Ohio, Indiana, and 
 Illinois. Even down to the close of the century, Western 
 New York and the country of Eastern Ohio was the Far 
 West. Emigration was continual. Some men passed along the 
 Mohawk Valley, by way of Albany, and settled in Western 
 New York. Others crossed the mountains to Pittsburg or 
 Wheeling, and passed the Ohio. A line of packets was started 
 in 1794 between Cincinnati and Pittsburg. The trip was made 
 in vessels heavily armed, for fear of Indians. In truth, the 
 redskins had kept the Ohio settlements pretty closely to the 
 river. But after Wayne's expedition had struck terror among 
 the tribes, colonization became more rapid. The population 
 increased rapidly. In 1790 there were in the country between 
 the Ohio and the Great Lakes about five thousand inhabi- 
 tants, all told. In 1800 there were fifty-one thousand. In 
 Kentucky the increase had also been great. The first census 
 gave seventy-three thousand, the second three times as many. 
 
 Provision had been made by Congress in the year 1787 for 
 the government of the public lands. There had been many 
 plans submitted especially for this large region. One of 
 them contemplated the erection of seventeen States out of 
 the country to the north and west of the Ohio and east of the 
 
WESTERN STATES. 223 
 
 Mississippi. Another suggested various names for the pro- 
 posed States. Sylvania, Chersonesus, Meopotamia, Sara- 
 toga, Assenisippia, and others of like nature, would have 
 rendered the Central States and their capitals a harder lesson 
 for the schoolboy than it is now. The measures passed by 
 Congress in 1787 provided for the formation of Territories by 
 the United States and for their government. When any Ter- 
 ritory reached sixty thousand in number it might be admitted 
 to the Union. In 1787, by the North-west Ordinance, the 
 whole of this country was formed into the North-west Terri- 
 tory, and, by a special provision, slavery was forever excluded 
 from its limits. Ohio was named as a separate Territory in 
 1800, and the government or Territory of Indiana formed in 
 the same year. In 1805 the Territory of Michigan was formed 
 and in 1809 that of Illinois. In 1816 Indiana became a 
 State, Illinois in 1818, and Michigan in 1836. The present 
 State of Ohio was admitted to the Union in 1802. 
 
224 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Valley of the Mississippi and Texas. 
 
 Discovery of the Great West — Robert Cavalier de la Salle — Lemoyne 
 dTberville — The French Possess Louisiana — Financial Schemes of 
 John Law— Settlement of New Orleans — French and Indian Troubles 
 — Massacre of the French by the Natchez Tribe — The French and 
 the Choctaws defeat the Natchez — Bienville appointed Governor of 
 New Orleans— End of French and Indian War — France deprived of 
 her American Possessions, including Canada and Florida — Spain ac- 
 quires Louisiana — Opposition to Spanish Rule by the Inhabitants 
 — Order Finally Restored and Spanish Government Established — Im- 
 portance of Navigation on the Mississippi — Objects of First Settlers — 
 Spanish Annoyances — The Confederacy is powerless — Intrigues of 
 Spain and England — Spanish Governors— Adams's plans — Miranda — 
 Hamilton — Wilkinson — Napoleon's plans— Philip Nolan — Texas. 
 
 THE French were the first Europeans to discover the 
 Great West. By their explorers was the Mississippi 
 discovered in its upper waters, and by their explorers was it 
 followed through the whole length of its mighty course. By 
 the French were the first settlements planted on the great 
 lakes and on the great rivers of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mich- 
 igan, and Wisconsin, as well as within the boundaries of all 
 those States from north to south which border on the Missis- 
 sippi. 
 
 An English writer, of the end of the seventeenth century, 
 claims that the Mississippi was discovered by the fur-traders 
 of Massachusetts, and that the French took their Indian 
 guides with them in the voyage of La Salle. It is certain that 
 La Salle's guides were from the province of Maine, and it is 
 difficult to say why, unless he thought they knew the way bet- 
 ter than Indians of Canadian provinces ; but no record or 
 memory of a discovery by Massachusetts men now exists in 
 that State. 
 
ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE. 22$ 
 
 It was in the year 1673 that two French priests, Marquette 
 and Joliet, with several companions and two Indian guides, 
 embarked on the Wisconsin River and floated down stream 
 toward the Mississippi. They had wandered over great parts 
 of Michigan and Wisconsin in their missionary efforts, and 
 now, with the assistance of the government at Quebec, they 
 were setting forth to discover the great river which, as they 
 supposed, would show them a short road to the Pacific Ocean. 
 The party passed down the Wisconsin, and in a week's time 
 reached the great river ; with great joy they set their sails and 
 took their way downward. They passed by the mouth of 
 the Missouri and then the Ohio, and finally, having reached a 
 point opposite the Arkansas River, they turned back and made 
 their way home. They had satisfied themselves that the great 
 river flowed not into the Gulf of California but into the Gulf 
 of Mexico, and they feared that they should fall into the 
 hands of Spainards, whereby the fruits of their expedition 
 might be lost. Marquette died on the journey home, and 
 was buried in Michigan, near the river which now bears his 
 name. 
 
 The work thus begun was taken in hand by a man fit to 
 accomplish it. Robert Cavalier de la Salle was a man who 
 looked to the west for his fortune. In the year 1677 he set 
 forth on an expedition which resulted in nothing more than 
 an exploration of the Illinois country, though Father Henne- 
 pin, who started with him, affirms that he himself, with another, 
 sailed down the Mississippi to its mouth. As a matter of fact, 
 it is generally agreed that Hennepin sailed up the river as far 
 as the falls of St. Anthony, where he was taken prisoner by 
 the Sioux. But La Salle's second expedition was more suc- 
 cessful. They made their way up the Chicago River, and so 
 across to the Illinois and then down the Mississippi. On the 
 6th of April, 1682, they reached the mouths of the Mississippi. 
 On the next day La Salle explored the south-west passage to 
 the sea, and on the 9th he planted a column and a cross, with 
 the arms of France displayed, and formally took possession, in 
 
 the name of Louis XIV., of the whole basin of the river which 
 10* 
 
; 
 
 226 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 he had opened to the world. This included the country of 
 the Mississippi and of all its tributaries from the Ohio country 
 on the east to the lands drained by the Missouri on the west. 
 On this discovery rested the claim of France to Louisiana, as 
 the new province was called, and it has been practically re- 
 spected to this day. It is on this claim that the United States 
 to-day holds Louisiana, and all the country north of Texas 
 lying between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 The expedition returned by the way it had come, and La 
 Salle sailed for France to make interest for the colonization 
 of the new region. It lay in his mind to begin at the other 
 end, and accordingly, in 1684, with a squadron of four ves- 
 sels, he sailed for the Gulf of Mexico to found a colony on the 
 river which he had discovered. The colony was well equip- 
 ped and provided for. But through the imperfect calculations 
 of that day he passed the mouth of the Mississippi, and did 
 not discover his error until he had gone so far beyond if that 
 the naval officer who commanded the ships refused to return 
 to it. The settlement was therfore made within the limits of 
 the present State of Texas, in Matagorda Bay. Beaujeu, with 
 the ships, sailed away and left the colony. He subsequently 
 spread such reports in regard to it that the aid which had 
 been promised was not sent. Left to itself, the colony fared 
 but ill. La Salle made many expeditions to find the fatal river. 
 Finally, things being in a deplorable state, he determined to 
 march across the continent to Canada to obtain some assist- 
 ance for his colony. He started forth with about twenty 
 men. On the way quarrels arose among his followers. La 
 Salle himself was shot down and killed, and the expedition 
 was broken up. Some of them found their way to the Mis- 
 sissippi and then to Canada. But what became of the colony 
 is unknown. It was fifteen years before another attempt was 
 made. The only French settlement was a cottage at the 
 mouth of the Arkansas. 
 
 After the peace of Ryswick, Lemoyne dTberville, a Canadian 
 nobleman in the French naval service, received the charge 
 of an expedition planned by Louis XIV. to colonize the new 
 
JOHN LAW. 227 
 
 province. Before they reached America, Spain had already 
 settled at Pensacola, which thus became part of Florida. But 
 d'Iberville, with his, brother, known as Bienville, sailed on 
 farther, and made a settlement on the island of Biloxi, in Mo- 
 bile Bay, in the year 1699. Shortly after, a second post was 
 settled on the Mississippi, some thirty or forty miles below the 
 site of New Orleans. There was permanent possession taken 
 by France of the Territory of Louisiana. 
 
 The claims of the English to the region were disputed, and 
 France and Spain being at that time in alliance against the 
 rest of Europe, the French in Louisiana were assisted upon 
 occasion by the Spaniards in Mexico and Florida. They 
 opened communication with Canada, and are said to have 
 brought copper from the Lake Superior region. The brothers 
 d'Iberville and Bienville exercised the chief power in the lit- 
 tle settlement, which for the first fifteen years, probably, had 
 never more than five hundred inhabitants, white and black, 
 soldiers and all. With the end of the war of the Spanish Suc- 
 cession more interest was taken by France in her new colony; 
 but little came from it more than the appointment of officers 
 who quarreled with Bienville. He inherited the influence 
 of his brother who had died some years before. But in 1707, 
 the colony being made over to the "Western Company," 
 under John Law, Bienville was himself made governor-gen- 
 eral of Louisiana. 
 
 John Law, the son of a rich goldsmith of Edinburgh, was 
 well advanced in life when, in 17 16, he proposed his financial 
 schemes to the Regent d'Orleans, who was now in power after 
 the death of Louis XIV. Law had received a good education, 
 learned a good deal of gambling, killed a man in a duel, and 
 had escaped his country, when, about 1698, he found himself 
 in Amsterdam, where he employed his time in the study of 
 banking. Here he conceived certain financial theories which 
 he successively propounded in Scotland, France, Italy, and 
 Germany, but without any success. But in 17 16, as we have 
 said, he propounded his plans in France again, and this time 
 with success. He was allowed to establish a private bank 
 
228 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 to discount notes and issue notes redeemable in coin. He 
 proved successful, and was allowed to enlarge his operations. 
 The notes were made legal tender, and were a great conve- 
 nience to the nation at that time, at the last gasp, as far as 
 public credit was concerned — such was its suffering from the 
 extravagant reign of Louis XIV. One feature in Law's 
 scheme was the management of monopolies. He now be- 
 came the successor to Crozat, to whom the monopoly of the 
 Mississippi trade had been granted. Law was allowed to 
 form a company which should have a monopoly of the beaver 
 trade of Canada and the whole commerce of Louisiana. A 
 company was at once formed, which issued more bonds, and 
 the work of colonization was pressed with much vigor and 
 expense but with little enough result. Bienville, as we have 
 said, was appointed governor, and was bidden to find a good 
 and suitable spot for the capital. The new town was named 
 New Orleans, in honor of the Regent, who was the patron of 
 the Mississippi Company. Law's schemes became more and 
 mord popular, more and more privileges and monopolies 
 were granted, more and more paper was issued, until finally, 
 at the very height of speculation, the company became bank- 
 rupt without having accomplished any thing. Louisiana was 
 restored to the king by the Mississippi Company, hardly any 
 better off than it had been before such high hopes had been 
 formed and so much money wasted. The city of New Or- 
 leans was hardly any thing more than a collection of tents 
 and huts, where one or two hundred miserable creatures man- 
 aged to exist. The other settlements were as badly off. 
 Large sums of money had been lavished to almost no pur- 
 pose. But a beginning had been made. Before the charter 
 of the Mississippi Company had been given up the colony 
 had entered upon its experience of Indian wars. Up the 
 river was the tribe of Natchez Indians, among whom the 
 French had established a trading station, the most prosperous 
 on the river. Unlike the usual custom of the French in 
 their dealings with the native tribes, Chopart, the comman- 
 dant, was foolish enough to demand, as a plantation for him- 
 
BIENVILLE S CAMPAIGN. 22Q 
 
 self, the land whereon stood the great village of the Natchez. 
 The Indians were deeply outraged. They planned with the 
 Choctaws, near New Orleans, to massacre all the French in 
 the land. The respective chiefs exchanged bundles of sticks 
 of equal number. One stick was to be burnt each day, and 
 when all were gone the attack was to be made. One day the 
 son of the Natchez chief, observing his father burning the 
 stick, laid hold of the bundle and burned two of those which 
 were left. Therefore the Natchez made the attack two days 
 before the appointed time. Their attack was successful. 
 Two hundred of the French were killed, and their women 
 and children made prisoners. 
 
 Down the river, Perier, the governor of New Orleans, sus- 
 pecting some mischief, had managed to put off the Choctaws 
 for a few days, by which time news of the Natchez massacre 
 came down the river and incensed the Choctaws, who were 
 indignant at the breaking of the solemn treaty. Perier found 
 little difficulty in persuading them to join him in an attack 
 on the Natchez. On January 28, 1730, while the Natchez 
 were sleeping off the effects of a festivity, the Choctaws broke 
 in upon them and took away their prisoners. The French 
 coming up shortly, the Natchez were attacked and worsted. 
 Many were taken prisoners and sold into slavery. Many 
 found refuge among other and distant tribes. The descend- 
 ants of them live with the Creek nation to this day. 
 
 Bienville, who had returned to Europe, was again appointed 
 governor by the king, and arrived in New Orleans a little 
 more than a year after the Natchez affair. He, too, became 
 involved in an Indian war, which turned out disastrously. 
 He made demands on the Chickasaw Indians, the most war- 
 like of the Southern tribes, and receiving an unfavorable 
 answer, determined on an expedition against them. D'Arta- 
 quette, who commanded at Caskaskia, far up the river, was 
 ordered to join him. The expedition failed. The two forces 
 did not meet. D'Artaquette, urged on by his Indian allies, 
 made an attack alone, and was defeated. He himself and 
 almost fifty Frenchmen were captured and burned to death. 
 
230 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Bienville's effort was also unsuccessful, but he and his force 
 managed to escape with their lives after two unavailing at- 
 tacks on the Chickasaw fort. 
 
 Bienville was succeeded by Vaudreuil, who remained in 
 the colony eight years, after which he was transferred to 
 Canada, where he worked not wholly in harmony with Mont- 
 calm in the " French and Indian War." Under his adminis- 
 tration there is not much to chronicle, except the gradual 
 increase in population, and gradual advance in cultivation of 
 the soil and of commerce. In 1745 New Orleans had in- 
 creased to a population of eight hundred male white settlers. 
 There were about three hundred blacks and two hundred 
 soldiers. The town was well laid out around the Place 
 d'Armes, now known as Jackson Square, with streets running 
 at right angles. It was surrounded by a stockade. Some 
 few houses at this time were of brick, but the larger number 
 were of wood. Farther up the river there were quite a num- 
 ber of settlers in Illinois and Missouri, and a number of 
 blacks there as well. There were in all, counting in soldiers 
 and negroes, perhaps six thousand inhabitants at the end of 
 half a century of settlement. 
 
 By the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years' 
 War, generally called the " French and Indian War " by our 
 fathers, more changes were made in the map of America than 
 in that of Europe. France wholly deprived herself of her 
 American possessions. Canada was ceded to England. Under 
 the name, Canada, were included all the French possessions to 
 the north of the Ohio and west of the Mississippi. France 
 had already made over Louisiana to Spain in recompense for 
 Florida ceded by that country to England. Thus England 
 gained possession of all the country east of the Mississippi, 
 save a small territory east of its mouth, while Spain pos- 
 sessed all to the west. The cession was made known to the 
 inhabitants by a letter from Louis XV., dated April 21, 1764. 
 The whole colony was plunged in grief. It was felt that they 
 had been degraded, bartered like merchandise, humiliated by 
 "their sudden transformation into Spaniards or Englishmen 
 
SPAIN IN LOUISIANA. 23 1 
 
 without their consent." They resolved to make petition to 
 the king. But nothing could be done. In 1765 a letter was 
 received from Ulloa, who had been appointed by the king of 
 Spain to take possession of the town. But he did not him- 
 self arrive in New Orleans till March, 1765. When he did 
 arrive he found the people resolute against him, and could 
 accomplish nothing, and was forced to retire to the Balise. 
 It was thought possible to make Louisiana a republic. The 
 inhabitants sent another appeal to France. But there was no 
 help from that quarter. It was not French policy to retain 
 colonial property in America. In July, 1769, O'Reilly landed 
 in the country and made his way to New Orleans. A Spanish 
 fleet anchored before the city, and those who had been 
 foremost in the rebellious proceedings were arrested. After 
 two months' imprisonment they were tried and the greater 
 number condemned. Some were imprisoned, others executed. 
 The people were intimidated, and the government now passed 
 quietly into the hands of the Spaniards. 
 
 By the other transfer in the Treaty of Paris, the Floridas, 
 both east and west, passed into the hands of the English. 
 East Plorida, represented by the town of St. Augustine, had 
 been long before settled by the Spanish, and by them held 
 against all English and French attacks. We remember the 
 expedition of Oglethorpe in 1740. West Florida was held by 
 the Spanish fort at Pensacola, which had been captured by 
 Bienville with a force from Louisiana, recaptured by the 
 Spaniards, and once more taken by Bienville and destroyed. 
 But the Spaniards had returned and rebuilt the town on an 
 island in the harbor. In the Seven Years' War the declara- 
 tion of war had hardly been made before an English fleet 
 and army had seized Havana, and in the peace which ended 
 the struggle Spain was glad to exchange both the Floridas 
 against Havana. Thus the English possessions extended the 
 whole length of the Atlantic seaboard of North America. En- 
 gland gained little else than territory in this cession, for Spain 
 had only held Florida as a means of insuring her command of 
 the Gulf, and there was probably a Spanish population of less 
 
232 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 than four thousand in the whole cession. The boundary be- 
 tween West Florida and Louisiana was unsettled, but Gov- 
 ernor Johnston, appointed to West Florida, proceeded at once 
 to occupy the Forts Conde, Toulouse, Baton Rouge, and 
 Natchez, indeed all the territory on the east bank of the 
 Mississippi except New Orleans, and this claim was acceded 
 to. So soon as the American Revolution broke out, Oliver 
 Pollock, a spirited American merchant living in New Orleans, 
 made secret arrangements with the Spanish governor by which 
 he sent powder up the river to Pittsburg for the relief of 
 the army of the Congress. In 1779, Spain having declared 
 war against England, operations were at once directed by 
 the Governor of New Orleans against all the English 
 posts, and with much success. Manchac, Baton Rouge, and 
 Natchez were captured at once. Mobile was taken the next 
 year, and in 1781 a strong expedition from Havana sailed 
 for Pensacola to co-operate with Galvez, the Spanish gov- 
 ernor. The fort was besieged and captured. In the Treaty 
 of 1783 the Floridas were ceded back again to Spain. By 
 Spain they were held until 181 9, when both Floridas were 
 ceded to the United States. 
 
 The Spanish domination lasted thirty-four years. It made 
 little impression on the people, who had hated the new gov- 
 ernment, and retained their nationality doggedly under for- 
 eign rule. The visitor to New Orleans will notice on each side 
 of the French cathedral on Jackson Square, a large build- 
 ing covered with stucco. They were the Spanish government 
 buildings. Farther along, without the boundaries of the old 
 French town, is the Calabosa, or slaves' jail, also a Spanish 
 building. 
 
 But although the people did not at once accommodate 
 themselves to the Spanish rule, they did not, after the first 
 outbreak, make any serious disturbance. Even O'Reilly, 
 whose first proceedings were so severe, was not utterly hate- 
 ful to them. He stayed but a year, and was succeeded by 
 Unzaga. 
 
 One Spanish governor after another came and went, and 
 
NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 233 
 
 the town of New Orleans grew and prospered, and the prov- 
 ince of Louisiana also. The soil gave them good return for 
 their labor, and the great river was a great source of wealth, 
 for, as time went on, and the country to the north became 
 more and more settled, the navigation of the Mississippi be- 
 came of more and more importance, and the power which 
 controlled it, as Spain did by the city of New Orleans, could 
 prescribe what conditions she pleased. 
 
 As time went on, and Kentucky and Tennessee became 
 more and more thickly settled, and as the tide of emigration 
 began to flow over the north-west territory, the navigation of 
 the Mississippi became more and more a matter of vital im- 
 portance. To New England, a seafaring country, the New- 
 foundland fisheries seemed of more account, and the other 
 States to the east of the Alleghanies, having each their own 
 affairs, could not feel the importance of the Mississippi ques- 
 tion as keenly as did the frontiersmen. Therefore, when the 
 free navigation of the Mississippi became a question for ne- 
 gotiation with Spain after the conclusion of peace with En- 
 gland, the western settlers looked with jealousy at the delays 
 in negotiation, and turned their eyes to the Spanish provinces 
 down the river. They had come for fertile lands, in the 
 thought of making for themselves productive farms and 
 happy homes. As they gained these farms and homes, and 
 produced, by their prosperous work, crops which they wished 
 to sell, their outlet to the world of commerce became impor- 
 tant to them. Furs, wheat, Indian corn or tobacco could 
 not be hauled across the mountains. If such products were 
 to be sold, they must go down the great rivers of Ohio, Ken- 
 tucky and Tennessee to the Mississippi and so find the pur- 
 chasers of the world. 
 
 So long as the alliance existed between the insurgent col- 
 onies, France and Spain, all had been harmony. One and 
 another expedition against the English were fitted out, with 
 the Spanish assistance, while the war lasted. 
 
 But with the return of peace the Spanish authorities 
 asserted the advantage which their position gave them. The 
 
234 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 new settlers of the territory on the Ohio built ships from the 
 pine timber which they found there, and sent them, ready for 
 sea, down the Mississippi. But when they arrived in New Or- 
 leans they could not pass if the Spanish governor refused per- 
 mission. On the southern side of the Ohio the planters already 
 raised tobacco, which would have been in large demand in 
 Europe. But this tobacco could not pass New Orleans with- 
 out paying tribute to the Spanish authorities, if, indeed, they 
 did not confiscate it, or insist on purchasing it at their own 
 price, on account of the King of Spain. 
 
 Half Eastern Europe assents to-day to such an arrange- 
 ment, by which the Sultan of Turkey may do as he chooses 
 with the goods or the ships which seek the ocean from the 
 Danube or the Don, two of the largest rivers of Europe. But, 
 from the first, such a claim on the part of Spain was dis- 
 gusting to the settlers in the valley of the Mississippi. From 
 the first moment of the peace, for twenty years of doubtful 
 confusion, these settlers had to face the question how they 
 should solve so great a difficulty. 
 
 The government established by the old Confederacy was 
 powerless to help them. The stronger administration of 
 Washington saw the difficulty, and attempted to meet it with 
 some success. But the King of Spain and his ministers 
 understood very well that they held the lion's position ; and 
 at best, Spanish diplomacy is always slow. The settlers saw 
 little prospect of help by peaceful means. On the other 
 hand, agents of the King of Spain were not slow to lay before 
 them the advantages which they would obtain if they gave 
 up their fanciful allegiance to America, which could do noth- 
 ing to help them, and become rather the favored subjects of 
 the king who owned half the world, and who, in this affair, 
 controlled their access to the whole of it. 
 
 On the other side, these frontiersmen were approached by 
 other tempters. Sir Guy Carleton, whom we saw last as he 
 bade good-bye to Washington at New York, was now, as Lord 
 Dorchester, the English Governor of Canada. He was an 
 active and intelligent ruler, and kept himself well informed 
 
JAMES WILKINSON. 235 
 
 as to the country from which he had, very tardily, withdrawn 
 the English garrisons. He, on his side, as the Spanish king 
 on his, approached the influential men of the new settlements 
 by agents who explained to them the advantages of an 
 English connection. It was clear enough that the St. Law- 
 rance was already under the control of King George. The 
 chances of war might soon give to his navy the command of 
 the mouth of the Mississippi. On his side, also, men asked 
 the emigrants in the great valley to consider the question, of 
 what worth was their sentimental enthusiasm for the Atlantic 
 States, which neglected or forgot them. 
 
 Unfortunately for the American cause, for a period which 
 covered much of the twenty years of such controversy James 
 Wilkinson was an important representative of the Federal 
 government. He was for many years the officer highest in 
 command of what was called the u Legion of the West," 
 which was that detachment of the army which held the posts 
 west of the Alleghanies. Before this time he had been a 
 planter in Kentucky, having gone there, as Greene had gone 
 to Georgia, Pickering to Pennsylvania, and Knox to Maine, 
 to seek new fortunes, at the end of the war. As early as 1787, 
 Wilkinson had sent tobacco down the river to Orleans. 
 Even in his early adventures there his neighbors suspected 
 that he had received some special favors from the Spanish 
 Government. After he commanded the American army, he 
 was once and again tried by court-martial, under similar sus- 
 picions ; but he succeeded in obtaining acquittals. Only in 
 the last generation has an accident revealed the truth that 
 for several years he received a regular payment from the 
 Spanish Crown, while he affected to be a loyal American 
 citizen. 
 
 The Spanish government meanwhile confided the abso- 
 lute charge of the vast region known as Louisiana, to mili- 
 tary officers, who were hampered by no restrictions but the 
 orders, not always consistent, which they received from home. 
 Their dealings with the Americans of the valley above them, 
 were wayward, and to the last degree annoying. Sometimes 
 
 ? 
 
b 
 
 236 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 they may have had an excuse in orders from Spain; more 
 often they seemed to have acted from panic fear of the 
 u Yankees," as they called all the settlers, or from the mere 
 willfulness of arbitrary power. Sudden changes in the reg- 
 ulations were made, for which no skill could prepare. Seiz- 
 ures of property, with no reasonable cause, insulted and 
 sometimes ruined the men who had sent it. Once and 
 again were combinations made of these hardy backwoods- 
 men, who had held their own against all other enemies, and 
 who were determined to sweep the whole Spanish crew into 
 the sea. The fortifications of Orleans were contemptible. 
 Its garrison was small. And there can be little doubt that 
 any raid, well led, from the American settlers above, 
 would have succeeded. Such raids were prevented largely 
 by the eager counsels which might have been called the 
 petitions of the Federal government, that the settlers would 
 wait a little longer; partly by some hope that the compli- 
 cations in Europe would put a new view on affairs, and 
 partly by the terrors of the Spanish governors themselves, 
 who would make an unexpected concession as readily as they 
 made an unexpected demand, and sometimes bought a truce 
 where they had themselves incurred the danger of war. 
 
 When, in 1797, the foreign relations of the country made 
 war with France imminent, John Adams and his cabinet 
 determined to take the occasion of such war to settle the 
 Spanish complication also. General Miranda, who had 
 already begun the movement which ended in the indepen- 
 dence of the Spanish colonies on the north of South Amer- 
 ica, appeared in Philadelphia, as he had done in England, 
 to interest the government in measures for the assistance 
 of his insurgent compatriots. General Hamilton, who was 
 to hold high command in the American army, conferred 
 with him, and corresponded with Wilkinson in the West, his 
 treachery, of course, not being then suspected. A plan was 
 agreed upon by which a strong body of American troops 
 should sail down the river from Cincinnati. In the enlist- 
 ment of the new army several regiments of recruits were 
 
PHILIP NOLAN. 237 
 
 enlisted at once in Cincinnati, and were drilled there for a 
 war which nominally threatened France, but which in fact 
 would have concerned Spain. 
 
 All such speculations were changed by the accession of 
 Napoleon to power. He became the arbiter of the destinies 
 of the valley of the Mississippi, as he afterward made him- 
 self the arbiter of the destinies of Europe. He brushed 
 away the complications which threatened war between Amer- 
 ica and France. No one in America ventured to prepare 
 an army for the sake of attacking Spain, and for the 
 moment the hopes of the backwoodsmen were disappointed. 
 The recruits at Cincinnati were dismissed, and the expedi- 
 tion against Orleans was abandoned. 
 
 It was in this period of uncertainty that a young Kentuck- 
 ian, named Philip Nolan, obtained some knowledge of Texas. 
 He was the first of a series of Americans who led adventure 
 to that State, unrivaled in its climate and resources, and 
 there he met his fate. He had been educated in Kentucky, 
 and while yet a young man had found his way to the settle- 
 ments which were opening up the American side of the Mis- 
 sissippi River at Natchez. He married a young lady of 
 American family who lived opposite Natchez, in what was 
 then Spanish territory. By one and another expedition he 
 learned of the abundance of horses which then roamed at 
 large in the forests of Texas ; and he made a contract with 
 the Spanish Government at Orleans, for supplying the garri- 
 son with horses. To execute this order the pass of the 
 Spanish governor was necessary, as Texas, though under 
 Spanish jurisdiction, was under the oversight of officers 
 appointed from Mexico. The authorities at Orleans were 
 appointed directly from the crown at Madrid. In this busi- 
 ness Nolan obtained a knowledge of Texas, and he wrote 
 to Mr. Jefferson, at his request, some information on the wild 
 horse of the plains, and other matters of scientific interest. 
 
 If Texas had boasted the fatal gift of gold, Spain would 
 have made much of such a province. As it had nothing but 
 a climate well-nigh perfect, and soil well-nigh exhaustless, 
 
238 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Spain was indifferent to it. But once and again Spain bad 
 quarreled even with France about it, jealous of as slight an 
 invasion, even, as the accidental settlement made by poor 
 La Salle, when he failed to find the Mississippi. 
 
 Spain maintained a post at San Antonio, simply to keep 
 the peaceful Indians in awe, and to discourage depredation. 
 On the prairies and through the forests of Texas they went 
 at their will. Different encroachments of the French had 
 been resisted; and when, in 1765, Louisiana also had passed 
 under Spanish rule, there were hardly seven hundred and 
 fifty persons of Spanish blood in all Texas, with perhaps as 
 many domiciliated Indians. Most of these were at Adaes 
 and San Antonio ; the rest were scattered at Nacogdoches, 
 Orquisaco, and Mound Prairies. Between San Antonio and 
 Natchez, the French settlement on the Mississippi, there 
 sprang up a trade for mutual convenience. As both prov- 
 inces, Texas and Louisiana, were under the Spanish flag, it 
 seems absurd to call the trade in any way contrabrand or 
 irregular. But in fact, the two provinces reported to differ- 
 ent departments at Madrid, and the same forms were main- 
 tained as were in force when they were under two crowns. 
 
 Nolan had been engaged in this trade, so far that he knew 
 the route from Natchez to San Antonio. He once or twice, 
 by special permit, supplied the Spanish garrison at Orleans 
 with horses caught in Texas. Nothing better illustrates the 
 folly of the colonial system of Spain, than that her rulers, 
 having horses which they needed on their own plains, should 
 place every obstacle possible between the men who caught 
 the horses, and the soldiers who wanted them for their cav- 
 alry and their cannon. On a similar expedition Nolan again 
 obtained a passport, and with five Spaniards and twelve young 
 Americans, started to catch horses, in October, 1800. Before 
 they started, the Spanish consul at Natchez complained of 
 infraction of neutrality, and Nolan was arrested by the United 
 States authorities. On examination, however, he produced 
 his passport, and was permitted to go on. Forty miles west 
 of the Mississippi they met a Spanish patrol, but these sol- 
 
NOLAN'S DEATH. 239 
 
 diers let them pass. After this, though they had many 
 interviews with Caddo and Comanche Indians, they met no 
 Spaniards until the 22d of March, when they were surprised, 
 at a point not far distant from the present town of Waco, by 
 one hundred and fifty Spaniards sent out to arrest them. 
 Their outpost was surprised in the night, and six sentinels 
 taken. The twelve Americans were asleep, and in the morn- 
 ing the Spaniards wakened them by firing on the log pen in 
 which they were. Nolan himself was killed a few minutes 
 after. The others retreated, but on the afternoon of the 
 same day surrendered, promising to return to their own 
 country and cease to come into Texas. 
 
 This treaty was, however, soon broken by the Spaniards. 
 The Americans, as the Mexicans call the men of the 
 United States, were put in irons, and taken first to San 
 Antonio, and then to Chihuahua. Here they remained until 
 1808, when, after years of correspondence, a final order 
 was obtained from Madrid as to their fate. The order was 
 given that every fifth man should be shot, the choice to be 
 made by lot. There were nine left, and the order was so 
 mercifully interpreted that but one was killed. The victim 
 was shot in the presence of the others. Of these, five were 
 taken to Mexico in irons. 
 
 Such was the treatment which the Spanish court measured 
 out to men who were hunting in their own territory, with a 
 pass from one of their own officers. It is not wonderful 
 that Bean, the commander of these prisoners, became a pa- 
 triot officer afterward in the Mexican revolution. 
 
 To complete the story of these unfortunate men we have 
 anticipated the course of events in the country from which 
 they were thus exiled. While they were prisoners in Texas 
 the whole province of Louisiana had passed under the con- 
 trol of the United States. 
 
 The accession of Napoleon to power in Europe brought a 
 short truce, known as the Peace of Amiens, into the European 
 war. As early as October, in 1800, the weak government of 
 Spain had been compelled to give Louisiana back to France 
 
 -£ 
 
240 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 by a secret treaty. This was only publicly acknowledged, 
 however, in 1802. When, in 1803, Napoleon found that war 
 was again inevitable, he sent for the American envoys in Paris 
 and offered to them, at a low price, the whole territory. They 
 had instructions to buy Orleans and the mouth of the river. 
 Napoleon offered them the whole. They were amazed, and 
 well they might have been, at the grandeur of the offer. 
 There was no time to obtain orders from home. So soon as 
 war was declared England could and would seize the mouth 
 of the river. They made the great purchase, assuming the 
 responsibility. For fifteen millions of dollars Napoleon sold 
 them, not Orleans only, as they asked, but the empire between 
 the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi, as far to the north- 
 ward as the Mississippi flowed. If France had any rights to 
 Texas, as the United States afterward claimed, he sold them. 
 If Louisiana could be made to extend beyond the Rocky 
 Mountains to the sea, he sold this right also. 
 
 Robert Livingston, one of the wisest of our statesmen, was 
 in Paris, and concluded the great negotiation which enables 
 the United States to-day to send food over the world. So 
 little did he know the greatness of what he did, that he wrote 
 home : "I have told them that we should not send a settler 
 across the Mississippi for one hundred years." This was in 
 1803. He encouraged Mr. Jefferson, whose timidity he feared, 
 by telling him that he had already arranged with buyers who 
 would leave to America, Orleans and the river's mouth, and 
 take all the rest of the purchase " off our hands" by repaying 
 the fifteen millions. 
 
 Napoleon understood what he had done, better than Liv- 
 ingston did. When Marbois, his minister, reported to him 
 that the treaty was complete, he said : 
 
 " I have given England her rival." 
 
 A war of parties, and a jealousy between East and West, 
 threw some obstacles in the way of the confirmation of the 
 treaty by which Louisiana was purchased. All the vast ter- 
 ritory west of the Mississippi was thus called. It was then 
 arranged that a State should be made of the region around 
 
LEWIS AND CLARK. 24 1 
 
 Orleans, and the French settlements. The rest was wholly 
 unsettled, excepting a few French posts and a little settle- 
 ment at New Madrid, in Missouri. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, delighted with his success, at once fitted out 
 a party of soldiers to explore the Missouri River, and find, if 
 they could, an access to the sea by the Columbia. This party 
 left St. Louis in the month of March, 1804, under Captain 
 Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark. They re- 
 turned with the news of their own success, from the Pacific 
 Ocean, in 1807. They were the first white men who are known 
 to have crossed from ocean to ocean, within the present limits 
 of the United States, from the time of the wretched Spanish 
 slaves to whose story we owe the expedition of Coronado in 
 1546, and afterward the establishment of Santa Fe. Mean- 
 while the rapid progress of emigration westward was building 
 towns which became cities, and was creating States. In 
 rapid succession Ohio and Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
 Alabama, and Mississippi were added to the Union. It was 
 now that the great invention by Fulton, of an easy and simple 
 method of propelling vessels by steam, changed all the aspects 
 of western settlement and of American history. 
 11 
 
242 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 The Federal Constitution. 
 
 Difficulties of the Confederacy.— Need of Stronger Government. — Western 
 Lands. — State Constitutions. — A Convention Called. — Federal Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 IN speaking of the development of the West we have re- 
 ferred to the government of the Federal Union, and to 
 the administrations of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. Our 
 narrative now returns to the formation of the Constitution, 
 and to the circumstances of these three " administrations." 
 
 From the time when the army disbanded, for four years, till 
 the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the country passed 
 through a critical period, difficult to describe because, from 
 the nature of the case, events went forward almost without 
 law. To merchants and men of business these were disas- 
 trous years. If their business were in different States, they 
 found in one a currency which would not pass in another. 
 Each State had its own paper issues, and some had begun to 
 coin their own money. If the dealings of merchants were 
 with Europe, they met the difficulty that the nation had 
 scarcely any commercial treaties. Each State had its own cus- 
 tom-houses, and its own rates of duties. Goods which arrived 
 at New York paid a duty different from those which arrived at 
 New London, and these again a duty different from that at 
 Newport, as this differed in turn from that at Boston. Nor 
 were the differences as to customs the only differences be- 
 tween the States. The nearer States were to each other 
 the more difficulties arose ; and it was a local question, 
 regarding the fisheries of the Potomac and Chesapeake, which 
 led to the meeting which issued the call for the Convention 
 that made the Federal Constitution of to-day. 
 
WESTERN DOMAIN. 243 
 
 Congress found it difficult to maintain a quorum of States, 
 yet no act of Congress had even a nominal authority unless a 
 majority of all the States had agreed to it. Indeed, it was 
 difficult to persuade the best men in the States to take the 
 thankless duty involved in a seat in Congress. The States 
 made their delegations smaller, for the largest delegation 
 gave but one vote. The allowances made for attendance 
 were insignificant and inefficient. As a consequence, though 
 some of the best men in the nation attended in turn as a 
 sort of patriotic duty, no man attended for a long period. 
 
 Yet Congress had in hand matters of the very first impor- 
 tance. They ill brooked delay; but, to the misfortune of the 
 country, delay was sometimes inevitable. 
 
 First of all, as it has proved, in importance, was the system 
 to be adopted in treating the immense national domain of 
 lands unsettled. The dominion of what were familiarly called 
 Western Lands had gradually been ceded to Congress by the 
 States which held them under their charters. This cession 
 was in itself an act of high patriotism which shows how the 
 national idea began to gain, in mere petty colonial or provin- 
 cial politics. The claims of the seaboard States, under their 
 charters, were in some cases in conflict with each other. 
 Massachusetts had a grant of a strip from ocean to ocean 
 as wide as her territory on the Atlantic. Connecticut had a 
 grant somewhat similar. New York had a claim vast in extent 
 and undefined. 
 
 Settlers from Virginia had already taken possession of Ken- 
 tucky, and from North Carolina men had gone into Ten- 
 nessee. However their problem of government was to be 
 solved, it was a different problem from that of the North- 
 west, as men began to call the region west of Pennsylvania 
 and north of the Ohio. The reader must remember that the 
 nation, by treaty, was bounded on the west by the Mississippi. 
 For the north-western territory different plans were proposed, 
 which finally took form in the ordinance of 1787. This or- 
 dinance, drawn by Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, included 
 an article prepared by Jefferson, in an earlier draft, and forever 
 
244 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 excluded human slavery from the territory or from the States 
 to be drawn from it. 
 
 The policy of Congress with regard to the sale of these lands 
 varied. It granted considerable tracts, as military grants, to 
 officers or soldiers of the army who were willing to take such 
 payment for their services. It was always open to proposals 
 from speculators. Congress was sadly in want of money, and 
 an offer of money from some land speculator, who could really 
 pay it, would tempt Congress to almost any sale. But Con- 
 gress and speculators were beginning to learn the lesson, which 
 the princes and statesmen of Europe learn so slowly, that land 
 is of no more value than water, unless men and women in- 
 habit it, or want it. The companies found it harder to obtain 
 settlers than to obtain land. If the government could have 
 protected settlers in the West against the formidable Indian 
 tribes it would have the better reason for fixing the price for 
 the land it sold to them. But the army which Congress had 
 kept after the treaty of peace was but a handful of men, and 
 it was clear enough that the settlers in the North-west must 
 rely chiefly on their own protection against savages, as the 
 settlers in Kentucky had done before them. 
 
 Companies were formed of men who moved together and 
 supported each other. Manasseh Cutler, a minister of Mas- 
 sachusetts, formed such a company, and obtained a grant in 
 south-eastern Ohio, where they planted the settlement of Mari- 
 etta, named in honor of Marie Antoinette. The State of 
 Connecticut had reserved a considerable tract on Lake Erie, 
 which is still known as the " Western Reserve." This region 
 was mostly filled by men and women from Connecticut. The 
 movement westward attracted men in every eastern State, and 
 while the leaders in society, almost without exception, frowned 
 on the emigration, and even prophesied ruin to the country 
 from its effect on the Atlantic States, the people of America, 
 which has always been wiser than its governors, understood the 
 present and the future, and used the virgin soil of the West just 
 so far as it was useful to it. The settlers asked no help; they 
 prepared to defend themselves; and so new States were created. 
 
EMIGRATION. 245 
 
 Massachusetts made liberal grants in Maine to her soldiers. 
 The counties of Knox and Lincoln retain the names of the 
 generals who established themselves there, with some follow- 
 ing of the men they had commanded. The fertile valleys of 
 Vermont, which established itself as a State, received enthu- 
 siastic settlers from the older States of New England. New 
 York made large grants to foreign purchasers within her west- 
 ern domains, themselves as large as many a European princi- 
 pality. In Pennsylvania the climate was tempting to men 
 from Europe, and that State, more than any other, still pre- 
 serves the traditions of new Outopias, founded by one and 
 another school of religion or politics, each of which was to 
 be an example of reconstructed society. Such a dream, 
 now attempted, was the " pantisocracy" which Coleridge and 
 Southey proposed on the Susquehanna, and in such colonies 
 Talleyrand, and Volney, and Chateaubriand had some of 
 their early experiences. General Pickering took his family 
 from Massachusetts to Wyoming in a colony which was to 
 build up the deserted ruins left by the massacre commanded 
 by Butler. 
 
 In Virginia, Washington himself used his great influence in 
 improving the water communication with the valley of the 
 Ohio. He attempted again the enterprises, of which his boy- 
 hood saw the beginning, for introducing emigration beyond 
 the Alleghany Mountains. In his large correspondence with 
 Europe, the subject of European emigration was often alluded 
 to. But though several religious communities and many men 
 of education crossed the ocean to America, led largely by the 
 attractions of the new dreams of a new social order, there 
 was no such wave of westward emigration as has distinguished 
 the last forty years. That belonged to commercial conditions 
 which did not yet exist. From North Carolina, settlers had 
 already crossed the mountain, who formed the State, already 
 independent, which we call Tennessee. Its early history has 
 been told already in another chapter. 
 
 The rapid development of the physical resources of the 
 country was seriously arrested by the inability of the Conti- 
 
246 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 nental Congress to carry out any national policy. It at- 
 tempted to cope with the financial difficulty, by persuading 
 the maritime States to agree on one impost, the same for all. 
 But, first, Congress found it hard to agree itself; second, it 
 found itself impotent to persuade. Meanwhile, however, men 
 of affairs, men who had traveled abroad, and men who had 
 served in the army, knew that these thirteen States, almost at 
 war with each other in their jarring policies, might be a na- 
 tion. Such men knew that the time might come when the 
 " United States" should be spoken of in the singular number. 
 Every failure in the unsystematic course of four years of na- 
 tional conflict was dwelt on by such men, and, at the end 
 of four wretched years, even the large body of the people, 
 who at first, perhaps, were indifferent to the hopes for a na- 
 tional unity, felt that some effort for it must be made. 
 
 It is now interesting to see that the first practical measure 
 in this direction was led by Washington himself. The diffi- 
 culties which have been alluded to, as to the navigation and 
 fisheries of the Potomac and the Chesapeake, became so seri- 
 ous as to require the attention of the governments of the 
 States adjoining those waters. A commission was appointed 
 by Virginia to meet a similar commission from Maryland. 
 Of this commission Washington was the chief. Indeed, in 
 his own home, at Mt. Vernon, he was almost the eye-witness 
 of the controversies involved. This commission, fortunately 
 for the United States and for mankind, did not satisfy itself 
 with the attempt to adjust a local quarrel. Clearly enough, 
 indeed, the local quarrel could not be adjusted without refer- 
 ence to the rights of navigators and fishermen from other 
 States. Before its adjournment it recommended a convention 
 of all the States, to consider the possibilities and the methods 
 of a closer union and of a stronger national government. 
 Washington, and other men who saw the need of such a gov- 
 ernment, used all their power in their own and other States 
 to secure such a convention. They obtained, with some 
 difficulty, a vote of the Congress of the Confederation, al- 
 ready dying, to give to it such poor authority as that body 
 
STATE GOVERNMENTS. 247 
 
 had. And at last, delegates from twelve States, more than the 
 number proposed in the call to give validity to its proceed- 
 ings, met in Philadelphia on the 25th of May, 1787. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone says: " The American Constitution is, so 
 far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a 
 given time by the brain and purpose of man." 
 
 Before we record its work, however, it will be necessary to 
 state briefly what progress the different States had made in 
 the work of establishing governments for themselves. 
 
 At the instance of Massachusetts, the Continental Congress, 
 even before the Declaration of Independence, had recom- 
 mended and authorized the several colonies to take steps for 
 the proper ordering of their civil government. The Massa- 
 chusetts statesmen were very desirous that this recommenda- 
 tion should be as strong as possible ; that is, that it should 
 claim as much power as Congress would venture to claim. 
 For they were very desirous that the people of a State should 
 not feel, whenever uneasy, that they could unmake the gov- 
 ernment they had made. 
 
 Acting under this request or authority, the several States, 
 so soon as their royal governors fled from them, established 
 constitutions of government generally after one model. A 
 short letter written by John Adams, in 1776, furnished the 
 principles of almost all these constitutions, and they have 
 served as the basis of all the American constitutions ever 
 since ; and, indeed, of the written constitutions of Spanish 
 America and of Europe, made since then. Resting on the 
 distinctions carefully drawn by Montesquieu, in a book then 
 recent, between the executive, the legislative and the judicial 
 authority, Mr. Adams's suggestions provided for a radical 
 and almost complete separation between the men who had in 
 hand these functions of government. So far as possible, 
 they were to be independent of each other. The men who 
 made laws were not to execute them, nor were they to try the 
 criminals who broke them. Further than this, Mr. Adams's 
 scheme provided for a division of the legislative power so 
 that it should be held by two houses. This division had for 
 
"7, 
 
 248 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 authority the well-known and successful division between the 
 House of Lords and the House of Commons in England. 
 What would be quite as important in Mr. Adams's mind, as it 
 should have been, was the successful arrangement for legis- 
 lative powers in the colony of Massachusetts Bay, and in most 
 of the other colonies, of a House of Delegates representing 
 the people, acting with a smaller council of persons more 
 closely connected with the executive. In Massachusetts this 
 council was named " at large," as we now say, with no neces- 
 sary reference to the residence of the members. It was also 
 a fit representation of the men of property of the colony. 
 
 From new-born States, most of whom had such constitu- 
 tions, the new convention met. Some of the States had varied 
 from the general type, in their constitutions. Thus in Penn- 
 sylvania, in obedience, probably, to a favorite opinion of 
 Franklin's, there was at that time but one legislative body. 
 In general, the people had had the experience for a few 
 years of their new constitutions. And in all instances, as the 
 reader knows, there had been some local government from 
 an early period in the colonial history. 
 
 All these States had exercised sovereign power. This 
 power had been conceded since 1783 ; it had been claimed 
 and generally had existed since 1776. The new Convention, 
 then, had before it two difficult tasks — first, of separating na- 
 tional powers in government from local powers, and then of 
 persuading or compelling the thirteen States, if it could, to 
 accept its theory of separation, and to concede to the central 
 government the powers needed for national administration. 
 
 It may be doubted whether the duty of the Convention was 
 thus clearly apprehended by most of the people who united 
 willingly enough in the choice of the members. But the 
 members themselves proved to understand it much better 
 than some of the leaders of opinion had feared, for the law 
 of selection had done its work. Men who did not want a 
 strong national government had not come to the Convention. 
 They had distrusted it, and, generally speaking, had kept 
 away from it. Generally speaking, the men who had come 
 
FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 249 
 
 were men who believed that there should be a nation, and 
 that that nation should have the powers of a nation. 
 
 In answering the great question which had till then never 
 been put, far less answered, "What are national duties, as 
 distinct from those of local government ? " the Convention 
 made these decisions : 
 
 The nation is to take charge of all foreign relations with 
 civilized nations or savages. 
 
 It insures peace and republican government to the con- 
 stituent States. 
 
 It regulates commerce between them, their currency and 
 their mails. 
 
 It secures equal justice between citizens of different States, 
 and each citizen has the same rights as another in all parts 
 of the nation." 
 
 For the rest, each State provides for its citizens or the citi- 
 zens of the United States within its own borders. Their rights, 
 their health, their education, their roads, their religion, are its 
 concern. No other State can interfere in its arrangements 
 for these, nor can the United States. But, by some great 
 exceptions from this theory, the Constitution provided that 
 there should be no State religion in any State and no order of 
 nobility. The people who made it had determined that the 
 governments should be republican, and they acted on the 
 principle that a religious hierarchy or a political aristocracy 
 would break up republican government. 
 
 In the Convention less difficulty was found, probably, than 
 had been feared, as to the possibility of making a strong 
 central government. Two difficulties did present themselves 
 of a most serious character. The one was the jealousy on 
 the part of the small States of the possible tyranny of the 
 larger. Men remembered that in the German empire the 
 House of Austria had arrogated all the imperial powers for 
 more than two centuries. The other was the jealousy be- 
 tween the commercial States of the north and the Southern 
 States, which were mostly agricultural. The Northern 
 States were indifferent to the institution of slavery. The 
 11* 
 
250 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Southern States conceived it necessary for their prosperity. 
 Should Negro slaves, who gave no votes, be counted as if 
 they were citizens who voted ? This question was one which 
 presented itself in every decision as to the fundamental 
 bases of the Constitution. 
 
 The decision of the first of these questions was arrived at 
 gradually, as the different sections of the Convention felt 
 their power. It continued in existence, practically, the old 
 Confederate Congress in the Senate. But each State was 
 now restricted to sending two delegates to the Senate, and 
 these delegates, if they chose, might neutralize the vote of the 
 State by voting in opposition to each other. In the election 
 of President, also, a small State was to have a larger pro- 
 portional power than a large one, for each State, however small 
 its population, had at least three electors of a President. The 
 arrangement thus made put an end, forever, to all jealousy 
 between large States and small, and none has ever appeared 
 in American politics. 
 
 The questions in regard to slavery, were adjusted by com- 
 promises which were not so fortunate. But, until the year 
 1820, they gave a sufficiently easy method of living in com- 
 mon, to admit of political action on subjects not closely 
 connected with slavery. It was agreed that in assessing na- 
 tional taxes, levied on the States by the nation, only three 
 fifths of the assessed value of Negro slaves should be taxed. 
 On the other hand, in the estimate of population for the 
 return of members of Congress, or in the choice of the 
 President, only three fifths of their number should be counted. 
 Congress was not to have power to suppress the African slave 
 trade for twenty years. This consideration was thought 
 necessary, that the newer States toward the south might re- 
 ceive a proper share of laborers. It proved of more impor- 
 tance than was supposed. 
 
 After eager, and sometimes bitter, discussions, which took 
 place in closed doors, without the presence of general spec- 
 tators, the Constitution was made public. It provided for its 
 own amendment by articles which two thirds of the legis- 
 
CONSTITUTION ADOPTED. 25 1 
 
 latures of the States approved. But it did not propose to 
 take its authority from the legislatures. A very important 
 claim in the theory of the men who made it, was, that it was 
 the work of the people of the United States. It begins with 
 the words, " We, the people of the United States." 
 
 It was to be accepted, if at all, by conventions of the peo- 
 ple in at least nine States. From September 17, 1787, when 
 the members of the Convention signed it, until late in the sum- 
 mer of 1788, was a period of great anxiety and intense in- 
 terest. In almost every State an opposition to it appeared. 
 Merely local politicians almost inevitably, from the law of 
 their being, opposed it. Pure theorists could then, as they can 
 now, find many points where it is open to attack. In differ- 
 ent States the opposition took different grounds. It may, per- 
 haps, be said, that the small States voted for it more cordially, 
 because it gave them much more than their shares, if the de- 
 cision went by a democratic appeal to numbers. In the large 
 States, as it happened, of New York, Massachusetts, Penn- 
 sylvania and Virginia, the opposition was most bitter. This 
 was, perhaps, from the underlying feeling in these States each 
 that it could stand by itself. A happy suggestion in Massa- 
 chusetts gave an excuse for the more moderate of the oppo- 
 sition to acquiesce in its trial, so to speak, as an experiment. 
 It was suggested that ten amendments, to be accepted as soon 
 as possible, should be drawn, which might serve as a sort of 
 " Bill of Rights," guarding the endangered powers of the 
 States. These ten amendments were drawn, and, as proposed, 
 were adopted, and have since proved not unimportant parts of 
 the instrument. With these amendments, which underwent 
 a new handling in Virginia, it was assented to in these two 
 States, then the largest in the nation. One State more was 
 necessary. The friends of union in the South rejoiced when 
 they heard that North Carolina had made the Union a cer- 
 tainty. In the North a like joy was felt at the accession of 
 New Hampshire, while the decision of North Carolina was 
 not known. The news from the North met that from the 
 South in Baltimore. With great joy the acceptance of the 
 
252 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Constitution, which was the real birth of the nation, was 
 made sure. John Adams, who was in England when it was 
 made, wrote to an English friend when it was accepted : "We 
 have made a Constitution which Avili keep us from cutting 
 each other's throats for a few years longer." 
 
 The arrangements for the first election were made at once. 
 It took place in November, 1788. The electors, of course, 
 chose George Washington as the first President of the na- 
 tion. For the Vice-Presidency, their votes were divided. 
 
 At that time no popular nominations were formally made 
 for these posts. There was a certain measure of doubt on 
 whom the second choice would fall, until the electoral col- 
 leges met and made their decision. It then appeared that 
 Washington was the unanimous choice of the electors. He 
 had 69 electoral votes ; Adams had 34 ; next to him 
 was Jay, of New York, who had 9. At the election four 
 years afterward, Washington had 132 votes, and Adams, 77 ; 
 George Clinton, of New York, had 50, and Jefferson, 4. 
 
 Some form of national government was necessary, and this 
 a strong and popular /orm. But the People of America is, 
 as Mr. Garfield well said, always wiser than any one man of 
 the people. The People was working out the steps by which 
 the future fortunes of America were to be guided, without 
 the least assistance or direction from the men who supposed 
 they were the leaders of the country. Such has been the 
 great lesson of the history of the first hundred years of the 
 United States. While its people always take an intense in- 
 terest in political discussions, its real progress and prosperity 
 go forward, in a certain sense, independent of political dis- 
 cussion. They have often been thwarted by the ignorance 
 or timidity of men who had political power; but the sug- 
 gestions of advance and the real improvements have come 
 from men who are supposed to be private men, and thought 
 so themselves. 
 
WASHINGTON S CABINET. 253 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Washington's .Presidency. 
 
 Inauguration — Cabinet — First and Second Congresses — Hamilton's Plans 
 — Jefferson's and Randolph's — The War Department — St. Clair 
 and Wayne — Foreign Politics— Genet in America — England and 
 America — Jay's Treaty — Ratification of Treaties. 
 
 THE inauguration of the new President and the begin- 
 ning of the new government were fixed to take place 
 on the 4th of March, 1789, if a quorum of the new Congress 
 then assembled. It is, however, a curious illustration of the 
 indifference of the country to matters in which it now takes 
 interest so intense, that it was the end of April before a suffi- 
 cient number of the Senate and the House assembled for 
 the purposes of the formal inauguration. The inauguration 
 took place in the city of New York, where the Convention 
 had arranged that the government should go into operation. 
 Congress met immediately, and so soon as the several secre- 
 taries were appointed to the departments of War, of the 
 Treasury and of State, frequent communication between the 
 Executive and Congress began. Jefferson was at the head of 
 the Department of State, Hamilton at the head of the Treas- 
 ury, Knox was Secretary of War, and Randolph, of Virginia, 
 Attorney General. These four made the first Cabinet. It 
 was only afterward that the Department of the Navy was 
 separated from that of War, and the Department of the 
 Interior from that of State. 
 
 The first and second Congresses, those which served dur- 
 ing Washington's first term, did an amount of work for the 
 nation which it would be impossible to describe within the 
 pages of this history. First of all in its importance was the 
 funding of the national debt, which was done under the skill- 
 
254 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ful directions of Hamilton. He had shown courage and 
 resource in the field, and it is clear that, whatever fame he 
 acquired in the Cabinet, to the end of his life he looked upon 
 himself as a soldier. He had, however, been trained early 
 to mercantile affairs. He was a lawyer in good practice in 
 the city of New York ; and he brought to the administra- 
 tion of the Treasury Department certain distinct principles 
 which gave to that administration great success. " He 
 caught the drowning credit of America by the locks, and 
 dragged it into life." The plans which Hamilton made for 
 funding the debt, and for a regular income to be derived 
 from foreign customs, met at the time with terrible opposi- 
 tion, as he met with terrible obloquy. There were in New 
 York enough stock-jobbers already, willing to make money 
 on every improvement in the national credit, for men easily 
 to charge motives of fraud upon every person who voted to 
 improve the credit of the government. All the charges 
 made against such men have long since been forgotten, and 
 this is not the place to renew them. It may be remembered, 
 however, as a warning to the politicians of this day, that, to 
 establish the credit of America upon that firm basis of which 
 all Americans are so proud, every man who voted for the 
 measures which were taken had to pass through a daily fire 
 of accusations of treason. 
 
 The arrangements for the Judiciary, made under the 
 direction of Randolph and of Jefferson, have proved to be 
 equally wise. They have been enlarged often between that 
 period and this, but the execution of law, as far as it falls to 
 national tribunals, is now substantially the same as it was at 
 the beginning. 
 
 The War Department had to consider difficult questions 
 with the drawback of great jealousy on the part of the whole 
 country to any large establishment. Its first experiment was 
 singularly unsuccessful. In 1791 the condition of affairs at 
 the west was such as to make it necessary that the nation 
 should assert itself. St. Clair, who had served in the Revo- 
 lution, was sent into the valley of the Ohio at the head of a 
 
 j 
 
ANTHONY WAYNE. 255 
 
 force supposed to be sufficient to suppress the Indians. In 
 point of fact he was surprised, half his army was killed, and 
 the rest fled, St. Clair not the last of the fugitives. The 
 whole loss amounted to six hundred and seventy-seven who 
 were killed, and two hundred and seventy-one who were 
 wounded. The campaign was ended for that year. Anthony 
 Wayne was then appointed to succeed St. Clair. He was 
 the " Mad Anthony " of the Revolution who stormed Stony 
 Point so successfully. In the spring of 1794, he led a 
 second expedition with judgment and prudence, which has 
 ever since acquitted him of the charge of madness. The 
 result was a complete defeat of the Indians on the Miami, 
 which proved decisive. From that time to this those strong 
 tribes have never seriously injured the settlers among them. 
 Wayne made a treaty with them on the 7th of August, 1795, 
 and returned amid the acclamations of the people almost in 
 a triumphal entry. 
 
 Foreign politics took a much larger place in the discus- 
 sions of Congress and of the executive than is granted to 
 them in our times. The whole condition of Europe was dis- 
 orderly. The French republicans had killed their king in 
 1793, and the queen's death followed. The war with all 
 continental Europe and England followed, which wholly 
 deranged the commerce of Europe, and, almost of necessity, 
 involved neutral states in controversy. With France the 
 United States was closely bound. As the reader knows, the 
 treaties of America with France in the Revolution were 
 offensive and defensive. America was bound to sustain the 
 quarrel of France against any foreign enemy. The new 
 nation had no wish to go into the general contest which now 
 occupied the world. Of all men in America, Washington 
 was most determined that she should not be involved in such 
 confusion. On the other hand, the new government of 
 France, which was seeking and making republican alliances 
 all through Europe, was very little satisfied with an ally like 
 America, which did not come to its assistance when it was 
 in need although it had founded republican government for 
 
256 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 itself. From the cross purposes, natural enough in such a 
 condition of things, there sprang confusion and even con- 
 test. The French cruisers constantly seized American ves- 
 sels engaged in lawful trade, generally in the West Indies. 
 Once and again they insulted American cruisers which had 
 been sent out to protect American commerce. 
 
 The French sent Genet as an envoy to America, who, 
 with. the same arrogance which had characterized the envoys 
 of the French republic in Europe, addressed public assem- 
 blies in the large cities, and affected to be the adviser in 
 government of the nation to which he was commissioned. 
 The American government would not brook such imperti- 
 nence, and demanded and obtained his recall. Meanwhile, 
 every phase of the conflict between England and France was 
 reflected in the American seaboard cities. Thus the French 
 frigate Ambuscade was challenged by the English frigate 
 Boston to a naval duel off New York. She had the advan- 
 tage, and was received on her return from the battle with 
 wild enthusiasm by the populace. The waves of opinion ran 
 backward and forward. The government, which was deter- 
 mined to keep an equal hand in such contests, was now 
 abused and now high in popular favor. 
 
 With England the relations of America were quite as com- 
 plicated as those with France. The identity of language and 
 the relationships of birth naturally made the Americans the 
 customers of England for the manufactures of Europe ; and 
 the habits of a hundred and fifty years tended in the direc- 
 tion of a close commerce between the nations. But, on the 
 other hand, there were scarcely twenty miles of sea coast 
 which had not been ravaged by the English army or the 
 English navy. All the old sentimental love of home had 
 vanished, and the Englishman of that day was as thoroughly 
 hated by the American as ever was a Spaniard hated by an 
 Englishman of Hawkins's fleet. All the efforts of France 
 and of the American diplomatists in France had been 
 directed toward creating a direct trade between France and 
 the new-born States. Still England held the northern front- 
 
jay's treaty. 257 
 
 ier of America. Some treaty of commerce with England 
 was necessary. America supplied the West India colonies 
 with their food. Among the early endeavors of the govern- 
 ment, therefore, was the negotiation of a treaty of commerce 
 which should regulate the transactions of commerce between 
 the nations. 
 
 This treaty was made by John Jay, a statesmen of great 
 purity and wide intelligence. It happened to return to 
 America for ratification at the moment when the popular 
 enthusiasm in favor of France was at the highest, and when 
 the English scale happened to be very low. The question of 
 ratification became, therefore, a very bitter party question 
 between the friends of England and the friends of France. 
 The old advocates of a strong government generally took up 
 the English side, while the advocates of strong State govern- 
 ments took up the French side. It was only after a battle 
 of which our modern politics give hardly an idea that the 
 treaty, with some modifications, was ratified by the Senate. 
 Of the detail of the diplomacy in this and other treaties, 
 some account will be given in a separate chapter. 
 
 In the ratification of all the early treaties some questions 
 arose which are open questions to this day. The Constitu- 
 tion provides that treaties must be ratified by the Senate, and 
 seems to give to that body the power of ratification. But 
 the same Constitution provides that the House of Represen- 
 tatives shall originate all " money bills," meaning all pro- 
 posals for expenditure. If, then, a treaty requires any 
 expenditure, even of a small sum, may the Senate ratify it 
 without consulting the House of Representatives on the sub- ) 
 ject of that expenditure ? This question has again and 
 again arisen between the two houses of Congress. It will 
 readily be seen that though the President may call an extra 
 session of the Senate for the purpose of confirming a treaty, 
 the Senate's power of ratification might be seriously abridged. 
 
 Washington left office at a time when the extreme politi- 
 cians and the journals under their command were disposed 
 to vilify even him because he gave so little countenance to 
 
258 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 their extravagant plans. But the people of the country 
 never failed in their enthusiastic love of him. When he 
 retired, in 1797, he issued a farewell address to the American 
 nation which has always been regarded as one of the central 
 documents in the study of American politics. Its advice to 
 his American countrymen, that they should abstain from 
 entangling alliances with the powers of the Old World, was 
 founded upon the experiences of his own administration, and 
 has since been observed almost as if its suggestions were an 
 integral part of the national Constitution. 
 
 We will now turn from the limited order of the presiden- 
 tial administrations to trace the steps of progress which the 
 people of the United States made as soon as it found that 
 the national government was secure. 
 
GAINS IN PROSPERITY. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Three Steps of Progress. 
 
 Cotton Industry — Gen. Greene in Georgia — Eli Whitney — Invention of 
 the Cotton Gin — Whitney's Life — English Inventions — Maritime Suc- 
 cess — North-west Coast — Columbia River — Emigration to the West — 
 Fulton's Introduction of the Steamboat. 
 
 WE are now to review the three great steps in the pros- 
 perity of the nation in the first fifty years after its 
 creation. They were scarcely thought of by the men who 
 made the Constitution, and were but scantily provided for in 
 that instrument. But they were the direct result of the new 
 nationality, and without it each of the three would have been 
 impossible. 
 
 These steps in American history are : first, the development 
 of the industry in cotton ; second, the commercial pre-emi- 
 nence gained by the United States in the half century which 
 follows the period of the formation of the Constitution; and, 
 third, the creation of the Western States. 
 
 The first in order of these new steps in national life was 
 the astonishing development of the cotton industry. In 1794, 
 when Jay's treaty with England was made, so little cotton was 
 raised in the United States that none of the negotiators of 
 that treaty knew that any was exported. In 1843, fifty years 
 after, the cotton crop of the United States was 2,000,000 
 bales. The crop of 1885 was 5,700,000 bales. 
 
 The increase came about in this way : 
 
 At the end of the war the new State of Georgia, by way of 
 showing its gratitude to Gen. Nathaniel Greene, the victor at 
 Eutaw, gave to him a tract of land. Greene, like other gen- 
 erals of whom mention has been made already, had to begin 
 a new life when he laid down his commission ; and he ac- 
 
26o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 cepted this gift with the determination to become a citizen 
 of Georgia. He removed his family thither in 1784, and 
 established a plantation, where he himself died in 1786. In 
 the year 1792 Mrs. Greene had been visiting the North, and 
 on her return met, as a fellow-passenger in the packet, Eli 
 Whitney, a graduate of the last summer from Yale College. 
 lie was then just twenty-seven years old, and had agreed to 
 act as tutor in the family of a Georgian gentleman. When he 
 arrived in Georgia, however, he found that other arrange- 
 ments had been made, and that he was without a home. It 
 was then that he accepted an invitation from Mrs. Greene, 
 and became her guest for the rest of the winter. 
 
 A company of her friends were one day discussing the re- 
 sources of Georgia, and expressed their regret that no machine 
 had been invented which would separate cotton from its seed, 
 so that it could be shipped for the English market in compe- 
 tition with East Indian cotton, which was laboriously picked 
 by hand. Mrs. Greene said that if a machine were to be in- 
 vented, Mr. Whitney would invent it, such skill had he shown 
 in matters relating to machinery. The problem was stated 
 to him. With some difficulty, some cotton still in the boll 
 was obtained from Savannah. There was none in the neigh- 
 borhood of the plantation, and Mr. Whitney had never seen 
 any. He applied himself at once to the invention required. 
 He succeeded, and so soon, that before the summer was over 
 he had completed working models of the cotton-gin which 
 afterward bore his name. He and his companions in the 
 adventure were among the first of the inventors who claimed 
 the benefit of the patent law of the new nation. His first 
 patent was issued to him in March, i793- 
 
 Such is the brief history of a great invention, which was 
 destined to change the history of America, and, indeed, of 
 the world. It should interest young men to remember that it 
 was the invention of a young man in the first year after he 
 left college. 
 
 Whitney went to Connecticut to establish a factory, and 
 did so. It is a pity that we must add that various piratical 
 
RISE OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 261 
 
 inventors did their best to take from him the profit of his 
 great invention. Indeed, that invention itself, while it changed 
 the fortune of the country, brought very little profit to Eli 
 Whitney. The United States afterward employed him as a 
 manufacturer of muskets, but the surreptitious inventions of 
 cotton-gins borrowed from his own were such that, up till his 
 death, he received nothing from his patent until it expired 
 in the year 1807. He lived till the year 1825, when he died 
 sixty years old. At that time the cotton States produced 
 three quarters of a million bales ; at this time the production 
 is nearly seven millions of bales ; and this enormous increase 
 was all due to the invention of this machine. 
 
 During the same period the English manufacturers were 
 improving the machinery with which they worked the fiber 
 which America was producing for their hands. Every time 
 that trade with England was stopped, as by the war of 181 2, 
 American manufacturers attempted the same inventions. The 
 necessities of America for cotton cloth could not be left to 
 the accidents of blockades or the exigencies of war. At the 
 end of the War of 181 2 this industry was so largely established, 
 and it was so evidently in the interest of the cotton-growing 
 States that it should be maintained, that, with the approval 
 of Mr. Calhoun, who represented those States, a strong; pro- 
 tective duty gave assistance to the American manufacturers. 
 From that time they have been the competitors of Europe in 
 a manufacture so necessary for the comfort of the world. It 
 is said that England conquered Napoleon by the wealth which 
 she accumulated in the manufacture of cotton. This wealth 
 was largely due to the change in American agriculture which 
 we have named as the first of the three great powers which 
 were active in the creation of the United States, as we know 
 that nation to-day. 
 
 So soon as a firm national government gave opportunity 
 for safe investment in commercial enterprise, the maritime 
 adventure of the new nation increased with marvelous rapid- 
 ity. The men of New England inherit a passion for the sea 
 
262 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 from their Kentish, Danish, and Norse ancestry. Scarcely 
 were they established in Plymouth, in Massachusetts Bay, 
 and on the shores of New Hampshire and Maine, before they 
 began to build ships. They found that the timber of their 
 forests served them well for this purpose. There were no 
 better harbors in the world than those where they were settled. 
 The fisheries of the neighboring coasts provided them with 
 food and gave them an article of ready commerce. Before two 
 generations were passed the New Englanders were furnishing 
 salted fish to the Lenten days of every Catholic country in 
 Europe. They were providing the West Indies and Bahamas 
 with food which those islands did not easily furnish. They 
 brought back sugar, molasses, and the silver of their coinage. 
 Before the end of the century they had learned that they 
 could build cheaper and better ships than could be built in 
 England. De Foe, who was well acquainted with the course 
 of commerce, makes Robinson Crusoe propose, in 1694, to 
 steer for Boston harbor for repairs; and before the year 1700 
 Lord Bellomont, the governor, reported to the English gov- 
 ernment that the province of Massachusetts had more tons of 
 shipping afloat than had all Scotland and Ireland together. 
 
 The reader has seen how extensive was the privateering 
 force of these States while the war lasted. So soon as it was 
 over the enterprising men who had been obliged to satisfy 
 themselves in adventure, chiefly warlike, turned to distant 
 navigation, as well as to the commerce to which the English 
 navigation laws had confined them. 
 
 Burke had spoken at the beginning of the war with enthu- 
 siastic praise of the wealth which " they drew from both 
 oceans by their fisheries." He meant the northern and the 
 southern Atlantic. As soon as they had direct freedom of 
 trade with all the world, the merchants of Salem and Boston 
 tried the adventure of the Pacific, and pushed so far as the 
 north-west coast, then just known to men by the explorations 
 of Cooke and Clerke, Vancouver and Krusenstern. La 
 Perouse visited the same coast in 1787, at the beginning of 
 his unfortunate and mysterious voyage. 
 
EARLY TRADE. 263 
 
 In the year 1792, Captain Gray, in the ship Columbia 
 Rediviva, sailing from Boston, discovered the great river to 
 which he gave the name of Columbia, from his ship, a name 
 which it bears to this day. The voyage was one in a trade 
 which the New England merchants had devised, and which 
 they long continued with success. Vessels with hardware such 
 as savages need, and gew-gaws such as they prize, went direct 
 from New England around the Island of Terra del Fuego, or 
 through the Straits of Magellan, to the north-western coast of 
 America. Here the captains sold their wares to the Indians, 
 receiving in return the skins of those regions, which the In- 
 dians soon learned to have ready for the white men. It was 
 then an easy voyage to China, where, by a second exchange, 
 the furs produced cargoes of teas, silk, ginger, and other 
 Chinese goods, which were then brought back by the Indian 
 Ocean and the Cape of Good Hope for the supply of the 
 markets of the world. 
 
 To merchants engaged in this trade — in the older trade in 
 fish and oil — in the building of ships for sale in European 
 ports — the complications of European war soon offered 
 advantages which, even in 1783, the most sanguine did not 
 dream of. So soon as France was arrayed against the world, 
 the merchandize which she needed from abroad could scarcely 
 be brought to her in her own vessels, so great was the danger 
 of capture. Vessels of England, or her other enemies, were, 
 of course, refused entrance to her ports. When Spain was 
 allied to her, or Italy or Holland, the condition of those 
 countries was the same. The commerce of the European 
 world thus fell largely into the hands of "neutrals." Of the 
 neutral powers America was by far the largest, in a maritime 
 view, or that which had most ships and seamen. American 
 maritime commerce thus received an unexpected bounty. 
 The ship which sailed from Boston, or New York, or Balti- 
 more, perhaps never returned there. She was engaged in 
 lucrative voyages from one port of Europe to another. Thus, 
 the captain sailed, perhaps, with a cargo of tobacco for Nantes. 
 At Nantes he might take wines for Liverpool, to which port 
 
264 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 no French merchantman could go. At Liverpool he could 
 take English hardware to Italy, to whose ports no English 
 merchantman could go. From Italy he took oil to St. 
 Petersburg. From St. Petersburg he took hemp to the 
 Spanish dock-yards. Thus for year after year he might 
 continue in the European seas in what came to be known as 
 " the carrying trade." Some of his crew remained with him, 
 perhaps all. The places of those who left him were easily 
 supplied, and from time to time he remitted to the owners of 
 his ship his accounts of their joint successes, and the drafts, 
 which were the profits, which were invested in the building of 
 new vessels for the like uses. As the commerce of European 
 ports suffered more and more under the Continental War, the 
 commerce of America improved, excepting at those periods 
 which are described in another chapter, when the rulers of 
 America joined in the European complications. 
 
 The third of the great movements of the American people, 
 which it conducted for itself, without guidance or assistance 
 from the national government, was the emigration by which 
 it possessed the States then called Western, which now divide 
 the States of the Atlantic from those of the Pacific. Of this 
 emigration some account is given in another chapter of this 
 book. It can hardly be said to have been organized, though 
 sometimes a considerable party moved together. Single 
 families, single men, emigrated as they chose, when they 
 chose, and where they chose. For a generation the move- 
 ment was looked upon with doubt by the more prominent 
 politicians. But the People was wiser than its leaders. After 
 the great invention of the steamboat had been successfully 
 tried by Fulton, the value of the great western region was 
 felt by all men for the first time. 
 
FOREIGN RELATIONS. 265 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 The Early Diplomacy of the United States. 
 
 "Jay's Treaty" — Questions Left Unsettled by the Treaty of Peace — With- 
 drawal of Negroes and Garrisons Left in North-western Posts — States 
 Unwilling to Carry Out the Recommendations of Congress — Difficulty 
 in Obtaining Favorable Terms for Commerce with England — No Un- 
 divided Front in America — French and English Sympathizers — Im- 
 pressment of American Seamen — Complications Caused by War 
 Between France and England — Jay Makes What Terms he Can — His 
 Treaty Unpopular, but Prevents War — Negotiations with Spain — 
 Free Navigation of the Mississippi Desired — Florida Boundary Ques- 
 tions — Tedious Negotiations — Pinckney's Treaty with Godoy — France 
 Our First Ally — Early Treaties with that Power — Difficulties Caused 
 by the War of 1793— American Desire for Neutrality — French Dis- 
 satisfaction Caused by Washington's Infractions of Treaties — Munroe 
 Sent to France — French Indignation at Jay's Treaty — Tortuous 
 Course of Negotiations — Preparations for War — One More Attempt 
 for Peace — Negotiations with the First Consul— Friendly Footing 
 Obtained — A Fortunate Neutrality. 
 
 IT will be more convenient to our readers to consider at 
 once the details of the treaties which have been alluded 
 to, the negotiation of which sometimes covers a long period 
 of years. 
 
 An understanding of the main lines of the foreign rela- 
 tions of the United States during the first few years of the 
 country's existence is most necessary to an appreciation of 
 the state of the country during that period. The subject is 
 one that can be presented only in the broadest manner in the 
 space at our command. There are, however, certain principal 
 topics, a clear statement of which will do much toward giv- 
 ing a correct view. 
 
 The first of these is the treaty with England negotiated 
 by John Jay in 1794, which commonly goes by the name of 
 il Jay's Treaty." 
 12 
 
266 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 At the close of the Revolutionary War there were various 
 questions between the United States and England which 
 ; seemed fit subjects for negotiation. The Treaty of Peace had 
 announced the independence of the United States, but it had 
 not contained a settlement of certain questions sure to arise. 
 And even out of the treaty itself arose matters which it 
 seemed would be productive of trouble. In the seventh 
 article of that treaty it had been agreed that " His Britannic 
 Majesty shall, with all convenient speed and without causing 
 any destruction, or carrying away any Negroes or other prop- 
 erty of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, 
 garrisons, and fleets from the said United States, and from 
 every port, place, and harbor within the same." It was an 
 infraction of this article that the English armies should have 
 carried away with them on their withdrawal from New York 
 a large number of Negro slaves, the property of Americans, 
 and also that the English Government should refuse to with- 
 draw the garrisons from the frontier posts of Michilimack- 
 inac, Detroit, Fort Erie, Niagara, Oswego, Oswegatchie, on 
 the St. Lawrence, and Port au fer and Dutchman's Point, on 
 Lake Champlain, all within the territory acknowledged in 
 the treaty to belong to the United States. The first point 
 was of great interest to the former owners of the slaves, the 
 latter to the whole nation, both because the holding of the 
 posts wounded the national pride, and also because it became 
 clearer and clearer as each year passed that English agents 
 in those posts incited the Indians near by to hostilities toward 
 the United States. 
 
 The English were not, however, without some show of right 
 in their position. The fourth article of the treaty had de- 
 clared, " That creditors on either side shall meet with no law- 
 ful impediment to the recovery, at the full value in sterling 
 money, of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted." The 
 fifth article agreed that " Congress shall earnestly recom- 
 mend to the legislatures of the respective States to provide 
 for the restitution of all estates," and so forth, which had been 
 confiscated. Now, the different States had passed laws at 
 
TREATY QUESTIONS. 267 
 
 various times of such a nature that the collection of debts 
 due to Englishmen, existing before the Revolution, had be- 
 come either difficult or impossible, and in certain cases had 
 shown no disposition to give up confiscated property. Under 
 the Articles of Confederation, as the reader knows, Congress 
 could only recommend in such cases. As a matter of fact, 
 the two articles were practically of no effect. It was on this 
 account that the British Government refused to carry out the 
 seventh article. 
 
 There were other matters, generally in regard to trade, 
 which required settlement. At that period commercial mat- 
 ters were conducted and regulated by an immense number of 
 treaties between the various powers in the world, every power 
 desiring to gain for itself exceptional privileges. The mer- 
 chants of the United States desired a close commercial alli- 
 ance with England. But that power, foreseeing that the com- 
 merce of the United States would come to her soon enough 
 in natural course, showed no disposition to grant any priv- 
 ileges in return for what she could get without. A particular 
 desire existed in the United States to be allowed to trade 
 with the West Indies, a profitable commerce which had long 
 been carried on by the colonies, but which, being denied to 
 foreign countries, was closed to the United States when that 
 country became independent. There were other questions, 
 arising later, which we shall note in their place. 
 
 The views of the two parties in the case must be under- 
 stood. England, becoming rapidly involved in continental 
 entanglements, showed no desire to offer any thing toward a 
 peaceful accommodation of these questions. In case of 
 negotiation she had little to gain and much to lose. She pre- 
 ferred to leave the questions in statu quo. In case of war she 
 had every thing to gain and nothing to lose. It is easy to see that 
 negotiation on these terms was difficult. The American 
 States, on the other hand, were by no means at unity among 
 themselves. The slaveholders cared for the stolen Negroes ; 
 the seaport towns cared for the British commerce and the 
 West India trade ; the west cared more particularly about 
 
268 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the evacuation of the posts. There was no undivided front. 
 In other ways the country was divided. There was a large 
 party who believed in France as an ally. They were averse 
 to any concessions to Great Britain, and believed that the 
 United States would find its true interest in seeking a close 
 connection with that power which had enabled her to gain 
 her independence. Another party, having a sincere sympathy 
 with English principles, and a true love and admiration for 
 that country which had so long been a mother, though a harsh 
 one, to America, considered that an alliance with Great 
 Britain was of more value than any other foreign connection. 
 As England and France were drifting toward war, these two 
 factions became more and more bitterly opposed to each 
 other. Though neither desired to carry its views to such an 
 extent as to involve America in a war on the side of either 
 European power, each had a different policy in regard to 
 negotiations. 
 
 Through the indifference of England it was with great 
 difficulty that any negotiations proceeded at all. John Adams, 
 the first minister accredited to the Court of St. James, was 
 received in the most cordial manner, but was unable to effect 
 anything. Mr. Hammond, who was sent as minister plen- 
 ipotentiary to this country, carried on a dilatory correspond- 
 ence with Mr. Jefferson, from which it appeared that England 
 was firmly resolved to abate nothing from her position. 
 
 Meanwhile, new matters for difference had arisen. One 
 was in regard to English impressment of American seamen. 
 The captains of short-handed English cruisers would stop 
 American ships and take from them such sailors as they 
 required, on the pretense that they were English-born and, 
 therefore, still the king's subjects and so liable to impress- 
 ment. 
 
 On the breaking out, in 1793, of war between England and 
 the French Republic, new matters of dispute arose. Both 
 the belligerent powers issued regulations whereby either 
 enemy's merchandise, or contraband (in which were included 
 provisions) destined for an enemy's port, was declared good 
 
jay's treaty. 269 
 
 prize when found in neutral vessels. Such a position, by no 
 means unusual at that time, resulted disastrously to American 
 commerce, for the United States was almost the only 
 neutral carrying power at this time. Protest in the matter 
 was made, and found useless. 
 
 All these matters required settlement. If they could not 
 be settled, war was the only remedy. And for war the United 
 States was unprepared. Therefore it is not astonishing that 
 the business did not turn out greatly to her advantage. In 
 1794 Mr. Jay was appointed to a special mission to negotiate 
 a treaty with England. He was of those who held that it 
 was to the interest of America to unite more and more closely 
 with England. He negotiated a treaty without great difficulty, 
 but it was by means of giving up most of the disputed points 
 and leaving others unsettled. It is now clear that this was 
 the only course that could have been pursued. By this treaty 
 it was provided that the northern posts should be evacuated 
 in two years' time, that the matter of English debts should be 
 referred to a commission, that claims of violation of neutral 
 rights should be referred to another, that there should be free 
 trade between all the British dominions in Europe and the 
 United States, and that the United States should be free to 
 pursue the East India trade. The question of compensation 
 for the Negroes was dropped ; the question of impressment 
 was dropped, as being impossible to settle ; the question of 
 the West India trade was settled in such a manner that the 
 United States procured a suspension of its terms, so that 
 that question was also practically dropped. 
 
 There was a great outcry made in the United States at 
 the publication of the treaty, but it was probably the best 
 way out of a bad place. It was negotiated by Mr. Jay in 
 good faith, and as being the best thing that could be done 
 under the circumstances. Certain of the questions which 
 were dropped came up for settlement later, as we shall see 
 when we reach the war of 181 2. 
 
 With Spain no treaty at all had been made at the time of 
 the adoption of the Constitution, but there was at least one 
 
270 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 very important question, a question which grew in importance 
 -^ day by day. This was in regard to the free navigation of the 
 
 4 Mississippi River. As the settlers pushed out into the " Great 
 
 West," as Kentucky and Tennessee, and then Ohio, Indiana, 
 and Illinois began to be settled, more and more did it become 
 ., apparent that it was necessary that the United States should 
 be allowed free navigation of the river from source to ocean. 
 At this time, it will be remembered, the Mississippi was 
 the western boundary of the United States from its source 
 down to the 31st parallel. West of the Mississippi and south 
 of the 31st parallel the territory belonged to Spain, and this 
 power, owning both banks of the river at New Orleans and 
 _below, claimed the right to exact such duties at that place as 
 seemed to her good. To obtain the free navigation of the 
 Mississippi then was one of the main efforts of American 
 diplomacy during this period. There were also boundary 
 questions in regard to Florida, which need not be exactly 
 stated, which were pressed by Spain, and both countries de- 
 sired some basis for commercial intercourse. John Jay had, 
 during the latter part of the Revolutionary War, resided for 
 some time in Spain endeavoring to effect a treaty. After the 
 peace, in 1785, he was commissioned by Congress again to 
 attempt negotiations with Gardoqui, at that time Charge d'Af- 
 faires from Spain in this country. Spain demanded that the 
 1 ^ United States should give up her claim to the freedom of the 
 river, and should make some settlement of boundaries. In 
 return she w T as willing to grant large and liberal commercial 
 privileges. But Jay was firm so far as the freedom of nav- 
 igation was concerned, and no result was reached. For some 
 time nothing more was attempted. Mr. Carmichael remained 
 at the Court of Spain and received due recognition as Charge 
 d'Affaires, but nothing was said of a treaty. In 1790 the state 
 of Europe was such that it was probable that a general war 
 would ensue, and as it appeared necessary that the United 
 States should stand on some firm ground in her relations with 
 Spain, a commission was appointed to attempt negotiations 
 again in regard to the navigation of the river. The commis- 
 
SPANISH NEGOTIATIONS. 27 1 
 
 sion was also to touch on the Spanish claims of territory in 
 the south, and to request some adjustment of commercial 
 matters. 
 
 Not to dwell in detail on the negotiations which continued 
 in various hands for several years, the position of the United 
 States was always as follows: That in 1763 (when Louisiana 
 had been granted to Spain) the free navigation of the river 
 had been granted to Great Britain, and in the treaty of peace 
 between that power and the United States the latter country 
 had been expressly named as being, in respect to the Missis- 
 sippi, in the same position which Great Britain had pre- 
 viously stood in. It was also held that by the law of nations 
 the United States, holding the upper part of the river and 
 having such immense territories lying upon it, had, from 
 that very fact, a right to free outlet. These positions were 
 denied by Spain on very strong grounds, which it would take 
 too long to state in detail. 
 
 The commission appointed did not effect any thing. Jay's 
 treaty with England, signed in 1794, complicated matters, 
 for in the next year a treaty was signed between France and 
 Spain, and a treaty between Great Britain and the United 
 States was naturally looked upon with displeasure by both 
 those powers. Despite this, however, after some delays and 
 conversations with the Spanish commissioner in the United 
 States, Mr. Thomas Pinckney was appointed minister, and 
 negotiation began again. At this time Godoy, afterward 
 called " Prince of Peace," was at the head of Spanish affairs, 
 and with him Mr. Pinckney succeeded in arranging matters 
 so that a treaty was made, October 25th, 1795. T ne treaty 
 was, on the whole, all that the United States could have 
 expected to get. The great point was conceded, and the 
 Mississippi was free to the citizens of the United States. 
 Other questions, as of boundary and certain damages, were 
 referred to commissions, and thus placed in a way of friendly 
 settlement. Various questions of maritime law were 
 arranged in later articles. 
 
 But the treaty, although not unfavorable to the United 
 
272 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 States, was not very satisfactory to Spain, and various small 
 complications of diplomacy continually troubled the relations 
 of the two countries, until in the continual changes of Euro- 
 pean policy a situation arose which Jefferson seized upon, 
 and by a skillful stroke settled the greater number of Spanish 
 questions at once. Of these measures the account will be 
 tound in another chapter. 
 
 The first power with which the United States had had diplo- 
 matic intercourse had been France. Immediately after 
 the declaration of independence, when the question of for- 
 eign alliances had come up in Congress, Franc* had been, 
 for a variety of reasons, the first country to be considered. 
 A commission had been sent to that country the same year 
 to negotiate an alliance, and fifteen months after their arrival 
 the alliance had been arranged. Two treaties, one of alliance 
 and one of commerce, had been concluded, as has already 
 been related. In addition to these treaties it appeared nec- 
 essary that some arrangement should be made in regard to 
 the exact establishment of the position of the consuls in the 
 various ports of the respective countries. And to this end 
 the arranging of a consular convention was begun by Benja- 
 min Franklin, in 1782, and carried on for six years, at the end 
 of which time it was signed by Thomas Jefferson and the 
 Count de Montmorin. But this convention, although its 
 faults did not at first appear, proved to be very inconvenient 
 on the breaking out of war between France and England in 
 1793. Under this convention and the two former treaties, 
 Genet, the commissioner of France in America under the 
 convention, proceeded to such extravagant lengths in pro- 
 ceedings hostile to England that the United States, foreseeing 
 that if he were allowed to continue she would infallibly be 
 forced into war with England, was constrained to ask his 
 recall, which was granted. It was the desire of the United 
 States to pursue a neutral policy, and such had been the pur- 
 port of the proclamation issued by General Washington at 
 the outbreak of hostilities. Indeed, it was impossible that 
 America should again embark upon a war without practically 
 
RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 273 
 
 giving up her claims to independence and her standing as a 
 first-rate power. But neutrality seemed incompatible with 
 an observance of the treaties with France, treaties which 
 had been negotiated under a very different state of things 
 from that which in 1793 existed. 
 
 By the treaty of alliance the United States was bound to 
 extend certain privileges to France incompatible with a neu- 
 tral position, and such as would have infallibly set her at war 
 with England. Public opinion was sufficiently on the side 
 of France to prevent the abrogation of its treaties, and yet 
 war with England was impossible. In such a case a position 
 of neutrality required the constant infraction of the treaty. 
 To this course Washington committed the United States, 
 much to the dissatisfaction of France. There was another 
 point. America being neutral, her commerce, as has been 
 pointed out, suffered extremely from belligerent operations, 
 no less on the part of France than on that of England. 
 Such was the position of the two countries through the 
 second term of Washington's administration. 
 
 At the time of Jay's mission to England James Monroe 
 was sent to France to endeavor to obtain a better under- 
 standing between the two nations. He could not accom- 
 plish the adjustment of all difficulties, although, being of that 
 party in the United States which looked on France with 
 more favor than on England, he was able to conciliate the 
 temper of the government and arrange some of the points 
 of difference. But on the ratification of Jay's treaty the 
 French " Directory " were thoroughly enraged. They held 
 it to be an act of treachery on the part of the United States, 
 recalled their representative in America, and Mr. Monroe 
 was also recalled. But as it was necessary that the govern- 
 ment should have some representative in France, Mr. Charles 
 C. Pinckney was sent to Paris. But he was not received by 
 the Directory nor even allowed to remain in the city. He 
 withdrew to Holland. So affairs went on. A commission 
 subsequently appointed could agree upon nothing, and with- 
 drew, leaving one of their number to compromise himself by 
 12* 
 
274 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 his relations with the wily Talleyrand. We cannot follow 
 the tortuous course of the diplomatic relations, and must be 
 content with stating the result. Affairs finally came to such 
 a pass, American commerce had suffered so much from 
 French depredations, that the country prepared for war. 
 Washington was made commander-in-chief. The army and 
 navy were increased, and the pre-existing treaties with 
 France were by Congress declared void. But it was by no 
 means to the interest of the United States to make war, and 
 Mr. Adams, as President, resolved on one more attempt at 
 negotiation. Mr. Vans Murray, Minister to Holland, was 
 joined by Chief Justice Ellsworth and Mr. Davie, and the 
 three proceeded to Paris, which they reached in 1800. On 
 the 7th of March of that year they were presented to the 
 First Consul, and on the 30th of September they signed a con- 
 vention together with the French commissioners. 
 
 The convention was managed only as a temporizing act. 
 The main questions arising from the treaty of alliance were 
 left unsettled. Commercial matters, about which there had 
 been no dispute, were reaffirmed, and various matters of 
 maritime law which had been in question were arranged 
 between the contracting parties. But although nothing of 
 great importance was settled war was averted; and that 
 was a most important thing when we consider the enormous 
 power of France during the following years, and the enormous 
 gain which the United States subsequently succeeded in 
 making by being on friendly terms with her. For had war 
 come on when the Floridas and Louisiana were both pos- 
 sessed by European powers, undoubtedly the chances of the 
 United States for ultimately acquiring those necessary pos- 
 sessions would have been greatly lessened, not to speak of 
 the dangerous neighbors they must have been. And although 
 troubles with France continued, the convention of 1800 at 
 least had the merit of putting off, as it happened, from that 
 time to this, the resort to war as a last means of arbitration. 
 
 To the careful observer of the position of the United States 
 at the adoption of the Constitution, with reference to the 
 
ADVANTAGES GAINED. 275 
 
 events which convulsed Europe during the twelve years fol- 
 lowing, it can hardly fail to appear remarkable that the 
 United States, in the condition in which she then was, should 
 not have been drawn into complications which could have 
 ended only in war. And war at that moment, as is apparent, 
 was impossible if the United States was to retain its position 
 as a first-rate independent power. It appears, then, remark- 
 able that the United States should have been able to retain a 
 neutral position for these years, even though she gained 
 absolutely nothing. She did, as a matter of fact, gain some- 
 thing in each of the three treaties of which we have spoken. 
 From Great Britain she gained the evacuation of the north- 
 ern posts; an inestimable gain, when we consider the war of 
 181 2. From Spain she gained the navigation of the Missis- 
 sippi; of vast importance in its day, though the brilliancy of 
 the concession was dimmed by the acquisition of the whole 
 of Louisiana some years later. And from France she vir- 
 tually gained release from the hampering provisions of the 
 treaty of 1778. 
 
2/6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Adams, Jefferson and Madison. 
 
 Mr. Adams's Internal Policy — Election of Jefferson — His Inauguration — 
 Barbary Powers — Burr's Projects — Their Failure — Animosity between 
 England and the United States — Mr. Madison Compelled to Make War. 
 
 UNDER the arrangements at first proposed in the Con- 
 stitution, the citizen who received the largest number 
 of electoral votes was President, and he who received the 
 second number was the Vice-President. A worse arrangement 
 could hardly have been made. It is easy to see that in a bar- 
 barous or selfish time nothing could tend more to weaken 
 the executive than the certainty that the nearest rival of the 
 chief of the Republic was the person who would profit by his 
 death. No such anxiety clouded the minds of men when 
 Thomas Jefferson was the Vice-President, while Adams was 
 the President. But it was perfectly known that these two 
 statesmen represented the two great parties which were already 
 forming themselves in the Republic. 
 
 Mr. Adams made a conciliatory opening address, and un- 
 doubtedly hoped, as Washington had hoped, that in his ad- 
 ministration he could reconcile the demands of moderate 
 men of both parties. Politics were, however, then, as has 
 been intimated, largely governed by the changes in Europe, 
 which were almost as rapid as those of the weather- 
 cock. France was still suffering under the mismanage- 
 ment of the Directory; as bad a government, perhaps, as 
 was ever administered by men — acting, indeed, on what 
 we now know to be the worst principle of government. 
 With every change, as has been seen, our envoys received 
 new rebuffs and insults. It was certainly a matter of good 
 fortune to America w r hen Napoleon Buonaparte took the 
 command, and gave steadiness, if he gave nothing more, 
 
ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS. 2JJ 
 
 to the politics of the world. Before that time America and 
 France were virtually at war with each other. In some naval 
 engagements in American waters the frigates of the United 
 States gained decided advantages. It was even customary to 
 fit out private armed vessels, and at the end of 1789, beside 
 the few public ships, there were three hundred and sixty-five 
 privateers, mounting two thousand seven hundred and thirty- 
 three guns, under the American flag. But the commissions 
 of these ships authorized them to capture only armed vessels 
 of the enemy. 
 
 All such warfare, however, came to an end in 1800, when 
 the American envoys in Europe succeeded in making the 
 convention with Napoleon, which has been described. A 
 general peace was in prospect for the world, and in this peace 
 America profited as well as Europe. But in the half war 
 which had existed, some fifty French vessels had been taken 
 by American cruisers, and many merchant vessels previously 
 taken by the French were recaptured. On the whole, the 
 firm stand of the President and his government against 
 French aggression was sustained by the nation. But this was 
 considered as rather the policy of the Federal party than 
 that of their opponents. 
 
 It was in a matter of internal policy that Mr. Adams's ad- 
 ministration endangered itself at home. By the passage of 
 two laws, familiarly known as the alien and sedition laws, 
 they attempted to repress the interference, which was really 
 scandalous, on the part of foreigners, with the institutions 
 of America. These laws were made the signal for an oppo- 
 sition to his home policy and to him, in which were united all 
 the various sections which had originally opposed the Consti- 
 tution, and at the same time all those persons in the agricult- 
 ural or non-commercial States who were either jealous or 
 indifferent to the maritime progress and success of the States 
 on the sea-board. Mr. Adams himself, in his desire to carry 
 an even hand, or to conciliate his opponents, had singular 
 success in alienating his supporters. It was once said of him 
 that he never turned his back on any but his friends. 
 
278 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The result of the election of the autumn of 1800 was con- 
 sequently a change in the head of the administration, and it 
 proved to be virtually the end of the power of the Federal 
 party. So far separated were the States from each other, 
 and so slow was the communication between them, that the 
 result was long in doubt. It seemed to hinge on the vote of 
 the State of South Carolina, and this State gave its electoral 
 votes to Jefferson and Burr. The result was that these two, 
 the candidates of the Republican or Democratic party, each 
 received seventy-three electoral votes. Of the Federalists, 
 Adams received but sixty-five, Pinckney sixty-four, and John 
 Jay one. Under the Constitution, as it then existed, it was 
 necessary that the House of Representatives should make 
 the choice between Jefferson and Burr. All men knew, of 
 course, that the people in voting had intended that Jefferson 
 should be President and Burr Vice-President. The Feder- 
 alists had taken care to cast one vote for John Jay, so that 
 Pinckney should receive one less than John Adams. But the 
 Democratic leaders had not ventured to risk even a single 
 electoral vote, so that in the eye of the Constitution Burr and 
 Jefferson had an equal right to be considered. 
 
 In point of fact, as was eagerly pointed out at the time, 
 Adams and Pinckney represented a larger popular vote than 
 did Jefferson and Burr ; but the Constitution had, and has, 
 no reference to the majorities given by the people ; and the 
 House of Representatives, on which the election now de- 
 volved, was to make its decision simply between the two 
 highest candidates, who were the candidates of the Democratic 
 party. It was at one time supposed that the State of South 
 Carolina would give its eight electoral votes to Jefferson and 
 Pinckney, by way of compliment to its own son. Had this 
 critical vote been given Jefferson would never have been 
 President of the United States ; Pinckney would have been 
 chosen, and the political history of parties and of the govern- 
 ment would from that moment have changed. 
 
 The House of Representatives, in voting for President 
 under the Constitution, votes, as the old Congress did, by 
 
JEFFERSON S ELECTION. 279 
 
 States, so that the smallest State, Delaware, had a right equal 
 with that of the largest. The Federal members, irritated to 
 the last degree that a minority of the people, as they thought, 
 should have chosen a majority of the electors, found them- 
 selves obliged to determine between two candidates brought 
 before them which should be President. A large majority of 
 them determined to throw their votes for Burr. Of this de- 
 termination the result was, that while eight States voted for 
 Jefferson, six voted for Burr, while the votes of two States 
 were divided. Balloting began on the nth of February, 1801. 
 No result having been reached, it continued until the 17th of 
 February, when thirty-five ballots had been taken, all with 
 the same result. Before the thirty-sixth ballot, Jefferson 
 authorized his friends to say that he would make no changes 
 with regard to public debt, commerce, or the navy, and that 
 meritorious subordinate officers ought not to be removed 
 merely on account of their political opinions. Bayard, of 
 Delaware, thought it was time to end the struggle, and called 
 a general meeting of the Federal members. The result of 
 this meeting was that a member from Vermont absented him- 
 self at the thirty-sixth ballot, and the two Maryland Federal- 
 ists voted blank. Jefferson thus had a majority of States, and 
 was elected. The Vice-Presidency devolved upon Burr. 
 
 Jefferson proved quite true to his promises, with the excep- 
 tion of a coldness which he always felt toward an organized 
 navy, and the indifference with which, like other Virginians, 
 he regarded the maritime commerce of the country. In 
 opposition, like most leaders of opposition, he had been 
 eager to check the power of the government. But once in 
 government, like most leaders of administration, he was 
 eager and willing to have a strong national government as 
 ever was any ruler. For twenty-four years the dynasty thus 
 established, for so it must be called, directed the central 
 councils of the United States. It made many errors, many 
 of them so ridiculous that they now seem almost impossible. 
 But as has been shown in other chapters, the nation was 
 governing itself all the time. It was extending its agriculture 
 
280 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 by a marvelous growth. It was extending its maritime com- 
 merce with untold and incredible rapidity. It was develop- 
 ing its western territory, and making itself, without knowing 
 n_ it, to be one of the strongest empires of the world. In this 
 ) work the national government hardly ever helped, and almost 
 always hindered ; but, fortunately for the people of America, 
 the men who made their Constitution left in the hands of the 
 central government so little power for evil that the blunders 
 of the central administration, while at the time they have 
 always been matter of serious and careful discussion among 
 the people, have in result been like the frantic paddle-strokes 
 of ignorant voyagers in a canoe, who are attempting to force 
 it against the current of some mighty river. In the end the 
 country has directed its own destiny, and the follies of the 
 statesmen who have marred what they could not mend are 
 in general forgotten, and may be forgotten by this reader. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was inaugu- 
 rated President, the ceremonies being celebrated at Wash- 
 ington for the first time. The splendors of to-day were not 
 known in the proceedings. Jefferson rode on horseback from 
 the unfinished White House to the unfinished Capitol, along 
 Pennsylvania Avenue, at that day very different from the 
 broad, smooth street of our time. He delivered his inaugu- 
 ral address, took the oath, and retired as he had come. Burr 
 had already taken his oath of office as Vice-President, and 
 was presiding over the Senate. 
 
 The earlier acts of the administration were different, also, 
 from those proceedings which have of late characterized the 
 beginnings of administrations. Jefferson was a Republican 
 President, his predecessor had been a Federalist; but he 
 was true to his promises to the Federalists. The changes 
 made in the civil service were but few. Certain appointments 
 made by Adams, on the night before his successor's inaugura- 
 tion, were canceled. The commissions had in many cases 
 been neither countersigned nor issued, though they had been 
 signed by Adams. Other removals were made, but sparingly, 
 and on the principle that officers guilty of official misconduct 
 
BARBARY POWERS. 28 1 
 
 or inefficiency were fit subjects for removal, but that men 
 who knew their duty and performed it properly were not to 
 be ousted for political opinions, unless persistently and obtru- 
 sively expressed. There were, it is said, but sixteen removals 
 for political cause to make room for Republicans who desired 
 office. The cabinet officers had been already assigned. 
 James Madison and Albert Gallatin were, throughout the 
 eight years of Jefferson's administration, Secretaries of State 
 and of the Treasury. At the beginning, Henry Dearborn and 
 Robert Smith were placed at the head of the War and Navy 
 Departments. Levi Lincoln was Attorney-General ; Haber- 
 sham was for some time Postmaster-General, but was shortly 
 succeeded by Granger. It was a cabinet of able men, and 
 one which worked well and harmoniously together and with 
 their chief. 
 
 The time when Jefferson came into office was, on the whole, 
 one of political inactivity. The quarrels of Adams's admin- 
 istration had passed away with their causes. The Federalist 
 party was in a hopeless minority. Abroad, affairs were at a 
 lull, the treaty of Amiens having given a short peace to 
 Europe. 
 
 The most dramatic event in the history of the nation abroad 
 during Jefferson's administration was the successful resistance 
 to the preposterous claims of the Barbary powers. For more 
 than two centuries the enterprising rulers on the northern 
 coasts of Africa had succeeded, by their annoyances and 
 depredations on the commerce of the world, in persuading or 
 compelling every nation to pay them tribute. This was what 
 we should now call "black-mailing," and resembled, indeed, 
 the sums which were paid to Scotch marauders by Lowland 
 husbandmen for the sake of protection against their ravages. 
 The new nation had found itself expected, by these corsairs, 
 to continue this tribute ; but a series of well-conducted naval 
 operations, begun by the navy under Adams and continued 
 with the wreck of the navy which Jefferson's policy still 
 permitted to exist, resulted in a treaty with Tripoli, and in 
 putting an end forever to such exactions on the part of these 
 
282 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 marauders. It is to the credit of America that these opera- 
 tions began the series of negotiations, by force or by diplo- 
 macy, in which the civilized world exempted itself from such 
 an annoyance. 
 
 These services of the American navy began in 1800. Cap- 
 tain Bainbridge, of the national ship George Washington, had 
 been ordered by the Dey of Algiers to carry certain Algerine 
 dispatches to Constantinople, and had obeyed the order. 
 The smaller powers were equally irritating. The Bashaw 
 of Tripoli had demanded a present equal to that offered 
 to the Dey of Algiers, namely, a frigate, offering to make 
 war were it not sent. The Bashaw of Tunis found fault be- 
 cause the naval stores sent in tribute were not of as high order 
 of excellence as he desired. The Emperor of Morocco was 
 also unfriendly. Although Jefferson disliked the American 
 navy, it seemed the only means at hand to repress these 
 impudent pretenders. Commodore Dale was sent out with a 
 squadron of four ships to make a naval demonstration. The 
 sight of the American broadsides and the destruction of a 
 Tripolitan vessel, which proved necessary, were found to have 
 a most soothing effect upon the ruffled pride of the monarchs 
 of the Barbary States. Dale returned, but left two ships on 
 the coast. In the succeeding years, 1802 and 1803, this force 
 was strengthened, and many combats took place between it 
 and the pirate vessels. American merchantmen were con- 
 voyed to their destinations, and the Barbary powers were kept 
 in some sort of order ; but at home it was not thought that 
 enough was being done, and in 1803 a new squadron was sent 
 out, under Preble, to act particularly against the Bashaw of 
 Tripoli. The first enterprises were not successful. Bainbridge, 
 in the Philadelphia, 38 guns, ran aground while chasing a 
 Tripolitan ship, and the ship and crew were captured. The ship 
 was got off the rocks and carried into the harbor of Tripoli, 
 where it lay under the guns of the castle. This disaster was 
 in some degree atoned for by the gallantry of Decatur, who, 
 with a small vessel and a crew of seventy-five, entered the 
 harbor and succeeded in setting fire to the ship and utterly 
 
TRIPOLI HUMBLED. 283 
 
 destroying her. But the bombardment of the town was not 
 carried out with vigor. It was evident that the naval force 
 was not of the efficiency necessary to a commercial nation. 
 In 1805 Preble was relieved by Barron with a new ship, and 
 returned to America. The squadron now consisted of ten 
 vessels, some rated at twelve guns and the largest at forty- 
 four. But this was not sufficient to overawe the whole coast of 
 Africa, and all the Barbary powers were becoming more or less 
 hostile. In 1805 a land expedition was led against Tripoli 
 by Eaton, United States consul at Tunis, who formed the plan 
 of marching from Egypt overland. He desired to aid Hamet, 
 whom he called the rightful prince of Tripoli, who was then 
 in exile in Tunis. Eaton carried through his scheme with 
 some measure of success. With Hamet and a nondescript 
 army he reached the province of Tripoli. After a march 
 through the desert, and by the co-operation of the squadron, 
 the town of Derne was captured. This and a threatened 
 attack on Tripoli brought the Bashaw to terms, and he agreed 
 on peace without tribute. But Hamet was not restored. The 
 Bey of Tunis was also overawed, and expressed a desire to 
 send an ambassador to the United States, which was done. 
 As for tribute, when the ambassador mentioned the subject 
 he was refused, and did not press the matter. The conclu- 
 sion to these proceedings was reached ten years later, when, 
 the Dey of Algiers declaring war against the United States, 
 Decatur appeared in the Mediterranean, captured two Alge- 
 rine ships, and compelled the Dey to sign a treaty by which 
 all American prisoners were set free, and all claim to tribute 
 was renounced. With this ended the terror inspired by the 
 Barbary powers. 
 
 The great diplomatic victory by which Mr. Jefferson's 
 administration obtained possession of the whole of what was 
 known as Louisiana has been described in another chapter. 
 So soon as the treaty took effect, arrangements were made 
 first for the temporary and then for the permanent govern- 
 ment of the settled region, which has now extended into our 
 State of Louisiana. 
 
284 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 It was quite of course that Jefferson should be nominated 
 and elected for a second term. But of course, after what 
 had passed in the vote of the Federalists for Burr, the Demo- 
 cratic party did not name him as its second choice. George 
 Clinton was chosen Vice-President, under an amendment to 
 the Constitution by which the Vice-President is now chosen 
 separately. In a State election in New York in which Burr 
 had been defeated, in the year 1804, he singled out Alexander 
 Hamilton as the object of his wrath. Hamilton was at that 
 time a leader in New York politics, and had succeeded 
 in dividing the Federal party against Burr. In February, 
 1804, Burr demanded of Hamilton "a prompt and unquali- 
 fied acknowledgement or denial of the use of any expressions 
 which would warrant certain assertions made by a third 
 party." On Hamilton's refusal, Burr sent a challenge. Hamil- 
 ton felt bound to accept it. On the nth of July the two met 
 on the shore of New Jersey, opposite the city of New York. 
 Hamilton's pistol went off in the air, but he received Burr's 
 shot in the right side. He was carried off the field uncon- 
 scious, and died the next day. No death had so struck the 
 public since Washington's. Burr fled the town. Indictments 
 were found against him, and he sank rapidly to a low state of 
 degradation in public opinion. He was still Vice-President 
 of the United States, although a fugitive from justice. In 
 March of the next year he lost even this title to consideration. 
 
 At the end of his term of office he made a journey to the 
 west, perhaps with no other purpose than that of finding 
 what point there was in that new region where he could 
 reconstruct the edifice of his political ambition. In that jour- 
 ney, however, he made the acquaintance of Wilkinson, who 
 was now the commander of the United States forces, and he 
 satisfied himself that there was room for ambition which 
 sought for much higher prizes than such as a seat in the 
 House of Representatives of the United States. A certain 
 mystery still attaches to his plans, a mystery born from the 
 fact that, neither he nor Wilkinson, nor indeed any of the 
 other principal persons engaged in the affair, ever regarded 
 
(z\) ' 
 
 burr's plans. 285 
 
 the truth as a very important matter when they made public 
 statements. This remark includes even many officers of the 
 Federal government at the time. What we know to have 
 happened is this: that at the end of 1806, with certain prom- 
 ises of assistance in the Eastern States, Burr made a second 
 journey down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. From point 
 to point, as he went, he enlisted a considerable number of 
 men, and in a flotilla of ten boats, with arms and munitions 
 of war, he went down the Mississippi River and came within 
 thirty miles of Natchez. Here he met, for the first time, 
 news that President Jefferson had issued a proclamation 
 denouncing his expedition as treasonable, and that Wilkin- 
 son, who was now at New Orleans, had addressed the Legis- 
 lature of Louisiana, pronouncing this an unlawful scheme 
 for invading the Spanish dominions. 
 
 It is probable that this is just what it was. Whether Burr 
 did or did not intend in the future to make Orleans the cap- 
 ital of the new State which he proposed to form, is a ques- 
 tion. What is probable is that he had no very definite plans, 
 but meant to let the future teach him the best thing to do. 
 He may have indulged in the hope, which after years made 
 a proverb, of " reveling in the halls of Montezuma." What 
 is certain is, that he expected the co-operation of Wilkinson, 
 with whom he had frequent interviews in the year before 
 and with whom he had maintained a regular correspondence 
 in cipher. As we now know Wilkinson to have been a trai- 
 tor to his country and a liar through and through, it seems 
 probable that Wilkinson had intended to join in this expedi- 
 tion, and, perhaps, to contribute to it the weight of the Amer- 
 ican forces. It is, indeed, an interesting question whether 
 Wilkinson had not been led to this view from the impression 
 that it might be agreeable to Jefferson to have this formida- 
 ble rival operating in another region. This is certain: that 
 neither Wilkinson nor Jefferson, nor anybody else in the 
 government of the United States, had up to this time any 
 very friendly feeling toward Spain, or any very eager desire 
 to maintain her hold upon Mexico. 
 
286 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 All these are, however, questions which will perhaps never 
 be answered. What is certain is, that the determination of 
 the United States to arrest the expedition broke it up. The 
 different members of it scattered in different directions. 
 Burr himself fled across the Indian Territory, where he was 
 arrested by an officer of the United States and sent to Wash- 
 J ington. He was afterward tried for treason, in the first 
 important state trial of the young nation. The trial was held 
 before Judge Marshall, in Richmond, Virginia. Burr was 
 acquitted on most of the charges. A new trial was ordered 
 in the Territory of Indiana, because there the offenses, if any, 
 were committed. Burr gave bonds in three thousand dollars 
 to appear there for trial. At the time fixed he did not 
 appear, and his recognizances were forfeited. The result of 
 the trial was such as to make it almost certain that, in a 
 government constituted like ours, no prosecution for treason 
 can ever be so conducted as to succeed if the forms of 
 English law are really respected by both sides. From that 
 moment Burr disappears from our history, and it is a satis- 
 faction that he does. He was a man absolutely without 
 moral principle, and his ascendancy at an early period of the 
 nation's life is a painful reminder that the men of those days 
 were as easily fooled as the men of any other time ; and that 
 the superior moral excellence which a grateful nation attaches 
 to the period of the revolution existed no more then than it 
 has existed in the generations which have come after. 
 
 We must now turn our attention to foreign affairs, which 
 hereafter involved the United States in trouble for some 
 little time. It must be recollected that the state of Europe 
 was one of perpetual war. France, or rather Napoleon, and 
 England were the two powers whose relations with the 
 United States were closest. With England the United States 
 had the sympathy necessitated by a common tongue, a com- 
 mon history, a common race. For France she had kindly 
 feelings for the assistance furnished in the Revolutionary 
 War. But it was not her inclination toward either the one or 
 the other of the combatants that involved the United States 
 
BERLIN AND MILAN DECREES. 287 
 
 in trouble. Certain complications grew out of commercial 
 relations and principles of international law. It is now a 
 recognized principle in public law that " free ships make free 
 goods." That is, neutral commerce with a belligerent coun- 
 try must not be interrupted by the other belligerent, except 
 as far as contraband of war is concerned. In the beginning 
 of this century this principle did not hold as far as England 
 was concerned, and, her fleet being absolute on the seas, her 
 cruisers could assert any principles of maritime law that 
 seemed good to her government. And these principles 
 were very severe on belligerent goods carried in neutral ves- 
 sels. Now, as the reader knows, the United States did a 
 very large carrying trade with all Europe, and in conse- 
 quence suffered severely. But this was not the worst. In the 
 spring of 1806 the King of Prussia, at the command of Napo- 
 leon, excluded English vessels from all ports under his con- 
 trol. England retaliated by declaring the whole North Ger- 
 man coast in a state of blockade. Napoleon then promul- 
 gated his Berlin decree (November 1, 1806), which declared 
 the British Islands and all their ports to be in a state of 
 blockade. A year later (November n, 1807) the English 
 passed " orders in council " by which all neutral trade was 
 forbidden with any countries with whom England was at war, 
 or with any ports from which English vessels were excluded. 
 These blockades were all paper declarations. Hardly any 
 attempt to enforce them was made. But a blockade in inter- 
 national law at that time had this effect : ships bound to the 
 blockaded port were fair prizes for the blockader. The conse- 
 quence of these European decrees was that any American 
 vessel which attempted to trade with France, or any of her 
 allies, Germany, or the British Isles, was exposed to capture 
 by either English or French as the case might be. This was 
 a great blow to commerce. But the state of things was made 
 worse when, December 17, 1807, Napoleon, by his Milan de- 
 cree, declared that any vessel which should submit to search 
 by a British man-of-war, or should touch in any British port or 
 pay any impost to the British government, should be denation- 
 
7 4^u7f 
 
 288 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 alized and be fair prize. The commerce of the United States, 
 n almost the only country left neutral, was sure to suffer by 
 ^ these unjust regulations; and suffer it did. But negotiation was 
 of no avail; the orders and decrees were not to be removed. 
 
 Another subject most distressing to American commerce 
 was the British theory of impressment. It was held by Great 
 Britain that a man once a British subject was always a Brit- 
 ish subject. From this, as a particular deduction, they held 
 that, as the king had a right to impress any subject for service 
 in the navy, he had therefore the right to seize any natural- 
 ized American who had ever been a British subject where- 
 ever he might find him. The result of this was that the 
 British men-of-war would order American vessels to lie to, 
 would muster their crews, would claim such of them as they 
 chose as British citizens, and carry them away. The cap- 
 tain of a cruiser short of men would have no scruples in 
 taking any he could get from any American vessel he might 
 happen across. The consequence of all this was a number 
 of outrages on American commerce. The feeling against 
 Great Britain was exaggerated when the Chesapeake, an 
 American man-of-war, was ordered by a British cruiser of 
 superior force to give up certain of her sailors, claimed as 
 deserters by the British captain. The captain of the Chesa- 
 peake refused, and the Leopard fired a broadside at her. The 
 Chesapeake, unprepared for battle, was unable to reply. 
 After three of her men had been killed and eighteen 
 wounded she struck her flag. The crew was mustered, and 
 the British picked out the men they wanted and carried 
 them off, tried them at Halifax, and sentenced them all four 
 to be hanged. Only one was executed, however, the other 
 three entering the British service. 
 
 An outrage so flagrant of course excited the whole Ameri- 
 can people. It is fair to say that from that moment war 
 with England was inevitable. Barron, the commander of 
 the Chesapeake, returned to Norfolk with his miserable story, 
 and from this moment any reasonable negotiations with 
 England were impossible. 
 
EMBARGO. 289 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was, however, wholly unprepared for war. 
 Indeed, it had always been his political theory that wars were 
 unnecessary, and that other methods could be found by 
 which nations could settle their discussions. 
 
 These systems were now to be tested. So soon as news 
 was received that the King of Great Britain, in council, had 
 declared France and the countries under her control in a 
 state of blockade, the President sent to Congress a recom- 
 mendation for the prohibition of the departure of our vessels 
 from the ports of the United States. His impression was 
 that the need of the commerce of America was so great that 
 England would virtually be starved into giving better terms 
 in negotiation. Congress at once passed a law of embargo. 
 This prohibited the departure of any vessels from any port 
 of the United States to any foreign country, except foreign- 
 armed vessels with public commissions, and foreign mer- 
 chant ships in ballast. All vessels in the coasting trade were 
 to give bonds that their cargoes should be landed within the 
 United States. This bill passed by a vote of two to one. 
 The maritime States regarded it as an attack upon them 
 quite as much as it was an attack upon Great Britain. A 
 subsequent bill compelled fishing vessels to land their car- 
 goes in the United States. 
 
 When, a few weeks after, Buonaparte's Milan decree ar- 
 rived, by which he declared all the countries of Great Britain 
 and her allies under blockade, the President laid it before 
 Congress as a new proof of the wisdom of the embargo. As 
 if to show that he meant to be prepared for more active war, 
 the President asked for an addition of six thousand men to 
 the regular army, and these were at once granted. 
 
 Under this suspension of commerce the country lived 
 through the year 1808. The maritime States were, of course, 
 reduced, and greatly prostrated. The agricultural States be- 
 gan to find that commerce and agriculture are closely con- 
 nected. The powers of Europe showed no sign of being 
 affected by the withdrawal of a commerce which had been so 
 profitable to America. The session of the new Congress, in 
 13 
 
29O HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 December, 1808, began by a direct attack upon the embargo. 
 But the government was able to show that the importations 
 from abroad had still continued, the revenue had not mate- 
 rially fallen off, and they had sixteen millions in hand with 
 which to begin the new year. New clauses were added to 
 the embargo for the purpose of enforcing it, and as the win- 
 ter passed the House and Senate discussed measures for 
 strengthening the army and the navy. 
 
 Gradually, however, the administration learned that war 
 must be conducted by some more active methods than the 
 starvation of its enemies ; and after the experiment of a year 
 it was agreed by Congress, on the 3d of February, that the 
 embargo should cease on the 1st of March. The committee 
 on foreign relations proposed to substitute for it a non-inter- 
 course with France and Great Britain. This change of pol- 
 icy was a great mortification to Mr. Jefferson. He ascribed 
 it correctly to an unaccountable revolution of opinion, a kind 
 of panic, chiefly among the New England and the New York 
 members. His own personal influence in the councils of 
 Congress had now nearly ceased. At the election of the last 
 year his own candidate for his successor, Madison, had been 
 elected, and there was no longer any wish in Congress to 
 favor Mr. Jefferson's personal designs. His work ended when 
 he determined that Mr. Madison, and not Mr. Monroe, should 
 be his successor. In fact, at this moment there was a cool- 
 ness between Jefferson and Monroe because the President 
 had refused to consider the English treaty. 
 
 It may be wondered why the United States did not go to 
 war with France rather than with England. The reason, per- 
 haps, lies (aside from the fact that England's all-powerful 
 navy could enforce her decrees while France could do little) 
 in two additional causes ; namely, impressment and the con- 
 duct of the Indians on the Canadian border. Examples of 
 each of these causes occurred in the early part of 181 1. In 
 May an American brig was ordered to lie to by the British 
 frigate Guerriere, 38 guns, and a native American was im- 
 pressed. This was followed by an event which appears to 
 
TIPPECANOE. 291 
 
 have been unconnected with it in any way save popular im- 
 pression. The American ship President, 44 guns, meeting 
 with the English Little Belt, ordered her to lie to, and on 
 the order being refused, sent a broadside into her which crip- 
 pled her badly. The public, conceiving that the President 
 had sailed to demand the man seized by the Guerriere, were 
 much pleased at the occurrence, and looked on it as a right- 
 eous retribution for the case of the Chesapeake. 
 
 The western complications at this time led to an Indian 
 war. There were at this time two brothers among the Indians 
 in northern Indiana, named Tecumseh and the Prophet. 
 Through the influence of these men the Indians in that part 
 of the country became greatly stirred up against the whites, 
 and, being further excited and persuaded by British agents 
 across the Canada line, they resolved to go upon the war- 
 path against the frontier settlements of the north-west coun- 
 try. Harrison, then Governor of the Indiana Territory, was 
 on the lookout for hostilities. They came to a head in the 
 summer of 181 1, and Harrison, leaving Vincennes with a con- 
 siderable force, met the savages at the Prophet's town on the 
 Tippecanoe. They appeared to be friendly at first, but 
 attacked him treacherously by night. After a sharp battle 
 the Indians were defeated, and fled, dispersing in all directions. 
 The feeling against England grew more and more bitter after this 
 affair, for plain evidence appeared that the Indians had been 
 incited and armed by English agents. The national feeling 
 was by this time thoroughly roused against England. 
 
 Mr. Madison's position was that of a statesman who had 
 always been subordinate to an imperious director. For 
 such a director was Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Madison had no wish 
 to make a war with England, but so soon as he was President 
 he found that a new generation was stepping on the stage 
 which did not mean to be controlled by him or by any one. At 
 first, things seemed favorable for peace. Conciliatory dis- 
 patches came from England. The restrictions on English 
 commerce were removed. A thousand merchantmen rushed 
 across the ocean to engage in the trade which had been 
 
292 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 forfeited. The miseries of the embargo were for the mo- 
 ment at an end. But the transient hopes of the sea-board 
 States were soon blighted. A Tory ministry in England dis- 
 avowed the acts of their negotiator in Washington. Madison 
 and his friencjs proposed an American Navigation Act, which 
 should exclude English and French ships from American 
 harbors and give all trade to the Americans. But to this 
 Congress would not assent. The President could not direct 
 Congress in America, as in England the government refused 
 to be bound by its own negotiator. 
 
 The elections to the Congress of 181 1 made it clear that 
 poor Mr. Madison, who had served one master for eight years 
 to earn his seat, must now serve other masters still. The 
 young blood of the Democratic party, represented by Henry 
 Clay, of Kentucky, and John Caldwell Calhoun, insisted upon 
 war. Mr. Madison hesitated and wavered. But Mr. Clay 
 headed a committee which told him that he should not be 
 the Democratic candidate for the presidency again unless he 
 declared war. The President was obliged to yield. 
 
PREPARATIONS FUR WAR. 293 
 
 o 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 The War of 1812. 
 
 Meeting of Congress— The President Recommends War— War Proclaimed 
 —General Hull's Failure— The Canadian Campaign— Actions at Sea— 
 Constitution and Guert iere— Other Naval Battles— Negotiations— New 
 Election— General Proctor— Commodore Chauncy— Perry's Battle for 
 the Command of Lake Erie— Battle of the Thames— General Arm- 
 strong's Campaign— The Year 1813 at Sea— Battles near Niagara 
 River --Washington Taken— Attack on Baltimore— Review of Naval 
 Warfare— Battle of New Orleans— Negotiation of Peace— Effect of the 
 War. 
 
 N November 4, 1811, the tenth Congress assembles. 
 
 ., ' The air is heavy with approaching war. The Con- 
 gress in its very make up is seen to be a body which differs 
 from those which have gone before it in the new blood in- 
 fused into it, in the younger men who are seizing the direction 
 of affairs. The young West, hot for war, sends Henry Clay, 
 who is chosen speaker. John Caldwell Calhoun is a leader 
 in the house, in earnest for a vigorous policy. 
 
 The Committee on Foreign Affairs at once sounded the 
 war note, and measures were at once entered upon to raise 
 the efficiency of army and navy. Army bills and navy bills were 
 passed by large majorities. The war spirit was heightened 
 by the publication of the Henry correspondence, which showed 
 Canadian intrigue to bring about a separation of New England 
 from the rest of the Union. On the 3d of April a ninety days 
 embargo was declared, as a preparatory war measure. On 
 both sides of the great lakes diligent work was done in recruit- 
 ing soldiers and building ships. 
 
 On June 1st the President sent in his war-message. He re- 
 cited the causes for complaint-impressment, sham blockades, 
 orders in council, violation of neutral rights, complicity with 
 
294 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the Indians. Congress passed an act declaring war, on June 
 18, and the President at once made proclamation that war ex- 
 isted. Henry Dearborn, of Massachusetts, one of the su 
 
 rvivors 
 
 of the Revolution, was appointed commander-in-chief. 
 
 The first enterprise of the army was unfortunate. William 
 Hull, an officer of the regular army, who had served with dis- 
 tinction in the Revolution, was in command of the American 
 forces in Michigan. He had been ordered to be in readiness 
 to invade Canada. So soon as war was declared he marched 
 from Ohio with about two thousand men, mostly militiamen, 
 very little used to military discipline. Had the government 
 notified him of its intention a little earlier, the issue might 
 have been different. But in fact the English surprised the 
 fort at Mackinaw before Hull could re-enforce it. Heald, who 
 was at Fort Dearborn, where Chicago now stands, was directed 
 to withdraw his garrison and meet Hull at Detroit. The In- 
 dians of the neighborhood, tempted by a premium which the 
 English Colonel Proctor had offered for scalps, attacked the 
 retiring party, and compelled them to surrender. This was 
 the beginning of English victories. On the 16th of August 
 General Brock, in command of two thousand regulars, crossed 
 the Detroit River and compelled Hull to surrender the post at 
 Detroit. Hull had before crossed into Canada, but had re- 
 tired before Brock. He did not believe that he could depend 
 upon the militia for service, and he knew that his officers had 
 conspired to depose him from command. The disappointment 
 of the nation required a victim ; Hull was tried by court-mar- 
 tial and condemned to be shot. Madison, however, who knew 
 how the government had neglected him, pardoned him, as in 
 decency he was obliged to do. Under the pressure of the 
 same public sentiment, Eusfcis, the Secretary of War, resigned. 
 
 In October, Van Rensselaer, the American commander at 
 Niagara, crossed the Niagara River and attacked the English 
 lines, but the attack was unsuccessful, and the Americans re- 
 tired with the loss of a thousand men. 
 
 On the ocean the United States was more successful. As 
 early as the 13th of August the Essex fought the Alert, an En- 
 
NAVAL SUCCESSES. 295 
 
 glish ship, and compelled her to strike her colors. In the next 
 week, in a battle which excited immense enthusiasm, the 
 American frigate Constitution, under Hull, a nephew of 
 General Hull, engaged the English frigate Guerriere and com- 
 pelled her to surrender. The battle began at five in the 
 afternoon, and at seven o'clock the Guerriere, lying with her 
 masts all shot away, in such a state as to make further re- 
 sistance useless, the English commander, Dacres, surrendered. 
 The Guerriere was in such state that she could not be taken 
 to any port, and was set on fire and blown up. 
 
 In October the frigate United States engaged the Mace- 
 donian successfully and sent her into the harbor of New Lon- 
 don. By one of the charming compensations of history, in 
 the year 1848 the Macedonian was sent, laden with food, by 
 the government of the United States to the relief of the starv- 
 ing people of Ireland. In December the Constitution, under 
 Bainbridge, engaged the frigate Java and vanquished her. 
 The Java was so much injured that she was blown up. It 
 was after this action that the Constitution received the name 
 which, in history and poetry, she has since borne, of " Old 
 Ironsides." These victories were won in six months ; and by 
 the navy and by privateers three hundred English merchant- 
 men were in that time brought into American ports, with three 
 thousand prisoners. 
 
 Later in the year other victories occurred. In October the 
 Wasp, 18 guns, met with the English Frolic, 18 guns, and 
 after a severe fight boarded and captured her. The ships 
 had cannonaded each other for less than an hour before the 
 Americans boarded her, and when Lieutenant Biddle with a 
 boarding party reached the Frolics deck there was no one 
 to oppose him. Biddle pulled down the Frolics flag with his 
 own hands. This was a fair victory, for the two brigs were 
 nearly equal in metal and men. But except for the moral 
 effect it resulted in nothing for the Americans, for both ves- 
 sels were immediately taken by the British ship Foictiers, 74 
 guns, which carried them both into Bermuda. 
 
 This was a most successful showing for the navy, and it was 
 
1/ 
 
 296 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 taken by the people at its full worth and more. The captains of 
 the successful ships were covered with honors, received swords 
 and gold boxes, and the American navy was exalted to the 
 skies. By the English, on the other hand, it was asserted, and 
 in most cases with some ground, that the victories were never 
 gained where there were equal conditions; that the American 
 frigates were really ships of the line in disguise; that they car- 
 ried picked crews, and so on. Which amounts to this: that 
 the Americans built larger frigates than was then the custom 
 abroad, and manned them more heavily and more carefully. 
 
 Through the year there were efforts made to gain some sort 
 of negotiation for peace, but nothing came of it. In the 
 autumn the presidential election occurred, and Madison and 
 Gerry were elected. The adminstration was in a majority in 
 Congress, and war measures were passed, and little else. 
 
 General William Henry Harrison, afterward the President, 
 was put in command of a new army of about ten thousand 
 men for the service of the next year on the west of Canada. 
 His advance was attacked in January by a force of English 
 troops and Indians, under Proctor. The attack was successful. 
 A considerable portion of the Americans surrendered, but were 
 then left to the mercy of the Indians, who killed them all, 
 General Proctor then besieged Harrison at Fort Meigs, but 
 his siege was unsuccessful. Three months later he attacked 
 Fort Stevenson, on the Sandusky, but without success. The 
 invasion of Canada, or its defense, depended upon the com- 
 mand of Lakes Erie and Ontario. Both parties understood this, 
 and both parties, as rapidly as possible, were building fleets. 
 Commodore Chauncy, in April, attacked York, a frontier village 
 now known as Toronto. In the attack General Pike and the 
 assailing column were blown up in the explosion of a maga- 
 zine. He was an officer of great intelligence, and a great loss 
 to the American army. At the other end of the lake the 
 English genera], Prevost, attacked Sackett's Harbor. He 
 was obliged to retire. But meanwhile the American store- 
 houses were burned for fear they should fall into the enemy's 
 hands. 
 
PERRY S VICTORY. 297 
 
 The campaign on Lake Ontario had thus been unsuccessful 
 for the Americans. But on Lake Erie they were happy- 
 enough to have a naval force under the command of Perry. 
 
 The English had had a fleet of no great value on the lake 
 at the beginning of the war. The Americans had set them- 
 selves at work at Presque, Isle to build one as fast as possible. 
 In August, Perry set sail with two heavy gun-brigs, the Law- 
 rence and the Niagara, and seven smaller vessels carrying 
 from two to five guns apiece. Barclay, the English com- 
 modore, had under him six vessels, and was inferior to the 
 American fleet both in metal and men. Barclay attempted 
 unsuccessfully to prevent the American fleet from getting to 
 sea; they succeeded, and met the English on September 10. 
 The two fleets at once engaged, at about eleven in the morn- 
 ing. The fighting at the head of the line was very sharp. 
 The Lawrence, Perry's flag-ship, which led the line, was 
 exposed to the combined fire of the English, and lost four 
 fifths of her men. Perry himself fired the last gun, having 
 only, it is said, his purser and chaplain on deck. Perry, on 
 this, resolved to shift his flag to the Niagara, which was com- 
 paratively fresh. He was rowed across to his new flag-ship in 
 a small boat. In the Niagara he at once broke through the 
 enemy's lines, firing on each side as he passed through. Bar- 
 clay struck his flag at about 3 o'clock. " We have met the en- 
 emy," wrote Perry to General Harrison, "and they are ours — 
 two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop." The 
 battle was hotly and well contested on both sides. The re- 
 sult gave the Americans the command of Lake Erie. Harri- 
 son, meanwhile, had been preparing to invade Canada. Now 
 that he commanded Lake Erie, he pressed the English gen- 
 eral hardly. He recovered Detroit, and followed the retreat- 
 ing army. On the 5th of October Proctor offered battle on 
 the river Thames. The brunt of the battle was sustained by 
 his famous ally, Tecumseh, and the Indians. But Tecumseh 
 was himself killed, and the Indians and the English were 
 broken. The Americans thus regained the Territory of 
 
 Michigan. 
 13* 
 
298 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 In October, Armstrong, the Secretary of War, had com- 
 pelled Dearborn to retire. Wilkinson, the western traitor, 
 was Dearborn's successor. Late in October he embarked his 
 forces to move down the St. Lawrence for a movement which 
 should end at Montreal. After some successes Wilkinson 
 abandoned the expedition, having received word from Gen. 
 Wade Hampton, who commanded the right wing, that he 
 would not make the junction which he was ordered to make. 
 The year 1813 thus passed without any successful attack on 
 Canada excepting that of Harrison. But in the western part 
 of New York the English crossed, and destroyed several vil- 
 lages, among others Buffalo and Black Rock. The only 
 American successes on the land were Harrison's victories in 
 Michigan, and those won by Andrew Jackson, who now makes 
 his first appearance in a military career of importance against 
 the Creek Indians at the South. 
 
 In the year 1813, Congress authorized the building of four 
 ships of the line, six frigates, and six sloops-of-war, besides 
 the vessels required on the lakes. On the 1st of June the 
 unfortunate frigate Chesapeake went out from Boston, under 
 the command of James Lawrence, to meet the English frigate 
 Shannon under Broke. Lawrence had the winter before 
 sunk the English sloop of war Peacock, when command- 
 ing the Hornet. The Chesapeake was beaten in sight of the 
 highlands in the Boston Bay, and, to the amazement and 
 grief of the multitudes, was carried away to Halifax. Law- 
 rence had rashly taken her to sea with a new crew, without 
 experience, and, in fighting, his vessel suffered what might 
 have been expected from their want of discipline. 
 
 The successes on each side at sea this year nearly counter- 
 ^y balanced each other. The American ship Argus was taken 
 \ by the Pelican, and the English Boxer was captured by the 
 J American brig Enterprise, 14 guns. This last fight was most 
 vigorously contested. Burrows and Blythe, the two command- 
 ers, were both killed. The Boxer s flag, which was nailed to 
 the mast, had to be finally torn down, and the ship surren- 
 dered. In this year the Essex, under Captain Porter, made a 
 
lundy's lane. 299 
 
 successful and daring cruise in the Pacific, which, unfort- 
 unately, did not end as well as it had begun. He had set out 
 from Delaware Bay and proceeded alone around Cape Horn 
 into the Pacific Ocean, where he was most successful in seizing 
 armed whalers. He refitted his ship in Noua Keevah Island, 
 of which he took possession for the United States, changing 
 its name to Madison Island. He then made for the coast of 
 Peru, where, in the harbor of Valparaiso, he met with the 
 British frigate Phcebe and the sloop-of-war Cherub. In March, 
 1814, Porter, after having in vain attempted to meet the 
 Phabe singly, tried to run out of the harbor by night. He 
 lost his main-topmast in so doing, and lay to in neutral waters 
 to repair it. The two English ships now attacked him, and, 
 being at this advantage, they managed to stand off and fire 
 at the Essex until half her crew were killed or wounded. 
 The ship herself had caught fire several times and had been 
 riddled with shot when Porter surrendered. 
 
 The year 18 14 showed a repetition of the plans for the 
 invasion of Canada, but with results much the same as in the 
 former year. On the 2d of July, Gen. Brown, an American 
 officer, crossed the Niagara River, invested Fort Erie and 
 took it. He pressed the English force, and on the 5th de- 
 feated them after a well-fought action. But Brown had not 
 the assistance of the navy, and was obliged to retire. It was 
 at this time that the battle, afterward well remembered as 
 Lundy's Lane, was fought. It was one of the hardest ever 
 fought, considering the number of men engaged. Brown and 
 Winfield Scott, who was then a young man, and Jessup, who 
 afterward held high command in the American army, were 
 all wounded. The English army was larger and its loss was 
 larger. The American army fell back to its camp on the 
 Chippewa. The English attempted to recover Fort Erie, and 
 lost many men in the effort. But the English general was 
 obliged to abandon the siege. In October, however, the 
 Americans destroyed the fort and returned to their own side 
 of the river. On the northern frontier of New York, where 
 Lake Champlain makes an easy entrance into that State, 
 
300 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the English general, Prevost, moved southward, with the co- 
 operation of the English naval forces. He was met by Ma- 
 comb, in command of the American troops at Plattsburg, 
 and McDonough, who commanded a fleet of eighty-six guns 
 on the lake. The result was a defeat of the English. The 
 American victory was complete on water and shore, and Pre- 
 vost retreated to Canada. 
 
 The same autumn General Ross, with thirty-five hundred 
 men who had had the best training which the world could 
 give — under Wellington in Spain — arrived in the Chesapeake. 
 Admiral Cockburn, of the English blockading squadron, was 
 able to give him the assistance of a thousand marines. With 
 this force he landed about forty miles below the city of Wash- 
 ington. Armstrong, in his eagerness to attack Canada, had 
 done little or nothing to defend the city. Genera] Winder 
 was in command. He called in such militia from Virginia 
 and the neighborhood as he could collect, and with six hun- 
 dred regular troops formed his line of battle at Bladensburg. 
 But he had no confidence in himself and, if possible, less in 
 his troops. The only serious fighting was done by a body of 
 six hundred American marines who for a little time held the 
 English advance. The Secretary of the Navy burned the 
 navy yard at Washington, and Ross's army took possession of 
 the city. They spared the post-office building, because it 
 contained the patent office, and the English officer was told 
 that the models were of importance to civilization. They 
 burned the President's house and the unfinished Capitol. 
 Ross then withdrew, naturally expecting that some American 
 force would gather for the rescue of the capital. But he 
 regained his ships without molestation. 
 
 Flushed with this victory, with Admiral Cochrane he moved 
 up the Chesapeake to threaten Baltimore. The people of 
 Baltimore had undertaken their own defense. Under Gen. 
 John Strieker, they moved an army of three thousand volun- 
 teers from Maryland and Pennsylvania to defend the city. 
 Ross himself was killed by a sharp-shooter. Fort McHenry 
 resisted successfully the attack of the enemy's vessels, and 
 
THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER." 
 
 301 
 
 the English enterprise was abandoned. Of this successful 
 resistance, the memorial most familiar to the American peo- 
 ple is the national song of the " Star Spangled Banner," 
 which was written at this time by Mr. Key, an American gen- 
 tleman who was actually on the English fleet under a flag of 
 truce negotiating for an exchange of prisoners. 
 
 Reister o Emory Grove 
 town o . * ' 
 Glyndon 0' 
 
 "VICINITY 
 
 OF 
 
 BALTIMORE 
 
 On the sea not so much was done this year as before. The 
 British navy blockaded the whole coast of the United States, 
 the frigates generally sailing in company for the sake of assist- 
 ance in case of battle. The Admiralty had very properly 
 issued orders that no English 38-gun frigate should engage 
 with one of the heavier American frigates if she could help 
 herself, and owing to these orders there were by no means 
 the number of single-ship battles that had before occurred. 
 The Frolic, 18 guns, under Bainbridge, was captured by the 
 
302 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 English frigate Orpheus, 36 guns. The Peacock, 18 guns, met 
 the English brig Epervier, 18 guns, and captured her in three 
 quarters of an hour. The Wasp, 18 guns, a vessel of the 
 same class as the Frolic and the Peacock, sailed for the En- 
 glish Channel, and there met the Reindeer, 18 guns, a vessel 
 of weaker armament. The Reindeer, however, made a brave 
 fight. After a fierce cannonade, in which the American ship 
 had the advantage, owing as much to her heavier metal as to 
 her superior gunnery, the ships closed and the Americans 
 boarded. The captain's clerk of the Reindeer, the officer of 
 highest rank left, surrendered the ship. The Reindeer gave 
 up only to superior force in men and guns. The Wasp went 
 into the port of L'Orient to refit, and issuing forth fell in 
 with the British brig Avon, 18 guns. The fight began at half- 
 past nine at night, and was carried on with great vigor till 
 ten, when the Avon struck. The Wasp was about to take 
 possession of the prize, when the English brig Castilian, 18 
 guns, hove in sight, and running down to the Avon rescued 
 her men. The Avon at once went down. The Wasp con- 
 tinued on her cruise southward, but, after speaking one or 
 two vessels, she was never heard of again. 
 
 The next year the Hornet, under Biddle, met and captured 
 the Penguin, of almost exactly the same force. This was the 
 last of the single-ship duels of the war, the only manner in 
 which the little American navy could show its valor against 
 the enormous navy of Great Britain. There were twelve of 
 these encounters. Two of them were largely to the credit 
 of the English : the capture of the Chesapeake and the Argus. 
 The battles in which the Wasp captured the Reindeer, and 
 the Enterprise the Boxer, two American victories showed by 
 no means any inferiority on the part of the English. But the 
 captures of the Guerriere, the Macedonian, the Java, the 
 Frolic, the Peacock, the Penguin, the Epe?-vier, and the Avon, 
 even allowing for the frequent heavier force of the Amer- 
 icans, were victories won by superior seamanship, disci- 
 pline and courage, of which any navy would be proud. 
 More than one of these battles were fought after peace was 
 
^Jjw^j^^ 4 ' t «f 
 
 THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. 303 
 
 declared, before it had been heard of by the contending 
 forces. 
 
 It is a sad thing to say that the same is true of the great vic- 
 tory of New Orleans, in which Andrew Jackson, at the head 
 of a force of men who were militia from the States above, 
 defeated the English army. The English had taken posses- 
 sion of Pensacola, though it was nominally a Spanish town, 
 and used it as a station to fit out expeditions against Mobile 
 and New Orleans. But Jackson drove them out from Pensa- 
 cola and repulsed their attack on Mobile. 
 
 Their attack on New Orleans was more serious, as the 
 prize was more important. At the outset, the English over- 
 came the American gun-boats in Lake Borgne, which is one 
 of the approaches to New Orleans. They were thus enabled 
 to land twenty-four hundred men nine miles below the city. 
 Jackson attacked them with about two thousand. Each side 
 lost more than two hundred men, but there was no decisive 
 issue to the action. The next week General Pakenham, the 
 English commander, was re-enforced by two thousand men. 
 In that region there are no heights to seize, and on the dead 
 level of " the coasts " one spot is as commanding as is another. 
 There was no room, therefore, for engineering strategy, and 
 on the 8th of January, Pakenham, with the brute courage 
 of his nation, advanced in two columns on the American 
 lines. Each column was preceded by a regiment bearing lad- 
 ders and fascines ; midway were a thousand Highlanders, 
 ready to support an attack on either wing. Jackson's men 
 were mostly frontiersmen, well skilled in the use of the rifle. "7 
 His artillery was served with coolness and precision. It is 
 said that the entire van of one English column melted away 
 before a single shot of a thirty-two pounder discharging a 
 bushel of musket balls. Both the pioneer regiments wav- 
 ered. Pakenham, Gibbs, Keene, and Dale fell, dead or 
 wounded, in attempting to rally them. Three English officers 
 reached the American breast-work. Two fell dead as they 
 mounted it. The third asked for the swords of two Amer- 
 icans who met him, who bade him look behind him. He 
 
^7 
 
 A 
 
 304 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 turned to find that the men he thought were following him 
 had vanished away. In twenty-five minutes the action was 
 over. The English had lost seven hundred men killed, four- 
 teen hundred wounded, and five hundred prisoners. The loss 
 of the Americans was but seventeen. 
 
 This battle made the fame of General Andrew Jackson. 
 ~X- It made him President of the United States. It gave the 
 nation a just confidence in its power for war, properly led, and 
 it has much to do with the birth of national feeling which, 
 is the great and important result of the war of 181 2. But it 
 took place fifteen days after the treaty of peace had been 
 signed, at Ghent. 
 
 As has been already intimated, there was no real reason for 
 carrying on the war after the fall of Napoleon. All Europe 
 was sighing for peace. All question as to neutral vessels and 
 as to the impressment of seamen died of themselves so soon 
 as peace was gained. There were enough other questions 
 open between America and England for diplomatic quarrel. 
 Most of those questions have remained open ever since. But 
 there was no question open longer worthy of the terrible 
 arbitrament of war. The English, as has been said, never 
 wanted to make war. The American government had only won 
 disgrace at home by its method of carrying it on, and appointed 
 envoys to negotiate peace in the summer of 1814. These 
 envoys made a treaty in which the questions of boundary 
 were determined by reference to commissions which were 
 to lay out boundary lines upon the spot. The relations of 
 the English with the Indians in what was still called the 
 North-west Territory were adjusted, and the question of im- 
 pressment was passed over. Christmas Day at Ghent cel- 
 ebrated the return of peace to Europe and to the world. 
 
 The history of this second war with England begins with 
 the President's confidential message of June 1, 181 2, and the 
 able report approving of the war by Mr. Calhoun, the Chair- 
 man of the House Committee on Foreign Relations. It closes 
 with a treaty of peace made at Ghent, by the commissioners 
 of the two nations on December 24, 1814. When it began, 
 
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WAR. 305 
 
 Napoleon was in the pride of his power, starting upon his 
 Russian campaign. Jefferson and his friends had always 
 sympathized with the French, and had, indeed, more than 
 they knew, been drawn into this conflict in the feeling that 
 they had a strong ally. Before the war had lasted a year the 
 French were in full retreat. The battle of Leipsic, in Octo- 
 ber, 1 813, put an end to the continental ambitions of Na- 
 poleon, and the United States had no longer a reason for 
 continuing war when all the rest of the world was at peace. 
 
 The war was so largely dependent on foreign complications, 
 there was so little adequate preparation for it by either combat- 
 ant, and it was really so difficult for either nation to injure the 
 other, that with the exception of the naval battles, which 
 have been described, and of the remarkable defense of New 
 Orleans, it presents none of the critical events which give 
 distinction to chapters of history. True, an English maraud- 
 ing force took and burned the city of Washington. But this 
 event is only important as it taught the world that Washington 
 is not the capital of the United States in the same sense in 
 which Paris is the capital of France, or London, of England. 
 The fall of Washington was as important as that of any other 
 town of a few thousand inhabitants, and no more so. 
 
 But the war has a great importance in the history of this 
 nation, because it proved to the nation that it was a nation, 
 and this it hardly knew before. It tested the power of the 
 national government, and though that government made many 
 absurd mistakes and failures, it learned from its mistakes and 
 repaired its failures. The navy, which had been despised by 
 Jefferson, proved its necessity and'its right to be, and earned 
 the enthusiastic gratitude of the nation. 
 
 As soon as the war was over, the immense and rapid ad- 
 vance of the United States in every victory of peace and in 
 all the lines of national life began. Parties disappeared from 
 politics. What was called an era of good feeling began. The 
 nation knew it was a nation. The people began to see — what 
 more and more it knows — that its success depends on an 
 upright and honorable public opinion, an intelligent enter- 
 
 ~? 
 
306 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 prise, on its refusal to entrust power to any class, and on open 
 lines of promotion. 
 
 At this era this volume of history may close. The next 
 volume must be written when the materials are more ac- 
 cessible than they are now for the history of the generation 
 still upon the stage. 
 
INDEX 
 
 A 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Abercrombie, James, General 131, 135 
 
 Acton soldiers at Concord 159 
 
 Adaes 238 
 
 Adams, John, in 1776, 247; his admin- 
 istration, 242; internal policy 276 
 
 Adams, Samuel 146, 147, 152, 153 
 
 Albemarle, Lord 92 
 
 Alert, the, captured by the Essex. .294, 295 
 
 Algonquins 75 
 
 Alien and sedition laws 277 
 
 Allen, Samuel, proprietor of New 
 
 Hampshire 112, 117 
 
 A lliance, frigate iqo 
 
 Alliance with France 178 
 
 Amadas, Captain 27 
 
 American prisoners in England 188 
 
 Amsterdam Separatists 43 
 
 Andre, .John, adjutant general of En- 
 glish army 195 
 
 Andros, Sir Edmund 87, 98 
 
 Annapolis 116 
 
 Krbella, ship 54 
 
 Aichdale, Gov. of Carolina in 1695, '96. 120 
 Argus, the, taken by the Pelican. . . . 298 
 Armstrong, John, Gen., 210; his cam- 
 paign 293, 298 
 
 Arnold, Benedict, General, attacks 
 
 Quebec, 166; after life 175, 195 
 
 Artaquette, d' 229 
 
 Articles of Confederation 205 
 
 Ashley, Lord 92 
 
 A ugusta, in Georgia 123 
 
 Avalon, planted by Lord Baltimore.. . 35 
 
 B 
 
 Bacon, Nathaniel 94 
 
 Bainbridge, William, Commodore.... 282 
 
 Balch, John 51 
 
 Baltimore, Lord 35 
 
 Baltimore attacked, successfully re- 
 sists the English 301 
 
 Barbary Powers 281 
 
 Barlow, one of Raleigh's expedition.. 27 
 
 Barron ... 288 
 
 Bashaw of Tripoli 282 
 
 Bashaw of Tunis 282 
 
 Baton Rouge 232 
 
 Battles : of Bennington, 174 ; Bunker 
 Hill, 162; Bladensburg, 300; Con- 
 cord, 158 ; Eutaw, 2or ; Lake Erie, 
 297; Lexington, 159; I undy's Lane, 
 294 ; New Orleans, 303; Monmouth, 
 178 ; Plattsburg, 300 ; Saratoga, 175 ; 
 
 the Thames 293 
 
 Baum, General 174 
 
 Bayard, of Delaware ? . . . 279 
 
 Beacon Hill 89 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Bean, Ellis P.. 239 
 
 Bellingham, Richard, Governor 82 
 
 Bellomont, Earl of, Governor of New 
 
 Jersey 10 6, 113, 114 
 
 Bennington, battle of 174 
 
 Berkeley, Sir W., Governor of Vir- 
 
 „*?"?•••:• w / 39,78,93,97 
 
 Berkeley, in Massachusetts 17 
 
 Berlin and Milan Decrees 287 
 
 Bermuda 34 
 
 Bienville, Gov. of New Orleans 224, 227 
 
 Blackbeard, the pirate 127 
 
 Black Prince and Princess 183 
 
 Bladensburg, Battle of 300 
 
 Bloody Brook 66 
 
 Blue and buff 165 
 
 Boone, Daniel 214 
 
 Boscawen, Admiral 133 
 
 " Boston Massacre." 146 
 
 Boston, 54 ; town meeting on tea, 152 ; 
 
 Port Bill, 155 ; siege of. 165 
 
 Boxer, the, captured by the Enter- / 
 
 prise v/298 
 
 Braddock. Edward, General ss:. 128 
 
 Bradford, Governor William 73 
 
 Bradstreet, Governor Simon 80,90 
 
 Bradstreet, General John. 134 
 
 Brewster, William, Governor 46 
 
 Breyman, Col., at Bennington 174 
 
 Brock, General 294 
 
 Bromheld, Major 203 
 
 Brown, Gen., takes Fort Erie, loses it, 
 
 is wounded at Lundy's Lane 299 
 
 Brown, Robert 43 
 
 Buffalo, destroyed by English 298 
 
 Burgoyne, General John, 163, 173 ; 
 
 his surrender 175 
 
 Bute, Earl of 143 
 
 Burke, Edmund 262 
 
 C 
 
 Cabot, Sebastian 19 
 
 Calhoun, John Caldwell, leader of the 
 
 House in 181 1 293 
 
 Calvert, George 35 
 
 Calvert, Leonard 35 
 
 Calvert, Philip 37 
 
 Campbell, Colonel 181 
 
 Camden in South Carolina 201 
 
 Canseau 116 
 
 Cape Ann 43, 51 
 
 Cape Cod 46 
 
 Cape Fear 91 
 
 Carleton, Sir Guy (afterward Lord 
 
 Dorchester) 212, 234 
 
 Carmichael, William 270 
 
 Carolinas, early history 91 
 
 Carrying trade 264 
 
308 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Carteret, Sir George 78, 
 
 Cartwright 
 
 Cerf, cutter 
 
 Charles II. 
 
 Chateaubriand 
 
 Cherub, frigate 
 
 Chesapeake, frigate, 298 ; beaten by 
 
 Shannon 
 
 Church, Capt. Benjamin 
 
 Civil freedom 
 
 Clarendon, Lord 
 
 Clark, General Rogers 
 
 Clark, William 
 
 Clay, Henry, chosen Speaker of the 
 
 House in Nov., 1811 
 
 Clayborne, in Chesapeake Bay 
 
 Clinton, George 
 
 Clinton, Henry, General 167, 178, 
 
 Cockburn, Admiral George 
 
 Columbia Kediviva 
 
 Commercial enterprise 
 
 Committee of Safety of Massachusetts 158 
 
 Conant, Rogers 51 
 
 Concord, battle of 158 
 
 Confederation 205 
 
 Connecticut, in 17th century, 90 ; in 
 
 18th century 115 
 
 Constitution of United States adopted. 251 
 Constitution, the, fights the Guer- 
 
 7'iere 295 
 
 Continental Congress 138, 161, 164, 212 
 
 Continental Currency 207 
 
 Continental Force 209 
 
 Convention, for making a constitution. 249 
 
 Conway, Gen. Henry Seymour 202 
 
 Conyngham, Gustavus 183 
 
 Cornvvallis, Earl, 168, 172 ; he advan- 
 ces to Virginia, and his surrender.. 191 
 
 Cotton, John, Rev 57 
 
 Cotton, industry in 259 
 
 Council for Safety in Boston 90 
 
 Countess 0/ Scarborough, frigate 183 
 
 Cradock, Matthew , 52 
 
 Crown Point, 129 ; evacuated 137 
 
 Culpepper, Thomas, Governor of Vir- 
 ginia 97 
 
 Cutler, Manasseh, Rev 221 
 
 Dane, Nathan 243 
 
 Davis, Isaac, Capt. of Acton Comp'y. 159 
 
 Dearie, Silas, early negotiations 191 
 
 Dearborn, Gen. Henry, 281; appoint- 
 ed commander-in-chief in 1812.... 294 
 
 Decatur, Stephen, Commodore 282 
 
 De Gourgues 25 
 
 De Leon, Juan Ponce 19 
 
 Detroit, 266 ; its surrender to the 
 
 English in 1812 294 
 
 De Soto, Hernando 21 
 
 Dieskau, Baron 129 
 
 Dinwiddie, Robert, Gov. of Virginia.. 119 
 
 Dolphin, cutter. . . 1S7 
 
 Dorchester Adventurers 51 
 
 Dorchester, Lord, Gov. of Canada.. . 234 
 
 Dudley, Joseph 87, 114 
 
 Dudley, Thomas, Governor 53 
 
 Duquesne, .Marquis 128 
 
 Duquesne, fort 133 
 
 E PAGE 
 
 Early Diplomacy 265 
 
 East India Company 149, 150 
 
 Eaton, Gen. William 283 
 
 Ebenezer, in Georgia 123 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen 27 
 
 Elkins, Jacob 74 
 
 Ellsworta, Chief Justice 274 
 
 Embargo 289 
 
 Emigration 245, 264 
 
 Endicott, John, Governor 51 
 
 Enterprise, the, captures the Boxer . 298 
 
 Epervier 302 
 
 " Era of Good Feeling, The" 305 
 
 Essex, the, fights the Alert, 294, 295 ; 
 
 captured 298 
 
 Eutaw, battle of 201 
 
 Exploration in Kentucky 214 
 
 Eyre, Colonel ■ • • 203 
 
 F 
 
 Fearnot, privateer 183 
 
 Federal Constitution 249 
 
 Finances of the Confederacy 205 
 
 Fletcher, Benjamin, Governor of New 
 
 York 103, 106 
 
 " Flower of Essex " 66 
 
 Forts, Amsterdam, 73 ; Conde, 232 ; 
 Duquesne, 126 ; taken, 134, 135 ; 
 Erie, 266; Franklin, 220; Y ronte- 
 nac, 130; Lee, 172 ; McHenry, 300 ; 
 Miamis, 214; Niagara, 130; Orange, 
 74 ; St. Andrews, 124 ; St. George, 
 124; Steuben, 220; Venango, 220; 
 Vincennes, 220 ; Washington, 172 ; 
 
 William Henry 132 
 
 Fox, Charles James 201 
 
 Frankland 218 
 
 Franklin, Sir John, his discovery 26 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 151, 152, 154 ; in 
 
 France 175, 191 
 
 Franklin, State of 215 
 
 Freeman, Major Thomas 94 
 
 French and Indian Wars in 
 
 French Claims 214 
 
 Freydis 16 
 
 Frolic, the, taken by the Wasp 295 
 
 Frolic, the, under Bambridge, cap- 
 tured by English frigate Orpheus . . 301 
 Frontenac. Count, Gov. of Canada, 105, 111 
 
 G 
 
 Gage, Governor of Massachusetts, 155, 158 
 
 Gallatin, Albert 281 
 
 Gardoqui, Charge d'Affaires 270 
 
 Garay 19 
 
 Garrison in Boston 138 
 
 Gates, Sir Thomas 33 
 
 Gates, Horatio, Gen., 166, 174-175 ; at 
 
 Saratoga, 175 ; at Camden 191, 193 
 
 Genet, as an envoy 256 
 
 Georgia 123 
 
 Germaine, Lord George 176, 193 
 
 George III., n8, 139, 154 ; a statue of. 144 
 
 Ghent, peace signed at 304 
 
 Gilbert, Humphrey , 26 
 
 Girty, Simon 217 
 
 Gist, Christopher 211 
 
 (iladstorrb, W. E., cited 247 
 
 Godoy, " prince of peace " 271 
 
INDEX. 
 
 309 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Golden Hind, the 26 
 
 Gorges, Sir Ferdinando 49, 85 
 
 Gorges Robert 49 
 
 Grafton, Duke of 149 
 
 Granger, Gideon 281 
 
 Greene, General Nathaniel 200, 259 
 
 Grenville, George 159 
 
 Grenville, Richard 27 
 
 Guerriere, frigate, 290 ; surrenders to 
 the Constitution 295 
 
 Habersham, Joseph 
 
 Hadley, in Philip s war 
 
 Half Moon, the ship 
 
 Harriet of Tripoli 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander. 236, 253, 
 
 Hammond, English minister 
 
 Hampton, Wade 
 
 Hariot, the mathematician 
 
 Harrison, Gen. William Henry, 291 ; 
 put in command of western army, 
 besieged at tort Meigs, 296; recovers 
 Detroit, beats the English and In- 
 dians on river Thames 
 
 Harrod, James 
 
 Heald, Colonel 
 
 Heath, Gen. William 
 
 Henderson, Colonel 
 
 Hennepin, Father 
 
 Henry, Patrick 
 
 Higginson, John, Rev 
 
 Hodge, William 
 
 Hopkins, Ezekiel, and his captures. . 
 
 Hornet, 298 ; under Biddle, captures 
 the Penguin 
 
 Howe, Admiral Lord I7°i 
 
 Howe, General Sir William.162, 165, 172, 
 
 Howe, Lord, General 
 
 Hudson, Henry 
 
 Hull's Failure, General, 293 ; com- 
 pelled to surrender at Detroit, his 
 condemnation, Madison obliged to 
 pardon him 
 
 Humphrey 
 
 Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne 
 
 Hutchinson, Thomas, Gov. of Mas- 
 sachusetts 138, 142, 146, 151, 
 
 Iberville, Lemoyne 224 
 
 Illinois 2I 4 
 
 Impressment 288 
 
 Indiana 214 
 
 Indian War 75 
 
 Industry in Cotton 250 
 
 Ingoldsby, Major, Gov. of New York. 104 
 
 Iroquois 76 
 
 Island of Kent 37 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, fights Creek Indians 
 at the south, 298; drives English 
 from Pensacola. repulses their attack 
 on Mobile, attacks English below 
 New Orleans, and resists their at- 
 tack on the city 3°3 
 
 Jackson Square, in New Orleans 230 
 
 James II. (Duke of York) 78 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Jamestown 96 
 
 Java, frigate, captured 295 
 
 Jay's Treaty 265 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 242, 253, 276 ; in- 
 augurated 280 
 
 Jeffreys, Colonel Herbert, Gov. of Va. 97 
 
 Jessup, General 290 
 
 Johnson, Lady Arabella 54 
 
 Johnson, Sir William S 129 
 
 Jones, John Paul 183 
 
 Jumonville, Coulon de 128 
 
 K 
 
 Kalb, de. Baron 194 
 
 Kaskaskia 214 
 
 Keith, George 103 
 
 Kent, Island of 37 
 
 Kidd, William, Capt 106, 116 
 
 Lieft, William, Governor, 75; recalled. 77 
 
 King Edward's Prayer Book 42 
 
 Knights of the Golden Horseshoe ... 119 
 
 Knox, John 42 
 
 Knox, county of, in Maine 245 
 
 Knox, Gen. Henry 253 
 
 Knyphausen, General 176 
 
 l_ 
 
 Lafayette, M. P. R. Y. C. M., Gen- 
 eral 191, 192, 197 
 
 Lancaster, town of 68 
 
 Lane, Ralph 27 
 
 Law, John 227 
 
 Lawrence, James 297, 298 
 
 Le Bon Homme Richard igo 
 
 Lee, Charles, Gen., 166 ; his misbe- 
 havior 179 
 
 Lee, Major Henry 182 
 
 Leif, discovers America 14 
 
 Leisler, Jacob, Gov. of N. Y 104, 105 
 
 Leopard, frigate 288 
 
 Leverett, Governor 85 
 
 Lewis, Meriwether 241 
 
 Lexington, battle of 159, 160 
 
 Lexington, privateer 187 
 
 Leyden 45 
 
 Lincoln, Earl of _ 54 
 
 Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin 181 
 
 Lincoln, Levi 281 
 
 Lincoln, county of. 245 
 
 Little Belt, ship-of-war 291 
 
 Livingston, Robert 240 
 
 Locke, John 9 2 
 
 Lothrop, Captain, at Bloody Brook. . 66 
 
 Loudon, Earl of 13 1 
 
 Louisburg taken 117 
 
 Louisiana, Territory of 227 
 
 Lovelace, Governor of New Jersey... 78 
 
 Lovel, General 1S2 
 
 Lundy's Lane, battle of 299 
 
 M 
 
 Macomb, Gen. Alexander, commands 
 
 American troops at Plattsburg 300 
 
 Macedonian, frigate, surrenders to 
 United States, used to convey food 
 
 to starving people of Ireland, 1848. . 295 
 
 Mackinac 266 
 
 McClure, Robert, Capt 26 
 
3io 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 McDonough, Thomas, Capt., com- 
 mands American fleet at Plattsburg. 300 
 
 " Mad Anthony " 182 
 
 Madison, James 281, 296 
 
 Manchac 232 
 
 Manhadoes Island 81 
 
 Manhattan Island 73 
 
 Marbois, Barbe 240 
 
 Marietta 221 
 
 Marion, General Francis 201 
 
 Marlboro, town of, in danger 68 
 
 Marshall, Judge, John 286 
 
 Massachusetts Bay, 50, 52 ; Massachu- 
 setts Assembly addresses the King, 
 
 152 ; members of Congress 157 
 
 Massasoit , 63 
 
 Matagorda Bay 226 
 
 Mather, Cotton 113 
 
 Mayflo%ver, ship 44 
 
 Mayhew, Thomas 59 
 
 Medal voted to Washington 167 
 
 Merry mount , 48 
 
 Metacomet 63 
 
 Michigan 214 
 
 Michilimackinac 266 
 
 Minuit, Peter 73 
 
 Minute Men 156, 159, 160 
 
 Miranda, General Francisco 236 
 
 Mishawuru 54 
 
 Missionary Work 59 
 
 Mississippi River 270 
 
 Monroe, James 273 
 
 Montcalm, Marquis de 131 
 
 Montesquieu, " L'Esprit des Lois' 1 ... 247 
 
 Montmorin, Count de 272 
 
 Montreal, three simultaneous attacks. 137 
 
 Moquis 21 
 
 Morristown 172 
 
 Moultrie, Colonel William 168 
 
 Mount Hope Bay 14 
 
 Mount Vernon 199 
 
 Mutiny Act, the 148 
 
 Murray, Vans 274 
 
 N 
 
 Nahant 72 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte 237 
 
 Narragansetts 64, 68 
 
 Natchez Indians 228, 232 
 
 Naumkeag 52 
 
 Navigation Act, the 138 
 
 Navigation of the Mississippi 2 33 
 
 Negroes from Guinea 34 
 
 Neutrals 263 
 
 Newburg Letters 205 
 
 New England, 41, 58, 80 ; the confed- 
 eration 58 
 
 New Hampshire, 58, 85; proprietor.. T12 
 
 New Haven 58, 181 
 
 New Jersey 101 
 
 New Netherland 81 
 
 New Orleans, battle of 303, 304 
 
 New Rochelle 76 
 
 Niagara 266, 297 
 
 Nicolls, Colonel 77 
 
 Nipmucks ; 65 
 
 Nolan, Philip 237 
 
 North-western Discovery 26 
 
 North-west Territory 220 
 
 PACK 
 
 North, Lord, 149 ; Prime Minister, 
 146, 150, 155, 180; "all is over," 191; 
 
 resigned 202 
 
 Norton 80 
 
 Noua Keevah Island 299 
 
 Norwalk 181 
 
 O 
 
 Oglethorpe, James, Gov. of Georgia.. 122 
 
 Ohio 214 
 
 " Old Ironsides" 295 
 
 Oliver, Peter 142, 151 
 
 Orange 79 
 
 O'Reilly, Governor of Louisiana 231 
 
 Oriskany 175 
 
 Orkney, Lord, Governor of Virginia.. 118 
 
 Orquiasco 238 
 
 Oswegatchie 266 
 
 Oswego 134, 266 
 
 P 
 Pakenham, Gen., English commander 
 
 at battle of New Orleans 303 
 
 Palfrey, Peter 51 
 
 Pallas, ship 190 
 
 Paper Money 205 
 
 Parker, Admiral 168 
 
 Parker, Captain, at Lexington 159 
 
 Parris, Samuel 113 
 
 Paulus Hook 182 
 
 Peace of Paris 137 
 
 Peacock, the, 298 ; its capture 302 
 
 Pelican, the ship 298 
 
 Penn. William 99, 101 
 
 Penobscot River 182 
 
 Pensacola 231 
 
 Pepperell, William 117 
 
 Percy, Lord, Hugh, afterward Duke 
 
 of Northumberland 160 
 
 Perier, Governor of Louisiana 229 
 
 Perouse, Admiral, I. F. G. de la..... 262 
 Perry. Commodore Oliver Hazard, his 
 
 success on Lake Erie 297 
 
 Pettyquamscot 67 
 
 Philip's War, 63 ; his death 69 
 
 Phillips, General, death of 191 
 
 Philadelphia 102, 282 
 
 Phips, Sir William, Gov. of Mass., 109; 
 
 sent to England no, 112 
 
 Phoehe, frigate 299 
 
 Pickanillany, a French post 127 
 
 Pickering, General Timothy 245 
 
 Pinckney, Charles C 273 
 
 Pinckney, Thomas 271 
 
 Pike, General 296 
 
 Piscataqua 481 5 3 < 8 5 
 
 Pitcairn, Major 159 
 
 Pitt, William 138, H3 
 
 Place d'Armes, at New Orleans 230 
 
 Plattsburg, battle of 300 
 
 Pocahontas 33 
 
 Pollock, Oliver 232 
 
 Plymouth 00 
 
 Poictiers 295 
 
 Poor Richard's Maxims 191 
 
 Porter, Capt., commands the Essex, 
 
 2Q4, 208 ; voyage to the Pacific 299 
 
 Port Royal surrendered 109 
 
 Powhatan 3 3 
 
INDEX. 
 
 311 
 
 PAGE 
 
 President, frigate 2 9* 
 
 Preston, Captain, in Boston Massacre. 146 
 
 Prevost, Gen., his western campaigning 296 
 
 Prideaux, General *3 6 
 
 Prince of Orange b 9 
 
 Princeton J 7 2 
 
 Private armed vessels 2 77 
 
 Privateer fleet of the country 184 
 
 Proctor, Gen. opposes Harrison 296, 297 
 
 Protest against Navigation Act, 138 ; 
 
 againstTaxation . M" 
 
 Puritan, the name in England 4* 
 
 Puritan spirit weakening 83 
 
 Putnam, Major Israel *35 
 
 Quakers 
 
 Quebec 
 
 Queen Elizabeth 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter 26 
 
 Randolph, Edward .. • «5 
 
 Randolph, Edward, Attorney-General 253 
 
 Ranger, ship-of-war 
 
 Rappahannock _ 
 
 Ratification of treaties 
 
 Rawdon, Lord 
 
 Reprisal, ship-of-war 
 
 Revenue from stamps 
 
 Revere, Paul 
 
 Rhode Island 5», 
 
 Robinson, John 
 
 Rochambeau, Count de 192, 
 
 Rockingham, Ministry 
 
 Rolfe, John • •••• 
 
 Ross, Gen., arrives in the Chesapeake, 
 takes Washington and threatens Bal- 
 timore with Admiral Cochrane; 
 
 killed by sharpshooters 
 
 Rowlandson, Mrs 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Slaughter, Henry, Gov. New York. . . 104 
 
 Smith, John, Captain 3° 
 
 Smith, 'Robert 281 
 
 Sons of Liberty 138, x 4 2 
 
 Spain in Louisiana 231 
 
 Speedwell, ship 4" 
 
 Spotswood, Alexander, Gov. of Va. . . 118 
 
 Stamp Act, passage and repeal. . 138 
 
 Star-Spangled Banner, origin of song 
 
 of that name 3 QI 
 
 State governments 247 
 
 Statues of Pitt and George III 138 
 
 St. Augustine 2 5i I2 2, 231 
 
 St. Clair, General Arthur 174. 2 54 
 
 Steuben, Baron Frederick William.. . . 197 
 
 Stevens, Henry . ■ 20 
 
 Stormont, Lord, complaints of 103 
 
 Stoughton, William, Judge 113 
 
 Strieker, John 3°° 
 
 Stuy ve-^ant, the wooden-legged 78 
 
 Sugar Loaf Hill *74 
 
 Sullivan's Island ™ 8 
 
 Sullivan, General John *79 
 
 Swansea °4 
 
 207 
 109 
 
 184 
 
 "3 
 
 Sackett's Harbor attacked by General 
 
 Prevost 
 
 Saint Simon 
 
 Salem 5 2 
 
 Salem witchcraft 
 
 Salle, Robert Cavalier de la 224 
 
 Saltonstall, Commodore l82 
 
 San Antonio 2 3 B 
 
 San Mateo 2 5 
 
 Saratoga, battles of x 75 
 
 Savannah River I2 3 
 
 Savannah •■••-i-yv lSl 
 
 Scott, Winfield, wounded at Lundy s 
 
 Lane ■ 2 99 
 
 Schenectady taken ■ • • io 5 
 
 Schuyler, General Philip J 74 
 
 Scrae'llings •••• T 5 
 
 Scrooby, village in England 44 
 
 Serapis, frigate taken 183 
 
 Settlement of the West 214 
 
 Shaftesbury, Earl of. • • • 9= 
 
 Shannon, the, takes the Chesapeake. 298 
 
 Shelburne, Lord 202 
 
 Skeleton in Armor • *7 
 
 Skelton, Emanuel, Puritan preacher. . 53 
 
 245 
 105 
 
 196 
 
 Talleyrand • • • • 
 
 Talmage, Captain, at Schenectady. 
 
 Tampa Bay 
 
 Tarleton, Banastre 
 
 Tea Act, the 138, 15°! x 5 2 
 
 Teach, Ned, apirate I21 
 
 Tea, thrown overboard J 53 
 
 Tecumseh, ally of the English, 291 ; 
 
 killed at River Thames 297 
 
 Ternay, Admiral J 9 2 
 
 Tennessee 2 ' 4 
 
 Texas *V 
 
 Thomas, General John. . . • l0 7 
 
 Thorwald 
 
 Thorwaldsen 
 
 Ticonderoga, 
 by the Frencl 
 
 Tippecanoe 
 
 Tobacco 
 
 Townshend, Charles J 44 
 
 Transylvania 
 
 Trenton 
 
 Tryon, Governor 
 
 Tupper, Benjamin 
 
 Turner 
 
 Tyrker ^y •• ■ 
 
 United States, the, fights the Mace- 
 donian 
 
 u 
 
 133, l6 4i 1 
 ich 
 
 74; 
 
 abandoned 
 
 5 
 i5 
 
 136 
 291 
 34 
 148 
 214 
 172 
 
 United States, Constitution of. 
 
 Valley Forge 
 Vane, Henry 
 
 i 7 7 
 57 
 
 Fwiller, Wouter 74 
 
 Van 
 
 Van Rensselaer 
 
 Vengeance, frigate. . . . . . 
 
 Vergennes, French Minister 
 
 Verazzano, French pirate 
 
 Vincennes 
 
 Vinland 
 
 Virginia 2 7' 
 
 294 
 
 1 90 
 183 
 
 90 
 
 214 
 146 
 
 28, 33, "8 
 
312 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Virginia, general history of. 33 
 
 Volney, C. F. C, Count de 245 
 
 W 
 
 War of 1812, declared June 16 203, 294 
 
 Ward, Artemas, General 160, 161 
 
 Warren, Commodore. 116 
 
 Washington, Colonel John 94 
 
 Washington, George, 94, 128 ; letter 
 from, 138, 155, 156, 161 ; resigns, 205 ; 
 his administration as President, 242, 
 
 253 ; he leaves office 257 
 
 Washington, George \ frigate 282 
 
 Washington, city of, taken by Gen. 
 
 Ross 300, 305 
 
 Wasp, the, captures the Frolic. Tak- 
 en by the Poictiers . . . 295 
 
 Wasp, the, her successes and disap- 
 pearance 302 
 
 Wayne, Anthony, General 181,255 
 
 Wedderburn, Alexander 151 
 
 Wesley, Charles 124 
 
 Wesley, John 124 
 
 West, Benjamin 139 
 
 Western Domain 242, 243 
 
 Western Reserve 244 
 
 West Florida 231 
 
 PAOB 
 
 Weston, Thomas, settler in Mass 48 
 
 Wheelwright, John 57 
 
 White, Rev. John 51 
 
 Whitney, Eli, inventor of cotton gin . . 260 
 
 Whictingham, William 42 
 
 Wicklif, John 42 
 
 Wilkinson, James, Governor, 235 ; 
 
 succeeds Dearborn , 298 
 
 William IV 202 
 
 William of Orange, King of England. 108 
 
 William and Mary College 98 
 
 W illiams, Roger 55 
 
 Williamsburg 98 
 
 Winder, General William H 300 
 
 Winthrop, John 53 
 
 Witchcraft cases 312 
 
 Wolfe, James, General 136 
 
 Wbllaston 48 
 
 Wyoming 245 
 
 Y 
 
 Yale College, 1701 115 
 
 York, capture of, in Maine in 
 
 Yorktown, siege of 191 
 
 Z 
 
 Zunis 21 
 
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